#43 - Lord of the Flies

Here we go - a proper homicidal mob sorta movie

Like most people, I first read this book probably in middle or High School - the movie here is a pretty faithful rendition of the book - done by Director Peter Brook - it retains English roots, although I believe it's made by an American, and with very few exceptions or cut scenes, doesn't deviate from the source material except maybe at the very beginning.

Right off the bat I was reminded of "Night Of the Living Dead" - the opening reminds me of Night's closing, and some of the violent mob scenes in the latter half of the film remind me of the Living Dead - (side note - guess what's being released in a couple months on Criterion!) - It's a great film about the collapse of society and morals in a closed ecosystem - perhaps it loses some of it's teeth when reading it at a young age because I don't remember it hitting me like the story did this time at an older age but maybe that's the movie

Some really good use of music here - (which according to the special features was done in 5 hours) - Two melodies are dominant - one is a Choral piece sung and played at times when you get the impression that law and order are established, and some spooky stuff played when the tribe descends into the frenzy and madness around the campfire.

They really did a good job here of making these kids terrifying in the 2nd half of the film, and of course, by the end of the film their clothes are practically falling apart - There are a lot of special features and extras to this one, including a deleted scene, some scrapbooks of stuff that was shot and home video shot by the kids - (apparently to keep them busy - LOL) - it's a nice collection and if you like the movie, there's a great audio commentary as well by the director and producer.

It's a pretty good story and I liked this version a lot - I think I saw the 1990 version years ago but in my head this one feels superior - but who can say - either way, it's a classic and almost an art piece in the way it was presented and the story that was told - very good stuff

#42 - Fishing With John

I literally banged out these 6 episodes of an IFC/Bravo show at work tonight - a comedic take on fishing shows, featuring John and some celebrities he knows

The fishing is the background to put these characters together.   As a whole it works ok but there's definitely a better vibe between John and his friends William Dafoe and Dennis Hopper then there was with moody actors and directors

Not quite sure how this ended up in the collection but it's weird enough to justify being released SOMEWHERE - I won't lie - I watched some of it while doing other stuff - it's not shot on super high grade film, so it worked fine on the Ipad

special features include commentary from John - that may be more funny than the other stuff - it's fine for a couple hours though.

RB

Side Tangent - Musings on Star Wars

Since the last entry sucked SUCH dog balls....freaking Shakespeare - I figured with a week to go I'd do some writing in here about Star Wars

Star Wars is literally the first movie I can ever remember wanting to see at 5 years old - and here's what happened - in my 5 year old broken kid English - (hell,  not even 5 yet) - I said I wanted to see Star Wars

My mom asked why but in the end she took me to the drive-in and we watched it - except...I was pretty sure it wasn't Star Wars - in fact, my primitive reading skills soon confirmed we were watching A Star is Born

I still tease my mom about that - two years later i saw it on the re-release and it's amazing how much of the larger context of Empire and Rebels I didn't get but I got the core of Good Guys Vs. Bad - I don't think we ever played Cowboys and Indians - we played Stormtroopers and Han Solo's/Luke Skywalker's - Look - Luke wasn't as cool after the first one - so Han was generally who we played - but Luke GOT cooler

I didn't hate the prequels - in fact, I sorta liked them as much as the originals because I had backstory - info, I understood the context better - I had read comics and books - and for all the Jar Jar Binks shit, I liked them - I got uber excited for every Trailer - same with Episode 7

Except Episode 7 wasn't the same - it wasn't as good for me - partially because the context of the New Order and a Resistance didn't make any sense to me - (I have been told I'm not the only one to go WTF) - and the rehash of the original Trilogy plot - another planet killer - Han playing more like a cartoon hero than a scoundrel - I could have used a lot more of the moments between him and Leia when he was leaving. 

Rogue One was a return to form for me - and I'm starting to enjoy these blaster bolts that don't just drop a guy but hurl him across the room

In March of this year, my wife and I went on vacation to the far SW point of Ireland - Mizen Head - where no one was going cause it wasn't vacation season yet, but when you were living in Minnesota, Ireland is fine in March - at the nearly empty tourism office, the lady said we should go to Brow Head - (next Peninsula over) and that they had shot some of the new Star Wars there - I knew that Skellig Michael a hundred miles away was where they shot the ending so I was confused, but I understood later that this was Ep 8 that shot there - and most of the scenes I've seen in the trailer were shot on a cliff right there near some farmer's land most likely

I still get excited and I'm excited for this one - I'm hoping it feels more like a movie and less like an ADHD Director's therapy - because at the end of the day, Star Wars is my favorite film franchise and always will be, I suspect.  It almost makes me sad to think they may still be making movies in that Galaxy Far Far away after I'm dead and gone - but here's to Rey, Finn, and all the others trying to capture it for us - I wish it had been George Lucas' vision, but I'll take what I can get.

RB

#41 - Henry V

I WISH I could say I have been taking a while because I had stuff to do - but the truth is, I just hate Shakespeare - I literally fell asleep 5 times watching this movie and finally tried watching it DURING work on the Ipad just to finish it

There's some cool stuff here - the story starts on a stage a'la Globe Theatre and then moves out to some sets, and finally to the battlefield before closing back on a stage again - it was made during WWII, and no doubt the themes of unity between France and Britain were intentionally chosen for this story - the acting is fine - I just really hate Shakespeare - and that's kind of the high and low of it - maybe I'd like Kenneth Branagh's version better but even then I practically needed the subtitles to get 1/2 of what was going on

Anyways, this one is done - nothing to say but ugh and I'm glad it's over - I'm sure for 1944 it was the bee's knees but it just left me blah today