It's been awhile since I last talked about the Milwaukee Public Museum so today we're doing that.
Yesterday I got to see the temporary Titanic exhibit. When they first announced that they were getting a collection of Titanic artifacts I thought 'Oh, that's nice' and managed to not be as excited as some of my friends. I hadn't counted on their ability to put these things into a context and it turned out to be quite the moving experience.
Yes, I said moving. Let it go.
As you enter, you're given a replica boarding pass with information regarding a specific passenger on it. I was traveling 3rd class. This does make a difference.
The first sections deal with the construction of the ship and why certain decisions and declarations about the ship were made. A large model of the vessel is available for examination and there is actual silent (probably newsreel) footage of the construction. I found this to be fascinating. For some reason it never occurred to me that footage like that would still exist.
After this you move into a section that houses reconstructions of a 1st class and 3rd class room. 1st class is opulent, even by today's standards. 3rd class is spartan. Actors in costume filter through the exhibit and my longest interaction with one occurred here as an Irish gentleman asked if I was a 3rd class passenger as well. When I confirmed that, we had a lengthy conversation about the bunks in our room, who inhabited them, how funny watching the drunk fellow getting into the top bunk was, etc. Much of it was information found on the exhibit walls but presented well. It was fun.
Next came the Grand Staircase. I clung to the edges of the room as the lady within appeared to be a 1st class passenger and I didn't want to get caught out sneaking around 'up there' by her.
What? I was playing my character.
A host of personal effects comes after, information on the restaurant menus, a recreation of the gathering space, information on the boiler room, all lit in ways to echo the mood of the space and with the appropriate sound effects, music for the common areas and the sound of the engines in the boiler room.
Then the ice looms near. The lighting darkens. The air grows cooler. The iceberg hits and you're 'in the ocean'. The room is lit by the stars. A wall of ice tries to simulate the cold of the water that night. I could barely press by hand to it for a minute without yanking it back. I couldn't imagine being immersed in that cold.
The next room is 'under water', the salvage site. Items are presented as they were found under water, with pictures of the site to prove it. The lighting ripples to simulate the 'under water' feel. The highlight is a two ton section of the actual hull. I sat and stared at that for awhile.
More personal stories are shown in the next hallway. A light from the ceiling maps out the size of a lifeboat.
In the final area, there are more effects. A large wall contains the passenger list and who survived the sinking. My passenger, the one on my replica ticket, did not. A few brief sections detail ship sinkings in the state and then you're in the giftshop.
I spent an hour and a quarter in there. I look forward to returning.
24 October 2008
22 October 2008
'Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde' review
'Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde' – 1971
Story in Brief: Our story is told primarily in flashback, reviewing the situation so that we may learn from Doctor Jekyll's experiments into prolonging life. The potion he develops to extend his existence uses female hormones and has the unfortunate side effect of turning the individual who takes the potion into a female because of it. His 'sister' Hyde is significantly less restrained than he is, which leads into all sorts of trouble and confusion, especially when Jekyll starts to fall in love with a young lady and Hyde begins to pursue her brother.
Thoughts:
I really had low expectations going into this movie. The title, while grandly clever, does conjure up thoughts of a rather cheap exploitation flick. What I watched was a surprisingly clever construction of a film. While the title points you rather accurately towards 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' the movie also weaves in the tales of Burke and Hare as well as Jack the Ripper. The resulting mix was probably years ahead of it's time. The movie also progresses surprisingly logically, the tension and action building as the film moves along. In all fairness, if I woke up tomorrow morning to find I was suddenly a female one of my first acts would likely be to give my new naked form a look-see.
Ralph Bates is a great Jekyll and I've getting the feeling he's been a very underrated actor for years. Offhand I only recollect him in this, 'Horror of Frankenstein' and 'Lust for a Vampire' and he was excellent in all of them. Martine Bestwick is equally excellent as Hyde. Creepily enough the two leads do look like they could be related, perhaps brother and sister so the casting is excellent, inspired even.
The film looks excellent with minimal flaws to distract the eye. The sound wasn't anything special, but didn't sound tinny or faded either.
This film is part of Anchor Bay's Hammer Collection. They snuck three films into the collection in late 2001 and these films were at a lower price point than the majority of the films in the Hammer Collection. I'm not sure if this was due to these films having fewer extras that the earlier films or if Anchor Bay simply revised their pricing structure. Eitherway the decreased price of this film led me to scoop it up more quickly than most of its fellow collection mates. I was not disappointed.
Highly recommended.
(As per normal with these reviews, the availability and price of the DVD has likely changed in the years since I originally wrote this review. I leave that information intact because, well, its a flashback thing and I don't want to edit them. Or the information is integrated into the overall text in some reviews. Yeah, that's the ticket.)
Story in Brief: Our story is told primarily in flashback, reviewing the situation so that we may learn from Doctor Jekyll's experiments into prolonging life. The potion he develops to extend his existence uses female hormones and has the unfortunate side effect of turning the individual who takes the potion into a female because of it. His 'sister' Hyde is significantly less restrained than he is, which leads into all sorts of trouble and confusion, especially when Jekyll starts to fall in love with a young lady and Hyde begins to pursue her brother.
Thoughts:
I really had low expectations going into this movie. The title, while grandly clever, does conjure up thoughts of a rather cheap exploitation flick. What I watched was a surprisingly clever construction of a film. While the title points you rather accurately towards 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' the movie also weaves in the tales of Burke and Hare as well as Jack the Ripper. The resulting mix was probably years ahead of it's time. The movie also progresses surprisingly logically, the tension and action building as the film moves along. In all fairness, if I woke up tomorrow morning to find I was suddenly a female one of my first acts would likely be to give my new naked form a look-see.
Ralph Bates is a great Jekyll and I've getting the feeling he's been a very underrated actor for years. Offhand I only recollect him in this, 'Horror of Frankenstein' and 'Lust for a Vampire' and he was excellent in all of them. Martine Bestwick is equally excellent as Hyde. Creepily enough the two leads do look like they could be related, perhaps brother and sister so the casting is excellent, inspired even.
The film looks excellent with minimal flaws to distract the eye. The sound wasn't anything special, but didn't sound tinny or faded either.
This film is part of Anchor Bay's Hammer Collection. They snuck three films into the collection in late 2001 and these films were at a lower price point than the majority of the films in the Hammer Collection. I'm not sure if this was due to these films having fewer extras that the earlier films or if Anchor Bay simply revised their pricing structure. Eitherway the decreased price of this film led me to scoop it up more quickly than most of its fellow collection mates. I was not disappointed.
Highly recommended.
(As per normal with these reviews, the availability and price of the DVD has likely changed in the years since I originally wrote this review. I leave that information intact because, well, its a flashback thing and I don't want to edit them. Or the information is integrated into the overall text in some reviews. Yeah, that's the ticket.)
21 October 2008
Ow!
Halloween falls on Friday this year. Today I noticed that Friday the 31st is Friday the 13th 'backward'.
Made my head hurt.
Made my head hurt.
20 October 2008
The early days
While cleaning in the archive last week I located the bulk of the comics I wrote and drew while in middle school, the period of my first great creative endeavors. I say 'most' because I would create them and 'sell' them to my brothers. We had fake money, played store a lot, whatever. At some point, I was given most of them back. Dunno if the rest even exist anymore.
Do not start to think that because I 'drew' comics that I had some artistic skill that I never developed. I managed to barely draw some simple shapes and sort of tell a story in 6-8 pages at a crack. A number of them were based on games that I'd play to amuse myself and tell a story with in my head so you get lego built spaceships firing on one another and 'regenerating' damaged parts (aka reassembling the lego ships) or spaceships that look suspiciously like the cheap mechanical pencils I used to use in school.
The longest running series? Pac-Man.
Seriously, Pac-Man. Vaguely based on a combination of the arcade games and the Saturday morning cartoon it spawned, I did over a dozen Pac-Man comics. Most of them involve the ghosts trying to steal power pellets, a theme of the cartoon as I recall, and Pac-Man managing to stop them.
While most are simple crayon or marker based silliness, I was surprised to find an experimental one, drawn in pen, staring a pixel, explaining a day where the pixels lined up incorrectly and misdrew Pac-Man and the ghosts. It's not really funny as it tries to be but is an interesting stretch. Young Steve trying something different. Interesting to see.
I also did prose 'magazines' that generally existed to release my early not-quite-Doctor-Who fan fiction. While I don't have the issues any more, I have the original drafts so none of those... interesting stories are missing.
The weirdest thing I remember doing in prose at that time was an adaptation of the original Godzilla movie. It's weird because, at that time, I hadn't seen the film yet and scrawled out a couple pages based on the synopsis I'd read.
Haven't changed all that much, have I? Well, except that I don't think I've got some definitive Pac-Man fan-fic epic seeking outlet. That would be creepy.
Do not start to think that because I 'drew' comics that I had some artistic skill that I never developed. I managed to barely draw some simple shapes and sort of tell a story in 6-8 pages at a crack. A number of them were based on games that I'd play to amuse myself and tell a story with in my head so you get lego built spaceships firing on one another and 'regenerating' damaged parts (aka reassembling the lego ships) or spaceships that look suspiciously like the cheap mechanical pencils I used to use in school.
The longest running series? Pac-Man.
Seriously, Pac-Man. Vaguely based on a combination of the arcade games and the Saturday morning cartoon it spawned, I did over a dozen Pac-Man comics. Most of them involve the ghosts trying to steal power pellets, a theme of the cartoon as I recall, and Pac-Man managing to stop them.
While most are simple crayon or marker based silliness, I was surprised to find an experimental one, drawn in pen, staring a pixel, explaining a day where the pixels lined up incorrectly and misdrew Pac-Man and the ghosts. It's not really funny as it tries to be but is an interesting stretch. Young Steve trying something different. Interesting to see.
I also did prose 'magazines' that generally existed to release my early not-quite-Doctor-Who fan fiction. While I don't have the issues any more, I have the original drafts so none of those... interesting stories are missing.
The weirdest thing I remember doing in prose at that time was an adaptation of the original Godzilla movie. It's weird because, at that time, I hadn't seen the film yet and scrawled out a couple pages based on the synopsis I'd read.
Haven't changed all that much, have I? Well, except that I don't think I've got some definitive Pac-Man fan-fic epic seeking outlet. That would be creepy.
19 October 2008
Tartu/Sting review
'Death Curse of Tartu'/'Sting of Death' - 1967/1966
Story in Brief: 'Death Curse of Tartu' - A group of archaeologists and their students camp at an Indian Burial site within the Everglades. In doing so, they awaken the spirit of Tartu, Indian Shaman, who placed a curse on any who would trespass on his gravesite. People die.
'Sting of Death' - A scientist and his crew welcome the scientist's daughter's return home from college. She brings a number of her friends along to their Everglades island home for a party. Recently there's been a number of strange deaths which appear to be caused by a impossibly large jellyfish. People die.
Thoughts:
I am particularly fond of Something Weird Video. First off, I just like the name of the company. Secondly, they dig up well known and not so well known cult movies, mostly from the independent days of the sixties and seventies, and present them as best they can to an eager audience. These are weird movies. I've never been completely disappointed with a tape or DVD from Something Weird Video. Now that they moved to primarily releasing double and triple feature DVDs it's even more likely that the disc will have something to interest a person for their twenty bucks, if you have the right frame of mind.
'Death Curse of Tartu' is a title I've read about for years. It's a great title, it has a great premise, and a great makeup job/character design for Tartu. It's not a great movie unfortunately. I always try to give credit where credit is due and any low budget film made by people just trying to get their movie done gets extra points for finishing their film (it can't be that easy, if it were, I'd have a bunch of films out already). Tartu is held back by a really awkward beginning. The first twenty or thirty minutes of the film are slow, really slow. Even worse, most of the explanations we get early on are repeated after this opening sequence or are merely verbalizing things we've already seen. It felt like the movie had restarted at this point. I get the impression that the film ran short and an extra section was added to the beginning to fill out the running time. The film is only 84 minutes long and it would have been dreadfully short had even ten minutes gone missing. In all fairness, once the film gets past that first half-hour or so, it is quite good and did grip my attention. The fact that the females were by-in-large rather attractive didn't hurt any. The last hour is a good movie.
The film is presented in full frame which may or may not be an accurate representation of how it looked in the theatre in the sixties but it's just as likely that this is the only format the film currently exists in. The colours look a bit odd, but aren't necessarily wrong. The video does look a little weird, but I'm not sure why. The image is visibly damaged, but it's not been battered to pieces either. The image quality doesn't significantly damage the enjoyment of the story. The sound is tinny sounding, but considering the likely low budget of the film and the fact that it's probably not been well looked after over the years, that's not unexpected. It's not bad.
According to the back of the case, 'Sting of Death' has been barely, if at all, seen in thirty years. This would explain why I've seen less information about this film than Tartu. Both were made by the same company with essentially the same crew working on both (the only major exception being that Neil Sedaka recorded a song for 'Sting of Death'). After being mildly disappointed by Tartu, I expected less from 'Sting of Death'. I was pleasantly surprised. The movie flowed well, the story was well developed, the characters were moderately developed and had reasonable motives. There are a few surprises, but the villain is easy to spot early on. The result is a fun, very watchable and entertaining film that is logically developed within the 'rules' it develops for itself. More attractive females don't hurt any either. There are some good makeup effects (perhaps done by the same individual that turned out the grand Tartu makeup) but it's a good thing they don't show the jellyfish monster much. It looks too much like a guy wearing a garbage bag over his head.
'Sting of Death' was transferred from the 35mm negative and it shows. The image is surprisingly crisp and clean, especially when compared to Tartu. This film is also presented in full frame but it looks proper at that composition. The sound is good, nothing special, but certainly better than Tartu sounded.
While Tartu isn't fully bad, the beginning is enough to turn most people off. 'Sting of Death' is pleasant fun and I recommend that movie. The extras might help interest you into checking this out. Both films have an audio commentary track done by the director (I must note I've not listened to either track). There are six trailers, apparently all films done by the same company or filmed in the same area. Trailers for 'Tartu' and 'Sting' are amongst the six. Thirty minutes (or so) of 'highlights' from the el cheapo feature (brace yourself for a grand film title) 'Love Goddesses of Blood Island' are included (from a video master by the look of it). Rounding out the disc is the featurette 'Miami or Bust' which only goes to prove the saying 'No one wants to see an old stripper'. If you invest in this disc or rent it I really suggest you avoid this extra. It's not a good thing.
I'm not sure what SRP is on this disc, but since I found it for $19.99, I'm going to guess it's about $24.99.
Mild recommendation to view/rent.
(As per before, this review was written some years ago and I have no updated information on the availability of this DVD nor its pricing.)
Story in Brief: 'Death Curse of Tartu' - A group of archaeologists and their students camp at an Indian Burial site within the Everglades. In doing so, they awaken the spirit of Tartu, Indian Shaman, who placed a curse on any who would trespass on his gravesite. People die.
'Sting of Death' - A scientist and his crew welcome the scientist's daughter's return home from college. She brings a number of her friends along to their Everglades island home for a party. Recently there's been a number of strange deaths which appear to be caused by a impossibly large jellyfish. People die.
Thoughts:
I am particularly fond of Something Weird Video. First off, I just like the name of the company. Secondly, they dig up well known and not so well known cult movies, mostly from the independent days of the sixties and seventies, and present them as best they can to an eager audience. These are weird movies. I've never been completely disappointed with a tape or DVD from Something Weird Video. Now that they moved to primarily releasing double and triple feature DVDs it's even more likely that the disc will have something to interest a person for their twenty bucks, if you have the right frame of mind.
'Death Curse of Tartu' is a title I've read about for years. It's a great title, it has a great premise, and a great makeup job/character design for Tartu. It's not a great movie unfortunately. I always try to give credit where credit is due and any low budget film made by people just trying to get their movie done gets extra points for finishing their film (it can't be that easy, if it were, I'd have a bunch of films out already). Tartu is held back by a really awkward beginning. The first twenty or thirty minutes of the film are slow, really slow. Even worse, most of the explanations we get early on are repeated after this opening sequence or are merely verbalizing things we've already seen. It felt like the movie had restarted at this point. I get the impression that the film ran short and an extra section was added to the beginning to fill out the running time. The film is only 84 minutes long and it would have been dreadfully short had even ten minutes gone missing. In all fairness, once the film gets past that first half-hour or so, it is quite good and did grip my attention. The fact that the females were by-in-large rather attractive didn't hurt any. The last hour is a good movie.
The film is presented in full frame which may or may not be an accurate representation of how it looked in the theatre in the sixties but it's just as likely that this is the only format the film currently exists in. The colours look a bit odd, but aren't necessarily wrong. The video does look a little weird, but I'm not sure why. The image is visibly damaged, but it's not been battered to pieces either. The image quality doesn't significantly damage the enjoyment of the story. The sound is tinny sounding, but considering the likely low budget of the film and the fact that it's probably not been well looked after over the years, that's not unexpected. It's not bad.
According to the back of the case, 'Sting of Death' has been barely, if at all, seen in thirty years. This would explain why I've seen less information about this film than Tartu. Both were made by the same company with essentially the same crew working on both (the only major exception being that Neil Sedaka recorded a song for 'Sting of Death'). After being mildly disappointed by Tartu, I expected less from 'Sting of Death'. I was pleasantly surprised. The movie flowed well, the story was well developed, the characters were moderately developed and had reasonable motives. There are a few surprises, but the villain is easy to spot early on. The result is a fun, very watchable and entertaining film that is logically developed within the 'rules' it develops for itself. More attractive females don't hurt any either. There are some good makeup effects (perhaps done by the same individual that turned out the grand Tartu makeup) but it's a good thing they don't show the jellyfish monster much. It looks too much like a guy wearing a garbage bag over his head.
'Sting of Death' was transferred from the 35mm negative and it shows. The image is surprisingly crisp and clean, especially when compared to Tartu. This film is also presented in full frame but it looks proper at that composition. The sound is good, nothing special, but certainly better than Tartu sounded.
While Tartu isn't fully bad, the beginning is enough to turn most people off. 'Sting of Death' is pleasant fun and I recommend that movie. The extras might help interest you into checking this out. Both films have an audio commentary track done by the director (I must note I've not listened to either track). There are six trailers, apparently all films done by the same company or filmed in the same area. Trailers for 'Tartu' and 'Sting' are amongst the six. Thirty minutes (or so) of 'highlights' from the el cheapo feature (brace yourself for a grand film title) 'Love Goddesses of Blood Island' are included (from a video master by the look of it). Rounding out the disc is the featurette 'Miami or Bust' which only goes to prove the saying 'No one wants to see an old stripper'. If you invest in this disc or rent it I really suggest you avoid this extra. It's not a good thing.
I'm not sure what SRP is on this disc, but since I found it for $19.99, I'm going to guess it's about $24.99.
Mild recommendation to view/rent.
(As per before, this review was written some years ago and I have no updated information on the availability of this DVD nor its pricing.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)