Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Can't Be Serious All the Time

Yesterday, I was feeling a bit down. I was exhausted from having been in the car for a good part of the previous 4 days, and I have done something painful to my shoulder. So, I thought I would just sit and watch a movie. I started out with The Better Angels, Terence Malick's 2014 movie about the childhood of Abraham Lincoln. It was typical Malick, quiet, wind blowing in tall trees, the story more in the visual than in the spoken word. I may write more about it later. About the time that we got to the death of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, I figured it just wasn't the best medicine for depression, so I decided to look for something lighter.

The first thing that struck me when I started poking around in Amazon Prime is that movies tend to be really serious and dark nowadays, and when they aren't, they are either comedies that seem to revolve around sex, or mushy, overly sentimental love stories. But eventually, I came upon this:


It was exactly what I was looking for. I'm not sure exactly how to describe this movie. Google says it is Fantasy/Coming of Age, and I guess it is a bit Coming-of-Age-y, but the guy is 26. It's a bit of sci-fi, but not serious, scientific sci-fi, and a love story, but not, I think, a chick-flick. The closest thing I can think of is Galaxy Quest, although it's not as funny (although it is funny) and not the same kind of story at all. It has its serious moments, but it doesn't lead you down the deep, dark paths of the human psyche or heart.

Eleven year old Joe is a die-hard science fiction fan--science fiction of the Buck Rogers sort. He is drawing a comic book based on stories his father tells him about the planet Zalaxon. Then his dying father reveals to Joe that the stories are true, and that he has a destiny to fulfill on Zalaxon when the rebellion is over. So, for the next fifteen years, Joe waits for sign from his home planet and keeps himself to himself, until he meets Maria, the woman who is his perfect mate. 

There is absolutely nothing deep, or spiritual, or improving about this movie, but if you are over-burdened and tired, and looking for an enjoyable movie that you can watch with your brain pretty much at rest, I would recommend this one. One caveat, although there are no sex scenes, Joe and Maria are cohabiting (as we are informed), and we do see them a couple of times immediately after the act. 

AMDG

6 comments:

  1. It sounds like a story I might have thought up as a teenager, though not actually written.

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  2. That about hits the nail on the head. However, it was a fun and entertaining movie.

    AMDG

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  3. Oh, I didn't mean to imply otherwise. I'd probably enjoy it. I just mean it was the sort of idea I actually entertained as a teenager--I'm actually not of this world. The not writing it part is a comment on my laziness, not a suggestion that I would have been too smart to do it.

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    1. Goodness, I wasn't thinking any of that. I thought it was a great comment. I thought it was a delightful thought.

      AMDG

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    2. Maybe you DID write it, but you don't remember because the aliens used one of those memory-wiping doodads on you.

      AMDG

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  4. Can't prove it didn't happen.

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