The Old School Otaku Lounge

Thought I'd mention Paper Towns, a movie which attempts to recapture some of the magic of 80s teen movies of the John Hughes vein. It's honestly kind of sad though. Films solely based on nostalgia often brings diminishing returns and this is the case here. Watching modern 20 year olds try to emulate the behaviour of Gen Xers in goofy montages set to 80s music just seems a little difficult to buy in this day and age. It's not a bad movie by any means--the young actors are appealing enough and the film tickles enough pleasure spots for old and young viewers either way, and I am posting about it and recommending people take a look at it for a reason--but whenever I see these films written and directed by 35-45 year olds trying to recapture the 'magic' of the films/culture of their youth, all I can think of is that those times are essentially dead. There's a difference between homage and influence, and just straight up rose-colored nostalgia. You can't emulate an era's own spontaneity.

I loved the music and the way women dressed in the 80's. It is the later portion of the 80's that I really remember. I was fourteen in 1987. I can recall life a couple of years earlier than that, but only the music and music videos stand out in my mind about that time in history. The 80's were short-lived in my case, but who can forget movies like Pretty in Pink, Purple Rain, The Golden Child, Back to the Future, etc.

I lived through the entire 80s mostly in single digit ages. I've a fondness for the unabashed kitsch of the era, but I only paid attention to them as being exclusively '80s' until after the 80s was over. I must confess I didn't even notice the fashions, movies and music as anything particularly noteworthy until I was in my late teens.

I have mixed feelings about people of my age group now trying to force feed the stuff we liked in the 80s onto kids today. You know, let the kids have their own things, no matter how silly they seem to us adults. Let's not try to jamhole our Transformers, Star Wars and John Hughes nostalgia onto our kids and force them to "like" what we liked just because, well, we liked it when WE were kids.

Space 1999 is an old British Scifi from the 70's that I find quite refreshing. Marin Landow and Barbra Bain play the central characters in this very well thought out mini series. One thing that stands out about the show is that most of the lead actors are well into their forties and fifties. I would think that the most seasoned and intelligent of the planet would go into space and this show affirms that fact. Watching this show you will look forward to getting older who would not want to be Barbara Bain or Natim Landau? Give it try on Hulu you will not be disappointed.

That Batman v. Superman movie can suck a... well I don't need to say more.

Saw it last night with the girlfriend, and I would say for me and her, we spent the better part of 1/4th of the film going "What da Hell is going on?" For a Zach Snyder film, he does one things well, and ONE THING ONLY, and that is visuals. BvS is a visually great looking film, because the guy knows what hes doing. In terms of pacing, plot and issues with characters you would normally find in a Snyder film, its all there too. Although probably not as bad as some of his previous works, but it feels like everyone in the film has "lack of common sense" syndrome. It had its moments of stupidity here and there, but it also had some good moments, which those were when fights happened. think that's all im gonna say without spoiling it for people who havent seen it yet.

All I know is that I know people who have seen the movie more than once, which I don't understand why they would. Either they really like the film, or they are hard core DC fans. That seems to be my assessment.

Just my obligatory arthouse film shout-out--

A Brighter Summer Day is finally on BD and DVD. For those who know Taiwanese films, they probably would have heard of this. It's considered one of the best Chinese language films of all time, and it's definitely worth watching if you have 4 hours to spare. A dense, angry, and moody film that covers so many themes and so much ground. It's also fun to suss all the details out.

I've been watching a bunch of Criterion stuff on Hulu, since it'll be leaving Hulu around October 19th (or sooner) for Criterion's new streaming service. If there's anything you've been meaning to watch on there, better do it soon!