Movies were one thing my dad and I could agree on. We both thought that an evening at the movies was one well spent. This was significant because, for as much as my mom loved the arts (plays, music, art galleries), she really didn't like going to the movies. I can only think of two or three times in my life that she ever went to the theater or drive-in with us. I'd ask her about it and her only reason was just that she didn't enjoy the experience of going to the movies. So my dad and I were movie buddies. He had someone to go with and I had someone to pay for everything.
The first movie I remember that was a kind of a father/son thing was Rambo: First Blood II. Crazy, right? I was eleven, my brother Jason with thirteen, and ol' Dennis took the two of us to see Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo shoot, stab, incinerate, and explode a wide variety of Vietnamese people. Dad had been in the military and liked books, movies, and tv shows about soldiers and war. He wanted to see it, but even if Mom did go to movies, she sure as heck wouldn't pay to see an evil Vietnamese officer slicing a bloody leech off Rambo's body with a knife. Leech-slicing and Stallone's naked, tortured body just weren't her cup of tea. Anyway, the three of us saw it together, and Jason and I thought it was the coolest thing ever that Dad took us to a movie that we were clearly too young to see. (For the record, as a military man, Dad laughed through a lot of First Blood II. I particularly remember him laughing when Rambo fires a bazooka from inside a helicopter filled with P.O.W.s and no one inside the chopper dies.)
Anyway, Dad and I would go to the movies together now and then. Sometimes one or some of my brothers would be there, and sometimes it would just be Dennis and me. Generally, we'd see manly sorts of movies - action flicks, bio pics, and stuff like that. Whatever we'd go see, it always ended the same. The credits would roll, we'd walk out the back door of the theater, we'd make it halfway to the car, and Dad would say, "So what'd you think?" We'd spend the drive home discussing the relative merits of Schwarzenegger in The Running Man or Tommy Lee Jones in U.S. Marshals.
The last movie I remember seeing in the theater with Dad was Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, a stark portrait of ambition, greed, and the acidic effects of loving power more than people. It's about a man who makes a fortune and amasses power as he builds an oil drilling empire in California, and Dad was fascinated by the depictions of early oil drilling technology. I still find it funny that, of everything in this dark, emotionally complex movie, Dad was most interested in how they drilled for oil at the turn of the century. It's not a warm, happy film by any stretch of the imagination. It ends with the main character alone and friendless in his giant mansion after he clubs his adversary to death with a bowling pin. Cheerful? I think not. Nevertheless, I have a lot of affection for the film because it was the last time that, halfway across the parking lot, Dad looked over and said, "So what'd you think?"
My dad passed away a couple of years ago, and I miss him a lot. One reason why I love movies is because they are opportunities to get together with people you love. Even when I was a teenager and didn't have much to say to say to my parents, Dad and I could always agree on a movie.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Pacific Rim
It's a delicate coming of age story that celebrates the beauty and mystery of young love.
Not really.
It's actually a sleek, technically accomplished, big budget tribute to Godzilla movies. It features geeky awesomeness like a 25 story tall robot using an oil supertanker like a baseball bat to club an equally giant monster from beneath the sea.
Needless to say, it's not a romantic comedy, kids.
Nope, it's a big, loud movie with plenty of 'splosions, rousing speeches, cool monsters, and the guy getting the girl in the end. There isn't anything terribly original about the movie, but that's sort of the point. It's meant to be an homage to everything from Godzilla to Voltron to Henry V to Armageddon - it's like a fanboy's dreamland. So rather than making something new, the director and co-writer, Guillermo Del Toro, took a whole bunch of old stuff and redid it in a huge, fun, sometimes winking fashion.
I never enjoy it when a movie hands me a cliche and expects me to just say, "Gosh, thanks. I've never seen an innocent man who's accused of a crime he didn't commit. I've never seen a tough, streetwise woman who secretly has a heart of gold. I've never listened to a big, rally-the-troops speech just before going into battle. I've never seen a nerd long for the blonde cheerleader." Stuff like that is a little insulting because it means the creators of that show think that you are either very dumb, very forgetful, or just have low standards for what you expect out of your stories.
On the other hand, I almost always enjoy it when someone takes a cliche and uses it knowingly with some cleverness or with a twist of originality. While certainly not earth-shattering, Pacific Rim manages to take on some of the cliches of a big budget sci fi pic and use them in a way that is, at least, entertaining rather than insulting.
I think what I appreciated about the movie most is simply that it was fun. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and it seems to be created by someone with an eye for the visceral pleasure of movies rather than an eye for just making money. It's pretty rare to get quality and fun all in the same package, so I try to enjoy it whenever it comes along.Yes, movies have the capacity to teach and edify and all of that. And I love it when they do. But I love it just as much when a movie is all about the color, sound, motion, production design, performance, and story. And 'splosions. And giant robots.
Hmmmm. I wonder if there are any Pacific Rim actions figures...
Not really.
It's actually a sleek, technically accomplished, big budget tribute to Godzilla movies. It features geeky awesomeness like a 25 story tall robot using an oil supertanker like a baseball bat to club an equally giant monster from beneath the sea.
Needless to say, it's not a romantic comedy, kids.
I never enjoy it when a movie hands me a cliche and expects me to just say, "Gosh, thanks. I've never seen an innocent man who's accused of a crime he didn't commit. I've never seen a tough, streetwise woman who secretly has a heart of gold. I've never listened to a big, rally-the-troops speech just before going into battle. I've never seen a nerd long for the blonde cheerleader." Stuff like that is a little insulting because it means the creators of that show think that you are either very dumb, very forgetful, or just have low standards for what you expect out of your stories.
On the other hand, I almost always enjoy it when someone takes a cliche and uses it knowingly with some cleverness or with a twist of originality. While certainly not earth-shattering, Pacific Rim manages to take on some of the cliches of a big budget sci fi pic and use them in a way that is, at least, entertaining rather than insulting.
I think what I appreciated about the movie most is simply that it was fun. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and it seems to be created by someone with an eye for the visceral pleasure of movies rather than an eye for just making money. It's pretty rare to get quality and fun all in the same package, so I try to enjoy it whenever it comes along.Yes, movies have the capacity to teach and edify and all of that. And I love it when they do. But I love it just as much when a movie is all about the color, sound, motion, production design, performance, and story. And 'splosions. And giant robots.
Hmmmm. I wonder if there are any Pacific Rim actions figures...
Sunday, July 7, 2013
The Worst
Let's see --
Taking a sweet, innocent date to see The Island of Dr. Moreau. We had only been out on a couple of dates, mostly stuff she enjoyed, and I wanted to take her to a movie. The problem was that there was nothing good playing. There were a few movies I knew she wouldn't like and a few I knew I wouldn't like - but then there was the mystery choice: The Island of Dr. Moreau. I hadn't heard or read or seen anything about it. This is unusual because my movie radar is always up. I always watch movie trailers when they come on TV, I always read the entertainment section of the paper, and I just always have my ear to the ground when movies are involved. So for me to not know anything about a movie at all was strange. I figured it could either mean disaster or a pleasant surprise.
What I did know is that it had Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. To me, I thought this was probably a sign of quality. Brando, of course, even though he was in his giant-old-man-weirdo phase, was still one of Hollywood's great actors, and Kilmer was still a semi-leading man. (This was 1996). So I figure, hey, how bad can it be?
Sadly, the answer, my friends, is bad. It can be very, very bad.
Brando was clearly just there for a paycheck. His performance was phoned in and essentially empty. Almost nothing about his character made any sense, and the director was clearly just happy to have a big name in the film. I'm confident Brando dictated his wardrobe of giant, loose fitting mumus just because they would be comfortable to wear. What I didn't know at the time is that Brando was infamously lazy and would do his best to not work if he could at all avoid it. He did some movies purely for the money, and in some cases, negotiated contracts that said he would only be on set for a certain number of days and then he would stall and try not to work while those days ticked away so he could paid without actually doing anything. I didn't know at the time that Brando's name on a movie did not necessarily guarantee anything.
Kilmer had a tiny cameo that he probably spent two days filming. The real leading man was David Thewlis, the guy who played Lupin in the Harry Potter movies. So, not exactly a real leading man type, you know?
The story is based on a novel by H.G. Wells and is about a guy who becomes shipwrecked on an island populated by half-man half-animal people who were created by, of course, the brilliant but crazy Dr. Moreau. So the acting is nothing special, the script is pretty terrible, and the special effects are lame.
But an overall lameness was at least palatable. It was the gigantic animal-person orgy scene toward the end of the film that took the movie from just sort of stupid to the top of my bad-movie-experience list. My date was horrified, I was embarrassed, and we both left feeling like we needed to take a shower.
I didn't go on too many more dates with that girl. We weren't that compatible to begin with, but I think Dr. Moreau and the animal people helped put the nail in the coffin of that relationship even faster than normal. So let this be a lesson to you: bad movies can kill relationships. Choose wisely.
Runners Up for Bad Movie Going Experiences:
Falling asleep in the campus movie theater at Idaho State University while watching slow moving, independent films (Ulee's Gold, Copland, Kundun.) I'm all for slow, meditative movies, but holy crap, those movies were boring.
Sitting in a theater in Pocatello, Idaho with my wife, and it was so hot in the room that a guy down in the front row stood up, tore off his shirt, and yelled, "It's so f-ing hot in here!!"
Trying to watch Bram Stoker's Dracula on a date. To this day, it remains the only movie I've ever walked out on. My date was offended by some of the racier elements in it. After she broke up with me and shattered my heart into a billion little pieces, I rented it and watched it all the way through as my way of telling the universe I no longer cared about her.
Seeing any movie at the Roxy in Ottawa, Illinois.
Taking a sweet, innocent date to see The Island of Dr. Moreau. We had only been out on a couple of dates, mostly stuff she enjoyed, and I wanted to take her to a movie. The problem was that there was nothing good playing. There were a few movies I knew she wouldn't like and a few I knew I wouldn't like - but then there was the mystery choice: The Island of Dr. Moreau. I hadn't heard or read or seen anything about it. This is unusual because my movie radar is always up. I always watch movie trailers when they come on TV, I always read the entertainment section of the paper, and I just always have my ear to the ground when movies are involved. So for me to not know anything about a movie at all was strange. I figured it could either mean disaster or a pleasant surprise.
What I did know is that it had Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. To me, I thought this was probably a sign of quality. Brando, of course, even though he was in his giant-old-man-weirdo phase, was still one of Hollywood's great actors, and Kilmer was still a semi-leading man. (This was 1996). So I figure, hey, how bad can it be?
Sadly, the answer, my friends, is bad. It can be very, very bad.
Brando was clearly just there for a paycheck. His performance was phoned in and essentially empty. Almost nothing about his character made any sense, and the director was clearly just happy to have a big name in the film. I'm confident Brando dictated his wardrobe of giant, loose fitting mumus just because they would be comfortable to wear. What I didn't know at the time is that Brando was infamously lazy and would do his best to not work if he could at all avoid it. He did some movies purely for the money, and in some cases, negotiated contracts that said he would only be on set for a certain number of days and then he would stall and try not to work while those days ticked away so he could paid without actually doing anything. I didn't know at the time that Brando's name on a movie did not necessarily guarantee anything.
Kilmer had a tiny cameo that he probably spent two days filming. The real leading man was David Thewlis, the guy who played Lupin in the Harry Potter movies. So, not exactly a real leading man type, you know?
The story is based on a novel by H.G. Wells and is about a guy who becomes shipwrecked on an island populated by half-man half-animal people who were created by, of course, the brilliant but crazy Dr. Moreau. So the acting is nothing special, the script is pretty terrible, and the special effects are lame.
But an overall lameness was at least palatable. It was the gigantic animal-person orgy scene toward the end of the film that took the movie from just sort of stupid to the top of my bad-movie-experience list. My date was horrified, I was embarrassed, and we both left feeling like we needed to take a shower.
I didn't go on too many more dates with that girl. We weren't that compatible to begin with, but I think Dr. Moreau and the animal people helped put the nail in the coffin of that relationship even faster than normal. So let this be a lesson to you: bad movies can kill relationships. Choose wisely.
Runners Up for Bad Movie Going Experiences:
Falling asleep in the campus movie theater at Idaho State University while watching slow moving, independent films (Ulee's Gold, Copland, Kundun.) I'm all for slow, meditative movies, but holy crap, those movies were boring.
Sitting in a theater in Pocatello, Idaho with my wife, and it was so hot in the room that a guy down in the front row stood up, tore off his shirt, and yelled, "It's so f-ing hot in here!!"
Trying to watch Bram Stoker's Dracula on a date. To this day, it remains the only movie I've ever walked out on. My date was offended by some of the racier elements in it. After she broke up with me and shattered my heart into a billion little pieces, I rented it and watched it all the way through as my way of telling the universe I no longer cared about her.
Seeing any movie at the Roxy in Ottawa, Illinois.
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