Category: Film

Bill and Ted Face the Music

3/5/2022

I remember watching the first films when they came out. I was a huge fan, so when I learned that a trilogy would be completed, I couldn’t wait to see the film in theaters. But of course, the pandemic had other notions. I could have watched the film in the theater, but I would have had to wear a mask, and my asthma and masks just don’t play well together. I could have watched it on my TV, but the price was not that different from a movie ticket. I’m willing to pay that for a movie ticket because in exchange I get the theater experience. Here I’m presented with a similar price but no theater experience. So, yeah, I passed.

Besides, I thought for that price I might as well wait for the DVD to come out and then I could watch it in the comfort of my home as many times whenever I want for less money. As it turns out, I got the trilogy collection for the same price as the cost to stream it when it was released. Party on, dudes!

In preparation for my first viewing, I decided to have a trilogy party. Watching the first two films brought back lots of good memories, and I surprised myself with how much of the dialogue I actually remembered. I found myself laughing at all the great aspects from the first two films: phrases like most non-triumphant, the circular logic Bill and Ted used to decide what to do next, the conversations they had with future/past versions of themselves, the games they played as they fell down the seemingly endlessly deep hole to Hell, how Missy went from dad to dad, and of course the Grim Reaper. Death has to be one of the best comic characters ever.

So I was happy to see Death make a come back in the third film. And he’s still one of the best characters ever! Of course that means Bill and Ted go back to Hell. How else can Death come back into the story? That scene with Bill and Ted asking directions from the two goblins is just priceless. “Yeah, that’s a robot in Hell.” And speaking of robots, the robot in this film is awesome. I love how his name is Dennis, named after the ex of Rufus’s daughter! Brilliant!

While we’re on the subject of robots, what happened to the Good Robot Usses? I mean, they didn’t have to have every character from the previous films in this last one, and I’m not missing Station and his totally huge Martian butt, but what happened to Station’s creation? Did they not survive the 25 years between the second and third films? And what does that say about Station’s place the universe’s greatest scientist?

And what happened to showing the prolonged drop into Hell? That was one of the funnier parts from the second film. I was disappointed to see it cut out of the third, especially given how the film shows the daughters mimicking their fathers with how they speak to each other. Speaking of which, I just couldn’t get into how the daughters kept calling each other “Dude.” I just couldn’t get into that.

But for me the real turnoff was Grom. I can accept that the band playing the song that saves all space and time has a drummer. But seriously? The greatest drummer ever is some prehistoric cave woman? Hmm, sorry, not sorry, no. If you want the greatest drummer of all time, you want Neil Peart. Period. And I’m not saying that because I’m a Rush fan. You just need to hear this guy play to know that it’s true.

The final line of the film clinched its rating. “It wasn’t so much the song that made the difference. It was everyone playing it together.” That sounds a lot like the idea that it doesn’t matter what you do, only who you do it with. I reject that idea. What you do does matter. Now, I’m all for unity and people coming together to enjoy that unity. But what they’re doing does matter because results come from action and only from action. Take different action, get different results. Take no action, get no results. Take better action, get better results. What you do does matter.

All in all, I don’t regret watching or purchasing the film. It’s an overall enjoyable ride. But the faults previously noted all combine to drop two stars from my rating. 3 out of 5 stars.

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A Halloween of Legend

10/31/2018

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Wednesdays are my busy days this semester. It starts with a hybrid class at 8:30 in the morning at CWI in Nampa, after which I meet with students during office hours, grab a quick bite for lunch, rush over to BSU in downtown Boise for an engineering lab in the afternoon, then rush back to Nampa for a stats class followed by another math class, and then another quick bite to eat for dinner followed by my one-a-week stats class that starts at 7:00 pm. By the time that class starts I’m beat, let alone when it finishes.

So when my sister and I talked about her bringing her kids by to visit and show off their Halloween costumes, we recognized the realities of my schedule on Wednesdays. I said I would text her when I got in.

And I did. Since I didn’t know how long it would be before they came over, I started chomping on a jack o’ lantern pizza I had picked up on the way home and started a movie. I’ve got several choices appropriate for Halloween in my collection, but this year I decided to watch Legend, the 1985 classic cult fantasy film starring a very young Tom Cruise as well as Mia Sara (think Sloane from Ferris Bueller) and Tim Curry.

Curry does an outstanding job with whatever he does, but his portrayal of the evil character Darkness is hands down outstanding, especially buried beneath all that prosthetic for his costume. This was 1985, so no green screen or CGI at work here. His look is absolutely impressive, and when you combine it with his superb acting skills, you get a real dynamite performance. Sara also delivers a solid performance, and Cruise — well, Tom Cruise is Tom Cruise, especially in the early portion of his career. There’s a certain innocence to this performance, though, because he is awfully young. Plus it’s well before he went crazy while married to Nicole.

At length, the kiddos arrived, and they looked great in their costumes, especially my almost-two-year-old niece dressed as a hippo. She was rambunctious and full of energy as always. My nephews, on the other hand, were really interested in the movie Legend. So I gave them a brief introduction, and let them watch the movie while I visited with my sister.

It wasn’t long before both of those boys became mesmerized with the movie. I can’t say I blame them. We were watching the theatrical version with the Tangerine Dream soundtrack. Jon Anderson of Yes fame (one of my favorite rock groups growing up) has a style that is perfectly fit for this film. I’m sure the Jerry Goldsmith track on the director’s cut is great, too, but come on. I know it’s Jerry Goldsmith, but it just doesn’t work as well for me as Tangerine Dream. Too bad that version of the film is really hard to purchase. I don’t even own a copy; I have to watch it streaming through my Amazon Prime account.

At length, my sister needed to go, and so I offered to let her boys come back and finish watching the movie another time. They eagerly agreed and then expressed excitement for our play date tomorrow — which reminds me. I need to get to bed. It was great to have them visit and see their costumes. I’m not sure what next year will bring since I’m likely to be out of state somewhere attending grad school, but whatever the future brings, I’m not letting it stop me from enjoying the present.

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Bill and Ted Face the Music

A Halloween of Legend

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