So, on Strega's recommendation, I got Them! from the library. I expected it to be really bad and cheesy, but I was surprised to discover it was... good. I mean, once you get past the fact that the movie is about GIANT ANTS and they're after OUR SUGAR and NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE BAD AND SCARY, it's a very well done disaster pic. It's basically the prototype for every movie of its ilk since, if I'm not mistaken.

The great thing about it is that it's not just an incoherent mess of monsters killing people. It takes a very rational, scientific approach (whether or not you agree with the good doctor every time he says, "Well, that's the logical conclusion"): people are dying and disappearing, and the clues just don't add up. Sure, we can blow 'em up and shoot 'em with flamethrowers, but the real meat of the picture isn't the fighting; it's the finding. It's trying to understand what their existence means, the disaster it spells, and trying to guess their next move. Seriously, I'm sure I've seen a rip-off of this movie in the last five years, except not done as well.

I saw it because it was supposed to be an inspiration for Alien, but it's not very similar, in my opinion. From what I can tell, Alien asks, "What if we took the giant ant and put it in a spaceship, so neither the humans nor the ant could leave?" It does, also, have the same sensibilities about its antagonist, characterizing it as a killing machine capable of wiping out the human race.

In conclusion, James Whitmore looks and sounds freakily like Spencer Tracy.

I personally think the Series of Unfortunate Events trailer looks pretty darned cool. And I really don't like those books, at all.

How did I not know before tonight that Robyn Hitchcock has a part in the new version of The Manchurian Candidate?

How did I not know before tonight that Robyn Hitchcock has a part in the new version of The Manchurian Candidate?

Huh. Well.... Damn.

I didn't know he had ever done any acting.

Ya know. If you were to ask, I'd probably say I was not a fan of the western genre, but damn. I watched Tombstone tonight and just loved it. That and Silverado. Neither one seems western to me. Why is that?

I liked it, but I'm a comics geek.

Without getting into a thing about it, this sentence pops up every time we discuss Unbreakable here, and I still don't know what it's supposed to be about, other than putting the comics geeks who didn't like the film (of which there are a fair number) on the defensive.

Hmmm. Well, I don't know what other people have meant when they've said it, but what I meant was that, since I'm a comics geek, the comics element of the story really grabbed me; also, the way that color was used in clothes seemed a very comics thing to do, and I really liked it.

I think that, had the comics-related elements not been in the movie, I wouldn't have liked it. So that's what I mean when I say it. This just uses more words, and a globe.

I watched Tombstone tonight and just loved it. That and Silverado. Neither one seems western to me.

One has that "Mmm, pizza" association and the other has that "Mmm, money" association.

Has anyone here seen Two English Girls? I watched that this week (I've been on a Truffaut kick recently) and I think it might be one of the best movies I've seen. It's not as famous as Jules & Jim, but like that movie it's also based on a book by Henri Pierre Roche and it examines a love triangle over a number of years. I actually prefer it to Jules & Jim because in this film all three participants are equally innocent/culpable and there's a heavier, more introspective tone which I liked. It's really beautiful and I recommend it for anyone who likes dark, passionate, and depressing love stories.

Just came back from seeing Bourne Supremacy. I thought it was excellent, well-made and atmospheric but not in a typical glossy Hollywood way. I was quite taken with Matt Damon's performance (whose acting skill I'd only thought of as so-so before), which was smart, very tightly coiled and internal, giving weight to the moments in which we see a sliver of emotional vulnerability in him.

The movie also contains one of the most gritty and realistic hand-to-hand fight scenes I've seen in recent memories (I was reminded of the holding cell fight scene in Firefly's "Ariel"), and a totally kick-ass car chase through the streets of Moscow.

I also dug Joan Allen's character a lot, despite her scary hair. Allen did a lot with what could have been a rote, colorless character. You know, I sort of want to read a Bourne/Landry fic or two now. Is that very wrong?

Vonnie, I am so going to see that this weekend. Any Bay Area Buffistas up for a Sunday afternoon at the movies?