Picturenose

Normally, a 65-year-old man touting a bullwhip would be the kind of thing to make me swear off eating cheese before bedtime, but I am of course referring to the latest offering in the incredibly popular Indiana Jones series of movies. James has now seen Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - read his review here.

You may remember some time ago I posted a bit about M. Night Shyamalan’s new offering, The Happening, in which I wondered if it would be any good considering the first trailer mysteriously disappeared off the face of the internet. Well, it appears that there is a new trailer now, so we can all have a good look and see if my fears were confirmed. Click here for the trailer.

Much more fun, though uncomfortably based on true events, is the new George Clooney thing. I discovered this on one of my regular reads, boingboing. The Men Who Stare at Goats is based on a book with the same name, written by the UK journalist and writer Jon Ronson. The book, which I had the pleasure of reading a couple of years ago, is the true story of the proposal by the US military to create a ‘First Earth Battalion’ of ‘Warrior Monks’. These men would be able to do spooky and weird stuff, like becoming invisible, walk through walls, perform ESP and telekinesis and kill by thought alone. The title refers to the men who were charged with the task of staring at a goat until its heart exploded. As far as I recall, the best they managed was a hamster - but then they have a tendency to drop dead at a moment’s notice, so I wouldn’t say the result was conclusive. I really hope they do this well - I think Clooney is perfect for this sort of thing, as he has a strong sense of the bizarre in many of the parts he chooses. Frankly, I’m surprised there wasn’t much more made of this when the book came out. Hopefully the film will bring these shenanigans to a wider audience.

Lastly for today, if you have a broadband or cable connexion (and let’s face it, most of us do these days) you might want to check out archive.org. Their feature films section has public domain films (that is, free to download, keep and show) from many genres and to suit all tastes. All you need is a computer. These are not just films which were too crappy to watch, though. Looking through the cast listings, there are such luminaries as Charlie Chaplin, James Cagney and Frank Sinatra to name but a few. The choice of titles range from the sublime (The original Nosferatu) to the ridiculous (Sex Madness, Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women) but you’re bound to find something you’ll like. Happy viewing.