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Or, as I like to refer to it, the best movie I've ever almost walked out of.* A day later and I'm frankly fascinated by this movie. It starts with the 3D. 3D's seen a lot of abuse since Avatar and, while I enjoy seeing films in 3D, some are more worth the price of admission than others. In Hugo, Scorcese shows everyone how it should be done in the opening minutes, and keeps it up throughout the film, as he immerses you in the movie's world, allowing you to experience the full 3D effect without resorting (too often) to throwing things out of the screen at you.

I'm a sucker for Three Musketeers movies. It's one of my favorite books — I've read it numerous times, and have delved into several of the sequels  (and yes, I knew the full list before looking it up. I own them all.) By far my favorite film versions are the Richard Lester ones from the 80's: The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers . (Shot together, they were released one year apart.) Funny, a great cast, excellent swashbuckling/swordplay and, by far, the most accurate retelling of the book, it's the gold standard I measure all other Musketeer films against. (I do my best to ignore the egregious Return of the Musketeers … which, despite having the same director, main cast and screenwriter, is nearly unwatchable.) Recent attempts at this story have not been particularly impressive.

Sidney buys a fucking gun.

File it under exercises in futility (or remnant Catholic self-flagellating tendencies), but after succumbing to the need to own the Blu-ray version of the Star Wars saga, I'm now forcing myself to sit through said 'saga' from the beginning. Now that I've completed Episode 1, I have to suggest that (while I'm sure I'm hardly the first person to make this observation) it's really unfortunate that you can't give the script (and, it must be said, most of the acting) the same hi-def treatment the visuals received. I'm just sayin'.

I grew up fascinated by our space program… in love with the idea of space exploration and the possibilities inherent in that notion. Star Trek was my grail, and the Apollo astronauts were the heroes of my day. The interest, and hero worship, waned over time… not incidentally as NASA's agenda was redirected from space exploration to near-earth exploitation (I don't mean that with any negative connotations… but as the shuttle system was intended to be a "space truck" to ferry goods and personnel from earth to orbit and back, exploitation seems the right word.)

Last year about this time I was speculating about Frank Herbert's motives when he wrote Dune Messiah. I had decided to read the entire series — starting with Frank's books then circling back to read Brian's. I got sidetracked briefly by Paul of Dune *, but have continued on with the original series… with some dismay, I have to admit. The last time I tried reading the Dune series I got as far as God Emperor of Dune … and could proceed no farther. I hated to admit it, but I was simply bored by it all by that point.

'Judgment Day' predictions threaten to be a bust - CTV News

No need for comment or editorial. Read the article, and the link back to the comments that got him kicked out of Cannes. Lars Von Trier Responds: 'I'm Not Mel Gibson' | The Wrap Movies

I seem to be obsessed with the endings of stories… movies, books, TV series. (That last one's rough, since I'm convinced Dani has a thing about ending a series — we have yet to see the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, for instance, and I've lost count of the other series that've dropped off our recording queue once we know the end is nigh. One of these days, I am going to have to watch that last season of Buffy, however.) That hardly seems like a novel obsession (no pun intended), but it does make it plain why I'd never make it as a reviewer… I know I hate it when someone spoils the end, or even just the plot twists, of a story I haven't experienced yet. (So let's just consider this the obligate SPOILER ALERT, shall we?) The right ending can make a good story great (such as in Animal Kingdom ), while a bad ending can take a decent movie south (as when I realized the ending of Sucker Punch was a sucker punch to the audience). This past wee...

I gave up wearing t-shirts that said things years ago… it just encourages random strangers to strike up conversations I have no interest in. But I may have to own this one: " Sorry it took so long… "

My first reaction on hearing that Obama was releasing the long-form version of his birth certificate was that Trump needs to be careful he doesn't pull something, patting himself on the back like that. This was quickly followed by wondering what he and the tea-baggers are going to foam at the mouth about now. I shouldn't have worried. Donald's now off on a rant about Obama's school records (I guess Magna Cum Laude at Harvard Law's not good enough for The Donald). And the birthers have simply shifted from "where's the birth certificate" to "nice forgery, dude". (There's at least one jackhole that's convinced Obama's hidden hints as to his 'real' birthplace in this "excellent forgery".) Which only leaves me with this observation: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."    --   Henry Mencken

Nearly three months since my last movies post? I must be slipping. I'm sure I've seen more movies than this. But then, not all of them have been memorable, have they? Rango My first real favorite for 2011. I'm a sucker for Looney Tunes cartoons, and there was a DEFINITE Looney Tunes vibe here. (The golf scene had me in tears, for instance.) And then there were the movie references. I'm pretty certain there was a nod to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas very early on. And Ned Beatty did a wonderfully creepy homage to John Huston from Chinatown (without, of course, any disturbing incest sub-text). [ Just an aside here, but I wonder… does knowing Polanski's history make Chinatown any MORE creepy? Or is that just my mind going off on weird tangents? ]. And then there's Timothy Olyphant's "Spirit of the West" moment… just brilliant. Johnny Depp, of course, disappears into the lead character's voice, while somehow Bill Nighy is immediately identifi...

They've been playing the first single from this album on KROQ for the past week or so, and all I have to say is "YES, I must have it." I'll be hitting iTunes soon, but for those with a CD fetish, here's the Amazon link. Enjoy!

Roads to hell, good intentions, blah, blah, blah… I started this post two weeks ago, thinking I'd do one every week. I see a lot of movies and it seemed to make sense. Funny how life gets in the way of our intentions. Not that that's going to stop me from (finally) posting this, of course. Boogie Woogie I sometimes suffer from the conviction that I have art-house sensibilities. Movies like Boogie Woogie, I've decided, exist to dissuade me of those art-house pretensions. I'll blame Netflix for this one (indirectly, of course), since I saw the trailer for this movie in front of something else I'd rented from them, thought it looked fun and immediately dropped it in my queue. None of this is meant to say that this is neccesarily a BAD film... god knows I've seen worse. There are several very good performances and one or two interesting characters. But none of this adds up to a compelling whole for me, and I found myself counting the minutes till it was over. Lon...

I debated a lot of different titles for this post before settling on the one that most succinctly summed up my reaction to today's reading of "the Constitution" by House Republicans. (Read the Slate article below to understand my quote marks.) What House Republicans left out when they read (parts of) America's founding document. - By Dahlia Lithwick - Slate Magazine Aside from their selective sampling of the Constitution, I'm sincerely impressed by the shear arrogance on display here. After kowtowing to G.W. Bush's abuse of the Constitution (oft-defended by the glib remark "the Constitution is not a suicide pact") it strikes me as more than a little disingenuous to have these bastards trot out a bowdlerized version of the document to put the world on notice that they, apparently, are the keepers of all that is "good" and "decent" in this country. (And I've got to note that it's taken less than 5 days of these bastard...

I'm only speculating, of course, but I'm beginning to wonder whether Dune Messiah was Frank Herbert's " I Am Not Spock " moment. (Maybe I should take the more literary path and suggest it's his Arthur Conan Doyle moment?) I started rereading Herbert's Dune novels recently and have just finished Dune Messiah . I've read Messiah before (at least twice that I remember), but I've never been struck by how… disappointing… this book was compared to its predecessor before today. It's almost as if Herbert looked at everything that made the first book good, and stripped them out for its sequel. His main character, Paul Atreides/Muad'dib, has gone from heroic young man to dour Imperator, cursed with the gift of prescience, and a near infallibility brought on by that knowledge of the future. (Frankly, nothing could be more boring than a central character that's invulnerable to change.) His friends and cohorts from the first book are all ei...

A dictionary and a link to Wikipedia would work wonders here. NAACP calls Hallmark graduation card racist I really can't adequately express my contempt for everyone involved in this story.  

I'd stopped reading comics long before they grew up in the 90's, but Batman had always been one of my favorite comic book heroes. I've been rediscovering his darker side ever since learning about Frank Miller's Dark Knight comics several years ago, and have been regularly picking up graphic novels and compilations of Batman comics since then. Some good, some not so much, they've all been fun reads. Joker, of course, being Batman's iconic arch nemesis, fills nearly as many of these novels as the Batman does. Recently I picked up " The Joker: The Greatest Stories Ever Told ", a compilation of Joker stories that span the entire existence of Batman comics, from his introduction in Batman #1 through to stories from this past decade. One of the interesting things about this compilation is watching the way the comics mature. The earliest ones, for all their dark undertones, are rather light-hearted (and, in fact, I realized that the kitschy '60's ...

I've driven in Southern California my entire life and, while I am aware of the law requiring drivers to pass on the left, I'm also well aware that this is a law most often "honoured in the breach" than the observance. (Frankly, I'm as guilty of this as anyone, happy to zip past slower moving traffic in the right lane whenever things bog down on those inside lanes. [Let's face it… I've probably never met a speed limit I didn't like to break.] In fact, there's a section of the 5 near our house where I simply assume the right lane is the passing lane and dodge the incoming merging traffic as I cruise past the slower moving lanes to my left.) I've seen the left lane treated as a passing lane in other states (drivers routinely move out of that lane after passing slower moving cars), but that may simply not be practical here, especially on LA freeways… LA traffic is, arguably, too consistently hectic to keep a lane open as a passing lane. But I don...

Heard about this article on the radio earlier this week. Apparently, along with Bella, Jacob and Barack (yes, you're in fine company there, Mr. President), one of the more popular baby names this year is Messiah. I don't know… seems like you're putting an awful lot of pressure on your kid with that one. I'm just sayin'.