the groundhog day project

The thing about SpaceCamp is, nevermind the silly space visuals of the opening titles (and when Max freaks out looking into deep space), nevermind the silly turns of the plot, and the simplicity of the characters, I still liked it back in ’86, and I still kinda dig it. I can see all of its parts moving now, of course. And the one part that fits badly, but I’ll get to that. Tish is super smart, so of course her passing knowledge of morse code will save the day later. Despite her urge to be otherwise, Kathryn is a great pilot, so of course her piloting skills will save the day. Max is too small (and is friends with Jinx) so of course his diminutive size (and his robot friendship*) will save the day. (* his relationship with Jinx is also, of course, why they are all endangered in the first place.) Before I continue the obviousness, there is some cheap audience attention getting early on. Kids are picking up their team tags, and the people handing them out say their names, but ...

I remember the sound mix for this film being amazing. All the music, all the explosions. I remember how exciting this, and a few months later Top Gun were. But, watching it today is harder because our ability to film aerial tricks and dogfights has improved and been augmented by special effects magic. Not that, I'm sure, this movie didn't employ some visual effects. On IMDb, Iron Eagle has 1 credit for visual effects, and 12 for special effects. A lot of the aerial shots seem fairly genuine (though the film very much did not get cooperation from the Air Force once they learned of what goes on in act two), so I'm guessing a lot of the visual effects are really the overlays to put the HUD targeting stuff over the footage, making really footage look like a simulator, blue screen backgrounds*, simple stuff like that. Or, you know, explosions, of course. I mean, it's the 80s. In America. Spare no expense making your movie big and loud... (* speaking of blue screen,...

I'm watching The Buddy Holly Story tonight. It's already late when I'm starting because, well, because life is a busy thing and I was feeling like I was getting sick earlier today--ended my argumentation class a bit early, even--and slept a bit this afternoon, had to take my daughter to gymnastics this evening. The Buddy Holly Story is an interesting case because it's actually been a good amount of years since I've watched it last... In fact, I don't really remember the last time I watched it, nor the first. And it's not like there are particular times watching it in between that stand out. But, this is movie that I saw plenty when I was young, and by release date, it came next, after Star Wars . This was my mom's movie, really. She grew up on Buddy Holly music. And, that mean's I grew up on Buddy Holly music. And Pink Floyd, and Journey, and Duran Duran... I had my mom's music, my dad's music, and six older sisters' music. Different in...

Got Star Wars out of my system... at least until I can get one of my kids to go see it so I have an excuse to go see it again. Now, back to our irregularly scheduled blog about a political movie. (If you're somehow here because of yesterday 's Star Wars SPOILERS post, you should know that this month I have been trying to alternate between political films and fantasy films (though the definition of both of those things has gotten a little blurry). Anyway, the other day I watched Bulworth --a movie I have liked since I first saw it in the theater but which always bugs me in some of its particulars. One of those particulars was really getting to me after watching it again this past week, and I want to get back to it now. See, the good thing about this film is that it offers a politician so broken by the system of which he is a part that he a) doesn't want to live anymore and b) doesn't want to lie anymore... to the point of volunteering some very offensive notions to m...

A couple notes of apology: First, I recently decided to upgrade Phil's/ Groundhog Day 's Christ-Figure score because I found the "cross" imagery... So, that would give him/it a 23/25 on Kozlovic's (2009) scale. Second, I missed some people yesterday ... But, then there's the third thing. I'm a racist bastard. I mean, I get into this whole thing about the Magic Negro--and no, that's not what makes me racist; I didn't come up with that idea, I just attempted to apply it to Groundhog Day . The racist bit came long ago... I'm not even sure in which entry I first called the barman "God" but I've done it many times since. And, I really don't know why. I mean I see a black guy who just... see, the problem is I want to make a deliberately racist joke to point out how horrible I am, but a) it's entirely on purpose and b) it might work a little too well. (Parenthetically, I'll just say that I see a black guy who is s...

Davies (1995), who I referenced repeatedly yesterday , tells us that Groundhog Day “ignor[es] considerations of race and gender politics” (p. 215). I’ve dealt several times with gender-related issues in the film. It’s finally time to confront issues of race as the film presents them to us. Davies also tells us, incorrectly, “The only non-white in the film (and, apparently, in the whole of Punxsutawney), is the stereotypical black barman who serves in the town’s premier hotel” (p. 226-7). To prove him wrong, have a look at the following (in no particular order but the order I just found them in my images folder—and the barman who I like to call “God” is marked with a red 3 (in case you can’t tell he’s behind a bar)): Davies suggests that “problems with white masculinity are resolved” in Groundhog Day “in reference to a patriarchal and racially pure notion of the past” (p. 227). While even I have recently called the film Capraesque, I’m not sure that bit about “the pas...

It starts with blue sky—sure there are clouds moving, movie shorthand for the passage of time… Ryan Gilbey, author of the BFI Modern Classics critical study of Groundhog Day , calls this “only slightly less clichéd than the peeling leaves of a calendar.” But, then there’s the bluescreen. Where does Phil point to when he says where he would like to be if he could be anywhere in the world? He says, Elko, Nevada. But, he is gesturing at the blue emptiness. And, he soon warns about “one of these big blue things” coming for Pennsylvania. The next notable blue is Rita. Not Rita herself, obviously; she’s not Smurfette. She’s wearing her blue coat and she’s playing like a child in front of that same blue screen. Fun, but not Phil’s kind of fun. Too innocent, maybe. Minor blue: Kenny’s shirt. Kenny is, presumably, Phil’s assistant. He’s played by Willie Garson. (And Larry’s blue jeans, but I’m not sure if counting blue jeans is fair. Oh, I’m getting ahead of myself, like Rubin’s original scr...