Alien vs Predator vs Akira Kurosawa vs Sarah Michelle Geller
Yesterday, while my lovely wife was working to support me, I could find nothing better to do than pull a Chunn and watch some bad sci-fi. Mary Sleazy and I went to see Alien vs Predator.
AVP is not art, but it is certainly wild and crazy fun once the "monsters" took over. AVP will seem like a mindless romp to non-fans, but if you are steeped in the lore of the two series (and their attendant novels and comics) you'll find a lot to enjoy. The dialogue wasn't very good, but the writers probably didn't feel that the target audience would care....well, for me, at least, they were wrong. The dialogue and the character interactions were what set the first two Alien movies and "Predator" apart from other slasher/space/action films. The movie had it's problems, but it didn't suck.
After AVP, Ferlie and I settled down for a nice evening's Akira Kurosawa film. We saw "Kumonosu jô" aka "Throne of Blood", which is heralded as one of the best movies ever made. Well, I cannot agree with that assessment, though I did enjoy it. Artistically, it does eclipse AVP in several respects. For those who don't know, "Throne of Blood" is Kurosawa's telling of Shakespeare's "MacBeth". Some would argue that this is just another instance of some slanty-eyed S.O.B. ripping off the white man's work for their own evil, Asian purposes. Since my wife is Asian, I'd better not be one of those people. I should note, however, that my evil Asian wife did fall asleep during the flick, so interpret that how you will.
"Throne of Blood" is beautifully filmed in black and white, and the costumes, sets, and scenery are wonderful. There were very few movies made in the late 1950s that had such production values. The performances were quite good, but American movie-goers beware---they are very Japanese (so much of the stuff that is wonderful in the eyes of fans of Japanese cinema, will seem sorta goofy to fans of stupid crap like Van Helsing).
I am very much interested in seeing "Rashomon" which I see most often at the list of top Japanese films. Any recommendations?
Also, you must go look at www.doyouhaveagrude.com which is the site for the American-market re-make of "Ju-On", which was a pretty creepy. I don't know how "The Grudge" will be, but the Americanized version of "Ringu" was good, so I have high hopes, despite Sarah Michelle Geller's starring role.
Yesterday, while my lovely wife was working to support me, I could find nothing better to do than pull a Chunn and watch some bad sci-fi. Mary Sleazy and I went to see Alien vs Predator.
AVP is not art, but it is certainly wild and crazy fun once the "monsters" took over. AVP will seem like a mindless romp to non-fans, but if you are steeped in the lore of the two series (and their attendant novels and comics) you'll find a lot to enjoy. The dialogue wasn't very good, but the writers probably didn't feel that the target audience would care....well, for me, at least, they were wrong. The dialogue and the character interactions were what set the first two Alien movies and "Predator" apart from other slasher/space/action films. The movie had it's problems, but it didn't suck.
After AVP, Ferlie and I settled down for a nice evening's Akira Kurosawa film. We saw "Kumonosu jô" aka "Throne of Blood", which is heralded as one of the best movies ever made. Well, I cannot agree with that assessment, though I did enjoy it. Artistically, it does eclipse AVP in several respects. For those who don't know, "Throne of Blood" is Kurosawa's telling of Shakespeare's "MacBeth". Some would argue that this is just another instance of some slanty-eyed S.O.B. ripping off the white man's work for their own evil, Asian purposes. Since my wife is Asian, I'd better not be one of those people. I should note, however, that my evil Asian wife did fall asleep during the flick, so interpret that how you will.
"Throne of Blood" is beautifully filmed in black and white, and the costumes, sets, and scenery are wonderful. There were very few movies made in the late 1950s that had such production values. The performances were quite good, but American movie-goers beware---they are very Japanese (so much of the stuff that is wonderful in the eyes of fans of Japanese cinema, will seem sorta goofy to fans of stupid crap like Van Helsing).
I am very much interested in seeing "Rashomon" which I see most often at the list of top Japanese films. Any recommendations?
Also, you must go look at www.doyouhaveagrude.com which is the site for the American-market re-make of "Ju-On", which was a pretty creepy. I don't know how "The Grudge" will be, but the Americanized version of "Ringu" was good, so I have high hopes, despite Sarah Michelle Geller's starring role.
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