Comments for The Culture Beat

Comment on Movie Review: Super 8 by mattdantodd

mattdantodd — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:22:42 +0000

Meant to include my blog address. That might help. http://mattdantodd.wordpress.com

I really don’t expect you to remember me. It has been nearly 15 years, after all!

Comment on Movie Review: Super 8 by mattdantodd

mattdantodd — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:21:17 +0000

I was a student of yours at Milligan. I think your first year there was my Senior year. You introduced me to Francis Schaeffer in the film criticism class and it rocked my world.

I think our class went to the Star Wars re-release together. It’s kind of difficult for me to remember because…well…I saw it multiple times.

I’ve been reading your blog off and on shortly after its inception (I think).

Comment on Movie Review: Super 8 by Alex

Alex — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:00:56 +0000

Thanks for your insightful comments. I’m not sorry I saw it, but at a certain point, I was pulled out of the picture.
I’m not sure what your name is based on the e-mail address. Tell me more about yourself; have you been reading the blog for long?

Comment on Movie Review: Super 8 by mattdantodd

mattdantodd — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:55:20 +0000

I thought the closing credits were the best part of the whole experience. Of course, you have to watch the whole movie to “get” it.

I agree with your assessment, Dr. Wainer. There were parts, especially during the train crash, that I thought to myself, “This is why you should go to movie theaters to watch movies. It doesn’t get any better than this.” The end, however, felt forced and manipulative. Encounters and ET simply flowed. Unlike ET, I felt no emotional connection to the alien. As you said, it started to feel like a list being checked off.

That being said, it was definitely worth the ticket price I paid. And since we don’t have much extra money to spend on luxuries like going to the movies, that’s saying a lot to me!

Comment on Mad (X-)Men by Alex

Alex — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:30:48 +0000

Ahh, yes, overspeculation leads to a crash as greed outstrips the love of the object itself. Thanks, I’ll read it.

Comment on Mad (X-)Men by taj

taj — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:11:00 +0000

Since we’re on the subject of comic books (in a way), have you read the piece in the Weekly Standard about the Comic Book crash of 1993 and how it relates to the housing markets? Fascinating stuff…seemed like something you would enjoy.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/crash-1993_573252.html?nopager=1

Comment on Mad (X-)Men by Alex

Alex — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:49:41 +0000

Thanks, taj! I somehow was able to remain open to the unfolding of a surprisingly sustained climax. There were enough other character elements alongside Eric’s that I was happily following the conflict’s resolution. Once you grant mutant powers and conflict, you can’t worry too much about this alternate history of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was sort of like seeing that a James Bond story was inserted into an historical account, since pitting of East against West for a third party’s benefit was borrowed from that series of films. Unlike the Star Trek reboot, events didn’t feel so contrived in order to create new narrative space for future films–this is the rare prequel that had suspense and character drama.

Thanks again for reading!

Comment on Mad (X-)Men by taj

taj — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:35:42 +0000

I enjoyed the film, but was a little underwhelmed by the conclusion. I had hoped for something a little more bold and surprising.

This kind of treads on the idea of my expectation intruding on what the movie actually offers, so maybe it’s a moot point. (BEWARE, READERS — SPOILERS FOLLOW)

When Magneto raised his hand in the air and stopped all those munitions from coming at him at the film’s climax, my mind had a surge of thought:

“He’s gonna blow up those ships. That’s gonna be tricky, considering this is set in a well-documented and recent place in history. Maybe the writers really are going to try and create an alternate history for future sequels. That’s a dumb idea. But then, he can’t fail here, it’s too predictable. Charles can’t just, you know, stop him. But he can make everyone forget…what if Eric really does blow up those ships…and Charles has to wipe the incident from everyone’s minds via cerebro…such a powerful display of his power would certainly cause him to lose his hair…”

So yeah, that was my own creativity intruding on the work of the filmmakers. But for a moment, particularly as we watched Eric lose and regain his manipulation over those munitions, I kept thinking, maybe the filmmakers are really gonna go for it. So it felt a little bit like a cheat.

But that’s such a small caveat, really. I enjoyed the film, and I hope we get to se more.

And yes, someone is still here…

Comment on Sherlock Holmes in the 21st Century by Ashley

Ashley — Sat, 28 May 2011 16:41:40 +0000

I know how the busy thing goes. Got a new job at Microsoft last month, and I don’t get off work until 6 PM.

I haven’t been to the movies much. We did go see Thor for Keith’s birthday, but we haven’t done much else. I did discover a treasure trove of MST3K videos on Netflix and have introduced Keith to it, and Mr. Bean, too.

He laughed so hard he almost choked on his nachos.

There’s really nothing on my list until Courageous comes out in September. So it’s going to be a loooong boring summer.

Probably better that way. I’ve had several requests for needlepoint I should work on.

Hope your summer schedule frees up a bit more. Give my best to your wife and son.

Comment on Sherlock Holmes in the 21st Century by Alex

Alex — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:28:18 +0000

I’m just as busy as during the 9-month marathon but am self-scheduled mostly with various projects I don’t have time for the rest of the year, as well as the online internship course. One reason I haven’t posted lately.