I Am NOT Legend

A friend and I went to see I AM LEGEND tonight with Wil Smith. This is the third theatrical remake of the Richard Matheson novel of the same name and which is now an all too familiar plotline: The last man on Earth is not alone.




The original film version LAST MAN ON EARTH with Vincent Price is definately dated but stuck close to the 'creatures' if you will turning into vampires as was the case in the original novel.

The second remake, OMEGA MAN , and the current I AM LEGEND make out the 'creatures' to be survivors of a deadly virus.



The first hour of I AM LEGEND is pretty good but the second half falls short and becomes just another 'zombie' movie. The dark humor and intelligence of the OMEGA MAN 'creatures' is missing from this current remake. I have to add, the best performance in the whole movie is by Wil Smith's dog, a german sheppard.



Seriously. The pooch shows humor, drama, fear....is great in action sequences and is even heroic!!! Traits that come across blandly in Wil Smith who basically plays Wil Smith....singing along to Bob Marley and quoting Shreck [...don-keeeey!!].

And talk about short...this film has a long set-up and just when you think things are gonna get interesting....IT ENDS!!! What the fu--!!??

I have a five point rating system for films:

5. Pay full price and worth wating in line on opening night!!!
4. See it the following Monday and avoid the lines yet before someone tells you the
ending.
3. Matinee!!!
2. Cable or dollar theatre!!
1. Network tv if its showing after a Simpsons re-run!!

This one gets a 4 and that is only because the dog is sooooo good and I support more film roles for canines!!!!

I'm out.

LOST THEN FOUND 2

I found a few more video files from the ABQ International Balloon Fiesta held in October.

I've tried to get up to Santa Fe so I could do a blog post on The City Different but black ice and snow have made travel up to the city and points beyond a bit too dangerous for my blood. Our nights here are now dipping below the freezing mark and last night half of the city had snow...it was crystal clear at my end of town.

If you get the chance...I recommend the new documentary out called JOE STRUMMER: THE FUTURE IS NOT WRITTEN. Excellent documentary on the beginnings of the band THE CLASH and their rise and fall and ultimately Joe Strummers death.

I'm out.

SILENT SIGH

And now for the music portion of our program.



I'm out.

WILD WILD WEST

Some of you know that I am a movie western nut. Maybe because I'm from the southwest I'm a bit biased. It's not every western ;however, but those with a certain theme, that being the changing of the west and how the 'cowboy' was displaced by the industrial age [MONTE WALSH, BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE and LONELY ARE THE BRAVE being excellent examples, not to forget JUNIOR BONNER a sort of modern day western about a rodeo cowboy at the end of his career.

One of the best is PAT GARRETT and BILLY THE KID set right here in Lincoln county, New Mexico. Keep in mind that there are two versions of the film: the theatrical version released by the studio and the 'director's cut' released on DVD. This might make some purists mad but I prefer the theatrical version because of one scene in particular.

As posted here, the music track with the scene is from the studio version. The director's cut version downplays the music track and for me takes away from the scene. Slim Pickens and Katy Jurardo are only on screen for a scant few minutes and yet you understand their characters from this scene alone, as if they have always been in this time and place and always will be. I highly recommend PAT GARRETT and BILLY THE KID.




I'm out.

HUD [con't]

The film HUD was based on the Larry McMurtry novel HORSEMAN PASS BY and the story in the book did not actually focus on HUD but on Lonnie. There were several other major changes from book to film. The mother character was alive in the book and the 'housekeeper' that Hud is attracted to was actually black. Nonetheless, Patricia Neal gave an outstanding performance as the housekeeper Alma, as you can see from this clip [man I feel like a program director on UHF channel 78 with these clips. So much for a slow news week!]

HUD

Slow week. Maybe I'll have something of interest to post this weekend. For now I'll leave you with my favorite scene from one of my favorite films: HUD with Paul Newman.





I'm out.

LOST THEN FOUND

WOO-HOO!! I was going through some old flashdrives when I came across two lost videos I had taken. The first one is of the Berringer Meteor Crater from my IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE post. The second is the ice cave from my LAND OF FIRE AND ICE post. Enjoy.







I'm out.

UNTITLED POST No. 140

TRAMMIN' THE WESTERN SLOPE

Welcome back. After failing to reach the the peak from the eastern slope of the Sandia Mountains I took the tram up the western slope. Parking at the base of the tram is one buck. The roundtrip costs $15.








At one point someone asked, "how far down is it" and the tram operator replied, "about 7 seconds...".





The trip down was also pretty cool. The clouds looked like steam rising from the base of the mountain. My camera was pointed directly into the sun making it look more like a black dwarf star then the actual sun.






Th th th that's all folks. I'm out.

NEXT UP: I have no idea.

MOUNTAIN HIGH

After losing video from my trip to the 'peak' I was set on going again after the next snow. Last night here in town we had a doozy of a sleet/rain storm. The howl of the wind woke me up twice.

Today however, it was beautiful!!. There were high clouds but the sky was a brilliant blue and there was snow on the mountain...so of course I set out. This time however I decided to go up the back way on Route 14, The Turquoise Trail.

Tinkertown was closed for the season [see link at right] so I did not stop there. The roads started out great....but as you'll soon see that changed....




The Sandia Mountains can be very deceiving. The western slope gets the most sun and is very much the southwest in appearance: dry, lots of rock and brush and very brown. The eastern slope however is very much forest land. Green, cooler and during monsoon season very lush.

In 2005 a friend of mine had come to visit and I thought I'd take him up to the peak from the eastern slope. From down below on the western side it was cloudy but very much a mild day. As we got to about the 7000 feet on the eastern side we hit a very strong rain storm. So strong that I felt uncomfortable and decided to turn back.

The same happened today. The western side was beautiful, high clouds and mild. The eastern slope started out that way but again, around the 7000 feet mark the roads iced over and snow and slush were everywhere....




Needless to say I was getting nervous. I noticed a car that had slid off the road into a snow bank...gulp... and as I got further up I saw this van in the middle of the road and some other cars pulled off to the side. This made me rethink my plans and as soon as I could I turned around...started to spin out but took it slowly and soon was on my way back down.... I'll take the tram.... yikes. The last thing I want is to spin out and over some cliff and then have FOX make a bad tv movie about me with some bad unknown actor playing me.






Yo Dale...how on earth do you live with these kind of conditions eight months out of the year...I'd go CRAZY!!.

Anyhoo -- next up I take the tram [again] up the western slope. Here's a peak [pun intended]:




'

I'm out.