my belated wedding presents

[sergebroom]

I finally received my wedding presents. My wife was going to give me Mike Ploog's out-of-print art book Moon Shadows on January 26 for our 23rd anniversary, but she never heard from that used-book seller so I bought myself 3 DVDs instead.

Somehow, my copy of First Men in the Moon had disappeared from our home, but this HG Wells-inspired story of the first humans to land on the Moon in 1899 is now back. Probably Ray Harryhausen's best movie.

It's been a long time since I watched Time after Time, in which Jack the Ripper escapes from Victorian England using the time machine built by HG Wells, who has to follow him back to 1979's San Francisco.

"What... have... I... done? I've turned that bloody maniac loose upon Utopia!

Finally, I had to acquire Wild Wild West. No, not because of Salma Hayek in malfunctioning underwear. There was that cool giant mechanical spider. Yeah, I know, only a nerd would want a movie because of a giant mechanical spider instead of Salma Hayek in malfunctioning underwear.

Comments

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

What's wrong with Salma Hayek in malfunctioning underwear?

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Nothing, but a movie needs more than Salma Hayek in malfunctioning underwear. Besides, I think that Selma Blair is cuter, which I guess most strenuously marks me as an irredeemable nerd.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

It's taken you this long to find out?

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I've never been so insulted. (If Abi Sutherland were around, she'd tell me to wait and that the day is still quite young.)

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

The day is quite young.

[mkhobson.livejournal.com]

I always really liked Wild Wild West. Warts and all. And the giant mechanical spider was AWESOME.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

The only real problem I had with the movie was Will Smith. No, not his acting abilities. They could have taken the color-blind approach to the whole thing (like Brisco County did with Lord Bowler). That would have required some serious suspension of disbelief, but less so (I think) than being constantly reminded of Smith's race and still being asked to believe he would have even been allowed to perform his job in the 1870s, competent as he may be.

By the way, did you know that Artemus Gordon (aka "the master of mechanical stuff") was originally going to be played by George Clooney? They had to replace him with Kevin Kline because he kept playing Artie as if he were James West.

[mkhobson.livejournal.com]

Ooh, George Clooney would have made an AWESOME Artemus Gordon. There was something about Kevin Kline that didn't quite work for me.

As far as Will Smith ... yes. That was a big problem. Presenting a character of color in a historical movie and just pretending the race issues didn't exist ... uh, yeah. Not very respectful of the actual history folks of color had to endure. That was the same problem I had with "Shanghai Knights" and "Shanghai Noon" (both of which I also enjoyed for their 19th century settings) ...

[mkhobson.livejournal.com]

Oh, wait ... rereading your comment, it seems I'm misremembering the movie. I thought they *did* gloss over Smith's race in Wild Wild West. I'll have to go rewatch it to remind myself (luckily, it's on cable about once a week ...) ;-)

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

They mostly glossed over the crap that a black man would have had thrown his way, but there is at least one scene where they reminded us of the ghastly reality: Smith has infiltrated the lair of the unrepentant Johnny Rebs who, when they realize what he really is, decide to hang him, except that he manages to talk his way out of that with a standup-comedian routine. Too bad they didn't have Harvey Korman as the bad guy.

[pedanther]

It seems to me you might appreciate this.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

A giant mechanical anything is intimidating? Even a bunny, unless it has death beams coming out of it eyes?