Public Menace? A Few Words for Allan Andre

The streets of Denver are littered with the sounds of music. Unfortunately the lyrics typically include such phrases as “spare some change?”, and “homeless: please help”. Any regular of 16th Street Mall knows what I’m referring to. Every corner has some form of bum asking for money. Most people just walk up and ask you. Others try to at least earn it by assuming the form of a street act. As an aspiring writer and musician, I can appreciate a good street musician. 16th street Mall does have a few cool acts. There’s one man I like to call the “Alley Way Man“, who plays guitar in an alley just off the main walk of the mall. He’s doesn't have a tip jar, just a desire to play for the town and he is a phenomenal guitarist. What I can’t appreciate is people doing it as an excuse to legitify bumming money off the street. My least favorite being the homeless man near Tattered Cover who just plays “Hotel California” over, and over, and over again.
Today on my mall walk I had an unique experience.

I walked by Allan Andre, street poet. Stationed with a typewriter and a sign reading “Poetry Upon Request”, Allan was not your typical street act. I actually walked past him, eyeing his setup and sign, and felt my heart tug at me. Typically I don’t give these things the time of day, but the sight of him inflamed my inner writer. I realized I felt a sense of inspiration by what he was doing. I had to know more, so I turned around and introduced myself.
His pitch was simple. Allan will write custom poetry for you, the length depending on the amount of the donation. Reasonable, considering this is one of the few street acts here where you walk away with product. I gave him a dollar and just asked for a short poem of whatever his immediate inspiration was.
As he began, I mentioned Harlan Ellison.

Harlan Ellison is one of my favorite writers. He has published over 1,700 short stories, but who’s counting. He has won many legal battles for writer’s rights, the most famous being his out of court settlement with James Cameron over the Terminator story; which was borrowed from a Outer Limits episode Harlan had written. Ellison is notorious for writing exclusively on his typewriter, even after the coming of the personal computer.



I mentioned to Allan how the image of him on the street with a typewriter reminded me of when Harlan Ellison publicly wrote “Hitler Painted Roses” in front of a radio show audience.
Shortly after that conversation, Allan handed me his work.

“a few words for Harlan

          public

menace:

      whatever

  disrupts

    the shopping

-allan andre

denver, co

1.27.13"

I thanked him, and began to leave with my purchase. As I walked away I then noticed the inspiration for his poem. The mall security was approaching and began questioning Allan about his intentions. I was concerned, but continued on my way. “Shut up slave,” I thought. “Nothing to see here.”

I eventually returned to see what became of Alan’s fate. He was still there. In fact, he was writing another poem. I hope to see him again in my walks. It's maybe a bit silly, but seeing a fellow writer trying to earn a little money with his craft gives me a sense of camaraderie. The life of a writer nowadays is metaphorically the same; very few of us get to set the price. We just accept whatever donation we can get for our work. It doesn't have to be that way. You can sell your soul at the highest rates. Just look at the life of Harlan Ellison.

Once Upon A Time ... A Review of Mama.

If nature has one lesson to learn, it’s to never get between a mother and her child. As Andres Muschietti’s Mama goes to show, it’s a bond that transcends our physical reality. When threatened or damaged, it can become very dangerous.

You may have noticed that I wrote Andres Muschietti’s Mama, not Guillermo del Toro’s Mama. That’s because Mama is a full feature film written and directed by Andres Muschietti, who also created the short film the feature version is based on. Guillermo del Toro is just the executive producer.

Here's a little explanation by del Toro followed by the scene from the original short film that inspired him to finance the Hollywood version.

Yes, del Toro is a talent that deserves the right to mainstream independent films like this with out my sniveling judgements. In fact, I think it’s great that Guillermo del Toro saw this short film and decided to help this up and coming director make something great. Fine and dandy, but just remember that Executive Producer essentially means you paid for it. You could replace the poster’s “Guillermo del Toro presents” with “Guillermo del Toro funded”. I suppose I stress this because I went into this film with the misunderstanding I was going into a del Toro film, but was corrected during the opening credits.

Rant over, onto the film.

I thought Mama was great. It’s nothing new. It’s nothing too groundbreaking, but for all it’s conventional-ism it's delivered very well. The plot intrigues without trying too hard. The character’s motivations are in a nice balance to each other. The movie draws you into it's creepy chills, while setting up some very successful jump scares, and then follows to comfort you with it's growing family bonds. A little predictable, but again very well done.
Jessica Chastain’s performance of Annabel really shined in the transition of her character in the later half of the movie from selfish, rocker chick to a cool step-mom. Again, the characters path is predictable but done well. The Oscar for best performance however, goes to the most important role; the kids. Kid performances can make or break movies but Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nélisse nailed it. They’re believable, creepy, and perform the emotional scenes out without noticeably overacting.

Give it up for the kids!

Then there’s the title character, good ole Mama. Part of the fun of this film is learning for yourself, so I’ll be brief to avoid spoilers. First, I applaud the use of a costumed actress instead relying entirely on CGI. The ghost has a nice realism to it’s quirky death movement. Also, Mama is now the new queen of the jump scare. This movie got me good a couple of times, and I’m not usually an easy one to get the jump scare on. You can see them coming, and my body usually prepares. In this movie the jumps are predictable as well, but they still have some kind of unique timing to it that they got me to jolt. The scene that’s recreated from the above short film scene had an awesome Mama scare. I like the way Mama can go from the caring, ghost mom to the "I’m going to eat you" mom in a heartbeat.

All my praise aside, it wasn't a perfect movie. I had issues with some of the ending's events. Hopefully this won’t spoil it, but when you kill someone don’t just suddenly bring them back to life to make me happy. I’m not talking about the character that dies that you may think I’m referring to. I liked that little wink of how she’s still … around? O.K., now I'm beginning to spoil it. If you want a good theater scare done right, GO SEE MAMA!

So Long 2012, and Thanks For All the Geek

Last year was a year of renewal for me. Those that know me understand the significance of that remark.

While I spent the majority of the year disconnected from the world, I reconnected to a classic medium of entertainment in its proper form of presentation ...

The Cinema.

This Regal Pre-Movie Announcement sums up the point I’d like to express.

Ironic that it’s a second hand recording, huh?

I watched so many great movies in the theater last year. Yes, on the BIG screen. The way they’re supposed to be seen. Here’s what I had the honor of getting to see, along with a short review.

The Avengers - In Joss Whedon’s impeccable character writing we trust.
Prometheus - Nostalgic science fiction for the next generation.
The Amazing Spider-Man - The one super hero movie this year that is actually kid friendly.
Savages - Great cinematography does not make up for a poorly done double ending.
Bourne Legacy - Something tells me I should watch the other Bourne movies before I comment.
Hit and Run - A forgettable action comedy that is saved by Kristen Bell’s cuteness.
Looper - A heart warming Happy Mother’s Day card wrapped in a Bruce Willis action envelope.
The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey - More of a prequel to the Lord of the Rings than the actual book was.

See a pattern? Yes I'm a science fiction and comic book fan, and this year was our year. Not only did we dominate the summer, but they were actually good! Most were even in 3D. We saw the finale of a Dark Knight Trilogy, and the beginning of An Unexpected Journey. Witnessed the dawn of a new era for Marvel Comic movies. We even had an original science fiction film; Rian Johnson’s Looper.  Pretty impressive considering 95% of Hollywood movies these days are based on a book or a graphic novel.

So what does the future hold? More of the same it seems. Here's my list of movie attendance goals, with a little commentary of my expectations.

Star Trek: Into Darkness - I still hope the villian is Kahn, but am at peace with it being John Harrison or whoever.
Mama - The trailer gave me chills!
Evil Dead - Didn't believe in a Ash-less Evil Dead, until I saw the amazing trailer.
Carrie - Chloe Grace Moretz sold this with a single glance in the trailer.
Oblivian - Got a feeling the SFX will be the only thing special about this movie.
After Earth - Every so often Will Smith does something amazing.
Man of Steel - Not a fan of the Emo-Superman trend, but this looks promising.
Ender’s Game - Despite OSC being a homophobic jerk, Ender's Game is still a great book.

I think that’s a good enough list for now. What are you excited for? Comment below.