60’s Rehash

The Voices of Inappropriate Worth returned yesterday when we held a public hearing on some proposed changes. Some decided to go off their meds for the summer and were complaining loudly that they didn’t receive enough notice about the meeting they were attending. Since they were attending and obviously did get the word I was trying to follow the logic chain of their complaint – unsuccessfully.

Scene Outside the Meeting

My wife and associated Pana-Gals were wandering the seacoast of Rhode Island all day yesterday and well into the night. Left at loose ends I went with my signature move on what should have been date night – a movie. This week’s big release (for those of us who hate rap music) was the Man from UNCLE – a reboot of the 1960’s TV series that was launched when the Bond films exploded on popular culture.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the original TV series – I watched it – as any red blooded American boy was expected to do in the late 1960s. I always thought Illya Kuryakin was a lot cooler than the uber-suave Napoleon Solo which was out of step with what was pushed by Cold War sensibilities. I was excited to see Guy Ritchie at the helm as he always finds a way to inject some very sly humor into action flicks.

Maybe I was expecting too much. I walked out thinking, well that was okay but I wanted to be dazzled while I was only mildly amused. The more I thought on it I realized the problem was Kryptonian. Superman was so stiff and deadpan that he failed miserably at capturing the wit and charm of Solo. The Lone Ranger (Armie Hammer) on the other hand was superb as Kuryakin, talk about a comeback. Its problematic, however, when a buddy picture only has one of the buddies operational. Ritchie made a gallant effort at trying to recapture the 1960s setting and the story was interesting enough but with Cavill apparently mainlining liquid kryptonite the film falls short.  

Ritchie’s ode to the 1960s did dredge up some old cold war memories, which I’ve written about before. I think I’ll write about a life changing trip I took to East Berlin during the height of the Cold War tomorrow, if I can find some pictures. Finally, I ran across another video (yeah I know its kind of puerile but its good to have your heart strings yanked on every now and then) that I wanted to share.