additional musings from the internet's beloved @edsouth
Friday, May 08, 2009
My Week In Movies - Plants and Animals
Earth (2009) sets the stage for what will hopefully be a long line of new nature documentaries coming to theatres. The Walt Disney Company has a rich history of producing nature films, practically inventing the genre. In the 50's and 60's, Walt Disney produced a dozen or so True-Life Adventures, movies that told stories from the real world around us using real footage shot in the wilderness. This new film continues the tradition. It's not as focused as most nature documentaries are, but then again the title is Earth which is about as broad of a title as you can come up with. The film's advertising suggests that the stars of the movie are a family of polar bears, a family of elephants, and a family of whales. While these three families get more screen time than other animals, there are plenty of other segments in the film which spotlight other species and remote parts of the planet. This is nothing that you can't see at any hour of the day on Discovery Channel or Animal Planet, but it's fun to go into a theatre and experience the stories of these animals in the same setting you usually see Bruce Willis blowing things up. If you have any interest in seeing this movie, you won't be disappointed. Based on my kids reactions, I would recommend this for ages 6 and up.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978) I hate when people say this movie is "so bad it's funny." It's not bad, it's just funny! It's actually very funny! It's filled with loads of clever dialogue, parody, non-sequitor humor and of course silliness. This is one of my all-time favorite movies which I discovered early on in my video renting career, and I've seen it a million times. Before I knew how to copy a video tape or even had the money to buy my own videos, I taped this movie off of television; off a small UHF channel out of Virginia. We didn't get the channel on our cable system, but I saw the movie listed in the TV guide playing at 1 am on a Saturday night. I unhooked the cable and used the antenna in the VCR to record the movie. I must have watched that snowy, blurry tape 100 times. Nowadays, I can enjoy the film on DVD thanks to a deluxe box set Collector's Edition they put out a few years ago. I hadn't seen the movie in at least five years, but watching it this time around I discovered new levels of humor beyond the sheer absurdity of people running from giant tomatoes. This isn't everyone's cup of tea....or tomato juice, I guess...but this is one of the funniest movies ever made. And not because it's bad!
Earth (2009) sets the stage for what will hopefully be a long line of new nature documentaries coming to theatres. The Walt Disney Company has a rich history of producing nature films, practically inventing the genre. In the 50's and 60's, Walt Disney produced a dozen or so True-Life Adventures, movies that told stories from the real world around us using real footage shot in the wilderness. This new film continues the tradition. It's not as focused as most nature documentaries are, but then again the title is Earth which is about as broad of a title as you can come up with. The film's advertising suggests that the stars of the movie are a family of polar bears, a family of elephants, and a family of whales. While these three families get more screen time than other animals, there are plenty of other segments in the film which spotlight other species and remote parts of the planet. This is nothing that you can't see at any hour of the day on Discovery Channel or Animal Planet, but it's fun to go into a theatre and experience the stories of these animals in the same setting you usually see Bruce Willis blowing things up. If you have any interest in seeing this movie, you won't be disappointed. Based on my kids reactions, I would recommend this for ages 6 and up.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978) I hate when people say this movie is "so bad it's funny." It's not bad, it's just funny! It's actually very funny! It's filled with loads of clever dialogue, parody, non-sequitor humor and of course silliness. This is one of my all-time favorite movies which I discovered early on in my video renting career, and I've seen it a million times. Before I knew how to copy a video tape or even had the money to buy my own videos, I taped this movie off of television; off a small UHF channel out of Virginia. We didn't get the channel on our cable system, but I saw the movie listed in the TV guide playing at 1 am on a Saturday night. I unhooked the cable and used the antenna in the VCR to record the movie. I must have watched that snowy, blurry tape 100 times. Nowadays, I can enjoy the film on DVD thanks to a deluxe box set Collector's Edition they put out a few years ago. I hadn't seen the movie in at least five years, but watching it this time around I discovered new levels of humor beyond the sheer absurdity of people running from giant tomatoes. This isn't everyone's cup of tea....or tomato juice, I guess...but this is one of the funniest movies ever made. And not because it's bad!
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