Wednesday, April 13, 2005

My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father; prepare to die

I just spent the night I was supposed to finish my 545 paper watching The Princess Bride, the DVD version. Oh, that was fun. Hey, whaddya mean, this cinematic cynic actually likes a movie? Well, note that all the flicks I insult are recent, and that PB is from good 'ol '85. Yes, there are some (some) movies made in this 2000s that are good--excellent even--but there so few. PB is pure movie-making genius; maybe no one’s been able to get this kind of goofiness --somewhat reminiscent of Monty Python and This is Spinal Tap (maybe it has something to do with Christopher Guest)--that people haven't been able to get quite right. Maybe this kooky genre is a dated, a remnant of the eighties when fantasy movies from Star Wars to The Dark Crystal were popular. The funny thing is, though, that unlike PB, these other movies weren't supposed to be comedies. Watching them again in 2000, and a good ten years later, I get nostalgic for the Jim Henson puppets and low-tech special effects. Oh, the lost days when scary, red-painted and dual-horned Tim Curry captured Tom Cruise's love in Legend, or when David Bowie, the then-thirty something transvestite pop-singer tried to seduce an excessively young Jennifer Connolly in Labyrinth . . . "Dance, magic dance . . ." (Those goblins looked like little turds, but they'd still scare the shitezas outta me if I had to see one up close).


Fantasy movies have been replaced by technotronic martial arts films with black vinyl and Keanu Reeves; my beloved muppet monters and aliens are all now computer generated cartoons that look too drawn out to be real; and Star Wars the prequels--they are just plain terrible. Star Wars used to be dramatic, innovative, and funny; the new ones take themselves so seriously that it's hard to take them, well, seriously.

Well, I'm beginning to sound a lot like a big nerd here. Oops, I have a blog, and that's already a given. So, I await a day when fantasy movies will return with muppets, David Bowie, and most of all, humour--and that may be never.

2 comments:

Jesse said...

You always used to say this. HAHAHAHAHA. Times haven't changed.

- Jess

matthea said...

I did? Look it that. One track mind.

Jess, did Karyn tell you that she wants us to sing for her wedding? It's so weird - it'll be like first year, when we used to do worship together! yikes! Disaster! haha. Looking forward to it.