<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7491896518/” title=”Abe Vampire Hunter2 by dengre.bj, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8019/7491896518_05839557c5.jpg” width=”500″ height=”355″ alt=”Abe Vampire Hunter2″></a>
Power just returned to my house tonight after almost three days without. That is nice. The garden was tumbled here and there by Friday’s storm.Ttree limbs fell, but missed the house. All in all a fine adventure and a break from the internets enforced by Mother Nature.
Still, it was hot. And so we spent time at the movies. One day I saw a fine little indy film, Safety not Guaranteed. It’s about magazine reporting, relationships, interns and time travel. I enjoyed it.
On another night I went to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Is this a great movie? Nope. Is it fun? Kinda. It is a film about the 16th President of the US hunting vampires, who are the force behind the slave power of the South. In one scene, Lincoln casts the Civil War as a battle to decide if we will be a Nation of the living or the dead. The battle of Gettysburg includes a supernatural element missing from McPherson’s retelling in Battle Cry of Freedom. The film is way over the top, but I enjoyed it. Maybe, it was just the relief from the heat.
Still, it was fun to see Jeff Davis negotiate with vampires for reinforcements and Harriet Tubman saving the Union. To say the film was a wildly inaccurate presentation of history is an understatement.
And yet, it treated history with far more accuracy than a film like Birth of a Nation.
Cheers
ps: it is good to have electrons running through the wires again.
bob_is_boring
“It is a film about the 16th President of the US hunting vampires…”
What, no spoiler alert?
Nellcote
From the trailers, Abe Lincoln, VH seemed like a parable for our times.
Dennis G.
@bob_is_boring: When repeating a statement from the Department of Redundancy Department, no spoiler alert is required according to rule AD00183:47Y.
This is known.
bob_is_boring
@Dennis G.:
I think I understand…
It’s like minimalism, but interesting?
Hypatia's Momma
It can’t possibly compare to Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter, for so many reasons, but I’ll keep it in mind.
Hypatia's Momma
It can’t possibly compare to Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter, for so many reasons, but I’ll keep it in mind.
Hypatia's Momma
It can’t possibly compare to Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter, for so many reasons, but I’ll keep it in mind.
Hypatia's Momma
It can’t possibly compare to Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter but I’ll keep it in mind.
SuperHrefna
I loved Safety Not Guaranteed – such a charming movie, by the end I loved all the characters, even the dirtbag reporter. I think it is better to go not knowing too much about it, I loved seeing it all unfold and really enjoyed figuring out what was going on.
Hypatia's Momma
It can’t possibly compare to Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter but I’ll keep it in mind.
SuperHrefna
I loved Safety Not Guaranteed – such a charming movie, by the end I loved all the characters, even the dirtbag reporter. I think it is better to go not knowing too much about it, I loved seeing it all unfold and really enjoyed figuring out what was going on.
YellowJournalism
Hibby and I almost went to see this a week ago, but we missed the showing and spent that rare time we had away from the kids acting like teenagers in all the most fun ways. ; ) I think we didn’t miss out on much, although I’ve heard good things about the movie.
I still want to see The Avengers, dammit!
Hypatia's Momma
I’m sorry about the multiple posts; my computer went spastic.
Yutsano
@Hypatia’s Momma: I don’t think it was just you.
bob_is_boring
@Hypatia’s Momma:
And here I thought you were riffing on my minimalism joke.
Hypatia's Momma
@bob_is_boring:
Heh! Sorry, I’m not that clever.
Citizen_X
It’s directed by Timur. “Over the top” is baked into the cake.
TooManyJens
I think Balloon Juice getting shouted out by Mickey Kaus has caused a tear in the space-time continuum.
Hypatia's Momma
@Yutsano:
Well, my computer froze-up and then re-booted itself, so I was assuming that was the only problem.
ChristianPinko
Unlike Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, this is gritty realism.
mtsw
Safety Not Guaranteed was a steaming pile of garbage. No idea what people are seeing in this film. Would’ve walked out if I hadn’t been on a date.
Yutsano
@Hypatia’s Momma: I think it was serendipitous. Life can be funny like that.
ruemara
I still want to see this. In a theatre.
Sly
So not entirely fictional?
The Red Pen
I loved Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.. Here’s a good review:
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/current-movie-reviews/abraham-lincoln-brave.php?page=1
anon
The storm made a mess in my garden too. So many weeds!
The storm also left a huge pile of laundry at the bottom of the stairs and a bunch of dirty dishes in the sink. Really. It was the storm.
Donut
@Nellcote:
Yeah, I thought maybe the film makers would have some interesting or at least relevant social commentary, but it never appeared.
In fact, they couldn’t really seem to decide what kind of movie they had on their hands.
Just when you think, “oh, it’s gonna get campy,” the comedy never appears. Or, when the film does have a point to make about race, the results are a little trite.
It was an entertaining flick, in that there were some fun and fantastcial actions bits, and some of the cast were fun to warch when they were allowed to ham it up, but overall kind of a mess of a film. Also, don’t bother seeing it in 3D – not enough bang for the buck in it.
RSA
@Hypatia’s Momma:
Some years ago my wife and I were wandering through Ottawa early one evening, and we came across a movie theater with a line stretching down the block. It was the opening night for Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter. We had nothing better to do, so we joined the line and ended up chatting with the director’s parents, who were standing behind us. I had the feeling that every single person in line was either in the movie or had a personal connection to someone who worked on it; it was like a Rocky Horror audience once the movie started. Really a terrible movie, but fun.
Chris
I won’t see it in theaters, but I do like the fact that Hollywood is finally treating Confederates as regular old villains, like Nazis, Communists or revolution era British.
bago
There’s always Space Nazis. See Iron Sky.
http://www.ironsky.net/site/
Mr Stagger Lee
So what is next, Harry Truman,Zombie Hunter?? Warren Harding, Exorcist? Woodrow Wilson, Priest of the Dead. or Martin Van Buren Werewolf.
stickler
@bago: Oh, believe me, I want to see that movie. But it’s not showing in a theater near me! And I have no idea how to pirate or rent it! What to do?
thm
Even better, if everyone goes to see it–that is, if it’s a hit–then Chris Rock has said he’ll make a Martin Luther King, Jr. Ninja Warrior movie.
artem1s
@Mr Stagger Lee:
I think ya gotta go with Lincoln meeting up with the Kennedy boys a hundred years later; teaming up with MLK and the Rat Pack to fight, first Zombie McCarthy and then take on Khrushchev and the Soviet Red Army Werewolves. Marilyn Monroe is obviously a double agent, shape shifting, Baba Yaga.
chopper
ugh. i’ve been having brownouts and blackouts for the last two days. the rear half of my apartment (including the kitchen and the a/c unit in my daughter’s room) is running on like 2 amps of current so nothing works.
there was a crazy manhole explosion two days ago at the corner. NYC, baby. con ed has been working on fixing the electrical issue that apparently sparked it for two days and nothing’s better, and in fact it caught fire again yesterday afternoon.
what a fucking mickey mouse operation.
Hypatia's Momma
@RSA:
It’s an awful movie. I love it. One of the finest awful movies I’ve ever seen.
lou
The book was kind of fun but mindless. It was basically a kid’s basic biography of Lincoln, only dressed up with bits about vampires. I did like how it associated the slave-owning South with vampires. Makes sense that vampires would support slavery. More food!
It’s the same author who did the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies mashup.
So werewolves have to be next.
Bill Murray
@bago: or Surf Nazis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surf_Nazis_Must_Die
and I thought AL: VH was pretty weak. Way too much slow motion kill shots substituting for coherence