(no subject)

[coyotegoth]

This is shaping up to be an excellent weekend, after a rather fatiguing week. I met G. for tea yesterday afternoon; he's one of the people behind heartanddart (the soap makers I linked to recently), and he gifted me with a bar of Winter Melody, my favorite scent, much to my delight. Then, we walked through the park; G.has a finely attuned visual sensibility, and he and I would take turns pointing out the way the sunlight was reflecting off of a leaf, and other such grace notes. (A startling moment: when I was in Potsdam recently, I found myself looking through family photos albums, and remembering Sandy, my grandparents' dog, who died almost thirty years ago. Something about the layout of the terrain reminded me of their old house on Lake Champlain... and just as I was thinking this, we passed someone walking a dog who could've been Sandy's clone, the only dog of that type (a red and white spaniel variant) I've seen since the original.) Other pleasant surprises, such as watching ducks squabble over muffin crumbs, and finding a park bench dedication plaque written in Arabic (the only such I've ever seen); then, dinner; then, goodbyes.

From there, I went off with my apartment mate to see Island of Lost Souls (a retitled version of Island of Dr. Moreau) and The Most Dangerous Game, two pre-code horror/suspense movies, at the Loew's in Hoboken, one of the last of the old movie palaces. (Given that Forry Ackerman, the uberfan behind Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, had just passed away, it seemed fitting. There was an original prop severed head from Most Dangerous Game in the lobby; Forry, who had a famous collection of such memorabilia, would've smiled.)(What's going to happen to the contents of the Ackermansion, I wonder?) It was delightful to see them, especially in such a setting; a much-needed boost for my enthusiasm for seeing movies in theaters, which has dropped precipitously of late. (High ticket prices; tiny multiplexed theaters; audiences who seem with think they're watching WWE; generally dismal new releases...feh.)

Now, I'm off to see Quantum of Solace with gtrout; later, either Milk or the new gay version of Midsummer Night's Dream; perhaps both. Quantum has gotten mixed reviews, but I'm optimistic; Daniel Craig has made the part his own like no Bond since Connery: believable as both high-tech assassin and human being. (I still maintain that they should remake On Her Majesty's Secret Service next. As a movie, it may well be the best Bond movie ever- I mean, Diana Rigg as a Bond girl!- however, its reputation has suffered grievously and unfairly due to the public's lack of enthusiasm for Lazenby's work in the title role.) Then, home, and making bad things happen to good wizards.

(Personal note to cthulhia: I've finally watched The Ref, due almost entirely to your repeated LJ praise for it; thank you.)

Comments

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

You'd never seen The Ref?!?!

My gods, man.

That's one of the best Christmas movies ever!

o. yeah.

[cthulhia]

I wish I could find stills of them in the saint lucia headgear.

so want LJ icon of that.

Re: o. yeah.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Well, here's one (http://www.mutantreviewers.com/rref2.jpg).

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

All things being equal, I only saw Planes, Trains & Automobiles this Thanksgiving Day... having had no idea that it was a Thanksgiving movie. Geez, what was the point of film school?

[ladypeculiar.livejournal.com]

Oh, dude, the Ref. That movie has NO BUSINESS being any good at all, but it's so dysfunctional goooooooood . . . .

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

And I mean, DON SIMPSON produced it- usually when I think of "Don Simpson" and "dysfunctional comedy", I think of Top Gun :)

(Lurve the icon, by the way.)

[archaeopterxy.livejournal.com]

There's more to hate about OHMSS than just Lazenby. Bond in a kilt and frills? No. Telly Savalas? No. Bond's cover story as a geneologist? No. The credit sequence, which goes out of its way to remind the audience that Lazenby isn't Connery? No. The evil plot? That was passe` when Fu Manchu tried the same scheme in the 1930s.

Mind you, I love Diana Rigg. I love the ending of the movie (though I think it was a mistake for Bond to get married in order to facilitate it), and it's John Barry's best score. But it's a maddening film.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, Bond's ancestry is Scottish; he plays a geologist (well, is mistaken for the geologist) briefly in Quantum, which isn't all that much more plausible... Telly Savalas I may grant you, although Charles Gray wasn't much more believable in the role. Evil plots? I'd guess that at least two thirds of the Bonds (especially the Moore ones) had similarly melodramatic plot devices.
It is frustrating at points, though; I wish the producers hadn't worked so hard at projecting the "Connery? What Connery?" message, that the film is forced into being off-center at moments (definitely including, as you point out, the credit sequence. Sigh.)

OTOH, the marriage is what made the movie for me- he's trying to escape his past as a killer in marrying her, but he never can; a point that would have been clearer with Connery, and his sense of danger in the role. Connery, I'd believe as an assassin. (Also, it amuses me that the people who take digs at Lazenby's past as a male model never seem to know that Connery was a male model as well; did a fair bit of musical theater, too. (Also also- you may chuckle, but I'd consider Barry's best score, the Bonds aside, to be either his work for the '76 King Kong (a silly movie, but I still enjoy it), or The Black Hole (simply dreadful; an interesting idea in search of a good remake.)