E.R. Torre's Blog, page 133

Woodstock, then and now…

One of the more iconic music events of the 1960’s was Woodstock.  The music festival was captured on film and a very popular album was released with some of the iconic music/musicians and their acts.

This is the album’s iconic cover:

Now check this out, a photograph of that same couple years later.  Yes, they’re still a couple!

If you’re curious, here’s an article by Bobbi Ercoline, the woman in the picture, stating how she came to find they were the source of that image:

That’s me in the picture: Bobbi Ercoline, 20, at Woodstock, 17 August 1969

Fun and fascinating stuff!

 

So this happened yesterday…

They dropped a new trailer for the “Ultimate Edition” of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and its chock full of new scenes:

I don’t want to once again get into my defense of the movie (as anyone who has come here regularly knows, I thought the film was terrific even as I acknowledged it seemed hacked up/disjointed at points, something I suspect this “ultimate” edition will resolve), but there was one comment on YouTube with this trailer by “fero player” which, if you’ll pardon me for doing so, I’ll reproduce here in its entirety:

Batman’s entire character arc in this film is about him becoming a hero again. He’s introduced here as the monster, the devil in the shadows. Taking down criminals not to save these women, but for a lead on Kryptonite so he can destroy Superman. The murder of Robin by The Joker and watching Superman’s battle with Zod destroy Metropolis has broken him. He feels powerless against a cruel world he can’t control any longer, and that rage has turned a good man cruel. He now kills to defend himself and other people, and brands the most heinous criminals to condemn them. Cold-blooded murder will be his final step. When he hears Superman use (what he thinks is) his dying breath to beg him to save his mother, he finally sees that he has become the villain. It’s not about their mothers having the same name. It’s about Batman realizing that he is no different than the monster who killed his parents and created him. In throwing down the spear and saving Superman’s mother, he also saves himself. Anyone who looks at that entire scene and sees nothing but a shitty Step Brothers meme, they wrote BvS off before it was even filmed. They already hated it because they didn’t like Man of Steel, or they don’t like Zack Snyder, or they don’t like the idea of DC having their own Cinematic Universe. God forbid that a film actually have subtext instead of lame quips and long-winded explanations.

I present the above because at its heart this is why I found BvS such a compelling movie.  In my original review, I stated the following:

…the Batman we see here is in a fever state.  He’s off his game and very flawed, locked in on the goal of ridding the world of the danger he feels Superman represents.  The more rational Batman we are accustomed to would have realized certain things were occurring and manipulations were being made but because of his rage, this Batman misses them…until it’s almost too late.

In my “second look” at the film, I wrote this:

…it was a surprise and delight the way the filmmakers dealt with the character of Batman/Bruce Wayne.  This was an original take on the character even as it used -and did not ignore- his previous history.  Here we have someone whose world-view has radically changed.  His anger and sense of outrage were inflamed by the events of Man of Steel (we witness that film’s conclusion through the eyes of Bruce Wayne in one of the film’s standout sequences) and this has changed him for the worse.  Batman is singularly focused on destroying Superman, who he views as a danger to mankind, and this singularity in focus makes him fall prey to being used by others…

As presented in the theatrical cut, our primary focus is indeed the story of Batman’s “fall” (his second origin, the conclusion of Man of Steel) and subsequent redemption.  As was mentioned in the first quote, Batman has taken a dark road and was in danger of becoming just like his parents’ murderer (this is why it was important to present, despite the fact that it has been shown so often before, the deaths of Bruce Wayne’s parents).

But what also intrigues me about this new trailer is that it appears Batman’s story was given more emphasis while Superman/Lois Lane’s was whittled down.  Look at the trailer again and you’ll notice many, perhaps most of the new sequences revolve around either Superman/Clark Kent and/or Lois Lane, including a larger African scene, what appears to be Clark Kent investigating Batman a little more, as well as Lois Lane doing the same regarding the African situation.

Was the focus on Batman’s story arc at the expense of a similar arc for Superman?

I wonder.

On 6/28 the Digital version of the film will be released and on 7/19 the BluRay appears.

I’ll be most curious to see it then.

21 Movie Sequels that took far too long…

…to make:

21 Movie Sequels that took far too long to make

Have to admit, I’m fascinated with the list.  For your convenience the list is presented in order and, therefore, the last movie on the list was the sequel that took the longest to make vis a vis the original.

I won’t spoil which film it is, but I’ll offer a couple of hints: That particular film’s sequel appeared a whopping 28 years after the original was released in 1982 and, even more interesting, actually featured the lead actors from the original film, though their roles were smaller in the sequel (gotta have young faces as the leads, I suppose).

I reviewed the sequel a while back and didn’t like it very much but, let’s face it, other than the original’s then-magnificent effects, the first movie wasn’t all that great to begin with either.

By the way, I agree with the inclusion of Superman Returns on this list.  It appeared 26 years after the last, Christopher Reeve starring feature, essentially ignored the events of Superman III and IV, and had a new actor (Brandon Routh) play the role of Superman.  This last bit, of course and very sadly, had to be done.

Thinking about Superman Returns fills me with frustration.  I really loved Christopher Reeve/Richard Donner’s take on Superman and still feel, despite its age and now dated effects, the first Superman film is the best superhero movie ever made.  Clearly director Bryan Singer (X-Men, Usual Suspects) also felt a great deal of love for that film and the proof of this fact is that Superman Returns is essentially a remake of the original Superman.

Unfortunately, it is a pale, dull, though admittedly reverent echo and could never be much more than that.  The question I had after seeing it was: Why see Superman Returns when I can see the far better Superman?  Talk about unnecessary!

In the end, Superman Returns could -and should!- have been a great “new” film and instead, because director Bryan Singer decided to make “his” version of the original Superman, it turned out to be a plodding remake.

What a missed opportunity!

Feelin’ blue

I knew her for exactly one school year, our sophomore year, in High School.

I was a stranger to that town and for years didn’t feel comfortable in my own clothing.  Moving from country to country has a way of making you introspective, shy.  You don’t want to reach out to others for fear they’ll soon be gone.

She was in one of my classes.  I don’t recall which, but we got to be friends.  Perhaps she took pity on me.  She was very attractive and had the eyes of many others, including some of the more popular people in the school and I was, compared to them, a quiet oddball.

I admit it, I was smitten.

The year ended and when I returned to school for our junior, then senior years, I hoped to reconnect with her but that was not to be.  Apart from that first year we didn’t share another class together.  I saw her here and there on campus but we never had another conversation and never shared another laugh.  She had her circle of friends and they didn’t include me or my geeky friends.

I saw her one last time on perhaps the very last day of High School.  It was an outdoor get-together for the graduating Seniors and we were milling about or sitting on the lawn and hanging out in groups.  I saw her sitting with a female friend and by a teacher I knew and decided to formally say goodbye to her.

I was still painfully shy but built up my courage and sat down near her.  My shyness had my mind in overdrive and I tried to work into talking to her by first acting like I sat there with the intention of talking to that teacher.  I caught her eye but we wound up not saying anything to each other.  Another friend of mine -one many students didn’t like because he was even more of an oddball than me- sat down next to me a moment after I did and broke up the whole thing.

I never did get to say goodbye.

Many years later another friend of mine from High School told me -though my memories were vague about this- that she was in an accident and in a coma.

These were the days before the internet and given how far away she was versus where I lived, there was no way to verify the information and so I could do nothing but let it go.

Fast forward to last weekend and some twenty two plus years later.  My youngest daughter is about to go to College and she chooses one that coincidentally happens to be a short fifteen minute drive from my old High School.

While up there, I get curious and, thanks to the magic of Google, start looking up old friends from High School.  I look up that girl I was so smitten with for that one magical year and what I find breaks my heart.

That beautiful girl I knew back in High School passed away at the age of 34 in the year 2000.

I searched for more information but couldn’t find much.  Her obituary simply states that she passed away and lists her immediate family as relatives.  There is no mention of a husband and, I suppose it was for the best, any children.

I searched even harder but the fact is she passed away just as the internet was about to become the fountain of information it is now and unfortunately there was precious little I could glean about her years following High School.  What I did find was that she went to college, joined a sorority, and was there for four years.  Between her graduation from College in approximately 1988 and the year she died there was precious little else to find.

I contacted my other High School friend, the one that told me years before that she had been in a car crash and in a coma, and asked him for more details.  When exactly did he find out about this?  Was there any more he learned?

Based on estimations and guesswork, we reasoned he must have found out about her accident and subsequent hospitalization in and around our 10th year High School reunion, perhaps 1994.

Which crushed me all the more.

I’ve worked with victims of accidents and head trauma and any number of debilitating conditions and the sad fact is that one can live (though there is a bitter irony to using that particular word) for years in such a condition before passing away.

Had this happened to her?

I could only guess that it perhaps had.  It explained why she had no significant other or children listed among her family and relatives in her obituary.

And it just made me all the sadder.

While my old friend passed away 16 years ago (ironically, in and around the likely age we were when we first met), 2016 has been a terrible year, so far, for deaths and though this one took place so many years before its hit me just as hard.

Rest in peace, Julie.

I hope what life you lived in those too short years was as beautiful as you were in my childhood eyes.

Paradox (2016) a (right on time…pun intended!) review

It is often, at least for me, to find that “bad” movies are the result of a bad screenplay/story.  While these films may exhibit any other number of problems, from bad acting to bad direction/editing/cinematography, usually the worst sin a “bad” film has is related to its story.

Which brings me to Paradox.  Currently available On Demand or for free through Netflix (or was it Amazon Prime?!), Paradox is a time travel murder mystery which stars stuntwoman turned actress Zoe Bell.  Without further ado, the movie’s trailer:

Not too bad looking, if you’re into Time Travel-type tales.  Me?  I’m interested in ’em so when given the chance, I gave the movie a watch.

As I hinted above, the movie wasn’t all that good.  Mind you, it wasn’t horrible, but it just…wasn’t very good.  I can’t in good conscience recommend it to anyone, even if you’re into time travel features.

What was most curious, however, was the fact that perhaps for the first time I can recall, I found this “bad” movie’s problem lay squarely at the feet of just about everything but the screenplay/story.

Before getting into that, let me backtrack just a little: Paradox involves a small, clandestine group of scientists who are working on a time machine.  I won’t go into too many spoilers here, but suffice it to say that this group locks themselves in a heavily fortified (and relatively large) basement and are about to make their first attempt at time traveling on the night the movie begins.

When the first time travelling subject -one of the small group’s members- goes forward in time by one hour, he encounters a horror show: Blood, bodies, and general mayhem.  Further, a self-destruct sequence has been initiated and there are only minutes left before the facility goes up in flames.

The world’s first time traveler runs through the facility and finds even more evidence of grisly murder.  He quickly realizes someone in their small group is a murderer but, because the time machine is using up the entire city’s electricity, he cannot get out of the facility and, with time literally winding down, reactivates the machine and travels back to moments after he first left.

He encounters his now living companions and warns them of what is to come.

Just as he was and hour from then, the group is trapped within the fortified facility.  They do, however, still have use of the time machine…can they beat fate?

The time travel premise may not be super incredibly original but in the context of what we’re seeing its not bad.  Further, the screenplay/story is, to my eyes anyway, quite clever and provides, by the end, a very satisfying explanation/wrap up for everything that’s come before.

…but…

Man does this film have other problems.

Let’s start with the biggest: The acting.  I really hate to do this, but apart from Zoe Bell, the acting within this film is for the most part simply not very good.  The dialogue, which at times could have been quite clever and even humorous, most often falls flat because of the delivery.

Unfortunately, the problems don’t stop there.  The movie’s direction is mediocre and the budget was obviously very low, which hurts the overall product.  This is particularly evident toward the film’s “explosive” climax.

And yet…

Seriously, the story presented was, dare I say it, clever.  While , the movie’s director, may not be all that good, the very same Michael Hurst, Paradox’s writer, isn’t all that bad.

It’s quite the…dare I say it…paradox, no?

In the end and as I said above, I cannot recommend Paradox in spite of the fact that in more capable hands I could easily see this film succeeding with its story alone.

Too bad.

Time gets us all…

Years ago I recall seeing this magazine on the newsstands with what was then a surprising image/interview of actor Cary Grant.

The image was surprising to see because it had been years since Mr. Grant retired from acting and to suddenly see him re-appear and have this “silver fox” look was stunning.  To many, like me, he was frozen in time thanks to the magic of cinema and might be recalled by the way he looked in the mid-1960’s, in his last movie role before retiring…

Or perhaps in his prime, one of the more handsome Hollywood lead actors ever…

Shortly after this GQ article came the sad news of Mr. Grant’s passing, and I distinctly recall reading another magazine offering a tribute to the legendary actor.  While I can’t remember the exact details of the entire article, one line at the start of it really hit me.

It went something lIke this: “The actor you thought would live forever has passed away.”

I could understand the sentiment and the shock of seeing someone I had seen so many times before on the silver screen in their “prime” suddenly looking so old…so frail.

These sentiments came back really strong when images of another favorite actor of mine, who interestingly enough is tangentially tied in to Mr. Grant, was caught out and about shopping with his wife…

There are plenty of others pictures out there to show (it appears paparazzi followed this individual and his wife around for a while), but suffice it to say that if I wasn’t aware of who this is, I likely never would have guessed.

The above picture is of Sean Connery and his wife Michelle Roquebrune out shopping.

As I said above, Cary Grant and Mr. Connery share a tangential relationship.  Though they were never in a film together (to the best of my memory!) the Cary Grant film North By Northwest (directed by Alfred Hitchcock) was a big inspiration for the James Bond films.  In fact, when the producers of the Bond films were working on developing the property, they wanted Cary Grant to play the secret agent but he ultimately declined because he didn’t want to tie himself to more than one film, thus paving the way for Sean Connery (who effected a Cary Grant-like suave style).

Interestingly enough, like Cary Grant, Mr. Connery also retired from making films and has stuck to this promise, thus also “freezing” himself in time, making us remember him like this…

The image above is from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Mr. Connery’s last movie role before retiring.  Of course, we also may remember Mr. Connery like this…

I truly hope Mr. Connery is enjoying his retirement.  I presented the above image not to shock but rather to show, as if anyone needs to be reminded, that the passage of time affects us all.

I’d be remiss…

…if I didn’t show this, an image currently making some folks on the internet crazy:

What you have here is a brick wall (that’s the obvious part) with a hidden object in it.  Took me at least five minutes to figure out what the hidden object was and, of course, where it was.  Now I can’t “unsee” it.

For those having trouble figuring it out, I’ll offer a hint…

WARNING

HINT BELOW!!!

 

The hidden object is a cigar.  Now go back to the picture and figure it out for yourselves.

Opinions are like…part deux

A very long time ago (I kid, it was only three freaking days ago) I posted an entry entitled “Opinions are like…” and went on to talk about the fact that director Steven Spielberg, the man who may well be one of the people most responsible for inspiring me to pursuing my writing career thanks to the impact of seeing his first hit movie Duel on TV when it originally aired (read the rest of the post here), had very kind things to say about Guardians of the Galaxy, a film I absolutely hated.

The purpose of my post was to say this: Opinions about things, especially works of art, are individualistic.  What may float my boat may well sink yours and vice versa.  Guardians of the Galaxy was a tremendously successful film that had high positive responses from both audiences and critics and to this day many consider it the very best “Marvel” film ever made.

I do NOT begrudge Mr. Spielberg’s, or anyone else’s for that matter, opinion regarding the film.  Indeed, if you liked it, good for you.  My opinion of the film should have no impact on your opinion of it and, frankly, I wish I could have liked it as much as so many did.  The film was certainly in my particular wheelhouse but, again, it just didn’t work.  For me.

Part of the reason I posted that entry was because I’m alarmed by how militant -and insulting- people are regarding their opinions about such things.

You can find the most -and frankly really ugly– example of this in this article by Gina Carbone for moviefone.com:

The War Over Ghostbusters Gets Ugly As New Trailer Drops

The article is about how Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN) posted a youtube video in which he stated he would absolutely not be seeing the new version of the Ghostbusters  film.  AVGN has great fondness for the original Bill Murray/Dan Ackroyd film (many do) and is certain this new version of Ghostbusters will be terrible.  He goes on at lengths explaining why he feels this film is bad and, again, it is his opinion and he’s certainly entitled to it.

What happened next is what is so alarming.

People start posting pro and con comments regarding AVGN’s video/opinion and things got really ugly when comedian/actor Patton Oswald came on and posted a comment that rather than condemn the film pre-emptively, AVGN should watch the new Ghostbusters and then make his comments.  If the film is terrible, then so be it.  Let the makers have it.

But at least see the film before you knock it.

Mr. Oswald’s comments resulted in a cascade of comments and some of them got really nasty.  How nasty?  Some people -I kid you not- made light of the fact that Mr. Patton’s wife had very recently passed away.

Yes folks, it got that ugly.

Now, I ask: Is Mr. Patton’s above comment, that one should see a film before condemning it, out of bounds?  Does it deserve the ugliness that followed?  Was it in any way controversial?

I’d say what he wrote sounds incredibly…reasonable.

Unless you work for Sony and have already seen the film in some secret pre-screening, you have NO IDEA how good this new version of Ghostbusters is.

You can assume certain things, of course.  Based on the negative reception of the first trailer, you can assume the film may not be very good, but there have been very bad trailers made for very good films and vice versa, so at best you’re reacting to a “bad” trailer.  You can lament the fact that this film doesn’t feature the original cast but, given that original cast-member Harold Ramis passed away, there isn’t going to be an original cast movie anymore.  You can lament the fact that they’re remaking a beloved film (got knows I’ve gone through that plenty of times) and the track record for remakes isn’t the greatest.  Finally, if Melissa McCarthy or director Paul Fieg’s films to this date haven’t floated your boat, its reasonable to assume you may not like this film as well and, that being the case, you certainly are in well within your rights to say you aren’t going to bother seeing this version of Ghostbusters.

AVGN has every right to his opinions.  He has every right to express absolutely no hope and/or interest in seeing this new Ghostbusters.  I don’t even begrudge him the opinion that this new film will be horrible/terrible/the-final-sign-of-the-apocalypse…

…just as it is equally fine for Mr. Oswald to opine that one shouldn’t condemn this new film -or any new film- before, you know, actually seeing it.

Two opinions, both equally fine.

Why the ugliness?

 

I’ve been saying this for a while now…

Dealing with politics here -as well as stroking my ego- so…

BEWARE!!!!

Found this article written by Alexandra Rosenmann over at Salon.com…

Noam Chomsky: The Democratic Party now belongs to Moderate Republicans

Oh, I get it, when big-shot Noam Chomsky says it, people pay attention but when I say the same thing for years now, everyone ignores me.

Seriously, though, I very much believe this to be true.  The conservative movement, for ill in my opinion by the way, has moved the country so far to the right that the Democratic Party is at this point effectively a moderate Republican Party.

I noted before that Bill Clinton and (yes) commie/socialist/whateverthey’recallinghimnow Barack Obama would very comfortably fit into a moderate Republican party circa the late 1960’s or early 1970’s.

On the plus side, a prediction: Like many things, I also very much believe in the whole pendulum concept, wherein a pendulum (or popular thought) tends to have a surge (or swing), reaches its apex, and then loses its momentum and the other side surges.

Starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt and for much of the middle 20th Century, Liberalism was the popular political thought.  While it sputtered in the 1960’s it ran out of gas as a movement roughly around the time Ronald Reagan became president.  From that moment on, the conservative movement began its ascent while liberalism seemed to go into hiding.

I certainly don’t want to count chickens before they hatch, but I suspect the Donald Trump presidential bid may wind up crashing and burning the Republicans -and by extension the conservative movement- this coming electoral cycle.

The reason is simple: It’s become too much crazy for people to tolerate.

However, the future isn’t decided and things could well turn out differently.

If that should be the case, I may have to investigate returning to Canada.

Opinions are like…

Over on Facebook, director/writer James Gunn posted the following, a quote by Steven Spielberg regarding his hit film Guardians of the Galaxy:

Understandably gobsmacked by this wonderful comment by Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Gunn wrote:

Steven Spielberg just said this about Guardians of the Galaxy in Cannes. Probably the greatest compliment of my life. I learned what a director was because as a kid I loved Raiders of the Ark so much I wondered who the guy was behind it all, and I’m making movies today because of it. (Forgive some of the spelling in the translation, please).

If you were ask me who I considered the greatest living movie director, my answer might well mirror Mr. Gunn’s:  I would unhesitatingly name Steven Spielberg.  Though I don’t consider every one of his films a “classic” (indeed, there are a few I haven’t bothered seeing and a number I’ve seen once and wouldn’t see again), nonetheless Mr. Spielberg was the man who truly introduced me to both the magic of cinema and storytelling.  While it may seem an exaggeration, I believe his first big successful film was instrumental in influencing me into being the author I am today.

The film?  Duel.  It premiered in 1971 on TV and I was five years old at the time and was captivated by it…

Though it wouldn’t be until years later (remember, these were the days before the internet and instant information at your fingertips!) that I realized this film was directed by the same man who made Jaws and E.T. and Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind and, yes, Raiders of the Lost Ark, it was the smash success of Duel that proved Mr. Spielberg’s big “breakout” feature and paved the way for his future successes.  Indeed, in watching Duel you have a landlocked version of Jaws!

Duel shook my very young mind to the core.  This was the very first movie I saw from start to end and realized it told a story.  A damn good one, to boot!  There were other things that influenced who I am today but there is little doubt my watching Duel at such a young age was one of the key influences in my desire to create my own stories.

I lay out my deep respect and admiration for Mr. Spielberg and his place in my heart because I want to be very clear about where he stands in my personal estimation.

The reason being what I’m about to say: I hated Guardians of the Galaxy.

Hated, hated, hated that damn film.

I know I’m in an incredibly small minority.  The movie currently sits at a lofty 91% approval among critics and a 92% approval among audiences on rottentomatoes.com.  It made a boat-load of money in theaters and even today many point to the movie as one of the very best Marvel films ever released.

And for the life of me, I don’t get it.

I missed the film when it was in theaters but based on the positive reactions bought the BluRay when it was released.  Together with my wife and daughter we sat in the living room, fired the BluRay up, and…

About thirty or so minutes into the film my daughter bailed on us.  (She would later tell me she hated what she saw of it and had no desire to see the rest)

When the movie was over my wife turned to me and said: “You like that?!”  From the tone of her voice and subsequent conversation, it turned out she hated it, too.  The only reason she hung around and watched it was to keep me company.  She assumed I liked it and when I told her I didn’t, she shook her head and asked me why I didn’t just shut the thing off well before it ended and be done with it.

I told her I should have done just that.

Now, the point I’m making here is this: We all have opinions.

As much as I admire and love many of the works of Mr. Spielberg, I have no doubt his views on Guardians of the Galaxy are as sincere in their praise as mine are opposed.  I bought the Guardians of the Galaxy BluRay fully thinking/expecting this film to rock my world or, at the very least, entertain me.  Going into the film I had nothing against Mr. Gunn or Marvel films in general (indeed, I like almost all the ones I’ve seen).  But whether it be due to my mood or the time of day or the phase of the Moon, Guardians of the Galaxy proved a wretched experience to not only me, but my wife and daughter as well..

As I said above, we all have opinions and sometimes what works for you (indeed, for 91-92% of people) may not work for me.

Just because Mr. Spielberg likes Guardians of the Galaxy doesn’t suddenly mean I renounce the man and now hate his works and reject the impact Duel had on me.  Or Jaws.  Or Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Mr. Spielberg obviously found something he liked in this movie which totally eluded me.  And you know what?

Its fine.

So for those out there who get into such heated squabbles over what’s “good” and what “sucks”, bear this in mind: Everyone has opinions, especially about works of art and/or entertainment.

It should be obvious but it bears repeating.  Sometimes over and over again.