Curtis C. Chen's Blog, page 11
September 29, 2015
#42Movies, Day 19: What A Twist!
Are you surprised to see... *THESE* TWO MOVIES AS A DOUBLE FEATURE???
The Mask (1994)
and
The Prestige (2006)
Major spoilers after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/hOqVRwGVUkA
https://youtu.be/ijXruSzfGEc
For the record: I don't care that much about spoilers. That's not to say that I will seek out information on how a story ends, if I plan to enjoy it myself later; but I won't object if you want to tell me what happens in a particular narrative for the purpose of discussing it further. In general, I agree with Scalzi's Spoiler Statute of Limitations, and I do my best to check with any audience or conversation circle before dropping spoilers.
A big part of this is that it's just plain difficult to avoid spoilers these days. Marketers and promoters seem to want to reveal more and more about their products all the time, to the point where I've literally seen a three-minute movie trailer and then felt no need to see the actual two-hour film, because I was pretty sure I knew everything important that was going to happen. Part of that is how formulaic some genres can be, but studios also want to reassure audiences about what to expect when they sit down in a theatre. And nobody can agree on how potentially damaging spoilers actually are.
You may recall seeing news articles like this one about a 2011 UC San Diego study on the psychology of spoilers, which trumpeted the conclusion that "Story Spoilers Don't Spoil Stories" (PDF). However! A more in-depth 2014 study titled "Spoiler Alert: Consequences of Narrative Spoilers for Dimensions of Enjoyment, Appreciation, and Transportation" (PDF), came to the exact opposite conclusion, reaffirming the conventional wisdom that spoilers can and do adversely affect an audience's enjoyment of a story:
There are many fun things in both The Mask and The Prestige besides their respective "twists," but they hold up to repeat viewings for two reasons, I think: one, because knowing what's coming allows you to appreciate the build-up to that reveal, hints and misdirects both; and two, because the point of each story is not just surprising the audience, but surprising the characters. We care about how the people in the story deal with the revelations, and knowing what's coming gives you a clear before-and-after view.
Finally, director M. Night Shyamalan demonstrates the proper way to pronounce the title of this blog post:
https://youtu.be/4LGu1sOvxYs
The Mask (1994)
and
The Prestige (2006)
Major spoilers after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/hOqVRwGVUkA
https://youtu.be/ijXruSzfGEc
For the record: I don't care that much about spoilers. That's not to say that I will seek out information on how a story ends, if I plan to enjoy it myself later; but I won't object if you want to tell me what happens in a particular narrative for the purpose of discussing it further. In general, I agree with Scalzi's Spoiler Statute of Limitations, and I do my best to check with any audience or conversation circle before dropping spoilers.
A big part of this is that it's just plain difficult to avoid spoilers these days. Marketers and promoters seem to want to reveal more and more about their products all the time, to the point where I've literally seen a three-minute movie trailer and then felt no need to see the actual two-hour film, because I was pretty sure I knew everything important that was going to happen. Part of that is how formulaic some genres can be, but studios also want to reassure audiences about what to expect when they sit down in a theatre. And nobody can agree on how potentially damaging spoilers actually are.
You may recall seeing news articles like this one about a 2011 UC San Diego study on the psychology of spoilers, which trumpeted the conclusion that "Story Spoilers Don't Spoil Stories" (PDF). However! A more in-depth 2014 study titled "Spoiler Alert: Consequences of Narrative Spoilers for Dimensions of Enjoyment, Appreciation, and Transportation" (PDF), came to the exact opposite conclusion, reaffirming the conventional wisdom that spoilers can and do adversely affect an audience's enjoyment of a story:
[A]lthough spoilers may not always "spoil" as much as one is intuitively led to believe, they can certainly harm the audience's experience, or at least specific facets of their responses to the narrative. The present results demonstrate that spoilers do not have a universally positive effect on enjoyment and related media gratifications... Clearly, for some audiences, the production and editing of trailers and promotional materials should aim to minimize spoiling narratives, while programmers who write code that helps fan communities avoid online spoilers (Liebelson, 2013; Nakamura & Komatsu, 2012) are likely providing a useful service.Scholarship on this topic is still pretty thin, with only a handful of studies to date. And there's an overwhelming tide of lay opinion which probably makes research difficult, from Joss Whedon calling surprise a "holy emotion" to Mark Evanier's friend Bob learning that Richard Dreyfuss is an alien. We instinctively want our first experience of a narrative to be completely fresh—perhaps because that's how real life works—and we each know how much story spoilage we ourselves will tolerate.
There are many fun things in both The Mask and The Prestige besides their respective "twists," but they hold up to repeat viewings for two reasons, I think: one, because knowing what's coming allows you to appreciate the build-up to that reveal, hints and misdirects both; and two, because the point of each story is not just surprising the audience, but surprising the characters. We care about how the people in the story deal with the revelations, and knowing what's coming gives you a clear before-and-after view.
Finally, director M. Night Shyamalan demonstrates the proper way to pronounce the title of this blog post:
https://youtu.be/4LGu1sOvxYs
September 28, 2015
#42Movies, Day 18: A Very Specific Milieu
Setting is everything here:
Office Space (1999)
and
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Take a tour after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/3_fG_zLbBeU
https://youtu.be/pfSL5uZO22c
I knew next to nothing about both of these movies when I walked into them. For Office Space, DeeAnn and I went to our local multiplex to see something else—I don't even remember what our original selection was—and ran into our friend Aaron Hallmark in line at the box office. He was a huge
For Master and Commander, I want to say DeeAnn and I were at the Metreon in San Francisco, possibly after having done something else in the city and wanting to extend our stay (to meet her 2:1 fun-time-to-travel-time requirement—long story, tell you later). I distinctly remember eating at a food-court-type place after the movie and talking about how much we liked it. Neither of us had read the late Patrick O'Brian's novels, but the film is extremely well made and completely immerses the audience in its historical era (to the point of skirting a few uncomfortably racist/sexist moments, but only incidentally, not maliciously or overtly).
Speaking of racism and sexism... I recall later discussing Master and Commander with another friend and having one of my most naked encounters with white male privilege. This friend said he didn't like the movie because he didn't buy its central premise: that a single ship patrolling around South America in 1805 could possibly affect the wartime fortunes of the Royal Navy against Napoleon's forces. I didn't even know where to begin to respond.
Because the point of the whole thing was the officers and crew of HMS Surprise believing in their duty, whether or not it was actually, strategically significant. It became clear to me, in that moment, that my friend wasn't interested in understanding what made the characters tick as people—he was only interested in analyzing them as the parts of a political machine. And it's sad but true: not caring who people are, only how you can use them, is an attitude endemic (though by no means exclusive) to straight white dudes.
I didn't try to talk to this friend much about fiction after that. (BTW, this was also the same guy who refused to travel by car unless he was driving the vehicle himself. Yup, he literally wouldn't go anywhere with you unless he felt like he was in control. OMG THE MAN PAIN)
But back to the movies. Both Office Space and Master and Commander make great use of the details of their specific time and place, from dialogue to costumes to music. To watch them is to briefly glimpse another world and get a fascinating view of the native culture, whether it's late twentieth century suburban Texas or a vessel sailing the Atlantic Ocean in the early nineteenth century. You can never visit either place now, but you can understand something about them through these stories. That's the point.
Office Space (1999)
and
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Take a tour after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/3_fG_zLbBeU
https://youtu.be/pfSL5uZO22c
I knew next to nothing about both of these movies when I walked into them. For Office Space, DeeAnn and I went to our local multiplex to see something else—I don't even remember what our original selection was—and ran into our friend Aaron Hallmark in line at the box office. He was a huge
For Master and Commander, I want to say DeeAnn and I were at the Metreon in San Francisco, possibly after having done something else in the city and wanting to extend our stay (to meet her 2:1 fun-time-to-travel-time requirement—long story, tell you later). I distinctly remember eating at a food-court-type place after the movie and talking about how much we liked it. Neither of us had read the late Patrick O'Brian's novels, but the film is extremely well made and completely immerses the audience in its historical era (to the point of skirting a few uncomfortably racist/sexist moments, but only incidentally, not maliciously or overtly).
Speaking of racism and sexism... I recall later discussing Master and Commander with another friend and having one of my most naked encounters with white male privilege. This friend said he didn't like the movie because he didn't buy its central premise: that a single ship patrolling around South America in 1805 could possibly affect the wartime fortunes of the Royal Navy against Napoleon's forces. I didn't even know where to begin to respond.
Because the point of the whole thing was the officers and crew of HMS Surprise believing in their duty, whether or not it was actually, strategically significant. It became clear to me, in that moment, that my friend wasn't interested in understanding what made the characters tick as people—he was only interested in analyzing them as the parts of a political machine. And it's sad but true: not caring who people are, only how you can use them, is an attitude endemic (though by no means exclusive) to straight white dudes.
I didn't try to talk to this friend much about fiction after that. (BTW, this was also the same guy who refused to travel by car unless he was driving the vehicle himself. Yup, he literally wouldn't go anywhere with you unless he felt like he was in control. OMG THE MAN PAIN)
But back to the movies. Both Office Space and Master and Commander make great use of the details of their specific time and place, from dialogue to costumes to music. To watch them is to briefly glimpse another world and get a fascinating view of the native culture, whether it's late twentieth century suburban Texas or a vessel sailing the Atlantic Ocean in the early nineteenth century. You can never visit either place now, but you can understand something about them through these stories. That's the point.
September 27, 2015
#42Movies, Day 17: At the Movies with DeeAnn
If you want to understand my wife, it might help to know that these are two of her favorite movies:
Zero Effect (1998)
and
Mumford (1999)
Backstory after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/eSH8Y3h5j-g
https://youtu.be/ed0SqVbiyBw
First order of business: both of these films are much better than those trailers make them look. Seriously. I'm talking light-years. Zero Effect is a brilliant modern retelling of "A Scandal in Bohemia," and Mumford is honestly unclassifiable, but even though it covers a lot of different narrative territory, it never feels like it's all over the map; it simply feels inclusive.
And here's another fun bit of trivia: Mumford was directed by Lawrence Kasdan, and Zero Effect was directed by... Jake Kasdan. That's right, it's a father-and-son filmmakers double feature! (DID I JUST BLOW YOUR MIND? No? Okay. Moving on.)
A few years ago, I wanted to plan something special to celebrate DeeAnn's birthday, and I hit upon the idea of a day out centered around a private little film festival. This was also the year before we moved out of the Bay Area, so I thought it'd be a nice way to catch up with people we might not see again before we relocated.
Here's the invitation I sent to our friends:
That day was, in fact, a whole lot of fun, and the private screening of Zero Effect and Mumford was pretty sweet. (I'm telling you: if I ever get rich someday, like GRRM rich, I'm totally going to buy a movie theatre.)
I was glad to be able to introduce these two movies to some people who hadn't seen them before, and happy to be able to experience them with DeeAnn again. She's very particular when it comes to comedies. She doesn't generally like broad schtick or outrageous physical stunts. She's more into offbeat dialogue, unusual relationships, and characters who feel real.
I've learned a lot about storytelling from watching movies and TV with DeeAnn—in particular, about how audiences want to connect with the people they see onscreen, and how that becomes easier if those characters seem like complete and authentic human beings. My writing (and, indeed, my life) is better now because of her.
Zero Effect (1998)
and
Mumford (1999)
Backstory after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/eSH8Y3h5j-g
https://youtu.be/ed0SqVbiyBw
First order of business: both of these films are much better than those trailers make them look. Seriously. I'm talking light-years. Zero Effect is a brilliant modern retelling of "A Scandal in Bohemia," and Mumford is honestly unclassifiable, but even though it covers a lot of different narrative territory, it never feels like it's all over the map; it simply feels inclusive.
And here's another fun bit of trivia: Mumford was directed by Lawrence Kasdan, and Zero Effect was directed by... Jake Kasdan. That's right, it's a father-and-son filmmakers double feature! (DID I JUST BLOW YOUR MIND? No? Okay. Moving on.)
A few years ago, I wanted to plan something special to celebrate DeeAnn's birthday, and I hit upon the idea of a day out centered around a private little film festival. This was also the year before we moved out of the Bay Area, so I thought it'd be a nice way to catch up with people we might not see again before we relocated.
Here's the invitation I sent to our friends:
That day was, in fact, a whole lot of fun, and the private screening of Zero Effect and Mumford was pretty sweet. (I'm telling you: if I ever get rich someday, like GRRM rich, I'm totally going to buy a movie theatre.)
I was glad to be able to introduce these two movies to some people who hadn't seen them before, and happy to be able to experience them with DeeAnn again. She's very particular when it comes to comedies. She doesn't generally like broad schtick or outrageous physical stunts. She's more into offbeat dialogue, unusual relationships, and characters who feel real.
I've learned a lot about storytelling from watching movies and TV with DeeAnn—in particular, about how audiences want to connect with the people they see onscreen, and how that becomes easier if those characters seem like complete and authentic human beings. My writing (and, indeed, my life) is better now because of her.
September 26, 2015
#42Movies, Day 16: When Curtis Met DeeAnn...
And speaking of strong female characters... These two films figured prominently in the week when I met the woman who is now my wife:
Titanic (1997)
and
As Good As It Gets (1997)
I'll explain after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/CHekzSiZjrY
https://youtu.be/rrRl2QQKkI8
In December of 1997, DeeAnn—who was living near Chicago at the time—flew out to the Bay Area to visit her best friend from high school, Karin, who (with her husband Bryan) happened to be my next-door apartment neighbor at the time. We actually met at another movie, the Stanford Theatre's annual Christmas Eve screening of It's a Wonderful Life (the viewing of which has become a holiday tradition for us).
I hadn't seen Titanic at that time, but DeeAnn was talking about it when she first arrived. So I went to see a matinee (I was working for AT&T at the time, and the company shut down for the entire week between Christmas and New Year's Day), so I could talk to her about it in detail.
Yeah, that was probably a signal right there.
A few days later, all four of us went to see As Good As It Gets together. It's a small, quirky movie, but makes good use of its unsympathetic comedy protagonist (played by Jack Nicholson) to push all the characters into unexpected situations and relationships which blossom into real human concerns. Okay, that flowery description might oversell it, but it's good beyond my own personal history. And yes, that is Julie Benz as the hapless receptionist in the trailer.
One of the other movies we watched that week was Sophie's Choice. I don't remember why. Does seem kinda weird in retrospect. Anyway.
DeeAnn moved to the Bay Area in 1998. We moved in together in 2000 and got married in 2005. This winter, we'll have been together for eighteen years. I look forward to growing old with her—like, at least as old as that Titanic lady—with more movies, more anniversaries, and more happy memories every year.
Titanic (1997)
and
As Good As It Gets (1997)
I'll explain after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/CHekzSiZjrY
https://youtu.be/rrRl2QQKkI8
In December of 1997, DeeAnn—who was living near Chicago at the time—flew out to the Bay Area to visit her best friend from high school, Karin, who (with her husband Bryan) happened to be my next-door apartment neighbor at the time. We actually met at another movie, the Stanford Theatre's annual Christmas Eve screening of It's a Wonderful Life (the viewing of which has become a holiday tradition for us).
I hadn't seen Titanic at that time, but DeeAnn was talking about it when she first arrived. So I went to see a matinee (I was working for AT&T at the time, and the company shut down for the entire week between Christmas and New Year's Day), so I could talk to her about it in detail.
Yeah, that was probably a signal right there.
A few days later, all four of us went to see As Good As It Gets together. It's a small, quirky movie, but makes good use of its unsympathetic comedy protagonist (played by Jack Nicholson) to push all the characters into unexpected situations and relationships which blossom into real human concerns. Okay, that flowery description might oversell it, but it's good beyond my own personal history. And yes, that is Julie Benz as the hapless receptionist in the trailer.
One of the other movies we watched that week was Sophie's Choice. I don't remember why. Does seem kinda weird in retrospect. Anyway.
DeeAnn moved to the Bay Area in 1998. We moved in together in 2000 and got married in 2005. This winter, we'll have been together for eighteen years. I look forward to growing old with her—like, at least as old as that Titanic lady—with more movies, more anniversaries, and more happy memories every year.
September 25, 2015
#42Movies, Day 15: Strong Female Characters
Speaking of Joss Whedon (video)... this list could be much, much longer:
Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
and
The Peacemaker (1997)
...but it still wouldn't be long enough. Let's talk after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/tApZSKjDfOE
https://youtu.be/QG8O3Cr9kEs
Earlier this week, parody news site The Onion ran an article titled "Screen Actors Guild Develops Retraining Program For 30-Year-Old Actresses Aging Out Of Workforce." It's a spot-on satire, and it's as painful as it is funny.
Because it's true: Hollywood today has very little use for actresses over thirty. (Even less for non-white women who want to play lead roles, but that's another topic.) Even as TV viewers flock to shows like The Good Wife and Orange is the New Black and anything from Shonda Rhimes, movie producers still shy away from from female protagonists for bogus reasons we need to banish for good.
Politics aside, these are two highly entertaining films. Long Kiss Goodnight is one of our go-to holiday movies, even with the uncomfortable moments which probably weren't as bad pre-9/11. And Peacemaker not only has a classic Hans Zimmer score—it's one of my favorite soundtracks for writing—it also has fun with its Kidman-Clooney, brains-versus-brawn buddy pairing. Director Mimi Leder really doesn't get enough credit for working humanity into her action pictures (Deep Impact is another of my sentimental favorites. ASTRONAUTS IN TROUBLE MAN).
Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
and
The Peacemaker (1997)
...but it still wouldn't be long enough. Let's talk after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/tApZSKjDfOE
https://youtu.be/QG8O3Cr9kEs
Earlier this week, parody news site The Onion ran an article titled "Screen Actors Guild Develops Retraining Program For 30-Year-Old Actresses Aging Out Of Workforce." It's a spot-on satire, and it's as painful as it is funny.
Because it's true: Hollywood today has very little use for actresses over thirty. (Even less for non-white women who want to play lead roles, but that's another topic.) Even as TV viewers flock to shows like The Good Wife and Orange is the New Black and anything from Shonda Rhimes, movie producers still shy away from from female protagonists for bogus reasons we need to banish for good.
Politics aside, these are two highly entertaining films. Long Kiss Goodnight is one of our go-to holiday movies, even with the uncomfortable moments which probably weren't as bad pre-9/11. And Peacemaker not only has a classic Hans Zimmer score—it's one of my favorite soundtracks for writing—it also has fun with its Kidman-Clooney, brains-versus-brawn buddy pairing. Director Mimi Leder really doesn't get enough credit for working humanity into her action pictures (Deep Impact is another of my sentimental favorites. ASTRONAUTS IN TROUBLE MAN).
September 24, 2015
#42Movies, Day 14: Violence Begets Violence
"So help me God, I thought it was a 'doggy-dog' world."
Year of the Dragon (1985)
and
The Untouchables (1987)
Everybody hurts after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/HRGBV5eSbyQ
https://youtu.be/YbzkK06MJjE
As I said at the start of this thing, the movies I highlight here are not necessarily my all-time favorites. They're just a selected few which made sense in pairs to illuminate some aspect of my character.
I remember watching these two movies in high school, during sleepovers at friends' houses, on rented VHS tapes. (Remember those?) I remember we thought we were getting away with something, because we tended to pick R-rated movies—i.e., films we might not have been able to get into a theatre to see—and our parents, all first-generation immigrants, didn't know enough about American popular culture to realize a bunch of teenage boys probably shouldn't be watching Nine 1/2 Weeks. (True story. We were not impressed, as it turns out.)
The trailer for Year of the Dragon ends with my favorite quotation from the film, but the scene that sticks with me the most is the gang initiation, when one young Chinese man chases another up against a chain-link fence and then shoots him at point blank range with a handgun, killing him. It's presented in a series of bloody close-ups, and that closeness makes it more personal and gruesome than any of the big action set pieces in the film.
Similarly, the baseball bat scene in The Untouchables stuck with me, not least because it was the bloodiest thing I'd seen in any movie up to that point. It was also the way the characters reacted to the violence, capping the tension that had been building since the start of the film: it's the moment in the film when Capone's mask comes off, as it were, and we see how insidious his villainy truly is.
And that brings us to Joss Whedon.
Astute readers will notice that the second link at the top of this blog post goes to an R.E.M. music video, which I think of as the "Earshot" music video. "Earshot" was my first real introduction to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show which changed my life.
In a 2001 interview (pre-9/11) with The A.V. Club, Whedon had this to say about his "responsibility to society:"
There are story reasons for that, but I also personally don't want to glorify or glamorize those objects, which are already fetishized by plenty of other media. Yes, guns look cool; yes, they make the people who wield them feel powerful. Those are lies. I'm not afraid of people who have guns. I'm afraid of the people who have the power to make the people with guns want to shoot each other.
Year of the Dragon (1985)
and
The Untouchables (1987)
Everybody hurts after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/HRGBV5eSbyQ
https://youtu.be/YbzkK06MJjE
As I said at the start of this thing, the movies I highlight here are not necessarily my all-time favorites. They're just a selected few which made sense in pairs to illuminate some aspect of my character.
I remember watching these two movies in high school, during sleepovers at friends' houses, on rented VHS tapes. (Remember those?) I remember we thought we were getting away with something, because we tended to pick R-rated movies—i.e., films we might not have been able to get into a theatre to see—and our parents, all first-generation immigrants, didn't know enough about American popular culture to realize a bunch of teenage boys probably shouldn't be watching Nine 1/2 Weeks. (True story. We were not impressed, as it turns out.)
The trailer for Year of the Dragon ends with my favorite quotation from the film, but the scene that sticks with me the most is the gang initiation, when one young Chinese man chases another up against a chain-link fence and then shoots him at point blank range with a handgun, killing him. It's presented in a series of bloody close-ups, and that closeness makes it more personal and gruesome than any of the big action set pieces in the film.
Similarly, the baseball bat scene in The Untouchables stuck with me, not least because it was the bloodiest thing I'd seen in any movie up to that point. It was also the way the characters reacted to the violence, capping the tension that had been building since the start of the film: it's the moment in the film when Capone's mask comes off, as it were, and we see how insidious his villainy truly is.
And that brings us to Joss Whedon.
Astute readers will notice that the second link at the top of this blog post goes to an R.E.M. music video, which I think of as the "Earshot" music video. "Earshot" was my first real introduction to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show which changed my life.
In a 2001 interview (pre-9/11) with The A.V. Club, Whedon had this to say about his "responsibility to society:"
People say, "After Columbine, do you feel a responsibility about the way you portray violence?" And I'm like, "No, I felt a responsibility about the way I portrayed violence the first time I picked up a pen."My debut novel is coming out next summer. It's a science fiction spy thriller, set against the backdrop of a recent interplanetary war, seasoned with a fair amount of pseudo-military foofaraw. But when the publisher asked me for cover ideas, one of the few things I requested was to NOT show any firearms or obvious weapons.
There are story reasons for that, but I also personally don't want to glorify or glamorize those objects, which are already fetishized by plenty of other media. Yes, guns look cool; yes, they make the people who wield them feel powerful. Those are lies. I'm not afraid of people who have guns. I'm afraid of the people who have the power to make the people with guns want to shoot each other.
September 23, 2015
I Turn 42 Next Week
And you're invited to come celebrate with DeeAnn and me, if you're in the Portland area! We've planned a variety of "CKL=42" events for you to choose from...
Wednesday, 6-10pm: "West Side Karaoke"
Voicebox NW (2112 NW Hoyt)
Please RSVP on Facebook* if you plan to join us; we're getting a private suite which holds 30 people (more if we want to get cozy). Singing is not required! I will be happy to croon at a captive audience all night long. :) We'll provide some food and non-alcoholic drinks; you buy your own booze and additional munchies if you like.
Thursday, 8pm: "Rifftrax Live: Miami Connection"
Regal Cinemas Lloyd Center (outside the mall), 1510 NE Multnomah St
Buy your own ticket and meet us at the theatre. Get there early (7:30pm) for the pre-show!
Friday, 11am: "Tea and Company"
Wong's King Seafood Restaurant, 8733 SE Division St, Suite 101
Meet us for a dim sum lunch! We eat family style, so we'll just split the bill evenly among everyone who shows up. Please RSVP on Facebook* so we know how many people are coming (they don't take reservations, so there will be a wait).
Saturday, ~2pm: "Game Day Afternoon"
Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd Ave
We plan to hang out for a few hours in the Courtyard Restaurant and play various games (and eat and drink). Stop by whenever and join the fun!
Sunday, ~11am: "Breakfast on Mars"
Time/Place TBD
Meet us for breakfast and a movie ( The Martian ) in the wilds of Vancouver—you buy your own food/ticket. Cinetopia won't publish their showtimes until next week, so if you're interested, RSVP on Facebook* to get updates!
* If you're not on Facebook, just send me an e-mail to let us know which event(s) you're coming to!
And please don't feel obligated to join us for any of these activities, if they don't appeal to you. The two of us know how to have a great time all on our own. IF YOU KNOW WHAT MEAN ;)
(And yes, I know "please RSVP" is technically a redundant phrase. Colloquial usage
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
Wednesday, 6-10pm: "West Side Karaoke"
Voicebox NW (2112 NW Hoyt)
Please RSVP on Facebook* if you plan to join us; we're getting a private suite which holds 30 people (more if we want to get cozy). Singing is not required! I will be happy to croon at a captive audience all night long. :) We'll provide some food and non-alcoholic drinks; you buy your own booze and additional munchies if you like.
Thursday, 8pm: "Rifftrax Live: Miami Connection"
Regal Cinemas Lloyd Center (outside the mall), 1510 NE Multnomah St
Buy your own ticket and meet us at the theatre. Get there early (7:30pm) for the pre-show!
Friday, 11am: "Tea and Company"
Wong's King Seafood Restaurant, 8733 SE Division St, Suite 101
Meet us for a dim sum lunch! We eat family style, so we'll just split the bill evenly among everyone who shows up. Please RSVP on Facebook* so we know how many people are coming (they don't take reservations, so there will be a wait).
Saturday, ~2pm: "Game Day Afternoon"
Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd Ave
We plan to hang out for a few hours in the Courtyard Restaurant and play various games (and eat and drink). Stop by whenever and join the fun!
Sunday, ~11am: "Breakfast on Mars"
Time/Place TBD
Meet us for breakfast and a movie ( The Martian ) in the wilds of Vancouver—you buy your own food/ticket. Cinetopia won't publish their showtimes until next week, so if you're interested, RSVP on Facebook* to get updates!
* If you're not on Facebook, just send me an e-mail to let us know which event(s) you're coming to!
And please don't feel obligated to join us for any of these activities, if they don't appeal to you. The two of us know how to have a great time all on our own. IF YOU KNOW WHAT MEAN ;)
(And yes, I know "please RSVP" is technically a redundant phrase. Colloquial usage
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
#42Movies, Day 13: Must Be Your Lucky Day
Happy equinox, everyone! This is the thirteenth of my daily 42-movies-in-21-days blog posts, so I'm just going right on the nose here:
Apollo 13 (1995)
and
The 13th Warrior (1999)
Compare and contrast after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/KtEIMC58sZo
https://youtu.be/6nkTZKiOLzI
If you know anything about me, you know I'm a bit of a space nerd. And so you might imagine that Apollo 13 would be exactly my kind of movie. YOU WOULD BE CORRECT. (I'm also pretty excited about The Martian , which opens the day after my actual birthday next week.)
I was born after Apollo 17, the last time humans walked on the Moon, and I'm not holding my breath for us getting to Mars within my lifetime. (What can I say, I'm a pessimist. THIRTEEN.) So I've always been fascinated by the Apollo program as a piece of history.
The Right Stuff was an interesting prelude, and HBO's From the Earth to the Moon miniseries delved deeper into a lot of the engineering and interpersonal details, but Apollo 13 might be the best film dramatization of a space mission to date, in that it compresses a lot of the long-term planning and decision-making into the story of a single crisis.
On the other hand, The 13th Warrior is fiction, just in case you couldn't tell from the fact that Antonio Banderas plays an Arabic courtier named "Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan." The film is based on Michael Crichton's 1976 novel Eaters of the Dead, a mash-up of actual 10th-century Arab Ahmad ibn Fadlan's travelogues and the legend of Beowulf.
Two things I love about 13th Warrior are how it (accurately) portrays the Vikings as barbaric and uncivilized next to their Arab visitors, and how much tension it packs into every action sequence. Say what you want about John McTiernan, but the guy knows how to direct an action movie (or at least he did, back in the days of Predator and Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October).
One final note: there's some mention of thirteen being an unlucky number in Apollo 13, but it's actually a sign of good fortune in 13th Warrior (and the reason Antonio Banderas' character is coaxed into joining the adventure). Numbers are only as meaningful as we want to make them, but they can become powerful symbols.
Apollo 13 (1995)
and
The 13th Warrior (1999)
Compare and contrast after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/KtEIMC58sZo
https://youtu.be/6nkTZKiOLzI
If you know anything about me, you know I'm a bit of a space nerd. And so you might imagine that Apollo 13 would be exactly my kind of movie. YOU WOULD BE CORRECT. (I'm also pretty excited about The Martian , which opens the day after my actual birthday next week.)
I was born after Apollo 17, the last time humans walked on the Moon, and I'm not holding my breath for us getting to Mars within my lifetime. (What can I say, I'm a pessimist. THIRTEEN.) So I've always been fascinated by the Apollo program as a piece of history.
The Right Stuff was an interesting prelude, and HBO's From the Earth to the Moon miniseries delved deeper into a lot of the engineering and interpersonal details, but Apollo 13 might be the best film dramatization of a space mission to date, in that it compresses a lot of the long-term planning and decision-making into the story of a single crisis.
On the other hand, The 13th Warrior is fiction, just in case you couldn't tell from the fact that Antonio Banderas plays an Arabic courtier named "Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan." The film is based on Michael Crichton's 1976 novel Eaters of the Dead, a mash-up of actual 10th-century Arab Ahmad ibn Fadlan's travelogues and the legend of Beowulf.
Two things I love about 13th Warrior are how it (accurately) portrays the Vikings as barbaric and uncivilized next to their Arab visitors, and how much tension it packs into every action sequence. Say what you want about John McTiernan, but the guy knows how to direct an action movie (or at least he did, back in the days of Predator and Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October).
One final note: there's some mention of thirteen being an unlucky number in Apollo 13, but it's actually a sign of good fortune in 13th Warrior (and the reason Antonio Banderas' character is coaxed into joining the adventure). Numbers are only as meaningful as we want to make them, but they can become powerful symbols.
September 22, 2015
#42Movies, Day 12: And a Twinkle in His Eye
So, speaking of Kurt Russell...
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
and
Executive Decision (1996)
Breakdown after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/1P0A8pS1JF8
https://youtu.be/3dyQBOBTmHw
Here's a bold claim for you: Scott Bakula is to television as Kurt Russell is to movies. That is to say, they're both perennially pleasant leading men who can inhabit a decent range of roles. I'll go out on a limb and say that Russell's a bit more versatile than Bakula—case in point, he played both Snake Plissken in John Carpenter's Escape from New York and the voice of the hound in Disney's The Fox and the Hound in the same year (1981).
The thing I love about Big Trouble in Little China (also a John Carpenter joint) is that Kurt Russell's character is actually the bumbling sidekick to Dennis Dun's protagonist—Wang Chi's desires and relationships are what drive the story through its crazy funhouse of Chinese mysticism, and the white dude is just along for the ride.
Ten years later, Russell played another unlikely hero in Executive Decision—he's not a soldier or anything, just an intelligence analyst. I suspect the filmmakers were trying for a Hunt for Red October vibe, which didn't quite work out. This isn't what you'd call a "good" movie, but the parade of familiar faces who have done better work is pretty amusing: Steven Seagal shows up, Halle Berry helps save the day, David Suchet picks up a paycheck, and John Leguizamo plays what may be the straightest role of his career.
Kurt Russell is now 64 years old, and still getting good roles; his appearance in Furious 7 was brief but entertaining, and apparently he's doing Westerns again? Whatever. He's come a long way from The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes.
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
and
Executive Decision (1996)
Breakdown after the trailers.
https://youtu.be/1P0A8pS1JF8
https://youtu.be/3dyQBOBTmHw
Here's a bold claim for you: Scott Bakula is to television as Kurt Russell is to movies. That is to say, they're both perennially pleasant leading men who can inhabit a decent range of roles. I'll go out on a limb and say that Russell's a bit more versatile than Bakula—case in point, he played both Snake Plissken in John Carpenter's Escape from New York and the voice of the hound in Disney's The Fox and the Hound in the same year (1981).
The thing I love about Big Trouble in Little China (also a John Carpenter joint) is that Kurt Russell's character is actually the bumbling sidekick to Dennis Dun's protagonist—Wang Chi's desires and relationships are what drive the story through its crazy funhouse of Chinese mysticism, and the white dude is just along for the ride.
Ten years later, Russell played another unlikely hero in Executive Decision—he's not a soldier or anything, just an intelligence analyst. I suspect the filmmakers were trying for a Hunt for Red October vibe, which didn't quite work out. This isn't what you'd call a "good" movie, but the parade of familiar faces who have done better work is pretty amusing: Steven Seagal shows up, Halle Berry helps save the day, David Suchet picks up a paycheck, and John Leguizamo plays what may be the straightest role of his career.
Kurt Russell is now 64 years old, and still getting good roles; his appearance in Furious 7 was brief but entertaining, and apparently he's doing Westerns again? Whatever. He's come a long way from The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes.
September 21, 2015
#42Movies, Day 11: Egregious Egyptology
"You call this archaeology?"
Stargate (1994)
and
The Mummy (1999)
We'll dig into it after the trailers.*
https://youtu.be/kiJtZUPvJxY
https://youtu.be/h3ptPtxWJRs
I saw an advance screening of Stargate at the Aquarius Theatre in Palo Alto. It was some kind of American Express** members-only promotional thing. I remember the crowd responding mostly favorably, but as we all know, the best thing about that movie is that it begat the Stargate television universe. But that's another story.
The 1999 Mummy film started as a remake/reboot of the 1932 Universal picture starring horror icon Boris Karloff, but somewhere along the way transmuted into something a lot more fun. And yes, many elements in its portrayal of modern Egypt remain problematic, but the movie's success also made possible a sequel in which Rachel Weisz's character actually gets to kick some ass. And it introduced Oded Fehr to the world, so we'll call that a net positive.
* SOMEBODY STOP ME
** I got an American Express BLUE card when it first became available, mostly because it was the only AMEX card available without an annual fee. The card originally had an embedded smart-chip and came with a USB reader device for secure online shopping (which was an all-around FAIL: I could never actually get the reader to work AND I'M A COMPUTER SCIENTIST). A few years later, AMEX removed the chip from their Blue cards. I wonder if they'll put it back now that everyone's moving to EMV...
Stargate (1994)
and
The Mummy (1999)
We'll dig into it after the trailers.*
https://youtu.be/kiJtZUPvJxY
https://youtu.be/h3ptPtxWJRs
I saw an advance screening of Stargate at the Aquarius Theatre in Palo Alto. It was some kind of American Express** members-only promotional thing. I remember the crowd responding mostly favorably, but as we all know, the best thing about that movie is that it begat the Stargate television universe. But that's another story.
The 1999 Mummy film started as a remake/reboot of the 1932 Universal picture starring horror icon Boris Karloff, but somewhere along the way transmuted into something a lot more fun. And yes, many elements in its portrayal of modern Egypt remain problematic, but the movie's success also made possible a sequel in which Rachel Weisz's character actually gets to kick some ass. And it introduced Oded Fehr to the world, so we'll call that a net positive.
* SOMEBODY STOP ME
** I got an American Express BLUE card when it first became available, mostly because it was the only AMEX card available without an annual fee. The card originally had an embedded smart-chip and came with a USB reader device for secure online shopping (which was an all-around FAIL: I could never actually get the reader to work AND I'M A COMPUTER SCIENTIST). A few years later, AMEX removed the chip from their Blue cards. I wonder if they'll put it back now that everyone's moving to EMV...
