My Blog In the Middle of Your Net

Alright alright alright.   With the Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon coming to an end, it’s time to get the order of the next marathon ready.   This is fairly simple since I already have the lineup ready. The next marathon is the Seven Sins Marathon.   This marathon has each of the seven deadly sins represented my one movie.   There is also the capping of the marathon with the Fincher classic, Se7en.   Here’s the order in which they will be watched. Thinner (1996) [Gluttony] The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) [Greed] Office Space (1999) [Sloth] Shame (2011) [Lust] A Night To Remember (1958) [Pride] Envy (2004) [Envy] Death Wish (1974) [Wrath] Se7en (1995) Those are the eight movies in the order they will be watched.   I know that doesn’t matter to anyone because I’m the only person watching these movies in this order for the reason of this marathon.   But I felt the need to share the order that I’m watching them in so as to give people the chance to wa

How Canadian can a movie get?   Donuts, beer, the word “eh” used excessively, hockey being a major plotpoint, Canadian highway directions, and Oktoberfest?   The final movie in the Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon is able to check all of these boxes off in the How Canadian Is Your Movie checklist.   Strange Brew, also known by the longer name of The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew, is a 1983 comedy based on two sources.   The first source is the obvious source of The Great White North, a sketch from the television show SCTV.   The other source is the one that puts the movie into this marathon.   Strange Brew is also based upon the Shakespeare play Hamlet.   The plot of the movie then becomes this.   Bob and Doug get involved in a Hamlet like plot in which the owner of a brewery is killed by his brother, and his spirit aids his daughter in overthrowing the brother who is now in charge.   There’s also a mind controlling beer, but that’s tougher to explain.

I’m now nine movies deep into the Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon.   May is almost over.   It’s been interesting.   There were ups and downs, but I’ll talk about them in a later blog entry.   This one is about the ninth movie in the Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon.   This one is about 2002’s A Midsummer Night’s Rave. A Midsummer Night’s Rave is quite obviously based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.   The story is kind of complicated to even attempt to describe, so I’m going to go really vague.   There is a rave, and a bunch of 20 somethings take ecstasy and think over their relationship statuses.   It has people such as that one guy from The Fast and the Furious, that girl that was on the new Hawaii 5-0 for a while in the second season, that Shermonator guy from the American Pie movies, and that douchey guy from 10 Things I Hate About You.   That’s right...someone from 10 Things I Hate About You is also in this movie.   I found that slightly interesting.   There’s al

There are different ways that someone can adapt a book or play to the big screen.   The most interesting of the methods is to have the movie be about someone adapting the source while also being involved in a story that goes along with the source.   Two of the adaptations of this sort that come to mind for me are Adaptation, which takes it a step further, and The Red Shoes.   The Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon has helped to add another film to that list. A Double Life is a 1947 film based on Othello.   Guy 1 is starring in a stage adaptation of Othello.   He gets so deeply into his character that his life begins to take the shape of the play.   That’s it.   That was honestly the easiest plot to describe out of the entire marathon without spoiling any of the dramatic beats. The first half of the movie is kind of weak.   I don’t think it holds up too well 65 years later.   It has nothing to do with the direction or the acting in the movie.   The first half feels a little bit

Sometimes you have to wait to write about something you watched.   It allows the movie itself to settle in.   You can distance yourself from the material enough to not simply have initial thoughts.   Certain works deserve a little bit of thought to help you better understand what they have shown you.   My Own Private Idaho is one of these movies and even with a three day buffer, I don’t know if I am any nearer a complete understanding. The seventh film in the Reimagined Shakespeare Marathon, My Own Private Idaho, is a 1991 film that was directed by Gus Van Sant and starred River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves.   It is about guy 1 trying to find the life he never had, and guy 2 dealing with the life he must leave behind.   There is also a little bit of male hustling involved. I’ll cover the usual stuff quickly.   Direction wise, I thought it was well done.   There is something that Van Sant has to his direction.   I would call it a complex simplicity.   Not many directors do it an