red dawn [1984]

i didn't watch the oscars last night.  i didn't forget about it.  i just have no interest in hollywood glad-handing and corporate accolades.  i used to watch the oscars when i was a kid.  the awards show mattered a great deal to me especially in an era without VCRs because if you wanted to catch bits and pieces of movies you had to watch awards telecasts like the oscars.

so no; i didn't watch the oscars.  instead i flipped open my laptop read some blogs, read some poems, and looked at a few music videos by the 90s era band toad the wet sprocket.  oh say what you will about toad the wet sprocket but they had some very tuneful, very catchy songs.  i have the single 'something's always wrong' playing on continuous loop in my brainpan right now.  if you don't think it's catchy go listent to it right now.  i'll wait.  now you have it stuck in your head too.

i did watch the latest episode 'I Ain't a Judas' of the walking dead directed by fx maestro greg nicotero.  it was one of the better shows of the season.  and i'm hooked on a new show broadcast on BBCAmerica, wild things with dominic monaghan, who is best known for his role in peter jackson's trilogy lord of the rings.  monaghan posesses a geeky charisma as he galavants thru jungles and caves of the world in search of all kinds of dangerous bugs and critters.  one thing monaghan professes, and i believe him, is that nothing in nature is ugly.

and now red dawn.  it just started when i began cleaning the house.  the cleaning took longer than usual because i couldn't help myself watching this flick.  preposterous!  a bunch of small-town colorado teens take on the soviet and cuban armies.  and win.  yep, pure cold war curiousity.  and yet director john milius takes his brat pack -- patrick swayze as the leader, c. thomas howell too, lea thompson is in this as well, and so is jennifer grey of dirty dancing [1987], and can't forget charlie sheen -- thru a system of exploding set pieces of pure adrenaline.  the movie is just that watchable. 

but why was it made in the first place? because it was the fucking cold war and this is goddamn america!  who better to beat back an invading horde of pinkos than red-blooded american kids.  even the music is martial.  lo!  milius saw it was good.

i haven't seen last year's remake starring hunky chris hemsworth.  that dude is one solid brick of a man.  he's no swayze but hemsworth is a believable foe of all that is not american.  i'll have to save that adventure for later.