Vintage Film Reviews: A Wrinkle In Time (2018)

This is a review I wrote about the film, A WRINKLE IN TIME, directed by Ava Duvernay that was posted on Facebook on March 15th, 2018. I wanted to post it here to keep for posterity.

Thanks to MoviePass, I went and checked out A Wrinkle In Time tonight at the movies. The books were my favorites as a young boy. I remember actually getting detention in the 7th grade for getting caught reading one of them in Science class, a class I tried to purposely fail for some 7th Grade reason.

Watching the movie, I remembered being that awkward shy fat kid who didn’t really have any friends, who was picked on and beat up in school every day. Watching this movie, I remembered that boy and tapped into him and I could see what this movie was reaching for and I think that’s why it held so much over me. I remembered getting the shit kicked out of me for wearing Rustlers or having a lunch box instead of a brown paper bag… I remember what it was like to be an outsider, yearning for something more and I remembered what brought me to those books in the first place.

Because of my love of the source material, I didn’t hate the movie. I actually rather enjoyed it for the most part. The end was clunky and I felt like somewhere down the road they took a machete to the source materials and cut massive amounts of the heart and story from the books.

I like some of the ideas of what they have left, and some of the new things they made up, but It felt like they cut oh so much meat off the bone that all you were left with was the scraps of a much better meal and I know what that meal tastes like so I can imagine it why I’m eating the scraps of how good it could have been and I think I just answered why I liked it.

What I remember from the books, which is a little bit foggy. I own them, but probably have not read the first on in about 8 years… The original novel is about the inter connectivity between ourselves and the universe. How we and the Universe and everything in it are all a part of each other. These children are on a mission to save their missing father and save the universe. The book had a message that was much more about how only the power of LOVE could defeat the darkness that is advancing on our universe.

Whereas in the newest film, it’s lessons are to LOVE YOURSELF and find your strength from within to defeat the darkness. I like the idea and I like the lessons of that idea, but by making that the core concept of the film, it took away a lot from other ideas from the book left in the film.

So characters like Calvin had much less to do in the new film and much less a role to play in the new story than the old. PLUS WHERE WERE THE BROTHERS? You left in boring old Calvin, but got rid of the brothers?!?!? What the hell.

The bad guy at the end of the universe. The darkness coming to over take us all was much more scarier in the book. Oh and Charles Wallace is a psychic child who knows things and is “creepy” and the kid who played him in the film was OKAY, but more annoying and less Creepy. I kept wanting, this character, which is suppose to be one of the most impressive minds in the universe to be a little more otherworldly like he is in the books. I kept thinking I wanted him to be more GAGE from Pet Semetery. haha

Also, and why make this extraordinary mind adopted in the film?! In the book he’s the son of two of the most brilliant minds on earth, so it makes sense he’s so…. Otherworldly, but in the book he’s just a psychic adopted kid.

But seriously, we felt no menace at the end of the film towards this Ultimate big bad…. So it felt flat.

Okay. I’m nitpicking and I’m probably still buzzing off that edible…

OH AND WHY DID THEY CHANGE THE CREATURE MRS WHATSIT CHANGED INTO FROM THE CENTAR THAT WAS ON EVERY COVER OF EVERY BOOK THE THE LEAF CREATURE!?!?! What the hell!

But still. With all that said, I enjoyed the film. I think it will be great for young children and I really hope it opens them up to the book series. The books gave me strength and hopefully it will continue to do so for generations.

Adults who are not fond of the source materials… Stay away. I don’t think there will be much for you here beyond some cool looking popcorn scenes.

And the movie right now has an IMDB score of 4.2, but I would give this something like a 6.2. Not horrible and worth to watch on Netflix on a dark and stormy night….

(As I get down here to the end of this I realize I’m probably definitely still buzzing on this edible and probably shouldn’t post this. Did I even say anything worth a damn at all? Oh well. I spent all this time on it, so why let it go to waste.)

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Review: BRINGING OUT THE DEAD (1999 Dir. Martin Scorsese)

August 8, 2022 No Comments

When I was working at a Mom and Pop video store in 2000, the trailer for BRINGING OUT THE DEAD would come on at least once an hour on the trailer tape. The soundtrack for the trailer was “Janie Jones” by The Clash. I was a burgeoning punk rock fan, and it was that trailer that turned me into a CLASH fan. I remember finally taking the VHS home with me to watch, thinking the whole movie must be some kind of punk rock ambulance driver masterpiece! Scorsese and Schrader back again! I loved Taxi Driver! But it’s not Taxi Driver. My 18 year old brain didn’t know enough about film and the movies that inspired this film to get it. I just didn’t think it was that great and thought Ebert, who gave it 4 stars, was a fool. I hit play on it this evening, inspired by Cage’s admission that he thinks this is one of his top 3 films he’s made. It’s always held a special place in my heart thanks to its association with THE CLASH. It looks cool as hell. Maybe, just maybe I’ll like it this time. And damn! It was rad. It’s about Nic Cage, an EMT who hasn’t had a win in months. He’s lost every call he’s taken, and with his his sleep has gone with him. He needs a win desperately, but with each call he goes deeper and darker into the depths of madness in the boroughs of a very stylized NYC. DEAD is a film that rides the shimmer between reality and dream. The film is jarring compared to todays hyper realistic films. The film is often overexposed, or blurry. Nothing feels real. It creates this world that feels very much like those early morning moments, when you’re not quite awake yet. Things still feel like a dream. Instead in Cage’s place, a nightmare. As I watched, I tried to think of the films I could compare this one too, for those who might want to watch it. For some damned reason, I thought of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth first! quickly making the connection that DEAD feels much more like a “modern day” retelling of Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 masterpiece THE SEVENTH SEAL! The Seventh Seal already has a most excellent re-imagining with Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, which was my honest to goodness introduction to the work of Bergmen! The tale of the Seventh Seal finds Max Von Sydnow as a knight in the times of the plague, who is running from Death. Literally. To slow Death down, the Knight challenges Death to a game of Chess. The game takes days, weeks, months, minutes or maybe seconds. The knight tries to stump and outwit Death at every turn… And as they journey through the countryside and see the ravages of the Plague, we meet those people most need saving. Bringing Out the Dead covers similar ground, but instead of Death taking on physical form, it’s very much alive in the work that Cage does as an EMT in the film. In the Seventh Seal, it’s made ambiguous if the Knight is even alive as he begins his journey and it made for a more enjoyable viewing experience to watch and wonder if this was all just the DMT being released in Cage’s characters brain and him trying to put to rest those he could not save. Really cool movie. Not great, but a lot of really cool ideas and shapes put to real honest to goodness film (this was 99 so that makes sense, but it’s nice to see in the days of over saturated digitalness. The film feels photographed. If you’re into out of your mind psychedelic rides that take on the meaning of life and death, I think you should check out, or at least re-check out Bringing out the Dead soon. It’s currently streaming on HBO Max.

Facebook Archives: I can’t sleep. Who can these days, amiright?

June 23, 2024 No Comments

This is a Facebook post from June 4th, 2020. This was written during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. I wrote a lot on Facebook during that time, I like a lot of what was written here and wanted to save it here for posterity as Facebook slowly smothers the life out of it’s platform. -Damian June 2024 I can’t sleep. Who can these days, amiright? I told the lady I was going to stay up and read, and sure…I did a little of that, but mostly I sat in the chair and thought about the future. I felt good about those thoughts, but then I sat down here and started reading Facebook and instantly regretted feeling good. Because, let’s face it. We’re all doomed aren’t we? I just finished the book Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. It was a gift from the lady, her favorite book. She was irritated that I didn’t read it right after Christmas, when she gave it to me. But books have a life and a mind of their own. They come to you when you least expect them, and when they open up to you…. When they truly open up to you… it’s magic. This book came to me and opened up at the right place and time. Jitterbug Perfume is about an ancient king who finds his first white hair in his beard. It’s decreed by the law of his land that he is to die of “old age.” Old Alobar isn’t ready to die and decides to run from death. He continues to run from death and somehow discovers the secrets to an everlasting life. The secrets are wonderful, but lonely. Towards the end of the book, I don’t think I’m spoiling this for anyone, but a random black character is murdered by police in New Orleans and there are violent protests and vigils for this character. But it’s a book about living forever and does this character really die? They don’t talk about him too much in the book. It’s a white book and made for liberal white people, but it has been on my mind for the last few days. Reading the chapters about this character’s death, while simultaneously watching the news was…. I don’t have the words for those feelings. Incredible is not a large enough word. His character was just a token. Created by a white man to die after a few humble sentences or paragraphs. I’m not a smart man. I’ve never been good at looking at the metaphors in novels. Maybe his death was represented in that way on purpose, and it’s the times we are living in that makes me evaluate what that character means. ya know? But that’s not what sticks with me about the book. The book is about how Alobar decides to change his world. He does so by breaking the chains of his oppressors, which are DEATH and the rules. It’s an interesting and fun book and I can’t wait to read more of Tom Robbins. But I keep thinking about how the book says Alobar learns to become immortal because he shirks his role in the greater scheme of life and rebirth. He decides not to be a part of the SYSTEM, but to be an individual. AN INDIVIDUAL. That’s his first step to immortality. Becoming an individual. But isn’t that the problem we have in AMERICA right now? Isn’t’ that the virus we are spreading to the whole world? ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME.instead of….WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE. They’re the same letters. Just upside down. No longer do we live in the country of “We the People…” We live in a country of “ME!!!!!! The People!!!!”We’re a country of people who want what’s best for US, but when we say us… we mean… “Me. ME! MEEEEEE!!!!!!!” Me the people. Me the People. Me the People. Me the People. Look, I know I’m telling almost all of you reading everything you already know. But we’ve been living “Me the people” our entire lives and it’s not really working is it? The rich get richer, and the poor keep dying when they don’t have too. Who cares who can live forever, if the masses are dying in our streets. I see the “All lives Matter” posts and comments, and hell, I thought the same thing at first. All lives do matter, but WHY IS MY LIFE WORTH MORE THAN OTHERS? WHY?!?! I struggled with these ideas when my sister died some ten/eleven years ago. Why her and not me? Why George Floyd and not me? Why? Why? Why? Why? What is a life worth? How much? How many tears? I wonder how many people have seen a dead body. I wonder how many people have watched a person die in-front of their own eyes. How would that change their world? When I think of the “ALL LIVES MATTER!!!!” People I’ve been thinking of Jitterbug Perfume and the individualism it either taught or warned against. These are ignorant people, not bad people. Just fucking ignorant. They are just as much a product of the system as the dead black men laying in our streets. It’s been hammered into our collective heads since birth that we should be looking out for number one. You know why? Because communism is EVIL. Caring for other people is EVIL. I just know that we can not keep looking at the world and think that we belong as individuals. We have to start looking at the world from a place of WE. Or, I dunno…. Here’s another half brained metaphor: The earth is a symbiotic organism. We have to work together, or cancer seeps into those cells and destroys it. Each of us carry that cancer inside us. So when we do not work to form a more cohesive unit, we die and we destroy others. And WE! AMERICANS! are doing it every day. Dying.

‘BottleRock 2026, Day 1: Seeking pockets of sunshine amid the music’ – Daily Festival Log

June 4, 2026 No Comments

Day 1 of 3. Daily journal log in which Damian goes hunting for the “real Napa” at the massive, luxury themed music festival behemoth: BottleRock. Today’s theme is: Sunshine.