Category Archives: Movies

Seven Dwarves Does a Week Make

Posted on July 10, 2013 | 3 comments

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Just for Fun!

I know. I usually post  Just for Fun! at the end of my blog, but I’ve been working on a new children’s book (which should tell you where my head is at the moment) and this little bit of whimsy just jumped right out at me. I hope you’ll bear with me.

As I sat at my computer early yesterday morning, it hit me that there just isn’t a definite feel to Tuesday. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday all have a luster about them that generates a feeling, a tingly I-know-what-day-this-is feeling even if there is no special event planned.  Monday has an almost palpable edge to it. I can feel it just thinking about it. And Friday is giddiness wrapped up in a big bow of relief.

I wanted to write something witty about Tuesday, something definable about the second day of the work week and I came up empty handed. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. What word would I use to describe Tuesday? Blah came to mind and then one thing led to another and I found myself with pen in hand (!) scribbling down the names of Snow White’s seven dwarves. Hmmm.

Anyway, here goes:

Grumpy = Monday. Definitely Monday. If I had a word-of-the-day calendar of my own, Monday’s word would always be “Arrggghh.” When I was working in an office, Monday was “catch-up” day, eight hours of catching up on all the things that should have been done on Friday–or the Friday before that.

Doc = Tuesday, the day to make decisions. Doc was the smart one of the dwarves, the one to whom they turned for advice. Having recovered from Monday, Tuesday is the day to get a handle on the week, the day to make a plan.

Dopey = Wednesday. I can’t tell you how many times I heard co-workers say, “This is hump day! I still have two more days to get that [fill in the blank] done!” Yep, Dopey.

Bashful = Thursday. This is the day to stutter and hide, to shuffle papers, to look busy, and to whisper about what’s been done or should be done or might be done by Friday.

Happy = Friday! Happy Friday, Happy Friday, Happy Friday! “Did you get your work done this week?” “Nope, but I’m happy. It’s Friday!”

Sneezy = Saturday, the day to spend time fishing or hiking or hunting for butterflies or whatever in the great outdoors. Ah, the great outdoors. I’m not allergic to anything and I don’t suffer from hay fever, but having free time on a weekend is nothing to sneeze at . . . no, wait. Outdoors, Sneezy, Saturday. It has to fit because there’s only one more day of the week and that has to be . . .

Sleepy = Sunday. This is the best day of the week to sleep late or nap in a hammock in the afternoon shade. Sunday’s are sleepy days for me, days to curl up with a book, to relax and snooze, and to think about the week ahead. Which leads me back to . . . “Arrggghh.”

Footnote

After the fact, I decided to do a quick search for other blogs, posts, or articles connecting dwarves with the days of the week. I knew there had to be something out there and lest someone point the finger of plagiarism, I wanted to be prepared. I found one blog post from November of last year. Click to read the post “Seven Days, Seven Dwarves.”

I also found a table of information at Ask.com. The names of Snow White’s Seven Dwarves have changed over the years but I stuck with the ones I knew from childhood, the 1937 Disney movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Apparently, in a 2001 version of Snow White, the days of the weeks replaced the names of the dwarves. Close, but no cigar.  The 2012 movie Snow White & the Huntsman not only changed the names of the dwarves but added an eighth, as did the television series, Once Upon a Time. (I’ll bet the writers are Beatles fans, as in “Eight Days a Week.“)

I hope you’re having a pleasant and productive Dopey and that I’ll see you on Bashful.

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World War Z: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Cave!

Posted on July 2, 2013 | Leave a comment

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If you read yesterday’s post, A Cave After My Own Heart, you know that one of the highlights of my visit with family this past weekend was the opportunity to explore the 109 year old Ocean Pond Clubhouse. It’s a beautiful place situated seemingly out in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by an alligator and snake infested swamp. Very picturesque. Now, imagine the creaking, creeping sounds generated by an old wood-frame house buffeted by wind and rain, all of the attendant shadows from dimmed lamps, animal skulls, and an intermittent moon layered over the after-images of a horror movie flickering on the insides of your eyelids. And not just any movie, a zombie movie! World War Z!

A sweet afternoon party–punctuated by fear and popcorn

I think I’ve mentioned before that my youngest daughter is a zombie freak. She is both terrified and fascinated by the idea of a zombie apocalypse. So, for her birthday, after the big reveal that we are actually going to Scotland rather than Tahiti in July, after the conferring on her the title of Lady of Glencoe by a tall, good-looking Scotsman in full kilted regalia, with sword and sash no less, we went to the movies to watch zombies take over the world. Once again–YIKES!

For once, I am very happy that the movie is, so far as I’ve read, nothing like the book. I’m only about a third of way through and I’ve yet to encounter the thread that ties to the movie beyond the fact that these are, indeed, very fast moving undead. Or walking dead. Or the reanimated. Call them what you will, they are extremely creepy, resourceful, and although not Walking-Dead-gory, scary as hell.

If you haven’t seen World War Z, I’ll try not to spoil it for you. Besides, if you’ve seen the movie trailer, you’ve pretty much seen the movie as there are very few remaining surprises. (Don’t you hate that?) I knew when to cover my eyes, when to look away from the screen, but for this movie, I wish I’d thought about ear plugs. During what could have been the goriest of scenes, the camera tended to focus away from the action, but the sound effects were explicitly clear, emphasizing the gnashing of teeth and the snap of the bite.

BOOM!

The first inkling of trouble comes with a boom off in the distance, sounding much like the M-80s the kids down the street from me have been setting off in anticipation of the upcoming holiday. The noise sets my dogs to barking and sends chills up my spine. I know, it was only a movie, but the aural sensation, even without the visual, is spectacularly jarring.

Back at Ocean Pond, in the big old house with a million windows and creaking wood floors, each sound exacerbated a sense of doom. Forget ghostly specters; forget crazed ax murders. That scraping noise, that clawing sound? That backfire out on the highway? That could only be one thing: they’re here! Zombies! Which makes my next present for my daughter a no-brainer (pun intended).

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Are you a movie fan? If so, take the poll and let me know what you think.

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A Different Kind of Day

Posted on June 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

Sunlight

It’s been a different kind of day for me today. As much as I’ve resisted the need, I went into town for the second time this week. My friend Mary and I have a standing Tuesday-like-clockwork lunch date which forces me to leave the comfy confines of my cave and venture out into the sunlight–or more accurately, the rain–one day a week, at least for the 90 minutes it takes me to drive into town, wolf down lunch, and zip home, stopping off for groceries or dog food if necessary.

 Yikes!

Today, though, was a shopping day (Yikes!) and as much as I dreaded doing it, I changed up my routine: Coffee, smoothie, email, internet news, and then (gulp), I got dressed and left the house. On a Thursday. At nine o’clock in the morning. Me out in the real world. (Did I say Yikes!?)

My daughter’s birthday is coming up soon and this year, I want to do something a little different. Like me, my daughter doesn’t like surprises, but it’s so much fun plotting and planning and keeping secrets. I usually buy her a book (or send her one for her Kindle); sometimes I visit and we go out to dinner or to a movie if there happens to be a good zombie thriller she wants to see. (I’m thinking World War Z but I won’t be with her opening weekend and I seriously doubt she’ll wait for me.)

 The Eyes Have It

This year will be different. I’ve recently discovered the joys (as opposed to the usual curses) of Photoshop Elements. It’s been trial and error, with a heavy emphasis on error, since I downloaded the program several months ago. I’m finally getting the hang of it, though, and I can proudly say that as of this afternoon, there is not a single photo in my picture files that hasn’t been tweaked in some small way. My kids might not think that’s such a good thing, but I happen to be very happy with the sparkling eyes and superimposed backdrops that I’ve learned how to create. So, my daughter is a getting a photo montage of her family–but only the eyes, black and white, of course, with black matting in black frames. Actually, it looks pretty cool.

Braes eyes

It was worth the trip out to the crafts store, the meandering around the aisles looking for exactly what I needed. It was actually almost fun shopping for a beach bag, towel, sun hat, and insulated drink cup to be raffled off with signed copies of my three novels at a cancer benefit next week. I made it home in record time, too, just before the afternoon storm rolled in with a timpani of thunder. And then I settled into my cave, ignored my email and the chime of my phone, and framed my prints. Present complete.

And I now have coffee. Did I mention I was out of coffee? If you want to know the truth, that’s the real reason I ventured out. But we’ll tell my daughter it was for her present. Shhh. Secrets.

Just for fun!

Leap of Faith

 

 

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Making a Good Thing Better

Posted on June 17, 2013 | 3 comments

Book

What is it with movie and television writers and producers that in the quest to satisfy some strange idea of what the audience wants, they feel compelled–if not justified–to change what is good–and sometimes great–to schlock?

I’m talking about books and movies and books made into movies or television series here. How does a book we love become something else entirely when adapted to the screen–both big and small?

When a story is massive (such as George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series), leaving out the details and changing the sequence of events, merging characters or killing them off altogether, sometimes makes sense. But only a little. Frankly, I’d much rather have 20 in-depth chapters of a series done well (in other words, a continuation of GOT) than 10 mutilated blood-drenched sex romps that have absolutely nothing to do with the original books from whence they came. I’m thinking of True Blood here, a ridiculous perversion of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels.

Harris’ stories are funny, inventive, and original. HBO’s version is anything but. Yet it persists, fulfilling some dark, bloody fantasy that seems to have little to do in the way of story-telling and makes much ado about nothing much besides blood and sex. Is this what we’ve come to in our society? The Red Wedding of GOT pretty much followed the storyline of the books.  But with TB, we just get the red without the satisfying story-telling accompaniment.

To my mind, if a book is good enough for someone to want to make a movie featuring it’s characters and story, why is it necessary to then chop it into little bloody bits and refashion it into something that is pretty much unrecognizable? Why change it? Why reconfigure it to fit a time frame that is unrealistic? If you want to do a book justice, give it the time it needs to unfold and develop. If you want to cut it down to size, at least keep the story true to the original. I’m not saying that every book should become a franchise of sequel after sequel, spreading the story thin to make more money. But if you take on the challenge of a seven book series, be realistic about what you’re tackling.

book on fire

Popular thinking, however, seems to be this: if a book has a good following, it can be made even better! Change the characters, add blood and frontal nudity, forget the plot, and voila! An even bigger audience! Why? It seems the message we are sending as an audience is that we won’t watch unless all our baser senses are titillated. And that bothers me. Life is light and dark, clothed and unclothed. I’m all for a balanced story. But tell the story as it is, warts and wars and all without second-guessing the author’s original intent. A good story is a good story. I say just leave it alone. Setting it on fire won’t make it better.

What do you think? Are we suckers for a cheap thrill or does the perversion of good stories bother you, too?

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Running Late–But Running

Posted on June 15, 2013 | 24 comments

I didn’t think there was anything that would keep me from finding my way to the back row of the Cineplex for today’s first showing of Man of Steel. I was ready! All I needed was one more cup of coffee and a quick shower and then Woo Hoo! Off to the movies.

The-Newsroom

I was wrong. I didn’t count on a power outage that lasted long enough to throw me off schedule (two hours!) or HBO’s rebroadcast of The Newsroom. (When the power finally came back on, I flipped on the TV just to make sure we weren’t in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and it was tuned to HBO.) Damn! Double Damn! There is someone I love more than a hunk in a cape and a tight fitting body suit–even with a stylized S. His name is Will McAvoy! Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say that I am enamored of Aaron Sorkin since he is the creator of The Newsroom and it’s inhabitants and I am intrigued with the entire cast to some degree but, nah, it’s McAvoy. I get sucked in every time!  

So, I made it to the 5:30 and walked out of the theater at dusk, more than a little perplexed.

 ALERT! ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

I’ll try not to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen Man of Steel. This is one of those movies you have to see for yourself. I will say that I am not a fan of the retelling. I love Superman: the epic, mythical story-line, the romance between Lois and Clark, even the silliness of a bumbling Clark Kent’s ability to hide his true identity behind a simple pair of horn-rimmed glasses. Unfortunately, those elements were missing. Actually, this felt more like Man of Steel III: The Big Reveal rather than the first, base story that gets the audience hooked on the characters and sets the stage for future chapters/movies. 

As you might expect, there are fights and fights and more fights and explosions and massive destruction. Overall, the movie seemed more an excuse to produce 3-D pyrotechnics than to tell a compelling story. I expected a climactic battle, but this was overkill, going on and on until I just wanted it to be over. Here’s the plot: Birth, battle, escape, rescue, rescue, battle, battle, battle, death, battle, rescue. Battle, battle, battle, kiss, battle to the death.  I kept waiting for the shocking twist that would make it worth so much destruction but nope. No twist. Well, there is one but not in a good way.

Man of steel 02

This poster is a pretty good representation of the movie: dark.

I love movies. I love good movies and I’ve been looking forward to seeing Man of Steel. The cast is a good one (Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Henry Cavill), the story doesn’t really need much tweaking, and the big scenes were just waiting to be shot in glorious, full-color 3-D. But the story’s still hanging out there somewhere, I can feel it, floating among the debris of Krypton, coalescing into something much more substantial. Maybe that was the plan. Get the battle scenes out of the way and then do a prequel. That seems to be the way to make movies nowadays.

Let me know what you think of Man of Steel. I’d love to hear from you.

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Man of Steel: Ultimate Cave Dweller?

Posted on June 12, 2013 | Leave a comment

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Superman played a big part in my childhood. My brothers and I watched in black and white and were enthralled no matter how many fake walls George Reeves smashed through to rescue Lois and Jimmy.  The effects were definitely low-tech, but the stories were exciting. Every kid in our neighborhood donned a safety pinned towel as a cape at one point or another (and some for a lot longer than might have been appropriate, but that’s another story). Despite being a girl and a writer at heart, Jimmy Olsen– in all his journalistic glory–held no fascination for me. Neither did Lois Lane. I wanted to be Superman, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and beat the crap out of the bad guys. Years later, I felt sad reading about Reeves’ suicide. I was shocked that Superman could die so tragically–and alone.

Christopher Reeve is Superman

Christopher Reeve took up the mantle next, in my world anyway. There were others before him, but it was the 1978 movie version that next caught my attention. Even way back then, it seemed strange to me that such a man would live on the periphery of society, alone, preferring his Fortress of Solitude to life in the big city. I understood it, I wanted one of those, but it still seemed odd. I guess I was sorting out my own Cave Dweller tendencies in an era when clubbing was the thing to do. 

A Man Apart

Superman seems to me the ultimate Cave Dweller, a man alone and apart from not only his own race but from the inhabitants of his adopted planet. Mark Dykeman in an article in Psychology (12/2/07) called him a “metaphorical introvert”:

Getting away from the physical world and getting closer to inner thoughts and feelings gives us strength. That kind of mental stimulation gives introverts our inner power and strength. It’s like tapping directly into the power of the sun. Superman was famous for having built a Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic, a place that only he could find and enter. Guests were generally not permitted in the Fortress. It was his place to unwind, relax, and get away from it all, kind of like a teenager’s bedroom, only much bigger and filled with even cooler stuff. Read more

Sound familiar? Maybe Ice Cave Dweller would be more accurate.

Tom Welling’s Superman in Smallville spent very little time with people despite having quite a few friends. Seems like every time I tuned in, he was out in the barn tinkering with this or that. I liked Welling’s Superman. He had all the earmarks of a truly great Cave Dweller: intelligent, crafty, fast-thinking, tough and compassionate–and alone. And I liked that we got to see his loving and supportive parents, an important but short-lived aspect in the earlier movies.

Superman 02

I’m anxious to see what this next incarnation of Superman will reveal about the cave dwelling tendencies of the coolest of super heroes. I’ve purposely not read much about it so that I’ll be pleasantly surprised–or not– when I go to see it this weekend.  Two more days and I’ll be slinking my way to the back row of the theater, armed with popcorn, Good n Plenty, and high hopes for a great movie.

Just for fun!

waiting for superpowers

 

It’s been my experience that the older you get, the better your powers of invisibility.  

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A Cave Dweller Goes to the Movies

Posted on June 7, 2013 | Leave a comment

It’s Friday and I’m thinking that at some point over the weekend, I’m going to go to a movie. (First showing, small popcorn, bottle of water, back row, exactly in the middle of the aisle.) Here’s my dilemma: I don’t know which movie to see. I was all psyched, ready for MAN OF STEEL, and then discovered that it doesn’t open until 6/14. Bummer!

So, what are my other choices?

THE PURGE opens this weekend. My only reaction to the trailers I’ve seen lately is YIKES! The premise sounds intriguing and I like Ethan Hawke and love Lena Headey but having survived the Red Wedding last Sunday night, I don’t think I have it in me to sit through another blood bath. Click here for a  link to the NYTimes review in case you’re interested. 

How about AFTER EARTH? I guess I have been living under a rock because I was surprised to learn this morning that M. Night Shyamalan directed this one. I liked Signs and The Sixth Sense but I don’t know about this one. Here’s a review from Wicked Local (Plymouth).

And then there’s FAST AND FURIOUS 6. I can’t decide if it’s a viable choice or if I’ve seen enough of The Rock and Vin Diesel–even as buddies working on the same side. I might have to wait for this one to come out on DVD. The reviews I’ve seen don’t look too promising. Here’s one from JoBlo.

Star Trek: Into Darkness: Seen it. Iron Man 3: Seen it. I liked both of them but I have to admit to being more a Trekkie than a Stark fan. (Well, except for the Starks of Winterfell but that’s another story!)

Maybe I’ll wait for MAN OF STEEL after all. Besides, the finale of GAME OF THRONES is on Sunday night and that might just be enough excitement for me for one weekend.

Help me decide. Take the poll and let me know which movie you’d like to see this weekend.

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