House Of Genius Complex

[zrath]

Well, golly, it's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been working on Projects X, Y, Z, AA, and AB.
All this takes time. Plus looking for work. Had an interview at Google for some testing, but noone was hired.
Waiting to hear back on another possible interview. And looking for other things.
The sibling continues his treatment. His next chemo session is on Tuesday the 31st.
He's doing well, all things considered.
We had an argument and threw each other around a bit. This gave me back pain for 4 days. Huzzah!
In the meantime, the Netflix account was downgraded to 3-at-a-time to save money.
Since I gotta start updating SOMEWHERE, I'll do a Netflix/Theaterflix update:


Netflixing-a-gogo

House Of Flying Daggers - described by some as a "wu-shu chick flick".
It's a very pretty movie. Not as pretty as "Hero", but still quite easy on the eyes. It's also a soap opera.
Boy loves girl who's actually a Chinese ninja. Of course, boy also happens to be an undercover cop.
Lies, deceit, subterfuge, and gravity-defying swordfights, oh my! I do believe I like "Hero" better, though.

Real Genius - saw it a long time ago, wanted to see it again.
"Welcome to Pacific Tech's 'Smart People on Ice'. See Val Kilmer after "Top Secret", but before "Top Gun"!!
Hear hilarious classic lines, like: "Would you be prepared if gravity reversed itself?
The only thing I can't figure out is how to keep the change in my pockets. I've got it. Nudity!"
See "Dickless" from Ghostbusters play another asshole, just like the reporter he played in "Die Hard" 1 and 2!
See the world's largest Jiffy-Pop!! If "Buckaroo Banzai" is geek-sci-fi, then "Real Genius" is geek-comedy!
I wish they still made geek-comedies...

The Ninth Configuration - a special request by the sibling.
Oh my, how do I explain this one? Okay, it's written and directed by William Peter Blatty from a novel he wrote.
This is the same man who wrote and directed "The Exorcist", also from a novel he wrote. So freakiness ahoy!
Stacy Keach plays a Marines colonel who's put in charge of an experimental mental asylum that happens to be housed
in a German castle brought over to the Pacific Northwest (and judging from the rain, I'm voting Oregon!!).
The inmates are all high-ranking officers who went nuts during the Vietnam War. Moses Gunn, for instance, plays a
captain who thinks he's Superman. The newest inmate is a NASA astronaut who's deathly afraid of going to the Moon.
It's a bizarre film, and you spend a good portion of it trying to figure out what's going on, and who's really the
patient here. But rest assured that at the end, it all makes sense. In a strange sort of way.

The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers - shown on HBO in the States, and theatrically in the UK and Australia.
Geoffrey Rush does an INCREDIBLE job of playing Peter Sellers in what is described as "a movie about Peter Sellers,
done the way Peter Sellers might have done it". John Lithgow plays Blake Edwards, and the rest of the cast is excellent.
There's been some talk on how the movie is a hack job and it shows Sellers has a capricious child with self-loathing
issues, which isn't true "'cause I knew Peter Sellers and he was a kind, warm, and funny man". Yes, maybe, but he was
ALSO a capricious child with self-loathing issues! "L'un n'empêche pas l'autre", as is said in French (which roughly
translates to "one doesn't prevent the other"). He was both of those, and more. When he died, he left $2000 to each of his
children. And what kind of man talks about divorce to his wife in front of both of their (young) children? And when his
little daughter asks "will you still love me, daddy?", replies "Of course I will. But not as much as I love Sophia Loren."
After watching this, I came away with the feeling that he wasn't a monster per se, he simply didn't know any better.
And I saw echos of my own father in Peter Sellers: the childish side, the capricious, spireful side.
Anyway, it's very good and I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in Peter Sellers.
A genius, warts and all.

F For Fake (both discs) - Orson Welles' film-essay on trickery, fakery and so-called experts.
The bulk of the film centers around Elmyr De Lory, a strange little man living in Ibiza who can mimic the style of just
about any great painter and fool the experts. His biographer is a man who once claimed to be Howard Hughes' autobiographer!
And it just gets wackier as it goes! This is a Criterion release, so it contains several extras, including a documentary
called "Orson Welles: One-Man Band" which explores his various unfinished projects, like "Don Quixote".
One of the reasons I rented this, aside from my interest in Orson Welles, is that bits of this movie were sampled and
used in an Cabaret Voltaire CD I own. These guys also built an entire track around the "Demon With A Glass Hand" episode
of "The Outer Limits" (the original run): "The 60 billion people of Earth, where're they hiding?". I love those guys.

The Great Escape - one of THE definitive WWII movies.
Look at this cast: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn,
and David McCallum (before his "Man From U.N.C.L.E." gig). Made in 1963, almost 3 hours long, it tells the story of the
biggest POW break-out ever. In 1943, the Luftwaffe built a new POW camp and transferred all its problem-prisoners (mostly
pilots) there, all the ones who have escaped multiple times. Well, golly, that sounds like an accident waiting to happen!
And sure enough, plans are afoot to blow this popsicle stand. This is one of those movies everyone must see at least once.
Great script, consultants who were actually there, great director, wonderful score by Elemer Bernstein.

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou - the word "quirky" doesn't even begin to describe this film.
Bill Murray plays Steve Zissou, a sort of American Jacques Cousteau on pot, who's not doing so well. He just lost his best
buddy to a "leopard shark" that only he saw, his relationship with his wife (Anjelica Huston) is on the rocks, and there's
this blond southern boy (Owen Wilson) who shows up and says he could be Steve's son. I think the word "eccentric" best
describe this movie. I mean, it's funny in an oddball and quiet sort of way. It's hard to describe.

Alone In The Dark
It's directed by Uwe Boll (more on him later) and it's best described as "Resident Runner Aliens"! Supposedly based on
the French computer/video games of the early '90s (which were forerunner to the "survival horror" genre later popularized
by "Resident Evil") the movie wants us to accept Christian Slater as an action movie star. Well, with today's digital
special effects, I guess anything is possible (tee-hee). Okay, so The Slate's character used to work for the BPRD,
I'm sorry Bureau 713, trying to explain something weird that happened to him and 19 other orphans about 20 years ago.
But every time he found something interesting, the bureau classified it. So he decided to freelance.
Edward Carnby: P.I. (with the "P.I." standing for "Paranormal Investigator" in this case).
So anyway, he get his hand on an artifact and some guy comes after him. Said guy gets up after being shot a few times,
so you know something ain't right. After handling Tank-Boy, Ed goes see his girlfriend who works at a museum.
Okay, look, it's your typical "dead civilizations, dangerous artifacts, unspeakable evil, cover-up conspiracy" story.
And it's really not that good. Which isn't surprizing when you consider the director's resume, to wit:
"House Of The Dead", the abysmal zombie movie based on a Sega light-gun coin-op videogame.
But wait! He's working on a "Bloodrayne" movie next! It's about a vampire babe with huge blades strapped to her arms who
hunts and kills Nazis! And after that, he's doing "Far Cry" and "Hunter: The Reckoning"! And these are ALL based on games!
I think Boll-Boy wants to carve himself a nice: crappy videogame-based movies in about 6 months. Huzzah.
So anyway, avoid. Besides, the ending really sucks and makes no sense.

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Disc 4) - 4 Stand Alone (non-Laughing Man) episodes.
The tachikomas display alarming independent thought, and group interaction. It's kinda funny and scary at the same time.
They are disarmed and sent back to the lab. I'm very curious as to the fate that awaits them. One more DVD to go!

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Disc 5) - 3 Stand Alone episodes and one Complex (Laughing Man).
Oh crap, this is NOT the last DVD. It better not be, because Togusa, the only member of Section 9 who is still mostly human,
gets himself mortally shot. Aiiiiieee!!! A quick look on Netflix revealed a Disc 6, so I put it in my queue in 1st place!
Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Disc 6) - only 3 episodes on this DVD, and all Complex.
Whew, Togusa makes it. The Major takes damage at the hands of a landmate (military powered armor suit) and gets very irked.
First time I've seen her really mad. There's an attempt on her while she gets a new body, but she gets unexpected help.
Then the Laughing Man reappears and kidnaps the CEO of Serano Genomics, just like he did six years ago, which is the
event that started the whole Laughing Man affair off in the first place. The spend the whole episode chatting.
That's one of the problems with Shirow stuff: it's sometimes too political and overly chatty.
And that's not the end of the series! There are still 3 episodes to go! One more DVD! And it's out on July 26th! ARGH!!

Wacky Races; The Complete Series (Disc 1) - an old cartoon that my brother, myself and the maid never missed!
In France, this was called "Les Fous Du Volant", which is a bit hard to translate, but basically means that the racers
really-really-really like racing. Watching this now, all those years later, and in English, is kinda weird.
I didn't know Penelope Pitstop was a Southern Belle, for example. Amusing, but not worth buying.




And I also went to the movies a few times...


Theaterflix:

Kingdom Of Heaven
Ridley Scott, Orlando Bloom, Jeremy Irons, Edward Norton (who, again, sounds like Marlon Brando), and Alexander Siddig.
Dude, this movie kicked my ass so hard, I couldn't sit for the next hour! It's totally worth seeing!
Nice to see DS9's Doctor Bashir get some work.

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
It's not like the book. Well, duh! It's a movie, not a book! And besides, I recall a certain someone saying that every
version of Hitchiker's Guide was different on purpose. A certain someone named Douglas Adams! HA!
I've read all the books, I've listened to the radio plays, I've played the Infocom game, and I've seen the TV show.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie. All the major bits were there, the guide animation was amusing, the guy who played
Slartibartfast was great, and the rest of the cast was pretty good, except for Trillian who seemed less intelligent.
I'm hoping they do "Restaurant" and "Life" as movies too.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith
Oh boy, this is it, TEH BIG ONE!!1!1!!!
Okay, visually impressive, good action, some real clunkers dialogue-wise, fantastic feather-lizard critter!
The asthmatic General Grievous surprised me a bit. He's still cool, but he is way weirder than I imagined him.
There were periods in this movie where nothing happened. I mean, the movie seemed to just stop. I can't exactly say
where or when, since I've seen it only once, but there seemed to be dead periods in it.
Artoo stole every scene he was in. He's certainly a feisty and spry little thing!
Oh yeah, more humor in the beginning, with less humor as the movie progresses. That's one thing that's been missing
in the prequels: a healthy sense of humor. There are glimmers of one in Episode III, with Artoo and Yoda for example.
I have to go see this again!




Whew!
Next time, I'll cover the non-movie bits of my life. (grin)