Tag Archives: movies in bed
Movies in Bed: The Avengers
Post by Felix and Mark Locker.
Happy holiday weekend! In honor of big explosions and things overtly American, my son has brought you the following review for an explosion-riddled explosionfest, starring Captain America! Ladies and gentlemen, a brief and meandering recap of the Avengers, now showing on Netflix and Amazon Prime!
The Avengers are Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Captain America. (He totally forgot Captain America.)
The propellor got broken and Iron Man fixed it. I guess so!
Thor and Hulk got in a fight. And Thor took Loki. Loki is a bad guy. He puts people under his control.
Black Widow was with Hulk when Hulk was just a human.
My favorite Avenger is Iron Man because he has an iron suit. But my really favorite is Captain America because he can throw a shield and it comes back to his hand. The same thing with Thor, but with a hammer. (It’s remarkable that Captain America is his “favorite” (he totally isn’t) when he couldn’t even remember him earlier!)
That’s pretty much the movie in a nutshell! I like it because it’s written by Joss Whedon, who could make a phonebook sound funny and ironic.
Go watch it!
Movies in Bed: The Cabin in the Woods
Post by Mark T. Locker.
I know it’s summer and scary movies aren’t what people usually think about until the pumpkins grow. But, I watch movies so infrequently that I have to report on what I’ve seen. And I watched The Cabin in the Woods the other night. In bed. This is not your typical horror movie, but it builds on those archetypes found in all the typical horror movies. In classic Joss Whedon fashion, he plays on those stereotypes in an entertaining and self-conscious manner.
As in most slasher movies, five friends, each of whom fits nicely into a stereotype: jock; nerd; virtuous girl; not-so-virtuous girl; comic relief, head out to a creepy old cabin in the woods to party for the weekend.
What they don’t know is that they are entering a curated horror movie, in which all their moves are being watched and buttons are being pushed to gently nudge them to certain actions. When they stop for gas at the run-down gas station, the creepy old attendant warns them of the old cabin. Classic horror movie stuff. He is a hired part of the whole experiment, and is referred to as the “harbinger”.
It’s an interesting take on the classic slasher/zombie horror flick. It’s bloody, but also funny, and also a little scary. If you watch this one in bed, I hope your dreams are better than mine were!
Movies in Bed: Sita Sings the Blues
Post by Mark T. Locker
Last night while channel surfing, I happened across a very interesting cartoon. It was three Indian shadow puppets discussing the Indian epic tale, the Ramayana. I was quickly hooked on Sita Sings the Blues which is truly unlike any other movie, much less cartoon, that I’ve seen. A mix of old jazz, even older Indian myth, and a modern story of heartbreak, this movie is an unlikely mish-mash that somehow works perfectly.
The shadow puppets discuss, as three regular folk might, the story of the Ramayana, about the ruler Rama and his wife Sita. This take on the ancient story is focused not on Rama but Sita, her trials and sorrows and joys. Interspersed with the dialogue about the story are musical numbers in which Sita sings the music of 1920’s jazz singer Annette Hanshaw. It sounds like a stretch, but it works incredibly well. So well that it’s hard to believe they weren’t intended to be together. The third, and least prevalent, part of the movie is bits about the creator’s own experiences of love and betrayal in India. But these parts, although illustrating how she came to make this feature, don’t hold a candle to the rest of this movie.
I love finding something while channel surfing and being so captivated that I watch the whole 90 minutes. What’s best is that Nina Paley has made her movie freely available on her website. So go look it up and watch it on your laptop in bed tonight!
Movies in Bed: Godzilla (and Godzooky)
Post by Mark T. Locker.
Under great protest, I am writing to tell you all about the late 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon Godzilla. As I struggled to come up with a movie to share with you, kind readers, my son came running up and begged—BEGGED—me to write about this cartoon.
Like so many Hanna-Barbera shows of this era, everyone looks and sounds like members of the Scooby-Doo gang, but with far less plausible plot lines. If you listen, you will even hear the voice of Scooby-Doo, although in this he is the voice of Godzilla’s hapless, clumsy little buddy, Godzooky, who is a tenth the size of Godzilla and is clearly there as the unnecessary laughable misadventurer. Think Glomer from the Punky Brewster cartoon. Or—worse—Scrappy-Doo.
The premise of the shows is this: a team of scientists accompanied by the child of one of the scientists, always comes across some bizarre phenomenon. The phenomenon leads to a creature who can only be defeated by Godzilla. Also, Godzilla is friendly and dutifully comes when called. Godzooky, inexplicably, lives with the scientists.
Personally, I do not care for this show, though my son has watched them dozens of times. Maybe your kid will love it too. Though I recommend you bring something to read.
Movies in Bed: Oz the Great and Powerful
Post by Mark T. Locker.
So, this isn’t out on DVD or streaming yet, but according to the Internet, it will be on June 11, so just consider this something to plan ahead for. IN TEN DAYS’ TIME…get out the pillows, pull the cushions off the couch and bust out the spare sheets. It’s time to build a fort, watch a movie, and fall asleep right there on the floor!
We went and saw Oz the Great and Powerful at one of those second-run pizza and beer theaters that are so prevalent here in Portland. I was at best not terribly interested in the movie and went for the sake of my kid. But I gotta tell you, this is actually a pretty good, entertaining movie! Now, I don’t know if this has any relation to any of the L. Frank Baum books or is entirely unique, but it fits so perfectly into the back story of the Wizard of Oz. How did Oz get there? How did an admitted charlatan attain Wizard status? Although bits of it are kind of intense, and some parts are scary, I think Felix is more frightened be the mean trees in the original than the flying baboons in this installation. Me too.
The main criticisms I’ve heard are ones that try to compare it to The Wizard of Oz. It will never be a classic in that sense, but for a Disney movie with appeal to both kids and adults, you could definitely do worse. A fun way to spend a lazy evening together.
