E.R. Torre's Blog, page 24

Serves ’em Right…

Over on theguardian.com there’s a fascinating story by James Tapper about a construction company that wanted to get rid of an old Tavern for their new construction. They decided the best way to do this -without the proper permits, I imagine!- was to simply tear it down, pay the fine for doing so, and then get on with their construction.

Only, things didn’t quite work out for them…

Rising from the rubble: London pub rebuilt brick by brick after illegal bulldozing

Yep, according to the article (and I don’t mean to spoil everything within it) the clever folks seeing the work of the construction company had a feeling they might just try to illegally demolish the pub and took extensive measurements and photographs and when the construction company did the deed, these were presented to the city’s council and the construction company was ordered to rebuild the pub which, six years later, they’ve done and its about to be re-opened.

I have to say, I do feel to some extent for the construction company.

Mind you, what they did was slimy as hell and they got their come-uppance for trying to skirt the rules/laws regarding both demolition and construction.

But I also know that it can be frustrating at times dealing with older buildings.

Where I live, in South Florida, there is precious little construction that one would call “classic”. Because Florida was developed mostly in the 20th Century and many of the older buildings were torn apart in the various hurricanes that have hit the area, we do have one prominent form of architecture I really love in Miami Beach: Art Deco.

There are beautiful Art Deco Hotels/Buildings in the area and I love them to death.

But I also know that inside the building, the rooms themselves may be pretty inadequate for modern tenants.

Miami Beach has instituted some common sense laws regarding working with these buildings. Sometimes they allow construction companies permission to demolish the body of a building, for example, while requiring them to keep the Art Deco features, like the front facade and lobby, both of which may carry the Art Deco look but the rest does not.

It’s a tricky balance and the pub in this story was originally built in the 1920’s, which doesn’t make it one of the oldest structures in London, I’m certain. However, if the city wants it kept as is and has designated it historic, the construction company has no one to blame for this costly -I’m certain!- work they were forced to do but themselves.

Radius (2017) A Mildly Belated Review

In spite of the Coronavirus and the fact that I’m at home more than out nowadays, its tough to carve out the free time to watch films and, frankly, it frustrates me to no end having so many other things to do and not have that free time for myself.

Now and again I’ll go over the “sales” over on VUDU and check out which films I can get digitally for very low prices. I suppose its the digital/web equivalent of searching through the $5 bins of DVDs from yesteryear.

Anyway, a week or two ago I spotted the film Radius (2017) among those on sale and I had never heard of it.

At all.

However, VUDU is clever in that when you hover your pointer over any movie you see its ratings and Radius, I saw when my pointer was over it, had a very high 93% positive rating.

That, along with the bargain basement price it was available at and its intriguing premise, were enough to make me purchase the film.

Here’s Radius’ trailer:

So intrigued I was with the film’s positive rating and some of the critical reactions I read about it that I made myself some time to *gasp* actually sit down and watch it yesterday, which I did.

And I must say, I’m very impressed.

To begin, Radius is an extremely low budget film. I say this without the intention of being snarky or demeaning, but the film features a car crash -an element central to the movie’s plot- and the folks who made the film couldn’t show us said car crash and instead had to use camera tricks to simulate a crash happening by showing the car’s passengers reactions.

This is not a bad thing, mind you, only that I point this out because if there are any glaring faults I found in this film, they are a result of the film’s very low budget.

The plot, as much as I’m willing to reveal, involves Liam (, perhaps best known nowadays for his role in the long running TV show The Blacklist) awakening from a car crash. He’s bloodied and confused and finds himself in a very rural area.

He is all alone and walks down the road, following signs to a small (very small!) town and shortly before arriving there a car drives near him, he waves it down, and the car moves to stop for him… but goes on, very slowly, nearly running him down before its momentum is stopped.

Liam, unsure what is happening, approaches the car and finds the female driver within is dead and her eyes are a milky white.

What follows is the mystery of what is happening around Liam and, eventually, how he comes to know another person, Jane (), who we will find is also intricately involved in the mystery surrounding Liam.

If you noticed -and I don’t see how you couldn’t!- I’m not giving away many details at all.

This is a unique film whose story -and the many mysteries surrounding it- unfolds in an extremely satisfying manner. You think you have a grasp of what’s going on only to get another piece of the puzzle which takes you in another direction, then another, then another.

It all leads up to a shattering climax which reveals everything, and makes you re-examine everything as well.

This is not a perfect film and I suspect it would have benefitted from a little more budget, though not necessarily so they could show the initial car crash. I feel like the movie’s climax could have used a little more *umph*, that they were a little more restrained than they needed to be.

But these are incredibly small quibbles for what is truly a miracle of sorts: An extremely low budget film that presents a rock solid script filled with unfolding mysteries that not only keep your attention but truly take you on a trip into the unknown.

Highly recommended.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)

We are only two days away from the March 18th debut of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a movie I don’t think I need spend too much time explaining (though I will a little later on), and I find it curious that the average of early reviews by the professional film critics -111 of them at this moment- gives the film a very healthy 77% positive rating…

Rotten Tomatoes – Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)

Now, having noted this high rating average, there is a chance that as more reviews arrive, this average will drop… though its certainly also possible we might see it rise as well.

What intrigues me is that unlike the previous two Snyder directed DC movies, Man of Steel (56% positive among professional film critics) and especially Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (28% positive among professional film critics), so far this movie seems to be trending quite positively and those who like it really do like it.

I’ve noted before I’m a fan of Batman v Superman, though I would quickly add -and have done so ad nauseum– that the version I like is the Extended/Director’s cut versus the theatrical cut which, while I didn’t hate, was revealed to be pretty butchered when the extended cut came out.

I found plenty of people, though, who had a visceral hate against the film and Mr. Snyder’s “take” on these various beloved DC characters. In part I was certain this was because they hadn’t bothered with the Extended Cut, but in truth I felt the two films were still close enough that those who hated the film in its cut up version may like the Extended Cut a little more -it is much more coherent- but if you didn’t like the story to begin with, you won’t like it told a little better.

Nonetheless, I was certain BvS was a film that over time and once the harsh emotions died down a little, people might come back to reassess and realize there’s more there than meets the proverbial eye.

Well, then came its sequel, Justice League, and the tragedy of Zack Snyder’s daughter committing suicide which led to him leaving the film before it was done.

Mr. Snyder finished the principle photography and reportedly had a assembly cut of the film shown to producers and was in the process of getting the special effects done when he left. Joss Whedon came in and Warner Brothers reported (falsely) that all he was doing was some “reshoots” to finish off the film. Alas, it turned out he essentially re-did the film and that was what was released in 2016.

I nonetheless thought the film was “OK” but not necessarily great while many other Snyder fans, those who loved Man of Steel and BvS, wanted to see what Snyder did versus what Whedon released.

Remarkably, the Snyder fan base started many petitions to have the so-called “Snyder Cut” of the film be released.

There were those who snorted there was no Snyder Cut, that the film was simply bits and pieces in some unassembled state (which goes against the fact that an assembled cut of the material done was indeed shown to the Warner Brothers producers). There were others that snorted the Snyder fans were idiots to think there was some complete version of the film sitting in the Warner Brothers vaults.

Truthfully, I don’t recall anyone who wanted the Snyder Cut released say the film was somehow completed when Snyder left, but… well… whatever.

With the HBO Max streaming service needing some kind of big hit, the folks at Warner Brothers looked around and realized they had themselves just that… provided they front the money to truly finish off the film.

Zack Snyder, of course, was willing to go along but this time around, he wanted to have control over the final cut and its release. He agreed to do the project and -incredibly!- did so without being paid. Mind you, I strongly suspect he’ll receive some kind of compensation based on how many views the film has, but nonetheless… this is something!

So now we’re at the end of things and the imminent release of the film and I wonder if my prediction that people would come around to BvS, and thus Snyder’s take on the DC characters, is somewhat coming true with this more positive view of Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

I haven’t seen the film, so I truly have no idea.

But I will.

Maybe not on the 18th and maybe not until it is available on regular home media, but I’ll give it a look.

Who knows?

In spite of all the tragedy involved, perhaps this movie will prove to be a terrific addition to the Superhero movie genre.

Yaphet Kotto (1939-2021)

Sad news to read today about the passing of actor .

He had a very long career, his first appearance on IMDb being in 1964, but will most likely be remembered for two really big roles, that of Kananga, the suave main villain who meets a particularly gruesome end in the first Roger Moore James Bond film Live and Let Die…

And, of course, Parker, who along with Ripley was one of the more charismatic members of the crew of the Nostromo in Alien…

This, of course, were but two roles in a very long career, which also included roles in The Running Man opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, Midnight Run, and the wonderful TV series Homicide: Life on the Streets.

Not very long ago I also got to see him in one of his earlier very big theatrical roles, in the brutal 1972 crime film Across 110th Street (you can read my review here) which no doubt must have led to his getting the villainous role in Live and Let Die, as a few of the African American actors in that movie wound up in the Bond film.

What a wonderful, fascinating talent. His roles were varied and interesting and, truthfully for me, he will be missed.

Coronavirus Diaries 30

Last night President Biden offered a time-table for when we may begin to return to some normalcy regarding COVID-19 (the linked to article is written by Stephen Collinson and Maeve Reston and presented on CNN.com):

‘I need you’: Biden asks Americans to do their part to help country emerge from Covid crisis

Specifically, he eyed July 4th as potentially the point where enough people will have received the vaccine (whichever one they are able to get) and when we should be able to get together in at least small groups.

He also implored people to not go out and mingle as we’re still not out of the woods, so to speak, and the danger of variants of COVID remains high.

Yet down in these parts its Spring Break time and there are an awful lot of people running around in largish groups.

Brittany Chang for businessinsider.com has the following article…

Travelers are flocking to Miami for Spring Break despite COVID

We truly are a frustrating species, aren’t we?

I mean, we’re so very close now to getting every adult vaccinated and yet we can’t help ourselves.

I fully expect to see the rates of COVID infection rise quite a bit starting at the end of March (a two week incubation period) and then remain rather high through April.

I hope, though, I’m proven very wrong.

Incredible…

…and not in a terribly good way.

Ron Dicker wrote the following article, which appeared on huffingtonpost.com…

Banned Uber Attacker Says She’ll Take Lyft. Then Lyft Bans Her.

Not to spoil the entire article, but a few ladies took an Uber ride, apparently one of them refused to wear a mask and the driver insisted they all do, things got really heated and the driver decided he no longer wanted to take them anywhere.

Things escalated when he stopped somewhere to drop them off and they refused to leave the car until their subsequent ride appeared. They claimed it was a bad neighborhood and perhaps it was, and further than the driver told them if they didn’t leave he’d drop them off on the freeway.

The rider who didn’t have the mask then coughed on the driver and pulled his mask as took his cellphone. I’m assuming that was a quick thing and he got it back.

Anyway, the rider offered her version of the events and claimed she would never use Uber again and would use Lyft and Lyft… well, the article’s headline pretty much tells you what they think about these potential clients.

I’m often appalled by the way people act nowadays, though I suspect its something that’s always been the case but because of the proliferation of cellphones and the ability to film virtually anything at any time, we’re seeing examples of things that simply wouldn’t be known and/or forgotten quickly.

Instead, they’re filmed and posted online for posterity, and the people involved… well… they get to live their bad behavior for the rest of their lives.

What the riders did was appalling, there’s no two ways about it, and I have full sympathy with the Uber Driver and what he had to put up with.

Too many people out there are taking COVID-19 far to unseriously and, by doing so, they are risking the lives of others who are taking the virus seriously.

The Driver wasn’t asking the riders to do anything extraordinary. Simply wear your masks. That’s all.

But it was a bridge too far for at least one of them and something that should have been a minor matter blew up into sheer crazyness.

I wonder if somewhere down the road, when the passengers of that Uber ride are a little older, they will realize what they and the attention -negative, I imagine- was not worth it.

Take a breath, people. Think through your actions.

I suppose they’ll have to get around with Taxis or public buses from now on, unless they get their own cars.

Hell of a thing to do for something as simple as respecting your driver’s eminently reasonable request.

The Rolling Stones… and David Bowie?

It seems someone on the inside in The Rolling Stones organization has released to the internet a number of “vault” songs created by the group but to date not released.

Included among them is the original demo of It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It) which features David Bowie…!

Interested in hearing this demo? Click here:

The Rolling Stones – It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It) Demo (feat. David Bowie)

I found out years ago that this song was originally something Mick Jagger and David Bowie worked on and that Jagger, and The Rolling Stones, wound up taking the song for themselves. I don’t believe it has a “co-written” by David Bowie credit nor, to be frank, do I know if indeed Bowie had that strong a hand on it.

However, the fact that a demo like this one exists where he’s doing some background singing does make the whole thing more intriguing.

Having said that…

David Bowie and Mick Jagger formally collaborated/co-sang on only one song, a remake of Dancing In The Street…

The song -and video- were created very quickly to be shown on Live Aid back in 1985 and the video, which at times has Bowie out of synch with the words, shows it. Plus there’s a sense of just filming them dancing around without seemingly giving much thought to what they were doing.

I point this out because though David Bowie in his career lent his voice to do some wonderful songs with other artists, including the excellent backgrounds to Lou Reed’s Satellite of Love…

…and Under Pressure, the beautiful duet he did with Queen…

…I felt like his sole (until that demo showed up) work with Mick Jagger showed that not all duets worked. The fact is that Mick Jagger’s voice is so in your face that Bowie’s singing/vocals seemed to be pushed far to the back and mostly obliterated. When the two sing together, all I seem to hear is Jagger!

So too it is with the demo of It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It). I don’t believe this version of the song was ever intended for release, at least not until now (I’m assuming this release wasn’t an illegal thing, but who knows), but I’m hard pressed to hear where exactly Bowie is in it.

Maybe I’m just getting deaf in my older age…!

Still, a fascinating relic of times past.

Coronavirus Diaries 29

Is it -possibly!- time to start getting… excited?

In an article written by Jordan Williams and appearing on theHill.com, we find…

US picks up vaccination pace, averaging 2M doses per day

President Joe Biden promised that he would have 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days, a number that some scoffed at but, if this pace continues -or increases- and according to the above article, we could have that number of vaccinations a full month earlier!

My wife, who is a first responder, already has had her two Pfizer shots. My eldest daughter also received her first shot and my younger daughter is eligible to get a shot as well, given she too works for a first responder. I will be getting my first shot come Sunday. I’m guessing it will be the Moderna vaccine as the Pfizer vaccine tends to be administered in hospitals and my appointment is at a pharmacy.

Good news for us personally, but my good fortune is also everyone else’s. It means more and more vaccines are becoming available and the chances of getting one is increasing with each passing day.

Better yet, the infection numbers are lower, though it doesn’t mean one should let down their guard. Provided a COVID mutation doesn’t screw up the vaccine effectiveness, there is evidence of the so-called “herd immunity” starting to occur.

Ridiculously, two states, Texas and Mississippi, have decided that the worst is over and ended mask mandates and eased other COVID restrictions.

To this, President Joe Biden said…

While there’s plenty of reason to be hopeful given the good news of late, it’s also not the time, I would think, to let one’s guard down and it certainly isn’t the time to think its over.

It’s not.

We are close, but we aren’t there yet.

Even after I get the second shot of my vaccine, I intend to continue wearing masks at least until the infection rates truly become minimal and a good portion, perhaps up to 2/3rd, of the U.S. population has the vaccine.

Hopefully this will be the case by later in summer, give or take.

When that does happen, I can’t imagine what it’ll be like.

Euphoria, I’m sure…

It should be something!

Problematic films…

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s post about Dr. Seuss books whose printing will be discontinued due to questionable stereotypical caricatures (you can read that here), Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is set to host a new series in which they present, and explore, 18 classic films which, in this day and age, may be viewed as problematic in the way they depict certain events/people.

The New York Post offers a story regarding this, if you’re curious:

TCM examines “problematic” film classics in new series

The 18 films they will present are:

Gone With the Wind (1939)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

Rope (1948)

The Four Feathers (1939)

Woman of the Year (1942)

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

Gunga Din (1939)

Sinbad, the Sailor (1947)

The Jazz Singer (1927)

The Searchers (1956)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

Swing Time (1936)

Stagecoach (1939)

Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959)

My Fair Lady (1964)

The Children’s Hour (1961)

Psycho (1960)

Dragon Seed (1944)

I’m familiar with almost all the films and have seen a number of them.

The ones that stick out, to me, are Gone With The Wind, a magnificent, epic film that nonetheless perpetuates the idea of a “noble” Confederacy in its Civil War loss. Its tough, especially these days, to view this bucolic vision and ignore the fact that the Civil War, and the Confederacy, were about keeping the hideous institution of slavery. Not to mention, in the novel -though they kept that from appearing in the movie- Rhett and several of the male characters within it were members of the KKK!

I noted before that when I went to High School I went to a boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida and was rather shocked to see trucks with Confederate Flag stickers on their bumpers or on the side of the cars.

This has changed over the years and my most recent excursions to Jacksonville, taken within the past year, have shown the city has moved on. I don’t recall seeing a single car with a Confederate flag on it.

Similarly, I remember in one of my first years in College attending a film appreciation/analysis class and we were offered different movies across different genres and for musicals we were given the Astaire/Rogers musical Swing Time.

When I saw the film, I recall it was an animated, rather typical musical and, truthfully, I didn’t think much of it afterwards, forgetting most of the story.

Many, many years later, it was on TCM and I wrote about my incredulous reaction to the blackface “Bojangles” number in the film.

Now, maybe close to twenty five years or so had passed since seeing Swing Time but it sure does show how with the passage of time opinions of things can change.

I don’t recall when I originally saw Swing Time in that class, likely in the mid to late 1980’s or very early 1990’s having any issues or even thoughts about the Bojangles number and the blackface employed. Mind you, it was wrong then and it remains wrong now -the use of “blackface” is deeply offensive- only back then I suppose I was so sheltered and/or oblivious that it didn’t register to me at that time.

However, when I watched the film again for the first time since then back in 2020, that scene totally shocked me and, worse, I couldn’t believe how it didn’t do so back then.

Anyway, there you have it. If you’re interested in seeing any of these classic films with problematic elements and want to hear interesting analysis about these elements, TCM is the place to go!

Dr. Seuss in the (negative) spotlight…

Over on CNN.com I found this article by Amanda Watts and Leah Asmelash concerning…

6 Dr. Seuss books won’t be published anymore because they portray people in ‘hurtful and wrong’ ways

Basically, these six books feature stereotypes, particularly of Asian and Black people, which sadly were somewhat the norm in caricatures back then but which are now looked upon quite negatively.

The books in question, taken from the above link, are:

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry StreetIf I Ran the ZooMcElligot’s PoolOn Beyond Zebra!Scrambled Eggs Super!The Cat’s Quizzer

I’m quite familiar with Dr. Seuss’ most famous books, like Green Eggs and Ham, and of the six titles they’re not going to print anymore I’m only familiar with And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street and McElligot’s Pool.

The others I’m unfamiliar with.

As I mentioned before, this sort of problem has reared its head with other works of the 20th Century: They present caricatured stereotypes which by today’s standards are very hard to take.

I recall plenty of Warner Brothers cartoons featuring questionable depictions of Black people. And who can forget that Walt Disney won’t release Song of the South, the film which features one of their most recognizable songs –Zip A Dee Doo Dah– because the entire film features a depiction of the antebellum South that is, to say the least, extremely out of date -and that’s being kind!

I suppose this is a sign that as a society we’re growing and coming to understand how hurtful some of the stereotypical depictions of people can be.

We can’t change the past, certainly, but we can work to make things a bit better today and tomorrow.