FQF

Ahh, the Admiral comes out of hiding to reclaim his FQF crown. Yes, last week's quote was from a quintessential 80s movie, One Crazy Summer.


Written and directed by Savage Steve Holland, it stars John Cusack and Demi Moore and is all about the summer shenanigans of some recently graduated friends on Nantucket Island. Like so many 80s teen films, it focuses on a loveable guy from the wrong side of the tracks, the girl he loves, and the evil rich kid with fancy cars/boats/houses, etc. The 80s were obsessed with socio-economic class warfare apparently -- even in films that feature Bobcat Goldthwaite in a Godzilla costume.

Like Holland and Cusack's previous collaboration from the year before, the great Better Off Dead, the movie is a mostly just a series of gags, set-ups, and absurdity. It's like a high school senior with a history in road shows got a budget and some nice cameras, you know? We're not talking about King Lear or even The Breakfast Club. One reviewer referred to Holland's directorial tendencies as "infantile clowning." I saw this movie when I was about 14 so infantile clowning was right up my alley. It's a film I could never apply any real critical thought to. It's like a family member or a lifelong friend -- you just love it even though it may be objectively lame.

Of course, John Cusack is still around and going strong, alternating between popcorn fare like 2012 and arty stuff like Being John Malkovich. Demi Moore's full-time occupation these days is being married to Ashton Kutcher which, frankly, seems like a heck of a lot of work to me. Savage Steve Holland moved to television and works primarily for Disney these days. One interesting fact about him is that he was the guy who animated the Whammies on the old TV game show Press Your Luck. I loved those guys.


Alright, for this coming week, we're setting the wayback machine to about thirty years ago. See if you can name this low-budget gem:

"Hear me, beings of Akir. I am Sador of the Malmori. I have come with my forces to conquer you. If you resist, I will crush you. I possess a stellar converter, the most powerful weapon in the universe. You cannot resist me. I want your planet to be my colony. Your harvest comes in seven risings of your red giant. I shall return then, and you will accept me as your master. If you do not submit, your planet and all life on it will be burned to ash."

Film Quiz Friday

Clark wins again! Twice in three weeks. Most impressive, my friend. However, since you did just win, I'm going to let you just keep basking in the glory of your virtual General Tso's for now. No new fabulous prize this week.



Anyway, as Clark correctly guessed, this week's film was the 1953 Richard Burton vehicle, The Robe. Burton plays the Roman soldier who ends up with Christ's robe after the crucifixion. It's very much in the classical Hollywood Bible epic mode (though it is, of course, extra-Biblical to say the least) and it was the first film released in the widescreen format Cinemascope. It is also the only film with Richard Burton I've ever seen all the way through. Not sure what the big deal was.

This week's quote is from a little treat of a movie that is seasonally appropriate for this time of year. Both its male and female leads have gone on to quite healthy film careers and its writer/director found a home working in television following his spate of films in the 1980s. Hint: the female lead is probably more famous for who she is married to now than for her film career. Good luck!

"Why am I talking to you? You're not a man, you're a cat! Go back to your feline world!"

Nerdery

Not even most nerds will know what this is, but those of us in the know (specialized nerds) realize how cool this is going to be:



By the way, I really, really hate that Youtube videos won't just fit, you know?

Belated Film Quiz Friday

So it's Sunday. So this will be a holy film quiz.

Anyway, as Angela H. correctly suggested, last week's film was Gattaca, the 1997 sci-fi film written and directed by Andrew Nicol. The thing I enjoy most about this film is how effectively it created a sense of being futuristic with little more than well-chosen locations, costume design, photography, and sound. Frank Lloyd Wright's Marin County Civic Center stands in for a kind of Mission Control. Buildings from Cal Poly Pomona with a filter on the lens look like housing tenements from the future. Even when Ethan Hawke's character drives his little car, the sound of a turbine engine is dubbed in to make even that simple thing seem slightly different. You never see a laser gun or even a space ship up close. People wear regular clothes and go to work in cars and yet, it doesn't quite seem of our time. I think it takes a lot of cleverness and creativity to pull that off.

Of course, the movie was very forward thinking in terms of genetic engineering, etc. but that can be a discussion for another day. It features a young Jude Law, which is why my mother-in-law recognized the quote immediately. She's a fan of ol' Jude. And, as I mentioned, it's the film that brought Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman together. Is it just me or did Ethan seem to go downhill after they split up? Uma looks essentially the same but he looks like he's been whittled down to a sliver of irritated anxiety.

Anyway, Angela asks for all things Uma so here's her prize:



So, here's this week's quote (and remember -- it's Sunday.)

"From this day forward, I am enlisted in His service. I offer Him my fortune, my sword, and my life. And this I pledge to you on my honor as a Roman."

P.S. This week's winner, Angela Hallstrom, is, among other things, an excellent author. If you haven't bought and read her novel-in-stories Bound On Earth, you are missing out. You need to repent, click here, and buy it ASAP. It's only eleven bucks, it has a cool, newly redesigned cover, and the stories will make you love people more. You will thank me later.

Film Quiz Friday - An Offer I Couldn't Refuse

Linda graciously offered to cede her prize to Clark who knew that last week's quote was from Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 masterpiece, The Godfather. Since I already knew what Clark would want, I special-ordered his fabulous prize from Peking Chinese Restaurant in Twin Falls. Here, Clark is literally up to his neck in General Tso's chicken. Heavenly, eh Clark?

The Godfather is notable for a lot of things -- the cinematography by Gordon Willis, for one. Willis is sometimes called "The Prince of Darkness" for his ability to expressively use shadows and blackness on screen. If you watch the whole initial sequence that takes place in Don Corleone's office during the wedding, it's as though they started with a pitch-black room and then carefully laid in a light here, some light there, making the whole thing rich, complex, and sculptural. His work is absolutely wonderful especially in that it's incredibly effective while always being in the service of the story. He's expressive but subtle and that's a pretty rare combination.

Of course, there's Brando as this weary but powerful old lion and Pacino with his positively glacial performance as the Don's second son. (When did a guy with this kind of control become the bug-eyed hoo-hah we have today?) James Caan, Robert Duvall, Talia Shire, Abe Freaking Vigoda - there's not a weak performance in the entire thing. Incidentally, Sterling Hayden from last week's movie plays the corrupt Captain McCluskey who ends up gunned down by Pacino's Michael Corleone.

While it is not something I would have watched with my mother, it remains one of my favorite films and one of the best films made in the 20th century.

This week's quote:

"You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton: I never saved anything for the swim back."

Think 90's science fiction. Good luck.