Cinema Cycle - Duck Victory

Looney Toons:

Duck Victory

Thursday, 02.26.2020

Media

Laserdisc

Attendees

Bruce Johnson

Daffy Duck Screen Classics

1. That classic animation
2. Lots of gunfire
3. All that gunfire, but no one is ever injured. Slap stick for sure, but so politically incorrect today.
4. Lots of subtle innuendos
5. The many incarnations of Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
6. Road Runner / Coyote theme.  Everything made by Acme.

Cinema Cycle Notes

• 19  miles
• 93 minutes
• Odometer =  11774.4 miles  

Cinema Cycle - Naked City: A Hole In The City

Naked City

Thursday, 02.24.2020

Media

DVD

Attendees

Bruce Johnson

A Hole In The City

1. First 10 minutes, armored car robbery and chase, wow.
2. The best thing about this series are the young group of actors who went on to win Oscars. In this case Robert Duvall.
3. A whole lot of murder going on.
4. A young Ed Asner with hair.
5. The simplistic idea of police work back in the day
6. I love the cinematic style.
7. The dream sequences in this segment are just surreal
8. Ow no, they shot Lew Grant!
9. ….and the ending with the classic hail of gunfire.

Cinema Cycle Notes

• 10.4 miles
• 51 minutes
• Odomenter =  11765.8 miles  

Cinema Cycle - The Three Stooges / Quiz Whiz

The Three Stooges

Thursday, 02.20.2020

Media

DVD

Attendees

Bruce Johnson

Title: Quiz Whiz

1. Stooges, the latter years.
2. A live action cartoon.
3. Black & White Dumb and Dumberer
4. Filler between reels, time to visit the snack bar.
5. Inappropriate today, but funny.

Cinema Cycle Notes

• 3.3 miles
• 16 minutes
• Odometer =  11755.4 miles  

Cinema Cycle - Man With A Camera (2 Episodes)

Man With A Camera

Tuesday, 02.18.2020

Media

DVD

Attendees

Bruce Johnson

Two Strings Of Pearls

1. Charles Bronson, bad as photographer
2. Love the camera equipment, all 4X5 and 120. No 35mm in sight!
3. The modern equivalent would be 'Young Man with a Drone'.
4. Back when photography was a swashbuckling career.
5. Love the 50s production values.  
6. The final scene at the airport.  OMG.
7. Bad girls go to jail….good ridence.
8. More entertaining than I thought it would be.

Missing

1. Complex plot for a 30 minute show.
2. Location shooting in 1950s Los Angeles.  The cars!
3. Charles Bronson, tough guy photographer outsmarts the police.
4. Charles never develops his own film, he lets the geeks do that.
5. OMG, Tijuana border patrol and smuggling.  So simple, sooo inept. 
6. Film Noir Los Angeles
7. Back when diamonds where the currency of the underworld.
8. Shoot out in the car wash. Film Noir Classic.

Cinema Cycle Notes

11 miles

52 minutes

Odomenter =  11752.1 miles  

Cinema Cycle - Once Upon A Time In The West

Once Upon A

Time In The West

Friday, 02.14.2020

Media

Laserdisc

Attendees

Bruce Johnson

Setup / Background

1. I could just watch the credits for hours.
2. This appears to be the quintessential spaghetti Western.
3. There is almost no real dialogue for the first 30 minutes of this film
4. But I believe the body count is up to eight
5. Cinematography and soundtrack are excellent
6. Watching this film is like watching a motion picture painting, it's just all visual and sensory overload with very little dialogue.
7. The long slow unraveling plot told through a series of random events
8. It all slowly starts to make sense.  But you never know what's going to happen next
9. The great American story, the long-term development of resources
10. It all makes sense in the end.
11. I'm sorry but nobody looked as good as Claudia Cardinale does in this movie.

Cinema Cycle Notes

• 38 miles
• 165  minutes
• Odometer =  11741.1 miles  

Cinema Cycle - Naked City: Robin Hood and Clarence Darrow, they went out with the bow and arrow

Naked City

Friday, 02.12.2020

Media

DVD

Attendees

Bruce Johnson

"Robin Hood and Clarence Darrow, they went out with the bow and arrow"

Setup / Background

1. First impression, I have no idea what is going on.
2. Lots of background.  Very depressing
3. Also artsy in a 1950s sort of way.
4. The old cliche scene of talking to a headstone to fill in background.  No voice overs back then.
5. OMG a very young Christopher Walken!  (As Ronnie Walken in the credits)
6. Plot finally makes sense.  Geez the 50s were repressed.
7. Social injustice and the struggle of the common man.
8. Again with the headstone
9. Basically the movie "Falling Down" set in 1950s New York
10. Best thing about this series, location shooting in 1950s New York.
11. Surprise ending
12. Almost every episode I have seen ends in a bloodbath.  Bad men die violent deaths.
13. More father son bonding in the end.
14. Why does he hate his father? Because he loves him?

Cinema Cycle Notes

• 11.1 miles
• 51 minutes 
• Odometer =  11703.1 miles  

Cinema Cycle - Lord of War

Lord of War

Friday, 02.09.2020

Media

DVD

Attendees

Bruce Johnson

Disc One

Setup / Background

1. Best opening credits ever.
2. Beginning moves along quickly, a lot of voice over.
3. No female lead yet, but a lot of brother bonding.
4. Let's sell arms to EVERYBODY!
5. Goodbye brother, hello love interest.
6. Bye bye Soviet Union, Arms Sale Free-For-All
7. Lots of sick corrupt people in this world.
8. The scene with the cargo plane, OMG
9. He loses his wife, his son and his brother, didn't expect a happy ending.
10. In the end he loses everything, or does he?
11. The final scene with Ethan Hawk, should be required viewing. 

Cinema Cycle Notes

• 12.6 + 15.5 =  28.1 miles
• Time = 2 hours 2 minutes (122 minutes)
• Odomenter =  11692 miles  

Cinema Cycle - Far and Away

Far and Away

Friday, 02.07.2020

Media

Laserdisc

Attendees

Bruce Johnson

Side One

Ireland

1. Impressive credits, expecting quality film making.
2. I can see this will not be a simple plot.  Gorgeous imagery.
3. Whoever wrote the dialogue for this should have won an oscar.
4. Enter Nicole Kidman.  Fiery !
5. Talk about a series of unfortunate events.
6. A duel in the fog….really?  Hilarious.
7. Very good production values.  Accurate.      

Side Two

Boston

1. Welcome to America.  Poverty everywhere!
2. A very accurate film depicting the time.
3. Was there really this much pugilism in the 1890s?
4. No sex means more testosterone for the boxing ring.
5. Oh Yeah, welcome to grass roots American Government (corruption)
6. He loses everything for a woman….typical
7. So many random events.

Oklahoma

1. Finally made it to Oklahoma sans Nicole Kidman, where could she be?
2. There she is!
3. Finally the big payoff scene (with menacing villain)

Side Three

The Big Scene - Land Rush

1. Happy ending for sure, but the real moral is stay away from Irish Redheads, they just get you into trouble.

Cinema Cycle Notes

• 14 + 19.3 = 33.3 miles
• Time = 2 hours 20 minutes (140 minutes)
• Odometer = 11663.9 miles

Opera Sunday: Tannhauser (Wagner)

Tannhauser

Wednesday, 02.05.2020

Media

Laserdisc

Attendees

Bruce Johnson

Act One

That classic overture

1. Lots of imagery, erotic dancing, oh my.  Some sort of flashback dream sequence.

Let's argue with the Goddess of Love

2. Probably not a good idea
3. Basically, the rule is, don't fall in love with a goddess.  They can be nasty
4. A very minimalist production, but it works.  Moody and passionate

Act Two

Forget living with the Gods,  back on Earth

1.  Apparently being able to sing in this culture is highly prized.  "Like dude! You sing better than us. Damn!"
2. Intermission
3.  Interesting tour of the festival grounds.
4. The female lead in this really has some pipes
5. So this all leads up to a singing contest…..
6. This opera has almost everything,  Gods,  ballet,  chorus, duets,  fancy costumes…
7. The loooonnnngggg drawn out emotional phrasing.

Act Three

A lot going on here, Gods of Emotion vs The God of Christ?

1. Lots of frustration, lots of denial.  
2. Guilt and banishment, jeez.
3. I really have a hard time believing that people ever really lived and thought this way.   Its more of a Nordic Fable focused on love, denial and sacrifice.
4. Here come the three contest songs about love…….
5. Banished for blaspheming at the song contest,  the Horror!
6. So in the end,  what I believe Wagner is trying to say here,  is the struggle between pagan desires, and love of Christ through a pious woman resides in us all.

Cinema Cycle Notes

• Miles Ridden = 30.4 miles
• Time:= 3 hours 9 minutes (189 minutes)
• Total Odometer: = 10,768 miles