Monday
3/08/04
Muppets and Munchkins
From the dawn of time right up through the modern age, mankind’s grasp on survival has been tenuous indeed. Ice ages came and went, the rise of city-states and monotheistic religions invited organized warfare, toothpaste came in only one flavor, and exorbitant late fees at Blockbuster caused marital discord.
But no longer. Not only do I have bubble gum flavored toothpaste, but also Netflix has ensured that family movie night is an entirely stress free experience. We’ve been using it for a year or so now, and what a fine thing it is. Just this last weekend, the lads and my Lovely Bride and I beat back the late-winter blues with a double feature of Muppet Movie and The Wizard of Oz.
I probably hadn’t seen the Muppet Movie since I was a teenager, and had entirely forgotten what a great time it is. The early running joke about finding ones way with Hare Krishna is priceless, and most of the cameos are as fresh as ever. (Well, with two odd exceptions: balloon-vending Richard Pryor is clearly wasted out of his mind, and poor, watery-eyed Orson Wells looks as though he’s on life support. But on the bright side, the Steve Martin snotty waiter bit still made me laugh till I nearly fell off the couch.)
And then there’s The Wizard of Oz. I hadn’t seen it straight through since I was six years old at a showing of a restored print at Radio City; so again there's a movie about which I had pretty much forgotten. (Certainly the few times I had seen it since then after it was cut to shreds and filled with commercials on channel 11 didn’t do it any justice.)
Mean green witch, singing Munchkins, flying monkeys… it’s all there in one crisp, tidy package. In fact it’s the sort of film that makes you glad it was made when it was; had it been produced today it would be filled with distracting CGI effects and run at least 30 minutes too long. But not here; Judy is plenty fetching in grainy sepia tone, and Margaret disappears in a pleasantly old fashioned puff of stage smoke.
And even better, for next week’s movie night it looks likely that Godzilla will be stomping all over Tokyo.
All hail Netflix! Huzzah!
|
Muppets and Munchkins
From the dawn of time right up through the modern age, mankind’s grasp on survival has been tenuous indeed. Ice ages came and went, the rise of city-states and monotheistic religions invited organized warfare, toothpaste came in only one flavor, and exorbitant late fees at Blockbuster caused marital discord.
But no longer. Not only do I have bubble gum flavored toothpaste, but also Netflix has ensured that family movie night is an entirely stress free experience. We’ve been using it for a year or so now, and what a fine thing it is. Just this last weekend, the lads and my Lovely Bride and I beat back the late-winter blues with a double feature of Muppet Movie and The Wizard of Oz.
I probably hadn’t seen the Muppet Movie since I was a teenager, and had entirely forgotten what a great time it is. The early running joke about finding ones way with Hare Krishna is priceless, and most of the cameos are as fresh as ever. (Well, with two odd exceptions: balloon-vending Richard Pryor is clearly wasted out of his mind, and poor, watery-eyed Orson Wells looks as though he’s on life support. But on the bright side, the Steve Martin snotty waiter bit still made me laugh till I nearly fell off the couch.)
And then there’s The Wizard of Oz. I hadn’t seen it straight through since I was six years old at a showing of a restored print at Radio City; so again there's a movie about which I had pretty much forgotten. (Certainly the few times I had seen it since then after it was cut to shreds and filled with commercials on channel 11 didn’t do it any justice.)
Mean green witch, singing Munchkins, flying monkeys… it’s all there in one crisp, tidy package. In fact it’s the sort of film that makes you glad it was made when it was; had it been produced today it would be filled with distracting CGI effects and run at least 30 minutes too long. But not here; Judy is plenty fetching in grainy sepia tone, and Margaret disappears in a pleasantly old fashioned puff of stage smoke.
And even better, for next week’s movie night it looks likely that Godzilla will be stomping all over Tokyo.
All hail Netflix! Huzzah!
