Labyrinth Quote Along at Seattle’s SIFF Cinema
Somehow I never saw “Labyrinth” in the theater when it came out in 1986. It’s the kind of movie my mom would have taken me to, but somehow we missed it. So when I heard that it was playing at the SIFF Cinema over the weekend I jumped on the chance to go. I’ve probably seen this movie 50 times, just never on the big screen, so it was quite the treat. It’s been one of my all time favorite movies for nearly 25 years!
Shakespeare in the Park – “As You Like It” – presented by GreenStage
I learned of this at the last minute, and Mike and I rushed out the door to go see it. Other than the old ladies who brought full size folding chairs and sat down in front of us, it was quite a lot of fun. I really want to pay better attention to the free Shakespeare in the park shows in the future. My friend Mok was in this show, and is how I learned of it, of course, and I think he did a marvelous job in the variety of small and medium roles he played (almost everyone in the cast had at least two parts). The whole cast was good. A couple were harder to hear than most, but we were able to keep up with the comic story with no trouble. Great fun! [Many More Photos on Flickr]
District 9 – This was a movie I avoided, the preview left me uneasy. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t think I wanted to see it, despite all the good things I’d heard about it. Now I’m glad I’ve seen it. It was quite unusual. At least in my experience. This idea of “first alien contact” is usually grand, with the aliens being much advanced technologically, and seeming hugely superior to humans. This is not remotely the case here. How humans deal with these miserable aliens is abominable. It’s more realistic, in that the humans stick them in a ghetto, try and take their technology, and secretly do experiments on them.
The story is told from the perspective of a middle management government man who hates the “Prawns” as much as everyone else, and is just helping serve eviction notices in the alien ghetto when things go horribly wrong, and he gets tangled in a huge mess. It’s a well told story, and I recommend it. Just don’t expect it to be pretty or happy.
Torchwood: Children of Earth – You want a story that will rip you apart, this is the place to go. This is more a mini series than the previous two seasons of this show were. This is five episodes that cover five days. It all starts when all the children in the world stop what they’re doing and speak a message from aliens, and it all goes downhill from there. It’s brilliant.
Finally managed to watch Zombieland. I had tried once before, but had to shut it off because I was eating and the first minutes were too disgusting for me to continue. This time, I waited until after dinner. The intro is still gross, but it does get better after that. Then it’s just damn funny. Not just smiles, but actually laughing out loud funny.
This movie takes a small approach to a worldwide dilemma. Instead of the blockbuster approach involving huge military actions and Presidents, blah blah blah. This starts with one guy, who has survived 2 months since the Zombie virus bloomed, and then he meets a couple other people. It’s just a peek into their world of survival in the chaos.