Days of The Week (Films Watched January 14 – 20)

 

A somewhat slower week thanks to a brutal workload at the office – likewise the reason why things quieted down around this space. Life should be getting back to normal now, so expect more entries in the near future from your humble narrator.

This week brought about two interesting instances in my habit.

The first was finally tossing on a movie I’ve been meaning to see forever. LONE STAR has been on my ‘to-see’ list since I first made one with pen and paper back in 1998. It’s weird how that happens, isn’t it? How we can say to ourselves “I wanna see that”, and yet never make a conscious effort to track it down and toss it on?

Why are we like that, I wonder? Why do we want to do things but never actually make the effort to do them? Is it just “easier”. For every Blind Spot selection I’ve patted myself on the back for over the years, there are five or six LONE STAR’s…still waiting to be watched.

At least I can say I enjoyed it.

The other interesting instance was a first-time watch of HOWARD THE DUCK. I’ve gone most of my life knowing that this film was supposed to be spectacularly bad. Over the years it had turned into this cult touchstone (hear that buzz in the room at the end of GUARDIANS?), but never was it supposed to be any sort of misunderstood gem.

Watching it this week at long last, I found myself wondering if it was a matter of branding. This movie being packaged up as big, glossy, mainstream entertainment. It was supposed to be a big 80’s summer hit like GHOSTBUSTERS or BACK TO THE FUTURE. There were tee-shirts ready to go, toys, posters, fast food tie-in’s, the whole nine yards. You gotta believe that none of the marketing folks ever saw the script.

The film is bad, yes, but it’s not the abomination that many would have you believe. In fact, if it was shown during some sort of cult screening series, I’d probably have a blast. If anything, it’s more weird than bad…especially for Jefferey Jones’ character in the late-going. To be clear, I had fun with it, though I don’t want to see more Howard at the movies.

It’s funny that way, isn’t it? As much as we’re affected by quality, we’re affected by packaging and branding. We don’t react to whats inside the box, but instead get seduced by the pretty paper it’s wrapped in.

 

Here’s the week at hand…

 

Screenings
20TH CENTURY WOMEN – More on this tomorrow, but suffice it to say, I’ll be listening to a lot of Talking Heads over the next few weeks.

 

Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
LONE STAR – Far less McConaughey than I’d guessed there’d be.
THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK – Stunning and deeply moving, even when one knows the ending.
HOWARD THE DUCK – “Fuck a duck” suddenly has a whole different meaning.

 

Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Seen Before
THE MALTESE FALCON – I need to get back to San Francisco sometime soon.
NETWORK – Why do I get the feeling this story is about to take on a whole new context?
GHOSTBUSTERS (2016) – Still count myself a fan of this film, but find it spectacularly strange that its 3-D effects spill over the masking on the blu-ray.

 

Boxscore for The Year
12 First-Timers, 8 Re-Watched
3 Screenings
13 Movies in Total

How’s about you – seen anything good?