Frustration - and yet
I feel like I climbed up to the top of a really nice hill over the course of January and February, and then partway through March a combination of additional work/time change/very gray weather/lovely hormones unceremoniously kicked me back down to the bottom of it and I've been slowly clawing my way back up since then. Actual fiction writing was happening for a nice little while there, but since the crash the only words I can muster are this sort--navel-gazing. Which probably isn't very interesting for anyone, including me. I don't like staring at myself the much, but I suppose it's necessary when you're trying to figure out why you fell down and how to avoid/minimize future falls.
Anyhow, I've been watching movies, so here are some brief reviews as I try to pad out this morning's word count with something that's not navel-gazing.
Anyhow, I've been watching movies, so here are some brief reviews as I try to pad out this morning's word count with something that's not navel-gazing.
- The Fighting/Fabulous Dorseys - A while ago my mom bought one of those "50 vintage X movies/TV shows" packages, in this case musicals. We watched maybe 2 and then just ... forgot about it. So we've decided to start watching one per week, which will take us only a year or so to complete. :P This first one was a little odd, as it's really more of a musical review/dramatized autobiography of two at-the-time famous band leaders (argumentative brothers, hence the "fighting" part of the title), rather than what we tend to think of as a traditional musical. No dancing, the musical numbers are simply performances that happen in the course of them finding jobs and making names for themselves, having an enormous fight, and eventually reconciling in the wake of their father's death. There's a little romance jammed in the corners, through the vehicle of a childhood friend, but overall it doesn't really feel like a feature film so much as a TV docudrama thingy. Kind of fun for all the period pieces, I guess? But not something I'll watch again.
- RED - It felt kind of weird to watch this given the current news about Bruce Willis, but it's still a fun, weird little film. Quite solidly a romcom, but you'd never guess it given the body-count and property damage that happens along the way. (Shares some genre similarities with Grosse Pointe Blank, come to think of it...)
- Forbidden Planet - This was an absolute delight--if you have any interest in sci-fi and haven't seen it, do! For one thing, the effects hold up shockingly well for a film made before the existence of NASA, the script and acting are fairly solid, and Robby the Robot is a delight. For another, you can clearly see how it inspired a whole lot of subsequent sci-fi, most obviously the original Star Trek series. Add some color, swap out the captain for Kirk and the ship's doctor for a combo of Spock & Bones, and it could easily be a double-header episode from the show. (With a few changes due to it being a stand-alone, rather than part of an episodic show where things reset in between episodes.)