Category Archives: Movies
I confess, I’m definitely a hedonist.
I deeply believe in the credo that life is short, eat dessert first. However, somewhat paradoxically, I’m also a delayer in that I eat the cake and then the icing. In a given moment, I’m very prone to saving the best for last.
But the main thing is that, when the arc of my life ends, I want as much as possible to be able to say I enjoyed it and had fun every possible minute. There is more in the world to enjoy than anyone can in a lifetime, so you have to apply yourself!
With life’s pleasures in mind, today’s edition of Brain Bubbles is about things that are pleasurable — tasty — to me.
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4 Comments | tags: Anvil of Stars, Evangeline Lilly, furnace, Greg Bear, Hugh Jackman, molasses cookies, NCIS, nouvelle cuisine, Our Idiot Brother, Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, Real Steel, Rosa Mexicano, The Forge of God, The Who | posted in Brain Bubble, Movies
This is the first of a series of articles that discuss something I believe is unique to humans. In fact, I think it’s one of the few things we can point to that does differentiate us from the animal kingdom. And it is something that goes deep into our past. It is our ability to use language to create and tell complex stories.
It is also one of my favorite topics. If you’ve read many of my posts, particularly those about movies and TV, you’ve seen me write about my love of stories.
There is an interesting continuum of storytelling modes. Books lie at one end, movies at the other. Plays and TV lie between. The continuum describes — in part — the experience of the audience. Here’s the deal…
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1 Comment | tags: graphic novels, plays, poetry, stories, storytelling, television, theatre | posted in Basics, Movies, Philosophy, TV
I wrote in last night’s post that I had a bet riding on today’s college football game between the Minnesota Gophers and the Iowa Hawkeyes. That’s particularly weird, since: (a) I generally never gamble, especially on sports; (2) when it comes to football, I’m pretty much a “Superbowl-only” kind of guy; and (iii) I know nothing about college football [apparently a bronze pig, named Floyd, is involved somehow].
Well, weak from the week, I crashed on the couch all morning and missed most of the game. But I did wake up in time to catch the final 58 seconds (actually a rather long time in football). Final score: Minnesota 13, Iowa 31. That means my former boss and I get beer! [Yes, that’s right, I was betting on Iowa.]
Last night I mentioned it was a long story that I’d tell you later. What I didn’t mention was that it involves a great Humphrey Bogart movie, rotary phones, a prolonged discussion of point spreads and a parody of a famous quote.
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3 Comments | tags: Body Heat, college football, Florida noir, Gophers, Hawkeyes, Humphrey Bogart, Key Largo, Lauren Becall, Rachel Ward, Steve Martin | posted in Life, Movies
Feeling kind of down today. Last day of a five-day vacation; the new position swings into full gear tomorrow. Could put a real dent in the fun I’ve been having here in the blogsphere.
Plus, after weeks of sunny weather, it’s totally cloudy and partly rainy. If it’s going to be that way, I want thunder and lightning! “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!”
Adding injury to insult, it seems I’ve once again proved my unfitness to be among the human race; once again intended to help, but caused hurt feelings instead. And per the weird synchronicity that inhabits my life, on the same day, a post on Talk To Diana speaks to that very issue!
I am the poster child for Foot-in-Mouth disease! Quasimodo thinking he can ever find a place among the townspeople.
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17 Comments | tags: Brassed Off, Chelsea Handler, David Hasselhoff, Ewan McGregor, Hop (film), labrosone, Pete Postlethwaite, Quasimodo, Tara Fitzgerald, Tower Heist | posted in Brain Bubble, Movies
Earlier this week I read an NBC News blog post that cited a Telegraph (UK) post concerning the funniest movies ever. The British article involved a study by a movie subscription service. The study attempted to rank the funniest films ever based on laughs per minute. The NBC article added their own informal staff picks to the mix.
What tickled me is that the Brits named Airplane! as the funniest movie ever. I’m not sure I have a definite all-time #1 pick, but Airplane! is unquestionably in the top three. A while back, I wrote about my funniest films, and Airplane! was my first pick (of four — third place had a tie).
So the Brits and I share a funniest movie pick, but we diverge from there.
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24 Comments | tags: Airplane (film), comedy, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, Desk Set, Galaxy Quest, Groundhog Day, His Girl Friday, humor, It Happened One Night, LA Story, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Man Who Knew Too Little | posted in Movies
If you knew immediately what the title of this article means, you are almost certainly a Star Trek fan. You also know that a full list should contain DS9 and VOY. (And that, actually, there should be a ST: in front of each of them.)
If this all seems alphabet soup, here’s the deal. They’re all three-letter acronyms (TLAs) for the six different Star Trek TV series. This first article today begins “Star Trek Saturday” (a one-time event) here at Logos con carne. There are two or three ships still in dry dock… (big voice: …In Space) getting finishing touches for a launch later today.
To tantalize your taste buds, I’ll just mention that they concern galactic energy barriers, transporters and replicators. Those are ships of war; photon torpedoes loaded and primed. There is a third ship with a different mission that may also launch today. (Tantalized? Terrific!)
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18 Comments | tags: Doctor Who, Judith Stone, sci fi, science fiction, Star Trek, Stephen R. Donaldson, The Land, Thomas Covenant, trilogies | posted in Books, Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
I meant to write an article discussing Christopher Nolan‘s latest (and final?) Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises (henceforth, TDKR). I started off writing that article but ended up writing a screed about going to the movies. Words not wasted, perhaps, but now I return to the original intent: trying to say a few words about the movie itself.
The bottom line is that I give it an Eh! on my scale of Wow!, Ah!, Eh!, Meh!, Nah! & Ugh! It’s above the no-go line, so I say it’s worth seeing if it’s in your interest zone. If you’ve seen the other two, you certainly want to see this one. That said, it’s my least favorite in Nolan’s Batman trilogy as well as my least favorite Nolan film. And to be honest, were it not for superhero movie fatigue setting in, I might well have given this a higher rating. I’ve just gotten tired of the genre.
Warning: In this article I’m not going to make any attempt to avoid spoilers, so if you (a) haven’t seen the movie and (2) don’t like spoilers, then you shouldn’t continue reading.
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1 Comment | tags: Bane, Batman, Christopher Nolan, Knightfall, superheroes, The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Rises | posted in Movies
Yesterday I threw down the gauntlet regarding Christopher Nolan’s new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. In fact, that article was a first entry into a discussion about how we’ve constantly upped the ante regarding violence in movies and television and modern life in general.
That larger discussion will evolve over time as I find things to say about it. In this article I want to talk specifically about the Batman movie… or rather about the “going to the Batman movie” theater experience.
When it comes to going to the movie theater to see a movie, each time I do that lately I seem to find one less reason to do that ever again. Let me count the ways:
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10 Comments | tags: AMC, movie theaters, popcorn | posted in Life, Movies, Rant
The other evening, I finally went to see the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. The punch line (and never was the term “punch” more appropriate) is that I have to give it a definite thumbs down. It is, without question, my least favorite Christopher Nolan movie, and that’s saying something, because (unlike some), I quite like Nolan’s work.
I’m a life-long comics fan and a life-long fan of the Batman. I’ve known the worlds of DC and Marvel for over 40 years. For me, Superman has a slight edge, but the Batman has always been a close second. Those two comprise a full quarter to one-third of my comics and gnovels (graphic novels) collection. Frank Miller‘s The Dark Knight Returns is one of two seminal works I hold in the highest esteem. (The other, of course, is Alan Moore‘s Watchmen.)
And, as I mentioned, I’m a fan of Nolan’s work, and I liked both his first two Batman movies. I fully expected to like his latest.
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Leave a comment | tags: Alan Moore, Batman, Christopher Nolan, superheroes, The Dark Knight Rises, violence, violence in movies | posted in Movies, Rant, The Interweb, TV
In fact I’m actually going to write a rant about two bits from the Lord of the Rings movies, but they’re directly related to the Han Shot First controversy. In both cases, Hollywood seems to be demonstrating a classic far left bias I can only think of as Limp Dick Syndrome.
In the Star Wars case, the bias is so strong it involves revisionism of previously published material!
But let’s first discuss those two bits from Peter Jackson’s film version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It’s kind of more of the same sort of LDS problem (and I don’t mean Latter Day Somebodies, and I didn’t misspell LSD).
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7 Comments | tags: Boromir, Ents, Faramir, Han Shot First, Lord of the Rings, Torchwood | posted in Movies, Rant
Logos con carne 