Aeronautic Primates and Other Delights

Oops. Let's not do that again.

I had a miserable week last week when I was off my ADHD meds for five days due to an ever-cascading series of f**kups, mostly not mine. I ended up taking two non-consecutive days off of work, which I'm sure didn't look weird at all.

I've been playing a lot of LEGO DC Super Villains which is cute as most LEGO games are.

This week I'm in Des Moines to see family, so there may not be any movies to post about.

Movies I've seen before are in italics.

Godzilla 2000 (1999)

Fear Street: 1994 (2021)
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Annette (2021)
Aquaman (2018)

sol_se and I are back on our Godzilla bullsh**t, working through the Millennium series. Godzilla 2000 is a perfectly serviceable entry with no great highs or lows.

I really liked Fear Street: 1994 and look forward to completing the trilogy eventually.

The Suicide Squad is a ton of fun. I'm really glad that Warner is committed to doing hybrid releases through the end of the year, because it's nice to watch these new movies at home sometimes. Margot Robbie is a delight as Harley Quinn as usual. King Shark is deadly and adorable. Be warned, this movie earns its R rating.

Annette. Where to start with Annette. I just felt like Sparks (the musicians who wrote the story and the music) were just screwing with me the whole time. It's a musical where everyone just states what they are feeling and doing in the most banal terms possible. There's some other strangeness that I won't spoil, but yeah. I was never bored, but I think I'm angry at the movie? I hope there's some artistic conceit I'm missing and the movie is secretly brilliant.

Aquaman is stupid fun and there's not much more to say about it.

Fewer movies again this week, as I was finishing up Uncharted: Lost Legacy and starting my (probably ultimately failed) run on Control (it's a very hard game).

Movies I've seen before are in italics.

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
The Black Sleep (1956) w/sol_se 
Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary (2019)

I had the dentist song from Little Shop stuck in my head, so I went and rewatched the movie. For some reason, I got really emotional whenever Ellen Greene sang. Something something power of nostalgia? No idea. Still a great movie and those Audrey II effects are ridiculously good.

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is a drama director's idea of the ultimate comedy movie. What makes it the ultimate comedy movie? Well, it's three hours long and squeezes in cameos from nearly every living major comedian. And for the most part, they are just that, cameos. One moment has a trio of firemen run up and they're the Three Stooges. They don't do anything but stand there. That's the whole joke, that they showed up. Overall, it's not very good, but it does have its moments.

The Black Sleep is momentous. It may be the last Saturday night virtual movie date that sol_se and I ever do. Her Internet is getting cut off next week. Why is it getting cut off? Because she won't need it soon. She has a plane to catch on May 27th to fly to Los Angeles to live! Permanently! With me! OMGYAY! (also the movie itself is fine, mostly notably for the abundance of classic horror actors like Basil Rathbone, John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., and Bela Lugosi, although the last two don't have any lines).

The Galaxy Quest documentary was impressive, largely because they managed to gather everybody still alive (we miss you Alan). I had no idea there were Galaxy Quest cosplayers. I mean, it makes sense, I just never thought of it before. I also had no idea the film was supposed to be PG-13 until the studio said, "Nope, this one goes out to the kids!" Which honestly worked out for the best. As David Mamet said, it's one of those few perfect movies.

I didn't watch a lot this week, movie-wise.

Movies in italics are ones I've watched before.

Return to Oz (1985)
Easter Parade (1948)
Ironfinger (1965)
Fun & Fancy Free (1947)
I, Frankenstein (2014) w/sol_se 

I could have sworn that I had seen Return to Oz previously, but I had no memory of the movie past a certain point, so I think the Mombi sequences may have scared me off as a youth. I don't blame smaller me for that at all. As I said on Twitter, Walter Murch has a lot to answer for. What an absolutely delightful nightmare of a film. I cried at the end, too.

I may have watched Easter Parade almost entirely for Jules Munshin's small role as a waiter.

Ironfinger is a weird Japanese spy-crime-comedy thing. I suspect that it works a lot better if you speak Japanese. I was mostly interested in it because it's directed by occasional Godzilla helmer Jun Fukuda and stars the two male leads of the original Gojira. This ended up having no impact on the film itself.

Fun & Fancy Free is mostly notable for the use of Edgar Bergen (with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd) as a narrator in the Mickey and the Beanstalk tale. I also wanted to see the Disney trio of Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in action. It's a pleasant enough film, but largely forgettable.

For date night, sol_se and I watched I, Frankenstein, which is a regrettable film. It is completely devoid of humor, joy, romance, or interesting characters. What a slog.

I also watched The Mandalorian, a handful of Addams Family episodes, and finished Gravity Falls Season 2.

Vid Title: Dancin' with Myself
Length: 2:43
Song: Billy Idol - Dancin' with Myself
Fandom: Gene Kelly
Warnings: None that I know
Notes: Current structure is entirely owing to echan and her uncanny ability to construct vid narratives in her head. Premiered at Club Vivid 2010.

Summary: If he had the chance, he'd ask the world to dance. Which he kinda did.


Download 36.4MB MP4 (right/ctrl-click, Save as...)

Gene Kelly does not obey the laws of physics. The laws of physics cower in the face of Gene Kelly.

From It's Always Fair Weather (it really gets started about halfway in):