"Badtux Johnson is RIGHT!"
"The Duckiban are coming!"
That is all.
Updated to add this comment: You know we're screwed when bin Laden looks friendlier and more reasonable.
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Sunday, January 05, 2014
News From Rock Ridge...
"Badtux Johnson is RIGHT!"
"The Duckiban are coming!"
That is all.
Updated to add this comment: You know we're screwed when bin Laden looks friendlier and more reasonable.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Something To Think About...
Updated to reflect that the link to The Great Dictator only has the first half of the movie.
The Great Dictator was filmed in 1940, before the United States got dragged into World War II. The "Jewish Barber" -- played by Chaplin -- is virtually a twin to Adenoid Hynkle, the Dictator. Through the convoluted circumstances that are Chaplin's trademark, the Barber is mistaken for Hynkle, and must make a speech to his assembled troops. The final speech should be as famous and as well-known as the Gettysburg Address, King's "I have a dream", and Kennedy's Inaugural Address... but it isn't...
I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness - not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: "the Kingdom of God is within man" - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Modern Times (the full movie): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zod87mGlIWs
The Great Dictator (
And a bonus picture of the lovely yet talented Miss Goddard, from Modern Times:
Monday, November 07, 2011
Movie review
Watched a disappointing movie last night, Certain Prey, based on a novel by John Sandford. The made-for-TV movie was produced by Mark Harmon (of NCIS fame), so -- not surprisingly -- it starred Harmon "as you've never seen him"... which is a load of hooey.
Certain Prey is part of Sandford's series about Lucas Davenport, formerly Lieutenant and Deputy Chief with Minneapolis PD and later with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Davenport is described in most of the novels as relatively tall, ruggedly handsome (as opposed to Harmon's almost "pretty boy" looks), with a chilling smile. Face it, Harmon just doesn't fit that bill. I think Nick Chinlund (below) is much closer to Davenport's description of his protagonist:
"He was slender and dark-complexioned, with straight black hair goping grey at the temples and a long nose over a crooked smile. One of his central upper incisors had been chipped and he had never had it capped. He might have been an Indian except for his blue eyes."
Harmon's Davenport is almost exactly like Harmon's Leroy Jethro Gibbs: calm, collected, wry, ready with a quip, driving insanely fast (although in Davenport's Porsche rather than Gibbs' Charger), and being an inhumanly accurate shot. Not exactly Harmon "as you've never seen him." The only Gibbs characteristic that is missing is the headslap.
Comparing the movie to the book (which I had re-read the previous day) showed a lot of shortcuts and plot changes. In the book, Carmel Loan and Hale Allen had a professional relationship prior to the killing; in the movie, they had had an affair several years earlier. There were many others, some understandable because of the transition from book to movie, others were unnecessary.
The biggest problem, though, was perhaps unavoidable, given the star's history. In the book, the lead FBI agent's name is Louis Mallard. Since the medical examiner on NCIS is Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, that would have been a bit much.
An earlier "Prey" novel, Mind Prey, starred Eriq LaSalle (of ER), who was also one of the producers. This indicates to me that maybe Sandford (or his agent) should be a little more careful about selling movie rights (Sandford has a whole page about that fiasco here).
Now I'm not saying I could have done any better, or even that I could have done as well. I'm simply saying I think the movie could have been much, much better.
Certain Prey is part of Sandford's series about Lucas Davenport, formerly Lieutenant and Deputy Chief with Minneapolis PD and later with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Davenport is described in most of the novels as relatively tall, ruggedly handsome (as opposed to Harmon's almost "pretty boy" looks), with a chilling smile. Face it, Harmon just doesn't fit that bill. I think Nick Chinlund (below) is much closer to Davenport's description of his protagonist:
"He was slender and dark-complexioned, with straight black hair goping grey at the temples and a long nose over a crooked smile. One of his central upper incisors had been chipped and he had never had it capped. He might have been an Indian except for his blue eyes."
Harmon's Davenport is almost exactly like Harmon's Leroy Jethro Gibbs: calm, collected, wry, ready with a quip, driving insanely fast (although in Davenport's Porsche rather than Gibbs' Charger), and being an inhumanly accurate shot. Not exactly Harmon "as you've never seen him." The only Gibbs characteristic that is missing is the headslap.
Comparing the movie to the book (which I had re-read the previous day) showed a lot of shortcuts and plot changes. In the book, Carmel Loan and Hale Allen had a professional relationship prior to the killing; in the movie, they had had an affair several years earlier. There were many others, some understandable because of the transition from book to movie, others were unnecessary.
The biggest problem, though, was perhaps unavoidable, given the star's history. In the book, the lead FBI agent's name is Louis Mallard. Since the medical examiner on NCIS is Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, that would have been a bit much.
An earlier "Prey" novel, Mind Prey, starred Eriq LaSalle (of ER), who was also one of the producers. This indicates to me that maybe Sandford (or his agent) should be a little more careful about selling movie rights (Sandford has a whole page about that fiasco here).
Now I'm not saying I could have done any better, or even that I could have done as well. I'm simply saying I think the movie could have been much, much better.
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