A Bad Omen...

I think it is a bad Omen that a certain Scotty Wilkinson did not show up along with a certain Caprio to watch the reprisal of "The Omen". I think Scotty's failure to commit to a night of evening leisure, laughing at fake evil, I think this signifies, the general deconstruction of the social order as we know it. It is a sign of times to come. Signs where servitude to the lowly beasts of our elders hold precedence over us. And it is all because Scotty gave in. Heed this Omen....

All this aside, while entertaining (I laughed a few times, especially when Mia Farrow got kicked in the head) this was a piece of crap. It was terribly predictable, the acting was horrible, with perhaps the exception of the little kid who only has about two or three lines the entire film. It had over the top imagery which would have been fine if it was a comic book movie, but for a movie that tries to scare you, especially a religious themed one such as this, I feel they need to be more dreary, unpolished, rely less on drowning intensifying music (which just warns you of things to come), and more on the mystery and the complacency of the world's natural noises, traffic, wind in trees. This movie was about the devil, how about throwing some whispering, some chanting in etc. The kid is evil, yet still oddly sort of cute.

On the plus side Julia Stiles bites it, and Damien is a son of a bitch. The kid has a great smiley face drawing on his wall that actually has horns, I laughed pretty much every time they filmed in his room and there was a shot of it. It was cheesy horror, and it relied heavily on loud noises to make you jump, which weren't that effective. (I jumped once.) Their marketing ploy for the movie was genius however. Hey, I went!

As I said I'd mention them in a previous blog entry, I did see "A mighty wind" and "Lost Horizon". "A mighty wind" really didn't wow me. It was amusing, but not devastatingly so, and I'm not sure I'm chomping at the bit to see "Best in Show" because of it. Eugene Levy's character was great. Totally brain dead from a life of drugs. I suppose it was funny in an awkward sort of way.

"Lost Horizon" was surprisingly a lot like the book, however, I think the book goes further to suggest that everlasting life is not a good thing, especially if you are trapped, isolated from the world. Directed by Capra, I found certain characters had the essence of some of his later leading stars. "George" who was a young man who hated the Shangri-La utopia (The only one who seemed to) very much gave a preview of the passion that Jimmy Stewart would later display in Capra's films. It was a philosophical movie, about a philosophical book. Really ahead of its time as were "Its A Wonderful Life", and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". Like other directors, it is evident that Capra like certain actors and actresses. While there was no Jimmy Stewart, "Clarence" the Angel was there, as was one of the female leads from Its a Wonderful Life (Not Donna Reed). At times I made fun of the effects in Lost Horizon, but really this movie must of had a huge budget, because it had an amazing set. Apparently a couple of the portions of this movie have been lost or damaged (about 3, 3-5 minute spans of dialogue) however the sound was preserved. The restorers cleverly pieced together some slides to try and indicate the conversations and what was happening. Its a shame that such a brilliant piece of Americana was allowed to decay like such.