So I really don't have an excuse for not posting except that I haven't been watching too many films lately, between trying to catch up with my comics reading (I've caught up with Marvel, almost done with DC--which probably gets me halfway there) and packing for my trip to France. If I haven't mentioned this yet, my family is going to France for my cousin's wedding; we'll also check out Switzerland for a few days as well.
Here's the not-so-impressive roundup from the last few weeks:
The Back to the Future Trilogy: Watched all three with the family (Amy only watched the first two). Enjoyed them thoroughly all over again; I probably haven't seen the third one since the early nineties. It's by far the weakest, but still a solid entry (if you can forgive the stupid ending). The first one is just brilliant. I confess to my judgment being clouded by nostalgia somewhat, but it's definitely a substantial film. All three, in fact, adhere surprisingly well to the time travel rules that have been set up (whether or not I think those rules make a logical case for a time travel scenario. We are, however, talking about time travel, so it's not like anyone knows any better than anyone else how it would work) for the films. A few points I questioned in the third film we cleared up by one of the special features. I appreciate that kind of attention to detail, especially for a third film in a trilogy. I also got a kick out of the very Empire-Strikes-Back-like ending to the second film. You kind of have to watch the third after that (though my wife didn't think so).
Overall, I feel like I'm doing my duty as a parent by exposing my son to what I consider to be the best of pop culture from my childhood/adolescence. Amy actually suggested getting Back to the Future, but I'd been meaning to bring it home for awhile.
Everything Must Go: This was pretty solid. I liked seeing serious acting by Ferrell, though in a way his comedy is very serious anyway. So it's not surprising that he can act like this. I liked the film and liked its open-endedness, but at the same time, you're not sure where to go emotionally once the credits start rolling. I think I would have liked a little more information about what happened to the characters, especially Kenny. I also didn't like the adultery angle, but I guess I'm a little sensitive to that particular subject. It made me lose respect for a character I'd really liked up to that point.
Halloween 2 (Zombie): This was put together well, but was still missing something. I'm not sure what. I don't buy the connection between the little boy and the psychopath; we would have seen evidence that something was wrong with the kid by the time he was 10 or 12 or however old he was when he was in the institution. That said, you could get away with saying the whole sequel took place in Myers' mind while he was dying in the first film. I'd buy that...
I also had a hard time with the scene where he bashes the stripper's head against the mirror. It makes sense that we're supposed to understand that he's indiscriminate about who he kills, but between trying to get us to sympathize with Myers via flashbacks and via his occasional selectivity (why doesn't he kill the trick-or-treating kid and his sister?) concerning his victims, I find it hard to believe there's absolutely no moral compass in his head. This turns the stripper scene into a violence-against-women-in-particular-for-no-reason scene, which I always have a hard time with. Notice he also leaves the sheriff's daughter alive so we can have a heartwarming scene between her and Angel. I could be wrong about this; I'm trying to find a reason for why a scene disturbed me when similar ones didn't, and I may not need to. In fact, I'm probably a total hypocrite because I don't take issue with Jason's indiscriminate killing. This still seems different somehow, though. I see Jason as being a lot more mindless than we're being led to believe Michael Myers is.
If Zombie doesn't try to make any more, the two of these together will stand as worthy remakes of the classic series. It was an interesting (and somewhat successful) experiment on Zombie's part (I keep bringing up Zombie's penchant for trying to get the audience to sympathize with unrepentant killers), but let's not tarry here any longer.
I also want to mention again how lovely my conversation was with Brandon about Antichrist and its connections (and disconnections) to horror. I really hope he will write more about it since I'm to lazy to do so right now. He'd do a better job than me anyhow.
That's probably it for me for the next couple weeks at least. If I have internet access, I'll probably pop on Facebook here and there. I doubt I'll be watching many movies though. Mentioning that reminds me that the first time I saw Starship Troopers it was when I was last in France, and I still got the gist of the film despite it being dubbed entirely in French.
I skipped a lot of the discussion about Cold Weather and Drive because I haven't seen either. I'll definitely be watching the former, but still on the fence about the latter.
And, John, you'll never let me live down saying you're not a mumblecore fan, will you? I made an assumption based on a few offhand comments; clearly I was in the wrong. You've seen more than I have, so I'm not one to talk. Though I notice Duplass films don't warrant as much attention from you--am I right about that at least?
