Summer Movie Bonanza, If You could See Only 1 Movie?

Cinema’s blog, matinee date 130611:16

This summer, I’ve been reading a lot, and taking notes on my favorite bits or favorite plot arrangements. I love call backs and conclusions from a spin that aren’t specifically mentioned or described, but you know from common knowledge about it and are somehow still surprised at the result.

The plot doesn’t broadcast the ending. Any team will win at the end 99.9% of the time. Any single male and female “working on her career” will hook up at the end. Most movie descriptions will tell you their main story plot, but they don’t get into the “b” plot, which I have often liked better.

I try to watch indie movies and stay away from the blockbusters with the all-star cast, all of their stories are predictable. The only time they die is apocalypse or infestation movie and then it becomes picking the order of the death/ mutated pool which is often determined by the order of billing on the poster.

One big surprise was Wreck it Ralph, what the hell is Disney doing hiring Sarah Silverman? So I checked it out and couldn’t believe that movie came from that studio, they even parodies some of their own sacred cows. I was impressed.

So, I decided to throw most modern movies out the window and in the spring I researched classic movies I hadn’t seen (on DVD). I saw some classics on vhs, but without the extras and commentaries. Blu ray promises more extras, but my personal belief is that the format will die out to streaming (or even “3-d“) before they come close to the library volume regular dvds have.

There are movies everyone quotes from that I watch and realize, this is the big deal they quote from? So I try to watch classics from film makers/ actors that have large bodies of work, mostly on the AFI (american Film Institute)’s top 100 lists. I also look at films UCLA and Scorseze try to get restred for historical value. This summer, my netflix cue  is filled with some great movies made by masters of cinema.

I am most fascinated by the documentaries, animal documentaries. One Halloween, I thought it would be funny to rent scary movies of docus, like “how the sausage is made” type. Instead, they wound up scaring the shit out of me more than 9/11 and I was paranoid to eat anything or even go out for a couple of weeks. 9/11 was what made me cancel cable and it‘s 24 hour “if it bleeds, it reads” news.

I have every IMAX film on my cue and I’m about 1/3 thru it. I decided they were the best animal docus that just graze the surface on how humans fucked the planet and focus more on animal sanctuaries, rescue and breeding.

I see a couple a week and it’s fascinating to see the animal hierarchies, how tribes or groups migrate and hunt and their roles in their groups. Many times I am envious that their roles are so defined, they have other species they’re symbiotic with and sometimes even hunt together. Somehow the animals always know who their hunters are and who their pray is. They don’t get betrayed and turned upon with some spoken or policy bullshit the way humans do.

A lot of my life and goals lately have been about doing things “before they’re gone.” It’s not out of fear, it’s out of just plain statistics. Shit will run out or become extinct in this generation, in my lifetime. I don’t know if that’s any way to lead life, but it is a way to appreciate and prioritize what I will do better. I even realized I may be happy eventually moving to a particular city that I hadn’t thought of before.

Harry Potter And The Reluctant Yank, Part A

(I’m already doing a numbered series, as not to confuse, maybe.)

Cinema’s blog, movie date 130428:14

From news articles I’ve read that after August we may not even have a post office, that’s supposed to be when all the “debt” comes to a head. You see, thru a certain political party, the USPS now has to accrue savings 75, that’s SEVENTY-FIVE years before an employee retires. That is 10 years before any employee is even BORN, add 16 more before they’re able to work. And then prices will skyrocket to mail anything. So we may finally be rid of junk mail, but also the ability to send hand written holiday cars & letters.

Anyway, and that was quite a tangent, I decided to go for quality on my netflix cue and hacked away all the 2 star films and ones that I had less than 10 of. 3 is a lame rating out of 5. It’s wishy washy okay. I always like a review system with an even number of options. 50% or 51%, shit or good. The only 3’s I have left are part of series.

I couldn’t deny it was time to rent the harry potter films, mostly because I was impressed that such a large cast made 8 films. The closest I can think of was Roger Moore as bond for 7, but that’s mostly him. Was Q, M & Money Penny consistent within that?

The first film I just let “wash over me,” I didn’t try to figure anything out, which is tough. My mind wants to plot crunch. And the first 3 movies were tough because the magic was too random for me. A mythology has to develop rules within itself. You have to know a vampires rules or Jason if you have to kill them. There has to be a limit what you can make disappear or specifics on what you can pull out of nowhere? This movie was all over. But there is a puzzle to figure out. Tons of characters are introduced and I think you can have too many characters. That’s what sells the action figures, unfortunately.

I learned from the tons of Star Wars figures I still have and am reluctant to sell. For a long time I thought about calling my eBay handle “should_I_sell_blue_snaggletooth?” I now am selling 3/4 of my collection quite easily, a lesson in collecting and what their real long-term value is when the series takes a turn from the creator(s).

Who the hell sends their kids here to such a dangerous school?! And a 7 year school when you’re 11? They haven’t even learned the “basics” of high school? Are you really going to teach sorcery to a bunch of kids that want to get laid, play video games and eat junk food?

I did think the sorting hat was interesting. High school is like that: you’re wither a jock, a geek (without perfect grades), a stoner or in the academic decathlon. There are many factions… familiar to me within the geeks.

In the second movie, I did figure out the puzzle, or big bad and I just considered it a kid’s movie that spelled it out. I knew there were bigger things for Snape and like most movies there would be something important he was hiding for him to act odd but not all outright evil.

I of course loved Moaning Myrtle. Can’t wait to see the porn parody.

The films went on long and it was tough for me to get thru. I was bored and restless. It was literally watching a british tv season of 6 episodes in a sitting.

The third movie was trickier for me to figure out and I’m not sure I did. Everything just happens quickly whether or not and of course people leave the movie saying they figured things out. I bet if the theater paused the movie before it’s secrets unraveled and handed out a written, I’d bet 3% really got it.

There are so many red herring characters, but I did pay attention to what I call card counting people. Like blackjack there are high cards and low cards. A character will come in and do good (high card) or do something bad (low card). There are ancillary characters that kinda say “hi” (middle) that you take for granted. CSI taught me not to mentally “blow off” those people.

If you have a time traveling device, THAT should be the big deal here! I understood later where the plot and mythology needed to go, but at least dispatch the device if you’re not going to use it!

Wow, that was a lot and quick. I’ll have to go to part 2…