Quotes of the Day -- Timely, Presidential Version

“The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”

“He looked rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.”

--Dashiell Hammett, born this day, May 27, 1894

Links:

Dashiell Hammett - Wikipedia

Dashiell Hammett - IMDb

More double-barrel stupid from Republicans in Jeff City

I can barely believe all I see coming out of the small-minded, destructive Republicans at our own Jefferson City statehouse.  Here's the latest one:

Missouri GOP: Allow Parents to Pull Their Kids From Science 

Get a load of this little gem:

Missouri Republicans have drafted a bill that would allow parents to pull their children from science classes that are teaching the theory of evolution. According to the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), Missouri’s House Bill 1472 would effectively “eviscerate” the teaching of biology in the state.

Remember when the nation was all for and about education and science and math and, well, honestly, intelligence?

Yeah, I sure do.

And then we started getting these demagogues who not only want to pander to their own small, small-minded voting base but also want to throw religion into our government and politics.

What gets me is not just that it's not smart--truly stupid--but that it's so irresponsible. Let's not condemn our children to mere ignorance, let's foist religion and non-science on them, too.

Then, as if that weren't enough, as if that didn't condemn Missourians enough, they came up with yet more and truly outdid themselves:

Missouri lawmakers mull 72-hour abortion waiting time 

Then, of course, they've been working on this nonsense for at least months:

Missouri lawmakers weigh bill that seeks to nullify federal gun laws

Forget that it goes against national law, forget that, totally.

It all reminds me of a movie:

That one or Psycho,

Looks like another great documentary coming

From IMDb:

Jeremy Irons sets out to discover the extent and effects of the global waste problem, as he travels around the world to beautiful destinations tainted by pollution. This is a meticulous, brave investigative journey that takes Irons (and us) from skepticism to sorrow and from horror to hope.

Link:   Trashed (2012) - IMDb

Quote of the day

"It makes no sense to elevate economics above the biosphere."

--Dr. David Suzuki

Links: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/david/

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Suzuki

Quote of the day... on believing

"...I believe in the soul, ...the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days."

--Character "Crash Davis", played by Kevin Costner, in the movie "Bull Durham"

Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094812/

Rest in peace Nora Ephron, 1941-2012

Having just read that writer, director, producer Nora Ephron passed today, I have to say, if you haven't seen her movie "Heartburn" (1986), you owe it to yourself to check it out.
I think it was a bit of a sleeper but quite good, like so much of her work.
It was an autobiographical look at the breakup of her marriage to Carl "All the President's Men" Bernstein. Based on her book, the best-selling novel. It is a wonderful, funny, insightful, pithy film.

Links: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/nora-ephron-prolific-author-and-screenwriter-dies-at-age-71/2012/06/26/gJQAMOtN5V_story.html

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001188/

Every Facebook user's biggest fear

I just saw this movie trailer, earlier today. Naturally, my first thought was, yes, to be a "wise guy", of sorts, and crack that it is the biggest fear of any Facebook user. That is, not having any electricity so they couldn't get online.

Enough of the humor.

After that, this seems to be what every Right-Winger/Libertarian/Reactionary/"Ender" seems to think is America's future in the short-term. And of course it is since that Socialist/Commie/Leftist/Radical and, oh, yes, Black man, President Obama is in charge. Right? And women are getting more power, money and authority. That can't be good. And gays. They're gaining equality. You know we're all going to hell when all that happens.

Fascinating.

Not just because it's JJ Abrams but because I think there is a zeitgeist in, at minimum, our nation that is along these lines. That is, that we--the US, at least, if not civilization--is coming to the end. The "big" end. The end of everything.

If you notice, too, at the beginning of the trailer, a plane drops out of the sky rather like what was predicted for all of us at midnight when the clocks and calendars went from 1999 to 2000.

Except, of course, it didn't happen.

Links: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2070791/; http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&list=PL2B104252E94684C2&src_vid=JwfCRAtkYEI&index=1&v=jWNlS51QYmQ&annotation_id=annotation_341689

Number 2 on the list of "Films That NEED to be Redone

My call? Here it is: "The Grapes of Wrath." Man, to me, this thing is just aching to be redone. Sure, it's right out of the Great Depression, so long ago and it has Henry Fonda in it as the main character, Tom Joad, but here's the problem: that final or near-final scene in it, when Tom Joad is rather wrapping up the whole movie and their situations with his monologue is horribly, horribly preachy and heavy-handed, it just screams to be redone. Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032551/ It's ironic, too, because I"m all about the "working man" (and woman) but things need to be said without being too, horribly preachy, at least in a work of art.

Films that could never be remade VII

Back to my original them again. My final--I think--Stanley Kubrick film that can never be remade--"A Clockwork Orange." Talk about a unique film. And while it is both a beautiful film and a probing one--asking questions about what kind of a society we want to be and how do we treat criminals--it's so creative in its look, at the same time. And then there's that music--such great treatment of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. There's nothing like it which, ultimately, was the way all Kubrick's films were. And while it could never be redone, this is one that I also think shouldn't be redone because it's just too gruesome. At least it is for me and some of us out here. Links: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066921/

Here's a switch: Films that NEED to be redone

I'm doing a flip on my usual theme of "Films That Can Never Be Redone" and going with this, for once, instead. And this is my choice: "Out of Africa" and here's why. Sure, I enjoyed the film and loved the African scenes and, more than that, the story and Meryl Streep's acting,e etc. But Robert Redford as Denys Finch-Hatten? Please. With that name, isn't it obvious he should be British? There isn't a reason in the world why that role should have been given to Mr. Redford. It's seems clear it was given to him for his name, "star power" and so it would draw in viewers. Such a waste. While still beautiful, moving and touching, it could have been a perfect film. Robert Redord just got in the way. Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089755/

Happy anniversary astronaut John Glenn

50 years ago today.

And thank you, sir. Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/science/space/50-years-later-celebrating-john-glenns-great-feat.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086197/

Eddie Murphy has done it again

It looks as though actor, comedian Eddie Murphy has done it again. It looks as though he has selected a movie that, once again, will be dreadful. At least, this time, he isn't playing an older, heavy-set woman. Or 6 different characters in the same, awful movie. It just looks awful, period. Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0763831/

Contagion: Andromeda Strain 2011?

It will be interesting to read how the new movie coming out soon, "Contagion" will be anything different from what "Andromeda Strain" proposed so long ago, in 1971. (I say read because, though it has the likes of Helen Mirren and Matt Damon in it, whose work I usually always enjoy, I will likely not see it unless I read or hear great things of it and from people or sources I trust). We'll see. Apparently the new one is based on disease spread by birds, if we are to trust the trailer, while "Andromeda" is more based on what the famous astronomer Carl Sagan suggested might happen when/if we were contaminated from space. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain

Insipid Summer movies

First, that there is a movie called--and about--a hangover.

Second, insanely enough, it's sucessful.  Wildly successful.

Then, third, that there is a follow-up movie:  "Hangover II".

Right.  Because we can't figure out how the first one went.

The crazy thing is--sad, too--the 2nd will be wildly successful, also.

I have to remember.

It's Hollywood.

And it's America.

It's quantity, not quality.

It's also Summer.


Have a great weekend, y'all.

Links:  The Hangover (2009) - IMDb
The Hangover Part II
The Hangover Part II (2011) - IMDb

People I've learned that were from Kansas City



Chris Cooper, the rather now-famous actor from movies like "Capote" is from Kansas City.

I had no idea.

I imagine it's common knowledge but until the article in Sunday's Star, I was clueless (one more time).

And then there's the actress who played the "50 foot woman" in "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman":

Yvette Vickers, an actress, was best known for roles in the 1950s horror films “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” and “Attack of the Giant Leeches.” Vickers, who was born in Kansas City, was found dead April 27 in her Los Angeles home. She was 82. Her body’s mummified state suggested that she could have been dead for close to a year, police said. Vickers was Playboy Playmate of the Month in July 1959.

And this brings up at least a few thoughts.

First, "dead for close to a year"? 

Ick.

The poor thing. 

And a "mumified state".  Yikes.  She must not have had any close friends to check on her.  Let that be a lesson to us, eh?

And then, I wonder who came up with the idea of a movie about "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman".   I'd love to know.

Since when would a 50 foot woman be a threat, anyway?

What would she do?  Threaten to crush you if you didn't clean your room?

Don't you imagine that the guy--for it was most surely a guy--who came up with the idea for this movie was a rabid woman-hater?

What other conclusion could you come to?

Links:  http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/07/2857634/final-chapters-recent-deaths-in.html
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/07/2852620/marianne-leone-chris-coopers-wife.html
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0177933/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Cooper_(actor)

Mel Gibson's latest movie: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

First, let me say, I wouldn't pay to see a Mel Gibson movie even if, say, you paid me.

Just so you know where I'm coming from.

Once he did his blockbuster "Passion of the Christ" and earned so many millions of dollars, I knew Mel didn't need my money for the rest of his life.

So to see now that Mel "Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs" Gibson has a new movie out and that it has him playing someone with a mental illness speaking with a beaver puppet on his hand is just too good.  It's way too self-serving for me.



Here's the really funny part to me right now.

In a big ad in The New York Times this last Sunday, it lead with a HUGE, glowing review/blurb, naturally:   

"A TRUE MASTERPIECE*****'The Beaver' is a crowning achievement in American cinema.  Expertly guided by Jodie Foster's precise and focused direction."

And get this---this, to me, was the really funny part, aside from the part that clearly-racist, religion-crazy Mel is playing the part of someone who's lost his mind:  The glowing review blurb was from a local Kansas City reviewer--Shawn Edwards of FOX-TV here in town.

That was their big, all-important, glowing recommendation.

I think they might be in trouble

But thanks, Mr. Gibson, for making it easy for us.

We appreciate it greatly.

 
Links:  http://www.thebeaver-movie.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1321860/

Good news, bad news on a career

The good news, if you're Russell Brand?

You were picked as the lead role in a remake of the original "Arthur" movie that was so funny, years ago--1981--when Dudley Moore, Liza Minelli and Sir John Gielgud teamed up, surprisingly, to make a funny, quirky, unpredictable, unexpected and unusual comedy movie about an absurdly rich and alcoholic playboy.

The bad news?

It's gonna' bomb, honey.

Not even Dame Helen Mirren can save this stinker.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Links:  www.imdb.com/title/tt1334512/

www.imdb.com/title/tt0082031/

Two patently, guaranteed bad films coming out

I have seen neither of these movies, just the trailers, but having seen them for "Love and Other Drugs" with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway and "Morning Glory" with Harrison Ford and Dianne Keaton, I can tell you, if you care to waste your money and most of two hours by seeing formulaic, cutesy, predictable movies, these are for you.

Otherwise, save yourself.

You're welcome.  Now, carry on.

Memorial Day weekend: Bring on the Summer

Bring on the stupid:

MacGruber

Sex and the City 2

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

At least it's equal opportunity stupid--one for the guys, one for the gals and a serving of explosions on the side.

Have a great weekend, everyone.