chris columbus

monkeyHAPPYmonkeyBIRTHDAY!

Posted on by sgottahurt

I hope the brown mush being thrown around is chocolate cake...

I hope the brown mush being thrown around is chocolate cake...

Considering today is this website’s first birthday, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than having as many people take today off of work as possible.  Great job to everyone who skipped their great jobs!  (Government workers and bankers seemed to get away with this a little easier than others, for some reason.)

Some quick stats for the site:

  • There are 517 total posts.  (518 after this one…)
  • The most posts in one day: 6 (October 22… there were many four-post days in the beginning)
  • The least posts in one day: 0 (October 18 and April 10)
  • Most hits in one day: 261 (May 4, because of this post)
  • Most hits in one month: 2998 (January)

This site was started out of boredom at work mostly.  Last October, no clients were calling, and I used “learning how to blog” as my reason to get more hours at work.

The bulk of the categories at the left were there from the beginning.  The first appeared on October 14th: In My Brain While Sleeping, Happy Find, and InASense, Lost.

The last category came to be on July 30th: The Shit To Just Shitty. It was about director Chris Columbus.
Hey wait, that reminds me of my first JusWondering post about Columbus Day.
Hey wait, is that why everyone was able to skip work for the party?

Seriously though… thanks to everyone that has ever stopped by (and continues to stop by for some reason)!  I wouldn’t be able to do this without you!

Well I could, but where’s the fun in that?

The Sh– To Just Sh–ty… Filmmaker Chris Columbus

Posted on by sgottahurt

I know he created you, but he also wrote "Christmas with the Kranks"

I know he created you, but he also wrote "Christmas with the Kranks"

As a child, my list of favorite films was simple and current.  There were the easy ones: Star Wars, E.T., Back to the Future, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Some of the others… not so easy: Gremlins, The Goonies, and Adventures in Babysitting.

What do those works have in common?

Who has two thumbs and loves Beth Cooper? Not too many movie goers, I'd say.

Who has two thumbs and loves Beth Cooper? Not too many movie goers, I'd say.

Steven Spielberg’s protégè, nay, discovery (hah!),  Chris Columbus wrote Gremlins and The Goonies, and directed Adventures in Babysitting.  For me, he could do no wrong, and let’s be honest: as kids, our taste is horrible.  But I feel all three of these films have stood the test of time.  Some of his other works?  Eh, not so much:

  • Young Sherlock Holmes (noted as the first film with an entirely CG character)
  • Heartbreak Hotel (a kid kidnaps Elvis… anyone else but me remember this?)
  • Only the Lonely (made me thankful I wasn’t a mama’s boy… sorry mama)

Now grant it – he had other hits through the 90’s: Home Alone 1 & 2, Mrs. Doubtfire, and, um, Nine Months?  Jingle All the Way?  Stepmom?  Bicentennial Man?

And to most Potter fans, he directed the weakest films in the series (Harry Potter and the Stuff in the First Movie and Harry Potter Rides Again), but I don’t watch those films, so I don’t hold it against him.

Like his compatriots I will be attacking in future The Shit to Just Shitty’s, it’s about the fall from what imagination, vision, and drive they once exhibited, to the money grubbing, the disillusionment, or the detachment from the public they display in recent works.  Is it the state of the studio system?  Is it the movie going public’s demands?  I offer no answers, only martyrs.

Here’s hoping *hold your breath* *cross your fingers* Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (that’s the title folks), contains some of the gritty charm of his earlier works, and not the glossy finish of his latest offerings:

Hrm.  Looks glossy…