Watching Kurosawa’s 野良犬 Nora Inu (Stray Dog) (1949), it’s often hard to believe that the earnest, clean-shaven rookie detective is Mifune! Conversely and even harder to swallow, the subhuman hooligan of the title will become the idealistic young samurai in 七人の侍 Shichinin five years later.

This is the earliest work I’ve seen by either Kurosawa or Mifune. Well worth the two hours.

I hadn’t been out to the pictures in a while, so today I went to see Spider-Man 2.

I don’t remember the first one as quite so soggy with angst; and the scientists’ lines are occasionally painful. (Hint to any aspiring scriptwriters: no scientist would use the word exponential so loosely.)

To stop the runaway El, why didn’t Spidey try dumping lots of goo on the track?

Still, gotta say, Doc Ock is pretty damn well done.

From TexasBestGrok:

Take this list of the 100 top-grossing movies of all time and bold the titles of the ones you have seen. I am following the lead of others and bolding the ones I remember mainly from having seen them in the theater, and italicizing the ones I primarily remember having seen on the small screen (VHS/DVD/Cable, etc.):

Okay, whatever. I’ve also corrected “Movie with a Very Long Title, The” to human-friendly format. ( . . more . . )

Hee hee. Some Browncoat has put up a clock counting down to the scheduled release of Serenity, Joss Whedon’s big-screen sequel to Firefly.

The hobo’s speech from Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe (1941):

I seen guys like you go under before. Guys that never had a worry. Then they got a hold of some dough and went goofy. The first thing that happens to a guy like that, he starts wanting to go into restaurants, and sit down at a table, and eat salads, and cupcakes, and tea. Boy, what that kind of food does to your system! The next thing the dope wants is a room. Yes, sir, a room with steam heat, and curtains, and rugs. And before you know it he’s all softened up. He can’t sleep unless he has a bed.

I’ve seen plenty of fellows start out with fifty bucks and wind up with a bank account. And let me tell you, Long John, when you become a guy with a bank account, they got you. Yes, sir, they got you.

Listen, sucker, you ever been broke? All right. You’re walking along, not a nickel in your jeans, you’re free as the wind. Nobody bothers you. Hundreds of people pass you by in every line of business. Shoes, hats, automobiles, radios, furniture, everything! And they’re all nice lovable people. And they let you alone. Is that right? Then you get a hold of some dough and what happens? All those nice sweet lovable people become helots! A lot of heels! They begin creeping up on you, trying to sell you something. They get long claws. And they get a stranglehold on you. And you squirm and you duck and you holler and you try to push them away but you haven’t got a chance. They got you. First thing you know, you own things. A car, for instance. Now your whole life is messed up with a lot more stuff. You got license fees, and number plates, and gas, and oil, and taxes, and insurance, and identification cards, and letters, and bills, and flat tires, and dents, and traffic tickets, and motorcycle cops, and courtrooms, and lawyers, and fines, and – a million and one other things. And what happens? You’re not the free and happy guy you used to be. You got to have money to pay for all those things. So you go after what the other fellow’s got. And there you are. You’re a helot yourself.

Incidentally, I wonder what it is about Gary Cooper’s voice that sometimes makes me think I’m listening to Peter (Aurness) Graves. Pitch? Nasality?

If this is to be believed, Serenity will open on April 22.

Later: Or not.

I’ve just seen the end of Angel‘s third season, and what a startling revelation! Who’d have thought that Cordelia would drive a yellow Jeep?!