"Choose Your Own Adventure"

For the past thirty years movie critic Roger Ebert has been the last word in box quotes. He can literally bite his thumb at you and make-or-break your film. So in 2010, when he came out on the Chicago Sun-Times blog and declared that video games could never be art, you can imagine the schism that followed within the nerd community.

Now, I realize that geeks and games have always been synonymous. The two share an almost symbiotic relationship in the cultural development of untold millions of adolescent young boys and girls the world over, myself included.

Film buffs are a different story.

The Rightful Heir: Part II

So here it is, the intermission is over! The anticipation recedes! The truth is revealed! But before you see exactly who I think is the next likely inheritor of John Williams’ deservedly unique position in the art of film scoring, I’d like to say that if you haven’t read Part I of this series, then I suggest you do so now so you can get up to speed with the rest of us.

I’d also like to take this time to explain what I am and am not doing.

Taste in music, much like a sense of humor, is often akin to one’s sexual preferences. It’s not something you really choose. It just kind of happens. That said, don’t complain about what I’m NOT doing here.

I’m not talking about who is necessarily better in terms of scoring nor am I talking about who is more prolific or more of a house-hold name. I’m talking about who is most like our dear old pal John. So let’s take a look at the winners, shall we? 

The Rightful Heir: Part I

 

Okay, so this kind of music doesn't work ALL the time, but like one of those obnoxious yellow rental jeeps you see everywhere in Hawaii, John (Towner) Williams (Junior) has been one of the most prolific, successful and accomplished film composers in the world since…well…ever.

Who hasn’t heard a university pep band bellow the Imperial March when things aren’t looking too good for the home team? When has the devastatingly simple two-note motif from Jaws not been a portent of doom? Come on. Just admit it. Any time you heard the Raider’s March you wished you owned a bullwhip and knew some Nazis who needed a what-fer. And when you heard the Superman theme you’d run down the street, ripping off your clothes in slow motion, only to realize moments after leaping off of a building that you actually couldn’t fly.

Thoughts: On Trailers Pt. I - The Power of Enigma

I’m sure you’ve all heard variations of the same old quip, always delivered with a delicious slice of sarcasm just as the house lights go down and the trailers come up; someone whispers, “This is my favorite part of the movie.”

But who can blame them for their cynicism? The fifteen-odd minutes of advertisements notwithstanding, the overall quality of American movies in recent years has been…how shall we say…less than spectacular?

Especially tricky is finding a way to keep a disinterested audience interested.

“Original Spit: A Tribute (of sorts) to Meir Zarchi’s Legacy and the Path of American Horror”

Wakka wakka?

(Warning: Contains some graphic material.)

Speaking of graves, I’m not quite so sure that silent actor Buster Keaton could have envisioned the things his grand-daughter would be doing in “Day of the Woman”. In fact, before his porkpie hat blew sky high upon his discovery of the dirty, dirty truth, he might even be inclined to mistake the film for one of those delightful runaway comedies like his “Seven Chances”, given the truculent little title might suggest the possibility of a hard-headed female love interest. Or maybe a hilarious romantic role reversal? But, for those of you who know what Meir Zarchi’s “I Spit on Your Grave” is all about and why it has remained famous all these years, then you’ll know there’s definitely a...reversal.

B/C: A Morbid Toast to the Power of Pop Culture

I guess depending on where you are, today (May 23rd) could not have been all that different than the May 23rd of 1934. Oh sure, we were in a depression and pennies probably actually counted for a helluva lot more than the cold embrace of a coin press machine, but Americans, a good 25% of which were unemployed, were rightly on their way to becoming the cynical creatures we know and love today.

{Music Musings} Songs that Auto-Complete

    What an age we live in. The answers to your questions can be found with the tip of your fingertips and a handy connection to Google. From the stupidly simple to the obscenely obscure. Heck, even the irrelevant, absurd, and unanswerable bring answers. Well, uh... results at least.