E.R. Torre's Blog, page 136
April 22, 2016
Dreary days…
When news of Prince’s death was released yesterday, it was shocking.
Though I may not be the biggest Prince fan there is out there (hang on to your pitchforks for just a second), the fact that he passed away so suddenly and at the impossibly young age of 57 was a painful kick.
As I’ve stated many times before, I’m a HUGE fan of the music of David Bowie yet when his passing was announced, it was very sad but not terribly shocking. There were rumors going around for a number of years as to Mr. Bowie’s health and his deterioration was obviously incremental enough that he had the ability to create and release one last, fabulous album as a way of saying goodbye.
The same cannot be said for Prince.
Again, I may not be the biggest Prince fan but I’d have to be both blind and deaf not to acknowledge and appreciate his tremendous impact on the music scene as well as his skills as a musician. Like many, my first exposure to him was with the album and movie Purple Rain. I suppose that remains Prince’s single “biggest” success and the album featured such classics as Let’s Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, and of course Purple Rain. He had other hit songs, including 1999, Kiss, and a personal favorite, Raspberry Beret.
Prince created a large amount of material and rumor has it there much stored away and awaiting an eventual release. Perhaps with his passing some of this will finally see the light of day.
Prince was also the writer of this song…
Which was remade by Sinead O’Connor and became a huge hit…
In sum, Prince created great music and his death at such a young age is as shocking as it is senseless (I won’t go into the latest rumors regarding the cause…it will be determined soon enough).
RIP Prince.
******
POSTSCRIPT: In case you haven’t noticed, 2016 has been a brutal year regarding deaths in the music industry. Michael Garafolo over at salon.com offers a listing of music icons lost so far this year…
2016 has been a tragic year for music: A look back at the icons we’ve lost, from Prince to Bowie
April 21, 2016
Entertainment news…
A pair of entertainment related articles caught my eye between yesterday today.
First up is the news that, among a few others from different series, actress Stana Katic is leaving the show Castle:
Stana Katic and four other TV exits that stunned fans worldwide
For those who don’t know about the show Castle or Ms. Katic, it is a reasonably breezy murder/mystery type affair which started with a womanizing bachelor best-selling author, as they are wont to do, getting himself embedded in the NY Police Department for reasons (and they let him for stay on for… reasons).
At first the author, Richard Castle (played by cult/fan favorite Nathan Fillion) is viewed as an impediment to investigations but over time he becomes more and more a part of the “team.” He is overseen/partnered with no-nonsense Detective Kate Beckett (Ms. Katic, natch) and over the course of the show we go through romantic tension between the characters followed by actual romance and, according to the article, the two characters are now married.
Anyway, here’s the show’s two leads. Ms. Katic is (obviously) on the right:
According to the above article, after nine seasons, ABC last week announced the next season of Castle would not feature Ms. Katic. The reasons for her departure were not made clear which, to my mind, may well indicate the parting was less than amicable.
I mention while admitting I’m not a fan of the show. My full exposure to it was during a summer a few years ago where I caught several episodes worth of reruns on TNT or TBS and found the show fun and the two leads had plenty of charisma but it was not something I felt worth following beyond that.
Having said this and admitting my limited exposure, I nonetheless cannot see how Castle continues without Ms. Katic’s Detective Beckett. Unlike other shows which feature larger ensemble casts, this show had other characters running around but the focus was clearly on these two and their interactions. Further, part of the bigger storyline in the admittedly few episodes I saw was the fact that Richard Castle’s big literary creation was based on Detective Beckett. Not only did he romance her but her character was the inspiration for the books he wrote.
Now, having her character suddenly gone has to radically change the show. One wonders, did the show’s producers know she was leaving when they finished the previous season? If they did, had they filmed something hinting at her departure? Or will the new season simply start off with her character’s departure being a fait accompli?
Despite not following this show, I am intrigued to see if they can somehow overcome this very big change. I hope they don’t just substitute another no-nonsense female detective in Ms. Katic’s place and try to start all over again.
The second bit of entertainment news involves former baseball pitcher Curt Schilling, an outspoken very conservative individual who finally said more than his employers, ESPN, could handle. Thus his comments regarding transgender individuals cost him his analyst job:
ESPN fires analyst Curt Schilling over anti-transgender post
Mr. Schilling has made his sometimes controversial right wing opinions known for a while now.
What I find so fascinating is that he’s another of those people who make sometimes outrageous comments and then proudly proclaim their right to make their opinions known yet are baffled with the concept that when you make such statements, others have the very same right to make their opinions known regarding your opinions.
Freedom of speech allows for all people to say whatever is on their mind but while you’re certainly free to state your opinions, you have to understand that doing so does not somehow make you “immune” to having others react to those statements you make.
Especially when they’re inflammatory and controversial.
Worse for Mr. Schilling is the fact that the “others” who may react to your controversial statements can well be your bosses. If they feel your opinions hurt the company’s image and having you remain employed by them is detrimental to their bottom line, then guess what: They have a right to fire you.
I’d say live and learn but considering the history of Mr. Schilling making statements like these I don’t suppose he has or will.
April 20, 2016
24 Worst Fantasy Movie Sequels…
…at least according to rottentomatoes.com, which used their average of ratings to determine which sequels fell far short of the originals:
24 Worst Fantasy Movie Sequels
Though I haven’t seen all the movies presented, there’s one sequel among them that I feel deserves special attention: Ghostbusters 2.
Released in 1989 (the beloved original film was released in 1984), this sequel featured all the leads from the first movie, including Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Sigorney Weaver, and Rick Moranis…
…and, IMHO, it sucked.
I know there are those out there who are moaning about the Ghostbusters remake featuring Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, but I never felt that kind of hatred because in the back of my mind I remember sitting in the theaters back in 1989 eagerly waiting for Ghostbusters II to start and, by the time the movie reached its silly climax, being so damned deflated.
According to rottentomatoes.com, the original Ghostbusters (1984) scores an incredibly high 97% positive among critics, 88% positive among audiences while Ghostbusters II scores a far weaker 50% positive among critics and a slightly higher 61% positive among audiences.
Though there were clearly those who disagree with my opinion, Ghostbusters II just wasn’t for me.
Nonetheless, I entered the theater back in 1989 optimistic the film would be good and, as I sit here in 2016 I hope the new iteration of Ghostbusters winds up being a fun comedy. It certainly can’t be any worse than Ghostbusters II.
Or can it?!
What happened to the dinosaurs…?
Interesting article presented on Huffingtonpost.com and written by Michael McLaughlin focusing on the above topic and some new theories regarding the extinction of the dinosaurs:
Dinosaurs had big trouble long before asteroid struck: Study
The gist of the article (SPOILERS!) is that while an asteroid impact may well have vanquished dinosaurs, there appears to be evidence suggesting the species was in a decline, from an evolutionary standpoint, by the time the asteroid actually hit.
What does this mean?
Well, it may mean the dinosaur would not have survived as a species even if the asteroid did not hit. Which in turn may suggest the asteroid, while a “killing” event, may have wiped out a species already weak and heading to extinction anyway.
Then again, it is possible dinosaurs were at a weak point but might have rebounded and the asteroid ended that possibility permanently.
Or it could be dinosaurs were in the process of evolving into something far more adaptable to their environment.
At this point the study is fascinating and adds another piece to an already interesting puzzle. While it does still appear the theory that an asteroid ended the dinosaur appears unaltered, the idea the dinosaur species was bound for extinction (possibly) anyway is an interesting new wrinkle.
April 18, 2016
Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven” legal issues…redux
A couple of days ago (you can read it here) I noted the similarities between what is arguably Led Zeppelin’s most famous song, Stairway to Heaven, and Spirit’s Taurus and how a judge has ruled that a copyright infringement lawsuit can go forward against Led Zeppelin regarding this most famous song.
Now comes Paul Campos for Salon.com to defend Led Zeppelin:
In my post, frankly, I sided with the late Randy Wolfe, aka Randy California, the man who wrote Taurus and whose estate is now suing Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement. I presented the below video which shows the similarities between the two songs:
I still believe Led Zeppelin took the riffs from Taurus in the creation of Stairway to Heaven but I have to give Mr. Campos credit for opening the argument up a little.
While he notes Led Zeppelin had taken material from others, it is clear, even to me, that Stairway to Heaven is far more than those very similarly sounding Taurus opening cords.
That being the case, it is to Mr. Campos’ credit that he has swayed my opinion, if only a little. While I still feel it obvious Led Zeppelin “appropriated” those opening chords for Stairway to Heaven, it is equally obvious they created something far more intricate than those opening few seconds of music with their song.
Further, if Randy Wolfe, the artist who actually created Taurus, didn’t bother to sue Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement during his lifetime (again, this lawsuit was brought about by the Wolfe estate), then perhaps this is the strongest testament to the fact that he as an artist didn’t feel Led Zeppelin “robbed” him.
As with so many other things, we’ll see what happens…
This IS getting personal…
Yesterday I re-reviewed Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (you can read my review here) and noted there seemed to be a hard edged anger against it out there. While films often elicit differing reactions, it seems like those who don’t like BvS really, really hate the film and some have gone way out of their way to slam it and those who do like the movie.
Well, the opposite seems to be happening with Captain America: Civil War (CA from now on).
The film, which is due to be released on May 6th, has experienced almost the exact opposite of BvS in terms of expectations. While many were absolutely certain well before its release that BvS would be “terrible”, a very large number of people expect CA to be nothing less than fantastic.
Early word from advanced screenings seemed to confirm these positive thoughts. Further, the earliest reviews were quite good.
But not every one of them.
Rottentomatoes.com currently lists 18 reviews for CA and of these, 17 are positive and only 1 is negative. In my comments yesterday regarding BvS I said things were getting “personal” to those who hated the film. It now appears things are getting personal the other way regarding CA and fury descends on any who dare to speak negatively about that film.
The below link is to the single negative CA review presented thus far. It was written by Michael Fairbanks and appears on theyoungfolks.com:
Movie Review: Captain America: Civil War
Frankly, I found this a well reasoned and intelligently written review even though it might wind up, to me, being all wrong (I very much look forward to seeing CA and hope it is at least in the same ballpark as the fantastic Captain America: Winter Soldier).
What is most striking about the review was that the author was clearly going into the film with high expectations and found, in the end, it didn’t quite reach the level he hoped for. Mr. Fairbanks laments this while presenting very specific reasons why he found the fim disappointing. In the end, he gives the film a mediocre “C”. While hardly a devastating grade and only one review from one person, one would think based on the comment section following the review that Mr. Fairbanks just insulted everyone’s mother while simultaneously kicking their brand new puppy.
The negative responses to this review border on the hysterical and were apparently so overwhelming and (I can only imagine) vicious the editors of the site closed the comments section and posted the following:
Due to the overwhelming response to this review, comments are temporarily closed. We take comment moderation seriously and will be going through each comment to ensure it does not violate our Comment Policy.
Sheesh.
I repeat what I said yesterday: Things are getting mighty personal out there regarding superhero films and opinions of the same. For what its worth, the above review remains as of this day the only negative one CA is drawing and, for all we know, it might be the only one it draws.
It is also quite possible and even more likely there will be other critics and, indeed, common audiences that don’t find CA quite as good as others may.
Opinions vary. They always do.
Is that such a crime?
April 17, 2016
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) a second look
It is rare I get a chance to see a film in theaters and even rarer -bordering on the unheard of- for me to see a film twice while it is in theaters yet that is what happened yesterday with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (BvS from now on).
Since the film’s release only a few short weeks ago, a curious thing’s happened: There are many who appear to be taking this movie mighty personally.
When the movie neared release, I saw plenty of people already gearing up toward disliking the film. As I mentioned before, many had good reason: They looked at director Zach Snyder’s track record of films (including Man of Steel, the film BvS is a sequel to), and didn’t like his work and therefore were sure or at least suspected strongly this work wouldn’t do it for them. When the film was released, the critical reaction was incredibly negative and the Rottentomatoes.com rating remains at a genuinely terrible 28% favorable among critics.
And yet…
The film is a box office hit (not that this was ever an indicator of movie greatness) and I suspect there were many like me who went to see the film, looked at those reviews and the very negative statements coming from others, and couldn’t help but scratch our heads and wonder if these negative reactions were exaggerated.
Of late, these negative views have moved from trashing the movie to finding any way at all of dismissing it…including attacking its massive box office numbers.
Take for instance the headline on this article presented in Inquisitr which was posted approximately 13 hours ago (4/17/16):
Batman V Superman Just Missed Another Embarrassing Target
The focus of the article is that Deadpool, another superhero film, may wind up beating BvS in terms of domestic box office take. The author of the piece, Aric Mitchell, sounds positively giddy in reporting on the film’s “disappointing” and “embarrassing” U.S. box office. This is true yet the bottom line is that BvS’ global take is higher than Deapool’s by (as of this writing) nearly 50 million dollars. Is there anything positive for the author to state? Well, midway through the article he notes:
All that said, however, the film (BvS) is unlikely to lose money.
O…kay? I mean, both Deadpool and BvS are big box office hits and both are making obscene amounts of money. Yet because BvS may not quite make as much domestically as Deadpool this counts as an “embarrassment”?! By this logic I suppose the makers of Citizen Kane should be embarrassed by the fact that all these damn superhero movies are drawing more than it did in its day.
Elsewhere, on a webpage devoted to one of the bigger names in the comic book industry, someone (I’ll keep their name anonymous as I’m more interested in the message presented) posted the following regarding BvS:
The supporters of this movie must have biceps like watermelons for all the water they choose to carry for it.
Really? Because someone likes a film another doesn’t, it somehow reflects badly on the one who liked it? Am I therefore some kind of phony and am simply defending the indefensible? Or could it be that I happened to find enjoyment in something which some others did not and we have a simple difference of opinions? Is that so unheard of?
As I said above, I get the feeling this difference in opinions has become personal.
When I originally saw BvS a few weeks back (you can read my original review here), I was hoping for the best but, based on those early reviews, expecting the worst.
What I found was a surprisingly ambitious film that juggled many concepts and ideas at once. While it faltered at times, I found BvS, overall, a terrific product. Mind you, it is a superhero film devoted to mature audiences (this is probably one source of the gnashing of so many teeth as there are many who wanted an “all ages” film) and I suspect the upcoming Director’s Cut of it, rumored to be a little over three hours long vs. the theatrical version’s 2 and 1/2 hours, will wind up being better overall.
Still, having now seen the film a second time (This time in 3D), I still can’t understand where all the hatred comes from.
First thing’s first, however: Was it worth seeing the film in 3D versus the original 2D I saw it in? Not really. The 3D effects were interesting but hardly earth shattering. Seeing the film “flat” is fine.
Now, to the film itself: As I said, I still think its terrific, though I will acknowledge a few issues.
To begin, I’m still unclear about the whole Superman attack on the terrorist camp bit. As presented in the theatrical cut of the film, Lex Luthor’s henchmen use special bullets to kill the villagers/terrorists and one of the bullets gets lodged in Lois Lane’s notebook.
The villagers’ deaths are blamed on Superman and this somehow was because of these special bullets but, as I just stated, I’m not quite getting why this is the case.
Perhaps in the Director’s Cut this is explained a little better but all I can do is suspect and theorize the bullets disintegrated when they hit human flesh (they are super-sophisticated bullets) and the kill wounds therefore looked like they came from Superman’s heat vision. This is why Lois Lane winds up with the only bullet from this massacre as it didn’t hit anyone before getting stuck in her notebook.
This, admittedly, is pure guesswork on my part and the film obviously should not have the audience guessing the significance of this. The theatrical cut of the film simply doesn’t explain this very well and my hope is the Director’s Cut clarifies this issue. Regardless, it wasn’t a “make or break” type thing for me.
Later Batman has his “Apocalypse”-type dream and, at least in this theatrical cut of the film, I felt it was ultimately unnecessary and probably should have been left out. I suspect it was left in because it was a well done bit and hinted strongly at Darkseid’s coming, which is one of the major subtexts of this film.
Finally, there were those who found the whole “Lois Lane dumps the spear then goes back to get it” kinda silly but on second view I realized this sequence evoked a very similar sequence found in the climax of the film Excalibur (you think the marquee boasting the coming of Excalibur at the beginning of the film and during the Batman origin re-telling was purely there “just because”?!). The sequence also played out as a nod to Richard Donner’s Superman film as well. So while it was odd to me when I first saw the film it didn’t bother me quite as much on second viewing.
Anyway, those three issues were minor compared to the things I really liked about the film:
Superman’s ambivalence about his place in this world and the fact that some view him as a savior while others view him as a destroyer. He is genuinely torn because at heart he’s a good person who tries to do good but realizes sometimes doing good has unintended consequences (this is obviously a shout-back to what occurred at the end of Man of Steel).
After all these years and after all the different incarnations, 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…
…which brings us to Lex Luthor. Many didn’t like the character as portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg but I liked it. Behind the character’s oddity is a darkness and, like Batman, a singularity of purpose as well. Only Lex Luthor is revealed to be smarter than Batman/Bruce Wayne as he is able to finesse situations around him to get the two to fight. At the end of the film, when he hints at the coming of Darkseid, it was a chilling and sobering scene.
Wonder Woman’s appearances were delightful and just long enough to add that little extra something to the film. If they had devoted more time to her it might have detracted from the story being told.
So, overall, I still like BvS. The film was ambitious, surprisingly deep, and hardly the flop so many seem to want to make it to be. I remain interested in seeing the Director’s Cut.
April 15, 2016
Justice…at last?!
This is one of those stories that makes you shake your head at the wonder of it all:
Ferrari stolen 28 years ago found as it was about to be shipped to Poland
The 1981 model Ferrari, which looks an awful lot like the one used on the TV show Magnum P.I...
…was stolen way back in 1987 and its quite the wonder it is still in one piece and in such great shape. According to the article, the vehicle has only 45,000 miles on it and is worth approximately $50,000 in today’s market.
The original owner, again according to the article, received compensation for the vehicle back when it was stolen so I suppose it now belongs to the insurance company.
Fascinating!
Ghost stories…
Never heard about the anime show Ghost Stories until this morning when someone pointed it out on Reddit.
As I understand it, Ghost Stories was, according to the original posting on reddit.com, a “mediocre” anime series that ran 20 episodes but whose distinction lies in the fact that when it was translated and dubbed into English, the dubbing team had a field day parodying the mediocre product.
Examples of the at times hilarious (IMHO!) dubbing of Ghost Stories can be found in these clips:
Amusing as seeing this was, it was surprising no one who posted comments on this (at least at this time) knew of the “parody dubbing” done many years before, and very well, by Woody Allen (!) for the 1966 film What’s Up Tiger Lilly. I’ll allow the trailer for the film to explain the madness within…
Here are some other clips from the parody dub…
So if humorous dubbing is your thing, check it out!
April 14, 2016
What’s this?!
Good reviews for a big superhero film? Who’d a thunk it?!
Ain’t It Cool News offered a taste of some reviews of the soon-to-be-released Captain America: Civil War and they are very positive:
The Best Marvel Studios Film Yet? The Trade and UK Reviews are in For Captain America: Civil War
I hope the film, made by the same people behind Captain America: Winter Soldier (a film that I’ve stated many times before is my second favorite all time superhero film), is indeed as good as their past one.
However…
It occurs to me I’ve seen something like this before. Early reviews of a film released to the UK and in which the critics loved what they saw. Now where oh where could I have read about this?
Oh yeah:
Spectre early reviews: Bond is back in solid form
The early preview reviews of Spectre which came from the UK critics were, at first, almost all very positive. It gave me hope the film would indeed be good.
At least IMHO. I found Spectre to be one of the absolute worst Bond films ever. So bad was the film, again IMHO, that it could well take the pole position from Moonraker and A View To A Kill, two of my least favorite Bond films of all time.
As for Captain America: Civil War, as the saying goes, we shall see!
