Weekly Cinemeh

Hello, and welcome back to Weekly Cinemeh. This week we are continuing our quest to fill in gaps with some Hitchcock. Hitchcock is considered to be one of the better directors, and I can see why. He has some great ways of filming scenes and his ability to generate tension is great. I loved this week. To the list!

1: The Birds
I saw this movie when I was in middle school, and it has stuck with me since then. The Birds is an interesting horror movie premise because it takes something that is always in the background and makes it the danger. In the movie Psycho, Norman Bates even says that birds are naturally passive so it makes them seem non-threatening. This is the very basis of what makes good horror, and this was my first real example of that. The scenes where like 500 birds are all standing around, watching, are still chilling to this day. There isn't a bit of soundtrack in the movie, which also makes the bird's screeches stand out more. Though the story seems a little contrived. It's basically a romantic comedy that turns into a horror movie. Tippi Hedren's character is a stalker, no doubt about it, but that's ok because the guy she is stalking wants to bone her. Other than the odd setup, its a good movie, check it out.

Eshi: The Birds is the heartwarming tale of two unhinged fancy people courting disconcertingly over a backdrop of rural bird-murder. Hitchcock does a great job of making the innocuous stupidity of seagulls and turn it into dead-eyed malice. It's kinda like the reverse of Full Metal Jacket, the first bit is pretty banal and dead, much like I image the lives of the characters are, but then half way through it turns into a different movie, one where people get fucked up by egg-laying demons from the sky. I quite enjoyed The Birds in all, definitely give it a shot.

2: Psycho
Psycho starts out as a woman trying to escape after committing a crime. She hides out in a motel and then shit gets crazy. Anthony Perkins makes this movie. Everyone in it is good, but he is great. He's charming, disarming and unsettling all at once, and it makes him one of the best psychopaths in movie history. I also loved the way that Hitchcock used a narration track to show what Janet Leigh's character thought other people thought of her. It is an interesting way of going about showing the turmoil a character is feeling. The movie is tense and full of depth, it is fantastic. I know that this movie is well known for its twist but just in case you haven't seen it I don't want to talk about it here. Watch it.

Eshi: Psycho is kind of a delightful downward spiral. Things consistently get worse for pretty much everyone and it culminates in deep crazy in a way that was revolutionary for the time. As Brian said, Anthony Perkins is the soul of this film, though the fact that he then goes on to be involved in a Hitchcock-free Psycho 2 and 3 is somewhat discouraging. Psycho is a legendary piece of cinema and it deserves it.

3: Rope
I am disappointed in myself for not having seen this movie before. It is fantastic. The movie was shot in only a few long shots/takes (read the IMDB trivia page for some interesting stuff on that) which explains some of the odd shots that they do for transitions. Rope is about two people who kill a man because he is "intellectually inferior" to them. One of the men, who planned the whole thing, decides to throw a party afterwords to flaunt how perfect his crime is. One of the guests that he invites (James Stewart) figures out that something is wrong and spends the rest of the movie piecing the murder together. Jimmy Stewart is great, and plays an amazing character. His monologue at the end of the film is great and adds a good amount of weight to the preceding. John Dall also plays an amazing bad guy, even though he makes some very stupid mistakes. This movie is a great, tense, thriller that you should watch, if you like that kind of thing.

Eshi: This movie could alternately be titled "Pride Cometh Before the Fall" or "Nice Try Asshole". Jimmy Stewart is fucking phenomenal as the keen, misanthropic professor, and his overall chemistry shines with very nearly everyone on set. The whole film is peppered with agonizing shots and dialog as everyone at the party just barely edges around finding out the truth. Fucking masterful, watch it. 

Shameful Self-promotion

So I wrote a weird little story. Its a little long to post here so its up here instead. Give it a read if you've got a minute.

Weekly Cinemeh

Hello, and welcome back to Weekly Cinemeh. This week we decided to fill in some cultural gaps for Eshi by watching the Indiana Jones Trilogy. Now, I saw these movies when I was like, 12. I remember liking them a lot. I mean, Han Solo, running around being an archeologist, hell yes. There is no denying the cultural impact of these movies, and the disappointment from the fourth was probably felt a little harder because of what we had come to expect from the series. Regardless, lets take a look at the good ones. To the list!

1: Raiders of The Lost Ark
One of the first things I noticed about rewatching this at my age; did Indy rape Marion? Is Indy a pedophile? Here, this is their entire exchange (taken from IMDB):

Indiana: Hello, Marion.
Marion: Indiana Jones. I always knew some day you'd come walking back through my door. I never doubted that. Something made it inevitable. So, what are you doing here in Nepal?
Indiana: I need one of the pieces your father collected.
[Marion surprises him with a right cross to the jaw]
Marion: I've learned to hate you in the last ten years!
Indiana: I never meant to hurt you.
Marion: I was a child. I was in love. It was wrong and you knew it!
Indiana: You knew what you were doing.
Marion: Now I do. This is my place. Get out!

This is an uncomfortable thing that popped up in our rewatching of raiders that I didn't see when I was younger, and it kind of lends a fucked up flavor to the rest of the movie. Regardless, I just wanted to point it out in case any one else might have forgotten about it. Raiders is a pretty good movie about an "archeologist" working for the U.S. government and tasked with finding the ark of the covenant before the Nazis because it might be a weapon. Harrison Ford is really good at playing a rogue archetype. He has the looks and the charisma to pull it off well, which is why he also flourished as Han Solo. While the movie takes some pretty extreme liberties with archeology, it's still fun to watch. Like its sequels, you cannot take it to seriously. These movies are meant to be pulp-y adventures and Raiders catches that feeling well. Chases are over the top, the fights are exciting, and the movie revels in bombastic set pieces. The cast is good, and have good chemistry together. Its a fun movie, that influenced so much in cinema that it should be watched just to see the influence it lends.

Eshi: I've ignored the whole Indiana Jones franchise for years. Didn't watch it as a kid until the unspeakable fourth one came out, and that kinda poisoned me against the rest of the series. Recently, as Brian said, I've been trying to fill in some of my cinematic gaps. So we decided Indy had to happen. Raiders was lots of fun. Harrison Ford, as a tomb-raiding archeologist in a world where the average I.Q. is down thirty or forty points on average, is the lovable, bumbling douchebag so many action stars wish they could pull off. You end up liking him despite yourself, implied sexual exploitation and everything. It's worth the watch on a lazy weekend.

2: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
I am not really a fan of this movie. It feels too much like the people who made it wanted to make a more child friendly movie than raiders to expand the demographic. That being said, there is some gruesome shit in this movie that makes it not ok for kids. People are ripped apart by gators at one point. The main bad guy rips the heart out of someone's chest and the burns them alive (long story involving evil magic). This movie was the weakest in the trilogy until they decided to not make it a trilogy anymore. It seems a little too much like "white guy saves the day" for me, and I don't think it has a great grasp on the religion it portrays (why the hell was a voodoo doll in this movie?). That being said, some of the chase scenes are fun and the movie is at least watchable. Also, what the hell happened to Short Round? This movie takes place a year before raiders, but he is not in that movie at all. Just saying. Anyway, check it out.

Eshi: Racism is out of control. Temple of Doom develops an auto-fellatio problem that only seems to worsen as the franchise continues. ToD is a prequel, which has the unfortunate side effect of making Dr. Jones in the first movie an even bigger piece of shit. Indy isn't just an affable dickhead anymore, he's a willingly deluded (watches a dude murder people with his racist hate magic, still doesn't believe in all the "hocus pocus"), multiple-kidnapper (Short Round is a fucking street urchin that Indy just kinda takes, and he literally holds Kate Capshaw's character hostage in order to extort/escape from fucking mobsters), whose most endearing feature is a meme. Feel free to skip this one.

3: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
I really like this movie. Some of the "puzzles" that get solved don't make sense (the roman numeral one in particular seemed stupid) and how Indiana speaks English in Nazi Germany and isn't arrested didn't make sense, but it is still a fun movie. After watching all those James Bond movies it was nice to see Sean Connery as a bumbler. Connery is a great actor, and he has a lot of fun with this role. I found it odd that they made one of the Nazis seem like they might turn around and be a good guy but then just drops that and kills them off. The movie still remains action packed with some great chase scenes. I love it when a movie just decides to go over the top and does so well. It's so easy for that to get out of hand and dumb, but Last Crusade handles the action with finesse (most of the time). This movie is fun, check it out. Also, remember your Charlemagne.

Eshi: I feel like Sean Connery kinda saved this movie. Indy continues his decent into masturbatory material for Spielberg and Lucas, wandering ever farther into the land of unintentional competence porn. Allison Doody has no chemistry with Harrison Ford whatsoever, which makes his persistent molestation, and her apparent apathy, uncomfortable. Connery, however, is just the right amount of clueless nerd, confusedly stumbling through hostile situations, too oblivious to acknowledge his own immanent peril. Last Crusade is back to fun, despite it's flaws. Maybe give it a go.

Jolly Cooperation

Dark Souls 3 comes out tomorrow, so this week might be a little sparse. And by a little sparse, I mean this is about what I plan on posting this week soooooo.... Good luck out there.

Weekly Cinemeh

Welcome back to Weekly Cinemeh. This week we didn't watch any movies, instead we wanted to talk about a style of show that it is sad that we don't get to see in the US. Panel Shows are a British format that I have been watching somewhat obsessively. A panel show is essentially a game show where comedians sit on a panel and make jokes about the shows subject. The game part of it is mostly just an excuse to see funny people be funny. Some of them are great, so here is a list of a few of our favorites.To the list!~

1: QI
QI, which stands for Quite Interesting, is a show that combines charm, humor, and intelligence in one package. QI takes a bunch of comedians and challenges them to answer questions about history, science, and anything that is interesting. Stephen Fry hosts the show (at least until next season when he is being replaced by Sandy Toksvig, a frequent favorite on the show), and if you don't know who that is, I feel sorry for you. He is all of the things I said about the show, and really helped make it something I enjoy. It takes pride in taking things that are "common knowledge" and showing how and why those things are wrong. It is very smart, and amuses while educating. If you want to give it a shot, almost all of it is on Youtube, so check it out.

2: 8 out of 10 Cats
8 out of 10 Cats is an odd show that has two formats, both of which are fun and hosted by British funnyman Jimmy Carr. The original run of the show is a panel of comedians riffing about polls, which is a lot better than it sounds. The second run of the show is the cast doing their version of another game show, Countdown, which a is a show where the contestants compete to complete math problems and word puzzles. The original version of Countdown didn't have any comedians at all in it, and it was boring as fuck, but giving it to a bunch of comedians was a great idea, and it instantly got better. Both versions of 8 out of 10 cats are worth checking out, and can be found on youtube.

3: Mock The Week
Mock The Week is one of the best news shows I have seen. Much like the name suggests, it takes a weeks worth of news and quizzes a bunch of comedians about it. The show is hosted by Dara O' Briain, who is one of my favorite comedians. The panels compete to see who can answer questions about the news, as well as compete in improv sets about the weeks issues. Its a fun show that introduced me to a bunch of comedians that are great. Check it out, almost all of it is on youtube as well.

4: Would I Lie to You 
Would I Lie to You revolves around hosts Angus Deayton, and later Rob Brydon, team captains David Mitchell and Lee Mac, as well as a series of guests, who are made to tell personal stories that the opposing team has to guess at the truth of. It's better than it sounds, like so many of these shows, largely due to the ever-present comedians. David Mitchell is especially witty and Rob Brydon has a weird charisma. Youtube will, once again, provide.

Nothing to do With Goats... This Time...

The more observant among you may have noticed that we have been in something of a creative slump. I can't really speak for Brian, but for me this is partly a matter of inspiration and partly a matter of sloth. The sloth bit is pretty self explanatory, I'm a lazy fuck and writing about something would require giving fucks that I frankly don't possess 90% of the time. Inspiration is trickier.

For me, writing without impulse is trying enough to provoke apathy. Now, I'm working on that, I want to care, the prospect of being creatively constructive is exciting to me. But a blank page is a daunting foe even without an blank head to accompany it. I've tried writing about current events, successfully demonstrating to myself that I'm not really capable of maintaining interest in pretty much any specific information for longer than it takes to convert that information into its general themes. Not that I don't care about the individuals involved in any particular "newsworthy" event, I'm just less concerned about them then I am about the likely root causes of whatever situation they inhabit. Most of which I've either thoroughly and frustratingly examined or about which I have nothing to say.

I've tried writing short fiction on here, and that was fun but largely aimless and so difficult to maintain. So in response to this aimlessness and apathy I've decided to write about being aimless and apathetic, because while I don't approve of self indulgence I am a firm advocate of masturbation.

I'm working on a D&D game, so I'll probably wander off and work on that soon. Hopefully, some good ol' world-building will refill my reserves and give me something to work with. Probably going to see a lot more random short fiction and Mounting Mythical Monsters from me in coming weeks. With any luck we'll all have some fun.

Weeklly Cinemeh

Hello, and welcome back to Weekly Cinemeh. Our theme was basically bat shit insane bible mythology, and wow, boy was it ever. This week our list is a bit shorter than usual, but both movies on it are pretty good, so, there is that. To the list!

1: He Never Died
He Never Died is about a guy who cannot die fucking up mafiosi because they won't stop knocking on his door. I wasn't sure about this movie until but a couple minutes in it grabbed my attention and had me loving it. HND is a horror comedy with some excellent practical effects, and some pretty funny scenes. Most of the comedy comes from the strange intensity or Henry Rollins, who plays the main character. While Mr. Rollins is pretty good the rest of the cast is only OK, but I think that has more to do with the direction rather than the script. Other than the Villain and the main character, every other character has pretty similar personalities, which does more harm than good in the long run. Also people act surprisingly sane when faced with some of the shit that happens in the movie. *spoiler* If I shoot a guy in the head and he keeps coming, I am not going to try to punch him, I'm going to fucking run. *end Spoilers*. Despite the negatives its still a fun movie to watch with some friends. Check it out.

Eshi: Henry Rollins is pretty fucking awesome, both in this film and generally. There's a pretty wide streak of "oh shit" in He Never Died, a streak I often find lacking in movies of this quality. Don't get me wrong, it's fun as hell, but it's no big budget blockbuster. Steven Ogg is in it and he's always a delight. HND is one of those movies where you don't want to share too much, not necessarily on grounds of spoilers but just because the whole experience deserves to be fresh, so give it a shot.

2: Let Us Pray
Let Us Pray is a bottle movie in a police station during the worst first day for any police officer ever. Damn near everyone in the small town in which this movie takes place is insane, and one man appears and starts to exacerbate it. The town's newest police officer then tries to survive all of the crazy that is brought to the surface. Man, with LUP and Filth, I don't think I would ever want to deal with Scottish police in any way. Liam Cunningham plays the devil, and does a good job of it. He is less the charismatic version of the devil and more the intense whisperer in the shadows who prods people into making poor decisions. I am a fan of Cunningham, and this is the kind of role he is great at. Pollyanna McIntosh plays the new police constable on duty and is a fine actress, though I would like to see what she could do with a better script. This movie is a little disappointing when it comes to the writing. There are a couple of ok moments in the movie, but the rest of it is just mediocre. The writing seems fairly average and there are some plot holes that I don't want to get too into here. Admittedly, I had high expectations going in, so I may be judging it a little harshly. Its an ok movie, so check it out if you have nothing better to do.

Eshi: The big draw for me on this movie is Liam Cunningham, he nails this role in ways it doesn't entirely deserve. LUP finds itself with an excess of concept and a dearth of delivery. The score is pretty fucking cliche, to the point of distraction, and the dialog comes off as weird quasi-theological fanfic in several unfortunately crucial places. I do really enjoy this movie, the violence is cathartic and Cunningham plays a Baali/Ravnos like a fucking boss, but I don't entirely feel good about it.