Rhapsodies

This weeks’ double feature is just a little short because… okay I confess I was weak. I could not watch the first film in this week’s selection, Heaven’s Gate in its entirety. I toughed out the first hour and a half and had to take a break. Then when I told my friends I was watching it I kept getting pitying looks and questions about why I was doing this to myself… and then I started reading old reviews calling it one of the worst films in history… and killing the Western as a viable genre… So rather than tough it out I gave in to peer pressure and gave up.

I won’t say it was utterly terrible the world building of the period was good and none of the performing was bad but… it was all the little things but mostly the pacing. I know what they say about the modern American having the attention span of a gnat but it took them an hour to tell us what the plot was!

Anyway after watching an incredibly bad expensive film I finished my double feature with a very good and VERY cheap film, Primer.

Primer is probably one of the smartest and complex time travel movies you are ever going to see.

There are two things I like about it.

The first is it doesn’t talk down to you. The technobable is grade A backed with real physics, it assumes you are smart and does not wait for you to keep up. You have to watch it more then once to catch everything that’s going goes on.

The second is how they portray scientists. As the son of an academic I get REALLY tired of all of the portrayal of scientists in media from absent minded flakes, idealists who ignore evidence that doesn’t fit their world view, arrogant hubristic elitists, or even incompetents. Our two heroes whatever else their faults (and they had plenty) were careful professionals who used the scientific method and checked their work.

I was amazed by how they were able to do so much with so little and enjoyed it, so I guess for this weeks viewing, one success out of two isn’t all-bad.