August Newsletter

     I hope everybody is enjoying the summer so far. July flew by, I hope August sticks around for a while, I don’t look forward to the next two seasons. Did anybody make out to The Fringe Festival? I had three shows that I was trying to make an effort to see and only made it to two of them. Luckily, they brought the third one back for a limited engagement. Now, if only I can find some time over the weekend…

     One of the shows, Liminal State, introduced me to something really cool. It’s a dance form called Butoh and is performed in the moment.  It originates from post-war Japan. There are no real fixed positions or choreography, it’s sort of like improv for dancers. If you get the chance to see it sometime, you should definitely check it out.

     After all of the traveling I did the previous two months, it feels like I’ve been sitting still. The fact that I’ve been staying home and editing my movie hasn’t helped much. I feel like some steps forward have been made but we still have a bit to go. My personal mission is tracking down music for this thing. I’ve been inspired by a lot of movies lately (we’ll get to them soon).  It’s the most fun I’ve had at work in a while!

     Well, there’s only so much I can say about staying home and sitting in front of a computer, so I’ll just start in on my recommendations. First up are a few things you may want to add to your summer reading list-

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler- Philip Marlowe made his debut in this novel. He is hired by a wealthy man in his declining years, because his daughter is being blackmailed. Marlowe is asked to make all of the arrangements to make the payment, but he knows that there’s nothing to stop them from dragging out more money, so he’s on the trail to find a blackmailer while trying to avoid the daughter and a host of other problems that seem to keep landing in his lap.

     If you get the chance, track down the audio book. It’s read by Elliott Gould so it kind of feels like it’s an extension of The Long Goodbye, except when he starts talking about the ‘40’s instead of the ‘70’s. I haven’t had a chance to see if he narrated the other books in the series since I just ran across this one at the library. It’d be cool if he did.

Nothing To Lose by Lee Child- Jack Reacher is back and this time he’s stuck between Hope and Despair…Colorado, that is. On his way across the country, he winds up in Hope, Colorado. It’s a nice, friendly small town. Not a lot goes on there and folks keep mostly to themselves. Just down the road, to the west, is the town of Despair. A tight lipped community that doesn’t like outsiders. When Reacher gets tossed out of town on vagrancy charges just for ordering a cup of coffee at the local café, he starts to take an interest in what goes on there. If you’ve enjoyed the series so far, you’ll like this one.

Death Of A Citizen by Donald Hamilton- Matt Helm gets drawn back into a web of intrigue after a fifteen year retirement. His former partner enlists his help when a local scientist becomes the target of kidnappers. This is the first book in the series and it’s completely different from the Dean Martin movies. One of the interesting things about this book is the feel of it. It was written in 1960. World War II had only been over for 15 years, Korea was only in the periphery, Kennedy was still alive, Viet Nam had not happened yet and landing on the moon was still the subject of science fiction writers. There is a very un-cynical way of viewing world politics. Sure, The Commies are untrustworthy, but if you’re an American, well, you’re okay, Joe. Check it out if you can find it. The series has been out of print for a while so you have to dig through libraries or used book stores or maybe online.

George Lucas-A Life by Brian Jay Jones- If you are a fan of George Lucas, read this book. If, like me, you stopped being a fan around the turn of the century, read this book. Whether you love him or hate him, you’ll definitely walk away from this book with a new respect for the man. This is not a Lucas-is-great-and-you’re-foolish-for-not-seeing-it kind of biography. Nor is it a Lucas-is-the-son-of-the-devil-and-defiled-your-childhood hate piece. Jones covers all of the angles and just presents the facts. If you’re a filmmaker, I’d definitely recommend this. There are some tips that I’m planning on using with my production company. Lucas is a no bullshit kind of guy. He started Lucasfilm Ltd. as a way of getting out from under the Hollywood studio system. Sometimes his ideas took off and other times they bit him in the ass. Read this for yourself and form your own opinions of the man.

Memoirs Of A Mangy Lover by Groucho Marx- This is a collection of essays written by Marx on the opposite sex (well, opposite if you’re a man). Most of them are autobiographical, all of them are pretty entertaining. If you’re a fan I’d definitely recommend this one.

Fletch by Gregory McDonald- I read this at the beginning of the month and had no idea or intention to start reading the first book in so many series. Fletch is an investigative reporter who is working on a story about the local beaches when he finds himself being hired to kill somebody…the guy who’s trying to hire him. Now he has two investigations to pursue and the clock is ticking because he’s supposed to commit the murder later in the week. On top of this pressure, he has his boss riding his ass about a deadline and his two ex-wives attorneys keep hounding his steps everywhere he goes. How will this turn out? Read the book and see. Even if you’ve seen the movie as many times as I have, you’ll still be entertained by this book.

Tom Sawyer, Abroad by Mark Twain- If you’re thinking to yourself, I’ve read most of Mr. Twains works and I don’t recall coming across this one, there’s a reason. It’s not that good. He admitted in his autobiography to writing it for money and it shows. Tom, Huck and Jim find themselves shanghaied on a blimp. They eventually mutiny and gain control of the ship and by this time they are in Europe. There are a few adventures that get discussed but it would have been more interesting to have been a part of them. Instead, it’s just a lot of conversations where Tom plays man of the world with Huck and Jim in the roles of yokels. It’s short, so if you’re a die- hard fan and just want to complete your collection, go ahead and read it, otherwise, there are many other more enjoyable books out there waiting to be discovered, go find them.

     Summer time can be a good time for movies. July was a surprise month theatrically. I almost feel like I’m done going to the theater until September. Read on, it will all be explained.

Atomic Blonde- I saw a preview for this back in April/May and at the end it just said coming soon. As soon as I got home I looked up the release date, marked my calendar and set my sights on the horizon. I’ve seen a lot of good movies by accident, others have surprised me, some looked interesting and turned out to be better than I expected but, this is the first one I’ve seen in a long time that excited me from the word go and kept its promise. It’s a spy story set just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. You’re probably saying to yourself, I’ve seen The Soldier and Other People’s Lives and The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, you’re going to tell me that there is a movie that’s as good or better than these? Yes I am. It’s called Atomic Blonde and it will probably be the last movie you see all summer because I haven’t seen a preview for anything  that’s going to outdo this one.

Baby Driver- See this before you see Atomic Blonde. It’s a really cool crime thriller with interesting characters and a good story that deserves to be measured on its own merits. I’ve become a big fan of the soundtrack. It’s one of the few movies I’ve seen in a while that I really want to see again. I thought about seeing it after Atomic Blonde since the schedule lined up with about 10 minutes to spare, but then I walked out of Atomic Blonde…

 The Bandit- CMT made a documentary about a year ago on the making of Smokey And The Bandit. For those of us who don’t have CMT, it is now available on the blu-ray of 40^th Anniversary edition of the movie. The filmmakers do a good job with most of the facts, but they kind of wander off point in the middle of the film. There are interviews with Burt Reynolds and Paul Williams and Hal Needham’s son, along with a few others, but you can’t help but wonder, where’s Sally Field? They also have BTS coverage of Smokey And The Bandit II that starts to make you question if they’re talking about the first movie or the franchise. If you’re a casual fan, check it out. It’s entertaining and informative. Even I picked up a couple of new facts. If you’ve devoured every story since the release and read Needham’s and Reynolds’ autobiographies, you sometimes find yourself saying, they left out the part where Hal said…

Jaws- Speaking of great movies in their 40’s, The Alamo had their annual screening of everybody’s favorite holiday classic. They played it in 35mm and it still looks amazing. I got lucky enough to be seated next to a young woman who was seeing it for the first time. Even after 40 years, when Ben Gardener’s head comes floating out the hole, people still jump. They jump at the other appropriate times as well. After so many viewings over the years, it’s always nice to see it through fresh eyes.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome- For years I thought that this was the weakest link in the Mad Max chain. After Fury Road, I gained a whole new appreciation of this movie. I mostly picked it up because a local production company was doing a staged reading of it and I hadn’t seen the movie in years. It’s not as great as it could have been, given the first two, but it’s still enjoyable. It doesn’t translate to the stage as easily as you’d think it would, but I enjoyed that production as well.

Planet Of The Apes- I picked this up on dvd because it was on sale and because it had two commentary tracks, one by Roddy McDowell, Kim Hunter, Natalie Trundy and makeup guru John Chambers. The other track is by Jerry Goldsmith. I’ve always hoped they would release something like this one day and it looked like that day had arrived! I haven’t listened to the one by Goldsmith yet but the other one is only a select track and Chambers is the only one who sounds like he’s watching the movie. The others feel like sound bites out of interviews. It was informative, to a degree, especially the actors personal stories, but most of it you’ve already heard before. The movie is still great, but all that glitters definitely ain’t gold.

Spider-Man: Homecoming- It’s refreshing to see a Spider-Man movie that is not an origin story. It does a good job continuing the storyline from Captain America: Civil War, so if you’ve been following the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you need to see this, there’s a lot that comes into play.

Streets Of Fire- I had not seen this movie in a while and to make matters worse, right as I was feeling the itch to watch it again, a local theater was going to play it on the big screen…on the same night that I had a ticket to see Blondie and Garbage. It wasn’t on the big screen, but I got the best of both worlds that night. I had never seen Blondie live before, so that was cool. Garbage is always a fun show. Even on the small screen, Streets Of Fire is still a great movie. If you haven’t seen it in a while, remedy that.

Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets- The previews and critics haven’t really done this film justice. Even I was feeling lukewarm about seeing it until I saw a clip from Luc Besson online talking about what a labor of love this had been and how it was based on comic books that he used to read as a kid. It was a slow week for movies so I took a chance and really enjoyed it. Here’s the trick to it- if you look at it like a Saturday afternoon matinee film, it’s a lot of fun. It’s about space cops trying to solve a mystery and the lengths their investigation takes them to. There are narrow escapes from dangerous situations at every turn and you never know who you can trust. If I was 12 years old, I would love this movie. Being slightly north of 12, I can appreciate it for what it was. Also, the visual effects are amazing. ILM really raised the bar on themselves and the industry. If you get the chance to see it theatrically, take it.

     I haven’t forgotten my t.v. watchers. Netflix is releasing The Defenders in August. This is a series where Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist join forces to defeat a common foe. Think of it like The Avengers for the Marvel Television Universe. I had seen Daredevil but needed to catch up on the others, so, if you’re in the same boat, here are some recommendations. I’d also suggest that you watch them in the order that I’ve written them down because, while the main characters never interact, the world around them seems to follow a progressive time line and it can get interesting.

Daredevil-season 1- If you’re a Daredevil fan, you will love this show. The most negative thing I can say about this show is that Charlie Cox is not blonde. The show seems to take on the feel of the Marvel Knights comic series that featured Captain America and The Punisher along with The Man Without Fear. They really seemed to pay attention to the evolution of the character and the costume, even though they jumped over the black and yellow period (spoiler alert). The stunt work is amazing!

Jessica Jones-season 1- I thought it was odd that Marvel would choose this character to make into a series. She’s not exactly a household name. Jones is a private investigator who happens to have super strength. The show hints at her being the subject of a medical experiment but the details are hazy. It’s probably something that will be addressed in season 2. Kristen Ritter does a good job in the role and the episodes are well written. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

Daredevil-season 2- This is the season that introduces The Punisher. It’s an interesting contrast and comparison between Matt  Murdoch and Frank Castle that runs through the whole season. I won’t say too much more except that this season has one of the great moments in television that you should not miss.

Luke Cage- Like everything in the comic book universe, this is not the same Power Man I read as a kid. It’s still interesting to see what they’ve done with the character but if you’re expecting the jive talking soul brother with the furious fists of vengeance, you might want to sit down first. It’s definitely worth your time.

Iron Fist- If you thought they changed Luke Cage, stay seated. This is not the partner of Power Man from those thrilling days of yesteryear. He doesn’t wear a mask and he has his own story. It’s a slow burn that seems to have the writing formula reversed. Where most shows start off with in your face action to get you hooked and then start developing the characters to keep you interested, this show puts all of its character development up front and it’s not until you’re a few episodes in that you realize that this guy is a mystical martial artist. Stick with it, it’s only 13 episodes long and you’ll probably be tested on it in The Defenders.

     That’s all I have for this month. Stay hydrated and we’ll meet up again next time.