Jeez Jon

At Home Film Festival: Blazing Saddles

Back around 1982, I came across Blazing Saddles on cable.  A good deal of the jokes went over my prepubescent head, but the silliness and the zaniness captivated me.  And then, Harvey Korman came on the screen.  His performance as Hedy (that's Hedley!) Lamarr was just jaw dropping to me.  So extravagant, so full, so deliciously fun.  During his second scene, I thought to myself "That is what I want to do.  I want to do that for the rest of my life."  And that planted the seed in my brain to become an actor. He was playing the villain with such elan, verve and lip-smacking joy that I couldn't help but smile every time he came on screen. 

So, you can imagine my dismay when I heard the news that he passed away.  I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.  To commemorate Harvey, my neighbor Susan and I split a bottle of wine, some chips and salsa, and broke in her new flatscreen TV with a screening of Blazing Saddles.  We laughed so much, said the lines along with the film, and did several toasts to Mr. Korman. 

Thank you, Harvey.  Thank you very much.

At Home Film Festival: Sleeper

During junior high school, I happened across A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy on cable.  From that point (until a few years ago), I was hooked on Woody Allen movies.  As a skinny, non-athletic, smart alec kid with glasses, the sight of a film protagonist being skinny, non-athletic, smart alec adult was huge to me.  From junior high through college, I devoured Woody's movies.  While Sleeper isn't my favorite (that would probably be Hannah and Her Sisters), it's still flat-out hilarious.  Coming out a few years after The Omega Man and Solyent Green, Allen's satire of sci-fi futuristic films is funny, warm, and genuinely  goofy.  From the  take on science's reversals of dietary standards ("What? No hot fudge?  No deep fat?") to the mechanization of sex and drugs to the scientific manipulation of produce (the obscenely large bananas and celery stalks), Sleeper actually packs a bit more punch now than it did back in '73.  Just a damn funny film. 

With this being my umpteenth viewing, I think my favorite scene is when the rebellion against the Orwellian American government is trying to reverse the brainwashing done to Miles (Woody's alter ego).  Miles has an "episode" and suddenly shifts into the personality of Blanche DuBois.  In order to calm him down, Diane Keaton plays Stanley Kowalski, doing a spot on Brando impersonation.  Hilarious.

An Incredible(s) New Year

A new year, a new leaf.  2007 wasn't the best year for me but it wasn't the worst.  There were some great highs and some awful lows -- some of which didn't make it to this blog.  But trust me when I say that there were some stretches during 2007 where I was really freaking out, money-wise.  The one-two combo of the commercial and the long gig on the Makeover show have helped stem any money freak-outs, so that's good. 

I am really looking forward to what the year can bring.  A great manifesto for approaching the new 365 days ahead of us was written by the brilliant scribe to the north, bstewart.  His entry Try Hard With A Vengence very eloquently and evocatively sums up how I feel about... well, pretty much everything.  Thanks, Bret, for typing what I'm thinking. 

My actual New Year's Eve consisted of Tom and I watching a huge swath of our Disney DVDs:  Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Bambi, Dumbo, a collection of shorts from World War II, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast.  We ended it all with probably my favorite Pixar film, The Incredibles. 

Growing up with a healthy collection of comic books, this movie is definitely up my alley.  But what I always gravitate towards is the message -- how one has to not be afraid of being different, of being special, of being dynamic.  So much of what we are taught as kids is about being a citizen in society, which is necessary and great.  But what is lacking is nurturing of creativity, of nurturing and supporting excellence.  In a world where kids get participation ribbons instead of trophies 'cause no one wants to hurt people's feelings, The Incredibles really hits home.  Also, it's just a damn good movie.  Between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, I've run across The Incredibles at least 6 times on cable.  And I've stopped to watch it every single time.  Not only is the action fun and the characters great and the music awesome, but it just... well, speaks to me.  I can't think of a better way to kick off 2008 than with a family of superheroes who gleefully fight against fear and cynicism. 

Well, that and a good glass of wine.

At Home Film Festival: Aliens

In my mind, Aliens is the best action movie ever made. Period.  No other action film that I've seen has had a better grasp of character, story construction, propulsive editing, or just kick ass fun as this one.  Ripley is just simply a fantastic character.  She's smart but humble, attractive but approachable,  honorable but not perfect.  Ripley is a little rough around the edges -- she can be short with people, flippant -- but she acts out of what she feels is right.  At no point in the film do we not completely sympathize with Ripley or not see her point of view.  As the audience, we are right there with her.  This serves as a testament not only to the ultra-tight screenplay and James Cameron's direction, but ultimately to Sigourney Weaver's amazing performance.  With all of her Yale training, Weaver fills every moment as Ripley.  You can tell what she's thinking from one moment to the next, and that gives the movie its real thrust.  You are there with Ripley until the end.

In addition to how awesome Sigourney Weaver is, the acting in the movie is just great.  From Paul Reiser's weaselly Burke to Carrie Henn's pensive Newt and Bill Paxton's apoplectic Hudson, all the performances in the movie are pitch-perfect.  And so many quotable lines! "Somebody wake up Hicks." "Oh, game over, man!" "You can just bill me."  "Did IQ's plummet while I was away?" And, of course..."Get away from her, you bitch!"

Tom and I watched this with Mitch over at Ken's  & Susan's place Sunday night, so while it wasn't at my home, it was indeed at someone else's home.  So, this qualifies I think as part of the At Home Film Festival.  I've seen Aliens at least 15 times, and there are portions that still scare, portions that still thrill me, and overall, it rocks my world.   

At Home Film Festival: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

As a shock to absolutely no one, I'm a Trekker.  I prefer Next Generation to the Kirk series and I do enjoy DS9, and a few episodes of Voyager. As a Trekker, I do ascribe to the Even Number Theory when it comes to the Trek films.  The better Star Trek movies are the even numbered sequels:  Wrath of Khan (Star Trek II -- the one with Ricardo Montalban), The Voyage Home (Star Trek IV -- the one with the whales), First Contact (Star Trek VIII -- the one with the Borg).  Along those lines, I'm a fan of number six.

The plot of the film is a thinly-vieled take on Glasnost.  In the original series, the Klingons were the Russian stand-ins -- a militaristic, ugly crew who were all about domination and aggression.  The Undiscovered Country starts with a Chernobyl-like disaster. Praxis, the Klingon moon that supplies the bulk of their energy resources explodes and severely damages the atmosphere of their main planet, Kronos.  The Federation then comes to help them, and this starts to bring the end of 70 years of galatic war.  Furthering this, there are a lot of lines that make this analogy fairly obvious.

Spock:  There's an old Vulcan proverb. Only Nixon can go to China.

Klingon General Chang:  All warriors in space are cold warriors.

The ending of the cold war is a good metaphor to frame the action of the movie, which is about a conspiracy to end the war between the Klingons and the Federation.  But the film is entertaining first, and cold war screed second. It moves very well and quick enough.  The acting is hammy where it needs to be and restrained for the rest of the time.  While it's rather obvious the budget on the film is rather meager in sci-fi terms, the film looks good and is designed well.  And it's the only film I can think of that features some alien flirting between Leonard Nimoy and a pre-Sex and the City but post-Porky's Kim Catrall as the new Vulcan helmsman.  And since his mom was the casting director, Christian Slater pops up in a 3 line role as an ensign serving under Sulu on The Excelsior. 

It's fun, it's funny at times, thrilling in others, and hey, they quote a lot of Shakespeare.  What's not to like?

At Home Film Festival: Erasure Live: The Tank, The Swan & The Balloon

Oh my word, this DVD of Erasure on tour in 1992 represents the best concert I've been to ever. Okay, I haven't been to that many.  4 to be exact, three of which were in 1992.  The first was a WXRT free 4th of July concert with They Might Be Giants and Squeeze.  The second was The Violent Femmes and the B-52's.  This was number three. Four was Bjork in 1998.  But trust me, once you see Andy Bell cavorting in thigh-high silver boots, dark blue hot pants and a blue ABBA jacket, dancing and singing S.O.S., it's something you want to savor.

Now, Ms. Krystyn was with me for three of those above-mentioned concerts, this Erasure one included.  The night captured for all eternity was from the concert in Manchester, England and not where we saw it at the Chicago Theater (in Chicago, natch), but it was the same concert.  And Erasure put on a great show.  They did all their hits (Chains of Love, A Little Respect, Who Needs Love Like That?) and we danced up a storm, smiling the whole time, even when some a-hole above us spilled his beer. 

I'm not sure if it's how the sound has been recorded but all the songs sound just so damn good here.  The different audio productions and arrangements they do for their songs make them sound fresh and fun, even (gulp) 14 years after the fact.  I prefer this live version of Chorus to the album version, as well with Love Is A Loser and S.O.S. The twin Martinque backup singers harmonize perfectly well with Andy's lovely vocals, and it's a show, y'all.  Costume changes, set changes... he comes in riding a mechanical swan, okay? The synthesizers all live in a big tank, and there's a balloon (hence a title).  Couple that with Andy in a huge hoop dress done up as a globe, wearing ruby slippers while singing Over the Rainbow, and the above-mentioned silver boots, and you can just picture the wonderful costume orgy of it all. 

This concert also represented the only time I can all teen fanboy about a band.  I got tickets in line at a Coconuts Records. I dropped over $100 (back in 1992 when I was a college student, mind you) on merchandise at the concert.  I drove out to Michigan to pick up my friends Darryl and Evan to drive them to the concert and back. I bought a lighter to put up and sway during the ballads.  It was me, in fact, that started the lighters during Over the Rainbow. You're welcome. It was just a fantastic night, a fantastic time, and every time I've popped this DVD in, I just grin from ear to ear.

At Home Film Festival: Scream 3

Like many people, my partner and I have a film library.  We have plenty of videotapes, and A LOT of DVDs. We have close to 80, by last count.  A good chunk of these DVDs and tapes are devoted to our obsessions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (for me), Godzilla (for Tom), and James Bond (both of us).  Beyond those, we have collected a great deal of films and TV shows over the years.  But, when we buy these DVDs or receive them as gifts, the thought always crosses my mind:

"Will I actually watch this several times over? Will I actually watch [blank] again?"

Well, ladies and germs, I'm here to change that.  There's much being made as of late about how  box office receipts are down.  Well, since there really has been a dearth of good movies out lately and the fact that I'm not working, I'm going to delve into our collection and watch some of the stuff that we have.  First on my list?  Scream 3.  As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of the Scream movies. I find them clever and fun and scary enough.  And Scream 3 doesn't disappoint.  It's written by Ehren Krueger instead of Kevin Williamson, and the differences are marginal.  There are less zingers and one-liners in the final chapter, but there are plenty of post-modern jokes.  Some of them are clever  (Jenny McCarthy's actress character whines about her character in Stab 3 --  the film within the film -- being killed in her second scene and then she's killed... and it being only her 2nd scene in the movie) and some aren't (Carrie Fisher plays a movie studio file clerk and much is made of how she looks like Carrie Fisher).  The great thing about Scream 3 is that the main characters of Sydney, Dewey and Gail still ring true to the other two films.  It makes sense for them to be in the positions they are at the beginning of the film, and how they react to what's going on in this one.  I love the glossy cinematography, and the acting overall is excellent.  (Parker Posey in particular is hilarious)  Credit to Wes Craven for consistently bringing good performances out of the three main actors for all three films, even when I find them annoying in other things. 

This will be an on-going series here at Jeez Jon. Maybe I'm starting something here.  If you're in the mood for a movie and you don't want to go out, why not just watch something you already have?  Doesn't that make sense?