Terrible Analogies

Movies I love that others think are terrible: The Warriors, Repo Man, The Car, Flash Gordon, The Adventures Of Remo Williams, Buckaroo Banzai, Where The Buffalo Roam, The Thing, Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China, The Prophecy trilogy and Dudes.

All of these movies I own in either DVD or blu-ray format, except for one: Dudes.

Staring Jon Cryer, Daniel Roebuck and Flea (from the band Red Hot Chili Peppers), Dudes is about a group of punk rockers who are growing tired waiting for the world to end. Looking for a fresh start in life they decide to travel to California, but late one night while camping in the Nevada desert they are attacked by a group of human smugglers.  Grant (Jon Cryer) and Biscuit (Daniel Roebuck) make good their escape, but alas, poor Milo (Flea) is cornered in a canyon and killed.

With the help of a local woman, an Elvis impersonator, a curious bottle of liquor and a group of ancient cowboy and indian spirits, Grant and Biscuit track down and dispatch the lawless band of outlaws who murdered their friend in cold blood.

Dudes never found its way on to the DVD format. Ignored by the movie studios this movie continues to languish on VHS (from which I gabbed the screen shots below), which is a shame because it’s one of those rare movies whose lack of budget was painfully obvious, but whose soul rang loud and true.

With music provided by The Vandals, The Little Kings, Keel, Steve Vai, Wall Of Voodo and Jane’s Addiction, this punk rock / cowboy hybrid of a flick is a guilty pleasure of mine, and I can only hope that some day it manages to find its way on to blu-ray.

To say I’m a movie fanatic would be an understatement.

When I was a kid I would sneak out of school and skateboard down to the local movie theater to watch Buckaroo Banzai or Star Wars. Heck, even when I was attending school I was one of those kids who actually enjoyed the films that were shown in class. When other kids were writing notes or hurling spitballs at one another, I was engrossed in the movies being shown on an honest-to-gosh movie projector (man, this takes me back!). Didn’t matter if it was a movie about the wild animals of Peru, cave mold, auto safety or the joys of public service I couldn’t take my eyes off of the screen.

I think I’ll always remain a movie buff, and as my current personal collection of movies can attest my love for movies has never waned:

And these movies are just the highlights. Blu-ray is slowly taking over, forcing me to stuff the rest of my collection in my closet.

Which brings me to an interesting clip I came across this weekend about the evolution of movie title scenes.  It’s interesting to note how these things have grown more mature and integral to the movie going experience with the passage of time and improved technologies.  From simple flash cards to computer aided designs, this clip shows the natural progression of what was once something that was considered an afterthought.

I stumbled across this teaser trailer for Jon Favreau new movie Cowboys & Aliens last night and am amazed at the number of big names attached to it. It reads like a “who’s who” of movies (Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Ovlivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Stephen Spielberg, Ron Howard), and it looks like it’s going to be another summer hit from Hollywood’s new “it” director. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

Karin and I were wandering the movie isles at Fry’s this weekend we noticed that Apollo 13 had finally been released on blu-ray.  It’s hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since its theatrical debut.  Amazing how time flies…

Anyway, we decide to pick it up, and on Saturday night we settled down with a beer, crackers with some excellent Wisconsin cheese (thanks mom & dad!), and a screening of Apollo 13.

Halfway through the flick, after Tom Hanks proclaims, “Houston, we have a problem,” Karin pointed at the screen and yelled, “Mitch!”

“What?” I asked, nose buried in my glass of black and tan.

“Mitch!” she reiterated, only this time a bit louder and with fervent finger waggling.

It was then that I suddenly felt as if I had stumbled into a bizarre “Who’s On First?” skit:

Karin: Mitch!
Me: Mitch who?
Karin: You know…Mitch Mitch!
Me: No, who’s Mitch?
Karin: Movie Mitch! (more finger wagging now with added forehead slapping)
Me (utterly confused): Tom Hanks?
Karin: No, not Tom.  Mitch!
Me: First base!

Freezing the movie, Karin pointed at the face on the screen, and it finally dawned on me what she was talking about.  ”Mitch,” she said once again, pointing at the screen:

Now, if you’re as much of a fan of the movie Real Genius as Karin and I are, you might recognize this actor as having played the role of Mitch in Real Genius:

Wow.  Mitch grew up to work at Mission Control!  Who knew?!

I was surfing the internet this weekend looking for a case for Karin’s new 4G iTouch when I came across this Cronenbergian nightmare.  Apparently it’s a power supply cord designed by a Japanese artist.  This thing is equal parts disturbing and fascinating, and quite honestly it’s really nothing that I’d want in my house.

Reminds me of the movie eXistenZ. If you haven’t seen this flick yet, then I highly suggest you stop reading my blog and go pick up a copy.