Monday, June 24, 2013

Come Monday...A Very Dark Day, Indeed

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about,  websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

A couple of weeks ago, a free HBO/Cinemax weekend was provided through Mediacom, and it was met with tepid enthusiasm in our household.  For it was the [HBO series] that we most rejoiced in while we still had the premium cable network, and after missing a complete season of [True Blood] and [Game of Thrones], too much blood had been spilled to get back into the full flow of the shows.

Oh, but HBO also has movies, and they often have really good ones long before they can be seen for free (in a very relative sense) elsewhere.  So, after perusing what was available at the time, I spotted three movies that had piqued my interest when they were being promoted after being first released for viewing in theaters.


The first one was [Prometheus], which is a prequel to [Alien].  I did not know that beforehand, but I had my suspicions after seeing one of the last scenes.

Now, I do not want to give too much away for the benefit of those who have not seen Prometheus yet, but I can say that any true fan of the Alien movies should be all giddy with excitement over the upcoming release of [Prometheus 2].  For what was started in Prometheus will be continued in Prometheus 2, and all will be rightly wrong in the Alien world after all the terrifying dots have been connected.

I am not a fan of the Alien movies—true or otherwise.  Subsequently, I am very sorry for wasting two hours or so on watching Prometheus, and I am most certainly not eagerly awaiting the birth of Prometheus 2.

Yeah, I could have just stopped watching the movie, but I wanted to see what was going to happen next.  After I did, the grieving started in earnest for me.



Ah, but I had high hopes in [Dark Shadows] being as funny as it appeared to be from the trailers released in 2012.  After all, any movie starring [Johnny Depp] has to be a scream—right?


What is it that they say about hindsight being 20/20?  Well, after actually watching the movie, I can now see all sorts of clues in the trailer to indicate that Dark Shadows was not going to be nearly as funny as I was hoping it would be.

Now, it had its moments.  Granted, not all that many more than were shown in the trailer, but the soundtrack was killer.  That is, unless you are not a fan of rock music in the 60s and 70s.  Hey, they even had [Alice Cooper] performing live (or at least looking like he was)!

Oh, but I could not get over what started it all.  For the reason why Barnabas Collins was made into a vampire was on account of how badly he had treated one of the servant girls in his father’s household, and he absolutely refused to even just acknowledge what he had done—let alone be sorrow about it.  Yeah, real-life morality has no place in reviews of vampire movies, I know.


My last hope for salvaging the day was pinned on [Moonrise Kingdom].  Hey, any movie with [Bruce Willis], [Bill Murray] and [Francis McDormand] has to be quirky good fun—right?

No, it most certainly does not.  Although, I am sure that those not quite right in the head would argue otherwise—especially in the case of Moonrise Kingdom.  For the accidental killing of the faithful troop dog and the open anguish of a very bad marriage between Bill and Francis’ characters were all in good fun—right?

I must admit that the movie did have several parts that the [Monty Python] blokes ought to have been rather pleased with, and the natural cringing from being reminded of just how awkward our first sexual explorations were was mollified somewhat by how sweetly the scenes were depicted.  Okay, maybe it is just me who has cringe-worthy memories to forget.

Speaking of such, remembering [my time] in the Boy Scouts of America always bring a big smile to my face.  Well, at least most of those memories do.  Anyway, Khaki Scouts are NOT to be confused with genuine Boy Scouts!


Come to think of it, maybe June 15, 2013 was not just a very dark day for watching movies available on HBO.  For all three of those movies were released in 2012!

If you have noticed that I have not mentioned Arlynda’s reactions to any of the movies, there is a good reason for that.  Suffice to say that I lost my cable/TV remote privileges for several days, and I do not look to be let off of probation anytime soon.  Triple-sigh and two groans.

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16 comments:

  1. Gotta agree with you there - we queued up Prometheus on Netflix - I think we watched maybe 20 minutes before dumping it. We started watch Dark Shadows 'On Demand' because of Johnny Depp - figured it would be funny - snore and a bore, another 20 minutes gone - switched to - oh hey, we probably just turned the tv off. Never heard of the 3rd movie you mention, probably wouldn't even give it 20 minutes of my time. We have no problem dumping a movie that's a snore and a bore...or just plain bad.

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  2. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Grace!!! Alas, if I had good judgment like you, I would be able to use the remotes without fear of reprisal.

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  3. i keep hbo and showtime for their series, not so much for the movies. :)

    love game of thrones, true blood is okay, treme, boardwalk empire, newsroom, dexter. worse things to be addicted to, i suppose. :)

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  4. I'm not much of a movie watcher and haven't seen any of these, but after the reviews, I think I'll forgo them (and I don't like dark movies). I have too many books in the wings anyway! Thanks for sharing.

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  5. I do m like any movie with vampires blood sucking creatures of any sort however, I am very glad...no, overjoyed that your sweetheart took away the remote!!!!!...:)JP

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  6. I haven't seen any of these movies but I'll just take your word for it that they are a waste of time

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  7. Thanks for stopping by, my dear TWG!!! I really got into Game of Thrones and True Blood while Arlynda really got into Dexter. We both absolutely fell in love with The Wire and The Sopranos, and Boardwalk Empire was growing on us. Neither one of us liked Treme--despite being such huge fans of The Wire, and The Newsroom started after we could no longer afford to keep getting HBO. Hey, I would love to get rid of cable altogether, if we could ever get in a position to hook up a computer to our family television. Thankfully, we have the complete series of The Wire and The Sopranos on DVD.

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  8. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Adullamite!!! Yeah, no surprise there!

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  9. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Julie!!! Be assured that I wish our circumstance were different.

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  10. SHE DOESN'T NEED ANYMORE ENCOURAGEMENT, my dear JP. Thanks for stopping by!!!

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  11. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Ann!!! Methinks Duke would be very upset with you for watching any movie where a sweet little puppy gets killed in the line of duty. So, stay away from Moonrise Kingdom.

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  12. I've seen none of those you've mentioned. I, too, am not a big fan of the Alien movies.

    I do like Depp, perhaps I'll give him a miss in "Dark Shadows".

    I watched "Moneyball" and "Lincoln" on the weekend and I thought both were brilliant.

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  13. Having never seen the Original Dark Shadows soap opera, I wanted to see this movie. It was aight. Had no desire to see the other 2 movies you reviewed. :-)

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  14. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Lee!!! Hey, you may really like Depp's Dark Shadows. For the witch certainly does her part to justify his actions.

    I've started to watch Moneyball several times, and I plan on actually doing it sooner or later. If you are curious, the main reason why I have not done so yet is on account of the fact that the actual moneyball formula has not proven to be nearly as successful as the movie depicts.

    In regards to Spielberg's Lincoln, Both Arlynda and I want to see it as soon as we can. It is shame that they got it wrong about two of Connecticut's representatives in Congress voting against the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in this country. Other than that, I think it is a very accurate portrayal of the real Abraham Lincoln (from what I've heard, of course).

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  15. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Angelika!!! I can remember the show being on the TV back in the day, but I cannot remember actually watching it.

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