The Nightmare
Before Christmas: 1993 stop
motion animation musical horror fantasy directed by Henry Selick and co-written
and produced by Tim Burton, starring Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine
O’Hara, William Hickey and Glenn Shadix. Jack Skeleton, the Pumpkin King, is the
unofficial leader of Halloween Town. He
directs his fellow monsters and ghouls through a rousing celebration each year,
but he’s come to find it dull. While
wandering through the forest after another successful Halloween night, he
happens upon Christmas Town and becomes fascinated with this new and
interesting holiday. He devises a plan
to kidnap Santa Claus for one night so that he and his friends can conduct
Christmas for a change. Only Sally, his
creepy ragdoll love interest, sees the potential danger in his scheme. When his plans go awry, it’s up to Jack and
Sally to rescue Santa from the clutches of Oogie Boogie - a maligned resident
of Halloween Town – to save Christmas, and return order.
I didn’t know it was a musical. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, just
unexpected. It was cute. Had I seen it in high school I might’ve liked
it more. If you like early Tim Burton
then you’ll probably like this too.
Might be nice to revisit around Halloween or Christmas when looking for
an alternative to the usual holiday fare.
The Weather
Underground: 2002 documentary
directed by Sam Green and Bill Siegel, about the American radical
organization. The Weather Underground
first formed in 1969 at the University of Michigan. Initially aligned with the Students for a
Democratic Society (SDS), this faction split off with the express purpose of starting
a revolutionary group to overthrow the U.S. government. Apparently feeling that protesting and
demonstrating was not enough to bring about the end of the Vietnam War or
racism or sexism, they began a campaign of bombings last lasted through the
mid-1970s. These attacks on government
buildings and banks were usually preceded by evacuation notices and a
communiqué detailing the reason for the bombing: Ho Chi Minh’s birthday, atrocities
in Vietnam, the invasion of Laos. After
the U.S. peace accord with Vietnam the group started its slow decline and many
members went into hiding.
I thought it was an excellent
documentary, and relevant viewing given the current political climate. Green and Siegel chose to go beyond the usual
stock footage to show, very graphically, the images and information that drove
these students to desperate acts. I also
appreciated that it’s not all fuzzy hippie nostalgia. No “civilians” were killed in the bombings,
but several members were, and an unrelated robbery by former members led to the
death of three police officers. It’s
hard to say what, if any, impact this group had on national politics. Former members, supporters and critics were
interviewed, giving a diverse take on the group’s history. It’s far removed from the WTO and Occupy Wall
Street demonstrations of our generation, and gives a fascinating glimpse into
that time period for those of us who didn’t live through it.
21 Jump Street: 2012 action comedy directed by Phil Lord and
Chris Miller, and starring Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco
and Rob Riggle. Two ne’er-do-well young cops
are drafted into an experimental police division tasked with going undercover
in local high schools to crack down on drug trafficking. And that’s all I’m saying. You should totally see this movie. OK, I KNOW, I GET IT. I was totally over Jonah Hill and never
really got the appeal of Tatum Channing in the first place, and it’s based on a
TV show from the ‘80s that I never watched anyway and it seemed like it would
be a total train wreck.
But if you go in with no
expectations it’s actually pretty good. Like,
really actually good. It’s surprisingly
funny, and HOLY SHIT with the cameos. If
you’re looking for an easy laugh, something that requires no thought or
attention, give it a go. You probably
won’t be disappointed.
The Invisible Man: 1933 sci fi movie based on the H.G. Wells
novel, directed by James Whale and starring Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart,
William Harrigan and Henry Travers. A
brilliant and driven young scientist has discovered a formula for invisibility;
too bad it’s made him permanently see-through and totally bonkers. The special effects were pretty outstanding
when considered in the context of their time.
The acting is a mixed bag and it’s a little too long, but definitely
worth seeing once, if only because it’s considered such a classic.
Argo: 2012 historical thriller directed Ben Affleck
and starring him and like 50 other totes awesome actors. In 1979 a group of militants stormed the U.S.
Embassy in Iran in response to President Carter granting the Shah asylum. A small group of Embassy employees takes
refuge at the home of the Canadian ambassador, but it’s only a matter of time
before they’re discovered and either taken hostage or killed. Affleck plays Tony Mendez, a CIA exfiltration
specialist, who comes up with a plan to rescue the Americans: create a fake movie, sneak into Iran, have
the Americans pretend to be the film’s scouting crew, and fly them out. Easy-peasy.
I straight up loved this
movie. It’s a nail-biter right from the
start, with some appropriately funny moments to cut the crazy tension. The casting was truly brilliant. It’s nice to see some of my favorite
character actors getting work of this caliber:
Scoot McNairy, Clea Duvall, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Rory Cochrane,
I could go on. And John Goodman and Alan
Arkin were hysterical. Sure, there were
some historical discrepancies – in reality, the Canadian government had a far
larger role in this plan than they do in the movie. And the airport scene was pure fiction. But all things considered it’s a very well
done movie by an actor who is quickly becoming one of my favorite new
directors. I will say it’s probably
better if you don’t know that much about this incident before watching the
movie.
The Mummy: 1932 horror film directed by Karl Freund and
starring Boris Karloff, Zita Johann and David Manners. While working at an archaeological expedition
in Egypt, some dumbass assistant decides to read some text he doesn’t
understand and accidentally brings the mummy of an ancient priest back to life. Oops.
The mummy spends some time chilling, regaining his strength, and then 10
years later reemerges with a quest to bring his dead lover back to life. He finds Helen, a woman who looks strikingly
similar to his former girlfriend, and then spends a lot of time hypnotizing
people. Helen needs a good smack in the
mouth. Not only does this ancient creepy
dude keep you in his thrall, but then there’s this other guy who you just
instantly fall in love with? Granted,
he’s dashing and not thousands of years old, and he’s all trying to save your wimpy
ass, but still. Get your life, Helen.
It’s
okay. Another classic definitely worth
seeing once.
The Big Chill: 1983 dramedy directed by Lawrence Kasdan and
starring Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline,
Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly and JoBeth Williams.
A group of college buddies reunites for a weekend following the suicide
of their friend Alex. They’re all leading
lives very different from those they’d envisioned while studying at the
University of Michigan in the 1960s, and each has a minor existential crisis
during their giant weird slumber party:
Meg is a former public defender turned real estate lawyer who feels like
she’s given up her principles and wants to have a baby on her own, Michael is a
lecherous journalist for a gossip rag who wants to go legit, Karen is an
unhappy housewife yearning for a wild fling with Sam the reluctant TV action
star, Nick is a Vietnam vet with impotence and cocaine issues, and Harold and
Sarah are recovering from Sarah’s infidelity with Alex a few years prior.
I saw a lot of parallels with
my own former Ann Arbor crowd, now that we’re about 30 and living in
post-yuppie hipster America. We all
thought we’d be living in converted industrial lofts, making art or music or
writing for a living, or being docents or organic farmers, screen-printing band
posters with our spouses and selling them at Renegade, voting for third-party
candidates. And now most of us have real
9-5 jobby-jobs because it turns out we like financial stability and having
health insurance. GET OVER YOURSELF, BIG
CHILL. Despite the sappy,
melodramatic, poor-rich-white-pitiful me nonsense it doles out it is, after
all, a fairly decent ensemble drama. Someone
told me they thought Meg Tilly’s character was awful, but I found she kept things weird
enough to hold my interest. And the
soundtrack is amazing.
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