I still can't tell - was X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) the best comic book movie yet? It had a wild plot, great actors with Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr played by two actors each, nice superhero character dynamics, some humor, lots of great action. Plus a little something extra, a touch of visual class that pulled me right in.
It is set in the universe of X-Men: First Class but it starts in a dystopian future where all-powerful Sentinel robots dominate mankind and exterminate mutants. Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine and a small band make a last stand in a kind of Thai castle. Their only hope: Send Wolverine back in time to the 1970s to make sure the inventor of the Sentinels isn't assassinated. Oh, you thought they would kill the inventor? No, Mystique tried that and it just made him a martyr to the mutant menace.
And that's not even the beauty part - the inventor is played by Peter Dinklage. He wears a 70s pornstache and aviator-framed glasses and looks so right that it took me several scenes to notice his height and a few more to notice that it was Dinklage.
So Logan wakes up in the past with no knowledge of what is happening. Did he forget his past? Didn't Prof. X brief him? Was it an alternate past in some way? Anyway, ladies, watch for a serious Hugh Jackman naked butt scene. Man, that guy is built. Sorry, where was I?
He finds that Prof. X has been shooting up a mutation cure to stop the telepathic voices in his head (and to let him walk somehow? Not sure how that works), drinking a lot, growing a beard and just saying "fuck it". Magneto is in prison for killing JFK (which explains the magic bullet). So they get teenage Quicksilver to help break him out, and the game is on.
Quicksilver has a shortish part, but it's great, full of punk energy - every Pietro, although he's just Peter here. These scenes have some nice super-slo-mo effects, but we have a complaint. Nobody as punk as Quicksilver would be listening to "Time in a Bottle", even in 1972.
In fact, our main complaint was that they didn't have as much fun with the retro setting as they could have - there were 4-5 classic 70s hits, but only Roberta Flack's "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" stands out. And would an old groundskeeper really be listening to a radio station that played Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken" in 1972? It wasn't quite underground, but it was pretty hip. That song and Springsteen's "Rosalita" kind of defined my 1972, and I was a high-school hipster.
There's a lot of Mystique in this and her part is great. There's quite a bit of Hank "Beast" McCoy, one of my favorite original X-Men. Ororo still doesn't get a decent scene, oh well. Also, while I like James McAvoy's hippie junkie act, I still don't quite buy him as Charles Xavier. I think Michael Fassbender as the younger Magneto was more convincing.
And of course, Hugh Jackman is just so Wolverine, you almost don't notice how awesome he is.
There's the usual problems with too many things going on and too many characters. Rod Heath, in his encyclopedic year-end roundup, critiques these movies as random grab-bags of plot elements, which is very true. But, I ask you, isn't this a tribute to the serial nature of comic books? Each book stands alone and is part of a loose continuity only. When someone in this movie explains that Mystique killed Trask or Magneto assassinated the president, I can almost see the little footnote signed by Stan the Man or Marvelous Marv, letting us know what issue that was in. Maybe it was an issue we hadn't read, maybe we had read it but don't remember it that way, but that's the story now, get used to it - until the next time jump, or next story editor, or next movie.
In conclusion, Ms. Spenser thought the movie was a little slow. She might be right - maybe I'm just a pushover. But I loved it.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Friday, January 2, 2015
The Year That Was
Happy New Year everybody! You've all done a great job, and I want you to take a few days off and come back on Monday rested and ready.
In keeping with my habit of making a fuss over not doing year-end lists, then half-assing one anyway, here's my comments on Cool Bev in 2014.
Movies Made in 2014: I watched more movies in the year they were released in 2014 than ever (probably) - 11 this year vs. 10 last year. Probably because I feel like watching more big action films, and they are always coming out - especially the superhero movies. My top pick has got to be Gaurdians of the Galaxy, although Grand Hotel Budapest is a very strong runner-up (maybe superhero movies should have a separate category?). For least favorite, I'll go with Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Movies Watched in 2014: I think our best movie watching experience this year was watching three Guillermo del Toro movies, Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth, and Cronos, and Spirit of the Beehive. The del Toro movies, especially the first two that are set in the Spanish Civil War, are an interesting reflection of the themes and techniques in the 1973 Spirit. I recommend them all individually and as a group.
For least favorite, I'll go with Ocean's Twelve. It wasn't really that bad - we probably sat through worse, but the combination of potential and sloppy laziness just gets to me.
Music Movies in 2014: We watched a lot of concert movies and music documentaries in 2014, and planned to watch more but got derailed. The T.A.M.I Show was maybe the best, followed by Muscle Shoals and Twenty Feet from Stardom. One of the reasons we didn't watch more was that the Levon Helm documentary, I Ain't in It for My Health, was next on the list. Since it was made while he was dying of cancer and after, it's supposed to be pretty wrenching, and we haven't been up to it.
TV in 2014: We finished watching the complete series of two shows we really loved in 2014: Leverage and Dobie Gillis. We miss them both very much (if you want to listen to me play my lovesong to Sheila Kuehl, who played Zelda on Dobie Gillis, don't say I didn't warn you). But then we found Arrow and Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. And now we're finished with them :-(
Still looking for a replacement watch. Let us know if you hear of anything.
Best Movie of 2014: Bringing Up Baby, same as every year.
To Come in 2015: We are starting off the year re-watching The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. We're looking forward to seeing the last of the trilogy - our nephew works in an IMAX theater, so we could have seen it in 3D, but still prefer the home experience. We'll watch all the latest Marvel (and some of the DC) movies that become available, of course.
Other than that, we plan to watch some more horror and hard thrillers this year - Ms. Spenser likes them, and I don't get my way all the time.
We may also try to upgrade our tech - Blu-rays tend to stall on our current player. We got a Sony replacement, but a) very clicky interface, so much trouble to work and b) has no timer display on the front. It's funny how much dependent we are on seeing the amount of time left in the movie. You know, to answer questions like: should we pause here or wait to the end? But the new player is hooked up to Amazon Prime, which we are members of and have never used to watch movies. So maybe we'll try that sometime, although the Amazon site is HORRIBLE for browsing. Really makes me appreciate Netflix.
Netflix: Since this is a blog about my Netflix queue, I should leave a few comments on the service: It is getting worse. I have more Very-Long-Wait DVDs than ever, and it seems that more of them are going into the Saved (= not available) list than being delivered. Streaming is almost as bad, with movies showing up and falling off at random. And why is Netflix producing their own content? There are enough TV series in the world! Concentrate on making all movies in existence available to me. Immediately!
Cocktails: Since this is also supposed to be a blog about cocktails, I'll say a few words about sparkling wine: I love it. I once decided to drink nothing else - a decent bottle of cava can be had for under $10, so why not? Well, for one thing, my palate advanced, and I can barely touch that Cordon Negro (my current tipple is $13 bottles of Napa bubbly, when available). But I also like to add a little something:
Thank you and have a better 2015.
In keeping with my habit of making a fuss over not doing year-end lists, then half-assing one anyway, here's my comments on Cool Bev in 2014.
Movies Made in 2014: I watched more movies in the year they were released in 2014 than ever (probably) - 11 this year vs. 10 last year. Probably because I feel like watching more big action films, and they are always coming out - especially the superhero movies. My top pick has got to be Gaurdians of the Galaxy, although Grand Hotel Budapest is a very strong runner-up (maybe superhero movies should have a separate category?). For least favorite, I'll go with Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Movies Watched in 2014: I think our best movie watching experience this year was watching three Guillermo del Toro movies, Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth, and Cronos, and Spirit of the Beehive. The del Toro movies, especially the first two that are set in the Spanish Civil War, are an interesting reflection of the themes and techniques in the 1973 Spirit. I recommend them all individually and as a group.
For least favorite, I'll go with Ocean's Twelve. It wasn't really that bad - we probably sat through worse, but the combination of potential and sloppy laziness just gets to me.
Music Movies in 2014: We watched a lot of concert movies and music documentaries in 2014, and planned to watch more but got derailed. The T.A.M.I Show was maybe the best, followed by Muscle Shoals and Twenty Feet from Stardom. One of the reasons we didn't watch more was that the Levon Helm documentary, I Ain't in It for My Health, was next on the list. Since it was made while he was dying of cancer and after, it's supposed to be pretty wrenching, and we haven't been up to it.
TV in 2014: We finished watching the complete series of two shows we really loved in 2014: Leverage and Dobie Gillis. We miss them both very much (if you want to listen to me play my lovesong to Sheila Kuehl, who played Zelda on Dobie Gillis, don't say I didn't warn you). But then we found Arrow and Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. And now we're finished with them :-(
Still looking for a replacement watch. Let us know if you hear of anything.
Best Movie of 2014: Bringing Up Baby, same as every year.
To Come in 2015: We are starting off the year re-watching The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. We're looking forward to seeing the last of the trilogy - our nephew works in an IMAX theater, so we could have seen it in 3D, but still prefer the home experience. We'll watch all the latest Marvel (and some of the DC) movies that become available, of course.
Other than that, we plan to watch some more horror and hard thrillers this year - Ms. Spenser likes them, and I don't get my way all the time.
We may also try to upgrade our tech - Blu-rays tend to stall on our current player. We got a Sony replacement, but a) very clicky interface, so much trouble to work and b) has no timer display on the front. It's funny how much dependent we are on seeing the amount of time left in the movie. You know, to answer questions like: should we pause here or wait to the end? But the new player is hooked up to Amazon Prime, which we are members of and have never used to watch movies. So maybe we'll try that sometime, although the Amazon site is HORRIBLE for browsing. Really makes me appreciate Netflix.
Netflix: Since this is a blog about my Netflix queue, I should leave a few comments on the service: It is getting worse. I have more Very-Long-Wait DVDs than ever, and it seems that more of them are going into the Saved (= not available) list than being delivered. Streaming is almost as bad, with movies showing up and falling off at random. And why is Netflix producing their own content? There are enough TV series in the world! Concentrate on making all movies in existence available to me. Immediately!
Cocktails: Since this is also supposed to be a blog about cocktails, I'll say a few words about sparkling wine: I love it. I once decided to drink nothing else - a decent bottle of cava can be had for under $10, so why not? Well, for one thing, my palate advanced, and I can barely touch that Cordon Negro (my current tipple is $13 bottles of Napa bubbly, when available). But I also like to add a little something:
- Raspberry infusion for a homemade Kir Royale
- Quince syrup, a byproduct of my Thanksgiving pie making
- Gingered pineapple from a fruit salad I was eating
- A spoon of green Chartreuse in sparkling wine makes a Green Ray Gun (a Ray Gun has Chartreuse and blue Curacao)
Thank you and have a better 2015.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
On the Avenue
Well, this is probably going to wrap up 2014 blogging. We watched a lesser holiday movie, It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947). Although we're not big Christmas movie fans (bah, humbug), we are big fans of the good old black and white stuff. This is not exactly a classic, but it has its charms.
It takes place guess where. Victor Moore, a genial bum with a cute dog sneaks into the boarded-up mansion of the second-richest man in the world and sets up housekeeping while the homeowners are absent for the winter. Into this solitary paradise, he invites a jobless, homeless WWII vet, Don Defore. When the daughter of the family (Gale Storm) runs away from school and stops by the mansion for some clothes, they take her for another housebreaker. But they are too kind-hearted to throw her out, and she decides to play along.
Here is the first place the story starts to strain credibility. Why do the squatters assume a sophisticated lady is a thief? Why aren't they worried that they have been discovered? Some clever writing, a misunderstood action or something could have made this work - suppose she had gotten her dress dirty, or been in disguise as a poor girl? But no, you've just got to go along with it.
Of course, Storm has to fall in love with Defore, which is another strain. He's kind of a Robert Montgomery type (or do I mean Robert Young?), and extremely obnoxious. He looks like he should be a sit-com husband, and he wound up that way, on Hazel. There is also a distinct lack of chemistry between them.
As the movie goes on (for almost 2 hours), more squatters take up residence, including the man who owns the place and his estranged wife. They go along with the gag, pretending to be homeless, for reasons that are very flimsy - again, just go with it.
Of course, since the rich man is played by Charles Ruggles, it's not hard to give the movie some benefit of a doubt. He plays a hard tycoon, without the usual flustered vagueness, but is great nonetheless. But the best part is the bum, Aloysius T. McKeever, played by Victor Moore. Moore is a character actor you'll recognize, although you may not be able to put a name to his face. He is a cherubic, soft-spoken, rather diffident man, with a certain quiet dignity. He makes the whole thing worth it.
It is an interesting look at the post-war housing shortage and employment situation. But mostly that allows the movie to be sympathetic to the homeless without being Capraesque commies. So I can't really even recommend it for the social commentary. I can recommend it for Victor Moore, though.
It takes place guess where. Victor Moore, a genial bum with a cute dog sneaks into the boarded-up mansion of the second-richest man in the world and sets up housekeeping while the homeowners are absent for the winter. Into this solitary paradise, he invites a jobless, homeless WWII vet, Don Defore. When the daughter of the family (Gale Storm) runs away from school and stops by the mansion for some clothes, they take her for another housebreaker. But they are too kind-hearted to throw her out, and she decides to play along.
Here is the first place the story starts to strain credibility. Why do the squatters assume a sophisticated lady is a thief? Why aren't they worried that they have been discovered? Some clever writing, a misunderstood action or something could have made this work - suppose she had gotten her dress dirty, or been in disguise as a poor girl? But no, you've just got to go along with it.
Of course, Storm has to fall in love with Defore, which is another strain. He's kind of a Robert Montgomery type (or do I mean Robert Young?), and extremely obnoxious. He looks like he should be a sit-com husband, and he wound up that way, on Hazel. There is also a distinct lack of chemistry between them.
As the movie goes on (for almost 2 hours), more squatters take up residence, including the man who owns the place and his estranged wife. They go along with the gag, pretending to be homeless, for reasons that are very flimsy - again, just go with it.
Of course, since the rich man is played by Charles Ruggles, it's not hard to give the movie some benefit of a doubt. He plays a hard tycoon, without the usual flustered vagueness, but is great nonetheless. But the best part is the bum, Aloysius T. McKeever, played by Victor Moore. Moore is a character actor you'll recognize, although you may not be able to put a name to his face. He is a cherubic, soft-spoken, rather diffident man, with a certain quiet dignity. He makes the whole thing worth it.
It is an interesting look at the post-war housing shortage and employment situation. But mostly that allows the movie to be sympathetic to the homeless without being Capraesque commies. So I can't really even recommend it for the social commentary. I can recommend it for Victor Moore, though.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Skin Job
I've seen a few nominations of Under the Skin (2014) for best film of the year. I respectfully disagree.
It is a kind of science fiction art film. There is very little dialog, and no explanation - no Control Voice explaining that the last nine plans to conquer the Earth have failed, so for our tenth plan... Mostly we get Scarlett Johansson driving around Scotland in a white rape van, picking up unattached men who won't be missed. She gets them alone in a featureless black void, strips nude and watches as they sink, naked and erect, into the tarry surface of the void, possibly to feed upon them. That's not quite the whole thing - there is an oblique plot (probably), but that's close to it.
There are long meditative shots of Johansson putting on makeup, sitting in the van at night. The conversations with the men are mainly pleasantries, I think, but they have such thick Glaswegian brogues that it's hard to make anything out. The countryside is beautiful, and so is Johansson, with or without clothes. But mostly nothing happens. What does happen is a bit stale - it was a surprise to me that they went for the cliche. So they manage to surprise the viewer by being completely unoriginal.
Perhaps I'm being a little severe. The style here is something like Spirit of the Beehive - long beautiful takes, silences, unexplained occurences (or lack thereof), a subtle, barely detectable story, and some opaque but beautiful faces. But it didn't strike me the same way. My opinion - they were doing the same thing, but Beehive did it better.
Your mileage may vary of course. A lot of people like this. It is interesting enough, visually and thematically to be worth watching. But don't expect the best film of the year.
It is a kind of science fiction art film. There is very little dialog, and no explanation - no Control Voice explaining that the last nine plans to conquer the Earth have failed, so for our tenth plan... Mostly we get Scarlett Johansson driving around Scotland in a white rape van, picking up unattached men who won't be missed. She gets them alone in a featureless black void, strips nude and watches as they sink, naked and erect, into the tarry surface of the void, possibly to feed upon them. That's not quite the whole thing - there is an oblique plot (probably), but that's close to it.
There are long meditative shots of Johansson putting on makeup, sitting in the van at night. The conversations with the men are mainly pleasantries, I think, but they have such thick Glaswegian brogues that it's hard to make anything out. The countryside is beautiful, and so is Johansson, with or without clothes. But mostly nothing happens. What does happen is a bit stale - it was a surprise to me that they went for the cliche. So they manage to surprise the viewer by being completely unoriginal.
Perhaps I'm being a little severe. The style here is something like Spirit of the Beehive - long beautiful takes, silences, unexplained occurences (or lack thereof), a subtle, barely detectable story, and some opaque but beautiful faces. But it didn't strike me the same way. My opinion - they were doing the same thing, but Beehive did it better.
Your mileage may vary of course. A lot of people like this. It is interesting enough, visually and thematically to be worth watching. But don't expect the best film of the year.
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Wolfe Tickets
Once again, I'm starting my review by talking about the books that are the source for the movie, or in this case, the TV series: Nero Wolfe (2001). Ms. Spenser and I are big fans of Rex Stout's detective series. If you have heard of it (but not read any), you may know that Nero Wolfe is the fattest, laziest, most stubborn and most brilliant detective in the world. What you may not know is that the heart of the series, and the narrator, is his legman, Archie Goodwin. His smart-alecky voice is the best thing about this series.
So, A&E made a few of these stories into TV shows. Maury Chaykin is fat enough and pompous enough to play Wolfe, although it took us a while to get used to his "Pfui" - one of Wolfe's distinctive catchphrases. For Archie, they got Tim Hutton, who we know from Leverage. He has Archie's flippant attitude, although I'm not sure he is as physically imposing as he needs to be. But he does get to drag a guy out of a chair by his legs, out the office and out the door - One of Archie Goodwin's signature moves.
There are a couple of Leverage regulars in the cast:
The set decoration is perfect. Wolfe famously never leaves his New York brownstone, which is described in painstaking detail in the books. Wolfe's office, his chair specially engineered to withstand his seventh-of-a-ton weight, the famous red client's chair, the globe, the secret listening spot, all are shown exactly as imagined. The actors portraying Wolfe's assistant's, big dumb Fred Durkin, handsome tricky Orry Cather, and deceptively nondescript Saul Panzer, are great. Bill Smitrovich as the cigar-chomping (and scenery chewing) Inspector Cramer is great too. I think we like Colin Fox, as Wolfe's Swiss chef Fritz best of all. For a man with Wolfe's appetites, a chef is a most important person, and Fox fits him perfectly.
The stories are set in a timeless era between the 30s, through WWWII and into the swinging Sixties, but the men all wore hats, suits and ties, the cars were big and rounded and the music was big band. Sometimes Archie wore his military uniform, sometimes the men's suits were day-glo and the women wore miniskirts, but it was all the same period. A&E presents that period beautifully, with a warm glow like walnut waxed and rubbed to a high sheen.
I can only recommend these to Wolfephiles, but to them, I recommend unreservedly.
So, A&E made a few of these stories into TV shows. Maury Chaykin is fat enough and pompous enough to play Wolfe, although it took us a while to get used to his "Pfui" - one of Wolfe's distinctive catchphrases. For Archie, they got Tim Hutton, who we know from Leverage. He has Archie's flippant attitude, although I'm not sure he is as physically imposing as he needs to be. But he does get to drag a guy out of a chair by his legs, out the office and out the door - One of Archie Goodwin's signature moves.
There are a couple of Leverage regulars in the cast:
- Saul Rubinek (Victor Dubenic in Leverage) as newspaperman Lon Cohen
- Kari Matchett (Ford's ex-wife) in a variety of roles
The set decoration is perfect. Wolfe famously never leaves his New York brownstone, which is described in painstaking detail in the books. Wolfe's office, his chair specially engineered to withstand his seventh-of-a-ton weight, the famous red client's chair, the globe, the secret listening spot, all are shown exactly as imagined. The actors portraying Wolfe's assistant's, big dumb Fred Durkin, handsome tricky Orry Cather, and deceptively nondescript Saul Panzer, are great. Bill Smitrovich as the cigar-chomping (and scenery chewing) Inspector Cramer is great too. I think we like Colin Fox, as Wolfe's Swiss chef Fritz best of all. For a man with Wolfe's appetites, a chef is a most important person, and Fox fits him perfectly.
The stories are set in a timeless era between the 30s, through WWWII and into the swinging Sixties, but the men all wore hats, suits and ties, the cars were big and rounded and the music was big band. Sometimes Archie wore his military uniform, sometimes the men's suits were day-glo and the women wore miniskirts, but it was all the same period. A&E presents that period beautifully, with a warm glow like walnut waxed and rubbed to a high sheen.
I can only recommend these to Wolfephiles, but to them, I recommend unreservedly.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Ooga Chucka!
I wish we'd seen Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) earlier in the year. Then we'd know what to ask for for Christmas.
This was a big Marvel/Disney film, but a different type - wackier. It is about an orphan boy from Eighties Earth who goes to space and becomes a galactic rogue and adventure, who just wants to be called Star Lord. While stealing a mysterious artifact, he is captured space trooper John C. Reilly and sent to prison, where he meets:
This is a great space film, with some serious "sensawunda" - planets shaped like giant heads, space battles, future cities and some of my favorite Marvel cosmic characters, the Kree and Thanos. It is also a very silly film, with the jokes and hijinks and Quillermo del Toro playing a very decadent Collector.
But it's also a very character driven film. Star Lord resembles the hero of Last Starfighter in many ways. He's an earth boy taken from his planet and all that he knows, who kicks ass in the big galaxy but misses his home. Rocket Raccoon is a bitter little muskelid, but there's a reason. And Groot, who can only say "I am Groot", is everyone's favorite. Diesel has said that playing Groot, who is kind and life-affirming, helped him cope with the death of his friend and F&F co-star Paul Walker.
This is not a perfect movie, but it may be the perfect adventure movie.
But seriously, which is your favorite "Hooked on a Feeling," the Blue Swede cover or the BJ Thomas original? Blue Swede has horns and a good beat and you can dance to it, but BJ Thomas had an electric sitar, and no Ooga Chuckas. So BJ Thomas wins.
In conclusion: you can get either of us a dancing little Groot doll for Christmas.
This was a big Marvel/Disney film, but a different type - wackier. It is about an orphan boy from Eighties Earth who goes to space and becomes a galactic rogue and adventure, who just wants to be called Star Lord. While stealing a mysterious artifact, he is captured space trooper John C. Reilly and sent to prison, where he meets:
- A vicious talking raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper
- His friend, a walking tree who says, "I am Groot" (Vin Diesel!)
- Gamora, a green warrior woman (Zoe Saldana)
- Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), a huge shirtless warrior with tattoos carved in his skin and no sense of metaphor
This is a great space film, with some serious "sensawunda" - planets shaped like giant heads, space battles, future cities and some of my favorite Marvel cosmic characters, the Kree and Thanos. It is also a very silly film, with the jokes and hijinks and Quillermo del Toro playing a very decadent Collector.
But it's also a very character driven film. Star Lord resembles the hero of Last Starfighter in many ways. He's an earth boy taken from his planet and all that he knows, who kicks ass in the big galaxy but misses his home. Rocket Raccoon is a bitter little muskelid, but there's a reason. And Groot, who can only say "I am Groot", is everyone's favorite. Diesel has said that playing Groot, who is kind and life-affirming, helped him cope with the death of his friend and F&F co-star Paul Walker.
This is not a perfect movie, but it may be the perfect adventure movie.
But seriously, which is your favorite "Hooked on a Feeling," the Blue Swede cover or the BJ Thomas original? Blue Swede has horns and a good beat and you can dance to it, but BJ Thomas had an electric sitar, and no Ooga Chuckas. So BJ Thomas wins.
In conclusion: you can get either of us a dancing little Groot doll for Christmas.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Sky Pilot
We watched The Last Starfighter (1984) because of a Projection Booth podcast. Great show, they actually do some research, and actually interviewed actual stars Lance Guest and Catherine Mary Stewart (who are still buddies, by the way). But the main thing, the thing we'd forgotten from whenever it was we watched it, so long ago, was Mr. Centauri, the Music Man himself, Robert Preston.
The plot is pretty simple: Lance Guest is a high school kid in a trailer park in Nowheresville CA. He's a good kid, the one that everyone depends on to fix some plumbing or cut the grass, but he doesn't want to be stuck there forever - he wants to go places. Catherine Mary Stewart is his girl, but he can't always give her the things he thinks she wants. He has one thing going for him - he beat the high score on the Starfighter video game.
But that is no ordinary video game - it's a test for real starfighters, or to put it another way, a sword in a stone. Next thing you know, Robert Preston shows up in a shiny space car and takes in away to fight the Ko-Dan armada. But what about the folks at the trailer park? Don't worry, Preston left a beta copy of Guest behind to stand in.
So, thrilling adventures in space, and goofy comic relief back on Earth with the fish-out-of-water copy, all presided over by Robert Preston. To this, add the first all-CGI special effects, rendered on a Cray "super-computer" - probably with about the computing power of a modern watch. Actually, they are charmingly primitive, like a creaky Harryhausen stop motion that is not really convincing, but full of personality. It looks like Ron Cobb (underground cartoonist and film designer) did some of the spaceship designs.
This may not be the greatest movie ever, but it's got a lot of heart, it's funny and kind of thrilling. And admit it, haven't you ever gotten lost in a video game and thought, this would be great training for ... something, like being a jet pilot or ... starfighter.
The plot is pretty simple: Lance Guest is a high school kid in a trailer park in Nowheresville CA. He's a good kid, the one that everyone depends on to fix some plumbing or cut the grass, but he doesn't want to be stuck there forever - he wants to go places. Catherine Mary Stewart is his girl, but he can't always give her the things he thinks she wants. He has one thing going for him - he beat the high score on the Starfighter video game.
But that is no ordinary video game - it's a test for real starfighters, or to put it another way, a sword in a stone. Next thing you know, Robert Preston shows up in a shiny space car and takes in away to fight the Ko-Dan armada. But what about the folks at the trailer park? Don't worry, Preston left a beta copy of Guest behind to stand in.
So, thrilling adventures in space, and goofy comic relief back on Earth with the fish-out-of-water copy, all presided over by Robert Preston. To this, add the first all-CGI special effects, rendered on a Cray "super-computer" - probably with about the computing power of a modern watch. Actually, they are charmingly primitive, like a creaky Harryhausen stop motion that is not really convincing, but full of personality. It looks like Ron Cobb (underground cartoonist and film designer) did some of the spaceship designs.
This may not be the greatest movie ever, but it's got a lot of heart, it's funny and kind of thrilling. And admit it, haven't you ever gotten lost in a video game and thought, this would be great training for ... something, like being a jet pilot or ... starfighter.
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