Making a Stop at the Super 8… again (Blu-Ray Version)

Frankensteined from my Big Screen review, edited for look-backs and 6 month later views.

Seeing this movie last night in the theater on Blu-Ray still made me feel 15 all over again.  Stephen Spielberg almost found that magic he had in the 80’s along with JJ Abrams….. almost.  Don’t let me take anything away from the film, I loved it, 9 9.5 out of 10 in first second watching.  I was only left confused in the final closing moments as to why the resolution took an hour and 40 minutes longer then it really needed.  But the ride sure was fun.

In the 80’s Spielberg created these epic “Kid Adventures” with the Goonies, Gremlins, ET, and Back to the Future where it was a teen (usually a virtual nobody in Hollywood) in the lead role taking on the hero’s role and burden on a mission to save the town/friends.  When I say he almost reclaimed the magic there is a fair amount of JJ Abrams sprinkled into the story.  JJ is a wonderful storyteller with a knack for creating mystery around a far from benign creature that we only catch glimpses of as it passes just out of sight.  And with that keeping the monster’s appearance a secret till it is only necessary.

Rise of the Samurai – Isao Machii Cuts Fired Pellet in Half

The 1980s was a great era for the ninja, everywhere you turned there was a costume for sale, bootleg throwing stars being sold at flea markets, the biggest characters in G.I. Joe were Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes and biggest of all kids trying to emulate Sho Kosugi from the numerous ninja flicks that were busting off shelves in the video rental stores.

Isao Machii has the skill to make martial arts cool again but this time it will not be men masked in black and white, the sword wielding heroes will come in the form of the Samurai.  Most recently Machii-san appeared on “Stan Lee’s Superhumans” a show that chronicles abilities today’s people have that could be viewed as superhumans/superheroes in his comic creations.

Making a Stop at the Super 8

Seeing this movie last night made me feel 15 all over again.  Stephen Spielberg almost found that magic he had in the 80’s with JJ Abrams….. almost.  Don’t let me take anything away from the film, I loved it, 9 out of 10 in first watching.  I was only left confused in the final closing moments as to why the resolution took an hour and 40 minutes longer then it really needed.

In the 80’s Spielberg created these epic “Kid Adventures” with the Goonies, Gremlins, ET, and Back to the Future where it was a teen in the lead role taking on a heroes role and burden on a mission to save the town/friends.  When I say he almost reclaimed the magic there is a fair amount of JJ Abrams sprinkled into the story.  JJ is a wonderful storyteller with a knack for creating mystery around a far from benign creature that we only catch glimpses of as it passes just out of sight.

I was not surprised by this, I saw the preview, but in front of my at the theater was a family with a maybe 13 and 9-year-old who really should not have been there in the first place.  The film has some fairly intense moments that had me questioning the PG-13 rating as the Spielberg name might confuse too many parents to bring kids along.

The cast was reminiscent of many 80’s films with the hero, who I could not help but see Elliott (Henry Thomas) in him all film, the fat kid who is the but of jokes, the nerdy kid who freaks out and cries at the drop of a pin, the hooligan, and the female love interest who falls for the hero.  It had all of the ingredients sprinkled just right to make a classic.

I won’t say much as I don’t want to spoil any of the fun, I suggest just seeing the trailer and going from there.

Not seeing this film would be a disservice to yourself.

Tyler Was Right… What Else is New.

Fight Club is a wonderful movie and an even more amazing book, but in this day and age no one reads… let alone this blog.  Our eyes are so burned to the retina from tv’s, cellphones, kindles, and computers that the printed page is a dying species.  But I am not here to write about the extinction of print today.  Today is about what I just slide into your psyche… materialism and the obsession for brand names to better our status in life.

“We are consumers. We’re the bi-products of a lifestyle obsession.” -Tyler Durden (Screenplay)

Behind the fighting, blood, sex, death and swearing Fight Club is a deep movie with a moral message that we could all live by to make the world just a bit friendlier.

Why in a time when they say the world is in a recession do more people than ever own mobile phones and a growing percentage of that a smartphone?  I remember as a child cable was a luxury and I can’t ever remember that a person I knew had a cellphone.  But yes this is a different age and a different society, but is it reality, luxuries are now necessities.

I am not preaching from a golden pulpit I am as guilty as the next man.  I have the smartphone, no scratch that, I am fooled into believing that I NEED the smartphone, yet I still continue to own one.  God forbid I miss that email, not even miss it, but don’t respond within a timeline that should not be expected of even your best mate.

When did our society feel that everyone needed an iPhone?

Why does the single mom trying to raise 3 kids on her own stand in front of  me at the grocery store have food stamps, but also has 3 children with iPhones.  Apple is not the only company that is guilty of consumer brainwashing, but they have a nice little corner so I will pick on them.

If the economy is so fractured how can society put pressures on the common consumer to have phones with 79.99 talk plans, 15.00 text plans and a 30.00 web plan.  Is the society in such a position to give up their homes but keep their phones?

Forget about phones, how about accessories.

How often was it that you saw Coach, Prada, Burberry and LV before the millennium?  And the Grammy Awards is not an acceptable answer.  Difference is that it is not superstars carrying around these bags the world now believes that a high school teen needs a handbag that costs as much as a laptop computer.

What happened to simpler times before push up bras were marketed to tweens?  Thanks for that Abercrombie.  When did sexualizing a 10-year-old become chic?  When money became an ends.  Abercrombie would not sell teenie push-up/padded bras if our society would not buy them.  Sure we can act aghast and disgusted, but they had market research done that said this item would sell and it has been pulled, but somewhere, some focus group said it was a great idea.

If our world was not so controlled by material needs we would live in a much more rich society, ethically and financially.

Before you buy your annual iPhone upgrade for $500.00 ask yourself if there is a charity you can help.  I am not asking you to donate $500.00 to a charity, why would anyone ever do that when you could have an iPhone.  But I am asking if you could spare a few bucks to help a less fortunate person.  Look on the web, everyone in need has a website, google “5-year old boy with brain cancer in England” Jack Marshall’s family could use a few bucks.  If you can’t donate the $500.00 how about just 5% of a big purchase.  If you can afford 500.00 you can sure ask heck afford $25 more to give to a very sick boy.  If you are not sure that it is actually going to a boy’s family how about donating to Haiti, Japan or Joplin disaster relief?  If donating out of your Country is not your piece of pie then just walk out the door of any 7/11 and there should be a hungry and worse-off-the-you gentleman in sight.  Grassroots charity at home is where it should start.  Concerned where the person may spend your 25 bucks?  I am to, so you can always ask what they would like in the McDonald’s across the street and buy them lunch.  I just wasted 200-words on charity didn’t I?

The need for more is killing our golden rule.  The little guy is being stepped on, and not just by “the Man” but we are fooling ourselves into thinking our Gucci shoes, CK pants, Nautica button up, jacket and Armani glasses make us high society.  News for you, when you cross the street and get hit by the bus that you didn’t hear coming because you iPod is blaring Lady Gaga your fresh wardrobe is not getting you through any Golden Gates, it will be the selfless gesture of handing a burger and pop to the starving, or the elderly lady that you helped with the groceries.

I could quote Luke 12:15, but I am not sure that the New Testament has been converted to the iPad just yet, so I will leave you with yet another line from the screenplay.

“It’s only after you’ve lost everything, that you’re free to do anything.”