the groundhog day project

"From Dan Dare to James Tiberius Kirk, Flash Gordon's DNA is shot through our notions of what a hero - and superhero - is like a jagged bolt of lightning," writes Adam Smith in Empire . Director Mike Hodges describes the role of Flash as "an all-American hunk, decent, honourable, but, most importantly, naive ." And, taking this film version, energetic and fun, and hardly capable of, let alone prone to, bouts of negativity. A nice birthplace for the 80s action hero, really. For example, Rambo had his angsty origins, but was all action and getting things done in the 80s. Not every 80s hero was angst-proof; Martin Riggs , for example, was essentially suicidal. But most were almost gleefully violent (and so, really, was Riggs, just for different reasons). Compare even Riggs to say, Paul Kersey from the Death Wish films, begun in 1974; or Harry Callahan, whose films began in 1971. Seventies violence may have been just as outlandish as the best moments of, say, Com...

Today, I saw Justice League and Wonder on the big screen. I will not have time for one of my "childhood deconstruction" movies today, even though watching far too many movies seems to be one of my primary skills. Along with writing far too many words about them. Today, I'm going to a concert, and will be home late. So, no more movies today... even though I could almost fit one in right now. And, maybe only a few words. Regarding a recent theme here about humanizing monsters, I was reminded of Super Friends while watching Justice League , and how even the villains had a club... SPOILERS: if you stay after the credits of Justice League you'll see the villains are forming up in the cinematic DCU as well, but it probably won't be as fun. Some good Black Manta and Lex Luthor arguing while Bizarro is perplexed about the plan--the DCU could use something light like that. And, on the heroes' side, we need some Wonder Twins. I remember when DC published some la...

Good versus evil is easier when neither side are bumbling fools . Darth Vader is one of the great film villains despite the simplicity of his motivation--hell, in the original Star Wars , does he even have a motivation? He's evil, he's prone to choking people, he's not quite in charge but his powers mean most other imperials defer to him. But, why is he this Imperial... Tool? Weapon? Knight? His look is iconic enough--and James Earl Jones' voiceover performance as well--that he works in a film aimed at a young audience. George Lucas has a good eye for set pieces, especially when he's not free to do whatever he wants with CGI. He is good at throwing one problem after another at his heroes like we're watching some old serial in some small town theater in the 40s. And here, with The Empire Strikes Back , he's just far enough away from the production--as neither director nor screenwriter--that everything works a little better. I mean, it's not just the bett...

Rudy Gerner (Chris Makepeace) may have a self-esteem problem, but he's got a great view on what he wants out of life... or at least what he doesn't want. Plus, you've got Tripper's whole rallying cry about it not mattering if you win or lose. And, I think some of what this movie instilled in little kid me is obvious. Outside of fiction--i.e. when I'm playing a game or writing a story--I have no interest in doing... well, evil. Doing bad things. Hurting people. That doesn't mean, in any exclusive way, that I don't do bad things. I'm not sure anyone really wants to do bad things. Some people just lack the empathy and understanding to realize the consequences of their actions. Some people, given power--and its corrupting influence--inevitably take advantage. And even the best person, in a moment of weakness, can do the wrong thing. But, there are no mustache-twirling villains in the real world. There are bullies, there are manipulators and power-hungry ba...

Right away in Cartel Land , the Oscar-nominated documentary I've got playing right now, in which a guy says in voiceover, "There's an imaginary line out there between right and wrong, good and evil. I believe what I'm doing is good. I believe what I'm going up against is evil." In the larger context, that's the idea to just about every film, every story. Not always good and evil but drama virtually requires some sort of binary for everything--with us or against us, in or out, right or wrong, black or white. The best drama, I think, is in the gray areas, the nuance. But, story structure ultimately loops back around to the binary. Even something like Tarantino's latest, The Hateful Eight , full of a lot of bad people with different reasons to be bad comes around to offering us reasons to care about a few of them, finding some to be less, well, hateful. Just before I turned on Cartel Land , though, I was watching another Oscar-nominated documentary-- ...