This is Not a Review of "Olympus Has Fallen"

I just saw the new Antoine Fuqua (Shooter) action flick, Olympus Has Fallen.  The movie is about a brutal terrorist takeover of the White House and one man's attempt to save the day.  I don't have any intention of really reviewing it here (click here for some adequate drubbings), but I would like to list a few complaints that the more thoughtful movie fan may agree with.

1. Insane contrivances.  The prologue has a cataclysmic car accident; no cause is ever given.  None of the president's secret service agents ever seem to wear kevlar...ever.  Breaches of security protocols at just the wrong time lead to the easiest White House takeover I've ever seen.

2. For crying out loud, if you're going to have this many A-listers in your film, tell me that in the dang advertising.  Performers that you can't believe are in this movie, in this movie: Ashley Judd, Dylan McDermott, Radha Mitchell, Angela Bassett.

3. The violence is too much and done in poor taste.  The terrorists shoot everything that moves in D.C. with pinpoint accuracy.  A few shots of innocent civilians running in terror would suffice; instead we get tons of close-ups of head-shot executions.

4. The Asian-looking terrorists, fighting for North Korea, are presumably Korean.  With names like Sam Medina, Malana Lea, and Kevin Moon, the people portraying them are not.  Hollywood gets it wrong again...because Americans are too stupid to know the difference, right?

In short, don't pay money to see this unless mindless, overly-violent action appeals to you.

...Holy crap, do you realize that Roland Emmerich has the exact same movie coming out in June?

ValkyrieSDF1

You Know Anything about a Man Going Around Playing a Harmonica?

So, I've been hearing a lot of harmonicas lately. Back when Bob Dylan was still a folk singer, he played the harmonica at the same time that he played the guitar.

The harmonica appeals to me in a profound way, despite the harsh sound it makes when it hits higher notes. I'll tell you why: it's melancholy. Whether or not Ridley Scott was right when he said that Celts are obsessed with melancholia, I certainly feel that way sometimes. I can think of no better word to sum up our inexplicable lives on this planet.

Other than Dylan, I've only been struck by a harmonica's use twice, once in Billy Joel's "Piano Man" and again in Sergio Leone's 1968 film, Once Upon a Time in the West. Charles Bronson played a character named Harmonica, and he used the instrument to communicate and announce his presence. Never has a harmonica sounded so ominous.

Once Upon a Time in the West is the greatest Western you've never seen. It is, indisputably, the masterpiece of a movie nut, Leone, who is most famous for his Man with No Name trilogy. But it's not for kids, folks.

I've almost been inspired to learn the harmonica by all of this, but that would take time and effort. And my roomate would murder me. And then he'd hunt all of you down. So stop putting dumb ideas in my head, you meddlers.

Instead of talkin' he plays. And when he better play, he talks.

Listen to (old) Bob Dylan

I don't care about Bob Dylan's rhetoric, and for the purpose of this post, neither should you.

I really like Dylan's old music, mostly the stuff that was considered folk. This was before he ticked off all of his fans by using an elctric guitar and band at the Newport Festival in 1965. Ironically, I'm just getting into Dylan now, even though I was practically raised on oldies. I had never heard any of this stuff.

The point is that Dylan is the greatest poet, lyricist, and songwriter in the history of the United States. Don't believe me? Ask your daddy. Every other song he listened to from 1965 to 1990 was a cover of a Dylan song made popular by another artist or group. These include "All Along the Watchtower," "It Ain't Me Babe," "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," and "House of the Risin' Sun."

If you agree with me that the crowd of celebrities and musicians who praised Johnny Cash after his death was unexpectedly diverse, just wait until Dylan bites it.

"Chimes of Freedom," off of 1964's Another Side of Bob Dylan, has struck me as particularly exceptional. It's a song that's about the hardships of life and the oppression every human being faces at one time or another, including the shackles we put on ourselves. Dylan's trademark, melancholy voice and harmonica give it this flavor. The sad tone is missing when someone like Bruce Springsteen covers this song and dubbs it simply an ode to human freedom.

Check out the embedded video.

And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashin'.