Mad Mel and The Alamo
Reg
location: back to the wilderness
listening to: static
registered: 1999.11.22
posts: 6470
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I was not really trying to bury my head in military disaster films but I do get stuck in a time frame sometimes and end up looking to watch films of that period. The 1960s was where I was stuck in that post. It was just sort of interesting watching El Cid, Khartoum, and Zulu all in the same week. This combined with some reading I was doing set me to thinking about what seems to be our (and when I say "our" I mean Europeans and Americans) insistence on repeating our blunders. It's also interesting how none of what is going on now is even slightly new. All that changes to some extent is the technology. I guess that kind of makes sense because humans are humans so all we do is fiddle with the recipe for whatever disaster we choose to cook up...nutmeg instead of cardamom this time, ya know. Anyway, I did finally see Mel's flick Apocalypto and I have to say it is pretty odd how much comedy runs through it. It's gory at times, sure, but he shoots the whole thing as if winking at the camera. There's a total goofball streak that runs through the whole film that did make me feel as if he had sort of gone round the bend. On The Alamo, I always found the Duke's version rather dull and I've never seen the newer one that PK mentioned. My brother watches almost every film that gets released it seems and sometimes when I'm curious about a film I'll ask him for his opinion before I go looking for it. He told me to avoid the newer Alamo film and I have. I like westerns but I really have no patience for bad films anymore. There are just so many other things I could do that I hate wasting my time on them. Lately I've been watching all old stuff I know is good...maybe I'm becoming an old fogy.
–--
'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
Reg
(view)
I was not really trying to bury my head in military disaster films but I do get stuck in a time frame sometimes and end up looking to watch films of that period. The 1960s was where I was stuck in that post. It was just sort of interesting watching El Cid, Khartoum, and Zulu all in the same week. This combined with some reading I was doing set me to thinking about what seems to be our (and when I say "our" I mean Europeans and Americans) insistence on repeating our blunders. It's also interesting how none of what is going on now is even slightly new. All that changes to some extent is the technology. I guess that kind of makes sense because humans are humans so all we do is fiddle with the recipe for whatever disaster we choose to cook up...nutmeg instead of cardamom this time, ya know. Anyway, I did finally see Mel's flick Apocalypto and I have to say it is pretty odd how much comedy runs through it. It's gory at times, sure, but he shoots the whole thing as if winking at the camera. There's a total goofball streak that runs through the whole film that did make me feel as if he had sort of gone round the bend. On The Alamo, I always found the Duke's version rather dull and I've never seen the newer one that PK mentioned. My brother watches almost every film that gets released it seems and sometimes when I'm curious about a film I'll ask him for his opinion before I go looking for it. He told me to avoid the newer Alamo film and I have. I like westerns but I really have no patience for bad films anymore. There are just so many other things I could do that I hate wasting my time on them. Lately I've been watching all old stuff I know is good...maybe I'm becoming an old fogy.
–--
'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
'The only way to avoid getting crushed by absurdity, is to humbly include the absurd in our calculations.'
