At one point we wound up talking about director/writer Stephen Sommers. The Mummy was his first and best movie (which we all enjoyed quite a bit, actually) but it's been all downhill from there, sliding eventually into his most recent release, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
As Rose regaled us with the many laughable extremes found in GI Joe, Tom came upon two pieces of trivia that not only illustrated the point but that could stand on their own. In fact, they have now become standard catch phrases in the HC home.
1 - this personal quote
"Don't let them tell you less is more. More is more."
2 - Industrial Light & Magic's Stephen Sommers Scale, jokingly created to measure the extent of digital effects used in a given movie scene. The four parts of the scale, from lowest to highest, are:
- What The Shot Needs
- What The Computers Can Handle
- Oh My God, The Computers Are About To Crash
- What Stephen Wants
My brilliant and beautiful daughter Sarah gave me dvds of THE LITTLE WORLD OF DON CAMILLO and THE RETURN OF DON CAMILLO, filmed in poor, conflicted, post-war Italy on a budget of hundreds of dollars. The movies aren't simply curiosities, they are objectively good and very, very Catholic.
ReplyDeleteThe episodic scenes, bound by Fr. Camillo and Peppone's love/hate friendship and by the sweet love of two young people, are complete little stories in themselves, blending farcical physical comedy, intelligent dialogue, and a deep love of humanity.
The b & w photography of the Po Valley is gorgeous, and in technique reminiscent of some of John Ford's b & w work. The few special effects are no worse than American films of the early 1950s, but I announce unto you tidings of great joy: NO computerization.
I love the Don Camillo stories for all the reasons you mention above. I knew there was a television show (because the pope likes to watch the dvds of it in the evenings) but not about the movies ... or perhaps I once knew and then forgot. Thank you for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteit IS the worst website redesign ever!
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