Western Weekends: The Mask of Zorro

Sorry, I seem to have missed a week. You could say that I have managed to get some writing done but that would be a lie. Or are we supposed to call those 'alternative facts' now?

Actually, I have started working on my swashbuckler series again. So I thought I might look at something which combines Swashbucklers and Westerns; The Mask of Zorro, a summer blockbuster from 1998 based on the works of Johnston McCulley.

A prologue takes place in California in 1821. Anthony Hopkins plays Don Diego de la Vega, a nobleman leading a double life as Zorro, the masked swordsman who fights against oppression and injustice. As the Mexican War of Independence draws to a close, Diego believes that he can retire. This hope is dashed by the intervention of Don Rafael Montero, the now-former Spanish Governor of California who has deduced his secret identity - partially motivated by his desire for Diego's wife Esperanza. Diego tries to resist arrest until Esperanza is accidentally killed. However, Montero spares his life but destroys his estate and takes his infant daughter Elena to raise as his own.

Twenty years later, Diego has been living in anonymity until learning that Montero has returned to California with a now-adult Elena played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Not long afterwards, he encounters Alejandro Murietta, a drunken thief played by Antonio Banderas. Alejandro becomes Diego's apprentice, hoping to avenge the death of his brother Joaquin at the hands of Montero's henchman, Captain Harrison Love. 

I saw this film a while back, and watched it again recently to see if it still holds up. It actually does so surprisingly well. There's plenty of swordfights, a good mix of comedy and drama, and even some rather dark imagery in places. I love the hero's journey Alejandro goes through. He starts off as a drunken thief, learns to fight, and becomes an impulsive fame-seeker before developing into the Zorro for a new age.

It is a little cliched, but they're fun cliches, and the film still works with them.

Anyway, I'd best get back to my writing.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

So, we had a Friday 13th this month. And while a Finnish airline had a flight designated as 666 that day (Sadly not piloted by Bruce Dickinson), Netflix decided to use this perceived unlucky day to premier A Series of Unfortunate Events - an adaptation of the children's novels written by Daniel Handler under the pen-name Lemony Snicket.

The series follows the misfortunes of the Baudelaire siblings: fourteen-year-old inventor Violet, twelve-year-old bookworm Klaus, and the bitey infant Sunny. After their parents are killed in a mysterious fire, the three are forced to travel from foster home to foster home while being targeted by the villainous Count Olaf, a distant relative and stage actor who seeks to inherit the sizeable fortune their parents left them. Along the way, they try to learn about a mysterious organisation their parents were involved with.

While I was in a generation of kids who grew up with these books, I never really read them. However, I did dip into the first book once, and I understand that they are known to be very bleak and depressing - even the books themselves acknowledge this. There was a film too, released thirteen years ago. I saw a bit of it once while laid up, but I can't say I was hooked. Hell, if you read into some of the jokes in this series, it's apparent that the show's producers (including Handler himself) weren't particularly keen on it either. And this time I was hooked.

Neil Patrick Harris does a fantastic job as Count Olaf. While Olaf is an appalling actor who the kids always recognise despite fooling the adults (a recurring theme in the books), Harris delights in chewing the scenery, even though his character is more or less a complete monster. Meanwhile, Patrick Warburton stars as Lemony Snicket, the show's omni-present narrator, who I find very reminiscent of Rod Serling. I'm especially interested in finding out his role in the events of the series.

The show has a very strange tone. You want to laugh at Olaf's hamming, but you also want to feel sorry for the Baudelaires, and this can create some real, gut-wrenching tension. I love the visuals as well - courtesy of Bo Welch, who has done a lot of work with Tim Burton and Barry Sonnenfeld (who's also involved in the series as a director and producer). There's only eight episodes at the moment, which cover the events of the first four books (out of thirteen). However, I managed to binge them in one weekend, and I'm eager to find out what happens next.

While I didn't really read the books when they came out, this series actually makes me want to. 

I suppose that's the sign of an adaptation done well.

Western Weekends: The Homesman

Last weekend I looked at a classic western epic. This weekend I'm going to look at something newer - and a lot more depressing.

Hilary Swank plays Mary Bea Cuddy, an unmarried homesteader living in Nebraska. Following a harsh winter, she takes a job as a 'Homesman' who takes three mentally unstable women to a church in Iowa. Along the way, she enlists the help of George Briggs, a scoundrel and claim jumper played by Tommy Lee Jones, who also directs the film.

I consider this film to be groundbreaking for exploring an issue of Prairie Madness. The harsh living conditions of frontier life combined with the isolated nature could have a poor effect on the mind. I can't think of any other film that has truly explored this.

Cuddy is a great protagonist. She is very strong-willed and independent, but at the same time, she is also feeling the effects of the isolation. Meanwhile, George Briggs is somewhat conflicted. He is reluctant to go on the journey, only agreeing so Mary stops him from being lynched. Even afterwards, he's not willing to stay with her without the promise of a payment. Nonetheless, he goes through some interesting development.

The visuals are dreary, but that's the effect they're going for and it's done well. The shots of the High Plains really hammer in the theme of isolation.

It's a good film with a strong revisionist tone, but a very mean-spirited one. Not one for the faint of heart. 

Western Weekends: How the West Was Won

Well, I've survived the first week of January, and I've toasted the New Year resolutions...which I haven't made.

Anyway, I've been contemplating which Western film to open this review series with. So, as a tribute to Debbie Reynolds, who passed away over the Christmas week, I thought I might look at this 1962 epic she starred in. How the West Was Won chronicles four generations of the Prescott family as they move further west during a fifty year period. Narrated by Spencer Tracey, the film is divided into five acts, which could all be their own films: The Rivers, The Plains, The Civil War, The Railroad, and The Outlaws.

The Rivers takes place around 1840, when Zebulon Prescott (Played by Karl Malden) seeks land in Ohio River country at the tip of southern Illinois. In a journey which includes river pirates and rapids, Zebulon's eldest daughter Eve (played by Carroll Baker), becomes romantically involved with Linus Rawlings, an affable mountain man played by Jimmy Stewart.

The Plains jumps forward to the early 1850s, and follows Debbie Reynolds as Eve's younger sister Lilith, who has moved Back East and is performing at a dance hall in St Louis. After inheriting a gold mine in California, she travels West again and meets the gambler Cleve van Valen, played by Gregory Peck.

The remainder of the film follows George Peppard as Zeb Rawlings, the eldest son of Eve and Linus. Not satisfied with life on a farm, he enlists in the army during the Civil War, later serving in the cavalry during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, and becoming a marshal before retiring to Arizona around 1890.

The film has a massive cast, which also includes Henry Fonda, Eli Wallach, Lee J. Cobb, and even a cameo by John Wayne. It's hard to discuss everybody. There are plenty of characters I want to learn more about, but the film's long enough already.

The visuals absolutely stunning, and while it's predominately an idealistic look at the frontier lifestyle, it doesn't hesitate to show some of the rougher aspects within the action. It certainly is a product of the time. But it's nonetheless one that's worth checking out.

Happy New Year

Well, the utter train wreck we called 2016 has come to an end. Time to nurse the hangover, look at New Year's Resolutions, and the concept of "New Year, New Me."

Yeah, that'll be the day. I don't make promises I don't intend to keep. I'm not a politician.

I've not long started in a new job, so the writing's going to be a bit slow in the upcoming months. So it looks like I'll be doing more blogging. This is the Writer's Block after all.

Anyway, one thing I'm looking forward to in 2017 is the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 - the sequel to what may be one of my favourite games of all time.

And since I love Westerns, I thought I might unveil a new series of posts - Western Weekends. Starting next Saturday, I'll be posting (somewhat) regular reviews of Western movies. There's no real criteria here - they can be classic films or obscure ones I find online.

Happy 2017.