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14 comments:
I just read the first ish of X-Men Forever...not encouraging.
Here is an incredible drawing of Daredevil.
I'm mildly surprised how rarely Alien Nation is mentioned in District 9 coverage. If V gets a revival, then so should my favorite sour-milk drinking metaphor for immigration.
I'm sure most of you heard about John Hughes passing last week; any thoughts on his movies?
I haven't really thought of anything profound to say about them other than, from the age of 8 until about 20, I thought they were the best movies ever (I even used to have a tradition of watchign The Breakfast Club on my birthday) but, as an adult, I have all but lost interest in them. So, are they worth rewatching or will the adult me find them sophmoric and not-quite-as-profound as I once thought they were?
I've been spending more time than I expected reading tributes to John Hughes, and it's fascinating how touching the movies were while simultaneously being so obviously obvious about things and flawed--something basically acknowledged by everyone looking back. They may have been mostly stereotypes complaining about being viewed as stereotypes, but at the age when most of us saw them, everything was intensely felt. It was all in a broad, splattered style, but he certainly got being a teenager.
My own personal appreciation of the movies was probably more from osmosis, people I like loved them, and I liked them but didn't rewatch them too often. Still, if you're rewatching, I think your mileage varies depending on the movie you want to revisit. Breakfast Club I think does alright, and Ferris Bueller is probably still awesome, but I can't be in the same state as Long Duk Dong anymore.
I don't care for the movies but they're also a decade behind me. With that said, I do know this:teenage movies today don't stick. His did.
Also, I'm dragging my 'friend' to see District 9 for our first night back in Radford this saturday and though I was originally much more excited the more of the trailers I see the more I see an attempt to replicate 'Halo' on a tinier budget than Jackson/Blonkamp (spelling?) originally envisioned.
I remember feeling an intense wave of nostalgia, sadness, and other emotions when I ended up watching the last half-hour of "Breakfast Club" on the night before my college graduation.
In my head I am certain that it's not that great a movie -- by any real standard -- but I also know I can't ever judge it unbiasedly after that night. It really hit me hard.
So that's something.
I ran into an animator in New York today who had just stumbled upon a couple issues of Art Adams-drawn issues of Excalibur, and his New Mutants Annual. We ended up having a long conversation about 80s comic books, which I've grown to have a somewhat encyclopedic knowledge of from following along with Jason's reviews. I recommended she check out Bill Sienkiewicz, Art Adams and Walter Simonson as well, artists I've come to know about largely through following the conversations here. It was delightful to have a chance to share with another person in real life a great love for Marvel Comics' mainstream 1980s work, which is a period I feel like has become something of a forgotten jewel in pop art. Thanks to all of you guys for helping unearth this great material.
District 9 has been getting great reviews...thoughts, geoff?
James - hot damn that is a great image. That dude is now on my RSS feed.
HC -- I TOTALLY FORGOT about Alien Nation. Wow. That was a silly show. Remember how it was always about alien sex.
Scott -- Hughes I respect, but when I think of childhood movies it is always Goonies that I think of most fondly, and indiana jones and back to the future. Having no older siblings I came to hughes pretty late, like early college or something.
BA -- district 9 I do not know what to do with. I am kind of waiting to hear what others think, I could go either way, but it will be triaged because Ponyo is more important.
HC-
"Stereotypes complaining about being stereotypes"
Exactly! Thank you... that's the thing that I was trying to think of to say. And, you're right, at an age where people tend to see things in those terms he certainly hit a very emotional chord for those people.
Ferris Bueller is still awesome, perhaps a bit naive... a little to saccarine for most people's taste... but, personally, I think the world could do with a little more clever sweetness these days (In fact, this is probably why I love The Office so).
As for Long Duk Dong... I totally went to high school with that character!
Fins is also right, his teen movies seem to endure when most modern teen movies don't.
Geoff: He's great. Here's Jog's review of his only (to my knowledge) full-length comic work thus far, complete with a linked preview. Should be enough to tell if it's for you, I think.
It was a smidge dirty for my tastes, but I do so love his art. There's a new edition coming from Dark Horse at some point.
Och, I think I skipped the attribution in my quest to be less wordy than I am. Paeline Kael said it first about Breakfast Club. She didn't like it, but she was still right.
Oh Goonies...that's where I hit people if they say they don't like it. And Real Genius.
Goonies is great...
while on the topic of 80's movies...
Better Off Dead, anyone?
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