Inception: My Decision

(The end of this week will mark my 50th post, and I tried yesterday to write on The Shawshank Redemption—my favorite movie—in celebration. But I came up empty. Please enjoy this rant instead.)

Okay, Mr. Nolan, you got me. I almost slid off the front of my seat, waiting for that damn top to quit spinning. You told a great story with mind-bending ideas and got me hooked, and then you left me hanging.

Well done.

But I need to get a good night’s sleep, for crying out loud. So I’ve made an executive decision: Leo’s awake, okay? He came home, hugged his kids, and lived happily ever after until they became teenagers and he started messing with their dreams to plant the idea of cleaning their rooms now and then.

I don’t care that there are pages and pages of passionate debate going on out there on the Internet. I don’t care that the kids looked exactly the same age and were wearing the same clothes in real life that they were in his dream. Maybe his wife died and he left home a couple weeks ago, all right? Did he ever say how long he’d been away?

No, don’t tell me. I’m happy thinking it worked out this way.

Seriously, shut up. No more discussions. Treat me like someone who’s never seen the movie, and don’t spoil my ignorance.

I watched Lost for six years, and I still don’t know who was riding in that other outrigger. Before that came the Battlestar Galactica finale, and I came really, really close to developing a good theory on what Starbuck was before I realized I’d forgotten an important detail, and it all unraveled in one sleepless night. I need resolution somewhere in my life.

Stop making me crazy, Mr. Nolan and ilk. You are great and powerful story wizards, and I will submit to your magic no more. I am officially putting my fingers in my ears, clicking my heels, and sing-songing: “There’s no place like home!”

(For real, I loved this movie. If you’ve not seen it, don’t miss out. It’s one of those rare events that holds up despite the hype. You won’t be disappointed.)

 

The Princess Bride: Ruins Re-Imagined

Why There’s a Difference Between Re-telling Old Stories and Renewing Old Ideas

“The Ruins” at Tower Grove Park here in St. Louis, MO.

I re-watched The Princess Bride with my friend Mark the other day, not without some trepidation. I worried that it would spoil my nostalgia by being that typical childhood love that doesn’t age well.

Fortunately, it turned out to be one of those rare gems that’s even funnier when you’re an adult. I could newly appreciate the sophistication of the humor while still laughing and speaking along with one of the most quotable movies ever made.

My nostalgia was validated.

The part of Prince Humperdinck’s castle in The Princess Bride was played by Haddon Hall in Derbyshire, England. With its towers and halls of weathered old stone, it’s the ideal image of a medieval residence. At least, for the movies it is.

 

Hamlet: To Star, Perchance to Lead

Why the Lead Actor Should Be a Good Leader

(Not a movie this Monday, but a play, the 10th annual offering at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival.)

My favorite part of every year’s Shakespeare Festival St. Louis is cresting the hill at Shakespeare Glen and getting my first look at the set. Spread out at the bottom of the natural amphitheater in Forest Park, the stage creates my first impression for the night ahead. This year it was a castle in Denmark. They were putting on Hamlet.

The Shakespeare play.

Finally getting to see this show would put me one step closer to being a Well-Rounded Individual.

 

Toy Story 3–or, Pixar Makes You Cry Again

Why I Was Ready To Let Go

*(Spoilers, because I like to write discussions, not movie reviews. So everything’s fair game.)*

I’ve written before of my admiration for Pixar’s work ethic. When Toy Story 2 first came through the works, it was supposed to be direct-to-DVD. Not willing to let their reputation fall into the movie bargain bin at Wal*Mart so soon—it was only their third feature film at that point—the crew assembled to rewrite, reanimate, and recreate the thing virtually from scratch.

TS2‘s release was delayed, but well worth it. As Randy in Scream 2 can tell you, it’s notoriously hard to make a good sequel.

 

Legion: What Ain’t Broke

(This week’s Monday post is a day late due to a busy weekend. But, hey, I have less hair now, so I’m bound to move faster!)

Doug Jones was the main attraction for me seeing this movie. Sadly, his appearance in Legion is about 2 seconds longer than his appearance in the trailer. His creature is cool—one more in a successful line which includes the Silver Surfer from Fantastic Four, Abe Sapien from Hellboy, and Pan from Pan’s Labyrinth—but I was hoping for more of a set piece than he got.

Alas.

Mr. Jones is a Christian working and living in L.A. with a noteworthy career going. That’s no small feat. But on top of that, in his interview on Tyler Smith’s “More Than One Lesson” podcast, he also struck me as a humble, whimsical guy with a lot of wisd—Wait a second!

 

Star Wars: The Most Exciting Part of the Story

Well, it was inevitable. Here’s my first Star Wars post. Probably not the last.

I was watching the original Trilogy on Spike TV this weekend, and, like many fans many times, I thought about why I liked them so much compared to the Prequels.

And I think it’s because the Trilogy tells the most exciting part of the story.

One of the best practices in storytelling is to “arrive late and leave early.” That doesn’t refer to your work schedule, but to the scenes you write. You should always tell the most interesting part of the scene and be done, like telling a good joke.

For instance, when I tell a funny story about what happened to me at work today, I don’t start by describing my drive to work (unless something I saw on the way has something to do with it, and for the sake of this argument, is doesn’t). If you spend a lot of time detailing entrances and exits—also known as “shoe leather,” I think because people are walking around a lot—the story drags.

The story of Star Wars is

 

Alice Takes The Hero’s Journey

Because in a post about Disney, Star Wars, Tim Burton movies, and Joseph Cambell’s mythic structure, I just wasn’t earning enough geek points, I thought I’d start out with this pic I snapped of the Human Chess Match played in front of our cafe this weekend. We’re proud neighbors of the St. Louis Chess Club, and they held the 2010 U.S. Chess Championship this week.

Not only does the chess theme help illustrate my Alice in Wonderland post, it also seemed fitting for LOST’s series finale weekend (and there goes another point to my geek card).

_____

Once upon a time, Linda Woolverton was drafted into service to write the screenplay for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. This was highly unusual, since at the time, all animated features were planned out solely by storyboard. Scripts were written later so that the voice actors had something to read off of, but in the meantime, since every shot had to be planned out before it was drawn, storyboards were the script.

However, the story-breaking process for Beauty had been so rough that the Disney folks decided they needed to play this one for real, and start with a screenplay like any other feature film.

Fortunately, this strategy paid off in spades. Beauty was one of the studio’s biggest hits of all time, and Ms. Woolverton created one of Disney’s first honest jabs at a heroine with brains, independence, and true character. Nearly 20 years later, Ms. Woolverton has revived another classic fairy tale heroine—Alice—and taken her on a journey few female characters in film get to go on: The Hero’s Journey.

 

Monday Movie-of-the-Week: Iron Man 2

The first act of the Wanderlings rewrite is complete! Woot! And it’s 11:15pm by the clock on my computer, so this post still counts for Monday! Woo-hoot!

When I asked my friends if they had any Iron Man 2 plans the weekend of May 7, I got a patronizing chuckle from one of them.

It’s not the first time I’ve gotten this type of reaction to my geekdom. I’m mostly over any hard feelings about it, although I was puzzled this time, because I figured that part of the success of Iron Man was that most guys could enjoy an action movie with a cocky hero and exploding buildings even if they weren’t fans of comic books.

 

Monday Movie-of-the-Weekend: Twelve Monkeys

I realized while writing this entry that I don’t really have a spoiler policy for this blog, nor do I like the word. So, if the movie’s a few years, months, or weeks old, expect me to discuss the plot in full if it inspires an idea I want to talk about. I’m not trying to write reviews or recommendations, anyway, just discussions.

But as a side note, I am definitely anti-spoiler about LOST, so keep your trap shut if you know something.

Terry Gilliam’s trippy sci-fi film, based on the short French film La Jette, tells the story of a man sent back in time to prevent a catastrophic world-wide outbreak. Problem is, he’s pretty sure that as a kid, he witnessed his adult future self get killed trying to fulfill his mission. And so as the movie charges toward its inevitable conclusion, we are beset with one of sci-fi’s most troubling questions—if you know what’s going to happen, is it fated, or can you prevent it? Can Bruce Willis’ character escape his…

 

Monday Movie-of-the-Weekend: The Motorcycle Diaries

Up front: I’ve become politically apathetic in my old age, and until I watched this movie, I knew as much about Ernesto “Che” Guevara as might your average Jay-Walking All Star. So I enlisted my old buddy Alberto (hereforto known as “Mial”) to watch The Motorcycle Diaries with me and help me glean some insight. If anything I say here sounds naïve, uninformed, or grossly ignorant, be patient with me. Or blame Alberto, whichever.

Ever since I read Based On a True Story (*but with more car crashes) by Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen, I view biopics with a skeptical awareness. Not cynicism, mind you. I’m not broken-hearted about this. Even if filmmakers don’t have a personal need to glorify their lead character, they still have to make a movie that tells a coherent story in about two hours.

The Motorcycle Diaries tells a great road-trip story by way of gorgeous scenery, meditative music, and strong acting.