Noted film producer Dino De Laurentiis has passed away.
In his honor, let’s look back at one of the high points of his career:
Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category
Obit watch.
Thursday, November 11th, 2010I’m a little disappointed…
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010..that “Linotype: The Film” isn’t scheduled for release until next year.
When it does come out on DVD, I want to do a double bill with it and “Helvetica
Note to myself.
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010You know, I really, really need to rent (or buy) This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Norts spews.
Monday, October 25th, 2010The Austin Aztek are leaving for Orlando, Florida.
Speaking strictly for myself, I have to say, “Who?”
Edited to add 2: Breaking! The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (stet) will not be playing in the AFL next year.
Speaking strictly for myself, I have to say, “The AFL? I thought they folded last year.”
Edited to add 3: The above led to a discussion with Lawrence about the various developmental leagues; for example, did the players actually have to pay to play in the developmental leagues? The Information Supercollider is unclear, but it did lead me to this.
The New United States Football League? Seriously, guys; the best you could come up with is to associate yourself with a legendary failure?
Bonus: The San Antonio Gunslingers.
And that’s not even the most bizarre Gunslingers story, but I’m leaving the footlocker one out, out of deference to the more sensitive members of my audience.
Edited to add 4: I was going to post a whine, “When are the 30 For 30 movies coming out on DVD?” but I checked the Google. It looks like the first 15 are coming out December 7th. And that’s wonderful, because the first 15 include “Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?“, Barry Levinson’s “The Band That Wouldn’t Die“, “The Legend of Jimmy the Greek“, and “Without Bias“. I don’t have cable, and iTunes seems to be pretty spotty about making the 30 For 30 films available, so this is relevant to my interests.
Amazon preorder link here
Short shameful confession.
Monday, October 11th, 2010I’m not a big fan of Pixar’s work. I admire their emphasis on story, but I just can’t stand to look at the animation. Everything seems to have the same texture – it looks like cheap Chinese plastic.
That said, Tam has a link to a nifty Disney film of the type you don’t see these days. It kind of makes me wonder what contemporary Army training films would look like if Pixar was doing them.
On the tenth day of the tenth month…
Sunday, October 10th, 2010…in this, the year of Our Lord 2010, it seems somehow fitting to embed this:
The idea of linking to “Powers of Ten” on October 10th isn’t original to me; as I recall, I got the idea from the great Laurence Simon (praise be unto him).
Do Androids dream of electric apps?
Thursday, September 9th, 2010As noted previously, I finally resolved the phone issue. (And AT&T can still die in a fire.)
The number one question I’ve been getting (replacing “Where did you get that shirt?” at the top of the charts) is: “How do you like your new phone?”
Answer: I like it just fine, but…below are some preliminary thoughts on Android (at least, as implemented on the EVO 4G; I do realize that some of these may be issues with the built-in apps, rather than the Android OS itself):
- It is disappointing to me that the alarm built into the EVO’s clock app can’t be set to play arbitrary sound files as alarms. (I fall into Ihnatko’s 2% who haven’t seen the movie yet, but I love the story behind “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien“.)
- Ditto that I can’t set an arbitrary sound file for text message notifications.
- It is also disappointing to me that there’s no basic Notepad type app provided with the EVO. I’m sure there’s probably 300+ on the Android marketplace, but I needed to make a shopping list this morning and didn’t have time to sort through all of them. Any tips?
- Integration between the built-in music player and the built-in navigation app is also a disappointment; the navigation app will pause the player to make route announcements, but you have to manually start the player up again, rather than it automatically resuming play.
- On the plus side, the sound is great; I can listen to podcasts in the car without having to hook into my (currently non-functional) stereo system.
- The on-screen keyboard is vastly better than using the keypad (even with T9) was on the T616, and somewhat better than the on-screen keyboard on the N800. However, I still have a lot of trouble hitting the correct key with my large-ish fingers.
- One of the drawbacks of purchasing an Android phone is synchronization with the MacBook. If I had purchased an iPhone, everything would be simple (or at least, simpler). But, no, I had to be different and resist peer pressure… At some point, I suspect I will end up ordering this. (Right now – and I do realize this is a phone controlled setting – the MacBook sees the phone as a USB disk drive with photos on it, and automatically opens iPhoto. I can browse the Android file system and copy files to or from it without problems.)
- Speaking of iPhoto, I’ve done almost nothing with the built-in camera yet. I need to work on that.
- The EVO’s calendar app has a noticeable lag; it takes a couple of seconds to switch to the current date when I bring it up.
- If there’s a way to sync the EVO’s calendar app with Google Calender, I haven’t found it, and there doesn’t seem to be a separate Google Calender app (like there is for Maps, Voice, Earth, etc.). Do I need to grab some other calender app off the Android Market? (Edited to add 9/10: Okay, I think I’ve figured this one out. You can sync the EVO app with Google Calender, it just isn’t quite as straightforward as I was looking for.)
- The EVO also seems to lag behind in changing screen orientation when I rotate the phone.
- I managed to get the Android SDK and the ADT plugin installed without problems on the MacBook, but the ADT plugin won’t install into Eclipse on Project e. It looks like there are some dependencies that Eclipse can’t resolve, but I can’t figure out what those are. I may have to blow away and reinstall Eclipse (which isn’t a major issue; I don’t have a bunch invested in Eclipse on Project e).
- I either need to dig out my old Java textbook, or see if I can find an updated edition cheap online.
- Speaking of textbooks, and having nothing to do with Android in particular, I just paid $180+ for a damn textbook
. This makes me mildly cranky.
- My old T616 in the case fit neatly into the magazine phone pocket of my 5.11 tactical pants. The EVO? Doesn’t fit. Dear 5.11 folks: maybe we could think about redesigning that pocket to fit smartphones? (I wear 5.11 tactical pants (or, as some people call them, “a Kaiser blade Internet pants“), not because I’m a mall ninja, but because they are the most comfortable and toughest pants I’ve found. Plus they make it really easy to carry all my stuff.)
- Battery life is…well, middling. I haven’t really tried optimizing power consumption, though, except for turning off WiFi and Bluetooth. (Hurrah for the EVO’s control panel that allows easy access to those settings.)
- There’s a few applications I’m looking for and would welcome advice on finding in the Android market. The first one is a good WiFi scanning utility; ideally, it would have the ability to log access points with GPS coordinates, note if the points are A, B, G, or N, note if they’re open or closed (and if they’re WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc.), and write all this data to a XML or KML file. It looks like there are several apps in the market that meet these criteria, but I’m not sure which ones are good.
The second app I’m looking for is a good vehicle management application. At a minimum, I’d like to be able to enter an odometer reading and number of gallons, and get a miles-per-gallon figure for that tank, as well as an average MPG for all tanks to date. It’d be spiffy if I could also enter a price per gallon, as well as other expenses (insurance, repairs, maintenance) and get a cost-per-mile figure as well. - I love the GPS Status app.
- I’ve played a little with the Amazon Kindle app; so far, I’m more impressed with it than I am with the refurbished Kindle I purchased earlier this year.
- The EVO’s screen is impressive. Much better than the N800’s. I haven’t done a side-by-side with an iPhone 4 yet, but I’m willing to bet it gives the iPhone a run for its money.
- The EVO’s video player can decode H.264 video! (I haven’t done anything with the camcorder app, so I don’t know what format it encodes video in.)
- Waiting for a sale on those 32GB microSD cards…
- Edited to add: There’s also no general file browser app on the EVO.
Again, I generally like the phone; most of these are just minor quibbles that I can probably solve one way or another.
It’s pronounced “eye-gor”.
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010Tropical Storm Igor forms in the Atlantic.
(Subject line hattip. Really, I had to do it.)
The Friends of Mr. Chan.
Monday, August 23rd, 2010I like Jackie Chan. I like Jackie Chan’s movies: well, most of the ones I’ve seen anyway.
But when I think of Jackie Chan as a tastemaker, I’m reminded of an interview I read with him a few years ago, in which he argued that a particular move was “good”, not for any objective aesthetic reason, but because it made a huge amount of money. (I want to say that was an NYT interview, but I can’t find it now.)
That was the first thing I thought of when I read this article about Mr. Chan and his history of failed endorsements: air conditioners that exploded, shampoo laced with carcinogens, a VCD company that collapsed due to fraud, educational computers that flopped, a failed cola…
Still, calling the man the “Asian Terry Bradshaw” seems a bit harsh. After all, he does have most of his own hair.
I feel guilty, oh so guilty…
Friday, July 23rd, 2010All the cool kids are doing it, so I thought I’d throw my chapeau into the washing machine. Hence, a list of my guilty pleasures:
- “Cops” and “America’s Most Wanted”. I actually find AMW to be a kind of a amazing show in the sheer perfection of the idea; put a show on the air that’s impossible to cancel. If Fox ever did try to cancel it (and they did, once. Once.) the howls of outrage from law enforcement would be heard from coast to coast. John Walsh is right at the border of getting on my last nerve, though (especially given his ignorance about guns) so I don’t want to spend a lot of time on the show.
“Cops”, on the other hand…well, I can’t explain the strange attraction of that show to me. I’d like to think it isn’t a “there but for the grace of God go I” sort of thing; no matter how low my social circumstances go, I don’t think you’ll ever catch me wearing a wife-beater and drinking a Bud Light after thumping some on my woman. It may be that there’s just a dark part of my soul that enjoys seeing stupid people in trouble.
- The music of the not-so-late C.W. McCall. Especially “Convoy” and “Wolf Creek Pass”. I have fond memories of riding around in our old Chevy Suburban with the 8-track tape player, listening to a Radio Shack tape of trucking songs that included “Wolf Creek Pass”, “Phantom 309”, and “The White Knight”. (Anyone else remember those last two? I’m probably dating myself. But then, no one else will.)
As for “Convoy”, let’s just say that I used to have a 45-RPM record of that song that I literally wore the grooves smooth on. Yes, it is on my iPod.
- The “Dirty Harry” movies. At least “Dirty Harry”, “Magnum Force”, and “Sudden Impact”. I’ll actually defend “Dirty Harry” as being a lot more subtle and sophisticated than people like Roger Ebert think. I don’t see it as a fascist film; I see it as a movie about a good man, struggling to do a job, and dealing with a new set of obstacles society has put in his way. Indeed, I think it could be argued that “Dirty Harry” is a modern remake of “High Noon”, right down to the last scene. (I’m pretty sure Harry throwing his badge into the water is a direct homage by Don Siegel.)
“Magnum Force” I’ll also defend as an answer to the critics who claimed Harry was a vigilante, and the people who said “So what? Maybe we need vigilantes these days.” I see “Magnum Force” as a movie that’s explicitly about the rule of law, and the need for same.
“Sudden Impact”…well, I really can’t defend that as anything but fun. “Smith…and Wesson…and me.” “Go ahead, make my day.” The dogshit speech. (Another shameful confession: I also have Clint Eastwood and T.G. Sheppard’s duet, “Make My Day”, on the iPod.)
I won’t defend “The Enforcer”, and I’ve heard so many bad things about “The Dead Pool” that I haven’t watched it yet.
On a lighter note…
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010I promised some folks a link to this over dinner last night.
There’s no question in my mind that Lucille Ball was a smart and incredibly talented woman. But I have trouble visualizing her in a noir film
(Here’s a link to the trailer on YouTube. Embedding is disabled.)
(I’d order it, but Amazon wants a little much for it, and I want In the Heat of the Night
The “Say WHAT?” project.
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010The LAT has a feature story on Burkittsville, Maryland. Ten years ago, Burkittsville was (partially) the setting for The Blair Witch Project, and the town has been dealing with fallout from that ever since.
…their town was in a movie — actually just the graveyard and a two-second shot of one of the gray and blue welcome signs posted at the four entrances.
The moral of this story, according to the LAT writer:
Never let Hollywood make a horror movie in your town.
The very next paragraph after that statement begins:
The independent filmmakers never asked Burkittsville’s permission.
Honor.
Friday, May 28th, 2010Obit watch: John Finn, the last of the 15 Navy men who were at Pearl Harbor and received the Medal of Honor for their actions on that day, and the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient.
When Chief Finn arrived at the hangars, many of the planes had already been hit. He recalled that he grabbed a .30-caliber machine gun on a makeshift tripod, carried it to an exposed area near a runway and began firing. For the next two and a half hours, he blazed away, although peppered by shrapnel as the Japanese planes strafed the runways with cannon fire.
While I hate to say anything negative about a Medal of Honor recipient, his taste in movies left something to be desired:
In 1999, Mr. Finn was among Pearl Harbor veterans invited to Hawaii for the premiere of the Hollywood movie “Pearl Harbor.” “It was a damned good movie,” he told The Boston Herald in 2001. “It’s helped educate people who didn’t know about Pearl Harbor and what happened there.”
“I liked it especially,” he said, “because I got to kiss all those pretty little movie actresses.”
At the same time, the NYT also has an article asking why so few Medals of Honor have been awarded for service in Iraq or Afghanistan. The article is tied to the case of Sgt. Rafael Peralta, who may (or may not) have thrown himself on a grenade after taking a bullet in the head.
Sgt. Peralta was recommended for the MoH, but that was downgraded to a Navy Cross; however, his family has refused to accept the award and is campaigning to have him awarded the MoH. It seems to me that they have a strong case; yet, it also seems to me (as an outside observer) that refusing the Navy Cross looks bad.
Have you seen me?
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010No, not Kyle.
Hattie McDaniel’s Oscar, which appears to be gone with the wind. (Sorry.)
Continuing our regular “Crimewatch” community service feature, here’s what to look out for:
Oscar
Little metal guy, on a stand, about yeah high. If you see something that resembles this, please contact The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Edited to add: Lawrence has pointed out that Ms. McDaniel’s Oscar is actually a plaque, not a statue, as the supporting actor and actress didn’t get statues in 1943. In my hurry to make a cheap joke, I overlooked that minor detail. My apologies; unfortunately, I am unable to find a photo of the plaque anywhere online.
Iron Crossed.
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010For the record: the lawsuit against Variety by the producers of “Iron Cross”, previously noted in this space, has been dismissed.
(Hattip: Jimbo.)