Apr 17 2008
Movies I’ve Watched - #8 (2008)
I didn’t watch any movies for the past two weeks. So I got nothing. Well, maybe not nothing…
I’ve been watching TV shows off DVDs instead (and playing video games). I come home from work and I don’t have the energy to do much of anything else. My evenings are split between playing classic arcade games like Dig Dug, Galaga, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man on our Play Station 2, and watching shows like Survivorman, original Star Trek episodes (it’s cheesy, but it’s like theatre) and episodes of two incredible documentaries: The Blue Planet (8 episodes) and Planet Earth (11 episodes).
Survivorman is the show where a guy from Canada is dropped off in some wilderness hell hole and lives on his own for a week with minimal supplies. It’s impressive and sometimes spooky, but I wonder how much of it is a set-up. He always talks about the most dangerous creatures wherever he is living, but they never show up. And the poor guy never catches anything substantial. He’ll eat bugs, minnows, frogs, snakes, turtles, but every time he tries to catch fish, he fails. It’s usually the saddest, and perhaps unintentionally humorous, part of the show. He goes on in great length about how to catch wild game or fish, and then he casts his net or sets his snare, and nothing happens. He comes up with zero every time. (Update: I just watched an episode where he caught a rabbit! Way to go!) Even with a safety crew checking in every day, I wouldn’t want to go to most of the places he ends up.
The Blue Planet and Planet Earth are BBC documentary TV series — and they are without question the most spectacular, incredible documentaries about the natural world I have ever seen. They could easily play as a series of films in a theatre — and it would be fantastic. At times it’s like watching science fiction with creatures that seem unreal, landscapes and geological formations even the most imaginative artists couldn’t conceive, and shots of animals up close that turn into wide shots so wide you’d think the camera was fired into orbit. (I would love to work on these kinds of documentaries.) It’s not only a mind-blowing visual feast. It’s informative and dramatic. The narration reveals just enough to make you move in for a closer look — and it may transform your perception of the planet and the natural world. I’ve spent plenty of time living on the land away from the noise and pollution of human activity. I’ve been able to feel a connection to natural things that is generally impossible to approach while living in the suburbs or a city. But watching The Blue Planet and Planet Earth comes pretty damn close to it, possibly closer than most people stuck in front of the boob tube will ever get. My highest recommendations. (Update: I’m referring to what I assume are the original BBC versions of the shows narrated by David Attenborough.)
Dig Dug and Galaga are fun too.
(Comments on all the movies I’ve watch so far this year can be found at Mud Songs.)
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Tags: movie reviews
I also really like Survivorman, but I grow a little weary of his overly dramatic narration at times. Even without dialog, you can tell that he’s clearly in very risky situations and truly on the verge of starving to death half the time, so the over-the-top narrative comes across as kinda cheesy. Obviously, he isn’t going to actually perish or they wouldn’t be airing the episode, right?
It’d be a real kick to go into a survival-ish type of situation with someone like this who could teach you how to deal. It’s one thing to see him do it on TV, but it’d be a whole other thing to have him as your own personal survival coach. As a poster boy for city slickers for whom a weekend of yardwork can be a challenge (although very rewarding!), I know I’m not up to the task and would wash out in a surprisingly short amount of time, but I’d still do it if the opportunity was there.
Which version of Planet Earth are you watching? The one narrated by Sir Richard “Dickie” Attenborough or Sigourney “Ripley” Weaver? While they’re both showing the same episodes, one has slightly different narration and a different episode order.
It’s little Davie Attenborough who narrates these ones. I guess his accent is confusing to Americans.
I’ve been catching both. THEY ARE SO GOOD!
The Blue Planet was great. I saw the whole thing many years ago, The sharks attacking that fish ball? Wow.
You should use the scott adam’s movie review methodology.
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com.....revie.html
I’ll try it next time around. Working too much these days to watch many movies.
So he didn’t like No Country For Old Men. I loved that movie. I don’t remember everything about it at the moment, but here’s my take:
Arc: High – Med - High - Low - Med (but a very cool medium).
Star Power: I don’t give a shit about star power. 7.
Mumbling Quotient: 3.
Bladder: 0 (meaning he shouldn’t have to use the washroom).
Artistry: 9.
Sadism: 3. (there’s killing, but it’s not for entertainment, per se).
Originality: 7. (this doesn’t mean much if it’s done well, original or not).
Incomprensibility: 2.
Humor: 0 (it’s not a comedy).
Scariness: 9 (but not stupid horror movie scariness; the psychopath character is frightening).
Suspense: 9 (same deal; that psychopath guy creates immediate suspense — is he going to kill someone or not? you don’t know).
He also mentions wanting to know if there’s a happy ending or not. I wouldn’t tell anyone if there’s a happy ending or not. That’d ruin the movie if it’s a good movie. I have no desire to watch movies that are depressingly realistic, because real life is depressing enough. So I don’t mind giving that away. Although No Country For Old Men isn’t the happiest story on the block, it’s still a pretty cool movie.