chit and chat

Conversations...

Brandon,

If you can't figure out Boo, then call this number and leave a message. I'll post your message to Boo for you. 607 323 1853. You can call that number any time during the day or night. It goes straight to my google voice voicemail. I probably won't be able to post messages until the evening or the next morning when I'm home on the desktop. That goes for any of you. Any of you who didn't want to join Boo can instead call the above number and leave a message and I'll post it. I know that Boo is silly and stupid, but that's part of its charm.

As for your post...
Pulse is one of the worst movies I've seen in recent memory. It's a good poster child for all of the reasons that the horror genre constantly fails me. Like most horror, the concept is scarier than the execution.

I'd like to see The Addiction. I remember that a friend hosted a screening for Houghton's philosophy club, The Gadfly Society, way back in '99 or so. I never made it to that screening.

I wish that Seven Psychopaths would play at AMC. I've got two free tickets burning a hole in my wallet. Oh well. I'll try to catch it at Regal before its run ends. I do agree that McDonagh is a terribly smart writer.

Jason,

Sorry that I never responded to your dump.

You do need to give Videodrome another try. I don't at all condone its exploitation as critique of exploitation, but it is thoroughly effective as a horror film. One of very few films that has ever given me nightmares.

I think that you're way too hard on Brave. The film does focus on feminine characteristics, portrayed emotionally. The entire film is "about" emotional reconciliation. That it revels in emotional connection in the midst of action is a strength, not a weakness. Girls like thrilling horse rides and bear fights just as much as little boys do. That the girl hero got to participate in exciting action while acting like a girl is a positive thing, not a negative one. The film dramatizes, in an exciting way, simple family conflicts. I think it's a great film, maybe the best from this year and the best Pixar film so far.

Ben,

I guess that you and I are going to have to keep the Film Club torches burning for ST:TNG since no one else will step up. It might be time for a re-watch on my part.

Jeff,

Booing has been fun. I'll definitely keep it up. Doing those short recordings prompted me to sit down and write out this longer "Conversations" post.

I will give Bava a chance. I checked NWI and saw that they've got a Bava Western available. That's what I'm going to watch first! Roy Colt and Winchester Jack.
Looper Spoilers follow...

My problem with Looper is that I'm a complete hard determinist/fatalist when it comes to time travel in fiction. I have to side with Stephen Hawking. Travel to the past is either impossible because of the feedback involved or, if possible, it's only possible within insanely limited naturally enforced restrictions. Looper decides to sidestep the issue and embrace the paradox, something which can be done on film because film, as a dreamscape, need not follow any rigid logic. We're in Back to the Future territory here, which works for a light comedy film like BttF, but seems too light and silly for the heaviness of theme and subject that Johnson is going for with Looper. Regardless, I guess I just wish that Johnson had been consistent with his own decisions. The way he constructs things disregards Hawking's logic. It also disregards alternate timelines and parallel universe solutions by having actions done in the present affect characters from the future who happen to be in the present even though that makes no sense because if actions in the present affect characters from the future who happen to be in the present, then those characters from the future would no longer be in the present. Why does a death cause a future character to disappear, but changing the timeline in any other way doesn't? Why would the death affect the future character at all? But granting that in this story's world, it does, well then, why does the future character disappear when the present character dies? Why doesn't his corpse lay there also? Wouldn't the present body have to disappear in order for the future body to disappear? Why not have the future body laying there with a hole in its stomach in the same way in which a future body has a hole in their hand when a present body loses fingers?

Whatever. I could rant for a lot longer. Despite my issues, I did like large chunks of Looper. Johnson is a great director. I really do think so. Like M. Night, though, I wish that he'd shoot scripts written by someone else.

Lisa,

Where are you? The echoes have stopped coming from the gorge and we're worried.

Chris,

I've got Halloween traditions, too. Mostly, they involve taking candy from my children after they've done the hard work of trick or treating.

I'll use this space to post my Simpsons Season 1 rankings. The rankings here are almost arbitrary. There wasn't a bad episode in the bunch. The ranking is probably definitely affected by me watching the first disc episodes nearly a month ago and most of the rest within the past week and a half.

1. The Call of the Simpsons

2. The Telltale Head

3. Krusty Gets Busted

4. Bart the General

5. Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire

6. The Crepes of Wrath

7. Life on the Fast Lane

8. Homer's Night Out

9. Some Enchanted Evening

10. Bart the Genius

11. Moanin' Lisa

12. Homer's Odyssey

13. There's No Disgrace Like Home

Adrienne,

I suspect that you haven't watched anything since The Master. Maybe I'm wrong. Regardless, it's about time that you treated yourself to watching another movie, then treat us to a new film club post.

Alex,

Once again, welcome to CR5FC. I've been enjoying your posts. I haven't seen Hellraiser. It's been a very long time since I've seen anything by Waters. So, I just haven't had a point of contact to interact with you at length yet. Keep those posts coming.

Everyone,

Boo.