The weekend has arrived, Halloween is just around the corner, and precious scary film imbibing time is quickly passing away. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have barely put a dent in the pile of films I would like to watch for the Peril on the Screen portion of the R.I.P. V Challenge.
The good news?
It is not too late.
This past Saturday evening the combination of anticipation for the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society’s Conquest 41 coupled with the sounds of my daughter and her boyfriend playing Lego Star Wars on the Playstation 2 reminded me that I hadn’t indulged in any celebration of the 30th Anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back. I wasn’t about to let May get away without my own personal acknowledgment of a series, and most especially a film, that has had such a profound effect on me.
I quickly visited the basement library to bring up a few goodies to help me celebrate, one being the Roger Kastel autographed print of my favorite piece of Star Wars art, the post image for The Empire Strikes Back. This was a lovely surprise gift given to me a few years ago by Deslily.
Over the next 24 hours I would re-read a beloved Star Wars novel, watch The Empire Strikes Back, and travel back in time down a road littered with memories so palpable that they could have happened yesterday.
Well folks, it has come and gone again. The annual event where we all gather around the television set to see what the celebs are wearing. What? You thought it was about the awards? The last time my attraction to the Oscars was about something other than women in glamorous dresses was when Return of the King was nominated for, and won, eleven academy awards. But then again I’m a geek, so what else would you expect.
This year was only slightly different than most years. No, I hadn’t seen any of the films up for Best Picture, and, yes, I was mostly watching to catch the fashions of the various actresses attending…but there was one film that I was particularly rooting for: Pan’s Labyrinth. And so, without further ado, the Stainless Steel Droppings Oscar Recap:
When I was a kid we would spend summers going to cheap, kids-only matinees at the local cinema. In homage to that here are some more upcoming films that I am looking forward to:
Fence pointed out yesterday that there is a trailer out for Frank Miller’s (Sin City) lastest graphic-novel-turned-film, 300. Enter the website and select media to view the trailer. According to the trailer it is due out in March of next year. Gerard Butler (Phantom of the Opera, Dear Frankie) looks pretty intense. Looks to be a stylish and no doubt violent film. I wouldn’t expect anything less from the mind of Frank Miller.
I saw this on the recently discovered Tim Burton Collective website and it would be a gross understatement to say that I am excited about this. I did not see NBX when it was originally released in theatres and it is such a phenomenal film that I can’t believe I might be able to see it on the big screen. I say might because there is always that possibility that Disney will put this out in limited release only and that it won’t come here to KC. NBX is not only an amazing achievement in stop motion animation but it really is an almost perfect musical with a slightly gothic feel that makes it even better. The scheduled release date is October 20th. I’m there.
Saw the trailer for this at Lady in the Water this weekend. Looks very interesting. I like both Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz and am thus very happy with the cast. I mistakingly thought originally that this was based on Ayn Rand’s book but then realized that her book is The Fountainhead, not The Fountain. The story looks to be centered around the tree of life and the idea of immortality. The trailer is here or start here if that doesn’t work.