Jeremiah (Movies and TV)

I've been watching Jeremiah the last couple of weeks. I'm about to finish watching the first season (2002).

Post-apocalyptic movies have been done before but Jeremiah's hook, the mass death of everyone past puberty, is a new twist (at least for me). It's a compelling, well-told story. Luke Perry and Malcom-Jamal Warner do a great job as the protagonists and, a few dud episodes notwithstanding, I've enjoyed the series so far. I think Jeremiah does justice to imagining how people might live in such a world.

Unfortunately, seasons two and three are not yet available on DVD. I'll be sure to view them when they become available.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 21:44 2008-09-20 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

My Name is Bill W. (Movies and TV)

I watched My Name is Bill W. last night. I highly recommend it. It's a movie about Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. It takes a somewhat sympathetic but still uncompromising look at Bill's life leading up to when he finally got sober and how AA first got started. It's a drama, not a documentary. The acting is great and the plot is compelling.

I couldn't watch it straight through. I had to take a couple of breaks because I identified with and was struck very forcefully by the film's emotional content. While my story and Bill W.'s are very different, I still felt the pathos of the unmanageable life and the utter chaos and self-destructiveness caused by alcoholic drinking. James Woods won an Emmy for his portrayal of Bill W., and it isn't hard to understand why. I'm still shaken this morning.

Powerful movie. It struck close to home — precisely the reason I wanted and needed to watch it.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 10:27 2008-09-19 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Movies and TV)

I went to see The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor tonight. I needed some escapist fiction and this movie fit the bill. Perfectly.

What I most like about this series of movies is that they don't take themselves very seriously. Although less prominent in this installment, all are markedly tongue-in-cheek with plenty of humor and sarcasm mixed in amongst the action and romance. I also like plots that are clean and tidy and leave no dangling loose ends, and The Mummy didn't disappoint — the good guys win, the bad guys lose, and both guys get the girls. What's not to like about that?

This is not a Film© — I'm far too philistine for films. It's a Movie©. Don't see The Mummy if you want a symbolism-laden, subtitle-obstructed, angst-filled film. If you want an action-drenched, romance-sprinkled, and humor-infused movie, though, see it soon.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:19 2008-09-06 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Babylon A.D (Movies and TV)

I went to see Vin Diesel's latest, Babylon A.D., this afternoon.

As usual, Diesel's character sports a hard-nosed, butt-kicking exterior and a softer, more thoughtful interior. I liked the story, smuggling a seemingly meek 20-year old woman from a convent in Russia, or its remnants, to New York City. The plot is relatively predictable, but that rarely bothers me. I like how it unfolds and how each character plays his or her role. I'm not sure it was worth $10 (for a Saturday afternoon), but I'd be willing to spend a Netflix slot on it.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 18:43 2008-08-30 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Battlestar Galactica 2 (Movies and TV)

By Battlestar Galactica 2 I mean the new, modern BSG that's been showing on the SciFi channel. It is first-rate drama, not the melodramatic crap that passed for the first BSG. As Edward James Olmos remarks in one of the commentaries, this show is a drama, and the story shows it. The production values and the special effects are terrific, IMHO, and they support the story, which is conceived and executed in first class fashion. The c

By Battlestar Galactica 2 I mean the new, modern BSG that's been showing on the SciFi channel. It is first-rate drama, not the melodramatic crap that passed for the first BSG. As Edward James Olmos remarks in one of the commentaries, this show is a drama, and the story shows it. The production values and the special effects are terrific, IMHO, and they support the story, which is conceived and executed in first class fashion. The characters aren't two-dimensional, which is a pleasant change, and the problems, challenges, and issues raised aren't simple, black-and-white, yes-or-no. Moreover, they're rarely resolved in a single episode. In fact, they are rarely resolved with any kind of finality at all. Kind of like real life, except for the haracters aren't two-dimensional, which is a pleasant change, and the problems, challenges, and issues raised aren't simple, black-and-white, yes-or-no. Moreover, they're rarely resolved in a single episode. In fact, they are rarely resolved with any kind of finality at all. Kind of like real life, except for the
Posted by Kurt Wall at 00:05 2008-03-17 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Battlestar Galactica (Movies and TV)

Ugh. I tried to watch the original Battlestar Galactica series. I made it through the first disc and then realized I couldn't watch anymore.

The acting feels overdone and the special effects are weak, especially by modern standards. What killed it for me, though, wasn't the melodrama or the special effects; it was the heavy dose of Mormon theology. Before their destruction, the twelve colonies are ruled by a so-called Quorum of the Twelve; all human life sprang from the planet Kolob; the wedding of Apollo and Serina is called "a sealing;" Adama holds the "keys." Those elements and concepts come straight out of what Mormons pass off as their theology. I want no part of it, even in a fictional setting. That the acting and the special effects suck just made it easier to remove the rest of the discs from my Netflix queue.

The curious thing is that I don't remember these things from the original broadcast. Likely I just wasn't paying attention and, at the time, didn't know what I know now about the Mormon cult. Regardless, it was quite a surprise to see tenets of Mormonism on display this way.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 21:48 2008-02-11 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Book of Secrets (Movies and TV)

Saw National Treasure: The Book of Secrets today. I enjoyed it and think it's worth the price of admission, soda, and popcorn.

As a friend of mine opined, though, it certainly requires a significant suspension of disbelief. If it's that easy to kidnap the President of the United States, break into Buckingham Palace, and get into the Oval Office, the President and Britain's royal family are in serious trouble. Once you're past that, however, it's a grand treasure hunt and romp through some interesting places. Movies and books about conspiracy theories intrigue me, too. The movie also has plenty of action and adventure. Finally, I enjoy Nicolas Cage, Helen Mirren, and Ed Harris. I guess I'm shocked to see how Jon Voight has aged. He's done so gracefully, but he's aged nonetheless. I think it shocks me only because it reminds me that I have aged.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:37 2007-12-29 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Apocalypto (Movies and TV)

I suppose yesterday was movie day. After going to see I Am Legend yesterday afternoon, I watched my latest Netflix delivery, Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. It was stunning and I highly recommend it!

As with Gibson's previous move, The Passion of Christ, Apocalypto displayed no shortage of gore and explicit violence. Similarly, as with Passion, I did not feel like the blood and violence was gratuitous. Set, literally, in the few days before the arrival of the Spaniards and the destruction of the Mayan civilization, Apocalypto chronicles the capture and escape of a Mayan (actually, a village of Mayans) by a rival tribe. The gore and violence is not gratuitous because the movie endeavors to show (Gibson's interpretation or imagining of) the reality of Mayan life, which was violent and bloody. With apologies to Hobbes, I'm sure that Mayans' lives were violent, bloody, and short, albeit punctuated by moments, perhaps many of them, of beauty, love, and peace.

For a change, the antagonists weren't Westerners, Europeans, Spaniards, white people, or men. Rather, the antagonists were other Mayans. Gibson is clear about this, opening the movie with a Will Durant quote, "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."Perhaps the Mayan civilization would have been destroyed anyway by the arriving Spaniards conquistadorés, or by the diseases they carried, but I think I could make a credible argument that internal disunity and Mayans' victimization of each other made them weaker in the face of the Spanish arrival.

Apocalypto is visually appealing, the characters are engaging, and the story, a chase movie stripped down to the bare essentials of a man running for his life, is captivating.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 11:41 2007-12-16 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

I Am Legend (Movies and TV)

I went to see I Am Legend this afternoon. Good show! It was more than the standard cannibalistic-humans-pursue-the-last-normal-human story. Will Smith did a good job exploring the quirks of his character. The idea is engaging even if we have seen this plot before. It was worth the $7.25 plus popcorn and soda. I would have liked more explanation of why Smith's character and others like him were immune to the super-virus and wish more effort had been made to flesh out the social structure of the virus' victims, but these are minor blemishes. Overall, I consider it a fine afternoon's entertainment.

It sure make me wonder how I would hold up if I were the last or only person in, say, San Jose.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 20:14 2007-12-15 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Stargate (Movies and TV)

I've been using Netflix to catch up on episodes of television shows I missed. I spent several months, for example, watching all ten seasons of Stargate SG1 from beginning to end. I'd watch four or five episodes a week, with some breaks to wait for the next DVD. Between each season, I'd watch a movie (or two) that was in my queue. Currently, I'm catching up on back episodes of Stargate Atlantis.

Watching it sequentially gave me a chance to watch the characters and story lines develop in a way that wasn't possible when the show was being broadcast. Given my action-oriented viewing preferences, concentrated doses of Stargate SG1 gave me a good fix of shoot-em-up-and-blow-em-up. I also enjoyed watching characters mature and evolve, enter and exit the stage, and the way the SG1 universe morphed and transformed over the years also intrigued me. What were originally good-and-evil characterizations of the various races slowly developed into more nuanced shades of grey. It was really pleasurable.

To be sure, some races, such as the Replicators, remained firmly in the Evil™ camp. Others were simply more ambiguous, such as the Tokrah. Humans initially saw them as powerful allies, and they certainly were, but the Tokrah had their own agenda and their alliance with and support for the (humans) T'ari was a matter of convenience. They ultimately faded into the background of the SG1 universe. The Jaffah almost came full-circle. They started as the warriors and enforcers for the Goa'uld, revolted and allied with the T'ari to gain their freedom from the Goa'uld, and then, once free, pursued their own agenda that didn't always necessarily coincide with that of their T'ari allies.

I enjoyed Stargate SG1 and was sorry to see it end. I look forward to the feature-length movies, at least one of which is in production.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 10:35 2007-12-15 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Movies I Gotta See (Movies and TV)

This is largely a list of movies I want to remember to see when they become available. If you're into psychoanalysis based on someone's movie preferences, I'll save you the trouble: these are escapist, shoot-em-up, blow-it-up, fantasy, or science-fiction titles. They have little or no redemptive value. I'm interested in being entertained. I go to Mass for meaning, morality, redemption, and relevance,

Or perhaps I'm merely cinematically philistine. Whatever.

Yes, my taste in movies is monotonic. Live with it.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 19:32 2007-12-08 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)

Beowulf (Movies and TV)

I went to see Beowulf tonight to break the monotony. I enjoyed it. I don't want to spoil the show for anyone, so I'll just observe that the plot following Beowulf's fight with Grendel's mother Grendel's mother doesn't match my recollection of the 9th century original.

The CGI seemed weak. Having seen 300 recently, it doesn't compare favorably in terms of CGI, but the story is just as good, IMNSHO. If Beowulf had been filmed as an admittedly more expensive live action film and used CGI to fill in gaps and enhance parts of the action and effects, I think the move would have been visually more appealing. Nonetheless, it was worth the $10 plus popcorn and soda. When it makes it to Netflix, I'll probably stick in my queue.


Posted by Kurt Wall at 23:01 2007-12-01 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)