Barb and I have really gotten into the Showtime series Dexter. I had always heard really good things about it and have wanted to check it out for a while. Since we joined Netflix and can get stuff instantly through our membership, we started Dexter a couple of weeks ago. We finished season 1 earlier this week and have already gotten more than halfway through season 2. We love it!
Season 1 was a beautifully self-contained story that explained everything perfectly and had some real surprises towards the end. Season 2 is expanding Dexter as a character, giving him much more depth. The acting is terrific (Michael C. Hall is perfect as Dexter) and the writing, while stretching credibility at times, is clever and sets a perfect tone for the series. We're looking very forward to seeing where the series goes from here.
I had also heard good things about a small independent film called Big Fan starring comedian Patton Oswalt. It's not really a comedy but a look at a loser named Paul that is a "big fan" of the New York Giants football team, completely obsessed with them at the expense of everything else. He lives at home with his mother, can't afford to actually attend the games and lives for making late night calls to an a sports radio station in New York where he has a running battle going on with a Philadelphia Eagles fan. One night he and his friend see their favorite player out on the town and decide to follow him to a club. Things don't go as planned and Paul's hero ends up viciously assaulting him. The player is suspended and the Giants' fortunes begin to suffer. Paul's family wants him to sue the player while the cops want to put the guy away. Paul wants the whole thing to blow over so that the Giants can start winning again. And the Philadelphia Eagles' fan on the radio finds out about the incident and begins taunting Paul about it over the air. It's a perfect storm gathering in this little guy's life. What will happen when it all becomes too much?
I thought the movie was pretty good, maybe a 7 on a 10 scale, but make no mistake, it's a minor movie. Oswalt was absolutely perfect in a serious role. I have always thought the guy was talented and had something like this in him; it's nice to see him get a chance to let it show. The supporting cast was splendid as well. I would not recommend actively seeking this movie out, but if you come across it someday, it may be worth paying attention to.
Finally, with a little extra time on my hands last night, I was flipping through Netflix for something to watch and I came across an iconic movie from the 70's that I had heard a lot about but had never actually seen before. I am talking about Eraserhead, baby! So I decided to go ahead and experience it for myself, knowing that this was something that Barb would probably not get into. It met my expectations, which is to say it didn't make much sense but was full of great visuals and was sufficiently freaky that I felt sorry for all those folks who watched it while tripping on acid in the 70's. I wonder if most of them ever recovered.
I'll tell the story as much as I can but I won't try to explain it, because to try to make sense of it would a waste of time. Let's just say there's this strange guy that works as a printer. He is on vacation. He apparently lives in an industrial city that is nearly abandoned, because we hardly ever see anyone outside on the streets; there are no incidental characters. Now this guy, Henry Spencer, has a girlfriend that he has apparently gotten pregnant, though he seems to be unaware of that. He is invited to her house for dinner where he meets her incredibly strange family and is told by the mother (after she licks his face in a fit of passion) about the baby. He then is told he must marry the girlfriend (Mary) and move her and the baby into his apartment.
Let's cut the to chase and say that the baby is some sort of mutant. It doesn't resemble a human at all. It's head looks like a cross between a horse and some kind of dinosaur and it's body is long and thin. Still, it is oddly endearing. Whoever did the special effects did a bang-up job because the way the eyes and mouth move make the creature seem alive. Anyway, the "baby" cries all the time, which makes the already insane Mary even more crazy. She leaves to go back to her parents. Now Henry is left alone to cope with the baby. When the baby gets sicks, he tries to nurse it back to health but it doesn't seem to work. Henry is trapped in his grotesque room with nothing to do but hallucinate and/or go insane. He sees a tiny woman behind his radiator who sings and dances and tells him of better days to come. He dreams of an affair with his neighbor across the hall. He sees all sort of appalling visions, such as sperm-like creatures that writhe across the floor. Then he wakes up. And he kills his baby. Or does he?
Eraserhead got director David Lynch established and well on his way to a career built on movies like this, focusing on the surreal where real life and dreams and insanity constantly blend. Back when it was made it was known as a "mindblowing" experience and if you can let yourself go a bit, it is still a compelling ride. Strange, twisted, and at time repulsive, but compelling all the same.
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Ah, Eraserhead! The entry point to the weird and wonderful world of David Lynch. I didn't realize that you'd never seen it. Such a disturbing little film. I watched it many times back in the 80's and always felt that it seemed much longer than it really is. Eraserhead echoes throughout virtually all of Lynch's work that followed.
As for Dexter, I saw several episodes from the tail end of last season, and the season opener this year. I thinks it's great but, unfortunately, Joyce simply can't stomach it. That pretty much precludes going back and watching it from the beginning, at least until I retire again. :>)
I had heard so much about Eraserhead and the image of Henry (and his hair) has become so iconic that I really could not find it disturbing. At times, especially with the acting, I found it to be very funny. At other times, I found it fascinating. I guess things have gotten so much more perverse than they were in 1977 that by this point Eraserhead never really had a chance to shock me. I reckon I have been somewhat desensitized by having seen far worse images in more recent movies.
Still, I found it interesting. I was only going to watch a little bit to see what the fuss was all about but wound up staying up until 3 AM to finish it. And again I must say, after hearing so much about the "hideous" baby, I found it to be immediately endearing rather than being repulsed. I guess I have seen too much David Cronenberg.
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