THE MT VOID
11/18/22 -- Vol. 41, No. 21, Whole Number 2250
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper,
mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
eleeper@optonline.net
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evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
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Topics:
Mini Reviews, Part 4 (BLOOD RELATIVES, NOPE, VESPER)
(film reviews by Mark R. Leeper
and Evelyn C. Leeper)
Firemen (letter of comment by Sam Long)
NOSFERATU (letters of comment by Gary McGath and Kevin R)
This Week's Reading (THE SCIENCE OF MURDER) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 4 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)
This is the fourth batch of mini-reviews, all films of the
fantastic.
BLOOD RELATIVES: BLOOD RELATIVES is described as having a "Yiddish
vampire", but this is a bit of an inaccuracy. Yiddish is a
language, not an ethnicity. What it has is a Jewish vampire, with
roots in Europe, who sprinkles his speech with Yiddish words (and
hip dialogue). This is underlined by a klezmer soundtrack. The
film is a comedy-drama--there is plenty of humor, but some
underlying dark elements. (One bit of humorous reference is naming
a minor character Quincy Morris.) The vampire is not the evil
monster of traditional vampire films, on a constant killing spree,
but someone trying to stay under the radar, trying to sustain
himself with as little killing as possible. When his daughter
shows up (another change from the standard vampire story--most
vampires do not have biological children), she has very different
ideas, or at least is still trying to figure out her place in the
world. BLOOD RELATIVES is definitely a new take on the vampire
mythos.
Released 22 November 2022. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21818188/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blood_relatives_2022>
NOPE: NOPE is the third (and latest) film from director Jordan
Peele, who burst upon the horror film scene in 2017 with GET OUT,
and followed it up with US (2019). For all three Peele also wrote
and produced as well. The editing is designed to give much of the
film the texture of found footage.
Many filmmakers have a fantastic first film (just as many authors
have a fantastic first novels), but then they have a "sophomore
slump"--their second film is a real let-down. Poole avoided this;
US may not be quite as good as GET OUT, but it is certainly a good
film. However, his third film showed this decline. Poole's career
reminded us of that of M. Night Shyamalan: THE SIXTH SENSE was
great, UNBREAKABLE was good, but SIGNS (an alien invasion film like
NOPE) was a disappointment. Ultimately NOPE is also a
disappointment, inscrutable and incoherent.
Released theatrically 22 July 2022. Rating: low +1 (-4 to +4) or
5/10
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10954984/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nope>
VESPER: VESPER is a film set in a post-ecological disaster world,
where the disaster was caused by genetic engineering--humans
botched controlling nature, now nature is getting its revenge.
(Although some of the revenge seems to be from a ruling group that
controls the seeds to grow food--seeds which are good for only one
season. This is not science fiction.)
This is yet another film with weird organisms (other reviewers have
also noted a similarity to ANNIHILATION). But in this film the
exteriors lack any bright colors, making the world look dingy and
gray. There are also mutant humans that have been created by
biology and botany and electronics. The pacing is somewhat slow,
more so in the second half.
Released theatrically 30 September 2022. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4), or
6/10.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20225374/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vesper_2022>
[-mrl/ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Firemen (letter of comment by Sam Long)
In response to Sam Long's comments on firemen in the 11/11/22 issue
of the MT VOID, Fred Lerner writes:
In "American Railroads: Decline and Renaissance in the Twentieth
Century" by Robert E. Gallamore and John R. Meyer (Harvard
University Press, 2014) we are told that "When a railroad was able
to replace substantially its steam engine roster with
diesel-electric locomotives, it could retire roundhouses,
specialized steam maintenance mechanics and facilities, coal
chutes, water tanks, and firefighters in the engine". Evidently
the editorial staff at Harvard University Press knows more about
political correctness than about steam railroading. [-fl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: NOSFERATU (letters of comment by Gary McGath and Kevin R)
In response to Evelyn's comments on NOSFERATU in the 11/11/22
issue of the MT VOID, Gary McGath writes:
On October 28, I provided live accompaniment for NOSFERATU at the
Plaistow, NH, public library. The version the library used
replaced the characters' names with the names of Stoker's
characters. Count Orlok became Count Dracula, Hutter became
Jonathon (sic) Harker, etc. I found this mildly annoying, but it
wouldn't really matter if you hadn't seen the original version of
the movie.
The "werewolf" is pretty unimpressive. It doesn't look especially
dangerous, and the bit with it could have been left out at no loss.
There are some scenes where Orlok is out in the daytime, most
notably the one where he packs his cart with coffins before leaving
the castle. This is inconsistent with the premise that he dies if
he's out at sunrise. Unless maybe it's only the sunrise, not
daylight as such, that kills him. He isn't in the direct rays of
the sun when he vaporizes. [-gmg]
Evelyn responds:
Actually, it's not clear that he *is* out in the daytime in that
scene. NOSFERATU was filmed day-for-night, and then all the night
scenes were tinted blue. However, the various versions floating
around (including the out that replaced all the names) did not have
any tinting. I would need to watch the tinted version to know
whether that was actually daytime. (We ended up with the same
version you saw, though a series of problems with the library
getting a better version.) [-ecl]
Kevin R writes:
In 1992's BATMAN RETURNS, the character played by Christopher
Walken is named "Max Shreck," with only the one "c" (<
https://batman.fandom.com/wiki/>).
A wink from Tim Burton? [-kr]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE SCIENCE OF MURDER: THE FORENSICS OF AGATHA CHRISTIE by Carla
Valentine (Sourcebooks, ISBN 978-1-728-25184-4) covers a lot of
ground, but overlooks one of the key tropes in Christie's novels:
the intentional identification (or rather mis-identification) of
corpses (and living persons). Out of thirty-three Hercule Poirot
novels and twelve Miss Marple novels, for example, there are nine
intentional misidentifications of corpses, two dozen people who are
not who they claim to be (including three in one book and even more
in another), as well as at least twelve people in disguise. One
novel has not only a misidentification of a corpse, but *three*
cases of false identity. (And that's not even the most extreme or
famous example!)
I was disappointed that the book is basically a book about
forensics, with some examples from Christie's work, rather than a
discussion of Christie's work from a forensic perspective. This is
made even more disappointing in that Valentine has decide that her
readers might not be familiar with Christie's work, so she won't
give any spoilers. For those of us who know the stories, this is
annoying. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
A man's friendships are, like his will, invalidated by
marriage--but they are also no less invalidated by the
marriage of his friends.
--Samuel Butler
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