Thunderbolt

When I was 17, I worked at American Video, a small business housed in the Great Northern shopping strip. My time there was short, as was American Video’s lifespan. The days of the mom-and-pop video stores were cycling out. Blockbuster had just opened in my hometown and within a couple years, American Video, as well as the store where I first fell in love with movies, First Run Video, would shutter their doors. What I loved about these indie video stores was the variety of choices and the limited number of copies of movies each store had. Come in looking for Back to the Future and it’s already rented? You strolled the aisles until you found something similar like Innerspace , or something completely different, like And Now for Something Completely Different, Monty Python’s first movie. Blockbuster, and its cousin Hollywood Video, may have offered more copies of movies, but they didn’t always have the quality. Maybe your Blockbuster was different.   When Netflix and the stre...

Revisiting the Malchus video archives. It's been at least ten years since I've watched the extended edition The Fellowship of the Ring . Back in 2001, when the director Peter Jackson’s original, shorter film hit theaters, I fell in with his adaptation J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. I'm a sucker for tales of heroes coming together to save the world, and this film remains one of the best. When Jacob finally expressed interest in watching this one, my heart leapt. My son has particular tastes, although they are broadening, but I felt deep down – hoped – that he would enjoy the three Lord of the Rings films.   The rich themes of The Fellowship of the Ring – loyalty, family, human fallibility, good vs. evil, lost love, betrayal – all must all be attributed to Tolkien’s book. I've never read the book, nor is it high on my list (sorry Colbert). Whether the Jackson epics, which he co-wrote with his partner, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens, hew closely t...

One of the great pleasures of living in Los Angeles is being able to attend screenings of classic films, many shown in 35mm. I haven't taken full advantage of this in recent years, but I going to make an effort to start taking in more classic (and perhaps not so classic) movies that get screened throughout the area. Last night I went to see Paths of Glory, a brilliant 1957 WWI film directed in glorious black and white by Stanley Kubrick. The motion picture stars Kirk Douglas, who is never better, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris and Richard Anderson. The plot involves a French Army division sent on a suicide mission to take a German position called "Anthill." Douglas is regiment colonel in charge of the troops. Despite his protestations, he leads his depleted ranks into a bloodbath. Embarrassed by the mission's failure, Douglas' commanding general (Menjou) decides to make an example of the troops and calls for the court martial of three...

Dope is a new coming of age film written and directed by Rick Famuyima. Famuyima co-wrote and directed the film The Wood , and co-wrote the sensational Talk to Me , starring Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor (definitely check that one out). Dope  is one of the most fantastic films I've seen this year. Filled with humor, drama and a real danger, you would be remiss to pass it up if it comes to your neck of the woods. Shameik Moore (I guess best known for Cartoon Network's sketch show,  Incredible Crew ) stars as Malcolm, a self proclaimed geek who lives in "the Bottom," a rough neighborhood in LA, where every corner poses a threat to him and his two best friends, Diggy (Kiersey Clemons from Transparent ), a lesbian who dresses like a boy, and Jib (Tony Revolori from The Grand Budapest Hotel ). All three love comic books, skateboarding, playing original music in their punk band, getting good grades, and 1990s hip hop. Malcolm fashions his hair like Kid from Kid 'n Pl...

It wasn't my intention to watch the last two Best Pictures within a span of three days, but it happened. The King's Speech , which I saw on Saturday night, is a superb film that has two wonderful messages of perseverance and hope. Colin Firth well deserved his awards. Geoffrey Rush was also deserving of his accolades. His role was less flashy, but it was essential to the film and essentially a second lead part. Unfortunately, awards this time of year are rarely handed out to performances that are just good acting. There has to be flash or starvation or wigs and heavy makeup. I like Rush and shouldn't complain, though. Would he have even been in this role if he hadn't won his own Academy Award? And what did he win the award for? Well, for playing a mentally ill piano player which was all... flash. I haven't seen The Social Network, so I can't be a judge as to which film is the "best" picture. But I've reached a point that I don't care. Any mov...