The Black Hole (1979) Review

Born today in 1909: James Mason

One of Cinema's most unforgettable screen presences, James Mason is the kind of actor whose name alone is enough to get you interested in a movie. He immortalized Captain Nemo onscreen in Disney's adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), arguably the greatest adventure film of all-time, and was versatile enough to play just about everyone else, including an unstable family man (Bigger than Life, 1956), a cunning and villainous smuggler (North by Northwest, 1959), a grumpy scientist (Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1959), Erwin Rommel (The Desert Fox, 1951) Nabokov's most famous protagonist (Lolita, 1962), a deadly treasure hunter (Lord Jim, 1965), and even Doctor Watson alongside Christopher Plummer's Sherlock Holmes (Murder by Decree, 1979). A lover of silent cinema, Mason also lent his incredible voice to Kevin Brownlow's fantastic documentary series, Hollywood: a Celebration of the American Silent Film.

The Cinemologists See Yellow Submarine (1968)

As we work hard on new reviews, enjoy this little vlog in which Alex, Joel, Y2K, and resident Beatlemaniac Jesse head out to the theatre to drink in a screening of Yellow Submarine, featuring a new restoration and 5.1 surround sound!

The Music of The Shining (1980)

Of all the aspects of filmmaking that Stanley Kubrick had mastery over, the one which he was always deeply involved in was the music.  Most of Kubrick's films have used found music, foregoing a complete original score for selections made by Kubrick which he deems appropriate.  The first of his projects where a wide and eclectic array of music was used was 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) where he combined modern and classical composers.  Indeed, quite legendary is the fact that Kubrick rejected a score by Alex North because the temp music he had been scoring the film with up until then had worked so well.  It seems that Kubrick knows best at how to make a work of music famous.  The now overused main title music for 2001, Also Sprach Zarathustra, composed by Richard Strauss, is now used mostly in parody but is unmistakable.  He changed the way we look at space travel by placing Johann Strauss's Blue Danube over the spinning images of a space station and shuttle.  As with his next two films, A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Barry Lyndon (1975), he again championed pieces of classical music which either had completely different popular associations or were scarcely known to the general public at all.  Such was the case with The Shining, however, there was certainly more of an impact.

The 54 Movie Challenge - #2 - Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro

Anybody who knows anything about Lupin the Third knows what this is going to be, so lets not hold this up with pleasantries and get right into it.

This is all you need to know

So far it's been two movies in a row with a fantastic visual appeal to them, the animation and colors are fantastic in their hand drawn beauty. The movie itself is such a fun ride, it's a classic tale of a dashing thief, using his wits and allies ( and maybe even enemies) to pull off a grand heist.  Though that basic plot is much too general for what goes on in Castle of Cagliostro ( pronounced Caliostro, don't ask me why) and it kept me pretty involved during the entire thing even with it's moments of sheer " How does that happen!?"

Fly Lupin, Fly!

However it reminds me of just how amazing these fight scenes are, not only are they wonderfully animated, but also wacky. You simply cannot look away while one is going on.

Pirates of the Caribbean has nothing on this

Not to mention the villain, oh the villain, he is one mean monkey fighter. He is one of those amazingly evil characters who just screams " I'm evil!" but here it's never in a bad way, it's not the characters don't know he's evil, and if they don't they learn pretty quickly. Not to mention he is actually pretty threatening, implying and acting out brutal murder without a second thought.

Him!? Evil!? A-WHA-WHA-WHA!?

I would go back and watch this again any day and it would never get old no matter how much I watched it, however i have 52 more movies to watch, so onward!.

The 54 Movie Challenge - #1 - Pierrot Le Fou

So in passing conversation with Joel, I asked him to make me a list of movies that I should watch because I'm kind of the Jr. Cinemologist here having seen the least movies of all of us. What Joel sent me was a list of 54 movies, some of which I don't even own. So I thought as my real first solo on the site, I would give my first impressions on each movie as I watch them. What's up first?

Starting off with a bang that's all I can say

Words cannot describe how I felt after watching this movie, it is wonderful. I was fortunate enough to grab the Blu-Ray version and wow was it worth it, the visuals are spectacular without a doubt! As for the movie substance itself, it's like nothing I've ever seen before. It gained that title fairly early on as well.

She sung such a happy love song before they revealed the dead guy on the other bed

To be honest the movie had me a little confused for a while before I got into the idea that you have to take this movie in stride and not think to much about the very colorful dialogue.  I found the "romance" between Marianne and Ferdinand ( Not Pierrot) to be very interesting,  as neither seem to trust that the other loves them and you really never know. Pierrot Le Fou seems to go where you least expect it to.

Need I say more?

At the end of the day I don't think I ever will know how to describe this movie, and I think I will leave it that way.

The Least Thorough Anime Convention Coverage Ever Filmed

Y2K has dragged Joel out to a small anime convention in Cherry Hill. Let's find out what happened next (or at least infer with the relatively small videographic evidence presented)

Big shoutout and thank you to Dan of perpetualgeekmachine.net. His gaming corner was easily the highlight of the evening!