The Home of the Creative Mind

Welcome to PooBahSpiel, the online voice and home of the creative mind of Mark Monlux, Illustrator Extraordinaire. Prepare yourself for an endless regaling of art directly from the hand of this stellar artist. And brace yourself against his mighty wind of pontification. Updates are kinda weekly and show daily sketches, current projects, and other really nifty stuff.

Monday, June 6, 2011

The Comic Critic Reviews Silent Running



There are two camps when it comes to Silent Running. The first camp sees the movie as an overly simple story, drastically different from the one that inspired it, with laughable inaccuracies. The second camp sees it for the iconic, startling, pure science fiction which indeed holds a message within. Perhaps it’s the fact that I saw it when I was ten and easily impressionable (I was crying during the end scene) is why I’m with the latter camp. Keep a cinematic timeline in mind. Star Wars was still five long years away. And even if you don’t care for Joan Baez’s singing, I still say that Silent Running is well worth a first-time viewing. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen it over the years. Once you do see it, you can’t help but realize the effect this film had on so many Sci-Fi and space operas that followed it.