Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Movies for People Like Us

Well, I like a good movie. Most likely it is because the real life movie is such a drag. Materialism has gotten so bad that I feel like I’m surrounded by wild packs of hungry dogs. It’s not just the pushing and shoving, I’ve managed to put myself where I don’t see much of that. It’s also the cellphones and legions of fat teenagers endlessly finger tapping them for purposes unknown to me. I know the GWEN system’s other function is to disrupt human brain patterns. I could speculate on why but then this wouldn’t be about some of the movies I think you ought to see if you are in the mood for feel good entertainment.

I believe, as do certain of the legitimate mystery schools, that there are different rays on which we travel homeward. We are members of different groups whose aspirations and tastes are widely varied. We’re living in different worlds and we are headed for different worlds. In the matter of movies, some of us like thrillers and some of us like romance flicks. Some of us like horror and some of us prefer television because some of us are as dumb as the advertisers think we are. Yes, some of us are so stupid that it’s hard to imagine unless you are one of them and then imagination won’t be a factor anyway. Some of us are very bright and there are two categories for that. It is from this group that all of the world’s ills and blessings proceed. I seem to have gotten off on a tangent but; so what?

Yes... I probably like movies as much as I do because I am a dreamer and an escapist. As a child, I spent many hours in fruit trees reading books. My world was not a pleasant place to live in so I had to find other worlds. Books provided them. The world’s worse now than it was then but it’s a lot easier for me to manage. Stay away from large population areas. Don’t watch TV. Eat right and exercise. Be self sufficient power wise. Get off the grid. Your possibility of survival will greatly increase in the coming upheavals. And those upheavals are coming. Those of you who like horror and thrillers and disaster films are going to get a double bonus. You’re going to get to be in one, even if it’s only as an extra.

Why am I doing this in a post about movies? Because I can. If I want to I can just start typing a’ljk w f wopeiw epowi wem mk 234-0452-0250-81238 nv] =\\-92-q

Q{}ofwlwpwoiqd\-9[Qw90 =-e294q\-93r[worl3p3qqw,0qwp[ ... and no one is going to stop me. Now that’s power. I could just start writing an intense erotic vignette. I could rant and scream or turn into a porcelain waterfall of frozen rope and just go right on without explaining what that means. Anything could happen, including a report on movies that won’t disappoint and will leave you feeling better after you’ve seen them.

Let’s do that.

John Favreau is an interesting guy. You might know him from the film “Swingers”. He’s lost his hair and put on some weight since those days and I’m getting the impression he’s a happily married man who loves his children (if he has any). He comes across as a human being. I like him and I can’t say why exactly. I always remember who he is and I wonder about him sometimes. He made a movie called “Zathura”. You could call it a kid’s movie but I would call it a movie for all ages. This is a wonderful piece of film-making and if you haven’t seen it you are going to thank me for bringing it to your attention. You’ll probably like John Favreau as much as I do after you’ve watched this movie. I’d go so far as to say, “Buy it.”

Let’s say you’re thinking about watching two movies in one night and you want to feel twice as good after seeing them. Then you’ve got to follow Zathura with “The Last Mimzy”. I’m not going to tell you anything about this movie except to say it’s another movie for all ages masquerading as a kid’s movie. See both of these movies with someone you care about. They are both as good as each other.

Terry Gilliam has done some wonderful things. He’s not like anybody else and that’s good news for the rest of us who aren’t like everybody else. Our numbers are shrinking all the time so there’s less entertainment and fewer books for people like us; well, there isn’t anyone like us is there? Let’s say for people like us who aren’t like everyone else. The world of free range imagination has been poisoned in the same way the astral realm got poisoned when the wrong people and everyone else who is like everyone else started dropping acid. In the beginning there was hardly anyone else there and everyone who was there was an asset. Then came the Manson family and the C.I.A. approved hallucinogenics and that area of being turned into an S. Clay Wilson comic with Captain Pissgums and Ruby the Dyke. The astral fields of dancing meadows and sweet etheric entities began to turn into an R. Crumb backdrop full of Honeybunch Kaminski’s being porked by horny rabbits. Wave bye bye as the red bull drives the unicorn into the sea.

Terry Gilliam did a film called “Time Bandits” and I consider it his finest work. If you’re not like everybody else then this film will make you long for what we do not have and give you a window of time in which to possess it for a little while.

Now I’m going to go into a different area and mention three movies that are similar enough, without being anything like each other, except for two of them having the occasional strange creature popping up. It’s probably a good idea to start with Donnie Darko which was one of Jake Gyllenhaal’s stopovers on the way to Brokeback Mountain (which I haven’t seen). The real world is a bummer and it shows up in this film but so does the other world that the rest of us, who aren’t like everyone else, live in when we can. It’s something Camus might have written if he had a sense of humor and was around today. Most people might not get this because irony is dead. Inexplicable misfortune is not dead though, even if some of its victims are. You can’t see Donnie Darko and forget you saw it.

The Chumscrubber is a lot like Donnie Darko. They could have called it “The Son of Donnie Darko.” Or “It Came from Beneath the Donnie Darko” and not have been far off base. Both of these movies have a little bit of “American Beauty” in them without being as real world tragic. Well... that’s hard to say. You’d have to make that call.

Charlie Bartlett is like these films but I couldn’t tell you why. What I can tell you is that Anton Yelchin is a serious player and that one day he’s going to be a great actor, possibly legendary. He does a few things in this movie that are going to make you go, “Wow!” or at least raise your eyebrows. This film has the added benefit of having Robert Downey Jr. who is one of the best actors of our time. I’ll say that again, “one of the best actors of our time.”

If you see any or all of these six movies you are going to be happy that you did. If you are anything like me, who is not like anyone else, you’re going to think all of these movies were made for you. These movies were made for people who need another world to slip into that isn’t as frightening as the one in which we live and even when it is; like in Zathura and Time Bandits, its okay. You’re got more power in these movies than you have in your life.

The bad guys are on top at the moment. Serial killers are the pinup models and child sex is the new chocolate. Greed is good. Torture is good. Manners are out and rude is hot. Superficiality is the new deep. Up is down and shit tastes like marmalade if you remember to add oranges. The future index is a raised middle finger and you can bet a lot more puppies are going to be flying off of cliffs. That’s how it works. But you can still curl up on a couch with someone you love and watch a good movie and you won’t go wrong watching any of these. Enjoy.

Visible and The Critical List: Not Politically Correct by Les Visible and The Critical List♫ Surfer Joe ♫
'Surfer Joe' is track no. 6 of 12 on Visible and The Critical List's 1992 album
'Not Politically Correct'

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Not Politically Correct by Les Visible and The Critical List

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