yojimbo73 Blog

Under discussion:

Annie  (1982)

The Dark Crystal  (1982)

Escape from New York  (1981)

Krull  (1983)

Raiders of the Lost Ark  (1981)

Return of the Jedi  (1983)

Risky Business  (1983)

Samurai Jack: I  (2001)

   1982 may have been the greatest year ever. At least for a 9 year old movie geek it was. Sure, '81 brought us the births of Indiana Jones and Snake Pliskin and '83 would wrap up the Star Wars trilogy and introduce us to the glaive and Tom Cruise, but '82 gave us E.T., Fast Times, Rocky III, Conan, The Thing,  First Blood, Tron, Wrath of Kahn and Blade Runner . To close out the year was a little movie called the Dark Crystal.

   I saw a few of these in the theatre, but as I was only 9 (and funds were slim), most would have to wait for VHS.  I did get to see The Dark Crystal in the theatre however, most likely because it was from mother approved Jim Henson and company. And really, that's all I needed to know. It was by the father of the Muppets and the voice of Yoda. Does a kid need to know any more than that? 

   For the uninitiated the Dark Crystal follows Jen and Kira as they traverse Thra on a mission to return a crystal shard to the dark crystal so balance will be restored to the world. On the way they encounter Mystics, Skeksis, garthim, striders, podlings and Fizzgig (dear Fizzgig). It was filmed entirely with puppets and elaborate costumes and it was absolutely magical.

   In '83 the behind the scenes special, the World of the Dark Crystal, was shown on T.V. (which I recorded) and Marvel released their adaptation in comic form, so I was able to relive the magic over and over and over again. My zeal carried over to the playground where we would ride chicken style on each others backs pretending to be racing across the plains of Thra atop our giant striders to do battle with the evil Skeksis.  It's been a couple decades since I've seen my one time favorite movie, so how does it hold up....

   It turns out it holds up incredibly well. CG was still in it's infancy, so  every creature is a tangible being and every set could be walked through (if you were so lucky).  The story is still filled with wonder and beauty.  And it turns out Aughra went on to star in Touched By An Angel.  OK, maybe not, but I can't see Della Reese without thinking that.  The creature costumes were so well done that they could proudly stand next to any of the aliens from Henson Co's Farscape.

    Apparently I'm not the only one who's remained infatuated with the film. He of Samurai Jack and the Clone Wars, Genndy Tartakovsky, is set to release a sequel next year.  I don't really see the need for this sequel, but at least he has insisted on using puppets and Brian Froud is back on board for design work. As long as Fizzgig remains a little rolling lintball with a face, I'll be a happy man.

   Oh yeah, Annie came out in '82 as well. Man, did I ever have a crush on that little orphan girl.
 

    I figured before I actually wrote anything about any movies in particular I would get a few things off my chest. And just in case you were wondering, that title is about as clever as I'm likely to get.

    First off I won't really be writing big, elaborate reviews. There are plenty of better writers than I flooding the net with grander reviews than I could ever hope to write. What I will do though is throw together some thoughts, feelings and opinions that I had while watching a movie. Which brings me to the star rating system here. 5 stars for "love", 4 for "like" and so on. I really wish it would go to ten stars as I would like to be able to differentiate between degrees of like and love, so I'll be putting my own stars in my write ups. I like and love many, many movies. I also acknowledge that  I like a lot of "bad" movies. For example, Anaconda really isn't a good movie, but for some reason I love the cheese of it all, so it gets 5 stars, and I won't apologize for that. Moving on.

    As I'm sure everyone knows there is a so called format "war" going on right now between HD DVD and Bly-ray. The fact that it's being called a war in the first place offends me as there are men and women dying every day in actual wars around the globe. I'd rather keep politics out of this though, so I'll keep going. As a recent recipient of a PS3 I have joined the ranks of Blu-ray backers, so my thoughts on this issue are a little biased. The fact remains though that Universal, Paramount and Toshiba are pretty much all that's left to fight for the side of HD DVD. Their unwillingness to give up the fight is hurting the industry as a whole and is effectively dividing the fans that pay their paychecks. A visit to any forum will find fans from both sides hurling insults at each other as though by purchasing one player or another, they have put every ounce of their pride and honor on the line. And then there's the cries from HD DVD'ers of the loss of "choice". Ugh. My idea of choice isn't a machine produced by only one manufacturer. I better move on before I get totally wound up.

   The third thing I'd like to touch on that's been beaten to death is the writers strike. I admit I'm no accountant or anything resembling an insider to the studio system, but it seems like a simple fact that without writers you have no product in the business of storytelling. The writers don't really seem to be asking for that much either (relatively speaking). So now, because of big business greed, we are faced with a stinking, disgusting pile of reality shows if things can't be worked out. Out of the miasma crawls American Gladiators. Rejoice in it's steroid driven goodness! Behold the corn silk skullet of the Hulkster! Amaze as our fellow man is pummeled by the largest humans science can provide! Now if we could just get a classic Gladiator vs new Gladiator episode I would be a happy man. Anyway, these are the wonders we have to look forward to as long as Hollywood remains steadfast in their penny pinching ways.

   Spose I should wrap this up. I've droned on long enough, though I still have plenty to say on all these topics. In the end, all I'm asking for is our writers back, one hidef format (cause Joe Sixpack is beyond confused with the situation) and a little understanding when I say Anaconda is a 5 star movie.