Alrighty, firstly: Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds (1978). Even if you’ve never listened to this before, part of the title will probably be familiar to you, thanks to the recent 2005 Steven Spielberg film (starring good ol’ Tom Cruise) which, in my opinion wasn’t all that great but, whatev.
(Don’t let that taint your opinion of the War of the Worlds as a whole. Go Wiki it, dudes. Seriously, that book has brought about some crazy stuff. Like, a book which was dramatized on the radio in the 1930s on Halloween, causing mass hysteria due to listeners believing aliens were actually invading the earth, must have something going for it, right?)
Jeff Wayne’s musical adaptation of H.G Wells’ 1898 novel is a concept album which basically retells the original story but with the added bonus of amazing 70s era ‘progressive rock’ (that’s what Wiki calls it) songs and background music. Seriously, I don’t really know how to explain this album’s magic in words, but just take it from me that you should go out and get your hands on a copy as soon as you can.
It should be pretty easy to find, seeing as how they’ve just recently done a huge Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version world stage tour or whatever. I didn’t get to see it, but Ardy did, and she said it was good. Anyway, just listen to it. It’ll blow your mind.
Nextly: The Mummy (1999). Like my first post, this is a movie which has been around for a while, and most people probably already know about it. But I love it, so, I’m just gonna blog about it anyway.
This movie’s a remake of a 50s film, and despite the fact that the basic premise is that a cursed Mummy gets brought back from the dead and starts sucking the innards out of the people who woke him up , it’s not really scary at all, and it’s more funny than anything. Luckily, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is good, because it’s a little historically inaccurate.
For example, scarab beetles do not eat people. Unfortunately I think this film has brought up a small population of human beings who actually think that scarabs are beetles who will eat you alive in seconds. I think this because I believed it when I was eight and didn’t know what I know about Egypt now.
Like Jurassic Park, this is just a lighthearted film that you shouldn’t analyse too closely. Don’t expect to learn anything true about Ancient Egypt, either. Except maybe that Anubis was a jackal-headed God. That’s true.
Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds gets 10 out of 10 fluffy mittens.
The Mummy gets 9 out of 10 flesh-eating scarab beetles. I realise I mark really generously. I should probably re-evaluate my criteria for a good film.
Christa, should really be doing something else right now.
p.s Like the sun through the trees you came to love me. Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away.
Listening to: Highway to Hell - ACDC
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