Well, dear readers, may I just say that I probably don’t ever need to see what the wags call “a great popcorn flick” summer blockbuster ever again. These machines are so fershluganah loud and obnoxious and obvious and silly and unbelievable, that it frightens me when people actually like them. I guess a mindless evening at the movies can be some sort of tonic, but it’s not a tonic I like at all. But I try to watch just to see how silly they get, because it’s really hard to top what’s already been. However, last night I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, directed by Brad Bird, the force behind a couple of Pixar films. Well, the magic stops there, apparently. Although it must be said that the film has much more of its producer J.J. Abrams’ sensibility. It’s yet another relentlessly silly, frenetically paced, action film, which has no center of believability. If a film lacks a center of believability then just what are you supposed to take from it – mindless action and characters? This film should have been called Movie Impossible because there is not a single moment in it that is believable, even though they try to throw in two obligatory “emotional” moments, as if anyone cares. No, everything in this film, from the first frame to the last, reeks of nothingness – just a bunch of loud scenes strung together until it all just finally ends. The plot would have been hoary in the 1960s, when it actually might have made some sense. Some of the usual suspects rave because they saw it IMAX. I don’t care if they saw it in IMAX or YOUMAX or WEMAX, it’s still the same film, just in the wrong ratio and bigger. It’s always amazing in these films when a character can leap fifty feet, crash to the ground face first, and not only still be alive, but up and at ’em in a moment. And they just don’t seem to understand villains at all – here we get the wonderful actor Michael Nykvist (the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) who is given no character and nothing to do. So, who cares about any of it? If you don’t have a good and entertaining villain you have NOTHING. On it goes for two hours and then it just ends, as so many of these clunkers do.
But from the ridiculous to the sublime, prior to the ridiculous I watched another Wallander movie, this one not only the best of what I’ve seen so far, but just a fantastic piece of work all around. This is one of three of the series one thirteen films that was released theatrically in Sweden – and it’s easy to see why. It’s a nail-biter, compelling, and guess what – it has a real villain doing really bad things, and therefore you care about everything that’s going on. And interestingly, the villain here is played by the Ghost Protocol villain, Michael Nyqvist – amazing what having a character and point does for an actor. But it’s the two leads that make this series of films so brilliant – the actors who play Kurt Wallander and his daughter Linda. There is such an air of doom in this series – it’s gray and melancholy and the characters have tremendous depth. I have been so enamored of the woman who plays the daughter that I finally Googled her, wondering why she wasn’t in the second series, which didn’t start filming until almost four years after the first thirteen. And the results of the search were shocking and sad – she committed suicide a year or so after the first thirteen episodes, at thirty-three years of age. The author of the Wallander books, Henning Mankell, was so devastated that he scrapped the final two books in what was to be a Linda Wallander trilogy (the first book with her as the main protagonist was Beyond the Frost), and it’s probably why such a long delay occurred. He refused to let anyone else play the part – I’m not sure how or even if they deal with it in the second thirteen films, but when I get around to them I guess I’ll find out. In any case, Mastermind, the particular episode I’m talking about, is fantastic and highly recommended by the likes of me.
I’m out of order here. The movie section should be later and now I’m all discombobulated or, at the very least, discomsteveulated. I had a rather nice day yesterday. I got up early and by ten was at Dr. Chew’s office for my teeth cleaning. Because I haven’t been in quite a while, I’m afraid what was going on in my mouth was worse than a Freddy Kreugar movie – there was so much blood it was like Jason and Freddy together, making havoc. Dr. Chew took the hard line with me, as he should – I now have to come once every three months for teeth cleaning, and I shall stick to it. He said, “I’m more worried about your gums than your teeth.” So, I will be diligent from now on. I come back in three weeks to do part one of two porcelain caps that are going over my upper left chipped tooth, and a lower right tooth that has a hairline crack in it that will break if he doesn’t put the cap on. Everything else should be fine.
After that, I had my meal o’ the day, more soft food – penne in a creamy tomato sauce – just right. Then I came home and did some work on the computer, had some telephonic calls, and then picked up a package. There are a couple of packages that are quite overdue now, which is disconcerting. Then I watched what I watched, chose a couple more songs for the next Kritzerland show (four to go), and that was my day and that was my night.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today will be devoted to choosing the final four songs, getting all the music Xeroxed and CDRs made so that singers can come get their stuff tomorrow. I’ll then eat something soft, hopefully pick up some packages, do some errands and whatnot, and then try to rustle up some more people to attend the signing. It’s always so frustrating – it simply doesn’t matter what day you do it, most of the invitees will always find some reason not to come. It’s this or it’s that, but after years of it, it truly becomes tiresome. And it’s always the same: “Oh, if it was only the week before, oh, if it was only the week after, oh, if it was only Tuesday instead of Sunday, or Thursday instead of Saturday, or seven instead of two – but if it were any of those days or times I’d still hear some excuse or another. Anyway, if you’re in the Glendale area I sure would love you to come visit and have CAKE.
Tomorrow and the rest of the week is filled with meals, meetings, shipping a LOT of STAGE CDs, rehearsals, and some stuff I’m simply not remembering at the moment.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, choose songs, Xerox music, make CDRs, hopefully pick up packages, eat, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall do the impossible in the Movie Impossible of my imaginings.