Birthdays
Brandon Routh b. 1979 (Superman Returns)
Pete Docter b. 1968 (writer, Up, Monsters Inc., Wall-E)
Guillermo Del Toro b. 1964 (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Pacific Rim)
Scott Bakula b. 1954 (Enterprise, Quantum Leap)
Tony Shaloub b. 1953 (Men in Black, Galaxy Quest)
Robert Wuhl b. 1951 (Batman)
Brian Blessed b. 1936 (Flash Gordon)
Nice to have a birthday list where everyone is still alive. All male today, so no chance for the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot rule to take effect. I went with Brian Blessed, the Loudest Man in Britain, who on his Twitter feed is interested in the protection of badgers and when particularly pleased with someone's efforts, gives out the shout "GORDON'S ALIVE?!?" I should also note the first time I noticed his work was in the cast of I, Claudius, still one of my favorite TV shows ever.
Many happy returns of the day, lads!
Prediction: 1996: Convicted criminals are put in suspended animation and subjected to rehabilitation techniques
Predictor: Demolition Man, released 8 October 1993
Reality: Interesting that the movie would predict suspended animation so soon in the future from their perspective and that it would be used on criminals. On the original Star Trek series, Khan and the genetically enhanced supermen who had started wars in Asia were put in suspended animation and shot into space in 1996.
Further note: Demolition Man is now 20 years old. While I didn't enjoy The Expendables, I do respect Stallone for coming up with a way to create a Senior Tour for action movie heroes. Snipes' career has been on the downturn since his tax evasion troubles, but he will be in The Expendables 3. I wonder if they will actually expend someone this time around.
But the most notable thing about Demolition Man twenty years later is that from the cast, the only real A-list star is Sandra Bullock, who stars in another genre film that is currently the number one hit in the country, Gravity, in the kind of role that has to get an Oscar nomination. Demolition Man was released one year before Speed, the film that made Bullock the kind of movie star whose picture is on the poster. (She was third bill in Demolition Man.)
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
H.G. Wells gets his weekly prediction from 1933's The Shape of Things to Come, and most of his predictions for the rest of the 20th Century are pretty darned grim.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
All things being equal, Flash Gordon has held up better than Demolition Man.
ReplyDeleteThe music in a film, whether used sparingly or generously, should never be discounted. The soundtrack from Queen was awesome.
Delete...but having said that, as a black belt, I love watching Snipes use his martial arts training. He is, I think, black belt in like five or six different disciplines.
ReplyDeleteSarah Michell Gellar is also a multiple black belt in the same version of TKD that I've been training in. Also very fun to watch.