Some, er, Movies

Catching up on a few summer viewings, and am again glad to have some options other than the weekly explosion collection. Starting off with the Austin Film Society's Other Minds, Other Worlds series, including the early Russian special-effects-were-incredible-for-the-time COSMIC VOYAGE, the what-the-hell-is-up-with-those-outfits PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, and the man-these-English-reports-are-talking-very-fast THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE. Throw in a screening of the 1978 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS - Sutherland Sr. and Goldblum AND Nimoy - and the popcorn practically eats itself.

I haven't made it to many of the Paramount's summer series yet (they tend to show a lot of the same flicks every year), but a couple 1933 gems serve as ample reminder that most of the innovations made in sound cinema happened in the first couple years, and we've mostly been treading water for the last 70 years. BOMBSHELL proves that celebrity fame-is-hell comedies have a much longer history that one might expect, and that Jean Harlow deserved a much longer history herself. A stellar performance from Barbara Stanwyck in BABY FACE is hardly cause for surprise, but I do wish more plots were set in motion by old Nietzsche readers urging women to "Use men! Use men!" And when Stanwyck responds with "Yeah," you know she means it.

As for the modern world, I checked out the new DIE HARD, and there will always be a place in my heart for ridiculous stunts (Let's blow up a freeway overpass! Or five!) and fake computer drama ("It's an e-bomb!"). And somehow they managed to go the whole movie without letting Justin Long even look at a Mac computer - strong resolve.

And I suppose I'm already singing in the choir for SICKO, though I'm not all that psyched about Moore being the spokesman for my ideals (can't Jon Stewart also start making documentaries?). But any American who ever makes fun of France should have to watch this several times, or at least until they can admit that things like free universal health care, free higher education, shorter work weeks, 6 weeks of annual vacation, and good food and wine are actually not that weird to desire. Of course, they did duck out of the Iraq war, bizarrely, and I'm sure there's still some huge regrets about that. "But, but, but, they have higher taxes!" True, and their government also provides many useful services to their citizens, and doesn't spend quite so much on new warplanes and invasions. It's almost like they have all agreed to live in, and help fund, a "society" of some kind. Wackos.