20-Word Fiction (7 of 10): The Saturday Night Bath

Greetings to our blog readers in Germany, Ireland and Hungary....

Yes, we know this image of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy from "Adam's Rib" (1949) doesn't go with our title, which we came up with thanks to Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin's surreal art film "The Forbidden Room," which came out theatrically last year.

But, once you take the time to read this short, short story, perhaps you will understand or perhaps you will not!:

"Molly want to go to the movies with her friends tonight. Netflix is always my backup plan. I need alternatives!"....

If you are actually interested in going to the movies, then you may want to see the critically acclaimed film "Sunset Song" at the Film Forum in New York.

Meanwhile, two college town cinemas The Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., and The Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, are both showing the animated children's film "Zootopia."

Check the links below for more information:

http://www.filmforum.org

http://www.thelyric.com

http://www.varsityonfranklin.com

The Rabbit Ear Test_ (6 out of 12) "Batman"

Greetings to all our blog-readers, irregardless if you are in Winnipeg, Canada, the hometown of cult filmmaker Guy Maddin, or Atlanta, Georgia, where the Winnipeg Jets were playing hockey last year (they were then called the Atlanta Thrashers).

Many people born when Bill Clinton was president may not be aware that there was a "Batman" tv series, based on the hit DC Comics series, in the 1960s, which us Gen X'ers saw in reruns circa 1976 as kids. The show ran for 120 half-hour episodes, most of which aired multiple times during the week, from 1966-1968.

Though many of the actors who played the bad guys, including the pianist Liberace (he played the evil pianist Chandell, no we are not making this up), Frank Gorshin (The Riddler), Cesar Romero (The Joker), Vincent Price (Egghead) and Burgess Meredith (The Penguin) have passed away, the two main actors of that original "Batman" series are still alive.

Adam West, who played the Caped Crusader, is alive and well at 83.

But, are not going to reveal the age of Burt Ward who played Robin (pictured) because that is today's question for our quiz. So, how old is Ward; is the answer?

A) 63 B) 64 C) 65 D) 66

While, we can not disclose Ward's age until a later time (yes, I know you kids will google it), we can say that according to the IMDB, Ward was paid $350/week during the show's first season.

SIDEBAR: Italy has just passed Russia for fifth place on our top ten lists for countries where we are getting hits from. So, thanks to all you Juventus fans out there....and, oh yes, thanks to all you AC Milan fans as well (forgive the soccer humor).

The Last Ten Films I've Seen

Here they are, first to last:

#-Movies I saw in a cinema
*-Movies I saw in a microcinema
^-Moives I have previously seen

1.# "The Trip" (UK. 2010. Dir- Michael Winterbottom. W/Steve Coogan)

2. "Dogtooth" (Greece. 2009. Dir- Giorgis Lanthinos)

3. # "Tabloid" (doc. 2010. Dir- Erroll Morris)

4. "Halloween 2" (2009. Dir- Rob Zombie)

5. "A Little Trip to Heaven" (US/Iceland. 2005. Dir- Baltasar Kormakur. W/Julie Stiles)

6. *^ "Trollhunter" (Norway. 2010. Dir- Andre Ovredal)

7. "The Age of Ignorance" (Canada-in French. 2007. Dir- Denys Arcand)

8. "My Winnipeg" (Canada-in English. 2007. Dir- Guy Maddin)

9. "The Seventh Continent" (Austria. 1989. Dir- Michael Haneke)

10. "Marwencol" (doc. 2010. Dir- Jeff Malmberg)

Brief Notes:

"The Trip" is sort of like a cross between "Easy Rider" and "My Dinner with Andre." It's a witty and funny film.

"Dogtooth" is a film with every taboo subject one can think of, but it is well-made. Amazingly enough, it got a foreign-language Oscar nomination. It is definitely not like the Greek melodramas of yesteryears.

Another person who was actually watching "Tabloid" at the Apeture Cinema in Winston-Salem, NC, scorned at me for laughing, but the film is quite amusing, especially given that it is a documentary.

Yes, "Hallloween II" doesn't really belong on this list, but Rob Zombie makes interesting films. Alas, the cliches of the Michael Myers serial killer series entrap the film's plot considerably.

I saw "Trollhunter" at the Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke, Va. It is definitely a fun film.

"My Winnipeg" is as anyone who has seen a Guy Maddin film will know is quite surreal.

"The Seventh Continent" is perhaps the most depressing film I've seen since "The Bridge," a documentary about people commiting suicide by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

"Marwencol" is simply awesom.