49th Parallel

Pretty mild-mannered for a propaganda movie. The matter of 'camps' was mentioned pretty early on. I knew the general gist of the movie from Vaughan-Williams' score, which is somewhat at odds with the timbre of the script. With the exception of Glynis Johns, the stars of the various episodes range from risible but charming (Olivier's French Canadian is distracting, to say the least) to Leslie Howard's self-aware (almost fourth-wall-breaking-aware) caricature of an intellectual. Raymond Massey's everyman is the most successful but is not always subtle. Given the sadistic goings-on, the general tone is surprisingly upbeat. Surprise appearance of Hutterites.

Superman Doomsday

Neither fish nor fowl, this is bound to disappoint if you wanted the edgier Superman from the books or if you wanted another TV Superman adventure. Too caustic for the latter and too lightweight for the former, it's not actually bad (although the craggy facial features on Superman are distracting) with some clever bits thrown in, the overall effect is underwhelming. The voice casting was burdened with B-list actors: Adam Baldwin and Anne Heche. Why?

Round Bread

The bread machine is convenient but makes really unattractive loaves. I think it also does not get hot enough to bake a good crust.
This loaf here was done by hand (it's not that much actual labor but waiting on rising bread requires either planning or free time) and certainly looks nice. The proof yadda yadda yadda ...

Sketches

sketches may 2009

GOP is Completely Brain Dead

Sorry to hear that Jack Kemp died of cancer. That sucks. But the response from the stupid side of the aisle is mind-staggeringly tone-deaf:

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Kemp "championed free market principles that improved the lives of millions of Americans and helped unleash an entrepreneurial spirit that all of us still benefit from today."

If you parse this, it is an open admission that the GOP asserts that it is OK for 1% (or less) of the population to control most of the money. (I hesitate to assign a figure to the money side of the equation because I am pretty sure that there is in fact no percentage high enough to satisfy this institutionalized level of greed.)
Earth to Mitch: We are still suffering from Reaganomics. Like cancer, there appears to be no cure except death.

Laxness

I have fallen way behind in my movie-watching note-taking. I'll catch up but the quality, such as it has been, is likely to suffer.
I have also fallen behind in scanning my sketchbooks. There has been long lapses of actual sketching and most of the sketching that has been done is not satisfactory to me. I think my standards have gone up while my skill has not. Indeed, I came across a little drawing I did DECADES ago and I don't think I have managed to improve that much since then. Good thing I kept it. I guess.

Son of Fury

George Sanders at his reprehensible best. Peculiar Tahitian interlude with Gene Tierney as hula dancer love interest. Pidgin scenes sail beyond awkward straight into reprehensible. Good fight sequences and some impressive stock footage of a sailing vessel in heavy swells. Tyrone Power is the star. He is stalwart.

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.

The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell

Ponderous telling of harrowing history of air pioneer's career-death. Depressing, really. Some real good speechifyin'. Rod Steiger storms in for one scene, seems a bit embarrassed.

Treasure Island

The Treasure Island with the Long John Silver. All others are just also-rans. The Charlton Heston Treasure Island's Blind Pew is superior, however. Robert Newton astounding.

Boomerang

Elia Kazan indicts small-town America hypocrisy and smallness of mind. Pretty effective, too. Excellent performances by all although Jane Wyatt's character is apparently the template that she will be typecast into for the rest of her career. Ed Begley never disappoints.

The Professionals

To the credit of the characters none of them seem unduly distracted by Claudia Cardinale's outrageous costuming. That they could act around her line delivieries adds extra "pro" to "Professionals." The difficulties of acting in a second language are duly noted. Overall, good not great.

The Odessa File

Weird accents eventually are just part of the milieu. Pretty good overall. The Simon Weisenthal "police procedural" stuff was a bit stiff, but it was also brief. Above average fight scenes. Disappointing resolution.

Pocahontas

I did learn that the English really were looking for gold in their early Virginia settlements. Man, that must have been disappointing. Oh, and that Pocahontas was a runway model. The hell!?

The Changeling

I am a sucker for anything with George C. Scott. This is not a groundbreaking entry in th e ghost story genre by any means and has some long dull stretches and is pretty obvious to boot. Good performances carry it along well enough. In the TMI department, Scott's character weeps in almost the same way as I do. Who knew?

The Day of the Triffids

Really awful print on a bad transfer does nothng to improve this very creaky but earnest monster movie. Mostly inept. Some small charms.

Sunset Boulevard

If shame was one of the elementary forces of the universe this movie would have collapsed Hollywood into a singularity. I'm not sure that the process isn't still working its way through the atomic fabric of Tinseltown. Very close to the top of the list of Greatest Movies of All Time.