Every movie we see #46: Transcendence it isn’t
43. The 39 Steps. We always watch Hitchcock movies when we’re under the weather. This one is rather kinky, especially when the hero gets handcuffed to the hostile witness and they’re forced to shared a bed for the night.
44. Notorious. Another of our favorite Hitchcocks (A list of non-favorites would be shorter. I Confess and The Paradine Case would be on it). Readers of spy stories factual or fictional are familiar with the honey trap—using sex to manipulate or trap a source or enemy. Notorious has a double-honey trap: a secret agent (Cary Grant) makes a Nazi agent’s party girl daughter (Ingrid Bergman) fall in love with him, and then sends her to Brazil to seduce one of her father’s cohorts (Claude Rains). It’s sexy and twisted, and Hitchcock got away with a very long kissing scene. Watch it yourself.
45. The Way We Were. Strangely enough for someone who hangs out with gay people 98 percent of the time, we had never seen The Way We Were in its entirety until the other night. So that’s why the baklas love it: You could replace Barbra Streisand’s character with a gay man, and it would work. One could argue that she was playing a gay man. Robert Redford was probably the most beautiful earthling of the early 1970s. No wonder his Great Gatsby didn’t work: What was the point of pining for Daisy Buchanan when he was lovelier than she was?
Nakakasira ng ulo.
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Transcendence is not. It’s flat, static and lazy; we would’ve been better off reading back issues of Wired from 10 years ago. Johnny Depp phones in his performance as a genius AI research scientist. Paul Bettany, who plays his colleague, actually phones in his performances as Jarvis in the Iron Man and Avengers movies (We learned this from the DVD commentary track), but he’s a lot more lively here.
Speaking of the Marvel Universe (Rebecca Hall was in Iron Man 3 playing basically the same character), we’ve heard that Johnny Depp is being courted for the role of Doctor Strange. Given Transcendence’s dismal critical and commercial reception, Depp might find an offer from Marvel more attractive now.
Does anyone have old Doctor Strange comics we could barter for? And basic sets of Lego blocks. They’re all sold by theme now, and cost arms, legs, spleens.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
April 25th, 2014 at 08:08
While I don’t have Dr. Strange books, I’m part of a few online groups where folks may be interested in bartering. I can post requests; just let me know if ever what you’d be bartering.
And I agree regarding Lego. A few months back, I was looking to buy a gift for my nephew, and when I saw the prices of Lego, I was floored. Some went for a much as 10K. They’re now officially off the middle class market. Too bad for kids these days.
April 25th, 2014 at 08:16
Your Grace, I don’t know if this is still available, but Doctor Strange: Oath by Brian Vaughan (the magnificent writer of Runaways, Saga, Y: The Last Man, and Pride) is highly recommended, Your Grace. And, there’s Marvel Essentials: Doctor Strange (though black and white, it’s written and drawn by its creator, Steve Ditko), a very cheap alternative, Your Grace.
April 25th, 2014 at 13:45
“Johnny Depp phones in his performance” ~ He’s playing a Tim Burton character or this goofy, wisecracking guy? I want to see this but the poster is telling me to avoid it. He looks like a constipated Gary Oldman on asthma meds. Also, I’ve been hearing about the Lawnmower Man comparison. Johnny is helluva nice person and I hate to see him doing stinkers like this.
On a related note, A few weeks ago, I saw Johnny doing his rounds of promo for this movie then later that day I saw 90’s actor and Maneuvers dancer, Lee Robin Salazar. I swear to God they are the same person. Somewhere, Lee Robin’s Google alert bleeped, read my comment and is now happy man.