FINAL GRADE: B+

WORD

ancillary [an-suh-ler-ee or, especially Brit., an-sil-uh-ree] adj. 1. subordinate; subsidiary 2. auxiliary; assisting ∞ n. 3. something that serves in an ancillary capacity: Slides, records, and other ancillaries can be used with the basic textbook

Note: A friend of mine used “ancillary” in a sentence the other day, and I was ashamed to admit, while I determined the word’s meaning from the context, I was unable to accurately define it.

BIRTHDAY

Bat Masterson (1853), Scott Joplin (1868), Dale Carnegie (1888), Lucky Luciano (1897), William F. Buckley Jr. (1925), Paul Tagliabue (1940), Pete Best (1941), Ted Bundy (1946), Dwight Schultz (1947), Linda Tripp (1949), Denise Crosby (1957), Edgar Meyer (1960), Keith Primeau (1971), Colin Hanks (1977), Katherine Heigl (1978)

STANDPOINT

Man! Everyone is going batshit over the recent release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

And, I mean, my guess is all the praise is warranted.

It was, most likely, a great movie. All the inferred twists. All the supposed turns. The brooding guy with the wall of hair was expected to be really good. The rest of the cast seemed superb, especially those dudes who turn into werewolves. The one scene, where the one werewolf is chasing some girl across a backyard toward a house and, then, some guy shows up on the porch, and he starts running at the action, but once he nears the sprinting young lady, he jumps over her while becoming a werewolf himself, taking a defensive stance as if to suggest to the werewolf who was originally in pursuit, “Hey, dude! You can’t eat her. I’m kinda digging on her. You cool with that?” 

Maybe he was cool with that. Maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was annoyed because this guy liked the girl who was running. Maybe he was annoyed because this guy liked every fucking girl he ever saw who was running. Maybe he’d finally had enough. Maybe he decided, right then and there, in that backyard, he was going to take a stand. Maybe something happened after that where the girl miraculously lived. Maybe she tragically died.

I’ll never know. I’ve only seen the previews. And that’s all I’m ever gonna see.

QUOTATION

If you don’t like doing something, but you still spend most of every day doing it, then you’re cheating yourself. If you hate your job – and you probably do – and fantasize endlessly about quitting, then you should quit. Quit the job you hate. I’ll say it two more times: Quit the job you hate. Quit the job you hate. → Ted Rall

TUNE

 So, something great someone can do is introduce you to quality music that, otherwise, would’ve never come your way. Two nights ago, I was with an (increasingly) good friend playing Scrabble (the result of which was a draw, no question), drinking red wine and listening to a guy named Joe Pisapia on the stereo. Solid stuff. Try “River Song” and you’ll know I’m right. Like I’m right about this supposedly dubious Scrabble outcome.

GALLIMAUFRY

→ When reading online news, I rarely smile. However, reading about Oprah ending her “talk show” brought on an ear-to-ear grin that almost hurt my cheeks. OK. Not really. But I am psyched about it.

→ I’m encouraging everyone of you to take a serious look at every book in your house after I read about a London family who’d no clue there was a first edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species sitting in the bathroom for the past 40 years or so.

→ OK. You caught me. I haven’t been updating this blog as much as I used to. I apologize for the fact I’ve recently rediscovered that, after a year hiatus, I’m allowed to have a life. Awww. I can’t stay mad at you folks. I’ll update as much as I can. Thanks for reading. Seriously.

Have you ever wondered what the difference between a Trekkie and a Trekker is? What about Rumspringa – do you know what that is? Can you guess which comedian’s version of the old vaudeville classic joke is the raunchiest? Do you know why dozens of people flock to Riverside, Iowa, each year?

That’s the beauty of good documentaries: If you’re not careful, you might learn something before it’s done (to paraphrase Bill Cosby). Docs (as their referred to in the industry) aren’t all dull affairs. They often can be as funny, effecting and dramatic as scripted films “based on a true story.” Probably more so because of the honesty and rawness that comes when you’re dealing with real people.

This week, I offer some that had particular impact on me:

10. TREKKIES (2002)
Directed by Roger Nygard and featuring Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar of Next Generation fame), TREKKIES invites you along to Star Trek conventions, as well as the homes and workplaces of some of the biggest Star Trek fans in the United States. Many of these fans go to work (yes, they hold down jobs), and one lad even brings his costumed cat with him to conventions. Be sure to stick around for the closing credits, which features clips of stand-up comics poking fun at their own fanhood.

9. ROGER & ME (1989)
At a time when the Big Three automakers had more money than they do now, they sent jobs to places like Mexico and left factory cities such as Flint, Michigan resembling ghost towns. Then-unknown Flint native Michael Moore filmed his quest to confront General Motors CEO Roger Smith. It’s almost timelier now as we watch GM implode like a soufflé in the middle of an earthquake. If you’ve avoided ROGER & ME because you

to think, he was the normal one in the Crumb family

disagree with Michael Moore’s progressive – and often times divisive—politics, you’re missing out on a humorous and poignant portrait of what happens to a city when there’s no work for its citizens.

8. DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND (2002)
Directed by Brit Lucy Walker, who’s previous work consisted of directing episodes of Blue’s Clues, DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND follows several Amish teens as they leave the nest to try out “English” clothing and a new way of life as part of Rumspringer, a religious rite of passage that basically says baptism should be a choice. How legit is religious faith if it’s not examined? Having said that, I think they’d have a better time if they’d hung out in college towns, playing cards and listening to Weezer while drinking lattes instead of squatting in crappy apartments and smoking meth.

7. SPELLBOUND (2002)
The doc, directed by Stanley Blitz and nominated for an Oscar, follows eight teenagers on their quest to win the national spelling bee. Trust me, you don’t have to like kids or words to get into this film. It is inspirational, uplifting and heartbreaking at the same time.

6. BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (2002)
Hey, it’s that Michael Moore guy again. Say what you will about his baseball cap and Larry King appearances, Moore has defined and mastered the art of docutainment. The clever juxtapositions, editing, and music that makes FAHRENHEIT 9/11 disturbing makes BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE hilarious. Just the visits to Michigan alone are enough for true comedy: the bank that gives a gun away for opening a new account, training with the Michigan Militia, and Moore’s interview with James Nichols – brother of Terry Nichols—a man who has never heard of Ghandi,

Some say James Garner, or McCain, but Dylan is America’s real maverick.

mentions that there are crazy people out there (without irony), and sleeps with a gun under his pillow.

5. HOOP DREAMS (1994)
As a Hollywood studio picture, the story about two inner-city Chicago teens chasing after their basketball dreams would’ve had a happy ending. Instead, this documentary is a bittersweet look at a high school and college system that grinds and spits out these young kids all so that adults can turn a quick buck. Hoosiers this ain’t.

4. CRUMB (1994)
Before this doc, mainstream America’s only exposure to underground cartoonist Robert Crumb’s work was the cover to Big Brother and the Holding Company’s Cheap Thrills album or mudflaps sporting art from his Keep on Truckin’ comic. But after Terry Zwigoff’s penetrating look into the life of this 1960s comix icon, even Crumb’s biggest fans were fascinated by his peculiar and sometimes tragic family. Zwigoff does an excellent job of examining Crumb’s highly sexual and highly controversial art in a social context as well as exposing the backdrop of family illness and dysfunction that forged it.

3. AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (2006)
Directed by Davis Guggenheim – not Al Gore – this documentary is much more than the filming of a slideshow, as I’ve heard it described. The visuals are lovely, experts are chosen over crackpots, and the message is strong: Global warming is real, human behavior is affecting it, and it’s not too late to do something about it.

2. THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS (2007)
I was a skeptic when friends recommended this documentary. Why would I want to watch someone spend a whole lotta time trying to unseat the reigning Donkey Kong champion? Green goddess on a cracker,

Billy Mitchell– Big Douchebag, or the Biggest Douchebag?

was I wrong! This doc by Seth Gordon (the director of FOUR CHRISTMASES starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon) follows sweet, unemployed teacher Steve Wiebe as he challenges the Donkey Kong record set by restaurateur, lifelong gamer and general a-hole Billy Mitchell. The drama and good guy vs. villain suspense (with his mullet and mustache, Mitchell truly is the man you love to hate) will appeal to non-gamers and non-geeks.

1. DON’T LOOK BACK (1967)
Directed by D.A. Pennebaker, DON’T LOOK BACK follows Bob Dylan on his 1965 tour. The iconic opening is the prototype for the contemporary music video: Dylan dropping flashcards with key words to Subterranean Homesick Blues. It’s brilliant, and it just gets better from there. Pennebaker’s camera follows Dylan everywhere for the three weeks in England that the musician transitions from acoustic to electric, to the chagrin of fans and peers (like Joan Baez) alike. Reviewers often remark how Dylan comes off petty or vindictive in this doc. But I prefer to consider him the misunderstood kid from the Iron Range, sporting a somewhat silly nom de guerre, ticking off fans on both sides of the Pond just because he wanted to plug in his damn guitar.

DOCS ON DU’S QUEUE
The following films are ones I want to see but haven’t gotten to yet. Any other good documentaries I’m missing?

• Jesus Camp
• Who Killed the Electric Car
• The Thin Blue Line
• The Fog of War
• Capturing the Friedmans
• Martin Scorsese’s rock documentaries: The Last Waltz, No Direction Home and Gimme Shelter
• The War Room

C'mon, guys! Parenting 101: Don't let toddlers fly kites in the path of 18-wheelers.

 PET SEMATARY (1989)
“Sometimes dead is better” – or so says Fred “Herman Munster” Gwynn about 600 times in Pet Sematary, the movie based on the Stephen King novel. A young couple moves to a farmhouse in New England where their youngest child is promptly run down by a semi! When daddy finds that the dead family cat, Church, has been resurrected after being buried in the title location (actually a “soured” Indian burial ground) he gets the grand idea of doing the same thing with his kid. Gwynn is the sweet old man that befriends the family and Star Trek: The Next Generation alum, Denise Crosby, is the mom haunted by a dark family secret. There are some inspired moments- particularly the deformed attic-dwelling sister and the rotting ghost of a man who tries to help the doomed family. But when its not being too grisly to enjoy it’s being too ridiculous to take seriously. The sight of a knife-wielding toddler doesn’t quite make the impact that’s intended. Gwynn is great as usual but he’s misused and killed without dignity befitting a Munster. Director, Mary Lambert, had only directed music videos before this. Pet Sematery II followed starring Edward Furlong.
**

Late lunch: puddles of mall-cured pepperoni flatlined Pepsi smooth. Valiantly, I crack Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World after a lifetime of mental reminders to read the damn thing. Seems important now. I can’t even remember who recommended it to me, but I hope that person’s happy, wherever he or she may be. Holla, won’tcha. I settle into the first paragraph:

A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State’s motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY.

Restlessness envelops me — or maybe it’s the grease. In any case, the words resolve to sit all dead right on the page and not engage me whatsoever. “Fuggit,” I yawn, scrawling a new mental note to cast Mr. Huxley into my tome oblivion, where it may enjoy the sparkling company of Thurber and Perelman’s collected correspondence. In fact, it might even be happier among its peers, as I, modern me, remain a lost cause. Huxley’s pages now pressed between their Modern Classic covers, I crack loose my hand-held Interwebs, doot doot doot, and bellow, “Hello, world,” zipping through Facebook with my rapier thumbs, slaying ’puter pals with update zingers. I respond to a couple of e-mails from publicists seeking my physical mailing address (somewhere the postals cheer, daubing their eyes with three-cent stamps). A one-word text hums in my palm. I one-word it right back, on account of the economy. Until verbal prosperity emerges from its frosty lair, curt is the new verbose.

Exhausted from my journey, I return to the main page, where the top news story in all the land is, uck, some pixie-stick folderol on the successful cloning of Trackr, the vowel-deficient German Shepherd who famously sniffed through the 9/11 rubble for victims and survivors. Trackr, by all accounts a good boy, ate the great milkbone back in April, but his genes now yelp and woof in the spirits of five puppies borne of his sterling chromosomes. First, I ask myself why I continue to defend journalism if this is the cyber pull-out after a tumultuous weekend of international unrest. Then I wonder if the scientists ever caught that This American Life episode about the cloned bull who mistook its poor loving owner for a pair of heifer Levis. Then my mind naturally wanders to Pet Sematary, because all thought processes eventually end at Fred Gwynne and Denise Crosby. (Dale Midkiff is an unavoidable after-effect. I purposely went south so I didn’t grow up to look like him.) Haven’t the Micmacs taught modern science anything? Sometimes dead is better.

I’m operating on roughly four hours of sleep, off and on. I drifted off last night around 11 p.m., during a Jackass-themed South Park blitz preparing us lucky Comedy Central fans for the world premiere of Jackass Number Two this weekend. A few hours later I was startled awake by screams from the television. I turned over just in time to watch some heavy projectile swing in for a hearty handshake with Bam Margera’s nards. A Jackass marathon. In my muddled squeezebox I imagined some 20-year-old kid watching this across town and remembering how innocent entertainment used to be. Around 3 a.m., another blast, this one more joyous: that Heineken ad with a pack o’ Millennials sealed inside the party cab of all party cabs, zipping through a colorfully dingy metro. Bobs in the backseat, music throbbing through the shell. Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.” At the chorus the sexagenarian pilot titty-twists the volume and curdles along in a soggy voice of drowned cottage cheese: “Oh, baby, YOUUUU/you got what I NEED.” I found it somewhat comforting that two generations could find a common bond in a 20-year-old rap classic. Maybe there’s hope in this brave new world, after all. Community, identity, stability. Biz Markie in 2012.

“When the dead break free all hell breaks loose”

I really have to wonder if Tobe Hooper actually read the screenplay before he started directing this abomination. I hate to rag on my man! Mr. Hooper directed Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Salem’s Lot, Funhouse and Poltergeist! It is painful for me to have to tear him a new one but it must be done!

A single mother and her two children move to rural California to start a new life. The family moves in to the long abandoned Fowler Brothers Funeral Home. Mom’s intention is to rejuvenate the place and get business back up and running. Many of the locals fear the place and beleive the house and the land it lies on is haunted. The family learns soon enough what dwells beneath their property.

Actually, the family DOESN’T learn nearly soon enough!! It takes a millenium to get to the action. The characters are annoying as hell and the dialogue is dreadful. The story is shaky to begin with and by the end it completely disitegrates. The film lacks gore, suspense, scares or even humour. If you can’t make a funeral home and graveyard eerie you are not off to a good start. Even the effects and makeup are pretty lame. And to add insult to injury it features one of the dumbest final battle scenes ever. The DVD copy I rented was actually RATED “R”. I cannot imagine why in the hell it would be restricted. It plays out like a TV movie of the week. This film is awful! It should be enbalmed and buried in a 300 foot hole never to be seen by anyone again! Avoid like the plague!

Dungeon Rating: 1/5

Directed By: Tobe Hooper

Starring: Dan Byrd, Denise Crosby, Stephanie Patton, Alexandra Adi, Rocky Marquette, Courtney Peldon, Bug Hall, Tarah Paige, Michael Shamus Wiles, Adam Gierasch and Price Carson

Excellent and a dose of Wheaton, too! Watch the full version here.

Lots to talk about, surprisingly.

I’ll start with this Sunday’s episode of Family Guy in which the TNG cast “reunited” and guest starred. I’m skeptical of the term “reunited” as made obvious by my quote usage twice now, since the actual cast members did not meet when they recorded their dialog. Considering this is animation, I’m also hesitant to say “appeared together on screen” but hey — it’s Wikipedia.

The episode itself was okay. I haven’t been the biggest fan of Family Guy since it came back from cancellation. I loved the first three seasons, and the fourth showed promise, but since then I’ve been about as interested in keeping up with it as I have been with The Simpsons. As in not very interested at all.

The episode was mostly about Meg contracting the mumps, putting up with abuse from her family, and finding God. The actual Star Trek plot was less complex, dealing mostly with Stewie spending a day with the TNG cast and getting increasingly annoyed with them. It was all good fun, but I think I expected a bit more. Still, definitely one of the better Family Guy episodes I’ve seen in a while.

You can preview it here.

Also, I came across this new extended TV spot for the Star Trek movie coming out in theaters this May. Exciting times ahead!

I got the third season of TNG on DVD today. I currently have the first, second, and sixth seasons. So I’ll be enjoying that this week.

F-you Michael. (Patrick Stewart to Michael Dorn)

What a waste of talent. The Family Guy pulled in all the great actors from Star Trek TNG and there was maybe two decent lines in the whole thing.

Patrick Stewart telling of Michael Dorn was classic – for sure…and Denise Crosby getting shot in the first minutes also classic.

After that? Levar Burton’s visor bit was funny – but for the most part nothing happened we didn’t even get funny Star Trek TNG puns.

And when Meg has her God tangent ..instead of pulling in ‘Q’ which would have made sense – they pull in the Flash – ahh aha – theme from the early 80’s Queen song.

What a waste.

So, I finished the first season of the second Star Trek series. After I watched the first season of the original series, some episodes of the second season and the first six movies I decided to start watching The Next Generation. Why? Because I stopped during the second season of TOS and never went back. And for my year in Canada I only took the whole TNG series with me. But I will watch the rest of TOS eventually sometimes next year.
Hopefully.
Now, here my very little recap of the first season. Every episode short commented with points from 1 (very bad) to 10 (genius episode). I will do that for the other six seasons, too (and maybe for other series soon, who knows).
The first season ran on syndicated networks between September 26, 1987 and May 14, 1988.

Episode 01/02: Encounter at Farpoint Well, I have to say the pilot was boring as hell. Nothing much happened and like the opener of TOS I was right into the whole story. Maybe it would be better to start like the first movie – but we will never find out. The first encounter with Q was kind of trivial; it didn’t interest me that much. Maybe it would be better, if the two parter was only one episode.
Oh yeah… Why the appearance of McCoy? To have at least one remnant from TOS? 5/10

Episode 03: The Naked Now I remember the “prequel” from TOS. Back then it was a boring episode. And now this was boring, too. The crew behaved like drunk people, and Wesley as Captain? I laughed my ass off, that was some funny shit (negatively speaking). By the way, this episode was another remnant from TOS; maybe the authors couldn’t find their own stories :/ 5,5/10

Episode 04: Code of Honor Boring planet of the week episode with a guest actor who reminded me of one of the season enemies of 24.
My favorite quote: Riker: I’ll see that (Wesley) leaves immediately.
Picard: No.
Riker: No?
Picard: Why don’t you sit down at Ops next to Lt. LaForge?
Wesley: Sir?
Geordi: Sir?
Picard: Is the whole ship deaf? Sit down over there, young man. 6/10

Episode 05: The Last Outpost Yeah… I don’t know. The Ferengis are crappy and annoying aliens, but it had some thrilling moments. The end was lame. 6,5/10

Episode 06: Where No One Has Gone Before Finally a good episode. I liked the Traveler character, but I didn’t like that the story was moving that fast. This would be excellent for a two parter. 8/10

Episode 07: Lonely Among Us What a crappy story with an even crappier ending. What was this? How was it possible that Picard was still living? And what is it with the death of the peace delegate? Picard, Riker and Troi are laughing about it? But a few moments were good. 3,5/10

Episode 08: Justice I heard this was one of the worst episodes. I did find it very amusing… somehow. Okay, the whole Prime Directive thing was confusing for me, but the planet itself? Very nice – looooove all over the place. Basically you can have sex on the sidewalk, this is absolutely… ROFL.
Am I a real Trekkie, when I am giving this episode 7/10? :|

Episode 09: The Battle The Ferengis again. Down with these crappy and annoying aliens. Picard’s past was nice, but the manipulating device reminded me of old trash stories from The Adventures of Lois and Clark.
So, there are no headaches anymore? Great future 6/10

Episode 10: Hide and Q The next episode with Q. So he wants to get Riker to join the Q. Yeah, that is the episode i wanted to see (not). But it was funny while it lasted.
And what did I read? Riker maybe still has the power of the Q? The fans are really thinking about that stuff. It is like Lost 6,5/10

Episode 11: Haven I don’t remember much of the episode. Just Deanna, a Calvin Kline model and some planned wedding. It had to be boring. I will give it 4/10

Episode 12: The Big Goodbye So, that is the first holodeck episode. Interesting story, but bad characteristics from the crew. The action of Picard and Beverly was really dumb. They have to follow the rules of that time… No wonder a redshird died. 7/10

Episode 13: Datalore The episode was interesting, but the intro was running and running and running and running and running… It was clear all the time that Lore was a bad android, that he would do something. An episode without any thrill, but still good. Somehow.
btw: I had to watch that episode twice. I fell asleep during the first run. 6,5/10

Episode 14: Angel One Another planet of the week episode. I found it very amusing. A planet ruled by women? Holy shit, this can’t be true. One of the actresses (I don’t know her name) strongly reminded me of Mira Furlan. The semblance was intriguing. 6,5/10

Episode 15: 11001001 The best episode so far. But still with a problem: Why do the authors have to write an actual threat every time, even if it isn’t a threat for the crew? The whole Bynars thing was dissolved in a crappy way. And the girl in the holodeck was ugly. How can Riker find her hot? 8,5/10

Episode 16: Too Short a Season I didn’t like that admiral. And the story was crappy, too. The acting was too theatrical and the ending too pointless. I couldn’t like this episode, but somehow it had some good moments. 4,5/10

Episode 17: When the Bough Breaks Another planet of the week with nice habitants, who kidnap children. Hm, it wasn’t boring, but it wasn’t good either. 5,5/10

Episode 18: Home Soil I don’t know about that either. It has a great story, a great alien, but the episode wasn’t that great. The guest characters were written too crappy and the alien too nice at the end. Could somebody do a little bit damage on the ship? 6,5/10

Episode 19: Coming of Age Why does everybody hate the character of Wesley? I found his story very charming. The on ship story was great, too. And I knew this would be a prelude to episode 25. Actually a good episode. 7,5/10

Episode 20: Heart of Glory Worf’s first story: boring. I don’t like the Klingons whysoever, so I really didn’t care much about the story. But the escape of Worf’s two buddies was pretty lame. And how did they manage to bring a whole weapon into the brig? What is up with the Enterprise’s security? 5,5/10

Episode 21: The Arsenal of Freedom Interesting episode with an interesting new weapon. And finally some serious danger for the crew. And LaForge did well as commanding officer. So shall it be.
My favorite quote: Deanna: What happened to all the people?
Worf: War?
Data: Disease?
Geordi: A dissatisfied customer? 8/10

Episode 22: Symbiosis Baah, that was a shitty episode. With its drug related theme it reminded me of one of those 7th Heaven “upholder of moral standard” episodes. OMG, gruesome. 2/10

Episode 23: Skin of Evil I had some memories about that episode. Just another planet of the week, but I had some images about it the whole years after I watched that probably as a kid on television. This was real nostalgia. Oh, and a good episode, too. And finally Tasha is dead, she was a really boring character. 6,5/10

Episode 24: We’ll Always Have Paris I love that “new dimension” stuff, but that was crap. That was nothing. The time loop story was not logical enough to amuse me and I didn’t understand Data’s conflict in the finale: Why was the middle one in the right time, when we always saw the first one? And the romance could be more cut. 4,5/10

Episode 25: Conspiracy It was a good episode, but I was hoping for more. So it was just an unknown alien (how boring). But the ending was really nice. And I read, no other Star Trek episode or series concluded that theme. Interesting. 8/10

Episode 26: The Neutral Zone WTF? People from the 20th century, are you frakking serious? This story was just awful and terrible. And the conflict with the Romulans… Joar, what conflict? They just said: “We are back.” Great, what a gimmick. This wasn’t seriously the season finale?
It was bad. 3/10

Season average is 5,88. I will start the second season next month. First I have to finish some other seasons of other TV shows. See you then.

Blu-Ray Double Feature: Salvage and Mortuary.

Salvage: Claire Parker is going to die. At the hands of a sadistic and depraved killer, she will endure a terrifying, unimaginably brutal death–and it will all happen again. After being beaten, dragged, sliced, and stabbed, Claire awakens at work–where it all began–untouched and unharmed. But the hellish ordeal is far from over. The madman is back and he’s ready for more blood…

Mortuary: When the Doyle family moves to a small town in California to start a new life, it entails running the long-abandoned Fowler Funeral Home and cemetery. The locals fear the place, and there are whispers around town the grounds are haunted. All too soon, the Doyles discover the gossip — and worse — is true. Something sinister lurks beneath the Fowler estate…something that raises the dead and feeds upon death itself.

Salvage/Mortuary [Blu-ray] is available at Amazon for $11.95. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

• Dark City (Director’s Cut) [Blu-ray]
• Iron Man (Ultimate Two-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray]
• I Am Legend [Blu-ray]
• The Godfather – The Coppola Restoration Giftset (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III) [Blu-ray]
• The Mist (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition) [Blu-ray]

Ah, die späten 80er. Anthony Edwards hatte noch Haare, und Frauen brauchten nur einen Haarschnitt, keine Frisur. Menschen trafen sich in wunderbar unironischen Outfits, mit denen man heute jenseits des Prenzlauer Bergs nicht mehr auftreten könnte: türkisfarbene Sakkos, Kombinationen aus verschiedenen Plaste-Elaste-Teilen in aufeinander abgestimmten Lilatönen, Leggins inklusive, und zum Sport trug man grelle Gummistretch-Höschen und Oberteile aus Ballonseide. Handys waren selten und groß wie Thermoskannen, und Stewardessen hießen noch Stewardessen und waren uniformiert, wie heute nicht mal mehr Disney-Angestellte rumlaufen würden. Die gute alte Zeit also.

Miracle Mile, um den Cloverfield-Post nach nochmaliger Ansicht des Films abzuschließen, ist ein relativ lässiger, manchmal karikierender B-Katastrophen-Film, mit dem Unterschied, dass es hier um Reaktion auf die herannahende Katastrophe geht. Das Budget war offensichtlich überschaubar, aber dafür holt es alles raus, was man aus der Geschichte machen kann. Die lebt derweil hauptsächlich von dem gnadenlos runterzählenden Countdown, mit dem der erwartete Nuklearangriff näherzukommen scheint, und der zentralen Frage, ob das überhaupt alles real ist — die wachsende Panik der Stadt beruft sich allein auf die immer weiter gesteigerten Gerüchte, die der Hauptcharakter erst in Gang gebracht hat, von deren Zuverlässigkeit er aber selbst nicht überzeugt ist. Natürlich gibt’s ein paar unnötige Plot-Verwicklungen, um die Zeit zu füllen: die unnötigsten sind da wohl die vorhersehbaren Schwierigkeiten, wenn ein Pärchen zusammen fliehen will, aber sich dabei wiederholt aus den Augen verliert. Ein Katastrophenszenario mit einer rückblickenden Narration der Hauptfigur beginnen zu lassen, verrät natürlich einiges über den Ausgang — andererseits hat das bei Fred Zinnemanns Verfilmung von Das Siebte Kreuz, da allerdings ganz anders gerechtfertigt, ja auch nicht viel zu bedeuten gehabt.

In einer der wichtigeren Nebenrollen ist Denise Crosby dabei, die mein Halb-so-altes-Ich damals vermutlich gerade noch nicht als Tasha Yar kannte. Und dasjenige konnte wohl auch noch nichts damit anfangen, dass sie in ihrem einführenden Auftritt aus dem Aktenkoffer eine (fiktive) CliffsNotes-Ausgabe zu Thomas Pynchons Gravity’s Rainbow aus dem Aktenkoffer zieht und die per SpeedReading durchzugehen beginnt — präziser kann man den Platz eines Films in der Kulturgeschichte wohl kaum in einer fünfsekündigen Szene charakterisieren.

Eine prominente Rolle, unter anderem spielt da die fünfminütige Anfangssequenz, nehmen auch die La Brea Teergruben samt angeschlossenen Museums mitten in Los Angeles ein. Das ist eine der bekanntesten Fossilien-Lagerstätten in den Vereinigten Staaten, wenn sie auch nur etwa 30.000 Jahre zurückgeht: die Skulptur des im flüssigen Asphalts versinkenden Mammuts könnte bekannt sein. [1] Der Zufall dabei war, dass ich gerade erst einen längeren Artikel dazu gelesen hatte, den ich hiermit dringlichst anempfehlen möchte: Jennifer Ouellette von Cocktail Party Physics hat vor einer Woche zum ersten Mal das Museum besucht und einen Beitrag darüber just vergangenen Freitag veröffentlicht, in dem sie ausgiebig Geschichte und Bedeutung der La Brea Tar Pits darstellt.

Die eine, ziemlich unbedeutende Sache, die ich (in stark erweitereten Begriffsverständnis:) physikalisch nicht in Ordnung fand, erspar ich mir hier zu erläutern. Insgesamt war’s ein netter Film mit ein paar Erinnerungen, nicht immer ganz sicher, in welches Genre er sich einordnen will, aber dadurch auch nicht ganz so vorhersehbar. Kein Meisterwerk, aber gute und teils auch ernste Unterhaltung für die 87 Minuten, die er dauert.

[1] La Brea ist wohl auch Schauplatz in den Filmen Volcano und Last Action Hero. Dazu kann ich nichts sagen.