Sunday, November 07, 2004

What the Bleep do we Know?

Cha and I saw this yesterday. It was fun, but I don't know what all the fuss is about. It certainly wasn't as detailed as



which was on PBS last summer, though it was definitely slanted toward the new "mystical" quantum physics. They mentioned the work of Masaro Emoto, which is very interesting, and they have Marlee Matlin (I have a crush on her) in a series of vignettes ranging from interesting to rather cheesy, but other than that I wouldn't recommend seeing it in the theater. If it's ever on cable check it out.

We also watched



which lived up to its billing; I'd always heard about the beautiful ending to this film, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a simple story, a retelling of the dying/resurrecting God-man myth, focusing on Orpheus instead of Tammuz, Mithras, Christ, Osiris, etc. If you like Jobim and seeing Carnivale footage, this is for you.

And, I received an unexpected box from Amazon yesterday--I forgot I'd pre-ordered



and I'm not disappointed. There's a nice sampling of weird cartoons that are personal faves (I won't use the titles because who the fuck remembers the titles?): the one where Daffy and Porky take over a baby factory for the overworked stork and end up crammed into a diaper together by some bizarre baby processing conveyor belt; there's two Claude Cat cartoons where some mice drive him insane, there's two of Junyor Bear and his folks--very violent. You get the (overrated) What's Opera Doc? and the singing frog. Many of the Bugs cartoons are great--particularly the pro-wrestling short. Do I have complaints? Yes. Too much Tweety and Road Runner (these cartoons don't hold up particularly well), not enough Daffy and Porky--but that just means future volumes will load up on those. This is a good selection, at least as good as the first.

3 comments:

Marc J. Hampton said...

Cannot wait to get that Looney Tunes set (it's on my Xmas list). I really like the screwy, obscure stuff from the 30s and early 40s and it looks like they have some of those oddities on this set. Back in the laserdisc days they put out 5 full volumes of 'Tunes (70 cartoons per volume), and by vol 5 it was all wacky stuff you've never heard of. They actually recalled volume 1 because it contained the racist "Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips". Hopefully Warner is committed to bringing out the whole output for DVD (except for "Nips", of course, and the notorious "Snow White and De Sebben Dwarves").

Oh, speaking of Looney Tunes, I just saw "Sex: The Annabel Chong Story", all about Annabel's gang bang movie (251 men). Of course I thought of you.

We watched in petrified horror as Annabel tried to explain why its perfectly OK that she received no money for doing that video, and why it's OK that she cuts herself up with a knife, and how doing porn is some kind of a "sex study." OK, Annabel. The documentary is feeble and maybe the least titillating thing ever, but the scene where her mom finds out about her haunted me for hours afterward.

Update on Tom & Jerry set: there are no "mammy" cartoons at all.

Marc J. Hampton said...

Correction. That cartoon is called "Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarves", not Snow White.

Geoff said...

Ugh. Annabel Chong--she's a nightmare, and made things worse after the boob job. Isn't there some other skanky whore who DOUBLED Chong's bang? Houston? God, they're ugly.

Netflix put that documentary on my recommendations list after I chose "The Fog of War," "Control Room," and "The Corporation" for my queue. Uh, whatever.

The Looney Tunes set rules--Porky in Wackyland, and an early Roger Rabbit-esque Porky with live action/animation mixed called "You Oughta Be in Pictures," which is a black-n-white fave.

I love the inventive and often surreal violence in many of these cartoons. So demented. There are some great Hollywood spoofs as well.