rob.cottrell-2
Joined Nov 2000
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rob.cottrell-2's rating
I've not read the book, shamefully, but I did read an excellent review by that Guru of all left-field movies, Kim Newman. As he and some of the comments have pointed out, the original 'Legend' was the main character himself an almost mythical exterminator as seen by the 'vampire victims' of the plague. What the title didn't refer to was a reggae album by the late Bob Marley. In fact, the more I think about it, this reasoning is pretty racist. You can see the suits thinking
"Well, Will Smith is black and this Bob Marley Guy, he was black, and his favourite film would be like Shrek, because Eddie Murphy is in it and he's black too!" So all-in-all, the film leaves a nasty taste in the mouth for all the wrong reasons. Which is a shame. Will Smith gives a very believable and human performance, far better than the script deserves. The opening sequences of an abandoned New York have an eerie power, while the CGI Monsters are suitable feral, even if being 'beastly' is all that they do. I just wish the same amount of care had been put into what is a pretty moronic script. And, as for the butterflies, I'm still trying to work that one out.
As this film is all about the stupidity and shallowness of a media obsessed society, I guess it's no coincidence that most comments have missed out on the origins of this thing. It dates, not from Woody Allen's 'Sleeper', but from a novel written in 1898 (and revised in 1910) called 'The Sleeper Awakes' by HG Wells. If you don't believe me, look it up in Wikipedia! Um
okay..but you get the drift. However, the real inspiration for this movie is a short sci-fi novella, 'The Marching Morons', written by CM Kornbluth in 1951. It's all there. IQ or intelligence has shrunken to stupid levels and Kornbluth presents a similar dystopian world (except it's a 50's dystopia, obviously) for the same reasons as this film. There the similarities end. The thing about Mike Judge is you always get the feeling that despite his sometimes biting criticism, he has a genuine affection for middle American 'White Trash' society not just here but in works such as 'Office Space', and 'King of the Hill'. When I initially heard how Fox had held this film back and then finally released it with no marketing whatsoever I really expected a no-holds barred attack. It doesn't deliver. The initial scenes soon soften and, in fact, it has quite a feel-good ending. If you want to experience the real thing, then check out the Novella. It differs in 3 crucial ways: There is still a tiny minority of intelligent people left in the world who are just about keeping things from total collapse. The 'Sleeper' is not some laid-back, genuinely caring soul (as played by Luke Wilson) but a ruthless and greedy ex ad-man. And, most importantly, the solution to the problem is far, far darker than what is offered here. But don't take my word for it. Read 'The Marching Morons' That is if you read books, of course.
9. That's the number of times the Apollo Programme sent rockets to the moon. If you were going to fake it, why would you fake it 9 times? This superbly constructed documentary of the whole Apollo Programme should), finally put paid to the conspiracy theory that the moon landings were all filmed in a warehouse in Arizona. It seems, as David Sington' pointed out in the Q&A, that there are still thousands of feet of film still to be examined. The film includes some of this amazing footage and complements it with intimate interviews from the people that count the most; the Astronauts. Now into their seventies they talk about their experiences with far more openness than we have ever heard from them before. Michael Collins, especially (he was the one who stayed in the command module during the first landing), has a mischievous glint in his eye throughout the film. Some new facts also come out. In order to fulfil Kennedy's famous declaration that Men would land on the moon by the end of the decade, it seems that 3 Apollo flights had been planned in1969, in case the first two didn't, uh, work out. There was even a specially written presidential address to cover the eventuality of the two astronauts not making it off the moon. But where the film succeeds more than anything else, is to recapture the unified sense of awe that briefly engulfed the whole world. And, if in these cynical days that sounds a little bit corny, so be it. Sometimes the magic works that way.