the groundhog day project

Some final thoughts on Adventures in Babysitting : Chris has the cough syrup for Sara in her pocket simply so she's got an extra thing to do when she freaks out in the car. Mrs. Anderson, who is effectively what Chris will be in the future if Brenda's predictions are correct, has setup Brad's acne, so Chris can slap the chocolate bar out of his hand, and Sara's cough just so Chris can try to get her to drink it. Setting up the details for the freak out is nice screenwriting, except Brad's acne doesn't matter to the film--he's embarrassed and self-conscious enough already around Chris--and Sara is very much over her cough (as she says, "it's been two weeks") and there is no reason Chris needs to freak out right then. She has already gotten to panic at the blowout on the expressway, she has already gotten to flinch at the sight of Handsome Jack, at the gunshot through the window, and at Joe popping up in the driver's seat; there is no reas...

Chris dances and mouths along to "Then He Kissed Me" and she dresses in black and white, which is an easy segue into her later dancing and singing--"Babysitting Blues"--at the Silver Dollar Room. Which, out of all the various messages one could take from this film regarding the "urban" world, is maybe the worst. I say maybe because the car theft ring is a pretty bad thing, but feels more opportunistic and less systemic. Wandering into a blues bar and immediately owning the stage when forced to perform--that's got bigger implications. Again, maybe. Albert Gene Drewery, better known as Albert Collins or the Ice Man, plays himself. He's the guitarist/singer running the stage at the club. Playing more like a nobody in a small club than who he really is (even thought he is credited as self... on IMDb; he is not in the cast list at the end of the film). This same year, he had been the musical guest on Late Night with David Letterman and in 1988 he...

Some notes before we continue with Adventures in Babysitting : "The Hook" According to Jan Harold Brunvand (1981), the classic maniac with a hook for a hand story "seem to have emerged in the last 1950s." But, a lot of people probably learned it, he says, from when the following version appeared in Dear Abby, 8 November 1960: DEAR ABBY: If you are interested in teenagers, you will print this story. I don't know whether it's true or not, but it doesn't matter because it served its purpose for me:  A fellow and his date pulled into their favorite "lovers' lane" to listen to the radio and do a little necking. The us it was interrupted by an announcer who said there was an escaped convict in the area who had served time for rape and robbery. He was described as having a hook instead of a right hand. The couple became frightened and drove away. When the book took his girl home, he went around to open the car door for her. Then he saw--a h...

It did surprise me that I didn't have more to say about Innerspace . Or anything to say about it, really. It was like I could tell why I thought it was entertaining back in the day, and it was still fun, but there just wasn't much substance to it. Or I wasn't in the mood for the substance it had. And, so tonight, jump out of order to watch first Rent ( 621 622 623 ) and now back to 1987 for a little Adventures in Babysitting ... Both directed by Chris Columbus. Both co-starring Anthony Rapp. And not just a coincidence. I mentioned that Rapp was in the movie I'd be watching later to my daughter and the conversation turned to Rent and the poor adaptation that Columbus did, and yada yada yada Adventures in Babysitting is on now. And, while it has been years since I've seen this one, too, I feel like there will be things to talk about. Like Chris (Elisabeth Shue as the titular babysitter, not the director, who is clearly more at home directing this (his d...

Let's be clear. Yesterday was full of contradictions. Watch bad movies. Don't watch bad movies. Associate only with those like you. Associate with those different from you. Or everything and anything in between. Just, whatever you do, try if you can to make the world better by doing it. Laugh at whatever makes you laugh. Laugh loudly. Cry at whatever makes you sad. Wail if you must. Rage at the politics (or movies) that disturb you. And lament for failure, in whatever form. Put some thought into what you do and do what makes you happy (barring anything that hurts anyone else). Rant and rave and contradict yourself. It's fun. But, enough about yesterday. Tonight I watched Howard the Duck . I'm not sure if I had watched the whole thing since I saw it in the theater in 1986, when I was 10. I'm sure I had seen parts of it now and then on cable. But, mostly, I had forgotten what supposedly made it so bad. The thing is, it's not that bad. In fact, for 1986, for a fa...