Four Fried Chickens and A Coke

Karen: Last week we talked about a film by John Landis called An American Werewolf in London. This week, I'd like to offer up another one of Mr. Landis' works. You might have heard of it: The Blues Brothers.

This is a movie that grew on me. When I first saw it in the theater, I thought it was just OK. But with repeated viewings, somehow, I came to enjoy it more and more. The utter absurdity of it all first put me off, but once I embraced it, I loved it. And of course, there is the music: James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and great sidemen like Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn. Lots of memorable scenes and lines: "How much for the little girl?" "I hate Illinois Nazis." "Are you the police?" "No Ma'am, we're musicians." And of course, "We're on a mission from God."

I still think it is overlong and excessive (car crashes anyone?), but I'll stop and watch it any time. Oh, and I have the DVD too, which has gotten some play.

There's A Bad Moon Risin'...

Karen: This last weekend I saw "An American Werewolf in London" on the big screen, at the historic Paramount Theater in Oakland, California. There was a good sized crowd and they were really into the film. It was fun to see it on the big screen -I'd only ever seen it on TV. It had a quirky mix of humor and horror that didn't always succeed, but for the most part was enjoyable, and certainly had the most startling werewolf transformation yet seen. Any thoughts?