Stream of thought ramblings and Charles Nelson Reilly

I spent the weekend making an art doll.  Well, actually, I’m still making her.  I’m taking a break while the base which I just varnished dries.   I’ve never made an “art doll” per se before – I’ve made and sold what I call spirit dolls which are cruciform branches, usually palo verde, adorned with minerals, cloth, copper wire and what have you, all incorporated to provide meaning to the assemblage.  This doll is a figure with a polymer clay face and hands, a much more representational and traditional looking doll figure.  I think she may be Queen Mab or possibly a crone fairy – we’ll see who she decides to be.  As I was working on the doll’s face, peering over the top of my glasses to get a better look at the details, Charles Nelson Reilly sprang to mind.  Why Charles you ask?  Do you remember Charles I say?  Well, if you do, you certainly remember the man was a wonderful story teller and a story he had spun oh so many years ago came to mind – I wish I could find it in video or written format but I haven’t been able to do so as of yet.  The story he told was of himself as a small boy, he would sit in the small apartment he shared with his family and he would sew puppets and when he told this story on the Merv Griffin Show or where ever it was I heard it, he mimicked that position all of us geeky, near-sighted folk use to work – glasses at the far end of our noses, what ever we are working on within an inch or two of our faces and that intense focus of doing something you are enjoying.  In looking for this clip I came up on so much wonderful information on Mr. Reilly – I think he was an actor/personality we all took for granted and never appreciated the true depth of his talent – he was so much more than Hoo Doo.  He was a respected actor and acting teacher and director of theater and opera productions.  I fondly remember him playing “Jose Chung” in the X-Files and Millennium (I believe that was the only Millennium episode I ever watched – it was way too dark for me….)  I spent the weekend, quietly, alone with Garrison Keiller in the background at points, and a variety of t.v. shows at other times – saw, or rather heard, the end of Mission to Mars with Cheadle and Sinese – it didn’t look half bad – but then I only saw the last half hour….. working away on a doll that may or may not ever see the light of day – perhaps I’ll post her here when I think she’s done …. Anywhooo – here’s the closest I could come to Charles Nelson Reilly’s sewing story – not really the story I remember him telling but its as close as I could get – its about three quarters of the way in:

Best Film of 2008?

Because its all about ME, this is actually the best film that I saw in a movie theater in 2008.  The problem with this is, I really made some bad choices this year in the few films that I actually went out to see.  I don’t go to the movies as much as I used to partially because its expensive, but mostly because I’m lazy.  It has to be an extravaganza or some sort of “event” or something that I believe will be worth schlepping into a large room full of strangers that will bring me out to the movies and that, my friends (ah, I just had a little McCain flash back – shudder), is a recipe for some bad movie choices.  Of the films I did see this year, there was actually a lot of high to mid-level mediocrity. 

Ironman - For its genre, it was a pretty good movie.  I think this was due mostly to Robert Downey, Jr.’s charisma and acting abilities.  There was just much too much smashing things around and explosions for my tastes.  The movie appealed to me because of its sense of humor and the “look” of the costumes, sets, lighting, etc.  I put it on par with the first Spiderman movie.

Indiana Jones and the whatever it was he was looking for this time – I liked the movie for what it was - a throwback, a nice way to while a way an afternoon with old friends but best film of the year, good god, no.

X-files- Urgh.  A disappointment, just a bad script in my opinion.  I like the fact that it was a stand-alone and not a myth arc movie but it was just a mediocre script.  There were much better written episodes to the series itself.  (And yet, if they make another X-files movie, I will most likely be in line with my money in my hand hoping this time they get it right – I don’t learn). 

Sex and the City- Feh, most certainly not even close to the best film of the year.  Not a terrible movie, but not a good one either.

Bottle Shock -I SO wanted to love this movie and I was SO disappointed.  Alan Rickman was my reason for seeing the film and he was, as usual, wonderful.  But the plot, the cinematography, the editing, the pacing of this film reminded me of a TV movie of the week from the 70’s – I half expected them to show the ABC logo and go to commercial at some point.

Which leaves me with three contenders (I told you I don’t see a lot of first-run movies):

Appaloosa, Kung Fu Panda and Wall-e – now mind you I see movies with my young nephew so I see a good amount of children’s movies.  Oh, who am I kidding, I go see children’s movies even when I don’t have a child to drag to the movie theaters.  My earliest childhood ambition was to be an animator for Disney (and a U.N. translater). 

Appaloosa - This was a good film.  Sturdy, well written, well acted, well filmed.  I might have trimmed it down just a tad if I was the director/editor but other than that I enjoyed the film – the themes and characters came across as fresh and faceted, i.e., not just a one-dimensional western.  But I don’t know if it rises to best of 2008 level.

Wall-e – This was thoroughly enjoyable, an extremely well made film.  The animation was excellent.  The design of the characters, the backgrounds – fantastic.  The story was aimed really at older kids and adults but there was enough to keep the little ones entertained.  BUT I found this movie rather long in parts – something happens to animators and to all artists really, they fall in love with their own work and lose sight of the big picture.  There were several places were an editor needed to come in and cut back on the scenes that were there simply to say “look what I can do” – they didn’t add to the story and while beautiful, made the film drag a bit in my opinion.  This occurred in the second half of the film, when we go out into space.   But again, this is a minor criticism. 

Kung Fu Panda- Okay, maybe its because I went in with such low expectations - I was mainly there because my nephew wanted to see this one – but I was truly entertained by this film.  As an animated piece it was beautiful.  It conveyed location via references to Chinese art style while keeping it Western enough for its audience.  The characters were well fleshed out.  The design, look and story moved fast enough to keep all age ranges entertained and while there was a lot of predictablity in the script, there was enough happening visually to make up for it.  I am not a big Jack Black fan but I think he has found his niche – he makes an excellent animated character.

So, I guess what I’m saying is that if there was a best film of 2008, I certainly didn’t see it.  I’m going to resolve with the incoming year to go to the movies more often and see a wider variety of films – in the theater. 

 I see movies at home on DVD and perhaps, I’ll post the best movie on DVD I saw this year next time I post and maybe art pieces and books.  Bet you can’t wait! (I know at this point, after 900 some odd words, I’m typing this for myself – I don’t think anyone actually reads all the way down to the dregs).

X-Files … Here be spoilers

Okay – I’ll save the story of my bee invasion for when I have more energy – its a long and convoluted story.  But speaking of bees, I did go see the X-files movie – if you are an X-files fan you will know what an important part bees played in the whole mythology – altho’ honestly at this point, I couldn’t specifically tell you what that important part was…. something about smallpox vaccines???  Unfortunately, that is part of the problem with this movie.  Chris Carter waited way too long to present us this film.  Memories erode over time. Even true aficionados of the show have forgotten what the heck went on.  I had to go look up what it was that happened in the last episode and frankly I’d completed forgotten that William was given up for adoption … I seem to vaguely remember that episode had something to do with a white buffalo.

Actually the biggest problem with this movie is the script.  I understand the dilema the writers were in – the movie had to appeal to fans of the series and people who had never seen the series.  It also had to skirt around the whole impending alien invasion that they intimated was coming in 2012.  So they went the route of a stand alone episode – i.e., the monster of the week.  Which is great – I loved the non-myth arc episodes.  The problem is the story is a run of the mill episode script.  I was hoping for something with a sense of humor and a real monster perhaps – something along the lines of Jersey Devil or Post-Modern Prometheus or even Quagmire.  Instead, we got a quasi religious psychic mish-mash with a gruesome mad scientist twist (argh – I forgot how much grosser you can get in films than they could get on t.v. – and they got pretty gross on t.v., in my opinion).  The check-in on the relationship between Scully and Mulder was fun (I was always a shipper at heart) but I wish they could have trudged in some of the other characters.  I know the majority of characters are dead at this point – but you know perhaps just a photo of the Lone Gunmen or a cigarette smoldering in an ash tray – is that too much to ask?  The only character besides …. Oh yeah… wait …. SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** HERE BE SPOILERS **** STOP READING IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING SPECIFIC ABOUT THE MOVIE *****

As I was saying, the only character besides Skinner (and he is brought in at the very end and has maybe, oh 3 lines, if that) that is brought in is that poor Samantha Mulder – geez, enough already.  We had closure on that story line like what, seven times, during the course of the show.  Her disappearance and/or abduction was explained in a variety of ways.  One would think Mulder would have picked one of the resolutions and had done with it.  One also wonders, as one does, what Mulder has been doing for six or so years besides cutting out newspaper articles.  Would he be content to do that while Dr. Scully pursues her career?  And on a side note – stem cell therapy at a Catholic hospital?  Really?  Does that really happen?  Really?  

I love Billy Connolly and he is thoroughly believable as the excommunicated psychic pedophile priest (I’m not sure if that’s really a compliment).  But unfortunately the story is just mediocre.  It was missing that whole paranoid conspiracy theorist “us and against them” mentality which I really enjoyed about the show.  I think if Carter had gotten a couple of fans of the show together, they could have come up with a better script.  At one point in the film, Mulder is making a call on his cell phone and in his contacts you see listed Bowman, Gilligan and Shiban – the television show’s writers.  I felt like screaming out “Yes! Duchovny, please call the writers ’cause this plot needs some help!”  Here is a listing of other in-jokes or references to the series that showed up in the movie:  ”Easter Eggs in IWTB” 

All in all, its an okay movie.  I’d recommend it if you’re a fan of the show (and do stay until the end of the credits).  I enjoyed trying to figure out  where the whole Scully/Mulder relationship is at now and the movie does have some fun moments — one of my favorites involves Dubya and J. Edgar Hoover. But it could have been a lot more fun.  Please Mr. Carter – try it again and soon – perhaps as a television movie and if you’d like drop me a line and I’ll help you with some plot outlines, ‘kay?