Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Compelling direction leaves little time to be take note of the falsity of the exercise. Everyone is tres tres cool. The alterations to the original tale are very smart given the shift in setting to contemporary France, but the point is much muted now by that same shift.

Colossus: The Forbin Project

One of the pillars of my childhood TV-watching. It's no Andromeda Strain but I love it. That the DVD is pan-and-scan should be a source of profound embarrassment for everyone involved.

Lego Duplo Star Trek Captain's Chair

From Duplo

I think it's a reasonable facsimile given the context. The other pictures in the set are of a Duplo fig that accompanied the chair. He reminds me of Tripp from Enterprise. I do not care to be reminded of Enterprise.

Long John Silver

Disappointing not-Disney remake of Treasure Island with Robert Newton and a crowd of Australians. Not terrible. The DVD mastering screwed up the ratios. I had to tinker with the settings to unsquash the picture. Stupid technology.

A Mighty Wind

So much more emotional than I expected. The parody of the folk-music scene is less send-up than re-creation. Really humbling talents on display. Eugene Levy is forgiven for the Cheaper by the Dozen movies.

The Simpsons Movie

Not so good. Julie Kavner's big scene is touching but the tone is unsupported by the rest of the movie.

The Legend of the Shadowless Sword

Not complete crap. Colorful. Too much wire-fu. Acting was pretty good for the genre.

Living Room

From 20090414_livingroom

Unconquered

deMille gives pre-Revolution colonies the epic treatment. Mis-casting is beyond ludicrous and approaches the sublime. Henry da Silva is in the George Sanders role, Paulette Goddard is in the ... Paulette Goddard role, and so on until we arrive at Boris Karloff as the Indian chief. No, seriously. Peter Lorre as Charlie Chan is more plausible.

Yellow Sky

Anne Baxter in dungarees elicits rude comments from saddle bum bank robbers. Body count escalates. Awesome. Gregory Peck's acting chops under visible strain.

Buccaneer's Girl

Yvonne deCarlo so-called comedy vehicle doesn't get off the ground by the end of the first act. Low-rent everything. Didn't finish.

Against All Flags

Errol Flynn's swash has seen better buckling. Maureen O'Hara in what has to be one of her worst performances. I suspect that there was inadequate rehearsal. Also the writing stinks. Color wasn't too bad, I guess.

The Little Mermaid

One of my more obvious movie-going lapses. "You've never seen the Little Mermaid?!" I know! I'm surprised that they let me into Disneyland. It's pretty good. Amusing songs. Kenneth Mars could have been given a bit more to do as Triton, but there you go. My only criticism is that everyone's eyeballs are just too, too huge. Not Power Puff Girls huge, okay bad example, but too darn big.

Superman (Fleischer Studios)

All the subsequent Superman incarnations need to sit down and shut up. What an achievement this series is! Totally, fantastically awesome and amazing. There is nothing about it that I don't completely love.