Entries in Demolition Man (2)
Week of August 15, 2011
Every week, we list our recommendations of new music, books, comics, movies and TV to check out. This is Recs in Effect:
New Disc
No, not the shitty shitty shitty AMC show. (Sidenote: I'm not a fan of that TV show) This is a Criterion Collection release of the pretty great Stanley Kubrick movie. A disjointed, alinear tale of a heist, violence and the desperate people these things tend to attract, The Killing has been hugely influential to many filmmakers. Reservoir Dogs, Heat, The Town, Taking of Pelham 123, Pulp Fiction and The Dark Knight all draw pretty heavily from what Kubrick has done here. It's one of the late master's lesser known works, but it's pretty great. The whole "colors as names", lack of chronology, eerie mask thing that's been cool in the films of Tarantino, Soderbergh and all sorts of heist movies? Yeah, they started here in 1956. I also like that Kubrick so loved Sterling Hayden in his role as the tough guy Johnny Gray that he brought Hayden back as Brigadier General Jack "Precious Bodily Fluids" Ripper in Dr. Strangelove. Plus Criterion will certainly be bringin it with this disc so it looks better than ever before.
Simon Says "PAY YOUR GODDAMN TAXES!"
True story: after a night of reverie in the town of Philadelphia, I pretty much broke down and summarized Demolition Man for my friends, scene by scene - from opening to closing credits. I have no idea why I know this movie so well, but if there is ever any cause for someone that knows a ridiculous amount of useless info about Demolition Man - you know where to find me.