Friday Night Theatre

This evenings hijacking consists of a brief overview of a few classics that everyone really should be familiar with so that you can engage in any conversation regarding fine literature, cinema, or music and remain relevant.  In my studies, here and abroad, I have dabbled into many different genres of each.  Today I will be focusing on cinema…mainly because I haven’t read a book in years.  While movies like “Gone With the Wind” and “Casablanca” immediately come to mind when you think of a classic…we will be focusing on three that are lesser known and/or underrated.  I will just have a brief overview of each because I really don’t want to spoil them for you.  So, without further ado…let’s make it happen, Cap’n!!

The first movie I want to touch on is my favorite alien movie.  I know, I know…an alien movie in a classics discussion?  YES!  This movie came out in 1996 and was considered an instant classic…by me. In this movie and alien armada comes to earth and a first contact meeting is set up in the Arizona desert.  The entire nation  was following the event…unlike the real government hiding this fact through a series of denials and a campaign of misinformation aimed at using alien technology to advance the powers that be and keeping them in power…but I digress.  While the alien claim peace they take advantage of our gullible notion that an advanced race would come so far for our benefit.  In the end the only we are able to defeat them by playing Slim Whitman’s “Indian Love Call” which makes their heads explode.  If you’ve ever heard that song it makes sense. With Oscar winning performances and a star studded cast with the likes of Jack Nickolson, Pierce Brosnen, and Annette Bening you really wouldn’t expect less.

The next movie is a western.  There are many actors that have made a name for themselves making westerns.  Today, I will be talking about a 1979 Arnold Schwarzenegger flick called “The Villain”. Once again a star studded cast consisting of Kirk Douglas, Anne Margret, and of course Arnie.  This movie follows Arnie clad in a powder blue jumpsuit as the goody-goody and naive Handsome Stranger…he was named after his father.  He is tasked with escorting the hot blooded and lusty Charming Jones across the desert after claiming an inheritance.  The only thing between Charming and her money and the vile outlaw Cactus Jack is Handsome and his seven shot six shooter.  If you have ever watched Wiley Coyote chase the road runner, you have an idea of the trouble Cactus Jack has getting his prize.  One quick spoiler…the good guy doesn’t get the girl.  He’s to good.

The final movie today is the zombie sensation Zombieland.  I know some of you (on a quilting blog of all things) won’t be up for the bit-o-gore that is required of all zombie movies…but come on, it’s a classic…trust me.  We start off after the initial wave of zombification.  All that’s left are a hand full of survivors scattered across the country and a bunch of zombies.  After the various back stories of our four survivors we find ourselves traveling to Pacific Playland (Disneyland) with Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock, each searching for their own happiness that represents life before zombies.  Columbus is after love and a family, Wichita is taking her little sister, Little Rock, to Pacific Playland.  And that leaves Tallahassee.  Woody Harrelson is one of my favorite actors and he does not disappoint here.  He conveys a character with a hard shell created from a loss that surprises at the end.  But what truly endears him to me is his craving for Twinkies.  His sole desire is to kill zombies and eat a Twinkie…possibly the LAST Twinkie.  And pay close attention, Columbus has a list of rules to survive by…it just might save your life when the zombies do come.  With a cameo by Bill Murray, hilarious, this movie has it all; comedy, love, blood, hope, guts, action, blood, and of course blood.

This concludes this weeks hijacking and I hope you will all go out and watch at least one of the movies we have gone over.  And I’m sure you will love them all as much as I do.  If you don’t then,obviously, you and Charisma are not  nearly as enlightened as you should be.  Good day.