Tag: Movies

  • ODDS and ENDS: Old Debates, It’s Okay to Not Have Kids, and Dog Shit

    (Fries are done…)

    I have been blessed, or cursed, depending on how you look at it, with the ability to stay up very late at night, and still wake up early. Though I may need a nap in the middle of the day, it’s given me one true positive advantage; I get to watch lots of useless things. Lately, I have started watching old episodes of Siskle & Ebert. The original purpose of watching was to remind myself of good movies that I had forgotten about. But as I watched these shows, I noticed something about how Gene and Roger argued. My memory was that there were passionate about their opinions and were willing to really get in there and fight for what they believed, even to the point of personally insulting the other. Yet, when I rewatched, I was struck by how they were very respectful in their arguing. And often, they looked amused when they argued. It wasn’t at all the cat and dog fights that I remembered. In one sense, I could just chalk this up to a faulty memory and a little Mandela effect. Or, maybe, televised arguing has become more brutal and bare knuckled over the past thirty years. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but maybe people were nicer and more respectful in the past.

    Yesterday, I read about Seth Rogen and his thoughts on being married and not having kids. (Good for BuzzFeed, still staying relevant. That’s where I read it.) He made is case of what is right for him and his wife, and he did a good job of articulating his thoughts on the issue. I got a lot of married friends that don’t have kids, and I have a lot of unmarried friends that have kids. And I know some people who have kids and wish they didn’t. Look, I’m married and have a kid and I love it. I also love having one kid, and want it to stay that way. That’s what’s right for the wife and I, and we’re very happy. And no one questions our decision. Our decision gets respected, and it ceases to be an issue. I just think that courtesy should be extended to everyone, regardless of what their reason is for having or not having kids.

    But if you’re not willing to pick up your dog’s shit, then you shouldn’t have a dog. Seriously, turds are part of the deal. So, stop being a tourist and take some responsibility.

  • Where Are the Movies About Gen-X in Their 40’s?

    About a week ago, I found on YouTube old episodes of Siskel & Ebert, At the Movies, and Sneak Previews; all the iterations of their show. It did make me miss watching Gene and Roger debating movies. As Patton Oswalt described, those reviews were a godsend for a kid growing up in the suburbs whose access to good cinema was a video store and their suggestions. The other bonus, other than a nostalgia flood, was being reminded of many great movies that I hadn’t seen in years, which I am now reacquainting myself with.

    Then I noticed that, starting around the late 70’s and going into the early 80’s, there were many dramas and romantic comedies which addressed Baby Boomers entering their 40’s, and the issues and complications that followed. Divorce and affairs seemed to be the Boomer’s major concern in these films, which makes sense as that generation was coming out of the Sexual Revolution which dramatically/comedically could run in conflict with the desire for a more normal and conventional family life.

    The last movie I just finished watching, The Four Seasons, Alan Alda’s directorial debut and meditation on three couples entering middle age and empty nests. Though still a good movie, and no surprise here, it is dated, but dated in the sense that it reflects the sensibilities of its time. Sure, the men dominate the film leaving the women little to do (but Carrol Burnet does steal the show in several of her scenes,) and in the end, it feels like a WASP-y fantasy of a life of leisure. I don’t want to discount that Alda does have some very honest notes with these characters; not wanting to miss out on having joy in one’s life, to have relationships that are still filled with spontaneity and passion, and what it takes to be in a relationship that continues to grow. That I could relate to.

    And then it dawned on me…

    I’m a Gen-Xer in my mid-forties; Where’s the Gen-X movie about being in your 40’s?

    Seriously? What happened? Are those movies out there, and I’ve just missed them? Or are people even making movies like that anymore? (I fully admit, that since I became a father, I totally have dropped off the Earth when it comes to movies. I haven’t seen a film in a theatre that wasn’t children themed in almost ten years, so if I am woefully ignorant, go easy on me.) It can’t fully be that film making and producing and financing has changed THAT much that no one can make a personal drama about real life issues, right?

    I find it hard to believe that no one is interested in stories like that. From my perspective, it seems like there is so much material there that could be churned up to make compelling dramatic or rom-com about X-er’s in their 40’s. I don’t think people have changed so much that they don’t want to see themselves through characters dealing with relatively similar issues.

    So, where are these movies?

    UPDATE: There was This Is 40, but it wasn’t very good, so it doesn’t count.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Movie Trailers, They’re Talking About Me, and Christmas

    (Pay teachers more. You know it’s true.)

    Yesterday was a big day for the release of movie teaser trailers. We got one for the new Transformers movie though I wonder who out there is asking for another installment of that series, one for Guardians of the Galaxy, and the one that hit my sweet spot was the new Indiana Jones. Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I still find it exciting to watch after all of these years. It can still take me back to being seven years old and seeing it for the first time. And I can also say that I am old enough now to know that nothing, no matter how good this movie is, will recapture that feeling of being a little boy and having no idea where Raiders was going to take me. But at the same time, I will be first in line to see it when it comes out.

    There is a New York Times article that was written about me! Not me specifically, but my middle aged demographic, which I will take as the story is about me. The article examines why middle aged men are not returning to the workforce after the pandemic. The piece gives several reasons, but it mainly focuses on men who do not have college educations, as they make up a large number of these middle aged men. For me, I don’t necessarily want to return to an office job, but I do want to bring in additional income for my family. And family is the optimal word there. My real job is taking care of my daughter and my family, and I do enjoy it. Yet, living on one income in the most expensive city in the US, does make our lives feel rather fragile. I believe that things will change for us when we get into the new year. I’m not asking for much; just $500 a month would make a big difference.

    Christmas is like, three weeks away…

    (And here is where I ask you to like, comment, share, or follow my blog. It’s a standard thing I do now.)

  • Trucker Movies: A Personal Journey

    Have you ever seen the movie Convoy? I have seen bits and pieces of it over the years, but never watched it all the way through.

    That changed last night, and the first thing I learned was that the Convoy was directed by Sam Peckinpah. I should have put that together, especially after the climax on the bridge, where everyone has a gun and was shooting it. I found the movie entertaining, but it wasn’t good.

    Convoy was one of the many movies, tv shows and songs about truckers and trucking in America. I’m talking about White Line Fever, Smokey and the Bandit, Handle with Care, Breaker! Breaker!, High-Ballin’, B.J. and the Bear, and Any Which Way but Loose to name a few. As cultural trends go, the trucker/CB movement of the late 70’s is so fascinatingly unique. And I do hold that it was a movement, with the movies, tv shows, songs, and clothing. That’s a lot of trucker shit in its very brief life from 1975 to, I would say, about 1980. What I also find odd about the trucker/CB stuff is that it never had a resurgence. Sure, trucker hats were cool a couple of years ago, but Ashton Kutcher never made a trucker movie.

    But why did all this trucker stuff become so popular in the late 70’s?

    Most of these movies revolve around the idea of the free or independent hero who is harassed or chased by law enforcement, ether justified or not. These heroes aren’t free-spirited hippies; they are blue collar workers. They have a job to do, hauling goods across America, which is vital to the economy, but each trucker has their own rig, which makes them their own boss, which makes them free.

    Basically, all these movies are Easy Rider, just trucks instead of bikes. And not as many drugs.

    I saw most of these movies growing up in the late 80’s and early 90’s, thanks to basic cable. And when I think back on all of these movies, I guess they all behave like westerns. Most of them take place in the West or South, away from “cities” and “normal” people. Law enforcement is corrupt and unrestrained. Individualism is respected, expected, and the hero lives outside of society, except for the community of truckers. Almost like late 60’s anti-hero movies.

    Having said that, maybe these movies were of a specific time, and as such, cannot exist outside of that context. Maybe the late 70’s were a time when the idea of the rough individual American was going away, foretelling the coming of the corporate, conforming yuppie 80’s.

    I will add this; it would be nice if they did make more movies with monkeys as sidekicks.

    (Say! If you read something you like, don’t be a stranger. A like, comment or share would go a long way to save your soul.)

  • Personal Review: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Part 2)

    This will be a series, as I showed this movie to my daughter for the first time over the weekend, and I will share her reactions to it.

    Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite action movie, in case you missed that from yesterday. This weekend, we decided it was time to watch the movie with my daughter. She is six and a half, which was about the age that I first saw Raiders. I had a few reservations about showing the film to her, and was also curious how she would react to a movie that has no CGI in it.

    Now, we are a nerdy, sci-fi/fantasy media devouring family. We have a video of our daughter at about six months old, totally mesmerized by the opening of Doctor Who, so we started early with this kid. She has watched all the Star Wars movies, all the Marvel Movies, the Batman movies (1989 to 1997,) she saw the new Star Trek, and Star Trek II. I feel that we have done a good job of allowing her to see movies that we feel inspire her imagination, and, with the exception of the Batman movies, show that doing the right thing is the right thing to do.

    About a year ago, at the start of the pandemic, I showed the kid the first ten minutes of Raiders, more or less to gage here temperature on the film. She wasn’t too impressed. I just chalked it up to that not everything I like the kid will like. Then over the weekend, as we were trying to find a movie to watch, the kid brought up that Raiders was my favorite movie, and she wanted to watch it. (I do have a Raiders poster in the office, and I own an Indiana Jones Fedora, but I’m not obsessed or anything.)

    This time around, she got into it pretty quickly, though she did think Indy had a lasso, and not a bullwhip. Some of the reservations I had were about the amount of violence in the movie. Unlike all the other action movies we had shown her where the violence is bloodless, characters in Raiders bleed when shot and punched. I would say that Spielberg’s Nazi rule was in full effect with my kid. As Spielberg said, no one feels bad if a Nazi gets hurt or killed. As for the stuntman/practical effects, she was totally on board; from the snakes, to the plane, to the truck scene, she was all in. I won’t lie, that did make me feel good that my kid hasn’t been warped by CGI.

    And then the melting face part came. As the scene started and the Angel of Death appeared, my kid didn’t make a sound. Nazis get shot by God lightening, she was silent. Faces melt and heads explode – she didn’t even cover her eyes. I thought, oh well, this must look fake to her. When I was a kid, it scared me shitless. My kid sat silent all the way to the end. When the credits started to roll, she looked at me and asked, “They just put it in a box and stored it away?” I seemed to remember asking my brothers the same question. Before I could answer that question, she added, “I don’t want to go to bed. The melting faces scared me.”

    Score one for the old special effects.