Summer Movie Blockbusters

It’s that time of year! Long in-your-face-action sequences! Woo! 3D! IMAX! Over-the-top comedies with that outrageous cast! The latest computer animated installment in a franchise your coworkers kids love!

Sorry that was more sarcastic than I intended. Let’s start again.

Movies. I love them. Like a lot. Every year about this time, I start keeping score (which I usually forget around July 4th) on what films are hits and what are flops. Some years it’s hard to tell who the real winners are, because the film will do really well at the box office, but everyone that saw it said it wasn’t any good. Which is probably why I start losing count around Independence Day.

Last year the films I liked were pretty evenly spaced: The Avengers, Snow White and the Huntsman (What? I’m not a Twi-hard at all, I’m a sucker for good fantasy film production design), Prometheus (Clearly more of a scifi movie than an Alien movie), Brave, Ted, The Dark Knight Rises.  The big flop that summer (that I saw)  was Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. My brother, Sister-in-law and I were at the newly renovated (previously crappy) movie theatre by our house and were the only ones in our screening.  We totally riffed on it the entire film, (have I mentioned my favorite tv show of all time is MST3K?)

The one I was really waiting for already came out (Star Trek. Did you really need to guess after my previous post?) and this year I’ve some high hopes for the rest of the summer. Monsters University, World War Z, The Way, Way Back, Elysium, The World’s End, and (yes) Kick-Ass 2.  I’m gonna see The Lone Ranger, but honestly, my hopes aren’t too high. I’m really just a really big fan of The William Tell Overture *shrugs*.  Some other films I’ll have to see a different cut of the trailer before I decide to see it, i.e.: The Wolverine and Pacific Rim.

We could talk indie films a moment too. For example, Frances Ha and What Maisie Knew open here this weekend. I’ll probably end up seeing both, though I was kinda vanilla about The Squid and the Whale.  I’m also looking forward to The East and The Bling Ring, both of which were the only films that peaked my interest from indiewire’s ‘coming soon’ list (that I hadn’t seen) .

Anyone have any thoughts on anything coming out this summer?

 

The Power Four: The Doc, The Stars, and a firefly

Or really: Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Firefly.  Those are what I like to call my Power Four, my favorite fandoms in the scifi universe.

I know you’re thinking it’s against nerd rules for some of these to cross-pollinate. Growing up though, the two stars were permanent fixtures in my house. Almost as if they were the foundation for all fandoms I would come across in my life.  The Next Generation ended it’s seven-year run when I was ten, and the first remastered Star Wars films returned to theatres when I was in middle school.  I didn’t bat an eye this year when I was wishing everyone a Happy Star Wars day on May the fourth (be with you) and talking about how excited I was about the new Star Trek film in theatres for my birthday weekend two weeks later.

You might also think that Firefly is relatively new to be included in a Power four that includes such heavy weights as Star Trek and Star Wars. But it’s amazing.  It is quoted regularly in my family, and I love recruiting Browncoats.

Last is Doctor Who. One thing you definitely are thinking is, ‘oh, here we go, another Doctor Who fan, probably a hipster too’, but really I’ve been a die-hard fan since I was fifteen, which is six years before Eccleston even stepped into that TARDIS ( I don’t care if you do the math). Doctor Who has also shaped my whole life – which is not melodramatic by any means. I was named after a character from the show – yes, my parents are those nerds.  I used to tell people I was named after a British Science Fiction character, but now, with the success of the new incarnation, I can easily tell Americans I was named after a Doctor Who character, and staggering amount know what I’m talking about. It’s nice, sometimes even surreal – that people actually like this mad man in a blue box just as much as I do.

So I wanted to start a section of this page about the fandoms I love. I’ll probably go into depth with each another time. Not ‘primer’s by any means, but my favorite episodes, characters, etc. I’ll also talk about other fandoms I like too, such as fantasy ones- Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter. There’s Also MST3k, Farscape, Highlander (mostly because my favorite band is Queen), and others.

Cheers for now, ❤ ❤ Romana

The Remodel

It’s like a rebirth – not changing the foundation, just knocking down the walls to become more functional, perhaps more stylish, perhaps more – moreness.   Remodeling is what I tell my students they have to do when they need to restructure a rewrite – they’ve got the foundation, just need to change the size of the kitchen, or even move the front door to make the house more accessible.  Metaphors can be fun.  Some I can tell listen, others I can tell a different approach might be necessary when they hand me the same paper back for their rewrite.

But now, it’s summer – more time.  Perhaps this should be called ‘more’ – more of me out there, more movies to watch, tales to be told, and adventures to be had.  I like adventures, and here I’d like to share my writing adventures. I’m going to attending a writing seminar at my school this summer, where I’m sharing a rewrite of a script. Then there’s a steampunk novella I’ve got ideas for. Oh and the other Grad Students in the program (seven of us total) want to shoot some shorts this summer. I’m hoping to shoot the only short I’ve had published – “The Piano Bar”. I’ll create a link to share with everyone.

With the remodel, we’ve taken up the floor, and set up some frames for a buildout.  This blog I hope will be about motivation.  I need to get this train going – this ship sailing.  I’m not usually a fan of metaphors, but they seem to work here. I’m stripping everything I know out from under me and want to start anew.  Will it work? I’m not sure.  I’m nervous to fall into my old routines, but that won’t get my stories out there, it’s been proven in all the years before.

So now there’s no floor – and an outer husk of what’s to come.  Watch this space.  I’m hoping for great things.