I was a monster of a kid. Holy smokes.
Film. Comics. Sci-Fi. Superheroes. Pulp. Noir. History. Superman. 20th Century Archaeology.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Signal Shame Watch: Liz & Dick (2012)
Well, that was most certainly a movie with Lindsay Lohan in various Liz Taylor Halloween get-ups.
I wasn't planning to watch Liz & Dick (2012), the much hyped Lindsay Lohan-as-Liz Taylor biopic, but Twitter was having enough of a field day under the #lizanddick hashtag that I had to check in and see what was what. And a trainwreck it was, indeed.
I don't actually know anything about the history of Richard Burton and Liz Taylor, and I've only seen a rare few of each of their movies. Aside from finding each to be fine actors and finding Liz Taylor in her prime quite fetching, I don't know that I've spent as long as the duration of this movie thinking about Liz Taylor and Richard Burton.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Thanksgiving Weekend Round-Up 2012
Well, so that was the long weekend for Thanksgiving.
The Thanksgiving Holiday is over, and we head into the Christmas season.
Before we bid adios to Turkey Day, here's some quick views...
 |
| that was a really, really good white. No idea what it was. |
Before we bid adios to Turkey Day, here's some quick views...
Signal Watch wishes Noel Neill a Very Happy Birthday!
_01.jpg)
Born November 25th, 1920, Noel Neill played Lois Lane in the original Superman movie serials with Kirky Alyn, and then in all but the first season of the 1950's TV series, The Adventures of Superman alongside George Reeves and Jack Larson. She went on to appear as Lois' mother on the train in Superman: The Movie and appeared briefly as Gertrude Vanderworth in Superman Returns.
She is one of our favorite performers in any Superman media, and we want to extend a big birthday howdy to our Lois of choice.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Larry Hagman Merges with The Infinite
Larry Hagman, of Dallas TV fame, has passed at the age of 81.
I am a child of the 70's and 80's, and was living in the Dallas area circa 1979-1981 and Houston, after that. There were four channels at the time. We all watched Dallas. Yes, we all knew who JR Ewing was. And, like much of America, I also wondered who had shot JR.
Son of actress Mary Martin and a native Texan, Hagman's relationship with Texas continued on and off for most of his life.* Hagman was a major wheel in TV, both in the US and abroad, where the show ran in re-runs well past when the show had been cancelled.
Later, I'd start watching re-runs of I Dream of Jeannie, where Larry Hagman played astronaut Tony Nelson. He got to be on TV with Barbara Eden every week, and that ain't bad.
Readers of this blog will also remember him from Superman: The Movie as the Army officer who bravely steps up and assists Valerie Perrine when she fakes an auto accident to distract a convoy for Lex.
Hagman had recently returned to TV in a reboot of Dallas, and was enjoying a second wind of stardom.
Hagman passed today in a Dallas hospital.
*As a side note, the more someone is like the villainous JR Ewing, the more likely it often seems that they'll be elected governor in Texas, over and over and over.
I am a child of the 70's and 80's, and was living in the Dallas area circa 1979-1981 and Houston, after that. There were four channels at the time. We all watched Dallas. Yes, we all knew who JR Ewing was. And, like much of America, I also wondered who had shot JR.
 |
| He drinks your milkshake |
Son of actress Mary Martin and a native Texan, Hagman's relationship with Texas continued on and off for most of his life.* Hagman was a major wheel in TV, both in the US and abroad, where the show ran in re-runs well past when the show had been cancelled.
Later, I'd start watching re-runs of I Dream of Jeannie, where Larry Hagman played astronaut Tony Nelson. He got to be on TV with Barbara Eden every week, and that ain't bad.
 |
| Major Nelson was never any Darren-like pushover |
Readers of this blog will also remember him from Superman: The Movie as the Army officer who bravely steps up and assists Valerie Perrine when she fakes an auto accident to distract a convoy for Lex.
 |
| bravely, bravely ponders a stricken Valerie Perrine |
Hagman had recently returned to TV in a reboot of Dallas, and was enjoying a second wind of stardom.
Hagman passed today in a Dallas hospital.
*As a side note, the more someone is like the villainous JR Ewing, the more likely it often seems that they'll be elected governor in Texas, over and over and over.
'Itiseth yon Season?
Just received this dispatch from the North Pole!
could our Holiday friend be back?
could our Holiday friend be back?
Thursday, November 22, 2012
.jpg)
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Noir Watch: The Set-Up (1949)
This is the third time I'd watched this movie, but every time it's been years apart.
The Set-Up (1949) is the story of an aging fighter, well past his prime, but still taking to the ring on a low-class circuit, fighting at the bottom of crummy bills in shoddy venues. Robert Ryan played a lot of heavies, but here he plays the fighter who truly only knows how to do one thing - and that's get up and get back in the ring again and again, not yet shaken off the promise of the one-in-a-million shot, now with much smaller dreams of respectability.
Audrey Totter plays Julie, the woman in his life who has seen his string of losses and watched every fight, seeing the man she loves beaten and bloodied. As the movie begins, they've hit a cross-roads - though it's possible Ryan's "Stoker" doesn't yet fully realize the gravity of the situation.
Meanwhile his manager, who can count on Stoker to lose in every bout, takes a pay-off promising Stoker will take a fall, but cuts his own fighter out of the deal, considering it a no-brainer that his guy can't make it and wont' get lucky.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)