La Voyage Dans Les Simpson Did you catch the Itchy & Scratchy reference to Georges Méliès’s La Voyage Dans La Lune (1902) in the recent episode of The Simpsons? If you’ve never seen the original, I recommend that you watch it first before you enjoy this cartoon adaptation. The Méliès brothers released the 14 minute film over a century ago, and it continues to pop up from time to time. Loosely based on the novels of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, it has the distinction of being the first science fiction film ever made. I don’t recall when I first watched it, but I had the pleasure of seeing it again last fall in my film appreciation class when the professor played it as an example of early cinematography. It was a treat to see this reference in one of my favorite animated series. (In case you don’t know, Itchy the mouse and Scratchy the cat are the two characters of the incredibly gory cartoon which is played during the Krusty the Clown show that the children of Springfield love to watch on Saturday mornings. It’s a cartoon within a television show within a cartoon.)
Since it’s available for instant viewing on Netflix, I thought I’d watch a bit of “Year One” so that I could say I turned it off half-way through. It ceased being funny before the opening credits were over.
“Shutter Island” is good. It’s not a horror. It’s a psychological thriller. It’s not like the previews. Worth seeing.
I’m sitting down to watch “Shutter Island.” I’ve sworn my friends to secrecy in the event I wet myself.
