Yesterday's Shatner Day went off well, with appearances by Dan, Laura, Charles, Carla, and Felicity. Though planned for a three o'clock start, we delayed until shortly before four.
Our first film was Dogma (dir. Kevin Smith, 1999, USA), which is always fun. My only real problem with this movie is that some of the dialogue comes off as a little too "written." That is, generally fine on paper but unnatural when spoken, which can be a hangup given Smith's propensity for long, wordy scenes. Other than that, no complaints. It's a solid movie.
Dogma also features one of the most brilliant casting decisions ever:
Laura had to stand down from a headache at this point, but we continued ever onward with an actual Shatner film, Kingdom of the Spiders (dir. John "Bud" Cardos, 1977, USA). This was a low-budget probable knockoff of Jaws, which premiered two years prior and inspired a whole slew of similar animals-gone-berserk style movies. Some were better than others, but Kingdom of the Spiders is something remarkable in its own right. Not at all realistic, it's basically just an arachnosploitation film, banking solely on the audiences' fear of spiders and endows the creepy-crawlies with hyperactive behavior and super-toxic venom. Still, it was fun to watch and kind of amazing at times from the sheer weirdness of how Shatner and the rest of the cast ham their way along and act like lunatics throughout. The movie doesn't make much sense, it's not one of the better-made Jaws inspirations, but it was a lot more fun and surprisingly worthwhile. The spiders did a fine job.
This is a pretty sound summary, even if it doesn't include Shatner throwing a little girl on the floor and spraying her with a fire extinguisher:
At this point the pangs of hunger began to set in and we decided to go out to eat at El Camino Real. Dinner discussions included the ineptitude of Sarah Palin, the expected lifespan of the Pope, and why Glenn Beck is such an idiot. We probably spoke of more, but I'm only remembering that which makes us seem like world-wise intellectuals so I'll leave it at that.
So we came back and watched Evil Dead II (dir. Sam Raimi, 1987, USA). This is just an insane, manic romp that does pretty much anything it wants and gets away with it. Evil Dead II is my favorite in the series. The first movie, Evil Dead, while decent, plays as too much of a straight horror film while the last movie, Army of Darkness, while just great, winds up being maybe a smidgen too offbeat crazy to the point of distraction. Evil Dead II has a nice balance of slapstick insanity to the horror story going on around it.
I love the "laughing room" scene. Bruce Campbell is all kinds of fantastic. Too bad Katie and Felicity didn't get to see him live ... like I did. Nyeh.
Charles also wrote his tombstone:
We broke up at nearly one in the morning and called it a night. All in all, a successful Shatner Day and a proper start to the 2010 movie day season.
• March 15, 2010.
Join us this Saturday, March 20 for Shatner Day (observed)! It is an early celebration for William Shatner's birthday, which actually falls on next Monday but, like, who has movie days on a Monday anyhow? No, it must be on Saturday because that is the day when anything goes.
Feel free to show up for who knows what! Don't hesitate to bring movies of your liking with you, 'cause we're all for variety and the mighty Shatner cares not for preordained schedules. We'll be starting at 3:00.
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DISCLAIMER: Just because we're celebrating Shatner doesn't mean we're going to watch Star Trek. Don't worry.
ABOUT SHATNER DAY
Shatner Day is usually the first major movie day after the new year. Traditionally the first two and a half months are given over to half-hearted events without much planning, inviting, or effort. In 2009, there was nothing at all between January 10 and Shatner Day. This is a day that marks the beginning of spring and, with it, the new movie day season that usually extends up to around JoshFest, when things peter out again.
