What have you been watching lately?

Ho boy… It was $5 Mystery Movie night. What will it be? Old time exploitation? Underground shot-on-video? Dusty VHS tapes dug from corners of abandoned Hollywood Videos? Last night, it was:

Mutant Hunt (1987)

Ah, the 80’s. When the phrase “Direct to Video” was coined. A big, deep barrel full of low-rent copies of better films, all hung together on some questionable box art and a distribution deal. Somewhere near the bottom of that barrel, you’ll find this mutated gem. The plot, so to speak, concerns the villian Z, who has fed cyborgs the drug euphora, which turns them into mutants who kill only for pleasure. Why? Something something world domination domething. Taking him on are a scientist and his sister, and his rival Domina, who wants the euphora supply for her own mutant.

Z and Domina have a very Rocky Horror vibe going on from their pleather shouldpadded costumes to Domina’s baffling ‘sexy unwrapping’ of her mutant creation in a clear reference to Frankenfurter, in contrast to everything else in the movie, which looks like it wants to be a Terminator clone.

Filmed in back alleys, warehouses, and office parks, this is a movie best enjoyed with LOTS drinks and funny friends. I’ll give it an extra half star because of a surprisingly heartfelt performance by a half-melted cyborg that aids our heroes if they will release him from his pain. For real, a ball of plastic and wires is the most sympathetic thing on screen.

Unless you have a special love for trash, this fails to be “so bad it’s good” save for a few choice moments. But if this sort of thing is your jam, well, we both may be beyond help.

Gus in Lonsome Dove. The comic and the serious character. Loved him in that role.

I was stuck in an airplane for 14 hours over a week ago. I managed to sleep 7-8 hours, and that gave me time to watch 3 movies. It was a small screen (economy seat sadly…) so I just wanted something entertaining.

First one - Fall. It’s about 2 women stuck on a tall broadcasting tower, with nobody around and no cell phone reception. It was pretty okay, nice simple action movie. Downside: the opening took too long, and there are some unnecessary story lines, so in all the movie should have been edited down to say 80-90 minutes instead of the 110 minutes as it is.

Second movie: Terminator 1 (1984). Seen this one many, many times before, and still one of my favourite movies of all time. The first hour is just a blast: Arnie chasing down 3 Sarah Connors. I was struck by the premise: robots creating a nuclear war because they were afraid of the humans. There is currently a whole debate going on about the rapid improvements of artificial intelligence, so I was impressed by this 1984 storyline!

Third one: the Hong Kong original Infernal Affairs, later remade by Martin Scorcese as The Departed. Had also seen this movie before, but wanted to rewatch as I was departing from Hong Kong. I had seen the original already before Scorceses version came out, and like then, I still prefer the original. It’s just more direct and simpler, all about the storyline, whereas The Departed has a Hollywood slickness that kind of detracts from the story.

Two good one-season shows on Hulu: Catch-22 and Horace & Pete.

One of the best movies I’ve seen so far this year.

I’m also enjoying Mrs. Davis on Peacock tremendously even though I have no idea what’s going on

Watches “A man called Otto” and felt it was too generic. I expected a better story from a Tom Hanks movie

A Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955 - Dir. Karel Zeman)

Zeman was a filmmaker who seemed forever wedded to nostalgia, the past as considered by a tween boy. Starting in advertising, he was exposed to early filmic experiments, and taught himself the principles of animation by getting a hold of a 35mm print of a Felix the Cat cartoon and studying it frame by frame until he undserstood it. From there, he drew on any and every source available, from The Fleischers to Disney, to O’Brien (animator of 1933’s King Kong) to Georges’ Milles’. Zelman’s chief aim seems to have been to bring his childhood tales to life. Maybe the purest example of this is is 2nd feature, Journeyto the Beginning of Time. Clearly inspired, like much of his work, by the stories of Jules Verne, Zeman presents us the VERY simple tale of 4 boys who, having found a fossilized trilobite near a cave, decide to paddle up river, ‘back into the past’, so the youngest of them can see real mammoths, and dinosaurs, and other prehistoric scenes. And that’s what they do, dutifully recording each encounter in their logbook, explaining to their young friend the proper scientific names for creatures, and how valuable their knowledge will be.

It’s as if you were to take a small child through one of the older, un-remodled natural history museums full of intricate dioramas, and told them to imagine each as if they had come to life. It reads as nothing so much as one of those Disney edutainment films of the 50’s and 60’s, presenting what we assume are facts lightly surrounded by a framing fiction.

As a story, not exactly the most riveting material, but the visuals on display are enough to hold your attention for its very light 84 minutes. Zeman employs every trick in his toolkit to create his prehistoric word, from split screen double exposures to elaborate in-camera matte paintings, expertly manipulated puppets, and full on stop motion done by animators who clearly made thorough studies of the creatures they were creating. Easily worth watching for that alone, it also contains what is thought to be the first COLOR stop-motion dinosaurs on film. There’s the beginnings of Jurrassic Park easily visible in several sequences.

An absolutely delightful curio.

Incidentally, writing up my film viewing here has led me to actually DO something with my long dormant letterboxd.com account.

I’m not entirely sure linking to me will get you much, as I’m still pretty poorly connected, but if you want, here you go: https://letterboxd.com/lectroid/

Jury Duty on prime. an interesting, questionable experiment that worked out perfectly.

Going back through older shows because I got fed up of looking through newer ones.

Mentalist - once you get over the smugness, it’s pretty good

The Americans - I started watching this when it was on TV, so I’ve forgotten most of it, which is nice

I feel like the current season of Succession is the weakest. I don’t find myself anxiously looking forward to the new episodes like I did, so perhaps it’s good that this is their final season.

Barry is still great, and I very much enjoyed Perry Mason. Next up, the xmas special of The Detectorists, and The Diplomat.

If you feel like a horribly depressing but very good documentary: https://www.hulu.com/series/stolen-youth-inside-the-cult-at-sarah-lawrence-0336ebcf-9f28-4a55-993b-012aedd47325

Haven’t started yet watching this season of Succession. Did start with The magnificent mrs Maisel, watched season 4 first and now into the second episode of season 5, and so far so good again. I just love the writing.

The marvelous Ms. Maisel? Couldn’t get into that at all, but perhaps the writing improved over the seasons.

Our local bowling alley renamed its lounge Lebowski’s. We stopped bowling years ago, but every time I drive by I smile.

The forced New York accents are very grating, but unlikely to be an issue for anyone outside NYC

Yeah I will miss TMMM even if season 5 is not the best. Still better than most stuff on tv.

Sanditon took care of my Jane Austen/Regency fix.

Pretty much . Fly fishing., Kenji López Alt cooking, SF Giants games , With goofy romantic comedies

Careful with those predicted floods I’ve been reading about out there!

Nothing to worry about. I live below the mountain with a two percent grade . On the edge of the upper Sacramento river. And here comes fire season . Again .

The NYC accents less a problem than 1) the main character is awful and 2) yet another Jewish woman played by a non-Jew.