On the show on which they reviewed Purple Rain (two thumbs up, if I recall correctly), Siskel and Ebert took some time to address the possiblity that Prince might direct his next feature. They practically begged him not to do it. Not so soon after making such a good first impression. Of course , he went ahead and did it anyway, after pissing off the film's original director, Mary Lambert.
Some see this film as an absolute disaster. Sure it's bad, but still very enjoyable, if you ask me. As with the later Graffiti Bridge, the cinematography is mostly well done. There are a couple of slow pans which seem a little jittery, only one of which was noticable on my li'l 19 inch TV and not as jarring as I remember it being on the big screen. The soundtrack is great, the comedy, not so great and the story, more than tolerable until the pointless ending.
Still, like I said, I enjoyed it, and I'm glad it's on DVD.
Now I have to get Luc Besson's Subway on DVD. This movie, which I think came out a year before Cherry Moon, is more like the film Prince should've made. It starred Christopher Lambert (Highlander) as a safe cracker on the run from both the law and the mob. He hides out in the Paris subway system, and while there, he seduces the mob boss' daughter and puts together a band using the local homeless musicians (one of whom, is played by Leon: The Professional's Jean Reno). Been a while since I've seen this. I wonder if it holds up?
Labels: DVD, movies, Prince
I don't like it.
One, it's sugar free, which means a ton of crappy ingredients (14) instead of the 5 not so crappy ones you get in regular peppermint Altoids.
Two, it's gum. I like gum, but I always feel let down by gum. Eventually the flavor goes away and you're still there chewing something that now has no soul.
Three, 2 30 gram tins of gum cost the same as 2 50 gram tins of mints. As if being addicted to the mints at Three dollars every two days isn't bad enough (and that's considering Pathmark's lower price on the product versus Eckerds and Stop & Shop).
At least this crap isn't good enough to hook me. I will finish the remaining tin tomorrow, though.
Labels: Altoids, bullshit, candy, peppermints
Bought a bunch of comics over the weekend, during the same trip that I saw
The Forgotten. Forbidden Planet is right across the street from the movie theatre, so while waiting for the film's start time I searched through their discount racks.
The Ultimates volume 1 is a smart, cool re-invention of the original Avengers; Captain America, The Hulk, Giant Man, The Wasp, Thor and Iron Man. When I bought it I hadn't looked that closely at the cover. It was a nice sized book for the price (9 bucks) and I thought It might be from one of the smaller companies. Didn't realize it was a Marvel book til I was on my way home. Finished reading it yesterday, and it was great.
I tried getting into
Captain America And The Falcon: Madbomb, compiling some of Jack Kirby's 1970s run on the character. I was a big fan of Cap in the mid seventies as well as a devotee of writer/artist
Jack Kirby. I'm still a fan of some of his work from this era (would love to see a volume of
The Eternals), but sad to say, this book is a load of shit and a chore to read. This book reprints stories just before I got into Cap, I think. I don't recall any of these, so maybe he got better as the series got on. I eventually subscribed to the title only to find, by the time I recieved my first issue, that Kirby was off the book and replaced by another writer (don't remember who) and artist,
Sal Buscema. I remember that run being quite good also. I believe my Cap/Kirby fix continued with reprints from the sixties and a superhero team book that took place in WWII,
The Invaders, by
Roy Thomas and
Frank Robbins. Kirby did a few covers for that series. I stopped reading that book when Robbins stopped drawing it. Anyway the Madbomb book is the only one I bought that wasn't at a discount.
Took a day off from work today due to a cold. I was gonna watch
OldBoy, a Korean DVD I'd downloaded, but it was DTS only (I knew that and DL'd it anyway), and since I don't have DTS, I don't have sound. So the movie idea wasn't working. I took out
Smax, by
Alan Moore and
Zander Cannon. I'm a huge fan of Alan Moore.
From Hell and
League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen sucked as movies, but I highly recommend the comics they were based on. Smax is a spin-off from
Top Ten, Moore's Superhero/police dramady comic book. This volume collects a five issue series. Good book, not great, but good. The protagonist brings his partner along to his home reality (sort of a fairy tale world with elves, magic, etc.) to attend an uncle's funeral, slay a dragon, and try to keep from re-engaging in sexual relations with his sister. Fun stuff.
Others bought, but not yet read;
The Skull Man volume 5: a newer manga version based on a character created by
Shotaro Ishinomori.
a bunch in the 50 cent/5 for 2 dollars pile;
Rawhide Kid #1, 2, and 4 - I used to read reprints of RK and other western titles back in the seventies. About a year ago Marvel comics made news by announcing he was their first gay character. Could'a sworn there were a couple of others, though. The series was drawn by
John Severin. He and his sister (or wife?)
Marie are among the better artists in American comics. I don't know if Marie is still around, but it's obvious just from a glance inside the pages that age hasn't diminished Mr. Severin's skill. This seems uncommon in the comic book industry for some reason.
Rising Stars Bright #2- don't know anything about this, other than it's written by
J. Michael Straczynski, who I think created
Bablylon 5.
The Power Company #2 - superhero stuff.
Fight For Tomorrow #4 - underground fighting drama. Art by
Dennys Cowan and
Kent Williams. I read #1 about a year and a half ago. Was hoping there'd be a compilation by now.
The End #4 - This one's by
Jim Starlin, another old favorite of mine, who hasn't aged gracefully. I saw he had a new title out, but I passed on it. This one was fitty cents, so why not?
A bunch of superheroes take on a superpowerful being hellbent on either destroying or taking over the universe.
So that's my comicbook binge for about 2-3 months. Tune back then, when I spend about a hunnet bucks on paperback compilations of translated Hong Kong comics...
Labels: comics, movies