You had a bullet from World War I in your leg, James! How did it get there?
I waxed nostalgic about the old days of strip malls back in the 1986 installment, days when crummy strip malls were designed around the automobile but still made concessions for pedestrian convenience. There are a lot of things that technology has improved in our lives (medical treatments, communication, vegetarian hot dogs), but there are also many things that seem to be improvements but are just means of microtransacting us to death.
I am talking about streaming services today. A million little subscriptions, all priced between five and fifteen dollars a month, all with a tiny sliver of content. And to what end? Yes, absolutely yes, I get to watch the X-Files on demand. That rules. Or maybe a bout of insomnia is wrecking my week, so a block of The Kominsky Method will help fill the void. No complaints here. But do you know what does suck about having multiple streaming subscriptions? Trying to find a specific movie.
Blackhat is on HBO Max this month. You should watch it. Beautifully shot, meandering techno-thriller. Next month it might be on Peacock, as it is distributed by Universal, which is owned by NBC. Or maybe it will be on Netflix because they are releasing some new Hemsworth joint and want a block of his movies to lead up to the release. (But not the Marvel Hemsworth movies, because the Mouse owns those, and they are only on Disney+… except sometimes the first Captain America and Iron Man 2 and the first Thor, which show up randomly elsewhere.)
May I make a suggestion as to what is infinitely better than paying for four (or more) streaming services, only to find that a movie that you want to see is on none of them? Cancel your subscriptions, then direct your web browser over to eBay or Best Buy and buy a blu ray disc of the stuff you want to watch. Cool, now you have the movie for as long as the disc holds up (it will, barring incident, outlive us all) and you don’t have to fret about what megacorp bought what movie studio and has what distribution deal. Blu rays are often super cheap, and I’m talking, in many cases, as cheap as renting the movie.
Which is really where I had wanted to start all of this. The internet has brought us many good things, and many bad. But the age of streaming is not strictly positive, for me. I miss the days of Blockbuster and local rental stores. Libraries fill this void in many areas (one of the essentials of a thriving community is a library. Donate some media, or money, or time if you can. Keep your local library alive, for the love of god.). I was introduced to Kurosawa and Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Stooges via the Ruth Enlow Library in Oakland, Maryland. I also got hooked on Stephen King and fantasy novels and had an extended affair with cryptids and conspiracy theories all thanks to that beautiful building. It is easily one of the most influential buildings in my life.
Another influential building was a little further toward the Lake. It was a combination liquor store and video rental called Brodak’s. And I am certain that the movie I rented the most from Brodak’s was 12 Monkeys.
I’m not big on possessions. I tend to acquire things, get bored of them, and move on. Many people have found this trait to be irritating.
Buying blu rays or books is a bit of a shakey proposition if one has limited storage space for them. Our house is pretty big, and mostly filled with small dogs, so we do not want for storage space. This is fortunate on many levels, but especially for my pursuit of great movies, of which there are roughly one zillion. I’ve made strides toward buying only movies that I plan to rewatch multiple times, or movies that are hard to find, or movies that have new restorations or amazing special features. I’ve also impulse bought collections/anthologies in various sales (this is another tip to bear in mind: blu rays are generally pretty cheap but on occasion become crazy cheap). For example(s), Fox was recently bought by the Mouse, so if there is a specific movie produced by Fox that you really love, I’d consider buying it on blu ray before it ceases to be available in physical format and is only streaming via Disney+. (The Aliens series is a notable example.) Another recent transaction was MGM’s acquisition by Amazon… which led me to buying the James Bond blu ray collection before physical copies disappeared. That one came out to about $80 for 23 movies, and now I’m not beholden to the whims of a gross company like that when I want to rewatch The Living Daylights or From Russia with Love. Again, I’m fortunate to have a tiny bit of disposable income and extra space in my house, but the general sentiment is, I think, universal. Digital purchase does not bestow ownership (read the fine print) and paying a little bit extra to always have access to Casablanca or A Fish Called Wanda is preferable to scouring the streaming services in vain. In the old days, if the video store had a copy of a movie, they would always have that movie until the tape broke or someone didn’t return it. And when they ran out of space, they’d sell movies to make room, so even then, you’d have a chance to acquire it. Now that every studio or megacorp has its own fiefdom, it is simultaneously easier to watch whatever but harder to watch a specific thing, like 12 Monkeys.
I don’t have a lot to say about the movie. It is partially a time travel thriller wherein an extinction-level event occurred and survivors are looking in the past for answers. It is also a mental institution/I’m not crazy drama (my absolute least favorite genre), and a throwback to 70s conspiracy movies like Three Days of the Condor (Bruce Willis’ character kidnapping Madeline Stowe’s in an attempt to get her to believe him and help his mission seems a deliberate nod to Redford and Dunaway). Brad Pitt is incredible, Stowe and Willis are tolerable, and Terry Gilliam brings his typical fisheye lenses and dutch angles and loud/quiet/loud aesthetics to the proceedings. I don’t know if I’ll enjoy it when I finally get to rewatch it. I saw the movie so many times in a short amount of time that I wonder just what new experiences it will hold (beyond the typical “saw this as a kid, now as an adult my perspective has changed”). OK, one thing that always stuck with me was that Madeline Stowe, a Southern-California-born actor playing an American character, pronounces ad-ver-tize-ment as ad-vert-iss-ment, which makes no sense even in a movie that makes little sense.
Maybe 12 Monkeys is playing on Netflix. Or Prime. Or Hulu. Oh, I think someone said it is on the Criterion Channel this month. Or maybe it was Peacock. Or I think that Shudder is doing a not-quite-horror film festival. Or maybe it was HBO Max. Or…
Other 1995 candidates (good year): Batman Forever; Goldeneye; Die Hard with a Vengeance; Toy Story; Waterworld; Casino; Braveheart; Get Shorty; The Usual Suspects; The Quick and the Dead; French Kiss; Congo; Species; Clueless; Desperado; Seven; Heat
I turn 40 in December. To commemorate the milestone, I’m writing 40 short biographical essays pertaining to a movie per year of my life.