Author: Lee Hurtado

The One That Got Me

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It’s been a long while since the network formerly known as American Movie Classics has been anywhere near worthy of its original name.  And its current on-air lineup (series like Breaking Bad excepted) hasn’t quite helped matters.  Something like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is not really a classic, it’s not exactly American, and I’m not entirely sure it’s even a movie.

But there are always exceptions, and even AMC can have a lucky shot, as in the last couple of weeks it’s been running one film that may actually deserve the Classic label.
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2 Days Ago, In An Auditorium 20 Or So Minutes Away…

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Spend enough time with me (or just check out my iPod), and you’ll figure out pretty quickly that I’m … let’s severely understate it and just say I’m rather fixated on film music.  I know next to nothing about current pop trends, but give me a Herrmann or a Goldsmith and I’m completely in my element.  In fact, being a film composer has been a near-lifelong fantasy of mine.  (Which I know will inspire at least one comment from a certain individual asking why I never did anything about that…)

So it goes without saying that I was thrilled when one of my birthday presents a few months back consisted of tickets to Friday night’s performance of the San Antonio Symphony, “Star Wars & More John Williams”.  That title more or less says it all – Williams is arguably the most famous of all film composers, and even if you don’t know his name, you know the soundtrack that introduced film music to my generation.  My day was made two months before I even had to wake up to it. Continue reading →

The Obligatory Year-End Post, Part 2

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Continuing from where I left off in yesterday’s post…

If 2009 was a good year for science fiction or space opera or sci-fi (not to be confused with SyFy, which in turn is not to be confused with smart rebranding), I’d argue that it was an even better year for animated film, at least in the U.S.

Readers who followed me over from MySpace will know that I tend to advocate for the idea that animation is a medium, not a genre:

It’s very easy on our side of the oceans to equate “animated film” with “kid’s film”, since that’s more or less what we’re given.  But look outside that box, and you’ll find filmmakers who know that you can tell just about any kind of story in animation, along with many you just can’t tell in live action.  And when you know that, then you can go far beyond the expectations of “kids’ films”.

The idea of animation as a medium for something beyond “the crass, cynical, autopilot films that studios who aren’t Pixar and Studio Ghibli revel in” is something that has never quite caught on here.  But this year, something changed.  It might be something very small, but it’s still something… Continue reading →

The Obligatory Year-End Post, Part 1

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The S.A. Film Commission‘s annual Holiday Party, our last big film event of the year, happened on Tuesday night.  It was a lot of fun – if you were there, I hope you had a great time, and if you weren’t, I’m sorry you missed it.

With the party over, and all but one of the End of Year Blockbusters in theaters (I’ve not yet seen Avatar and have some doubts about Sherlock Holmes, which is still yet to open, but I’m still counting that one for now – we are talking about Robert Downey, Jr., after all), it’s just about time to call a wrap on 2009.  All told, I thought it was a pretty good year for movies – I don’t have enough info to agree or even disagree with Roger Ebert’s now near-infamous tweet that it is/was “one of those magic movie years like 1939 or 1976″, but I did notice a few hopeful trends in the films I did see… Continue reading →

“You’re psychic?” “No, just paying attention.”

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It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that one of our favorite pastimes at PDP is trading favorite TV shows.  In the last year, Nikki has gotten me hooked on Breaking Bad and Lie to Me (go out and rent those shows now), and I’m working on returning the favor by introducing her to The Mentalist.

Now, The Mentalist is one of my favorite shows; anyone who knows me will likely be shocked to read that it’s actually surpassed House on my must-watch list.  It’s a lot of fun, and it almost goes without saying that Simon Baker is terrific in it.  It’s the kind of performance you don’t usually see on network television, not on this kind of show. Continue reading →

The Reboot

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In film, it seems that “reboot” is the new black.  In the last five years, we’ve had more than a handful of stalled movie franchises try to start over with that almost unattainable clean slate.  It didn’t work so well for The Incredible Hulk or Superman Returns, but Batman, Bond, and Star Trek fared a little better.  And there are even rumblings that Jack Ryan will get a second reboot (or third, if you count the recasting of Patriot Games, though I don’t), with Chris Pine (not exactly a stranger to the concept) taking over the role from Ben Affleck né Harrison Ford né Alec Baldwin.  Not quite sure how that one will work, but oh well.

Of course, it almost goes without saying that the challenge in any reboot is to appeal to existing fans of the given franchise while still making sense to people who haven’t followed the characters for years or even decades.  Which brings us to me. Continue reading →