I saw a disturbing article on SyFy.com this week about the new Green Hornet movie. Rogen says that things are going great on the movie even though Stephen Chow left the project back in April and the role of Kato has yet to be filled. With a release date of July 2010 and the film has not been completely casted, let along filming even starting I have some serious doubts Rogen will make his release date. His assertion that he is not making an atypical superhero probably isn’t sitting too well with the studio heads, especially after Watchmen (the most non-atypical superhero movie ever made) didn’t achieve blockbuster status this past year. Maybe we’ll get some better news at ComicCon, as he announced he may show up with a preview.
Archive for July, 2009
Back in the eighties USA network used to have a late night weekend show called Night Flight that would show bizzare old movies like The Terror of Tiny Town and Reefer Madness. One of the most popular movies they showed was Firesign Theater’s J-Men Forever. The film is mostly made up of footage from old Republic serials redubbed with new dialog and intercut with new footage of Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman commenting on the action.
The plot involves a Lunar invader called the Lightning Bug who attempts to take over the Earth by flooding the airwaves with Rock n’ Roll while the J-Men try to keep the world safe with Lawrence Welk and Arthur Murray music. Using clips from Adventures of Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, Captain America, King of the Rocket Men, The Masked Marvel, Manhunt of Mystery Island, The Purple Monster Strikes, The Crimson Ghost, The Black Widow, Fighting Devil Dogs and Undersea Kingdom; most of the film shows the costumed (and some non-costumed) J-Men meeting their apparent demise at the hands of the Lightning Bug’s henchmen only to reveal at the end after the Bug has been defeated, that they all survived, so as to keep it more in the style of the serials they came from.
Most of the jokes used in the film vary from amusing to lame, but few are actually able to evoke a gut busting laugh. A few highlights are “We made a little oopsie and we’re on the West Coast instead of the East Coast” and “This music could make me pregnant!” But most are on the level of a guy riding a motor cycle and exclaiming ” I should have worn a cup!” or a henchman complimenting the Bug on his new mask and the Bug replying, “What mask?”
Proctor and Bergman’s hijinks in between the dubbed footage is mostly slapstick such as Proctor falling out his chair when he leans back too far or both of them banging into each other as they pace the office waiting from report from the field. A weird moment is at the end, when to celebrate their victory over the Bug, they light up a joint and pass it back and forth.
The DVD includes an interview with George Wallace, who played Commando Cody in the Republic serial Radar Men From the Moon (which wasn’t used in the movie), and and interview with Proctor and Bergmen.
My wife is big on documentaries, and she found one of the most fascinating ones recently on NetFlix, The Devil’s Playground. It documents a facet of Amish life rarely seen. Most people know that the Amish community use little of modern technology, wear old fashion clothes and are devote, peaceable Christians. What has never been explored is the right of passage all Amsh children go through at the age of sixteen called Rumspringa. During this time Amish teenagers are free to explore the modern world, wearing modern clothes, listening to CD’s, playing video games, driving cars, smoking and drinking, so that when the time comes to chose the Amish life they do so willingly having experienced both sides of the coin and are making an educated choice.
Though it follows several teenagers as they struggle with their decision, the main focus is on Faron Yoder and Emma Miller as he fights a horrendous heroin addiction and they come to terms about their feelings for each other and what it means to join the Amish church. Along the way you meet some who have joined the church and given up the modern world, and one young woman who is ostracized for having joined the church and then renounced it, an unheard of concept for the Amish.
While a fascinating exploration of a lifestyle that is alien to most people the one thing that comes through is that regardless of upbringing, a teenager’s life is pretty much the same, full of disappointment, heartache, and indecision on the direction you want your life to take.
