• he/him

massachusetts

see Carrd link for forwarding information



Times I said "wow, I did not remember that being in this movie" while watching watching The Fly (1986):


  • the focus on the little details of Brundle's transformation is so much more effective than the big monster effects. A six-foot fly, that's a Halloween prop. A fingernail sloooowly peeling off, that's when I have to pause the movie and look at a stationary object for a couple minutes.

  • and I know this is the boringest movie opinion of all time, but that's only because we all know it's true: you could not do this with CGI. It's not just a matter of complex textures and whatever. There's an unpredictability to the goosh and glob of real materials--a, uhh, chaos--that physics simulations don't seem to be up to. And again, it's the little things. A six-foot fly, sure, CG can do that. A blob of mucus that includes materials of different viscosities, transparencies, and adhesion properties, splattering on a mirror? I've seen a lot of behind-the-scenes featurettes about how they do digital splatter and they're all Emperor's New Clothesing around the fact that it still basically looks like glossy video game bullshit. With enough time and money CG can look like good CG, but that's not the same as looking like something you could touch (but would prefer not to).

  • goodness Jeff Goldblum is very naked in this movie

  • you know, I don't think I've ever actually read that Jeff Goldblum is Jewish? I just assume he must be? I'm going to look him up and then find out he's actually Swiss or someth... no, okay, he is Jewish, all's right with the world

  • you have to give more allowance for stunt doubles in the pre-DVD era. there's no way they could have foreseen that people being able to freeze a clear picture on a home screen would be a threat.

  • that said, it is hilarious that one of the scenes showing off his Fly Strength is clearly a gymnast doing a horizontal bar routine with extremely conventional form, right down to sticking the landing.

  • I've been on a weird little kick for gymnastics lately, which is a particularly unfortunate interest as my own peak gymnastic ability is that I can walk in a straight line, usually. But we do not choose which niche interests with rich PDF content seize our hearts. we can only learn from them. Anyway it left me a little too well prepared to go "heyyyy, I recognize those moves"

  • holy shit, there is a lot of casual sexual coercion in this movie. The two female characters are a woman who is being stalked by her ex who is also her boss and also was her professor, and a woman who is given away as a prize in an arm wrestling contest. Brundle's seduction method, even pre-flyification, is basically to tell women that they will come home with him. The movie doesn't say any of this is good, but it seems a bit more... expected than it would be in a 2023 movie.

  • apparently the experience of being a fly is like being very on cocaine

  • actually I kind of like that? It feels, by monster movie standards, kind of realistic. Like dealing with a friend who did too much drugs or is having a manic episode. They're not gone, they're not fully replaced by some oogedy-boogedy monster you can't talk to at all, they're clearly still the same person internally even though they have become much harder to reason with.

  • I guess it's about aging? Or AIDS? Losing control of your body and mind, and specifically about doing it in a way that triggers a disgust response in others. Failing to be the Pretty Patient who has the good manners to be the kind of sick that makes you look a bit pale while lying quietly in a clean bed.

  • it's only 90 minutes long! It doesn't feel rushed, it feels efficient--there's only three characters who matter at all, there's not a lot of winding subplots, and most impressively, it's over when it's over. No epilogue, no sequel hook. Brundlefly dies, credits roll.

  • oh dang, now the lady is stuck with the creepy stalker guy. Who has now sacrificed a hand and a foot to save her life. I hope she just up and moved to a different continent after this. like thanks for the limbs dude but she still doesn't have to fuck you. not how it works. and he is definitely going to think that's how it works.


You must log in to comment.

in reply to @pervocracy's post:

movies I own on blu-ray but kinda wish I did not: this one, Nightbreed (1990)... okay so that's not a long list, but man there is a really specific "made to be enjoyed in VHS" era. turn down the definition. no, turn it down, I don't want to see the seams on that puppet

They made a sequel! It's not as good as this one, of course... but it's not bad, and it has Eric Stoltz and Daphne Zuniga! Downside: it canonizes that Veronica/Davis didn't go back and get that abortion after Seth/Goldblum died. And the actor for Stathis the creepy stalker ex comes back to reprise the character for a scene.

Interesting that you read it as being about aging or sickness because when I watch The Fly I always read it as being about abusive relationships and how it starts out with this charming, attractive partner and gradually the veneer starts to peel away anyway I don't read the sexual coercion as just "of its time" I think it's pretty central to the whole thing.