Greetings all, I see we've survived another year without finding razor blades in the apples and needles in the Tootsie Rolls. Were you tricked or treated? My big holiday plans consisted of working and laundry with a staged reading of Ghostbusters thrown in the middle. For those of you in the KC area, check out The Buffalo Rooms calendar for these staged readings, they come around about once a month and they're amazing. It was a great way to ring in the holiday and wrap up the month. Here in November I'll be throwing myself more into my writing since I have two scripts and a book that have been long neglected. It's time for Jack to become a dull boy.
I guess you could call this writing season. The other production companies I work with are either editing or looking to the next project. That's about status quo for us at Merry BanD. I've been in research mode lately as we cut our way through this jungle called editing. There have been technical aspects as well as subtle nuances that surfaced that we're working through. I would say that we're on schedule but we haven't really set a schedule so I'll just say that every day is progress.
There was a lot of letting my geek flag fly last month as you'll soon see. The book list is short but if you're looking for a movie suggestion or five, read on.
Without Fail by Lee Child-This is the sixth book in the Jack Reacher series. I've enjoyed them all and recommend them to anybody interested. The first book is called The Killing Floor and it's amazing but, not to diminish the rest of the series, being the first, it's the passion project, the one he could take his time writing and get everything perfect. That's why I'd say read the first two books to get a fair gauge of the series. In Without Fail, Reacher is hired by the Secret Service to do an audit on their security of the Vice President elect. The only spoiler I will give you, the jaded reader, is to give up thinking like Stephen Hunter and just go with it.
Persuader by Lee Child-Yes, this is book seven and yes, 3/4 of this book starts to feel like Child is feeling the pressures of a contractual obligation. It holds your interest, don't get me wrong, but it just kind of wanders around. The series is currently on book nineteen or twenty so I know that it picks back up because the general public will only put up with mediocrity for about three books before it sees the pattern develop and moves on. Two other things give me hope for the next book, though. One is the last 1/4 of the book. It may start off slow but it comes back around fast. The second is that I'm one book away from the one they based the first movie on. Somewhere in the next book Child gets his groove back. I'll get around to it soon.
Okay, here's the movie list I promised you. There are a couple of duds and a couple of surprises but hopefully you'll find something of interest.
3 Days Of The Condor-How can you not think this movie is cool? I've been a fan for a while so when I started doing research for my spy thriller, I looked to a favorite. Robert Redford (you'll see this name again in this section) is a C.I.A. analyst (code named Condor) who is on the run after his section gets taken out by a hit squad. If you're a first timer or a veteran viewer, check this out, it's worth it.
99 Homes-If you blinked, you missed it in theaters. It came out earlier this year but it's set during the housing collapse a few years ago. Michael Shannon gives a great performance (as usual) as a realtor trying to survive in its wake and Andrew Garfield is a man who loses his family home but then becomes part of the system that screwed him over. It almost feels like Wall Street for the housing market. It's worth your time just for Michael Shannon.
After. Life- I picked this up at the library because it was in the horror genre and the cast intrigued me. Liam Neeson is a mortician who has a gift for communicating with the dead and Christina Ricci plays a school teacher who recently died in a car wreck. Justin Long plays her boyfriend. I'm not going to tell you too much in case you actually see it. The film is well made but it's not one you have to rush out and track down.
All The Presidents Men-Robert Redford (there's that name again) produced this movie and as a result, ended up starring in it as Bob Woodward. Dustin Hoffman plays Carl Bernstein and together they write a series of stories that eventually brings down a presidency. This is another long time favorite that I don't have enough good things to say about. If you can find the two disk version, get it. There's a commentary track by Redford that gives a lot of insight to the making of the film as well as supplemental material that covers everything from behind the scenes of the movie to Watergate and the history of investigative journalism. Check this one out!
Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story-A found footage movie about found footage... The story had some potential but the execution (no pun intended) is poor. A news magazine crew is doing a story about what happens to houses after the owners have been evicted (the dark side of 99 Homes?).They come across a house that isn't like the rest. There's still furniture, food in the fridge, even a child's homework still on the kitchen table. It's like the family just dropped everything and left. You always saw this scenario in horror films so I thought it was interesting to see the after math through a different lens. Unfortunately, it starts a downward spiral from there. For journalists, they suck at research. They manage to get just enough information on the family that occupied the house but then they stop. What about the mysterious figure in the videos they found? Who is he? What happened? When did he first appear? Where did they study journalism? The movie has its moments but they a few and far between. I picked it up in the spirit of the holidays but now that it's over, I'm going to say don't waste your time.
The American- This came out six years ago to a limited release and lukewarm reviews. I don't understand why. This movie is pretty good. George Clooney plays a gunsmith for hire who's work takes him to a small Italian town. It's hard to talk about without giving away too much so I'll just say go watch it.
American Graffiti-The one movie George Lucas got right the first time. This played as a revival at the first of the month. It's always great to see this one on the big screen although the sound mix is a little off since they converted it to digital. It's like they couldn't decide what to put through which channel so they just took turns with it. The movie's still enjoyable though. The boom shadow at The Hop and the reflection in the roof of the car just seem to add to the charm that you forget about on the small screen. One of these days I'll have to take a field trip to Van Ness, just to check out the diner.
Quick relevant story-about 17-ish years ago, Candy Clark and Bo Hopkins were at a car show signing autographs. I went, got autographs, listened to the stories about the movie and when the crowd thinned out I started asking them about Tentacles (I don't think Hopkins enjoyed making this as much as I enjoyed watching it) and Blue Thunder. It was a fun afternoon.
American Ultra-It creeps me out sometimes how similar this is to Order 86. We finished the script before it came out so I know there's no plagiarism or power of suggestion, there are just so many ways you can tell a spy story and I'm sure we all had the same influences. That being said, it is a fun movie and if you get the chance, check it out.
Annie Hall-Early Woody is still the best. Check it out, you'll enjoy it.
Argo-Ben Affleck's opus. This movie really gave me a whole new respect for the man. His attention to detail is incredible, the story is based on fact and having lived through that time when the hostages were being held, I found it interesting. It's the story Ted Koppel didn't tell you. Quick media nerd fact-Nightline on ABC started as a recap of special reports about the Iranian hostage crisis. Quick film geek fact-Affleck based his C.I.A. interior lighting on the newsroom lighting in All The Presidents Men. Visually, it works but when you find out why Pacula lit the newsroom the way he did, it seems a little odd thematically.
The Assassin Next Door-This is a 2009 import from Israel that i think may have lost a few things in translation. It stars Olga Kurylenko, who's big claim to fame is Quantum Of Solace. It centers around the friendship that grows between two women as one is trying to get out of an abusive marriage and the other is trying to distance herself from being a trigger man for the mob. It's very okay.
The Beaver-Jodie Foster directed and starred in this film about a man who suffers from depression and learns to express himself through a hand puppet. Unfortunately, this movie got a bad shake when it was released because it also stars Mel Gibson and this was right after his notorious arrest. Hopefully, he'll take a couple of more roles as the villain and people can exorcise their hatred on his dying corpse as the hero rides off into the sunset and then, after all of the Haterade has passed, he can get back to doing movies like this. I guess we'll just have to see how Hacksaw Ridge does. Whether you love him or hate him off screen, on screen the guy's great and I miss seeing him in roles like this. Check it out, it's pretty good. It'll make a good companion piece to Foster's holiday classic, Home For The Holidays.
The Big Easy-The sleeper hit of 1987 is back, well, on this list anyway. The classic murder mystery set in the city of New Orleans with Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin! I enjoy the shit out of this movie. I've been a Quaid fan ever since Breaking Away. The film also has Ned Beatty and John Goodman who was still working his way up from Foot Locker commercials on his way to oh-yeah-that-guy status. Been a while since you've seen? Do yourse'f a favor 'cher and make you up a pot o' dat gumbo and take a look.
The Bourne Ultimatum-I shouldn't enjoy this movie as much as I do but dammit, it's just a good spy thriller. Back when there were only three Bourne films, they had the sense to wrap up the trilogy and give you all of the answers that they had been dangling in front of your face for two previous films. Plus, the action sequences are bigger and better than the last two because they had expectations to meet. The first two films aren't bad but this is the one I keep coming back to. The Waterloo Station scene alone is worth your price of admission. Fun random fact-while I couldn't do anything as elaborate as The Waterloo Station scene in Order 86, I did have a similar idea sparked by a different Ludlum novel that could have worked if only we'd had more extras...that's showbiz.
Captain America: The First Avenger-The first time they actually made Cap work outside of the comic book. There was a serial, there were a couple of made for t.v. movies that made Reb Brown a household name but that's about all they did, and another failed attempt in 1989 that eventually turned up on cable. Chris Evans really did a good job of bringing the character to life and it's one of the few times you get to like Neal McDonough.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier-With the origin story out of the way and after The Avengers team up, Cap finally gets his own story. It's a great spy thriller that also takes the Marvel Universe and shakes it up. We meet Nick Fury's boss (Robert Redford, him again), HYDRA has infiltrated SHIELD, we meet The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Dr. Zola, mercifully, is portrayed in a more realistic fashion. It's just an all around great movie. I should probably break down and buy the trilogy seeing as this is the second time I've checked it out from the library. Sometimes the mood just hits.
Charade-Here's another great film that Order 86 owes a few things to. I never blatantly stole from it, but most times during re-writes I couldn't help asking myself, what would Peter Joshua do? Track down the Criterion edition, there's a commentary by Stanley Donen and Peter Stone.
The Crazies-Made in 1973 by George Romero, this is an example of guerrilla film making in its natural habitat. What it lacks in production value, it had to make up for in story. This film was plagued with financial problems but still managed to get made. Ultimately, I think, the low budget quality almost gives it a documentary look. It's not great but well worth a look if you're a Romero fan.
Cul-De-Sac-This is an early film from Roman Polanski that almost captures the spirit of the French New Wave films of the early 1960's. It's filmed beautifully in black and white and star Lionel Stander, Donald Pleasence and Francoise Dorleac. I know most people go ga-ga over it but I thought it was pretty good. I loved the technical side of it but the story line didn't really grab me. Still, it's worth a look.
Dracula A.D. 1972-What's Halloween without a Hammer film? Christopher Lee reprises his role with Peter Cushing playing the grandson of his arch nemesis. If there can be descendants of the Van Helsing line, why can't there be descendants of Dracula's familiars? Johnny Alucard (get it? Spell it backwards) has the vial of the counts ashes that his forefathers gathered 100 years ago and now, with the help of Van Helsing's great grand daughter, he will bring Dracula back to have his revenge. High art? Hardly, but it's a lot of fun. If you were a fan of Marvel's Tomb Of Dracula, you'll see a lot of similarities, so it works on a nostalgia level.
Idiocracy-It's hard to believe that in ten years Mike Judge's parody film is almost a documentary. Luke Wilson is part of a military experiment where he was supposed to be cryogenically frozen for a year but due to budget cuts, he got warehoused and wakes up in the 24th century to discover the world has become stupid. Check it out, it's funny because it's true.
In Like Flint-The last movie in the Derek Flint series. Both movies are just so much fun. James Coburn plays the ultimate spy who has to save the world again and take on women's lib. Despite being part of our mantra while making Order 86 (it's not that kind of movie), I felt the urge to revisit it just because of that mid-'60's Cinemascope look that both of the movies had. I don't know that we ever had that many lights at our disposal to make our film look like that.
Jack Reacher- At the time this came out, it was a glass of fresh, cool water. The movie is intelligent and you love it for that. Tom Cruise is the polar opposite of the character in the book but he gets into the character and makes it work. I still enjoy this movie.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back-If you haven't seen it yet, go now. It's different from the first one and in a good way. I'm not going to spoil it, I'm just going to say go.
The Magnificent Seven ('16)-I was luck enough to see this for free so I got my moneys worth out of it. It's not as bad as I thought it might be but it sorely lacks the character development that is essential to this story. Given the option, I'd say go see any of the other variations on this story and you'll be happy.
Our Man Flint-Set up as a parody of the super spy genre, these movies are fun. I remember seeing them as a kid and enjoying them more than James Bond. Derek Flint made me thirst for knowledge. To be able to get a chemical analysis of a poison dart and narrow down which region of Europe the would be assassin came from because of a bouillabaisse recipe, was amazing to me. Of course, I knew it was just a joke, but it got me thinking, what if somebody could be that smart? Like Sherlock Holmes? Between Derek Flint and Buckaroo Banzai, I learned that you can pursue all of your interests and put them to work.
Shin Gojira- A Japanese Godzilla movie?! Yes, please! Earlier in October, there was a one night run of this movie in a couple of local theaters. It's been sixteen years since Toho has put out a Godzilla movie and this one doesn't disappoint. I'm usually a bigger fan of his movies when he actually goes up against another monster but in this one he just invades Tokyo and the Japanese have to find a way to stop him. It seemed only appropriate that I take my Godson to see this since we saw Godzilla 2000 together. Of course, this time we didn't have to fake a dentist appointment to get him out of school early. Oh, don't look at me like that, the boy turned out just fine. He went on to graduate college AND he's a Godzilla fan, my job here is done.
Straight-Jacket-'Tis the season for a William Castle movie and this one has Joan Crawford in it. Written by Robert Bloch, it tells the story of a woman who comes home 20 years after being in an asylum for killing her husband (Lee Majors in his first movie). People start winding up dead when she's around...hmm....is mother having a relapse? Far be it for me to cast dispersion's on Bloch's work, a friend of mine says I tend to repeat themes in my work, but if you're thinking you might have seen this in Psycho II, I'm not going to say you're wrong.
Thunderbolt And Lightfoot-I ran across this one at the library and I'd always thought I'd seen it on t.v. but the synopsis wasn't ringing a bell so I picked it up. It's Michael Cimino's first movie and it's really good. That was a rare treat to find an early Clint Eastwood movie that i hadn't seen before. If you get the chance, definitely check it out.
Well folks, it looks like I've run out of things so I'll just sign off here and say have a good holiday and I'll see you next month.
