Triple Feature
On February 4, 1995, my friend and one-time housemate K and I went to the Mall of America and watched five movies. Mostly just to see if we could. Later talk about making this an annual event never translated to reality. (K: Bonus points if you can name all five films we saw that day.) On March 15, 1997, my brother Dean (otherwise known as Bro) and I went to all three of the special edition re-releases of the Star Wars films (the original trilogy -- you know, the good ones). Other than those ocassions, I don't think I've seen more than two movies in a single day. Until yesterday, that is.
I took the day off yesterday from homework and everything else and drove up to the Cities with the intention of seeing four movies. I wimped out and skipped the last one, so I only saw three. First up was Mirrormask, the Neil Gaiman-written, Dave McKean-directed fantasy. The comic book fans out there might be familiar with McKean's work, mostly with Gaiman. He's a visual artist who combined drawing, photography, model-making, and other media to create unique covers for the Sandman series and some other comics, as well as working on Gaiman's two children's books. This is his first directing effort on a major release, and I have to say, I've never seen a movie anything like Mirrormask before. The story, though uniquely Gaimanesque, is pretty standard fantasy, but the visual look of the film is astounding. It combines live action, CGI animation, pencil-and-ink drawings, and the other weird stuff that McKean used in his art. I've never been a big fan of McKean's comic book work, but the movie looks amazing. See it in a theatre; the DVD, even on a big-screen TV, is not going to do this film justice.
Secondly, I saw North Country, the much-hyped new film from director Niki Caro (Whale Rider) starring Charlize Theron. While it's extremely well done, the more I think about it, the more problems I see with the movie itself. I won't go into detail, though I would still recommend it. Dylan's on the soundtrack. Filmed in northern Minnesota where the story takes place, I'm sure it'll be big around the state.
Lastly, we saw Thumbsucker, a delightfully weird slice of coming-of-age indy filmmaking. Loads of fun, laughs, and great little moments. Haven't heard of it? Hey, both Keanu Reaves and Vince Vaughan are in it!
Thanks to my buddy Jeff, who met me at the Lagoon Theatre in Minneapolis and saw Mirrormask and Thumbsucker with me. I love going to movies by myself, but there's definitely something to be said for going with someone intelligent and knowledgeable so that the film can be discussed afterwards.
I took the day off yesterday from homework and everything else and drove up to the Cities with the intention of seeing four movies. I wimped out and skipped the last one, so I only saw three. First up was Mirrormask, the Neil Gaiman-written, Dave McKean-directed fantasy. The comic book fans out there might be familiar with McKean's work, mostly with Gaiman. He's a visual artist who combined drawing, photography, model-making, and other media to create unique covers for the Sandman series and some other comics, as well as working on Gaiman's two children's books. This is his first directing effort on a major release, and I have to say, I've never seen a movie anything like Mirrormask before. The story, though uniquely Gaimanesque, is pretty standard fantasy, but the visual look of the film is astounding. It combines live action, CGI animation, pencil-and-ink drawings, and the other weird stuff that McKean used in his art. I've never been a big fan of McKean's comic book work, but the movie looks amazing. See it in a theatre; the DVD, even on a big-screen TV, is not going to do this film justice.
Secondly, I saw North Country, the much-hyped new film from director Niki Caro (Whale Rider) starring Charlize Theron. While it's extremely well done, the more I think about it, the more problems I see with the movie itself. I won't go into detail, though I would still recommend it. Dylan's on the soundtrack. Filmed in northern Minnesota where the story takes place, I'm sure it'll be big around the state.
Lastly, we saw Thumbsucker, a delightfully weird slice of coming-of-age indy filmmaking. Loads of fun, laughs, and great little moments. Haven't heard of it? Hey, both Keanu Reaves and Vince Vaughan are in it!
Thanks to my buddy Jeff, who met me at the Lagoon Theatre in Minneapolis and saw Mirrormask and Thumbsucker with me. I love going to movies by myself, but there's definitely something to be said for going with someone intelligent and knowledgeable so that the film can be discussed afterwards.
posted by Kootch | 7:39 PM
6 Comments:
I told a bunch of people that we saw Mirrormask and Thumbsucker over the weekend. As we predicted, no one had heard of either one. The title Thumbsucker seemed to get a pretty strong reaction from everyone. Once they heard that title they didn't even want to hear about the movie. The general opinion was basically that a movie named Thumbsucker could not possibly be good. It kind of bothers me that some people will never see this awsome movie because they think the name is stupid.
Jeff
On a somewhat related subject;
I see that the final episode of the first half of the Star Wars saga, i.e. Episode III; Revenge of the Sith, is coming out on dvd (and, I assume, for those of us still living with the 20th Century technology, on VHS) November 1st.
Therefore, sometime over.the upcoming Holiday Season, I am planning a Star-Wars marathon movie-watching event. I'm thinking (remembering fondly Kootch's aforementioned three movie in one night experience) doing it over a period of three days, but perhaps it could happen in only two. Difficult to say, always in motion is the future. {Sorry, couldn't resist.}
Jeff, no one I told about it had heard of either one either. You're right, it sucks.
Did I read somewhere that the new Star Wars movie wasn't coming out on VHS, but only DVD? I'm not sure.
I think they were Boys on the Side, Dumb and Dumber, Death and the Maiden, Nobody's Fool, and Murder in the First. Although I got Death and the Maiden and Murder in the First by looking up Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Bacon.
K: You are right, sir! Though I think you have the order a bit mixed up. Death and the Maiden was our second flick, and I think that Nobody's Fool was third, followed by Dumb and Dumber, but I may have those two transposed.
Kootch, that really sucks about Revenge not coming out on VHS (if you are correct about that.)
Next thing you know music will no longer come out on 8-track, Man.
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