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 40th 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.
