Monday Night at the Movies - Couldn't care less about the five nine I'm blowin'

As many films as I've seen through the years, it has become increasingly rare for me to see them in an actual movie theater.  Now with the DVR, I'm even less inclined to go pay $9 to sit in an uncomfortable chair while wearing pants and abstaining from alcohol.  However, my local theater is actually local now, just a few minutes up the road instead of half an hour or 28 stop lights away, and apparently Mondays offer matinee pricing all day.  I might be able to sit through a few more films if they only cost me $5.

We saw RED on Saturday, and while I hoped for more, it was still enjoyable.  And I suppose, what kind of depth of character should I expect from a comic book?  I'll take character development if they want to give it to me, but I certainly don't expect it.

It was an overwhelmingly fun movie weekend for me, besides our little outing to the theater.  Caught an old Agatha Christie suspense film yesterday morning, and followed it up with the Rodriguez/Tarantino 'Grindhouse' double-feature that I recorded off of IFC past my bedtime Saturday night.  Gory, yet amusing.  And it included a 'trailer' for Machete, with Johnny Trejo.  That trailer was made in '07, and Rodriguez has now actually made the movie.  It's on the must-see list. 

Slightly more depressing is the news that Mad Max 4 has been pushed back indefinitely.  This makes me sad since it was to be shot in the same outback hills as Mad Max 1 and 2, and I was waiting impatiently.  They've modified the Interceptor a little, but that just makes it cooler.

And we really need a new movie quote.  Since we haven't done this in months, it's only fair we review the rules, right, children?  Your goal is to guess the original source of the quote below.  No Google or other web searches, you should know the quote by yourself. This is specifically to identify the original source of the quote as well, no characters quoting other movies, and certainly no movies within movies. Should you guess the quote correctly, you'll win the people's fame and ovation forever, along with the title of 'Iron Quote Guesser', along with all associated accolades. Now, onto the quote of the week:

Our survival hinges on one thing - finding someone who not only can fly this plane, but didn't have fish for dinner.
(Which is technically two things, I think, but that's how the quote reads.  Can't help it if it's wrong.) 

Allez guessing, mes enfants!

Random Acts of Thursday - A Test in Three Acts

First off, let me just say once again that I was remiss in my posting.  Tuesday would have been Akira Kurosawa's 100th birthday, and I missed the chance to do an appropriate tribute.  TCM was running his films all day, but I only saw a little bit of Nora Inu.  Pity. 


However, if I start quizzing you on Kurosawa films, I will hear blog crickets, as I'm doubtful any of you are quite the fans I am, and I'm horrible.  


However, I do have a brilliant little quizzo for you kids today, and unlike most of these, there are ten questions, a simple 10% for each question.  Some characters are timeless.  Like Urkel.  Some are so timeless, real or fictional, that more than one actor has portrayed the character historically.  I believe the record I found was the one time I researched Santa Claus for last December's quizzes, and found that over 600 actors have played the right jolly old elf in the history of film.  These are hopefully easier.


Three actors, one common role.  To make life a little more difficult, several actors show up more than once.   Because they are, after all, actors.  Identify which character each set of actors has portrayed.


1:  Peter Cushing, John Pertwee, David Tennant


2:  Ethan Embry, Johnny Galecki, Anthony Michael Hall


3:  Dean Cain, Christopher Reeve, George Reeves


4:  Barbara Stanwyk, Elizabeth Berridge, Ethel Merman


5:  Val Kilmer, Robert Lowery, Michael Keaton


6:  Kevin Costner, Robert Stack, Tom Amandes


7:  Kurt Russell, Shaun Weiss, Bruce Campbell


8:  George Lazenby, David Niven, Timothy Dalton


9:  Kirk Douglas, Val Kilmer, Douglas Fowley


10: Burt Lancaster, Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell


Let's see your guesses!

This is just a note to say

 

Akira Kurosawa would have been 100 years old yesterday.  And I spent the day ranting about social stalker sites.

I suck.  

But I would still like this for my birthday:

That's difficult, considering that I won't tell anyone when it is, I know.

You'll get over it.  Maybe if you just buy it for me now, we won't have to go down that painful road.

Like Kurosawa I make mad films

Okay, I don't make films, but in case you haven't noticed, I am a little bit of a film nerd. And if I did make films...well...who knows.

When I had the opportunity to take classes at UWM during my senior year of high school with discounted tuition, I shirked the chance to take serious, logical mathy-sciencey core classes, instead opting for anthropology and film art. Yes, I made my parents spend their precious hard-earned money so I could watch movies. Hitchcock, Welles, Dali, beautiful noir pieces, light-hearted modern films and early westerns that made me (and still make me) view my favorite non-college films in a new light.
I have always loved the work of Sergio Leone and subsequently all of the Eastwood westerns, from my childhood fighting to stay awake so I could see the end of The Good, The Bad, The Ugly or High Plains Drifer.

Strangely, though, as much as modern film is influenced by the work of Akira Kurosawa, we didn't get to see any Samurai flicks in class. Now, though, instead of sleeping in on weekends, I get up early to flip on IFC and catch the Samurai film of the week.

This week I watched Yojimbo with a keen interest, despite knowing the whole plot beginning to end. This is because Yojimbo was remade as Per un pugno di dollari, or A Fistful of Dollars, a film I've watched time and again. Yojimbo's plot also served as the basis of Last Man Standing, and I don't care what you say, I like Bruce Willis movies. Even the dog with the severed hand made an appearance in David Lynch's Wild at Heart.

Last week's movie was Shichinin no samurai (the Seven Samurai), and even though I've watched it before, it's still a show with everything but Yul Brunner. Remade as the Magnificent Seven, it did feature Yul, along with Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson. Both good watching.

So I'm a film nerd. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be watching what I watch, it might come in handy during a quote contest.

And don't get me started on Sailor Moon...