By:
On:
In: On Movies, On Music, Passages
Tagged: , ,

Actress and singer Mitzi Gaynor has died. She was 93, and she was one of the very last remaining stars with ties to the great era of the Hollywood movie musical. Her biggest role was likely South Pacific, the Rodgers-and-Hammerstein classic (which I may have never actually seen all the way through, it’s not lodged in my memory all that well at all), which is set in–of course!–the islands of the South Pacific during World War II. This particular song is the one from that show which I know best, though I am abashed to admit that it’s not because ofDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: On Movies
Tagged:

We just watched JAWS last weekend, which is always a delight, so this sequence–the attack at the beach that makes everyone aware that a shark has taken up residence in the waters off Amity Island–is fresh on my mind. I’ve always loved the almost impressionistic nature of the shot of Alex Kintner’s actual demise, as someone on the shore might have seen it–just a glimpse of something big, caught from the corner of the eye in half a second. Apparently the sequence was originally intended to be more than that, though. This YouTuber went down the rabbit hole: Share ThisDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: On Movies, On Music
Tagged: ,

Continuing music selections from the films of James Cameron, who just turned 70 last month, we have a brief suite from True Lies. This movie answers the thought experiment of “What if James Cameron directed a James Bond movie?” Arnold Schwarzenegger plays an American spy who maintains a boring family life by day (his wife and kid don’t even know he’s a spy) but does dangerous spy-shit by night (well, kind-of, he has a boring job where the “travels a lot”). But as he enters his most dangerous mission ever, his wife and kid suddenly become a part of the story.Down the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: On Movies, On Music
Tagged: ,

Continuing a few weeks of featuring music from the films of James Cameron, who just turned 70 last month, we have a selection from a score I don’t like all that much for a movie I don’t all that much care for. It’s Aliens, his mega-hit from 1986 that was a thrill-packed sequel to the Ridley Scott original horror film. I know that my reaction to these movies is deeply contrary to the geek culture in which I grew up, but hey, we all diverge from the norm sometime. For me, the original Alien is effective once, and after that it’s basically likeDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: On Movies, On Music
Tagged: , ,

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post was cued up and ready to go and then the person responsible for clicking “publish” did not execute. Unfortunately that person cannot be sacked, as that person is also the person writing this and the content and everything else here. Requests for full refund will be ignored. I’ve noticed an uptick in mentions of the movie Contact lately on social media. I’m not entirely sure why it’s come up, as this isn’t a notable anniversary year for the movie, but I suppose it is a pretty popular movie among science fiction fans, so I don’t grudge itDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: On Movies
Tagged:

OK, I’m going to try this! I’m starting this post on December 31, 2023, and if all goes according to plan, I’ll publish at the very end of 2024. [UPDATE! You can see right now that this is dawning six months early. I’m doing this because the post has become awfully long already, and I figure nobody’s going to scroll through this entire thing if I wait until December 31 or so. I’m splitting it in two, basically.] This is a roster of the movies we end up watching this year, with a capsule review for each. Some movies will warrant moreDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: On Movies
Tagged:

I wrote this post over twelve years ago, but right now there’s a documentary about The Brat Pack on Netflix that’s getting some talk on Teh Socials, and that’s leading to people re-watching Brat Pack movies, including this one. Reaction I’m seeing to people revisiting (or visiting for the first time) St. Elmo’s Fire is pretty amusing, because I’ve seen nobody enjoying it. Almost uniformly, people seem to be reacting the way I did back when I decided to re-watch the movie on a whim. But before I get to the actual text, St. Elmo’s Fire did give us two good things, atDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: Fandom, Life, On Memories, On Movies
Tagged: , , , ,

Today marks the 47th anniversary of the release of George Lucas’s “little space movie”, which wasn’t even 20th Century Fox’s projected “Big Movie” of that year. Little did the world know what was about to happen…and certainly a five-year-old kid in LaCrosse, Wisconsin had no idea how his world was about to be shaped forever. I wrote this post in 2017 for the 40th anniversary of Star Wars, and I wouldn’t change anything. I’ll probably write something completely new for the 50th, though…my God, we’re almost at fifty years of Star Wars…. I didn’t see Star Wars on opening day. In truthDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: On Movies, Passages
Tagged: , , ,

Filmmaker Roger Corman died the other day. It was always easy to poke fun at Corman’s films, but he strove to make them as good as he could, and on his own terms. Corman’s studio was not only prolific but also a starting point for many filmmakers who later went on to great careers of their own. Below is the text of a post I wrote a number of years ago, praising my favorite Corman film, the 1980 obviously-STAR WARS-inspired “Magnificent Seven In Space” flick, Battle Beyond the Stars. I stand by every word of this. Is the movie good? Yes,Down the rabbit hole….