{"id":3474,"date":"2011-08-28T14:55:48","date_gmt":"2011-08-28T18:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/?p=2348"},"modified":"2011-08-28T14:55:48","modified_gmt":"2011-08-28T18:55:48","slug":"marco-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3474","title":{"rendered":"Marco who?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you know how to use the three seashells? And more important: does it really matter?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

That was my reaction back in 1993 when I saw the Demolition Man<\/strong> trailer in theatres for Joel Silver\u2019s latest Kaboom Production, starring Sly Stallone, Wesley Snipes, and two nobodies named Benjamin Bratt and Sandra Bullock.<\/p>\n

When the name Marco Brambilla appeared among the credits, my group all head-scratched, and someone said \u2018Oh, he directed a bunch of Gino Vanelli<\/a> videos.\u2019 (I think “Wild Horses<\/a>” was one of his efforts.)<\/p>\n

Still, Brambilla was among the \u2018stylish\u2019 commercial directors Silver liked to court, and sometimes things clicked (John McTiernan gave us Predator<\/strong> and Die Hard<\/a><\/strong>), and sometimes they stunk (Andrew Sipes, and Fair Game<\/strong>). Sometimes newcomers made a bloated mess (Heathers<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 Michael Lehman + a Bruce Willis vanity project = Hudson Hawke<\/strong>), and sometimes new writers were given a plum chance to blossom with A+ elements (Shane Black, and his Lethal Weapon<\/strong> Cinderella career, which remained the envy of young screenwriters for more than a decade).<\/p>\n

Sometimes a hot star becomes poison before his film is released in North America, and not at all in the U.K. (The Adventures of Ford Fairlane<\/strong>), and sometimes a first foray into TV production comes up as just blah (like the TV movie Parker Kane<\/strong>, which kinda rhymes with Die Hard<\/strong>\u2019s John McClane, and the aforementioned Ford Fair-lane).<\/p>\n

But Demo Man<\/strong> has aged really, really well, which is abnormal when its story isn\u2019t really novel. The big credit goes to co-writer Daniel Waters (Heathers<\/a><\/strong>, Hudson Hawk<\/strong>, and, er, Ford Fairlane<\/strong>) for the social & pop satire that dots every scene.<\/p>\n

Waters is a master of quick-witted social jabs and outright absurdity, which director Brambilla termed in his DVD and Blu-ray commentary as \u201coblique.\u201d That\u2019s perfectly fine, because sometimes a strange joke coming from the depths of a writer\u2019s unconsciousness which he \/ she thinks is funny just happens to work.<\/p>\n

If I had a condo with one of those useless half-bathroom \/ guest bathrooms, I\u2019d have it customized, so there\u2019s no toilet paper; just three golden seashells on a marble ridge, and see what happens when a guest walks out.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d probably hear a rapping sound through the closed door, and the guest would say half-embarrassed \u2018Hey, you\u2019re out of toilet paper,\u2019 to which the exchange would go like this:<\/p>\n

\u2018You have to use the three seashells.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018What?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You have to use the three seashells, to your left.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pause.<\/p>\n

\u2018How?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You don\u2019t know how to use the three seashells? <\/em>Hey guys: X doesn\u2019t know how to use the three seashells.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The f**k is wrong with you? Get me some wadded paper.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You have to use the three seashells. I can\u2019t help you any further.\u2019<\/p>\n

Then I\u2019d have to duck away and avoid the guest, but wouldn\u2019t anyone want to rework Waters\u2019 classic bizarre gag into one moment in real life, just to see if the person \u2018gets it?\u2019<\/p>\n

Perhaps I\u2019m alone in this humble fantasy of foolishness.<\/p>\n

In any event, Brambilla\u2019s debut actually fared well with critics and action fans, but his next project was the Alicia Silverstone dud Excess Baggage<\/strong> (1997), which she co-produced. Whether that experience soured him from Hollywood is unknown, but Brambilla went on to create some intriguing, elaborately conceived digital art, which is worth examining in various online snippets.<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/object><\/p>\n

Several additional video links will appear on the right panel when you watch the extract on YouTube’s proper site, but I’m not sure why a video on breastfeeding is also part of the group. Something for YouTube Five-O to figure out.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s actually a shame he never made another feature film, because he had the right instincts in shaping Demo Man<\/strong> into a sleek sci-fi film whose look and editing style haven\u2019t really dated to the extent of something like Total Recall<\/strong> (1990).<\/p>\n

Warner Home Video\u2019s Blu-ray sports a pristine HD transfer with robust sound, and ports over the extras from the 1997 DVD, and I\u2019ve posted a review<\/a> [M<\/a>].<\/p>\n

Seriously. That would be my guest bathroom.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com <\/strong>( Main Site<\/a> \/ Mobile Site<\/a> )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review of Warner Home Video’s Blu-ray of Delomition Man, the underrated 1993 action satire directed by Marco Brambilla, plus a blog answering the “Who?” query.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[687,686,685,659],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-U2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}