This Week in Geek (16-22/07/23)

"Accomplishments"

In theaters: Dial J for Jones AKA Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is, surprisingly, a time travel story. Minimally in the actual sense, but this is about a man who loves the past suffering through a generation that only cares about the future (it's set on the day of the Moon Landing) and must revisit it or die, so History is a factor whether the Nazis are after time travel or not. If those words put the fear of Crystal Skulls in you, don't worry. Dial is much more in line with the classic films in terms of presentation, and though we're in the late 60s, a move to the Mediterranean takes us back some 30 years at least, with sequences that would have fit the original time frame (plus one that does, with the best de-aging yet put to film). Strong action with a sense of fun, but also some nice archaeological moments. Indy at the end of his rope (sometimes literally), but still able to handle himself. Phoebe "Fleabag" Waller-Bridge is pretty great as his fortune-hunting partner (she has her own arc and the beats are well-balanced between the two), and the kid sidekick plays in a way Short Round didn't (but I still miss a Tall Round cameo). James Mangold manages to capture some of the old magic, though I find character moments more memorable than action-driven ones. It may sound like a back-handed compliment to say this is the third best Indiana Jones movie, but I rate it closer to Lost Crusade (at #2) than I do Temple of Doom (at #4).

At home: If you're looking for a movie about a haunted weave, then Bad Hair (Justin Simien of Dear White People fame) is your first stop. Set in 1989, when the hair procedure was just becoming popular, at an all-black cable channel transitioning to music videos exclusively to ride the wave of hip-hop's mainstream popularity, I was much more interested in this world and Elle Lorraine's struggles to become a host (a pregnant word here) there than I was the horror elements (which I still hope are based on a real legend). In fact, as the third act brings those monkey's paw mechanics to the fore (opening with the only bad effects in the film), Bad Hair necessarily became less interesting. It still works as a metaphor for the loss of cultural identity ("Culture is dead") to adopt "white" standards of beauty, and more generally, the loss of personal identity for professional and romantic ambitions. But it's the setting and Lorraine - here in her introductory role - that makes this one distinctive.

Latter-day Atom Egoyan isn't as thrilling as his younger work, unfortunately, but Remember remains exciting thanks to Christopher Plummer in the powerful and touching role of a Holocaust survivor who, though suffering from dementia, uses his last days to hunt down the concentration camp guard who murdered his family. Plagued by memory problems - an avowed inspiration is Memento, though the result is more realistic - he's helped from afar by Martin Landau who is in a similar, though sharper and less mobile, situation. The acting is stellar, and Egoyan gives Plummer's world a giddy, uncertain feel where Holocaust iconography almost accidentally intrudes, while also presenting a nightmare America on the cusp of renewed fascism. As for the story, the character's chronic amnesia creates well-earned twists and turns and gives the film a certain rewatchability as a result. But at the end of the day, Remember is Plummer's show and a must-see in his filmography.

Some classic MST3K movies, regardless of comedy commentary... Swamp Diamonds (AKA Swamp Women): Roger Corman's women's prison escape movie is kinda feminist in its way, but also mostly about showing ladies' gams. If there's a diamond here, it's largely in the rough.
Secret Agent Super Dragon: The title makes a lot of promises it doesn't keep. What if James Bond and Bruce Lee mostly just stole people's cigarettes out of their mouths?
The Magic Voyage of Sinbad: Evidently a Slavic film rebranded as Sinbad for Western audiences, but even as itself, it spends way too much time on communist propaganda and financing the trip. Gets weird once it gets going at least.
Operation Double 007: An Italian rip-off of James Bond starring Neil Connery (as Dr. Neil Connery), playing the brother of a famous agent, I kid you not, opposite Adolfo "Thunderball's Blofeld" Celi and Lois "Moneypenny" Maxwell, which certainly heightens the credibility of what turns out to be a fair superspy adventure, even if Connery is more super hypnotist than secret agent man. Morricone supplies a pastiche score as well.
The Painted Hills: Lassie dilutes her brand by playing another dog in this reverse John Wick (it wishes).

Books: Sold as Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Book 1, Fritz Leiber's Swords and Deviltry actually contains three stories written late in the game - a solo "origin" story for each iconic character and the award-winning Ill Met in Lankmahr which proposes to tell of their first adventure together and the birth of their partnership. Leiber's prose is stellar, filled with evocative descriptions, intriguing world-building, and word-crafting that's borderline Shakespearean in dexterity. His characters are immediately likeable and I found myself taking to Fafhrd the barbarian in particular, his solo story easily my favorite of the book's three offerings. The unforgiving matriarchal world of Cold Corner is incredibly well rendered and Fafhrd's need to escape and discover civilization sympathetically presented. The much shorter Gray Mouser story isn't a failure by any means, but pales in comparison. As for Ill Met, it moves smoothly between comedy, action and tragedy, creating the necessary bond between the two men, but one that was secured by Fate, or their innate chemistry, already. My only complaint about the collection - where it feels dated - is that it is never very kind to its female characters, quite the opposite. Perhaps this felt necessary to set up an ongoing (remember, these were prequels) sword & sorcery bromance, but there's something of a wasted potential in the way things play out.

If you were a comic book reader on through the mid-80s, you might have wondered about X-Ray Specs, Sea Monkeys, and all those other gags and offers in the ads pages. Kirk Demarais did too, and as an adult, he tried to collect as many of these old novelty items as possible and discuss them in a book. That full-color, illustrated opus is Mail-Order Mysteries. A quick read, great for the coffee table, it's not always high on historical information, but it's written with a sense of humor - the topic of novelty items deserves a novelty-style book - contrasting youthful expectations with adult disappointment. Although some items were as cool as advertised! While the slim volume makes me wish for a deeper history of the mail-order game, Mail-Order Mysteries is a lot fun, and perhaps all I really need. Pictures are worth a thousand words, as they say, so actually seeing these objects, not as tiny sketches, but in the fullness of their reality, is eye-opening... and a treat!