On My Mind: The Good Ol' Days

Occasionally, I have thoughts about movies that are not connected to a specific one. I wanted to find a space for these among all the reviews that fill these pages. These are just things that are on my mind...

Once upon a time, part of the fun of watching a movie at home was actually going out somewhere to get one. I am a collector/pack-rat by nature. Therefore, the process of driving to the video store, slowly perusing the aisles and walls full of movies, and anguishing over what to choose was exciting to me. First, you have to look at all the latest releases at least once before grabbing anything. Of course, that rule goes out the window if you notice there is only one copy of the hottest thing out. Otherwise, you’re just getting a feel for what’s available. Your second pass is when you start to pick things up. Before you do that, you have to decide what kind of movie you’re in the mood for. After you have a couple in your hand, you may change your mind a dozen times, grabbing different flicks and putting back what you had already chosen. And since you’re a good patron, you don’t just randomly plop them on the nearest shelf. You make sure you place them back where they belong.

After coming to a final decision, it may cross your mind to pick up an older movie as well. Now you have to restart the process. But this is not tedious work. This is you at the beginning of this evening’s movie watching experience. In place of the trailers you would see in a theater, you read any number of blurbs on the back covers of DVDs, or VHS tapes if you go back as far as I. To help you along, you confer with that one clerk who has been working here for as long as you can remember and is as big a movie geek as you are. He or she has often steered you right in the past because they've learned a bit about your taste. Every once in a while they even recommend something that wasn't on your radar that turns out to be really good. By now you glance at the clock and notice the minute hand has made a complete circle and is hard at work on its second turn. Or, maybe your stomach starts growling since you neglected to feed yourself before embarking on this adventure. It is now time to check out and grab some grub on the way home. It must be something fast because the night is slipping away and you have movies to watch.

Granted, things could get testy when someone else is involved in that decision. For a cinephile, even an amateur one like me, compromise was usually easy. I was pretty much down for whatever since I was trying to watch as many films as possible, anyway. Get a couple people just looking to have a crowd pleasing “movie night” in on the decision and someone getting slammed into the “New Release” wall was always a possibility. Multiply that possibility infinitely if more than one child has to decide on a singular movie. Still, you take the good with the bad.

Since Blockbuster has almost completely vanished from the landscape and it truly is impossible to find any other video store, the joys of browsing for movies away from our desktops is already a thing of the past. I know, crawling along a wall full of movies and making sharp turns around end caps designed to get you to buy candy, soda, and posters you don’t need is an archaic ritual performed by people who just don’t do that "internet thang" as well as others who enjoy some sort of physical contact with their entertainment. You've seen us. We’re the same people who still buy CDs, searching for them in much the same manner. During our first listen after we buy them, we study the track listing, liner notes, artwork, and if we’re lucky, the printed lyrics as the songs whiz by. No, standing in front of a 'Red Box' outside the supermarket and scrolling through options while some jerk impatiently taps his feet behind you is not the same thing.

I am still adapting. I do watch movies online and download music. Still, clicking and scrolling through a never-ending list of titles does not fill the void left by being able to put my hands on a thing and get a real feel as to whether I should choose it or not. At my computer, I am also not afforded the opportunity to actually talk to someone who enjoys conversations about movies (or music). Sure, I could chat, join a podcast, start a thread on a forum, tweet about them, or any number of the ways in which we currently communicate, but it’s still not the same.

Believe it or not, I am still able hang on to that pre-movie preparation part of my film viewing life, largely thanks to my local library. Several branches are near enough to my home and have a decent enough selection that I actually get a good sized chunk of the movies I watch from them. They are not nearly as extensive a collection, as well stocked, or organized as those old video stores, but they do the trick. I have a grand time just reading the titles on the DVDs, spine by spine.

Occasionally, a conversation will strike up between myself and a fellow dinosaur. Just the other day, while I was surveying the library’s cinematic landscape, a random fellow about my age was lamenting, out loud, that the movie he was looking for was not there. He then shared that he loves westerns. I quickly asked if he saw the True Grit remake since it was right in front of me. He had. I noticed him pick up a copy of Drive, glance at the cover and put it back. I want to order him to pick it back up and check it out because I think it is a phenomenal movie. I don’t because it’s not the type of film you can recommend to everyone. All the members of my own family who have seen it, hate it and think I’m crazy for liking it. 

We talk a few more minutes while looking at DVDs. By this time, I ask if he’s seen the remake to Red Dawn. He got a puzzled look in his eye because he didn't even know there was a remake. He did know the original and actually said to me “You mean like WOLVERINES!!!!” in his best Patrick Swayze voice. I assured him that’s the one and recommend he check out this new version. If you have read my review of it, or you have seen it, you are probably wondering why I would do such a thing. I don’t think too highly of it. You see, I was once that video store clerk. During the short time we interacted, I gathered it would be right up his alley. My opinion of it matters not. What was important was that I thought he would enjoy it. 

He added the new Red Dawn to his stack of movies and declared he will definitely watch it as soon as he got home. Again, it wasn't my cup of tea, but he’ll probably love it. I may never find out if I am right, but even if he hates it we’ll have something to talk about should I run into him again. I’ll apologize and try to get a better read on him so I can try and make it up to him with another recommendation. He may suggest something for me to watch. Don’t get me wrong, clicking and scrolling while sitting at the computer in my pajamas is a convenient and great way to get a hold of more films than we ever could before. Except we can't actually get a hold of them. Because of that, this easy and speedy method of doing things lacks the beauty of two strangers trying to help each other find a good movie.

Red Dawn (2012)

Directed by Dan Bradley.

2012. Rated PG-13, 93 minutes.

Cast:

Chris Hemsworth

Josh Peck

Josh Hutcherson

Adrianne Palicki

Isabel Lucas

Connor Cruise

Edwin Hodge

Alyssa Diaz

Julian Alcaraz

Will Yun Lee

Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Brett Cullen

Fernando Chien

Kenneth Choi

The first person we meet is Matt Eckert (Peck). He’s a hotshot high-school quarterback who selfishly puts himself before his team, the Wolverines. Hint: this will be a recurring theme. We next meet his father Tom (Cullen), the local tough guy cop and his tough guy brother Jed (Hemsworth), home on leave from the military. Blanks are filled in by an assortment of locals. You know the locals: the girlfriend, the geek, the other girl(s), the black guy, etc. In a shocking nod to diversity, we actually get two black guys. Of course, neither one…well, I’m getting way ahead of myself. Most of the locals are teenagers and friends of the boys, but there are a few strangers who find themselves in this ragtag bunch due to the circumstances. What circumstances? North Korea has invaded the United States and are hitting the town of Spokane, Washington pretty hard. A daring escape forms the aforementioned bunch, without dad, by the way. One thing leads to another and before you know it, they’ve become a resistance known as…wait for it…wait for it…the Wolverines! Yayyy! If, like me, you’re old enough to actually remember the last decade of The Cold War then you probably know this is a remake of the 1984 original which stars Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, and a number of the day’s hottest young stars.

Like its predecessor, Red Dawn is a relentless barrage of blood-soaked patriotism. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with national pride, but that’s pretty much all there is. Some effort is made to develop the relationship between the brothers, but I've already told you everything there is to know. Everyone else is a cardboard cutout either part of and/or helping the resistance, or they’re traitors, saving their own hides by helping the enemy. Speaking of the North Koreans, that’s just it – they’re North Koreans. The idea, drilled home by all the news blurbs that open the film, is that their current real-life leadership is not only crazy enough to invade they actually make that move. From there, we get a depiction of how we Americans like to think we’d react to such a situation.

Of course, such a depiction requires lots of action. Red Dawn does lots of things well in this department. For starters, there’s lots of it. The next supposedly covert operation is never far away. It should go without saying that each one erupts in gunfire. These scenes do a surprisingly decent job of creating tension. If nothing else, we know that a number of North Koreans (and their supporters) will die along with one of our heroes. Guessing which “good” guy gets it is where the  tension is. The problem here, like with the rest of the movie, is we might be emotionally invested in the cause (provided we’re American or anti-North Korean), but not in any character not named Matt or Jed. Therefore, ancillary characters dying is of little concern to us. Even worse, when the movie tries to manipulate us one last time with a major decision made by one of these people, we’re just thankful he made the choice on his own because we wouldn't hesitate to shoot him, otherwise. Our lack of compassion for this character further proves that our roster of freedom fighters is made up of types rather than actual people. Magical Negro, anyone?

Okay, so depth is not found here. It’s a shoot ‘em up, popcorn flick designed by Americans for Americans and uses no uncertain terms. At being precisely this it succeeds. Note for note, it’s practically identical to the clunker Battleship. This one swaps out space aliens for North Koreans. Otherwise, they’re virtually the same. Somehow, this is still better. Perhaps because we can more readily identify with menaces from another country than another planet. More likely, this one removes just enough cheese and other Michael Bay-isms (I know he didn't direct Balttleship) to be a more believable, if still implausible tale. The action looks better and the run time is a good deal shorter, avoiding most of the long, boring stretches where nothing is really happening. Things are happening here all the time. This makes it a fun watch that uses our fears to create an action-filled adventure. There is no cinematic genius on display, so I wouldn't call it good. It’s just a better movie than Battleship constructed from the same parts.

MY SCORE: 5/10