I: I Want to Believe (Movie Two)

Reasons why I think people didn't really fall for this movie:
1] They wanted answers about the end of the series. This movie did not provide answers about anything concerning the ending of the series or the MythArc at all. They forgot that this movie was going to be a stand alone movie from the very beginning.
2] Um...I here there was this other movie that came out around that time...it was some sort of Action Adventure movie...OK, fine, I watched "The Dark Knight Rises" opening night at midnight and then again about 2 weeks later. I watched this movie on opening day, but only once in the theatre.
3] It was billed as a Summer Blockbuster and some people who went to see it (people who were not die-hard X-Philes) wanted more big effects, more CGI, more guns, more tanks, more blood...
4] It was a summer movie full of plot and theme and thinking and snow for Pete-sakes!

or, they were like my friend, who said after we got up and were heading out the theatre

5] "Seeing David Duchovny was nice, seeing Mulder with Scully was nice, but what the heck was the rest of that? It was just too disturbing and creepy. Maybe they'll do aliens next time."

Why I love this movie:
1] It's a MOTW episode and, well, those are my favorite! While it has elements of the supernatural it also has the worse kind of monster of all: the monster that could actually exist in society.
2] It reminds me of the first few seasons of the show when I didn't want to watch episodes alone and I jumped out of my seat with terror a lot of the time. There were few happy endings and things were rarely tied up in a neat little bow, and it was creepy as heck!
3] It talks about our inability, but desire, to understand science and faith and know when they intertwine into one. We want to have both together at the same time, most think that we cannot.
4] The ending after the credits. *adorbs*

or, as Roger Ebert, God rest his soul, said so long ago:

5] "The movie is insidious. It involves evil on not one level but two. The evildoers, it must be said, are singularly inept; they receive bills for medical supplies under their own names, and surely there must be more efficient ways to abduct victims and purchase animal tranquilizers. But what they're up to is so creepy, and the snow-covered Virginia landscapes so haunting, and the wrong-headedness of Scully so frustrating, and the FBI bureaucracy so stupid, and Mulder so brave, that the movie works like thrillers used to work, before they were required to contain villains the size of buildings."

I think I need to get the book.

F: Fight the Future (movie one)

71 Thoughts While Watching "X-Files: Fight the Future"

1. The black oil, coupled with the theme song revamp makes cold chills run up my spine
2. North Texas 3500 bc...what!? What an amazing intro!
3. How many children (people under 18) are killed or maimed or become killers in the X-Files?
4. Ok, so watching the show all the way through up to this point and then hearing Bronschweig talk about the ‘impossible scenario’ just shows me how brilliant Chris Carter is
5. 13 minutes in *boom* and with a gray t-shirt no less…
6. ‘I had you big time.’ ‘You had nothing.’ *cute*
7. 555.0113
8. I didn’t realize that the movie was made before season 5...it explains why they look so darned good during season 5...well, when they’re actually in an episode during season 5.
9. How many people sacrifice their lives to maintain the secret? Why do they do it?
10. I remember when they showed the making of this scene during an X-files movie preview...fun stunt. *understatement*
11. Sunflower seeds
12. Mulder drinks!?
13. "I'm the key figure in an ongoing government charade, the plot to conceal the truth about the existence of extraterrestrials. It's a global conspiracy, actually, with key players in the highest levels of power, that reaches down into the lives of every man, woman, and child on this planet, so, of course, no one believes me. I'm an annoyance to my superiors, a joke to my peers. They call me Spooky. Spooky Mulder, whose sister was abducted by aliens when he was just a kid and who now chases after little green men with a badge and a gun, shouting to the heavens or to anyone who will listen that the fix is in, that the sky is falling and when it hits it's gonna be the shit-storm of all time."
14. Can anyone but David Duchovny deliver lines like ‘You know, one is the loneliest number?’ Probably not.
15. Peeing on ‘Independence Day’. Lolol.
16. I like that Mulder would go from the city to Georgetown to wake up Scully in the middle of the night and she is questioning, but not upset or surprised
17. Did this movie come out before or after I’d been to DC for the first time?
18. That Mulder has balls.
19. I learned so much science from this movie. ‘I’m saying it wasn’t the Henta Virus’...goes to look up the henta virus…
20. ‘The systematic release of a ...’ Honestly isn’t this the darned scariest thing and then you add the alien war
21. What was the time table? Something 2012?
22. And, then the cellphone rings...what!? Silent...if only they’d had texting. lol.
23. That Scully, she saves the day loads of times...I love the look on his face when she walks through the door.
24. That alien is SCARY why is it so scary as a baby...and then turn into the adorable grey alien (see episode in season 6 or 7)
25. ‘A new extraterrestial biological entity’...’Spontaneous re-population’ ‘That we are nothing, but digestives for...’ ew.
26. ‘Kill Mulder and we take the risk of turning one man’s quest into a crusade.’
27. I miss Oldsmobile...well the Intrigue...anyway.
28. ‘Five years together and how many times have I been wrong *pause* never *incredulous look* not driving anyway.’ ha!
29. ‘Giant jiffy pop poppers’...in ‘98 all people got this...now...who get’s this?
30. Oh, and their cellphones are really out of date too, are those Nokias?
31. Watching this movie makes me want to write papers or grade papers
32. I want Scully’s pant suit
33. Oh, and that skirt suit she was wearing at the beginning of the movie
34. David Duchovny has the best lips ever
35. Salt Lake City, Utah...what!?
36. Sexiest non-kissing scene EVA! ‘You saved me...You’ve kept me honest. You’ve made me a whole person...I owe you everything and Scully, you owe me nothing’ kiss dammit. i say this everytime and everytime...there’s a damned bee.
37. What are David Duchovny’s arm muscles doing? What are they doing?
38. So weird to see him run into his apartment to call someone for help…cellphones...
39. ‘Hey, I know you...’ face
40. Love the leather jacket
41. ‘it’s the Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, Toto...’
42. ‘Strip Byers naked.’
43. The Well-Manicured Man is so…precise
44. Why introduce Kurtzweil to kill him...how many are there?
45. Ok, so there’s this big alien people field instead of an alien spaceship...does the vaccine save them all?
46. What is it with sliding down long slippery places?
47. Nice boots
48. Was that his gun or his cellphone?
49. "The Matrix" totally copied this whole scene
50. He gets to kiss her after all
51. Gee whiz those aliens are effing scary and there’s a whole green room of them
52. I like that they don’t forget what they say to one another and bring it back at weird moments, but is that real?
53. Ohhhh the alien hand and sharp claws and...gah, the suspense!
54. Gosh, Scully always misses all the good parts...that alien spaceship is amazing
55. I love that he gave her his nice warm coat...she still has to be pretty darned cold though
56. ‘Scully, you gotta see this.’ um, I can’t I’m too busy freezing to death and did I mention the fact that I had one of those in me...inside of me...what!?
57. ...and, then she hugs him and it’s cold, but she’s the protector
58. What if aliens are real?
59. Why isn’t Horseface in this movie? I don’t even remember missing that fact until now.
60. Hello Blythe Danner.
61. ‘...bees and corn crops...’
62. Let’s leave Texas...just business as usual for The Syndicate
63. ‘I don’t believe the FBI has an investigative unit qualified to pursue the evidence in hand.’ I love when Scully gets mad and uses her facts to throw things in the face of others. Suck it, Trebek.
64. What is OPR?
65. ‘Not unless your story can be programmed, categorized or easily referenced.’
66. Mulder mad is sexy...oh that voice, that hair...his eyes, and then there’s the hand holding *sigh*
67. ‘If I quit now, they win.’ this is also what I say to get through teaching…
68. Texas, Tunisia same diff
69. ‘He is but one man. One man alone cannot fight the future.’
70. Is Scully the reason why the X-files were reopened? She is such a bad ass. FULL STOP.
71. I love the soundtrack to this movie. I used to clean my apt. to it all the time.

Man of Steel: The Good, The Not-So Good and The...oh my gosh Henry Cavill is H-O-T!

I love Superman. I could watch and read about him for days. I love him as a superhero, I love him as an allegorical representation of American values and of globalization. I love him as a semiotic interpretation of what it means to be American (more on that here). He is the ultimate hero. I think that it is because of this love, not in-spite of it, that the latest incarnation of this hero leaves me wanting and yearning for a Superman who may not want to be the embodiment of a culture and who may not be the man I thought he was. I'm not sure I can exactly explain why Man of Steel doesn't have me doing cartwheels naked in the rain, but I'll try below.

Here is the requisite spoiler alert...of course, there are going to be spoilers. If you've never seen a Superman movie or watched "Smallville" or "Lois and Clark" or a Star Wars movie, or the Matrix trilogy, you might want to avert your eyes.

The Good

1. It's Superman, how could it not be good. There are so many touching human scenes (mostly told in flashback, my favorite device) to tell us the story of Superman and, if you think you know the story think again because some aspects have been turned on their heads in surprising mostly not unpleasant ways.
2. It would seem that everyone knows who Superman really is, as he's been traveling the world under assumed names, which I found interesting to see played out in the movie.
3. Lois Lane is not a girly girl, although she looks like one. Because she figures out who Superman is early on, we get to see all the mushy romantic stuff and it doesn't get kissed away at the end.
4. I love that there's so much time devoted to Krypton and Krypton is marvelous. There's some sort of flying dragon creature and tall dark buildings and pod babies (think The Matrix, not Pod people). Russell Crowe rocks as Jor-El (and, he better as we get to see a lot of him throughout the movie--another pleasant surprise) and I like the Lara is a fleshed out character who doesn't just wilt into the snowy white background.
5. General Zod isn't just a villain he's a terrorist. And, like most terrorist he's literally been programmed to keep Krypton and his way of life safe by any means necessary. Wow, that's powerful to watch.

The Not-So Good

1. I am tired, literally, of fight scenes that last so long that I forget who's fighting and why; I forget what I'm watching. There is a fight scene at the end of this movie that makes those long scenes in The Matrix: Reloaded and Revolutions seem short and kind of wimpy). Where are all the people? Aren't Superman and General Zod killing half of Metropolis as they throw each other into the sky to come crashing down on cars and lamp poles? Isn't Metropolis smashed into the ground, as they use each other to knock down entire buildings and turn whole entire city blocks into burning piles of debris? It feels like the filmmakers thought we'd just forget that. I can't, as that's some epic destruction that will take years to rebuild. That's a lot of trauma to the innocent lives of people we see scurrying away from the ruble and the flames.
2. Call me a purist, but I really don't like Jonathan Kent in this movie. To clarify or muddy the waters, whatever, I totally like the way Kevin Costner plays Jonathan Kent, but his stubborn, Jesus-like sacrifice is a bit much.
3. Where's my funny witty dialogue via Lois and Clark banter?
4. Where's my NERDY Clark!? He was on screen for about 10 seconds...instead we get Rugged Frontier Clark for about half the movie. Rugged? Clark? Even shirtless, I didn't really like it.
   
5. Ok, so I'm only well-schooled in certain aspects of Superman lore and mythology, but isn't he not supposed to kill anyone? I do not like that he snaps the neck of General Zod to save that family. I understand that Zod didn't give him a choice, I understand that Zod couldn't go on living if his plan didn't work, I understand that it would have been improbable if Zod had lived in the end but did Superman really HAVE TO SNAP HIS [INSERT YOUR CUSSWORD OF CHOICE] NECK!? I don't think so and that whole bit felt like it was on purpose as I think I was able to adjust to every part of this reboot, but that. It kind of reminded me of that part in Star Wars Episode III...I spent most of I and II wondering how they were going to make Anakin evil enough that he'd go to the dark side and when he kills that group of little adorable Jedi padawans it broke my heart in a way that I've yet to recover. I'm having that same feeling now. And, while he feels remorse and cries into Lois' waiting arms he friggin' SNAPPED HIS NECK! Ohhhh, the humanity.

The...oh my gosh Henry Cavill is H-O-T
I'm sorry I only gave him a slight nod when seeing him in Stardust a few years back. Perfect Superman...the proof is below.

and, finally...

The Elephant in the Room
I really, really like Superman Returns. I suppose I like it because it helps me to forget those awful movies after Superman II and it reminisces a bygone era and pays homage to the late and perfectly great Christopher Reeves and his 'Superman Saga'...I don't understand how people think this is a bad thing.

In conclusion to this long Superman ramble...
Will I watch it again? Yes (maybe in the theatres, since my husband didn't go see it with me). Will I own it on Blu-Ray the second it comes out? Of course. Will I watch the next one, although I have no idea where they're going to go after this? Most definitely, and in the theatres. Will I learn to gush and love it as much as other people seem to do? I dunno, ask me tomorrow, right now I'm busy watching Superman and Superman II, after that I may watch ...Returns, you know, for closer.

My Take on The Trilogy Meter

So, I saw the original Trilogy Meter on FB and decided to create my own. This guy beat me to it and even has a template so EVERYONE can do it! My Trilogy Meter is below. Below the meter are some explanations if you are so inclined.

Of Note

1. Dan Meth, owner of the original, understands that some of the trilogies on the meter went way longer than 3 movies, but none of them were supposed to do so.
2. My meter, like all the meters before it, is based solely on enjoyment factor. My initial enjoyment factor and my enjoyment in relation to the movies in its given trilogy. It is in no way a science...at. all.
3. In keeping with the comments at ATOMIC DONKEY, my Star Trek trilogy is The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home.

Star Wars If I were going to put all six in order it would be: The Empire Strikes Back, A New Hope, Return of the Jedi, Attack of the Clones, Phantom Menace, Revenge of the Sith.

Indiana Jones All four in order...Raider's of the Lost Ark, The Last Crusade, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, every episode of Young Indy and then The Temple of Doom.

The Matrix...why yes, no matter how cool, a fight scene CAN be too long...the first one still blows my mind.

Star Trek All 12 in order...here we go! Search for Spock, Wrath of Khan, Insurrection, First Contact, Into Darkness, Star Trek, Generations, Voyage Home, The Final Frontier, The Motion Picture, Nemesis, The Undiscovered Country (of course, ask me tomorrow and I may change my mind!).

Superman I, II, Superman Returns, The Quest for Peace, III...I'm looking forward to the new one. Although, I guess I'm one of a handful of people who liked Brandon Routh and what they did with that film. Actually I love that film.

Jurassic Park I, III, The Lost World and then Godzilla with Matthew Broderick, oh wait, that wasn't part of this series...oops. I am looking forward to IV.

X-Men X-Men, First Class, Wolverine (mostly because of Ryan Reynolds), every animated movie and I don't even want to put Last Stand on here, but, well, it's last. Looking forward to the next movie as I love, love, love the X-Men.

Spiderman Pretty much in order...haven't seen the latest one, as even Topher Grace couldn't help me over that last one, let's not even call them by name. Um, the most perfect kiss in the first one was ruined in the end. Ugh.

LoTR In order...that last one was so long. I'm loving The Hobbit and I thank the Heavens that I've read the book again and am ready for the next 2 1/2 hr. roller coaster ride.

Mad Max I love this trilogy and I created my uncle for that. What is this...dystopic? post-apocalyptic? Whatever it is...it's a wild ride for sure! And, where is that Mel Gibson, can we have him back please?

Jaws When you make a perfect first movie, it's so hard to match it, and, well Jaws is so darned perfect.

Back to the Future "Nobody calls me chicken!"...fun the first time, not so fun by the end. I love, love, love the first movie. We saw it in the theatre.

Die Hard Love the first two, love Live Free or Die Hard...I think that means there are a couple in there that I do not love, love, but I still take them over many action movies nowadays.

Blade One of the few comic book movies that I knew nothing about going in. Love the first one, and I can watch the third one over and over...probably because of Ryan Reynolds. Hey, it isn't a problem if you admit it.

Planet of the Apes The latest one was pretty scary and the first one blew my mind...so I can watch all others.

Godfather I love it when Comedy Central plays these movies in timeline order. I love one and two together (they're like the book then)...what happened to three? Um, could it be the ending? Probably.

Rocky Um, three and four kind of killed me, or maybe they kill me now and a long time ago I liked them...there is that scene in the snow in the 4th one and the last one Rocky Balboa was kind of bittersweet.

Terminator Love them all, will watch them all in the theatre...well, as long as they keep making them.

Rambo Wow, Sly Stallone can really kick some butt, except for in that last one that felt like an Arnie movie...something that would have been just fine, had it been an Arnie movie...alas and anon.

Batman I assume this meter is for the 80s/90s Batman movies as the original Trilogy meter came out in 2009. Although I like the Christian Bale Batman best, a lot can be said for the campy Batman of my youth. Batmans in order: Christian Bale, Michael Keaton, Adam West, George Clooney and Val Kilmer...am I missing one? Chris O'Donnell as Robin...yes, please! Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the next Batman...or as Robin or whatever...yes, please!

Alien We won't talk about those Alien versus...movies...instead let's focus on how much the first two scared the heck right out of me and alien movies have been trying to do that ever since.




Thanks for geeking out with me. Feel free to link your Trilogy Meter below. I'd love to see it.

Star Trek: Into Darkness...I'm rather fond of the colon

SPOILERS of everything Star Trek abound below!!!

A little history into my life as a Trekkie of the mild variety (no, I don't find the word 'trekkie' offensive and neither should you!)
I remember watching "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" at the drive-in at Ava, Missouri. I was six and my mother, uncles, aunts and the three of us piled into a couple cars to head out. I remember sitting in the hatch-back and looking up at the guy from "Fantasy Island". Surprisingly, I didn't notice how much of Ricardo's muscled chest we get to see (I'm not sure I like his warrior look!). We are a SciFi family and I remember watching "Star Trek" reruns after school. I remember loving Captain Pike played by Jeffrey Hunter. I love the Q and the Borg. I don't even know what ST movie is my favorite as I can talk about one and think it's the answer ("Insurrection" comes to mind) and then see one of my favorite scenes from another (the last 20 minutes of "Wrath of Khan" are so powerful) and waffle buckling under the pressure of a clever turn of phrase or plot line. I used to have ST: TNG stickers from cereal boxes stuck to my closet door. I love Commander Riker. I wanted hair like Troy. When I first went to Las Vegas I had to ride the "Star Trek Experience" at the Hilton. I bought gold-pressed Latinum chocolate bars. Um, I want to make an original Star Trek girl uniform out of a t-shirt. I want a phaser. I will watch every ST movie in the theatre. When she is old enough, I will start bringing my kiddo along.

OK, so now we've got that out of the way...whew...I'd like to talk about this latest reason to watch Benedict Cumberbatch...er I mean the latest Star Trek movie. We watched Into Darkness for my birthday, thank-you husband for the lovely present and thanks friends for the lovely day of used bookstore shopping and awesome dinnertime fun after the movie.

Spock versus Spock, Or How I Stopped Gasping and Learned to Love the Melding of Timelines
Going into the 2009 ST I wondered how Abrams was going to pull off rebooting the story while keeping the franchise intact. Literally the whole audience cheered when Leonard Nemoy appeared and I began to understand that making a 'what-if' timeline allowed everyone to have the best of both worlds. AND...there are two perfectly multifaceted Spocks...yes, the best darned reason of all! I don't think I need to mention that new timeline Spock dates a black girl (don't think I didn't notice that one)...actually, that little argument as they headed to Kronos seemed a little too familiar. Hmmm...It's nice to think I'm married to Spock. Seriously, "The Wrath of Khan" and "The Search for Spock" made me cry buckets and still would if I let them. I love that we get the bitter (so many death scenes) with the sweet in this timelines. I do wonder, though, who else are they going to bring back and what does that mean for both timelines and while my husband says that things go downhill when you add alternate universes and people coming back from the dead JJ Abrams, cinema god that he is, makes it all work so beautifully. I also love the humor that we see in these films. And, if you want to see the dueling Spocks check this out. Thank-you lovely Barkers for showing it to us the other evening.

Khhhhaaaaannn!
Holy wow! so my friends and I all hung out the other day so I could watch "The Wrath of Khan" with "Into Darkness" in my mind and my friends could watch "Khan" for the first time--I know, I know, I'm such a bad friend--I didn't know they'd never seen it. Ricardo Montalban's Khan seemed a wee bit one-sided...you killed my wife blah, blah, blah, revenge, blah, blah, blah, the more I suffer the more you suffer blah, blah, blah. I never felt any type of positive feeling for him. I was never on his side and I never wanted him to win to prove a point. Benedict Cumberbatch, however, plays Khan with so many facets that at one point I thought that we were going to be joining sides and I was thinking about how amazingly fun it would be on the Enterprise with Khan as we fought the Borg (pre-Hugh, of course) or tongue-twisted with Q. I was beginning to like him, and I didn't care that he killed Marcus and I was sad that he was so upset at being reanimated (or, whatever it is that you do when you unthaw someone whose been cryogenically frozen). Poor Khan. I'm glad that Spock got to beat the dickens out of him. I'm glad he isn't dead in the end.

Oh my gosh, that ending! *SPOILERS*
So, we've already talked about the timelines, but let's talk about what that means. It means that really nerdy/geeky Trek fans can compare the bifurcations against one another. And, it's in these branches that we see what great care Abrams and crew have taken to preserve the Roddenberry universe while creating a new universe. I love watching these movies taking what I know from the previous movies and seeing where things are going to change and what that means for the rest of the storyline. Throughout we are reminded of the "Kobayashi Maru"; we are reminded that every choice, even the right one has consequences. I can't wait to see what refreezing Khan and using his blood to save Kirk does to this new universe.

Favorite Quotes
"I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I only know what I can do."

"Attention John Harrison. This is Captain Hikaru Sulu of the USS Enterprise. A shuttle of highly trained officers is on its way to your location. If you do not surrender to them immediately, I will unleash the entire payload of advanced long-range torpedoes currently lock on to your location. You have two minutes to confirm your compliance. Refusal to do so will result in your obliteration. And, if you test me, you will fail."

"Tell me, are you feeling homicidal, power mad, despotic?"

And, because I have a friend from Iowa and I need more ways to tease her about her Iowegianess
"Are you out of your corn fed mind?"

To wrap up: love the reboot, love that we've got Star Trek with TNG wittiness, I may be in love with JJ Abrams, love Spock, more Uhura/Spock liplocking please, can't wait for the next one.

Oh, and I really want to see it again...any takers?

Infinite Jest #7: Metropolis, The Dark Knight Rises and Infinite Jest

Think of these Sunday posts as jumping off places...discuss what I've posted, post something yourself, answer questions, ask questions, add links...do whatever it takes to make this experience enjoyable and understandable for you!

These post will be CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS for the reading for that week (Just in case you didn't already know that!). I think knowing this will stop those of us that aren't at a certain place from reading on and will enable those of us who are writing to do so without worrying if someone knows that fact or not. If you are reading ahead and want to post about the pages ahead please wait and if you want to talk about other books, not Infinite Jest and are giving spoilers please indicate that in some fashion...even a *spoiler* before the comment would be nice.

And, finally, if there is anything I can do to make this run more smoothly please don't hesitate to message me on here, on twitter or on Goodreads and I'll see what I can do.

Let's begin the discussion...
Ok, so last weekend was our 3rd year anniversary and in true Gen X meets Millennial fashion we celebrated with a movie, but not just any movie though...we celebrated with The Dark Knight Rises. Without giving anything away, hopefully, I got a little misty-eyed at the ending. OK, actually, I may have had real tears. Then I had to research the whole lot and in doing so I stumbled upon an interesting sub-point. Although Nolan claims no political affiliation, many believe that this movie has a fascist agenda. Heck, many believe that all comic book tales lean toward fascism. From The Dark Knight Rises is a Pro-Fascist Movie:

A note for clarity: I’m going to be using the words fascism and fascist a lot in this review. Since, as Orwell warned us, those terms have come to be used as synonyms for “stuff I don’t like”, I should pin down the sense in which I use them here. Fascism is a political ideology fixated on authoritarianism, militaristic imagery and action, and the use of authoritarian force against internal and external Others who are defined as threats to the continued existence of society. Fixations on nationalism and national or racial purity and unity are also common. Fascism is a phenomenon of the political right, and has always been fanatically anti-communist, communism being what happens when the political left gets equally douchey. 

That said, there has always been an intrinsically fascist subtext to all superhero mythology. These stories, which I have grown up on and still love, are predicated on creating a situation of such exaggerated threat that fascist solutions, i.e. strongmen acting outside due process to restore order by violent force, become not only plausible but desirable. To put it another way, citizens of Metropolis might be uncomfortable with having a nearly-omnipotent alien living in their city, answerable to no authority but himself, but when a week can’t go by without a giant robot trying to level the city, you’ll accept the alien as preferable to the robots.

I read the whole article and thought about it and wanted to talk about it, but couldn't. If you read the whole article be warned that it contains MAJOR spoilers for the movie. I watched it again with a friend a couple of days later and had the same reaction (only this time I was anticipating the ending). We talked about whether it was fascist or not. I'm still on the fence, she says 'No.'. And, there was still something at the back of my mind, right out of sight, but I knew it existed.

I started thinking about Metropolis (from Wikipedia):

Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist science-fiction film directed by Fritz Lang. The film was written by Lang and his wife Thea Von Harbou, and starred Brigitte Helm, Gustav Fröhlich, Alfred Abel and Rudolf Klein-Rogge. A silent film, it was produced in the Babelsberg Studios by UFA. 

Made in Germany during the Weimar Period, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia, and follows the attempts of Freder, the son of a wealthy intellectual, and Maria, whose background is not fully explained in the film, to overcome the vast gulf separating the classist nature of their city.Metropolis was filmed in 1925, at a cost of approximately four million Reichsmarks.^[2] The film was met with a mixed response upon its initial release, with many critics praising its technical achievements while deriding its simplistic and naïve storyline. Due both to its long running-time and footage censors found questionable, Metropolis was cut substantially after its German premiere; large portions of the film were lost over the subsequent decades.

So, finally, this morning I googled 'Dark Knight Rises and Metropolis'...who knew?

How Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' Inspired Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight Rises'
The Dark Knight Rises, A Tale of Two Cities, and Fritz Lang?

And, this post from the LiveBlog has tied it all together.

Blue

And, the connections just keep on coming...

What would DFW think about all that?!

House-keeping:
1] Many of you have messaged me about needing time to catch up. Do I need to add another week onto our schedule? Do I need to exempt a Sunday convo day?

2] If you haven't signed up officially, please do so here.

3] Catch up on all of our IJ stuff and things here.
4] Come join in on the convo even if you haven't caught up with the reading. Just comment on the post for the weeks you have read. I miss the conversation.

Taking Chance

I'm not one for war movies, I'm not one for propaganda, I'm not one for political agendas or discussion of war as an anecdote, and yet this past Memorial Day I was compelled to watch in its entirety more than once (it was on various HBOs all day long) the HBO original movie Taking Chance. Taking Chance is a breath-taking look at an aspect of war we seldom think about, that of bringing our fallen soldiers home.

Chance Phelps died on Good Friday 2004 when his convoy came under attack and he continued firing to ensure the safety of those under his watch. He was 19 and not unlike any of the men and women I know, friends and former students who have been changed or have changed others by what they have experienced in the Middle East. I'm sure we all have personal stories of people who have gone to war as one person and come back as another and, I'm sure that we all have stories of people we know who didn't come back at all. This movie not only makes you think about those people (I will leave you to think about your stories and your people as I think of mine; one of which is about a boy who now has a bridge named after him and another is about a friend my mother had who died in Vietnam) it brings home the fact that those men and women and their stories do not just belong to you. There are several scenes at the end of the movie, such as an anecdote about Chance going out to defend his friends in nothing but a gun and shower shoes, a touching moment with his family as they are being given his personal effects and a montage of video clips, that show us who Chance Phelps was to those around him. The film, however, focuses on who Chance becomes to LtCol Michael Strobl, the man who volunteered to take him across country back to his family and it focuses on who Chance becomes to us, the people to whom he gave his last measure of devotion.

I bring this movie up and am writing about it (over a month after my initial viewing) because I was/am moved beyond measure. In a time where the media and political attitude go out of their way to treat our presence in the Middle East as nothing but fodder for debate and late night news ratings this movie brings home the fact that we are all (whether we are for or against our presence on foreign soil and no matter what we see as the reasons there) one country flying under the flag of the United States of America and when one of us dies, in the armed forces or as a civilian, we should all mourn the loss and celebrate the life of that person. We don't know how they have touched and will continue to touch us and shape us.

If only all movies could be this subtle and beautiful.

Read the essay that inspired the movie here.

Learn more about PFC Chance Phelps here. 

Like Fine Wine: 11 Men Who Only Got Better With Age

I found this list of 11 actresses who got better with age and had to post my own male equivalent. Note, it's not really that they got sexier (I mean Rob Lowe...sexy from day one, literally), it's that they've literally aged (physically and mentally...at least as far as I can tell) well. There's just something about a man with eye-wrinkles and adult confidence that's just nice. These lovely gents are not in any order.

Shia LaBeouf: Curled-headed and adorable in Even Stevens, confident hotness for recent blockbusters, and, yes, I've seen him with the long hair. It's just another phase in Shia's movement to adulthood. Still maturing that one.

Will Smith: OK, so we all thought he was cute during Fresh Prince of Bel-Air...weren't those 90s colors wild?...but, as a father and husband he's just become 'swoon' worthy.

George Clooney: There really is no comparison. Loved him as Falconer in Sisters, but when I think of distinguished actors the likes of Cary Grant and Paul Newman I always think of Mr. Clooney. Verve.

Patrick Demsey: I watched Grey's Anatomy for two years because of this guy. I truly loved his scrawny nerdy self in Can't Buy Me Love and In the Mood, but I absolutely adore him as a father in Enchanted and in real life and, really, what nice eyes and hair and smile.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: So, I remember one time he was on a late-night talk show barefoot, long faded jeans, v-necked t, cross-legged playing the guitar and I realized he was no longer cute little Tommy from 3rd Rock from the Sun...he was someone else all grown up and now that he's over 30...

Simon Baker: Pretty smile, lovely hair, Australian and manly eye-crinkles (you can read more about my love/admiration/swooning for him in this post)...nice to look at in his early years, but more than quite the dreamboat today, and there are some cute pictures online of he and his wife and sons that are just too sweet, and, then there's this interview...such manly and nice things to say.

Rob Lowe: Um, yeah...I love Rob Lowe...more now than I did in 1988, if that's at all possible (I did have about 5 posters of him on my wall, one was that iconic big one from St. Elmo's Fire). It might have something to do with Stories I Only Tell My Friends.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar: Remember Zach's rather large cell-phone? Well, I do, and I thought he was cool and hip. Gosselaar is still cool and hip, but without all that fidgety teen boy stuff. And, it's pretty cool that he can make fun of himself.

Jerry O'Connell: I didn't need to pick the pic of Jerry O'Connell from Stand By Me to show how much he's changed, from the mid 90s (think Sliders), there's even been a change in O'Connell's everything, although I think he may have always been this goofy and full of fun...which, frankly, is why I chose the 2nd picture...pumping gas in a Speedo...so funny, I almost didn't notice he was wearing...OK, I did. And, his kids are cute and his wedding pics are lovely and...

David Duchovny: I have spent the last 17 years loving myself some David Duchovny...in a speedo, wearing a tea-cup and only a tea-cup or being interviewed. He's so smart and pithy and...well, pretty. His lovely, sexy voice finally has a man face to go with it.

Robert Downey Jr.: I remember reading an interview with him in like some sort of teen magazine in the 80s, he seemed incredibly cocky...little did I know all the many reasons why. Look at this man now! And, boy can he sing!

Who do you think has improved with age?

M is for Movies

Facts about toddlers, preschoolers and the cinema.
Perfect Age: a little over 2 seems to work very well for us, although some parent websites says as late as 5, I have some friends who took their kid to the theatre when he was a little over 1...I'm not sure if I consider that brave, desperate or crazy.
When to watch: because we don't want to be rude parents, we always choose the first showing of the day...the earliest one...the one no teenager would ever go to...the one in which no dates will occur. I remember being 22 on a Friday night and parents would bring their kids to the movie. Heck, we were watching The Dark Knight at midnight and there was a baby...gar...I won't talk about the parenting skills, or lack thereof on that one, but honestly rudeness people, rudeness!
Preparation: Three adults per kid seems to work pretty well. Your kid can then go from lap to lap, snack to snack and you can situate it in such a way that 2 people are blocking the escape. Lila doesn't weigh enough to keep a seat down so I spent a lot of time pushing her back to the very back of the seat for balance and/or holding the seat down on the edge. We also watch some movies in the dark at home with surround sound.

What movies have we watched in the theatre?

We watched this in 3D.
She really liked the opening sequence with the castle.
"Mommy, did you see that? Wow!" I'll never forget it.

There's a whole cast song at the beginning and end that are just fabulous.
She now calls her tricycle her Lorax bike.

What kind of movies should you watch with your toddler?
Um, I'm only going by what I read on the interwebs and what I know to be true for my 2-year old girl. Take it for what you will. If there isn't action or music or dancing Lila gets bored and I mean crying, fussy "I want to go home now"...The Lorax is not as fast-paced as Beauty and the Beast...just so you know...

1] any movie you hype up (I can't tell you how many times we watched The Lorax trailer)
2] light-hearted movies
3] cartoons and singing over live-action
4] it seems that after 60 minutes...we're minutes away from total baby meltdown...thank goodness there was a song towards the end of The Lorax because Lila was getting bored.
5] know what scares your kiddo...I didn't think Lila Jane would like The Nightmare Before Christmas, but she really likes Sally and Jack and the music...it's kind of weird. This doesn't mean, I'm going to take her to Frankenweenie...dead pet that comes back to life like Frankenstein??? I don't think she'll like that at all!

What movies are Lila Jane's favorites?
Any with singing or animals of course! The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tangled, Aladdin, Puss in Boots (she doesn't really watch all of the last one, but she loves the kittens and the cat dancing at the G-litter Box and she loves Kitty Soft Paws, the other three she will sing to and we'll even do the actions sometimes!)

Article: Movies with Toddlers from What to Expect