RIP Roy Scheider

Roy Scheider has died.

Bread Gone Mad

I made a large loaf of plain white bread. Unlike most loaves, this one rose to the top of the machine. Here it is as the bake cycle started.

Neighbor's cat

"Bones." He was rescued from a junkyard.

Tunes of Glory

Good script, good performances, good direction, good all around. They do not make movies like this any more. Susannah York's first movie. Alec Guinness sports red hair.

John Mills' character was driven to complete mental destruction by (I did not see this one coming) waterboarding, which he describes in harrowing, clinical detail. You know, waterboarding: that torture that isn't torture when George Bush says it isn't. Except in the character's case, the waterboarders weren't security subcontractors in Mesopatamia, but the Nazis.

Hitler probably didn't have time to pretend that torture wasn't torture, seeing as he was busy driving his country to utter ruin and bringing war to countless millions ... Which means that George Bush isn't even as honest as Hitler.

Adopt sharia law in Britain, says the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams

Wha? Is it possible that Andy Kaufman is not dead and is in the midst of his greatest performance to date?

Panic in Year Zero

I had no idea that Ray Milland was Welsh.
The qualities of the movie are not readily visible while some flaws are all too obvious. The more inexcusable failure is the inappropriate score attributed to Les Baxter. The same thumping big band tune plays under scenes no matter what the situation is. Loading a trailer for a fishing and camping trip? Ba-dum-de-bum! Nearly run off a mountain road by the fleeing population of Los Angeles? Ba-dum-de-bum! Hiding bodies in the barn? Ba-dum-de-bum! One expects Perry Mason to heave into frame any second. Les Baxter knew his trade, so I suspect that there was some type of shenanigans related to the low budget. The other glaring deficit is the presence of Frankie Avalon. Otherwise, the matter at hand (merely worldwide thermonuclear war) is handled pretty realistically if a tad optimistically. A special effect of a mushroom cloud over L.A. was unexpectedly convincing.

Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear

Watson is in an especially doltish mettle this go around. Sheesh, just put him in a home already. Also mystery solved - sort of. Worth renting for the performance by Sally Shepherd of Mrs Monteith.

The Last Man on Earth

Curious mishmash of filmed elements with various cameras pointed at Vincent Price. If someone claimed that the entire production had been done by students toying with exquisite corpse, I would not be able to refute based on the evidence of the movie. Sanguine interview with Richard Matheson documents his attitude toward the result: "I wouldn't be paid if I took my name off it." Not in the same class of cheapness as Target Earth.
I have not seen the Will Smith movie because I did see I, Robot.

Metal Tree in SAM's sculpture garden

The site itself is pretty cool but the selected works are underwhelming. The prissy "Do Not Touch" signs are exactly what I expected in Seattle, so not a disappointment beyond the mere aggravation of the condescension. I should have got a pic of the explanatory card for Bench, which is a block of cement shaped like -- I blush to say it aloud -- a bench. How ineffably droll!

My Flip camera produced frames which I stitched (thanks, Autostitch!) together to produce this pic. It's a metal tree and was a big hit with the kids.

Not cute!

Patronizing jerk!

Grr! Another broken DVD

Something tried to fold the DVD, or rather, did fold the DVD:


This time, the crack goes all the way across.


With a side order of delamination.


There is a crease in the sleeve and the shipping envelope. (the stitched photo is full of errors - apologies)

New Bionicle head looks like a hood ornament

 

Compare and contrast:

Pontiac hood ornament.

The Assassination Bureau

Swinging sixties comedy about murder for hire Can't quite make up its mind if it is the Mouse That Roared or Casino Royale. Oliver Reed and Diana Rigg are fun to watch but Telly Savalas was not quite in the groove.

Dark Passage

Preposterous goings-on seem rational somehow when performed by Bogart et al. Great supporting cast.

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Red Claw

The confused milieu of the Universal Holmes series is a curiosity. This one is set in francophone Canada (no actual French is in evidence, natch) but it's some district in Quebec that can stand in for Transylvania, or Dartmoor for that matter. The body count is rather high and the murders are grisly for the genre. According to the commentary track, this production was escaping from its serial nature and edging into 'A' territory. Hmm.

House of Strangers

Richard Conte is much more comfortable in the role of unprincipled avenger than stolid psychologist. Some grim noir touches in spite of being set in the thirties. Check out the bust of Mussolini!

Mutran & Vican

The current crop of Bionicle includes this set, which is labeled "Special Edition." The specialness is that it is actually two sets in one box. There are no unique or particularly collectible aspects to it. The box has a window in the front which peeks in on a sort of diorama background. It is hard to capture in a 2-D photo but it's eye-catching.

The toy itself is very much like the others in its cohort. This particular character has more claws and knives, and has wings which have more articulation than the others.

Pointless Partial panorama

  Where the magic is made.

Where is the justice?

  

What a world! I do not lie about WMDs in Iraq, squander the goodwill of the nations of the world, or grope the leaders of other nations, yet it is I receive a cracked DVD.

edit -- It has happened to me before. And it felt unfair then, too! Woe is me!

Lego Star Wars fun.

Eensy beensy rebels!

new Lego Indiana Jones theme is nifty

Han Solo, Sandy the Chipmunk and Mr. Freeze are not part of the Indiana Jones universe. Yet.

The King of Masks

Heart-warming tale of street actor who needs a male heir to carry on his ineffable art. There is no part of this that is not a complete fantasy. Cute, though. Even the slave market of little girls sequence is played cute.

Alfie

Michael Caine's star-making performance. And it is a tour-de-force. The inevitability of the denouement can be felt like approaching weather.

Netflix Rental History Shortened - Lazy Blogger Loses Out

If there is anybody reading this claptrap (Hi Vince) you may have noticed that I infrequently post short opinions of movies that I have watched. These are, for the greater part, from Netflix. My most recent spasm of reviewettes was in October. Sometime in November, Netflix changed the way that they display one's rental history. There is now no longer a view of one's entire history.
There are folks out there who keep a close eye on Netflix's every tiny move and they write about it at length. As I feel the need to write up these one-liners before they expire, I won't post any links.

Here's my my last 90 days of rentals from Netflix:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1939
L'Atalante, 1934
It Came From Beneath the Sea, 1955
Captain Blood, 1935
Six-String Samurai, 1998
Munchhausen, 1943
The Silent Star, 1960
Young Mr. Lincoln, 1939
Heroes: Season 1: Disc 2, 2006
House, M.D.: Season 1: Disc 3, 2004
Corpse Bride, 2005
La Bete Humaine, 1938
The Lost Continent, 1951
Round Midnight, 1986
Sundown, 1941
Beowulf & Grendel, 2005
Whirlpool, 1949
The Italian Job, 1969
Augustus, 2003
The Lower Depths (Les Bas-fonds), 1936
The Desert Rats, 1953
Boudu Saved from Drowning, 1932
Bell, Book and Candle, 1958
Of Mice And Men, 1992
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing, 2004
Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Greek Myths, 1991
Kristin Lavransdatter, 1995
The Sword of Doom, 1966
The Scarlet and the Black, 1983
Harvey, 1950
The Talented Mr. Ripley, 1999
Bird, 1988
Jason and the Argonauts, 1963
Black Hawk Down, 2001

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Everyone knows that Basil Rathbone IS Sherlock Holmes. I was unaware that Geoge Zucco IS Moriarity. Masterfully urbane and depraved. The actual mystery is of no consequence.

L'Atalante

Another inimitable performance by Michel Simon. Everyone else can go jump in the Seine for all I care, let me watch Michel Simon!

There Was a Plan

Alternatives to MS Word.

Virginia Heffernan - The Medium - Television - Internet Video - Media - New York Times

Another Day, Another Pile of Enemy Armor

Six String Samurai

The only thing that could have saved this indulgent and unnecessary dreck would have been Jean Gabin. Just because you can, etc. The best thing about this is the title.