Movie Thoughts by Allison & Lisa

Well I decided to take a break from movies and revisit one of my favorite cartoons from adolescence.  So I popped in Batman – The Animated Series volume one, disc one the other night.  This disc features the first seven episodes, including one of my all time favorites P.O.V.

P.O.V. is a story told by the police about a bust that went bad.  It has Bullock, Montoya, and a rookie Wilkes under investigation telling their versions of what happened.  There is something about the old fashion police investigation where the officers are accused of being on the take.  Plus Montoya has always been a favorite character of mine.

Reasons why I love this series.  One: hey I was 13 and it was Batman how could I not love it?  Two: All black and art deco, again the passions of an angsty 13-year-old.  Three: No crappy how Batman became Batman storyline.  The first episode is On Leather Wings which is the Man-Bat story and the only one to have Batman bleed.

Interesting facts I learned from the commentary (yes I'm that type of fan).  All the backgrounds were actually drawn on black paper.  And I did not realize that the animators who did this also did Tiny Toons. Which explains why some of the animation is so mushy.  They also used the same color palette for both shows–Robin's green was the darkest green they had and his shadow is actually a shade of blue instead of green.

Besides how could anyone not dig The Underdwellers? Anytime there is a character pirate-esque with alligators as pets who is totally insane…well that's just good television.

I'll be watching the rest of season one in the next week and will try not to go all crazy Batman on you.  You do realize that I used to video tape the episodes so that I could watch them whenever I wanted right?  Somewhere in my parents basement are VHS tapes with Batman on them.

Last night instead of doing the dishes or packing I decided to watch East of Eden. Now I've never read the book, but I figured it was probably along the same lines as some of Steinbeck's work that I have read. You know long, detailed, brilliant sure, but utterly depressing. I wasn't too far off.

This is also my first James Dean film. Shocking I know; considering how many photographs I have of him, but that's the way it is. Dean truly was brilliant in the film. But that's because I have a thing for angst-ridden hipster types.

Anyway, I give this film two rock-fists up. It's set in 1917-1918 in California. Beginning with an overture…why don't films still do this? (Oh yeah, because it's a little boring and the audiences these days are fickle!) We have twin boys Cal & Aron living with their father (who seems to be generally ill–much stress could break him); their mother is said to be dead. Cal, played by Dean is the "bad" one. He catches the train to the next town and drinks in the bar. Cal discovers that not only is his mother still alive, but is a madam in the next town over.

This sets the stage for family to work out their problems.  The California background with the onset of WWI makes for interesting character development. I especially enjoyed the explanation of the internal combustion engine, but that's the dork in me.  Cal & Aron's father, Adam ends up working on the draft board, sending young men off to die or worse come back with missing limbs (the first Frankenstein movie came out shortly after this time period & was so disturbing to people because of the mutilated war veterans).  Anyway, Cal attempts to buy his father's love by becoming an entrepreneur and earning back the money Adam lost in a lettuce scheme.  This is met with contempt and scorn as Adam sees it as war-profiteering and just one more way Cal is "bad".

The film all boils down to love really.  Abra, Aron's girlfriend feels inadequate and loved like a mother instead of a lover.  Cal offers passionate love which she so desperately wants/needs yet feels obligation towards Aron.  Abra also refuses to give completely into Cal because of Cal's own faults.  Cal was never loved by his father.  Is that what makes a hipster hip?  No love from the father?

Adam's lack of love for Cal stems from his wife leaving him (and shooting him in the process).  Adam loved his wife, but he loved her in a very selfish way.  He didn't let her be her own person.  She was rock-n-roll, while he was…well christian gospel.  Adam tried to change his wife and she wouldn't have it and she left after the birth of Cal & Aron (twins by-the-by).  Adam sees so much of his wife in Cal that he just never showed love because he was angry.

This film says to me, take care in who you marry.  Make sure that you love & respect the person for who they are.  Otherwise you could end up bedridden from a stroke with your favorite son headed out to die. 

no, don't!

i actually didn't watch the whole thing. i left the room, paused for 24 hours, 2x and 4x through it. really, it was terrible. this film is just plain awful. i had hope when i saw that John Cho in it that i would be in for good times. sadly, he only expresses on screen what i felt on my couch – utter pain and a prayer that this would end soon. previously i had The Wedding Date as the film that had me asking why i haven't got a screenplay produced. See This Movie now has that honor.

The movie itself is about a film entered into a film festival. the film, however, has yet to be written, cast, shot, or put through post-production. our hero (or anti-hero) is a recent graduate of the 3 day film school. actually the funniest bit in the film is the graduation day for the class - a banner in the background has the dates on taped up cards.

 i was curious as to if this film fit into the Dogme 95 – it seemed to fit the rules more or less. but alas it can't even claim that. i'd be pissed if i had paid to see this film, let a call go to voicemail or had in any way put my life on hold to finish the feature. needless to say i'm sorry that 82 minutes of life were given to David Rosenthal.

Rating:

So this weekend's Netflix included Sliding Doors, Peter Howitt's directorial debut and believe me it shows.  Perhaps the point was not to be able to directly differentiate the two scenarios, but the transition between the two were not as well done as I thought they could be.

In fact throughout the film I actually had to look for Helen's hair color to see which story line was involved and the time-line on wasn't too clear.  Now I'm a big fan of bad science fiction films, but this one was done with little to no regard of the alternate time-lines.  Perhaps a re-edit where you see one entire time-line then the other would help.

The plot itself I found rather weak.  Sure it's a romantic comedy, but still.  Am I suppose to find the best friend a bit of a bossy bitch?  Is James (the perfect man) really just sort of creepy?  I don't understand why Helen even dated/moved in with Gerry.  And how can the PR Princess even think to take a job as a sandwich delivery person?  Wouldn't the thought to open her own PR company come to her anyway?

Perhaps I'm just disappointed in the character of Helen when she stayed with Gerry.  She is weak and also completely co-dependent, not to mention not too bright (or completely ignoring Gerry obvious unfaithfulness).  The blond version of Helen isn't too much better as she seems to be flaky.  Oh, by the way who takes 4 bottles of vodka from the office for their own birthday?  Why can't you just stop by the shop on the way home or go out or have the loser writer boyfriend go get some? 

 Though lots of people rave about this film I missed its merits.  The one big thought I had came at the end; after blonde Helen dies and brunette Helen checks out of the hospital and meets James (the love of her life?) does that mean she still only gets what 3 months before she dies?

Is everything predestined?  Perhaps the rise of the machines doesn't happen in the 90s thanks to Linda Hamilton, but it still happens.  The details change, but the plan remains the same.  Helen does meet James, they will fall in love, blah, blah, blah it just took longer because she missed the bloody train.

Does Sliding Doors mean that we have free will, but it only just messes with what is already preordained?