Royce's Random Thoughts

Summary: Arriving on Earth to deploy a virus to kill on the inhabitants and ready it for colonization, General Bill Trius of the planet Hondo immediately gives up his mission upon discovering the concept of music. Eight years later he’s happily married with a daughter, and practicing folk music on the side, when a Hondoian assassin finally shows up to kill Trius and finish the job. Fortunately Kevin, the assassin in question, is 1) Not very good at his job, and 2) Just as susceptible to the Power of Music as Trius was. Together they form up a folk music duo, and cleverly disguising themselves as folk musicians only pretending to be aliens, bring music and happiness to the world (or at least certain neighborhoods on Long Island).

Too bad Planet Hondo still wants to destroy the Earth. Will General Trius and Kevin be able to stop the next assassin? Will Kevin realize trying to date the cop attempting to arrest him won’t end well? Will Trius’s marriage survive Kevin’s antics?

Review: Well, yes, since the point of the movie is to provide a showcase for Nils d'Aulaire (General Trius) and Jay Klaitz’s (The Mighty Kevin) real life folk music comedy duo “Future Folk”. The plot tends to be somewhat, er, intermittent, as it’s placed between musical numbers the pair play. Nevertheless despite being musicians first and actors second, both of them carry themselves well, with Klaitz proving very adept in his role as a bumbling assassin with a crush on a female police officer. [1] D’Aulaire is more the straight man, but he manages to put some real acting chops on display, particularly in a scene where the plot has put a strain on his marriage, and he explains very gently to his daughter that even though Mommy and Daddy might be angry with each other right now, they would never be angry with her, and nothing that’s happening is her fault at all.

In general is it weren’t for single fist fight (between Trius and a Guy In A Rubber Suit) and some mild swear words, this would be a PG comedy. As it is, it’s mostly lighthearted, and a chance to hear some good banjo pickin’.

[1] Which I’ll admit slides into Stalker With a Crush territory when Kevin uses a stun rifle to paralyze her in her house so he can sing a love song in Spanish to her. Admittedly it’s played for comedy, he’s otherwise utterly non-threatening, and her upset about the whole situation never rises above “mild irritation”, but it’s a bit creepy and potentially triggery.

Recommended.

Available on Region One DVD and Netflix.

Stop motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen has died today at age 92.

These days, in an era where even the crappiest movie can have dazzling CGI special effects, it's hard to understand how amazing RH's carefully crafted, mostly one man stop motion effects must have appeared when they first came to the screen. After Star Wars premiered, his era of stop-motion essentially ended, though full stop motion features from Nick Park and others would still have a niche in entertainment.

The first of his films I was ever aware of was sadly the last he worked on, Clash of the Titans. When I got older and his catalog became available on DVD I started seeking out the others. These days, my favorites are probably The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, the first for its sense of high adventure, the latter for its almost perfect distillation of 50's ear pulp sci-fi tropes.

What are yours?

Summary: A humble geology professor goes through his late uncle's paperwork and finds himself drawn into the man's investigation into the "Cult of Cthulhu", a world wide organization that worships the titular Old One, which sleeps in a lost city on the edge of the world.

Review: This is a brilliant bit of guerrilla film making of the sort that jblum would enjoy, created by a Lovecraft LARP society with the conceit that H.P. Lovecraft sold the movie rights to his stories when he was still alive, which were then produced as a black and white silent movie. Made mostly with love and a limited budget, it creates the lovely feel of a silent film, with cardboard special effects and histrionic expressions from the actors. The illusion is broken slightly though, if you've ever seen any actual silents, since the camerawork and editing are actually far too smooth. But it's a forgivable fault as you're drawn into a tight little 45 minute three reeler that combines several related Lovecraft stories into a coherent whole