World's Most Dangerous Game

Been a little busy lately, with Christmas shopping, working on a new website with Max, and trying to get my neglected portfolio up to date. It's funny how time flies by and you open up your portfolio and discover that it's full of stuff you did before you graduated from college. You all know the feeling, right? Um, I guess not...

Anyhow, while I've got a DVD burning some of my more recent work, I thought I'd drop a little note about a couple of flicks I caught this weekend. The first one I checked out was Shut Up & Sing a documentary about the Dixie Chicks. Now, before you jump to any conclusions and write it off as a sort of commercial for the band, hear me out. While it does portray the Chicks in a positive light (duh, it was made by them), and features a fair amount of their music, what the documentary is really about is Free Speech. The film plays out the pitfalls of speaking your mind, and the lengths people will go to silence you when they don't want to hear what you have to say.

I found the movie downright embarrassing. Not for the Dixie Chicks, though, who come out looking a bit like Country music's answer to Thomas Payne, but rather I was embarrassed by our country. For a country that supposedly values the right of individuals to speak freely (so much so that it's guaranteed by our Constitution), this film proves that's not always the case. So, if you're all for totalitarian censorship, stay home and watch Fox News, but if you actually love our country and the ideals upon which it was founded, check out Shut Up & Sing.

A couple days later Max and I rolled the dice and took a chance on Apocalypto. And you know what? The gamble paid off. Apocalypto turned out to be pretty kickass. Now, I know that's not much of a review, but I really think that's probably the best way to describe the movie. Sure, Mel Gibson's story which plays out in the last days of the Mayan Empire is in many ways an allegory for today's America, in it's heart of hearts, it's a straight-up action movie. So much so, that it's either the most low-brow "message" movie I've ever seen, or the most high-brow action movie I've ever seen. Either way, it's worth seeing, because the message is still a good one, and Mel Gibson proves once again (as he did with Braveheart) that when it comes to epic action, he's tough to beat.

What has struck me most about Apocalypto, however, is how much it's stuck with me. It's basic structure has had me thinking about it's literary an cinematic forbearers since I left the theatre. Leaving aside the cultural allegories, it's essentially the story of one man running for his life as he's hunted down like wild game. This of course brings to mind Richard Connell's award-winning 1924 short story The Most Dangerous Game. This in turn, got me thinking about all the movies I've seen that re-worked and updated Connell's story, like the Ice-T vehicle Surviving The Game, the Jean Claude Van Damme and Jon Woo collaboration Hard Target, and No Escape which starred Ray Liotta. To be fair, No Escape also borrowed liberally from Lord of The Flies and Escape From New York, but Connell's influence was still pretty apparent. And it's apparent in Apocalypto as well, but instead of trying to update the story, it's put it back in time and to great effect.

The only other movie that keeps coming to mind when I think of Apocalypto is Apocalypse Now. Aside from the obvious similarities in the titles and settings, the real similarities are much more esoteric. The central characters become surrounded by darkness and dread as they leave the familiar and enter into worlds that are quite alien to them. Both movies do a great job of instilling the audience with the same foreboding as the characters as they take the same journey into the unfamiliar with them. And while it's definitely not the most enjoyable experience, it is damn effective in getting you pulled into the movie. It's also one of the reasons Apocalypse Now is considered a classic, and while I don't think Apocalypto will gain similar stature, that doesn't make it any less impressive.

What's funny about all of this, is after seeing Apocalypto, I realized that Max and I have seen each of the movies I listed above, together, in the theatre (with the exception of Hard Target). That's right, we even saw Apocalypse Now at the Dundee during the Apocalypse Now Redux re-release. I still remember having to sneak into Surviving The Game, since we weren't old enough to buy tickets. Now that's dedication. And even though we may not have seen Hard Target in the theatre, we did watch it multiple times on video, enough to quote lines from it back and forth and talk to each other in Wilford Brimley's faux Cajun accent he employed in the movie. And while I don't foresee us quoting any lines to each other from Apocalypto (neither of us speak Yucatecan Maya), I do find it a bit weird, especially since it was quite unintentional.

So, what does this say about Max and me? Other than the fact that we tend to share a lot of similar interests, I don't know. Have we unknowingly created between us our own sub-genre of film, that of Wilderness Action Manhunt/Jungle Adventure (or WAMJA for short)? I don't know, I mean it's not like we saw Tarzan and The Lost City in the theatre or anything. But then again, maybe Tarzan movies have their own genre. What I do know is that I don't mind, because they've all been entertaining experiences. Sure, Surviving The Game, No Escape, and Hard Target all belong on late night cable, but I'd still watch them again if they were on. And I'm betting Max would, too. So, as long as they still keeping making WAMJA movies, Max and I will probably keep watching them. That said, I don't think I'll be too keen on going on any hunting trips Max suggests to me any time soon...

Happy Day After Repeal Day!

Hope everyone had a happy Repeal Day. Mine was pretty decent. After a long day at work, I went home, sipped a couple of beers, beat Michigan with KU (no easy task) on my NCAA Football game for PS2, then joined Max and Megan for a couple more beers at Old Chicago. It was a very laid back kind of night, which was nice.

Not too many people celebrating Repeal Day, though. Which was kind of disappointing. I mean, I guess I don't know for sure, as none of us were screaming "Repeal Day! Woo! Yeah!" or anything ourselves, and there were definitely less people out drinking than on say, St. Pat's. I aim to fix that (exactly how, I'm not sure) and as fate would have it, so is Dewar's. I guess Dewar's has been running an ad campaign promoting Repeal Day. I'm not sure if they have multiple ads, but this one is pretty great.

What I find especially amusing about all of this, is that it's Dewar's that's advocating a Repeal Day holiday. Not because it's a blended Scotch Whiskey from Scotland, but because of it's history with Repeal Day and Prohibition. You see, Joseph Kennedy (JFK's dad), owned a company called Somerset Importers, that according to Wikipedia, was "the exclusive American agent for Gordon's Dry Gin and Dewar's Scotch." Some historians believe that JFK's dad illegally sold Dewar's and Gordon's to the Mafia for black market sales and made a tidy profit during prohibition. To my knowledge that's never been proven, but it is known that Joe Kennedy amassed a rather large inventory of Gordon's and Dewar's and made a killing after Repeal Day. And by killing I mean he made millions, which in 1933 dollars is A LOT of money. Presumably, Dewar's and Gordon's made some money, too, so it's not a surprise that Dewar's wants to celebrate Repeal Day!

So, even though this year's Repeal Day wasn't a big event, it'll be interesting to see if it starts to gain any steam. Next year might be more of the same, but I'm betting that 2 years from now, more companies will be making a big deal about it. December 5, 2008 will mark the 75th anniversary of Repeal Day. Now that will be something to celebrate!

Happy Repeal Day!

Not that Americans really need another excuse to drink, but I think that we should make Repeal Day a holiday. So, what exactly is Repeal Day? Well, for those of you not up on your Constitution, Congress ratified the 18th Amendment on January 16, 1919, which prohibited the sale, manufacturing, transportation, importation and exporting of alcohol. In other words, The U.S. effectively became a "dry" country. While this may have seemed like a great idea at the time (and it certainly gave rise to colorful characters like Al Capone, Dutch Schultz, and JFK's bootlegging dad, all of whom still capture our collective imagination to this day), it was ultimately deemed a disaster. After over a decade of prohibition, the amendment was finally repealed with the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933 aka Repeal Day.

So drink up! Sure, there are other rights provided for in the Constitution worth celebrating (like voting, habeas corpus, free speech, and shooting off your guns), but drinking has got to be the most fun. So tonight, let's all raise a glass and knock a few back in honor of Ol' Uncle Sam. It's not only your Constitutional right, it's your duty!