Life is a Mind Bending Puzzle

This 65 year old black comedy still hits the spot today. Lemmon plays a likeable minion in an enormous 1960s office building who  is bullied into allowing his superiors borrow his bachelor apartment for illicit sexual liaisons. Complications ensue when he falls for one of the girls who is being led along by a senior manager. The the story is very black and very clever. The acting is terrific and the period setting is reminiscent of some of the earlier episodes of Mad-Men.

What do Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Kurt Cobain and Joss Whedon's Firefly have in common? I'll leave you to work that out for yourself but I have been immersing myself in Whedon's space opera for much of the last week. Thanks to the magic of Netflix I managed to see all 14 episodes in quick succession and then finish up with the feature film. The series completely passed me by when it was first released, perhaps it never made it across the pond to European channels but regardless I have long since passed the age when I am surprised at missing yet another cultural phenomenon. I did later become aware of the series enduring cult status however. Despite being cancelled after one series due to lackluster audience figures Firefly has earned itself a regular spot in top ten lists of greatest Sci Fi shows of all time. Of course that begs the question - how much did the shows early death contribute to it's legendary status. Are we worshipping what might have been rather ...

Ferris Bueller's Day Off  is an iconic teen / young adult movie from the  1980's. Watching the movie again on telly last night I was pleased to see that middle age has not dimmed my appreciation. Certainly the film does not have the level of polish that we have become used to a quarter of a century later and the script seems to wander a bit in places but Bueller remains a multi-layered delight.  Indeed watching the movie again with adult eyes I realised that it not even clear who the real hero of the movie is. The obvious choice is Bueller himself of course, the teen wonder who bends the adult world to his whim and who can do no wrong. Of all the major characters however Bueller is probably the least well fleshed out. There is  little exploration of his emotions or motivations and he is really more of a symbol than a fully developed character. On top of that is the fact that Ferris is not a very likeable hero. He comes across as manipulative and selfish. He is down...