One of the poorest movies I’ve ever seen in a cinema. Very nearly walked out, something I haven’t done since Morons From Outer Space (Hodges, 1985). I was going to gather my thoughts into a somewhat coherent review but the couple of attempts I took to do so resulted in a garbled, angry single-paragraph rant, like something a serial killer might leave at a crime scene. So, sod it. My capsule review of The Meg: Load of old bumshit. Avoid.
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I’d love to read that TBH.
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A historically and humanistically justifiable bias notwithstanding, Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a terrific book, the first comprehensive chronicle of “white America’s genocidal campaign against the Indian Nations” (Michael Coyne), albeit written at least a century too late. (As an off-topic aside: Three years after the publication of Brown’s book in 1970, the lamentable Wounded Knee incident occurred. Stanley David Lyman, who was the Bureau of Indian Affairs superintendent at the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1973, gives “a personal account” of the whole intricate affair in Wounded Knee 1973, published posthumously in 1991. And my favorite comics artist, Jean Giraud [alias Mœbius], drew two beautiful pages in reaction to the Wounded Knee crisis.)
The pro-Indian position already existed in America. Helen Hunt Jackson’s book, ‘A Century of Dishonor’ was published in 1881 and is a sort of predecessor to Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. There’s nothing wrong with taking a more sympathetic approach but the problem with Brown is that he doesn’t really convey the Indian viewpoint as I pointed out. He takes the side of certain tribes over others. I don’t think one can be a serious student of the Indian wars and take sides. At the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851, a Sioux chief named Black Hawk said, “These lands once belonged to the Kiowas and Crows, but we whipped these nations out of them, and in this we did what the white men do when they want the lands of the Indians.” The Crows, who had lost territory to the Sioux and Cheyenne, became allies of the United States and frequently requested assistance. In 1866, a council was held at Fort Phil Kearney with the Cheyenne chiefs to discuss why they were invading the Crow reservation and they replied bluntly, “We stole the hunting grounds of the Crows because they were the best.” Many white settlers were sympathetic to the smaller tribes. The Indian commissioner, Alexander H. Redfield, even suggested that the US army build posts specifically for the purpose of defending Indian tribes like the Arikara against the Sioux and Cheyenne. All of this is very carefully left out of Dee Brown’s book and the tribes who formed alliances with the United States are dismissed as “mercenaries” assisting in genocide. He completely overlooks the ironic fact that forming an alliance with the United States saved them from a possible genocide, not by the Euro-Americans, but by other Indians. History is history and it’s better to have a non-judgemental view because it’s never black and white.
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I suppose there should be another thread for discussing the history of the American West. It’s definitely something that interests me. Anyway, back the topic of movies, I just watched The Beguiled after all the Eastwood talk and really enjoyed it.
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Yes, let’s leave it at that. Incidentally, the last movie I watched was Coppola’s The Beguiled. I was very disappointed, to say the least.
I don’t recall disliking it but, until you just mentioned it, I’d entirely forgotten that I’d seen it at all, and I can’t imagine that’s an especially good sign. I’m sure I thought that it felt far too similar to the Siegel original in form and intent to have been worth making at all but I could be way off base there. I’ve seen the remake once and the original twice (and not for years) which doesn’t really feel like enough for me to have fairly made that comparison.
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Might be a problem of the DVD transfer (I watched the German release, titled Die Verführten) – but I found the entire film to be very dark (literally). During some of its many dimly lit scenes, it was really hard for me to see what was going on.
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Traveled up to Dunfermline, Scotland yesterday to see a 55th anniversary screening of Jason and the Argonauts.
In attendance was 88 year old John Cairney who played Hylas in the film, and Ray Harryhausen’s daughter Vanessa. It was wonderful to chat to them about the film and Ray’s legacy.
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2017, Juan Antonio García Bayona)
***½
The Fifth entry into the Jurassic franchise, a direct sequel to Jurassic World (2015). Jurassic World was presented as the first movie of a new trilogy, so this sequel can also be interpreted as the middle part of a new franchise.
In the previous movie, the dinosaurs were no longer simply presented as a threat: they had become real dramatic characters, with a personality of their own (notably Blue, the velociraptor raised by Owen, the dino whisperer). Fallen Kingdom goes one step further than its predecessor: the dinosaurs have become an endangered species and Owen and Claire, the two protagonists of the previous movie, return to the island to save Blue and her comrades.
The film was co-written by Colin Trevorrow, the director of Jurassic World, who told producer Steven Spielberg that he preferred not to direct the sequel and then suggested that Spanish director J.A. Bayona (best known for The Impossible) would take his place. The film is a bit too noisy and hectic, but the action scenes are overwhelming (watch it on a big screen) and there are a few clever details such as Jeff Goldblum returning as Malcolm, the expert in chaos theory, and a young girl who’s eavesdropping on everybody and is therefore called Maisie (you don’t see that very often in action movies: a reference to a Henry James novel).
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R.I.P.!..Burt Reynolds.
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Last ten days:
Star Trek: Into Darkness (Abrams, 2013) 
Star Trek: Beyond (Lin, 2016)
The Cabin in the Woods (Goddard, 2012)
The Endless (Benson/Moorhead, 2018)
The LEGO Batman Movie (McKay, 2017)
The Wolverine (Mangold, 2013)
Brimstone (Koolhoven, 2017)
Django Unchained (Tarantino, 2012)
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (Lowney, 2013)
Locke (Knight, 2013)
The Cannonball Run (Needham, 1981)
Deliverance (Boorman, 1972)
Killer Joe (Friedkin, 2011)
The Grey (Carnahan, 2012)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Johnson, 2017)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Wyatt, 2011)
Upgrade (Whannell, 2018)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Reeves, 2014)
War For the Planet of the Apes (Reeves, 2017)
The Purge: Anarchy (DeMonaco, 2014)
American Sniper (Eastwood, 2014)
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I watched Enigma with Martin Sheen. Sounded interesting, started off well but very quickly became a one star film that couldn’t manage to redeem itself.
Not really a movie but we (Mrs Fudd and myself 
) watched the first season of The Bridge (Bron (Swedish) or Broen (Danish)). It kept us close to the telly for a couple of days.
Now it’s about time for another western.
I watched Army of Darkness Director’s Cut on the new blu-ray steelbook I got recently. I also watched the feature-length Making Of documentary that was made for the release. Needed a break from the constant spaghetti western marathon plus reading Alex Cox’s book.
Return of the Living Dead - 4.5/5
Such a fun movie. I still haven’t bothered to watch the sequels, but I’ve heard they suck.
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I have this release aswell as the Koch 6 disc edition. It’s a close call as to which version is better.
PS. I guarantee Sam Raimi saw the Stranger movies. Especially Get Mean.
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This Scream Factory release has the US Theatrical Cut, the Director’s Cut, and the International Cut on 3 discs.
There’s no question there’s a lot of parallels between Get Mean and Army of Darkness.
So does the Koch version, and almost identical extras.
The character of Ash morphs into a slapstick victim throughout the series, just like The Stranger did.
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I think it would be interesting if Bruce Campbell and Tony Anthony made a movie together 
I’m sure they’re aware of each other. Maybe a cameo of Tony on Ash vs. Evil Dead as Ash’s father or uncle? In any event it would have to involve a 4-barrel shotgun at some point.
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