Blast from the Past: Actors Make Movie

On May 25, 2014May 25, 2014 By R. PettyIn MoviesLeave a comment

We movie buffs talk a lot about casting. Was the movie cast well? Do the actors portray the characters well? And so on…

In Blast from the Past, the cast MADE the movie. Sure, it’s silly, funny, cute, and entertaining, but the actors made this movie much more than a story. Had other actors been in these roles, the movie would have flopped as so many have. The premise is a little out there, and if I had read the script, I don’t know if I would have thought it was a good idea, but these four characters made it work:

Christopher Walken – Is there anything more needed? It’s Christopher Walker. He plays a quirky, genius dad whose purpose is to protect his family. Walken plays a concerned dad who loves and trusts his family unconditionally. His character is just weird enough to not alarm audiences, and people can relate to his political views and paranoia. In fact, I’m sure many people in the 60s worried about the Cold War and bomb threats, and I know because I’ve talked with people from this era, and the threats were a real, terrifying thing. He’s a stereotypical “dominate” alpha male from the 60s, yet he has a soft spot for his family.

blast from the past parents — Photo: letherebemovies.com

Sissy Spacek – Even though she’s a minor character in some ways, she symbolizes a lot. Spacek is one of my favorite characters because she represents the strong female. She becomes depressed and discontent after being locked away but still supports her family. She pushed Fraiser to go up to the surface to gather supplies and gauge how bad life really was (her husband had been up once already). She believes in fresh air, nature, and beauty. My favorite personality traits include questioning others’ decisions and providing for her family. She shows that a mom can cook, clean, teach her son to dance, and challenge authority and norms when needed – a much needed role model is today’s time.

Brenden Fraser – I believe Fraser has to play specific roles in order to be good. I’ve seen several of his movies, but he performs best when he’s portraying a dork. Blast from the Past and Bedazzled are two of my favorite Fraser movies, and in both he played very similar roles: oblivious, dorky, innocent, and complacent. In this movie, he enjoys the things we take for granted (the sky, ocean, rain, everyday miracles) and helps us remember that life is more than money and possessions – it’s about the little things. Not may actors can portray that genuine sense of innocence and traditionalism. He helps take the audience back to a different time when things were simple and meaningful.

blast from the past — Photo: movies.about.com

Alicia Silverstone – Shallow, squealy, and gorgeous are my best words to describe her. Silverstone does an amazing job portraying a jaded, cynical woman who just wants to find “the one”. She’s a little crazy and doesn’t have her life together, but like so many, she’s not lost. She’s comfortable with who she is and uses it to her advantage. Her character complements Frasier’s well in that she’s the polar opposite, but they mesh well together. She teaches him about modern-day life, and he makes her appreciate the little things. Sometimes we need the person who makes us see things a different way.

I love this romcom for many reasons, but sometimes you have to give all the credit to the cast. I’m an individual fan of all of the above, so having them in one movie is a real treat. If you haven’t seen it or haven’t seen it in awhile, definitely check it out and pay attention to the little things we may overlook!

Bullet Point Review of Godzilla: The King is Dead, Long Live the King

On May 22, 2014May 22, 2014 By James CastroIn Movies, ReviewsLeave a comment

As a lifelong fan it was necessary to share my thoughts on the new Godzilla movie. It’s been ten years since the last REAL Godzilla movie. There’s a lot to cover!

Updates to the Franchise:

Appearance: Godzilla looks different but he’s still recognizable. He has the same low-center girth, thick body, long arms, spikey back, and upright posture. He looks more crocodilian now and more “naturalistic” since he didn’t have to be designed to contain an actor.
Symbolism: Through most of the Toho series Godzilla was Frankenstein’s monster, created by the arrogance of mankind’s science and now out of control. He now represents the power of nature, a force mankind has no hope to control and that can destroy us at will.
CGI: Ok…I give… CGI allowed Godzilla to have a different presence than the rubber suit Big G. The odds that we’ll ever see a guy in a costume playing him are low, but for CGI he did look and act like Godzilla and added some movement and dynamism impossible in Suitmation.

Plot/Characters:

New primordial monsters awaken and threaten the world in a fresh new way (the EMP field). Big G wakes up; I think just to defend his territory. Good update on Godzilla’s origin too. And how he relates to the “bomb tests” in the 50s.
James Rolfe at Cinemassacre declared he watches Godzilla movies to see monsters fighting and people talking. This film follows that mold. The people do plotting, explaining, and interacting. Sometimes they try to fight the monsters, which is typically laughable. The fighting is done by the monsters and is relatively spectacular.
How is Godzilla best used? If a Godzilla movie was Titanic Big G works best as either the ship or the iceberg. He is what drives the plot or he is what the plot crashed into. Try to make him a leading man and you get the goofball comedy Godzilla we had in the 70s. He can be fun in that role but it’s not the “King of the Monsters.” Here Godzilla is a little bit the ship and a little bit the iceberg. He’s used sparingly enough to retain his mystique, but often enough to keep the action up.
The human characters are good for what they are. Ford is driven from place to place for his family, running into monsters along the way. His wife and child are in the middle of monster central. Ford’s obsessed father is actually effective as exposition. And Dr Serizawa (nice nod to the 1954 film) is a good voice for Godzilla, explaining his motives (as he sees them). For people in a Godzilla movie they do quite well. I’ve definitely seen MUCH worse…

Monsters/Brawling:

The new Mutos are good, creepy monsters. They look a lot like other modern monsters, but the fact that Godzilla had two enemies evened the odds since he’s the “alpha predator.” Interesting tie in to both the consequences of nuclear power and humanity’s reliance on technology.
The monster fights are terrific, however brief. The older movies could be a lot of slow monster fighting in wide shots, but in this one the monsters tend to fight from the people’s perspective, which gives it a new element. Of course no one would complain for MORE monster fighting, but it was done well. it also kept the movie fairly short by modern blockbuster standards.
Godzilla’s demeanor and ferocity are well-displayed. His roar sounds like “Voice of God Radio” that’s been tuned to high distortion and his Atomic Breath is like a neon supernova of death and both have enough elements of Toho G to retain continuity. Big approvals for both.
Best alliteration moment: Multiple Memorable Mothra Mentions!
Godzilla now wins the “Best Fatality Move Ever” competition.

Final thoughts:

Is it a perfect movie? No. The people sequences do go on and I would’ve traded about 15 minutes of human drama for 15 minutes of monster combat, but that is a tricky balance. Monsters fighting too much can become silly and cartoony, people talking too much becomes boring. This film did a pretty good job with the balance. This was Monster Movies Level 1010: Introduction to Godzilla. It did everything that made the Toho Godzilla movies great, and added some new film features, while always treating their source material with reverence and respect. The only real complaint I had was the lack of the Toho Godzilla theme, which isn’t always a constant but it would’ve been nice to have the Big Guy arrive to the recognizable strains of earlier times. Godzilla has changed, probably forever. Barring an unlikely Toho-produced Suitmation movie, Gareth Edwards’ film represents the future of the Godzilla, and though I’d welcome a return to Suit-zilla, if this has to be the future the future is bright. All other sci-fi/monster movies should really sit up to take notice and notes. To paraphrase Nas, the king is back; time to return the crown.

Rating: 4.5 Haruo Nakajimas out of 5

For those who don’t know it, this is the classic Godzilla theme. He burst from the water and trudged toward some doomed city for 50+ years, often accompanied by this music.

Story of the Month: Godzilla and the First Movie in a Lifelong Library

On May 20, 2014May 20, 2014 By James CastroIn Movies, Story of the MonthLeave a comment

I once heard that the sense of smell is the sense most tied to memory. Strangely one of the smells that I found to be universal no matter where I went was the smell of a video rental store. Though the concept of movie rentals died out in the last decade, my family visited them frequently in the 80s and 90s in Louisiana, Nevada, and Tennessee and they always had the same scent. It’s an acrid, vinegary smell of plastic and commercial electronics cleanser. It’s the bitter, stale smell of recycled air and electric servo motors slightly burned from overuse. It‘s tied completely to my childhood so, despite its seemingly negative description, it’s one of the sense memories I find the most comforting.

Being born in the early eighties, home video technology wasn’t exactly new but it also was still a luxury. I remember our first massive silver Pioneer VHS player. My mom bought a VHS copy of Ghostbusters as our first movie and for perhaps a year or more it was the only movie we owned. A military family, I remember distinctly the video rental store near base in Louisiana. It was tiny, even to a three-year old, and had model airplanes hanging from the ceiling. And it had that smell… We rented a ton of movies, and especially cartoons, for my sister and I so it was a place we visited frequently.

When I was five we moved to Las Vegas and soon my mom added Crocodile Dundee to our video library expanding it to two tapes. For my birthday that year I received two dinosaur tapes, both less than 30 minutes long but I still have them and still love them.

SONY DSC — Two of the first tapes that were ever mine. I got them for my birthday around 1987.

It was in Las Vegas that my mom let me pick out the first movie I ever chose to add to the video library and I got it from a video rental place. I remember how wide open and bright it seemed compared to the one in Louisiana. We’d been there plenty of times and it housed one of my first disappointments in media, discovering the My Pet Monster video I was dying to rent was only available in BETA… I never got to see that episode! But this day my mom let me pick a movie to buy; one that I could add permanently to our collection VHS tapes and we could keep and watch over and over. As a huge dinosaur fan, and having just been introduced to the Crestwood Monster books series I picked one. The first movie I ever bought: Godzilla versus Megalon, the 1986 Video Treasures public domain release.

Crestwood Monster Series books. These were in the Gragson Elementary School Library and I checked them out frequently. They were largely inaccurate but a good intro to monster movies.

It was after seeing this movie that my love affair with Godzilla began. It is without a doubt one of the strangest of the Godzilla movies; and the version I saw was a heavily edited cut. It features a weird robot (Jet Jaguar), underground civilizations, two big monster villains, and some of the zaniest Godzilla moments ever. I remember the beginning with the kid in the paddle boat and the moment where Godzilla slides across his tail to drop kick Megalon being held by Jet Jaguar like they’re a pro-wrestling tag team and the ref is scolding Megalon’s partner (Megalon actually DID have a partner, another great monster, Gigan). Watching it now it is one of the most ridiculous of the Godzilla movies. It was when Big G was aiming for the kid market, and luckily I was a kid. I loved it. I still do. And I couldn’t be prouder that my first movie was this one, as ridiculous as the movie itself is. It takes me back to that place and those feelings of joy and wonder I had watching it as a kid. I can almost hear the industrial tape rewinders and smell that video store smell.

With The King of the Monsters arriving in a genuine updated form in theaters this past weekend it got me thinking about that movie. The first movie a lifelong film fan ever bought, and a memory of simpler times when all we needed was a VHS player and a fun movie to be at our happiest.

If You Want to Write: Novel Organization

On May 18, 2014May 17, 2014 By R. PettyIn Writing for Web and TipsLeave a comment

“Consistency is the horror of the world.”

– Brenda Ueland

This chapter ranks as one of my favorites in this book. It’s all about how to write a novel, which as many know is one of the hardest things you’ll ever attempt.

Ueland encourages writers to “write the novel first, and plan it afterward.” When I read this, I immediately thought that she was crazy. How would you keep up with the story, characters, conflict, etc. if you don’t plan it?

Then I thought about my own book and how I work on it. I write chapters at a time and plan to put it all together once it’s done. As I write, I don’t think about where it will fit or the chapter sequence; I just write. Ueland recommends this technique because it allows the writer to write freely without bogging down on the details. She says you must tell the story first.

However, novel organization depends on the writer and the story. Some writers need everything laid out so they stay focused, while others can just write. My book lends itself to writing freely because there’s no story arch or developing characters, instead it’s mini stories. If your novel has these things, you may want to consider organizing as little or much as you want.

Here are some ways to organize your thoughts:

1. Outline. Do you remember the Roman numerals? Here, you may actually use all those outlining lessons! Start with your topic and work your way down the page. Events you want to include, new characters and conflicts. You can even write an outline for each chapter or major event, and piece them together in the order you want. You do not have to finish all the outlines either. It may feel less overwhelming to start with one or two and write off those at first.

2. Index cards. You can buy a stack of lined index cards and plan anything you want. Group the index cards with paperclips, or you can buy different colors to represent different things. I like to use legal pads or spiral notebooks too because I can’t always work on a computer and may want to jot down the basics.

3. The snowflake method. Until this post, I was unaware of this method, but it seems interesting. You start with a one-sentence main idea, then turn that into a paragraph summary. Then you flesh out characters and start writing the narrative. Check out Randy Ingermanson’s site for the full process.

Of course, Ueland would advise against any of these methods, but some people need guidance and organization in order to produce. I could not sit down with an idea and say, go! I wouldn’t get very far. Also, what works for one may not work for another, so I encourage you to find a method that appeals to you and get to work – even if it’s only 30 minutes a week.

Additional links I found during my research:

http://writersrelief.com/blog/category/organization-techniques-for-writers/

Planning, Outlining, and Organizing Your Novel – Or Not!

And feel free to share your organization tips and processes below. Happy writing!

Warhammer Rescues: Blood Angels Land Raider

On May 14, 2014May 13, 2014 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random FunLeave a comment

Warhammer Rescue Projects

No one would ever think Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, or any miniatures game is cheap. In fact a lot of board/table top games are pretty pricey (take a look at Fantasy Flight, Steve Jackson, or Fireside Games…they’re pretty high for what’s in the box…) but they usually don’t require maintenance or additions or new pieces. It basically comes down to how you want to spend your hobby money. Do you want to spend $500 on a new video game console, plus $60-$70 for new games to support it, or $500 on a playable starter army and $60-$70 on new units? I’ve preferred the latter recently. But it’s not always easy to shell out $69 plus shipping and taxes for a new unit. Especially when, with a little work, you can get a similar or identical unit for far less! You find them on eBay. They usually consist of damaged, incomplete, or poorly painted models. With the copious bits provided by GW with their sets (Deathwing set for example, it makes Deathwing Terminators, Deathwing Knights, or Deathwing Command squad, so you get a lot of extras) you can take a damaged model or one missing parts, add the extras, and make some nice custom pieces. I’ve found all it takes is some patience, a hobby blade, a toothbrush, and some LAs Totally Awesome cleanser and just about any model can be recovered.

Blood Angels Land Raider

This lander raider was sold as a “needs love” project. Boy was that an understatement. It was originally a chaos land raider and I considered using it as one, however the idea of deep striking one of these things with my lil Blood Angels army was too tempting.

Original Condition:

It was a situation where you wonder who originally bought a $75 model and then didn’t seem to look at the instructions. The top hull was glued on top of the side hulls leaving awful gap clearly visible on the top. Also the side sponsons were glued on upside down.

The entire piece was so heavily glued it took over an hour with a very sharp hobby knife to get it all apart and, yes, some of it was damaged so badly it was impossible to make it look “as good as new.”

It got an overnight bath in LA’s Totally Awesome cleaner (seriously, it’s about $3 for a big bottle, soak overnight, it strips ANY paint off of metal, plastic, resin, without damaging the model. Just warm water and a toothbrush.) then reglued correctly.

After Reassembly and Priming:

I made my retail land raider in the “Crusader” variant due to its high-troop transport capacity, so I had all the “Redeemer” variant bits available. I moved the sponsons up, added some pieces of off a Baal Predator I had left over, and some various other parts from additional Space Marine vehicles. Upon reassembly I had to take some liberties and change the basics of the model. For example the sponson optics were broken and gone so I replaced them with spotlights. I wanted assault cannons rather than heavy bolters so I clipped the barrels off of two extras from my Ravenwin upgrade sprues and glued them to the heavy bolters it came with. There was a gap over the frag launchers I filled with standard poles from a Gors unit. I also had to glued the front door closed as the original hinge was glued to the hull and had to be broken to disassemble it.

Work in Progress:

As I said it was impossible to hide the damage to the model so I “hung a lantern on it” as it were. I wrote it into the story of the model, as though it’s a chapter relic and has been through serious wars, has received awful damage, but the might of the vehicle keeps it going. This was especially true on the left side of the model where the awful over-gluing left major plastic damage to the unit. You can see where I used some corrosion to make it appear as though it is battle damaged.

I used copious amounts of Typhus corrosion and some Forge World weathering powder to show the wear on the sides and the front door.

Nearly Finished Rescue Model:

There are some other little touches I’d like to add but I think it’s pretty table ready now. There are still some gaps that need filling and additional details I’d like to include but it’s worlds from where it started.

Is it the best Land Raider out there? Not by far… but for less than half price of the retail version and made with other additional parts I consider it a salvation of this vehicle’s machine spirit. It may not be perfect…but I think the priests of Mars would approve…

Check out my previous painting posts for more!

Black Reach

Dredtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Stormboy Nob on Flying Base

Bad Moons Nazdreg

Dark Angels Dreadnought

Dark Angels Standard Bearer

Dark Angels Librarian

Warhammer 40k Scenery

And for more 40k my Kharn illustration posts! Part 1 and Part 2. And my fond farewell to the World of Battle.

Special Topic: Bystander CPR

On May 11, 2014May 10, 2014 By R. PettyIn OpinionsLeave a comment

Life is funny sometimes. You think you have everything figured out, and then something happens to throw everything off balance.
I experienced one of those moments last year on vacation. We boarded a full plane in Charlotte, and all was well until a man a few rows up went into cardiac arrest. People began panicking, jumping seats, and yelling for help. Thankfully, there was an Army medic on the flight who laid the man on the plane’s floor and administered CPR. The medic and one other person performed chest compressions (bystander CPR) for nearly 15 minutes until EMTs arrived with a defibrillator to revive the man. The man was breathing when they carried him off the plane, but we don’t know if he recovered.

This experience was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever witnessed. Most passengers couldn’t help, so we just stayed out of the way. We were helpless and worthless. However, it’s often situations like these that change us and make us take action.

This week, I participated in a hands-only CPR class to avoid that from happening again. And I learned that chest compressions are extremely labor intensive, so the more people who know how to do them, the better off we are in an emergency. Once I learned how physically challenging CPR is, I had even more respect for the medic who performed them for nearly 10 minutes without a break. In our class, we only performed chest compressions for 30 seconds, but it felt like much longer. I also realized I need to work out more and practice on a pillow because I’m not sure I’d last two minutes, much less 10!

As much as I hate to think of my life in someone else’s hands, we need to know what to do in this situation. This class was less than an hour and well worth the time. Now, if I’m in an emergency situation, I can help instead of sitting there doing nothing.

I won’t preach often, but this week reminded me that life is short, and we could go at any minute. Things change, we try to control everything, but there’s no controlling nature. I urge our RevPub readers to take a quick class and watch the video below. There’s no germ swapping. If you break a bone, it will heal. The important thing to remember is you may save their life – and one day you may need the same.

Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below!