Characters we know nothing (and everything) about – Moriarty and Irene Adler
While by no means a great cinematic achievement, I quite enjoyed Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows when I viewed it late last year. Following the film, though, the conversation immediately turned to the fact that we all knew the film was really just a placeholder until new episodes of “Sherlock” were aired.
Season one of the BBC series is streaming on Netflix even as I write this and if you haven’t watched it, you are missing one of the better interpretations of the Holmes character you are likely to see. That is remarkable given that there are so very many of them.
Oscar Shmoscar
I’m a movie fan so I allow myself to get a little excited for Oscar season. I think the odds of an Oscar going to the most deserving film in a particular year are only slightly better than the odds I’ll ever have the chance to win one. I just enjoy getting wound up by how stupid the mysterious members of the Motion Picture academy can be.
Let me highlight a few of the WTF moments from this year’s nominations.
Alphabetical Movie – Heartbreakers
If you have never heard of Heartbreakers, have no fear. You are part of that rather large contingent of people who looked at the movie poster and figured that any movie with Sigourney Weaver and Gene Hackman in it couldn’t help but be ruined by the presence of Jennifer Love Hewitt. The assumption is fair.
Hewitt does not, in fact ruin the movie but neither can she elevate it above a rather bland romantic comedy/confidence game movie that is notable more for being Anne Bancroft’s final film than it is for anything else. It is one of those movies that falls squarely in the “I’m glad I saw it once but I’ve never needed to see it again” category.
The First Cause Argument
I’ve been reading a book called ‘The Divinity of Doubt: The God Question” by Vincent Bugliosi. It is a book that argues – poorly, I think – for Agnosticism as the only “logical” position to take on the god question. While much of his book is used to poke logical holes in the concept of God as accepted by Christians, he spends a few chapters tilting at the atheism windmill as well.
I think before I address a part of his book that I found particularly problmatic, I need to discuss the concept of atheism vs. agnosticism. What, exactly, do I believe on the question of god?
Alphabetical Movie – The Haunting
I think Robert Wise’s The Haunting is just about the perfect horror film. We never see an axe wielding serial killer. The characters aren’t chased about the house by a hideous creature. Death, when it comes, is not bloody or graphic.
In spite of all these things, the movie is as scary as any I’ve ever seen. Wise uses camera angles, sound design, facial expression and dialogue to create a haunted house so horrifying, you can’t imagine spending a night there. You don’t see what creatures walk the halls of that house but whatever is in your imagination is far worse than anything that could have appeared on screen.
Princess Leia – Badass
In a discussion this weekend, the topic was raised as to who was the bigger badass – Luke Skywalker or Han Solo.
I must be clear – this discussion was only in reference to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. All arguments that take other films into account will be considered null and void.
Alphabetical movie – Hatari!
Hatari! (the explanation point is part of the name) plays more like a African Safari version of How the West Was Won than it does a movie that has crazy things like “characters” and “plot.” Through a series of vignettes, we meet several people of varying nationalities who spend their lives catching animals in Africa. Don’t worry – they aren’t poachers. The animals are being caught to put in zoos.
Much of the film involves long sequences of these characters trying to catch animals on the savannah and it must have looked awesome projected on the big screen. The story, such as it is, involves some romantic entanglements between a few of the characters but it is nearly 100% irrelevant. The attraction is the setting, not the story.
Alphabetical Movie – Harvey
One of my favorite lines from Harvey is: “In this world you need to be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.”
Yes, I condensed the line a little. I believe the sentiment remains.
It is a great line because it defines Elwood P. Dowd in the most precise terms. We understand who he was, why he was unhappy and why he is now (possibly) a little crazy.
Alphabetical Movie – Harry Potter 1-8
Call me lazy but I figured that a single post that covered the entirety of the Harry Potter film series was sufficient.
I have, in the past several weeks, watched approximately 24 hours of film devoted to J.K. Rowling’s retirement plan. Most of it is good. Some is very good. None of it is great and none of it is awful.
That’s actually not too bad for a run of eight movies. It can be fairly argued that the source material is so strong that it should result in stronger films. I can think of plenty of examples of strong source material being made into bad movies. Go ahead and watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas if you doubt me. I’ll wait.
By the way, I’m going to be going into spoilers about the books and the movies so when you get done watching that terrible film, don’t come back if you don’t want to learn any secrets.
Dating Advice for Geeks
I was already writing the following post when I read this (which is from March 2011). In the wake of such a well written treatise, what I was writing almost seemed redundant.
Almost.
Given the article above, it seems to be the perfect time to give some advice to you geek boys out there who are interested in dating geek girls and haven’t quite figured out how to do it.
Look, I know that I’m not the best guy in the world to give this advice. I’ve been married for 21 years now and when I was dating, I wasn’t very good at it.
Take my word for it, though, after reading many of the male responses to elevatorgate in which they asked “Hey, if propositioning a woman I hardly know in an elevator makes them uncomfortable, what do you propose I do if I’d like to get laid” I feel that I am at least as qualified as any other guy who was smart enough to know the answer to that question without asking his wife/girlfriend.
A lot of very smart women have answered the question but I know how guys are. I know you guys out there really need the advice of another guy who understands what women want because, apparently, you don’t trust women to know the answer. So here goes, guys. Get ready for some super insightful stuff!
Grail Diary 