Rough Week?

Honestly? It’s been sort of crazy week. Classes have been dropped, added, rescheduled, dropped again, incorrectly added and then as a result been automatically dropped. Again. Add on top multiple runs to the Campus book store for returns and new purchases, and scheduling errors. (It turns out my “Development of Modern Poetry” class starts at 5PM instead of 6:15PM, which explains why I could never find it.) Things have been hectic, but (lately) when the crazy dies down for the day, I actually have tried some cool movies and stuff that I would say qualify for geeky, So instead of a typical review, This is going to be more of a journal-ish blog.

1)      Laura (1944)

A couple nights ago I was going through my streaming netflix account and was surprised to come across the classic detective/Film Noir movie: Laura. This is an excellent movie, apparently some critics tout it as the beginning of the Film Noir genre.

It tells the story of a detective investigating the brutal (but never seen,) murder of the beautiful, young ,advertising executive, Laura Hunt. As he questions her relatives, friends neighbors, etc, he falls in love with the idea of who she was from what is described to him. Things get complicated when one of her friends calls him out on it, and even more so when Laura walks through the front door of her apartment, alive. The acting, cinematography, story, all great.  If you like old movies or classic detective stories and happen to have netflix, give it a shot. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

2)      Labyrinth (1986)

Honestly? This movie has not aged well. At all. Even though the acting seems stale and roughly 1/3 of the effects seem totally hokey by today’s standards, this still is a very fun movie to watch. I love Jim Henson. He takes puppetry and optical illusions to impressive heights, and for the most part Labyrinth is no exception. Most of the effects that up the “meh” factor of this movie are the CG/computer aided effects, most of the ones that rely on optics and the puppets/animatrons are the ones that work.

Plot and soundtrack –wise, this film is a mess, but that’s part of the fun. You watch it going, “yeah that dancing scene is cool but where the hell did it come from? Why is it there?” or just baffled in general by David Bowie decided to act in and write most of the big songs. Just put it on, shut off the logic and plot critic parts of your brain, and enjoy the ride; It’s completely bad and ridiculous, but the fun kind. Sort of like Rocky Horror is insane and plot hole-ish, but at least Rocky Horry was meant to be that way.

More on my stress relieving geekary tomorrow. I need sleep.

Peace out and geek out,

Mikeke352