I love cameos, but they raise an interesting question. When you suddenly see, and recognize, Lou Ferrigno, you are participating in the movie, not as pure story, but as part of a continuum with other movies on the same topic, as well as the genre as a whole. When Stan Lee shows up, or...
Someone forgot to mention to me that the best show on television, halfway through its final season, is going to stop showing new episodes until January. What’s up with that? Why isn’t that a whole other season? And what am I supposed to do on Friday nights in the meantime? Get a life?
Today I saw an older guy with a Che Guevera t-shirt. Che is an icon, in the most real sense of the word. For many people, the reality of Che consists of the image, and the revolutionary feelings it provokes. It’s a very safe level of revolution. While right-wing bloggers and Bill O types...
I was ready for this one to fail. The premise is kind of dated, the raging Id as superhero has been done in many forms, plus there’s the stretchy pants problem. Also, I never made it through Ang Lee’s version, even on cable, for free. But it was Saturday afternoon and I needed a...
Plato (and/or Socrates) was the first person to describe a movie theater, yet he couldn’t wrap his mind around fictional stories. Not only do they lie, they don’t hold up high standards for people to live up to. Fortunately Aristotle came along and pointed out that we don’t just need role models, we need...
Speaking of movies with action, guys with whips, and an ancient artifact, I watched The Rundown again the other night. Originally, I told people that it wasn’t a great movie, but I liked it. But after seeing Indiana Jones fall apart with a huge budget because of an utter lack of story, I appreciate...
Lifeforce
To participate in Final Girl’s film club, I had Netflix send me Lifeforce, a 1985 Tobe Hooper move about Naked Space Vampires. Reach into my brain and pull out the perfect woman, and she might look like Mathilda May, the naked chick who walks around sucking blue light out of people in Lifeforce. But...
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