Random Film of the Week: The Big Parade

Posted on September 4, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, SilentPianoNinja for making this spectacular modernized trailer!)

If you know someone who’s straddling the silent movie fence or avoiding it entirely for some strange reason, The Big Parade is a great movie to get them into appreciating a great many important films they’re missing out on. Director King Vidor’s absolutely brilliant and hugely influential 1925 film benefits from stellar performances all around, and a half comedic/half dramatic structure that introduces its cast of characters with vigor and plenty of humor in that first half before pulling no punches in its latter half’s battle scenes.

The great and handsome as heck John Gilbert along with the beautiful Renée Adorée give what would have been Academy Award-winning performances had the Academy existed at that point in time and for me, this is one of the more stirring pre-sound epics worth rounding up friends and/or family to watch this classic with. You’ll need a kettle of popcorn, a barrel of root beer (that barrel will come in handy later) and perhaps a box of tissues to go ’round the room, as this is 141 minutes of fantastic film making that’s truly stood the test of time Continue reading →

ALL THAT JAZZ & All That Jazz You Need To See, Thanks To The Criterion Collection!

Posted on August 25, 2014 by geelw

Bob Fosse’s 1979 semi-autobiographical musical masterpiece finally gets the Criterion treatment and if you’ve not see it yet (or have and it’s been a while), NOW is, as they say… the TIME. This is one of those one of a kind films that while not exactly an autobiography, is about the director’s own struggles, vices and other issues, cutting very close to the truth of his wild life on many levels. Compare this to the formulaic pap most Hollywood biopics have turned into over the decades and it’s no wonder this one makes plenty of lists of people’s favorite films. Of course, it also made me never want to do more than five things at ones, kept me away from drugs and smoking, so it’s also kicking it as a cautionary tale. Yeah, I’ll get to writing up a Random Film of the Week on this one in a bit – I actually want to see this new transfer to check out how good a job was done on it first. To the backlog you go, Gideon!

Rejection Brings Out The Monster In Mister Chaney!

Posted on August 16, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, GoodOldDaysReturns!)

Sooo, Creighton Tull Chaney fancied himself a crooner, huh? That’s a clip from the 1934 movie, “Girl O’ My Dreams” in case your interested. He even rhymes “akimbo”, “bimbo” and “limbo” here before he gets laughed back into his seat! Hmmmm. It seems the old prof thought his warbling was quite monstrous indeed and his disapproval sent the young mister off his would be singing career and down a darker path. Well, at least we got some good monster movies out of that rejection, hmmm? That, and the later know as Lon Chaney Jr. got his revenge of sorts by warbling the theme song to Spider Baby over 30 years later. Revenge can be sweet once in a while, but here it’s got the aftertaste of old booze and pancake makeup left on for too many hours.

Well, other than the alcoholism and other negatives, one could say the direction his career took was a more interesting life choice. I just couldn’t imagine From Mice & Men as a musical (and yeah, it would HAVE to have a Tom & Jerry cameo!)…

SDCC 2014: Sin City: A Dame To Kill For Red Band Trailer: Up To Snuff, As Expected!

Posted on July 28, 2014 by geelw

Ah, the always interesting “Red Band” trailer. Want to see stuff that’s kind of NSFW but not spoiling the film much if at all? Hey, I say you SHOULD watch this just to see if this sequel is as rough and tough as the original just so you can see that you have nothing to worry about at all. Well, here you go. Below are some new posters for the film, which is set for an August 25, 2014 release at a theater near you. I don’t expect much of anything “happy” happening here at all (I’ve read the comics already), but I know the film will be funny in spots in that “Hmmm, I shouldn’t be laughing but I can’t help myself!” manner parts of the first Sin City nailed so well…

Guardians of the Galaxy Clip Joint: What You See Isn’t Even Close To What You’ll Get…

Posted on July 24, 2014 by geelw

So, some early reviews are in and all are stating this is not only one of the best movies this summer, but quite possibly the best Marvel movie to date. I figured all of those end credits scenes were adding up to something and from what I’ve read (and heard from someone who was at a screening), fans will be knocked off their feet a few times and then some.

One thing I figured that would work from the start with these films was having different directors with different styles working on different franchises similar to how different writers and artists work on the different comics. While there’s a certain uniformity to elements of the look and continuity across each of the films since the first Iron Man, it’s been fun to watch most of these movies and see how a particular director’s vision works within the (Disney) Marvel Universe.

James Gunn seemed like the oddest choice to direct GotG at first, but his own offbeat sense of humor and musical tastes have spilled over into the film and works well to the point where he’s probably going to be the go-to guy for the next film with this team… Continue reading →

Boring Life Update: ID, Phase Two! Alllllmost There…

Posted on July 23, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, sugasugaki!)

Hokay, the trip to the DMV was done this morning and it took a lot less time than I thought. There nothing like a nice walk bright and early in the morning to either wake you up or make you tired, depending on how productive that walk ends up being. Temporary ID get! Actual ID arrives in two weeks (and Phase Two complete!). Part the thirds SHOULD be easier, but my call to the post office to ask am few questions before I make an appointment was a bit odd. It’s FAR easier to walk into a place and SHOW someone something, ask questions and get answers in person over doing it all on the phone or online. Sometimes, a personal touch makes things much more… human at the end of the day. Anyway, back later this afternoon with some actual site updates. I think I need a short nap before I pop out to the library to write (hey, I woke up at 5:27am for some crazy reason!)…

Taking Tuesday Off? Not Really…

Posted on July 22, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, aero84!)

I just have some more ID stuff to tackle, but it will be easier than last week’s craziness. Hopefully, this won’t take longer to process than the two weeks promised on the DMV website. After that’s done, I’ve one more to tackle, but that part is interesting because I’m gathering from my poking about a few places that I’m a special case that doesn’t easily fall under some of the crazy rules set by some agencies. Anyway, the laws about expired documents need to be changed because they’re DUMB. If you get run over by a runaway bus steps from the passport office and EMS comes to retrieve your corpse, they’re NOT going to look at that old ID in your wallet or purse and say “Oh, this isn’t him/her – their ID isn’t current!”

Nope, not at all…

(Although, I’ll bet you a dollar that at least ONE of those folks who shows up to collect your corpse will say something disrespectfully amusing such as “Well, now he/she’s expired… just like this ID!”, before whipping out a pair of sunglasses and putting them on like Horatio Caine. YEAAAAAAAAAH!)

Random Film of the Week(end): The Punisher (2004)

Posted on July 19, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, Flauntvids!)

When I finally got around to seeing the 2004 version of The Punisher last week, I was wondering how I missed this one back then in theaters (although I’d not pay a dime to see this flick) or on cable. Then I realized that the film came out when I was in a crazy jobless phase and had chopped out any ideas of spending money to hit the local theater (or any other theater for that matter) until I was back in the black.

Well, even if I’d wanted to see this gloomy and unintentionally hilarious (yet erratically violent) movie, I’d have chosen to save my money. While it works on a basic level of grunting guys saying unintelligible stuff before trying to out-kill each other, the film is far too uneven to be entertaining unless there’s someone on screen getting killed in a ridiculous manner. Where the first (and forgotten by most, save for the more die-hard Marvel movie fans) Punisher film from 1989 was an automatic camp cult classic thanks to Dolph Lundgren’s grumbling and mumbling through the role as sullen serial gangster murderer Frank Castle, some cheesy sets and laughable action scenes, this reboot tries a wee bit too hard to capture the mood of 70’s and 80’s action films to the point that it feels a wee bit outdated on a few fronts… Continue reading →

This Sunday’s Kind of A Drag…

Posted on July 13, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, CoolCoolMovies!)

Oof. Well, today was kind of non-productive on a few levels, but that’s probably a good thing. I’m still toiling away on a bunch of stuff (some reviews, a few post CE Week articles and some brief impressions of a few games I saw recently), but I have a kind of kooky week coming up and am conserving energy for some of these events. As the weather folks say it’s going to be a bit of a thunderstorm-y start to the week, that means I need to break out the broken umbrella and keep my paws crossed that it survives the early Monday morning trek I need to make.

As for that clip above, it serves double duty as description and hilariously violent reminder that there was a Punisher movie (from 2004) I’d actually never seen before last night. I found it to be pretty terrible overall (a lack of dialog, humor that doesn’t work properly and some odd casting choices make it more “interesting” than watchable), but you do get to see John Travolta’s evil Howard Knight character get bumped off in a really creative manner. Hey, I was laughing through the bulk of the action scenes here and while the film is quite heavy on the carnage, it still doesn’t beat The Punisher: War Zone for pure nastiness and mean-spirited (or REALLY over the top and hilarious) violent content. Not that I’m in a violent mood or anything, folks – bad movies of all types just make me laugh a lot when I need to…

Hmmmm. I think I need some ice cream or something… back in a bit.

The Monster of the ID Is Keeping Me From My Research!

Posted on July 8, 2014 by geelw

(Thanks, Crosscheckmate!)

NO, not THAT Monster, you. I’ve been a bit occupied today in getting some expired ID’s renewed, so it’s been a bit of a hassle today in terms of a few things. Anyway, the balls are rolling on some stuff, so that’s good. I’m going to go take a nap after this hot day of running about and waiting and maybe pop up later to post something that’s actually worth reading. I see my inbox is PACKED TO THE GILLS (*blub!*) with stuff. Eh, what else is new? Other than people making a damn mist for potato salad from strangers who should know better (and send that money to me because I’d put it to much better use. Art doesn’t spoil, folks… unless it’s made from stuff that spoils, of course)…