2018, d. Robert Rodriguez - Crave
Remember the first trailer for Alita: Battle Angel? The one where Alita's eyes are so huge they're legitimately upsetting...the kind of unnatural visual that gets the villagers rallying with their torches and storming the castle ready to kill the beasts. In case you forgot:
Looking into those huge CGEyes, the trailer is a horrifying and unsettling journey beyond the uncanny valley. But once you actually start watching the you can possibly look past the eyes and instead be tangibly upset with the tangibly unreality of Alita's entire computer animated face that is on screen throughout over 80% of the film. You'll never ease into it's not-human nature...the way the mouth moves primarily, especially when it contorts into a pinched, fangy smile. *Shudder*
In the year-ish since Alita's debut and unsuccessful domestic box office venture (though it did make considerable bank globally), the film has garnered a rather cult-like collection of supporters (*cough*Toast*cough*). I won't ever deny anyone something they enjoy, but dear god this is a terrible, terrible movie.
I don't know the source material since I'm not an anime fan. There's something structurally about most anime that I find grating, so I just avoid most of it (which isn't to say I dislike all Japanese animation, like Studio Ghibli and non-genre anime tend to be ok, but I just can't summon the energy to wade through it all to find the ones I could tolerate). What bothers me about this westernized "live action" re-envisioning of the anime isn't the aspects that feel anime. No, it's the godawful dialogue, character dynamics, story progression and, grrr, futuresport. I hate futuresports.
The relationships between the characters only exist in
cliche. There's not a single dynamic here that feels unique, and every
one of those relationships progress in the film in completely
predictable fashion. Like memory-less Alita, the waif-ish ingenue, immediately falls in love with Hugo, and accepts Dr. Dyson as her father figure, and makes "the big speech" to try to rally the antagonistic hunter-warriors to her aide against the bad guys.
As a result, the dialogue in this film is clunky as hell. The characters only ever speak like they're reading lines in preparation for a series of very bad plays. I can't think of a single moment where it felt like two characters shared anything real between them. All dialogue here seems to have intent, whether it's overt exposition or pensive pondering or brutal, Hallmark-ian romantic exchanges.
The film's visuals are very unique, and the world is rather distinct (it's a far future society that has all but collapsed, where there exists only one remaining city, "Iron City", surrounded by trash, and above it a hovering golden city Zalem, the dream of every lowly person to achieve status to go up there. But rather than this acting as any sort of tangible class metaphor, the story ignores it for a cliched adventure about a cyborg girl and her missing memories and a lot of stupid futuresport.
The source material was originally serialized manga, and even the original anime was multi-part. The film reflects this with it's many, many, too many plot threads, like the murder mystery plot, or Hugo's dreams of being a Motorball star and going to Zalem, or Alita's missing memories, or Dr. Dyson's tension with his estranged ex wife over the use of their dead daughter's body (and name) for this amnesiac cyborg... the "hunter warriors" league, the influence of Nova from high up above, the curious case of the missing limbs, etc etc. This film has so much going on, and almost all of it is exhaustingly cliche.
The reality of Alita revolves around its futuresport, called "Motorball". The biggest champion of Motorball has the potential to elevate to Zalem, so everyone is obsessed with it. People body mod with cybernetics to give them an advantage in Motorball, and it's an "anything goes" sport. It's people wearing rollerblades with rockets on them racing after a ball in a circular track, trying to slam the ball into a repository. It's just cyborg Rollerball. God I hate futuresports. Films can get too mired in explaining futuresports rules, or they can forget to really explain the futuresport and just let it happen, and in either case it's annoying...does anyone *really* care about the result of any futuresports game ever? It's never playing out in real-time so the drama of a sports match can never capture the feeling of watch a real sport, so what's the point? (Yes, Quiddich is a futuresport and I hate the amount of space it takes up in those books and movies too).
Most of Robert Rodriguez's films are enjoyable, even if they're not great films . There's a consistent style shared among most of his films from the Desperado trilogy through to the various grindhouse-inspired work and his kids movies. The outsiders are Sin City and Predators, where the director is working on an established property that isn't his own and seems to create a tighter, more careful production. This is definitely in that outsider territory, to the point that I didn't remember he was the director until the end credits.
Likewise I forgot that James Cameron was involved with this. It was seeing Cameron's script credit (with Laeta Kalogridis) that it all made sense. Cameron trades almost exclusively in big showy productions filled with boring stock characters who never remotely feel or act like real people. I can accept those types of characters in a cheap, intentionally stupid Hallmark movie, but in a film costing over a hundred million dollars, I want characters that believe their reality.
I hated this movie.
Showing posts with label anime-to-movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anime-to-movie. Show all posts
Monday, January 6, 2020
Sunday, November 24, 2019
2017, oh what a year it was (or "2017, oh what? Was it a year?")
I have this list of films (& tv) I watched, and yet did not write a review for. I thought perhaps it was a list made up of films (and TV too) I watched in 2018 (the dark year), but in 2018 (the dark year) I actually did much of my film writing on ye olde Letterboxd account (no tv writings though). Letterboxd was a dalliance with dark app magic that hasn't really stuck... not like this hire trusty blogge. But I digress... the list below represents many things watched, mostly, in 2017 (maybe a little before, maybe a little after [the dark year]). Toast was keeping the blogge spirit alive back then, I was too mired in some bullshit or another to put thoughts to 1s&0s. I may have made comments in the blogge about such movie (und T.V.) thinges hence, but perhaps not. I am too lazy to do a search at this time.
Given the passage of time, most of these things will not have taken up much space in my memory, so I may not have much to say... but then again, I may have far more to say than I think. So in this grande experiment, I present to you, quick and addled musings of mostly-forgotten experiences of 2017 (and beyonde!).
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Fast & Furious Franchise - I got into F&F with Fast Five, and was quite taken with its rather brazen tomfoolery. It's big budget action filmmaking that started off as one thing, tried to morph into something else and then wound up becoming something much different, much bigger and much better than its origins would insinuate:
- The Fast and The Furious (2001, d. Rob Cohen - blu-ray) - it started off as a knowingly cheesy Point Break knock-off with illegal drag racing and substitute penises instead of skydiving and other extreme activities. Little wooden boy Paul Walker (RIP) goes undercover with Vin Diesel's criminal gang of souped up street race drivers as they steal truck loads of dvd players (yeah, it ages real well). There's lots of car porn in here and a lot of short shorts and halter tops. Cohen spends most of the movie using his camera to ogle tires and titties. Yet knowing where it's heading it's already got its stupid charms in place. It's all about family, bro.
- 2 Fast, 2 Furious (2003, d. John Singleton - blu-ray) - yeah, fucking John Singleton directed this stupidly titled movie. I honestly can remember what happens in this one (and if I'm being honest, I can't really remember what happened in the first one...as with most of the entries in this entire post, I won't remember most of what I watched), but I seem to recall enjoying it more than the first one. I think it uses a lot more CGI, and the absence of Vin Diesel means the acting game is actually stepped up a little in this one (Diesel has screen presence, I'll give him that, but he's a terrible actor). It goes against the grain but I think I would watch this one over the first one.
- Fast and Furious (2009, d. Justin Lin - blu-ray) - I skipped the third one (Tokyo Drift) because it's not really part of the series. Not to get too stuck in the weeds but Tokyo Drift takes place after Fast & Furious 6, if you're trying to sort out the chronology. But really Tokyo Drift is kind of the Halloween: Season of the Witch of the F&F franchise, the one where they tried to do a standalone anthology type thing that just didn't work.... BUT, with his feet already wet, Justin Lin was (ahem) fast figuring things out and set the real prototype for the franchise to follow with the murky fourth entry Fast and Furious, in which he tries to bring together all three of the previous films canonically, while also pushing forward into globetrotting espionage type storytelling with a gang of streetracing thieves with a code of ethics and a strong makeshift familial bond. It's a messy, messy movie, but it certainly started something that Fast Five paid off like gangbusters (...you know, gang busting, like Paul Walker in the first film).
- Fast and Furious 6 (2013, d. Justin Lin - blu-ray) - Fast Five is a legit good time for anyone who has never seen any other F&F movie and it's the legit entryway into it all. Viewing order of F&F should be 5, 4, 6, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8. But anyone coming into F&F may immediately want out with F&F6 since it really ouroboroses it up. Lin just goes for broke and makes a crazy dumb (yet fun) spy movie that brings almost everything from the past right back up front, including resurrecting the dead and tying things back together from Tokyo Drift. It's a film that needs more out of Vin Diesel than he can give, and it overstretches itself with its universe building, yet still certainly enjoyable.
- Furious 7 (2015, d. James Wan - TMN) - And this is where the shit hits the alchemic fan and turns to gold. Jason Statham and Kurt Russell enter the fray of an already ballooning cast. Sadly, Paul Walker died while filming was ongoing and his specter looms hard over the proceedings, creating an honest to god sentimental moment about family in its finale. It's a big, big movie and it goes for broke quite spectacularly. Again it ties itself heavily with the previous three entries, but at this point this ongoing "family" thread is what gives these films connective tissue when otherwise it would just be ridiculously entertaining car stunts.
- The Fate of the Furious (2017, d. F. Gary Gray - TMN) - they may have lost Paul Walker but they gained Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren (yes, fucking Helen Mirren). Never one to let a good adversary stay a good adversary, the bad guy of the previous film (Jason Statham) is reformed as a good guy here (setting up the Hobbes and Shaw spin-off) and it's easily the Statham/Dwayne Johnson chemistry that carries the bulk of the entertainment factor here. Vin Diesel is blackmailed by Theron into being a bad guy who the rest of the team has to take down, and it's kind of a drag, because Diesel, the stunted bad actor that he is, can't play the character as a man trapped pretending to "break bad" but instead just plays a shitty heel figure in the proceedings.
These films, at this point, exceed James Bond levels of action set pieces, and this is the first one that takes major pains to kind of lose the car shtick.... to do other big action set pieces that aren't *only* about cars. It's another turning point in an ever evolving and expanding franchise. There's no way, looking back at that kind of dumb, DVD-stealing crew from the first feature that it would wind up in to the almost-superhero universe it's become. I don't blame anyone for thinking these things are totally stupid dumb and not worth the time. They are totally stupid dumb, but that's what makes them so entertaining. They have absolutely no pretenses about them which is why they are so successful.
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It's been established that I'm not a big horror movie guy. I can dabble but I'm not very entertained by the cruel nature of horror. I don't get a lot of pleasure out of seeing people tortured or the gags of guts and viscera meant to shock and/or amuse. So when I say that these two films are the best horror films of the decade, you have to qualify that as, like, the sentiments of a guy who really hasn't watched that many horror films this decade. And yet, not only are these two of the best horror films of the decade, they are two of the best films, flat out, of the decade. Two masterfully crafted productions that will stand up for decades to come.
Get Out (2017, d. Jordan Peele - In Theatre) channels so much racial tension, modern and historical, that it's at times unbearable and viscerally upsetting. It's psychotropic horror, a film that doesn't so much as startle you as keep you in a perpetual state of uneasiness. It's a masterful debut from Peele that may have been a big surprise to Key & Peele sketch comedy fans who weren't paying close enough attention to how often those skits descended into some kind of absurd terror.
It Follows (2014, d. David Robert Mitchell - Netflix), in the loosest sense, is about a killer STD. But that's way oversimplifying things. It's a metaphor for shame and guilt around sex, especially in teenage years. Mitchell crafts a film that feels like it's part of the 80's horror explosion, a saturated blueish hue and very specific styles, locations and vehicles all create a bit of a throwback aesthetic with a pulsating synth soundtrack that is brilliant on its own but even more effective in combination with the film. Yet for all its retro homage, it's still a very modern film, thoughtful, sensitive, yet still very, very frightening. An absolute classic.
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*Smooth transition from horror to children's movies*
Finding Dory (2016, d. Andrew Stanton - blu-ray) - Finding Nemo is a brilliant, beautiful, highly entertaining film with a huge heart, an animation classic. A sequel was probably inevitable but hardly necessary. While not quite the equal of its predecessor, Finding Dory does manage to hold up to Pixar's highest standards, delivering another beautiful, highly entertaining film with a huge heart. Dealing with Dory's forgetfulness/disorder and retracing her past makes for a different experience than Finding Nemo while holding onto its structure.
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017, d. David Soren - in theatre) over the past dozen years of my kids' lives I've been exposed to the rather wondrous worlds of cartoonist Dav Pilkey. The Captain Underpants series is absurd humour for younger readers, but still quite entertaining for adults reading along with their child. The "First Epic Movie" has moments of real inspiration but exposes kind of how juvenile the concept is. It seems to aim for a sort of Spongebob or Lego Movie vibe but misses the mark.
Despicable Me 3 (2017, d. Pierre Coffin, Kyle Balda - in theatre). I haven't actually seen any other Despicable Me movies, so perhaps this one was just lost on me without prior investment, but I find the animation ugly, the minions annoying, and the humour tepid. I recall asking myself frequently "who is this joke for?" In a word: inessential.
Moana (2016, d. Ron Clements, John Musker - netflix) There was a period there where my daughter was refusing to go to the movies, so we didn't see Moana on the big screen. We didn't even wind up seeing it together. She saw it at school or at a friend's birthday party, so I watched it without her. I rather adored it, but the vistas and scale of the picture would have been so much more impactful watching on a big screen. It's an absolute darling of a movie though, truly lovely and adventurous.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968, d. Ken Hughes - rental) I don't remember what the impetus was for watching this. I think the wife and I were talking about films that scared us as a child (see next entry) and she mentioned how terrifying Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was for her as a young'un. This is a weird 145-minute long (!) quasi-musical live-action children's film about a possibly sentient super-car that helps a family survive their ramshackle adventure through a despotic alternate reality. From James Bond creator Ian Fleming, adapted to screen by Roald Dahl, it's fucking bizarre. It's not great, but there's absolutely something surreal and captivating about it. I can see how that surreality was terrifying to kids, for sure.
The Peanut Butter Solution (1985, d. Michael Rubbo - blu-ray) There was no tit-for-tat in our traumatizing childhood movie exchange. I had to watch this one on my own. But I did so happily. To rediscover this film -- about a kid who goes bald after getting massively frightened when exploring an abandoned house, then receiving a mysterious recipe for hair-growth formula (the titular peanut butter solution) from a ghost, and then being kidnapped by his nefarious art teach so he can use his perpetually-growing hair to make the world's softest paint brushes -- was an absolute blast. I saw this film many times as a kid, as it was frequently played on Canadian television, and it was great to be able to fill in the gaps of my memory on it. It's a weird-ass movie, with typically Canadian production values which makes it almost more endearing. It's like Cronenberg-for-kids.
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I can't be bothered to sub-categorize the films any longer. Hot takes a-comin:
Oh Hello on Broadway (2017, d. Alex Timbers, Michael John Warren - netflix) Nick Kroll is responsible for two of the best shows of the past decade, the hilarious coming-of-age-and-sexuality animated Big Mouth and the reality TV satirizing sketch comedy of Kroll Show. The septigenarians New Yorkers George St. Geegland (John Mulaney) and Gil Faison (Kroll) emerged from Kroll Show (as well as other appearances online, in podcasts and elsewhere) as a fully baked comedic duo, telling ribald stories of past glories, and questionable decisions they've made along the way. A stage show on broadway was a surprising next level for these hilarious and unlikeably charming characters... I wouldn't think the mass appeal would be there to sustain such a run, but toss in a loosely structured script for Kroll and Mulaney to bounce around inside of, and bring out a surprise celebrity guest interview each show and it just started buzzing. If filming it for Netflix has a problem, it's that one wouldn't want to watch the same show twice, but instead see as many of the shows as possible. It was probably more fun live, but it's still a great time.
GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (2012, d. Brett Whitcomb - netflix) This doc cropped up on Netflix in the lead-up to their original scripted comedy-drama GLOW. I watched and loved the first season of GLOW and was intrigued to see what they actually took from the source. Not surprisingly, they took very little, beyond the comraderie, a few of the archetypes, and the sense of struggle. But seeing the real performers reminisce and then reunite creates for a quite enjoyable and emotional ride. It's a sweet documentary even if you're not sure how much wrestling matters in the grand scheme of things. Mountain Fiji's story is the centerpiece of much of the movie, as she's so loveable and her struggles so touching. There's never a wrong way to celebrate an absolutely endearing, wonderful, kind-hearted person like her, and where it could feel like it was focusing on her at the expense of the other performers, it actually brings them together and further exemplifies their sense of community.
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (2016, d. David Yates - blu-ray) I thought for certain that I had already written at least once, if not twice about FB&WTFT, but no dice. I only have a letterboxd entry for The Crimes of Grindlewald. I like Harry Potter fine, but I'm not a huge fan, magic just isn't my thing, y'know. And the first time around with FB&WTFT I thought it was trying too hard to be something different, and to be something bigger than it really was. But the second time watching it, I actually responded rather intensely to the characters and their journey, to the point that I was really, really, really looking forward to seeing them again in the sequel. Well, here's how that went. Anyway, I quite like this first one. It really grows on you.
Trump: The Art of The Deal (2016, d. Jeremy Konner - netflix) Johnny Depp plays Trump in this satire of the man's life and his business ethos. It's not as funny or scathing as it needs to be, and it's only clever by half. Perhaps if he didn't become president it would have been more amusing.
Girlfriend's Day (2017, d. Michael Stephenson, - netflix) A cheeky detective noir starring Bob Odenkirk about a down-on-his-luck greeting card writer who gets embroiled in murder and conspiracy around a new fake holiday, Girlfriend's Day. There's probably a good short film in here, but it makes for a bit of a slog at full-length.
The Polka King (2017, d. Maya Forbes - netflix) / The Man Who Would Be Polka King (2009, d. John Mikulak, Joshua Brown - netflix). Jan Lewan was practically a legend when his extravagent lifestyle and inflated ego started overtaking his reality. Unable to sustain himself with his music or business, he starts grifting his fans and his community with a Ponzi scheme. The Polka King is a lightly dramatic retelling starring a delightful cast -- including Jack Black, Jenny Slate,Jason Schwartzman, and JB Smoove -- while the documentary is a little dry but still heartbreaking when it affirms the reality of the hurt Lewan inflicted on people's lives (but also a little frustrating how trusting people were in giving him money to start with). Not essential viewing but rather engaging as a pair (the doc runs just over an hour)
Don't Think Twice (2017, d. Mike Birbiglia - netflix) Comedian Mike Birbiglia is a very gifted storyteller. He's a captivating and hilarious orator and author. It's a bit surprising then that he's rather far from that as a filmmaker, but maybe it's just the story he's trying to tell. Don't Think Twice is a story about an improv comedy troupe dealing with reality when one of their members becomes famous but the rest are left struggling. It's such a narrowly defined reality that even someone like myself, who loves standup, sketch, improv comedy in all its different distributions, could care less about this story or the characters within it. The cast is a great one, with Gillain Jacobs pulling the MVP role within it, but it has no real meat to it, not for lack of trying.
Keanu (2016, d. Peter Atencio - TMN) The transition from sketch to feature has been hard for almost all sketch comedy group, Monty Python excepted. The more successful moves to feature-length scripting tend to find a coherent story formed out of what are effectively a series of sketches. Unfortunately, with Keanu, Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele's first foray into the cinemas as a duo, either the sketches were too restricted by the story of the film, or they weren't intended to be sketches at all. Either way, the film doesn't really work. It's attempting to be a buddy action comedy, and it hits those notes, but they're almost all fairly mundane and and familiar notes. Key and Peele aren't offering anything here that surprises or is memorably quotable, unlike so much from their sketch comedy. It's not a terrible movie by any stretch, but it's missing the sparks of brilliance we had come to expect from the duo.
The Nice Guys (2016, d. Shane Black - TMN) This is Shane Black's thing. Two kind of down-and-out professionals of a type, getting on each other's nerves but developing a respect and friendship along the way. These two guys are Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling... not exactly the dynamic duo on the forefront of everyone's mind, but it works so well. Both are quite into it and Black produced a hilarious and charming script about losers with more style and craft than any of his other outings. A great little movie, worthy of rewatching.
The Late Shift (1996, d. Betty Thomas - TMN) Based on the book, a dramatic retelling of the tensions between David Letterman and Jay Leno following the announcement of Johnny Carson's retirement from The Tonight Show. HBO has been investing in these niche stories for a long, long time, and while it looks painfully like a film made in 1996, it's still actually a very engaging watch. There's no reason anyone should really care about what went on behind the scenes of the Tonight Show any longer, and yet, there's something legendary about this fued which makes this sometimes goofy imagining of it captivating. Kathy Bates playing a ball-busting agent is worth the watch alone.
Fire & Ice (1980, d. Ralph Bakshi - Amazon Prime) This type of fantasy, swords, sandals, beards and crystal balls is not my thing. I find these types of stories tedious and dull. But beyond the tedious story is beautiful hand drawn animation which kept me in admiring awe throughout. There's a stiffness and lack of fluidity at times, but that's somehow part of its charm.
The Lost City of Z (2017, d. James Gray - Amazon Prime) Colonialist epics are a thing of yesterday, unless you can present a story that is absolutely aware of its place within modern cultural norms. The Lost City of Z does have its cake and eats it too, by telling a story spanning three time periods, three adventures in the the Amazon, where explorer Percey Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) discovers evidence of an advance tribe from eras past. The British aristocracy finds any intonation that any non-white civilation would have superior capabilities heretical, but Fawcett, more concerned with truth than politics obsessively forges forward to find further proof, with his family left behind to bare the brunt of his herecy. It's a very tranquil and meditative film, with moments of tremendous intensity, and a few moments of maddening truth regarding our forefathers' ignorance. Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Sienna Miller and Ian McDiarmid co-star.
Jim & Andy (2017, d. Chris Smith - netflix) Jim Carrey played Andy Kaufman in the 1999 film Man on the Moon. It left him a little scarred. This documentary examines Andy Kaufman's life through Jim Carrey's experience trying to completely inhabit another man's skin. It's a fascinating if inessential documentary that provides interesting perspective on Kaufman, but also insight into the craft of acting and how it can be psychologically dangerous to pretend to be someone else for a while. Now all we need is the meta-movie that is the dramatic retelling of this story.
Black Panther (2018 [the dark year], d. Ryan Coogler - in theatre) Turns out I actually wrote a review in 2018 but never published it (all I had to do was attach some pictures). I corrected that and published it now. I've watched the film a couple times since, and it's in my top 10 of all time superhero films.
Creed (2015, d. Ryan Coogler - TMN) I saw at least some of Rocky III and probably all of Rocky IV when I was a kid, but I wasn't that big into boxing movies then, and I'm still not now. I don't really care. I skipped the chance to watch Creed for free on the big screen when it came out (well, actually, arrived late and was locked out of the theatre) but it was my hyped reaction to Black Panther that made it a must-see. I love it. It's a tremendous movie. I've seen it a couple times now and I'll watch it again. Michael B. Jordan is magnetic, his chemistry with Stallone and Tessa Thompson is incredible, and Coogler's direction is amazing (that seamless one-shot of the boxing match is viscerally engrossing). It's a story about legacy, something I love in superhero comic books, and this is really just a comic book superhero of a different type.
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018 [the dark year], d. Julius Onah - netflix) - You can look elsewhere on the internet for the backstory on how this project came to be, and how it came to be on netflix. My hot take is that its incredible cast - Chris O'Dowd, Gugu Mbuthu-Raw, David Oyelowo, Elizabeth Debicki, Zhang Ziyi, Daniel Bruhl - is kind of wasted on such an incredibly badly executed story about parallel dimensions. It's a film that couldn't quite figure out what it wanted to be, sci-fi or horror, not doing either all that well with split focus, and then got shoehorned into a film franchise that isn't a film franchise. There's a few inspired entertaining seeds here but it just doesn't come together. Can we get the cast together again for a do-over?
Ghost in the Shell (2017, d. Rupert Sanders - netflix) There's so much content in the world you have to make blanket concessions somewhere. For me it's books and anime. I've never seen the original GitS so everything in this film is new to me. I get the controversy surrounding it, and I do agree with it: ScarJo wasn't the appropriate casting choice. Moving past the whitewashing (if you can, understood if you can't), the film is quite striking visually and I found the story is very engaging. There's only really one scene, in which ScarJo meets her Japanese grandmother, where the whitewashing becomes so brutally flagrant, but otherwise it's not a constant offense throughout the film (unless to you it is, which is valid).
The Disaster Artist (2017, d. James Franco - rental) Is Franco now cancelled or can we still talk about him with some appreciation? I haven't been keeping up on all the cancel culture news. I know The Room mainly from podcast talking about it and a few clips I've watched obsessively online. Tommy Wiseau is a fascinating personality, and the story of his creation of The Room is bountifully as bizarre as he is. Franco takes one step past impersonation here, capturing Wiseau's strange mannerisms and injecting his own sense of his personality, trying to creating a flesh-and-blood living being out of such an enigma. Dave Franco then, playing Wiseau's de facto best friend and naive partner in crime Greg Sestero, has to do much of the emotional heavy lifting, but since it's a film based on Sestero's book of the same name, it's built for such a focus. It's a very entertaining film about a film that's possibly way more entertaining depending on your disposition. But it serves as a great entryway into The Room for the uninitiated and also a fun dramatization for fans of Wiseau (winking or otherwise).
I, Tonya (2017, d. Craig Gillespie - in theatre) If you were a teenager or older in the early 90's then you knew all about Tonya Harding. Or, at least, you thought you did. She was the "bad girl of figure skating", as the media liked to sensationalize her. She came from lower-class rural America, she liked to perform to hard rock and wore outfits that weren't as refined or standardized as other skaters. She was a curvy, muscular girl, with crimped dirty blonde hair that seemed borderline unmanageable. Everything about her flew in the face of the sport's typical pageantry. So she was stigmatized and villainized by the media, especially when compared to her chief competition, Nancy Kerrigan. Kerrigan was a Disney Princess come to life, long and lean, with flowing, shiny brown hair, doing everything by the book. Of course, as the story goes, Harding kept some pretty bad company (her domineering mother most extremely) and it eventually led to the legendary kneecapping incident that got Harding banned for life from the sport. This is a tragi-comedy featuring both the absurdity and the abuse in Tonya's life, with magnificent performances from Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan and Paul Walter Hauser.
Annihilation (2018 [the dark year], d. Alex Garland - in theatre) Perhaps the most intense and legitimately frightening film that isn't an outright horror movie. It's a bit of a puzzle that when pieced all together still requires some thought on behalf of the viewer to get to a resolution. It's got serene moments of beauty, and start moments of terror, with many emotional thoughts in between. It's a film that demands rewatching, but may be too intense for some to actually want to. It's wonderful, one of the best genre films of the decade.
The Shape of Water (2017, d. Guillermo del Toro - in theatre) My dirty nerd secret is that I don't really like del Toro's films all that much. The big benchmarks in his career, Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone are probably my least favourite entries in his repertoire. But Oscar darling The Shape of Water is a strange delight. It's as much a tribute to the history of cinema as it is about a deaf lady falling in love with a fish-man, which explains why the Oscar voters keyed into it so much. There's little else Oscar loves more than films about film. There's just too many beautiful, romantic even, moments in this film to not get swept up, even when it gets cartoonishly heavy handed (intentionally so) and it's so precise (as all del Toro films are) in its details that it's such a marvel to behold. Plus, it's basically an Abe Sapien from Hellboy spin-off in everything but name.
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OH NO! Unwritten about TV shows. Blerg.
11.22.63 (Hulu) - A mini-series adaptation of the Stephen King novel about a guy (played by J*cancelled*o) who finds a time vortex in his closet and goes back in time to stop Kennedy's assassination with disastrous consequences. Kind of fun in the moment, pretty forgettable afterward.
The Night Manager (Amazon Prime) - A John LeCarre adaptation about a night manager (Tom Hiddleston) at a hotel who gets recruited into being a spy, infiltrating the organization of a previously untouchable global weapons dealer (Hugh Laurie). Olivia Coleman plays Hiddleston's handler. Elizabeth Debicki plays Laurie's girlfriend. It's a great cast and an interesting story, but it plays too rhythmically like a book, so it feels like it gets distracted frequently from the main thrust. It would probably have made a tighter movie.
The Defenders (Netflix) - Blerg. This was what five seasons and 65 episodes of TV was leading to, the uniting of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. But the most boring part of the Netflix Marvel was the ninja mob The Hand, and that's the main adversary of this series. The show relishes every scene where characters meet characters from a different series but Elektra and the Hand have them dragging their feet through the mud. Sigourney Weaver is also a main adversary in the show, but mostly separated from everything else going on as we get insight into her terminal illness and how it affects her...she doesn't ever feel like she belongs in this story. What a waste of time and effort.
GLOW Season 1 (Netflix) I've written about Season 3 already, but going back to the beginning and remembering Ruth and Debbie and the gang as they were at the start, it's been a remarkable journey for them all. It's really a show about camaraderie, about unity, feminine spirit, and it all starts with Ruth sleeping with her best friend's husband, getting found out, and then having to face that person every day in a challenging, close-knit environment, where failure would be the last straw for all of their careers. There's comedy, which is great, and there's drama, which is even better, and there's wrestling, which is terrible, but in a very fun way. It's ridiculously charming, the cast dynamic is perfect, and it doesn't shy away from having difficult conversations. Its mid-80's trappings are painful reminders of a gaudy, ugly era of fashion, but it certainly gives the show a distinct feel as it leans heavily into the neon style.
Ghosted (Fox) Craig Robinson and Adam Scott join a secret organization to fight supernatural entities. It was a rough start. I think I lasted four episodes. I'm certain it could have gotten better (and apparently it did) but a rough start more often than not leads to cancellation rather than patience as it finds its footing. The comedy wasn't sharp or original enough and the characters Scott and Robinson were playing felt like exactly that, characters they were playing. Both leads were better than the material.
Toast of London seasons 1-3 (Netflix) Have you ever had to ask the question "Can you hear me?" And did someone respond, rather oddly, with "Yes, I can hear you Clem Fandango", leaving you quite puzzled? Watch Toast of London to find out why and laugh yourself silly. Matt Berry is the egocentric Stephen Toast, a thespian of ill-repute struggling to find meaningful work (or any work for that matter) in modern London. This is an exquisitely crafted comedic persona, Berry infusing all sorts of vocal quirks, physical mannerisms, plus curious psychological and emotional boundries into the character creating for truly off beat and bizarre but always hilarious and usually unpredictable scenarios for the character to fall into. He has a chief nemesis in Ray "Bloody" Purchase (the cuckold whose wife Toast frequently sleeps with), an apathetic supporter in his agent Jane, and a confidant in fellow aged thespian/flatmate Ed. It's hard to overstate just how commanding Berry is in this show, which offers the actor/writer/musician the luxury of a new song each episode to punctuate the emotional aspect of a particular scene but also to afford the show some sheer creative lunacy. There's frankly not another sitcom like this. It won't be to everyone's tastes for sure (just seeing Berry's whinnying sex face is enough to put anyone off who doesn't get the hilariousness of it) but it's worth it for the Jon Hamm episode in season 3 and every Clem Fandango appearance.
Jessica Jones season 2 (Netflix) Is there really a reason to continue watching a show where the lead character learns nothing and continues to alienate the people around her. I mean, most shows with a toxic lead tend to have characters surrounding them who either enable that toxicity, dismissive of that toxicity, or absolving of that toxicity. In Jessica Jones, Jess' toxicity does drive the people away from her and even though she could help it, she doesn't, and it's kind of heartbreaking but also extremely annoying. Season 2 dives deeper into Jess' troubled psyche, some of which has to do with her mother, who reappears with superpowers and is a total murderer. This causes Jess some more psychological distress on top of her already potent PTSD. I struggle to understand just what the show is getting at with Jess, what they want us to glean from her... is it that it's okay to still look for the good in someone who acts so awful? Season 2 was a real fucking bummer, with all the performers killing it in their roles, but creating an end product too unpleasant to enjoy too much. Jessica Jones is a great character, and Krysten Ritter excels at playing her, but the showrunners needed to find another note or two for her to play.
Lady Dynamite season 1 (Netflix) With this new golden age of television, so many comedians are being given the opportunity to create a television show with their own unique vision. Too often those visions are too limited by what's come before, and there's a lot of redundancy or familiarity in the outcome. But Maria Bamford's vision is so uniquely her own that it's amazing that Lady Dynamite was even a thing allowed to come into existence. Bamford's comedy is one that explores the diverging topics of mundane life and mental health, and her show is a representation of that kind of schism. It's a quasi-manic time-bounding story that takes place in at least three different time periods, one being the present day with a semi-successful Bamford finding love and cohabitation rather challenging, another time frame being her return to Los Angeles and the cutthroat world of acting and comedy after having a mental breakdown, and the third time period taking place at the tail end of that mental breakdown where she's in and out of the hospital and dealing with her well-meaning-if-not-always-helpful parents (a wonderful duo in Ed Begley Jr. and Mary Kay Place). It's a hilarious but also challenging show to watch, as the time jumping isn't always obvious so it's left to the viewer to sort out what reality we're in, but I think that's a deliberate move on Bamford's part, just a simplified viewport into her brain. It's also got one of the best title credit sequences of the decade. I've been watching this very slowly over the past few years, most of season 2 remaining, but not for lack of enjoyment.
Collateral (Netflix) is a murder mystery mini-series starring Carrie Mulligan as a sleepy London detective inspector trying to navigate a sticky web of intrigue after a pizza delivery driver is murdered. I remember next to nothing about this story. I recall I was somewhat engaged with it at the time, but even then I found the story overly complicated with not enough meat to Mulligan's character to get totally invested in it. If it were any longer than four episodes I probably wouldn't have continued watching past the first episode.
Star Wars Rebels season 4 (Disney XD) - if there are people out there convinced that Disney killed Star Wars, then they haven't watched Star Wars: Rebels. What started out as seemingly a kiddie-fied cartoon set in the pre-A New Hope days evolved into a glorious action adventure drama starring a makeshift-family that grew and grew and grew in scale to something glorious. If there was any burden for the show it was the expectation that it would ultimately dovetail into established Star Wars canon, be it Rogue One's climax or A New Hope's Battle of Yavin. But it found its own path, and its ties to established canon ran much deeper than just, say putting the crew of the Ghost in conflict with the Death Star. The character building reached its apex in Season 4, with each character continuing to evolve, or fulfil their ultimate destiny in exciting or heartbreaking ways. The journey with the cast of Rebels truly is an epic one, as much the equal of any Skywalker or Solo family memeber, and perhaps even more rewarding. This season continues to build upon the understanding of the force, as well as providing insight into the scale of the fight the rebels have against the empire. It comes full circle, bringing together things learned in previous seasons to show that liberal fluidity is more powerful than conservative rigidity. It's a show that further bridges the prequels to the original trilogy, it reinforces the importance of the Clone Wars cartoon in the pantheon, and it gives us some of the franchise's best characters (in a franchise already full of great ones). Thanks to Dave Filoni and the creative crew for this amazing ride.
Star Wars Resistance season 1 (Disney XD) As one series ends, another begins. This time however, it's set in the era of the sequel trilogy, season one ends colliding with the events of The Force Awakens. But unlike Rebels, which seemed to have a mission to further explore the nuances of the galaxy it inhabits, Resistance is a small show with small dreams. It's still spearheaded by Dave Filoni, but Filoni's interest here seems to primarily be channeling George Lucas' love of slapstick and physical comedy. It's central character is Kazuda Xiono, a bumbling Jack Tripper-type who bumbles his way through his espionage mission aboard an outer rim refueling station that the First Order is courting influence with. The selection of Kaz as their spy is the first of hundreds of absurdities that this show asks its audience to believe in. The supporting cast features few likeable figures, and it gets so mired in its sitcom-like setups each episode that it never feels high stakes. The show works best when Poe Dameron shows up, Oscar Isaac's confident performance as an actual competent agent elevating everything about the show, and lending it its only air of authenticity. The First Order is full of threats, with scattered appearances of Captain Phasma, but the only actual menace they actually generate is when the show dovetails into Starkiller Base's destruction of an entire system. The show, it's bad. It's a bad show. The animation is weird, but not unwatchable, which is more than I can say for the rest of the show. I don't like it. Season 1 basically ends where, all things being equal, it really should have began.
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And that's it. The long list of 2017 (and a bit of 2018) in the bag. Some good thoughts, but mostly half-hearted ramblings about things I've mostly forgotten. But that's not all that unusual for this blog now is it.
Given the passage of time, most of these things will not have taken up much space in my memory, so I may not have much to say... but then again, I may have far more to say than I think. So in this grande experiment, I present to you, quick and addled musings of mostly-forgotten experiences of 2017 (and beyonde!).
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- The Fast and The Furious (2001, d. Rob Cohen - blu-ray) - it started off as a knowingly cheesy Point Break knock-off with illegal drag racing and substitute penises instead of skydiving and other extreme activities. Little wooden boy Paul Walker (RIP) goes undercover with Vin Diesel's criminal gang of souped up street race drivers as they steal truck loads of dvd players (yeah, it ages real well). There's lots of car porn in here and a lot of short shorts and halter tops. Cohen spends most of the movie using his camera to ogle tires and titties. Yet knowing where it's heading it's already got its stupid charms in place. It's all about family, bro.
- 2 Fast, 2 Furious (2003, d. John Singleton - blu-ray) - yeah, fucking John Singleton directed this stupidly titled movie. I honestly can remember what happens in this one (and if I'm being honest, I can't really remember what happened in the first one...as with most of the entries in this entire post, I won't remember most of what I watched), but I seem to recall enjoying it more than the first one. I think it uses a lot more CGI, and the absence of Vin Diesel means the acting game is actually stepped up a little in this one (Diesel has screen presence, I'll give him that, but he's a terrible actor). It goes against the grain but I think I would watch this one over the first one.
- Fast and Furious (2009, d. Justin Lin - blu-ray) - I skipped the third one (Tokyo Drift) because it's not really part of the series. Not to get too stuck in the weeds but Tokyo Drift takes place after Fast & Furious 6, if you're trying to sort out the chronology. But really Tokyo Drift is kind of the Halloween: Season of the Witch of the F&F franchise, the one where they tried to do a standalone anthology type thing that just didn't work.... BUT, with his feet already wet, Justin Lin was (ahem) fast figuring things out and set the real prototype for the franchise to follow with the murky fourth entry Fast and Furious, in which he tries to bring together all three of the previous films canonically, while also pushing forward into globetrotting espionage type storytelling with a gang of streetracing thieves with a code of ethics and a strong makeshift familial bond. It's a messy, messy movie, but it certainly started something that Fast Five paid off like gangbusters (...you know, gang busting, like Paul Walker in the first film).
- Fast and Furious 6 (2013, d. Justin Lin - blu-ray) - Fast Five is a legit good time for anyone who has never seen any other F&F movie and it's the legit entryway into it all. Viewing order of F&F should be 5, 4, 6, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8. But anyone coming into F&F may immediately want out with F&F6 since it really ouroboroses it up. Lin just goes for broke and makes a crazy dumb (yet fun) spy movie that brings almost everything from the past right back up front, including resurrecting the dead and tying things back together from Tokyo Drift. It's a film that needs more out of Vin Diesel than he can give, and it overstretches itself with its universe building, yet still certainly enjoyable.
- Furious 7 (2015, d. James Wan - TMN) - And this is where the shit hits the alchemic fan and turns to gold. Jason Statham and Kurt Russell enter the fray of an already ballooning cast. Sadly, Paul Walker died while filming was ongoing and his specter looms hard over the proceedings, creating an honest to god sentimental moment about family in its finale. It's a big, big movie and it goes for broke quite spectacularly. Again it ties itself heavily with the previous three entries, but at this point this ongoing "family" thread is what gives these films connective tissue when otherwise it would just be ridiculously entertaining car stunts.
- The Fate of the Furious (2017, d. F. Gary Gray - TMN) - they may have lost Paul Walker but they gained Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren (yes, fucking Helen Mirren). Never one to let a good adversary stay a good adversary, the bad guy of the previous film (Jason Statham) is reformed as a good guy here (setting up the Hobbes and Shaw spin-off) and it's easily the Statham/Dwayne Johnson chemistry that carries the bulk of the entertainment factor here. Vin Diesel is blackmailed by Theron into being a bad guy who the rest of the team has to take down, and it's kind of a drag, because Diesel, the stunted bad actor that he is, can't play the character as a man trapped pretending to "break bad" but instead just plays a shitty heel figure in the proceedings.
These films, at this point, exceed James Bond levels of action set pieces, and this is the first one that takes major pains to kind of lose the car shtick.... to do other big action set pieces that aren't *only* about cars. It's another turning point in an ever evolving and expanding franchise. There's no way, looking back at that kind of dumb, DVD-stealing crew from the first feature that it would wind up in to the almost-superhero universe it's become. I don't blame anyone for thinking these things are totally stupid dumb and not worth the time. They are totally stupid dumb, but that's what makes them so entertaining. They have absolutely no pretenses about them which is why they are so successful.
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It's been established that I'm not a big horror movie guy. I can dabble but I'm not very entertained by the cruel nature of horror. I don't get a lot of pleasure out of seeing people tortured or the gags of guts and viscera meant to shock and/or amuse. So when I say that these two films are the best horror films of the decade, you have to qualify that as, like, the sentiments of a guy who really hasn't watched that many horror films this decade. And yet, not only are these two of the best horror films of the decade, they are two of the best films, flat out, of the decade. Two masterfully crafted productions that will stand up for decades to come.
Get Out (2017, d. Jordan Peele - In Theatre) channels so much racial tension, modern and historical, that it's at times unbearable and viscerally upsetting. It's psychotropic horror, a film that doesn't so much as startle you as keep you in a perpetual state of uneasiness. It's a masterful debut from Peele that may have been a big surprise to Key & Peele sketch comedy fans who weren't paying close enough attention to how often those skits descended into some kind of absurd terror.
It Follows (2014, d. David Robert Mitchell - Netflix), in the loosest sense, is about a killer STD. But that's way oversimplifying things. It's a metaphor for shame and guilt around sex, especially in teenage years. Mitchell crafts a film that feels like it's part of the 80's horror explosion, a saturated blueish hue and very specific styles, locations and vehicles all create a bit of a throwback aesthetic with a pulsating synth soundtrack that is brilliant on its own but even more effective in combination with the film. Yet for all its retro homage, it's still a very modern film, thoughtful, sensitive, yet still very, very frightening. An absolute classic.
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*Smooth transition from horror to children's movies*
Finding Dory (2016, d. Andrew Stanton - blu-ray) - Finding Nemo is a brilliant, beautiful, highly entertaining film with a huge heart, an animation classic. A sequel was probably inevitable but hardly necessary. While not quite the equal of its predecessor, Finding Dory does manage to hold up to Pixar's highest standards, delivering another beautiful, highly entertaining film with a huge heart. Dealing with Dory's forgetfulness/disorder and retracing her past makes for a different experience than Finding Nemo while holding onto its structure.
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017, d. David Soren - in theatre) over the past dozen years of my kids' lives I've been exposed to the rather wondrous worlds of cartoonist Dav Pilkey. The Captain Underpants series is absurd humour for younger readers, but still quite entertaining for adults reading along with their child. The "First Epic Movie" has moments of real inspiration but exposes kind of how juvenile the concept is. It seems to aim for a sort of Spongebob or Lego Movie vibe but misses the mark.
Despicable Me 3 (2017, d. Pierre Coffin, Kyle Balda - in theatre). I haven't actually seen any other Despicable Me movies, so perhaps this one was just lost on me without prior investment, but I find the animation ugly, the minions annoying, and the humour tepid. I recall asking myself frequently "who is this joke for?" In a word: inessential.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968, d. Ken Hughes - rental) I don't remember what the impetus was for watching this. I think the wife and I were talking about films that scared us as a child (see next entry) and she mentioned how terrifying Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was for her as a young'un. This is a weird 145-minute long (!) quasi-musical live-action children's film about a possibly sentient super-car that helps a family survive their ramshackle adventure through a despotic alternate reality. From James Bond creator Ian Fleming, adapted to screen by Roald Dahl, it's fucking bizarre. It's not great, but there's absolutely something surreal and captivating about it. I can see how that surreality was terrifying to kids, for sure.
The Peanut Butter Solution (1985, d. Michael Rubbo - blu-ray) There was no tit-for-tat in our traumatizing childhood movie exchange. I had to watch this one on my own. But I did so happily. To rediscover this film -- about a kid who goes bald after getting massively frightened when exploring an abandoned house, then receiving a mysterious recipe for hair-growth formula (the titular peanut butter solution) from a ghost, and then being kidnapped by his nefarious art teach so he can use his perpetually-growing hair to make the world's softest paint brushes -- was an absolute blast. I saw this film many times as a kid, as it was frequently played on Canadian television, and it was great to be able to fill in the gaps of my memory on it. It's a weird-ass movie, with typically Canadian production values which makes it almost more endearing. It's like Cronenberg-for-kids.
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I can't be bothered to sub-categorize the films any longer. Hot takes a-comin:
Oh Hello on Broadway (2017, d. Alex Timbers, Michael John Warren - netflix) Nick Kroll is responsible for two of the best shows of the past decade, the hilarious coming-of-age-and-sexuality animated Big Mouth and the reality TV satirizing sketch comedy of Kroll Show. The septigenarians New Yorkers George St. Geegland (John Mulaney) and Gil Faison (Kroll) emerged from Kroll Show (as well as other appearances online, in podcasts and elsewhere) as a fully baked comedic duo, telling ribald stories of past glories, and questionable decisions they've made along the way. A stage show on broadway was a surprising next level for these hilarious and unlikeably charming characters... I wouldn't think the mass appeal would be there to sustain such a run, but toss in a loosely structured script for Kroll and Mulaney to bounce around inside of, and bring out a surprise celebrity guest interview each show and it just started buzzing. If filming it for Netflix has a problem, it's that one wouldn't want to watch the same show twice, but instead see as many of the shows as possible. It was probably more fun live, but it's still a great time.
GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (2012, d. Brett Whitcomb - netflix) This doc cropped up on Netflix in the lead-up to their original scripted comedy-drama GLOW. I watched and loved the first season of GLOW and was intrigued to see what they actually took from the source. Not surprisingly, they took very little, beyond the comraderie, a few of the archetypes, and the sense of struggle. But seeing the real performers reminisce and then reunite creates for a quite enjoyable and emotional ride. It's a sweet documentary even if you're not sure how much wrestling matters in the grand scheme of things. Mountain Fiji's story is the centerpiece of much of the movie, as she's so loveable and her struggles so touching. There's never a wrong way to celebrate an absolutely endearing, wonderful, kind-hearted person like her, and where it could feel like it was focusing on her at the expense of the other performers, it actually brings them together and further exemplifies their sense of community.
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (2016, d. David Yates - blu-ray) I thought for certain that I had already written at least once, if not twice about FB&WTFT, but no dice. I only have a letterboxd entry for The Crimes of Grindlewald. I like Harry Potter fine, but I'm not a huge fan, magic just isn't my thing, y'know. And the first time around with FB&WTFT I thought it was trying too hard to be something different, and to be something bigger than it really was. But the second time watching it, I actually responded rather intensely to the characters and their journey, to the point that I was really, really, really looking forward to seeing them again in the sequel. Well, here's how that went. Anyway, I quite like this first one. It really grows on you.
Trump: The Art of The Deal (2016, d. Jeremy Konner - netflix) Johnny Depp plays Trump in this satire of the man's life and his business ethos. It's not as funny or scathing as it needs to be, and it's only clever by half. Perhaps if he didn't become president it would have been more amusing.
Girlfriend's Day (2017, d. Michael Stephenson, - netflix) A cheeky detective noir starring Bob Odenkirk about a down-on-his-luck greeting card writer who gets embroiled in murder and conspiracy around a new fake holiday, Girlfriend's Day. There's probably a good short film in here, but it makes for a bit of a slog at full-length.
The Polka King (2017, d. Maya Forbes - netflix) / The Man Who Would Be Polka King (2009, d. John Mikulak, Joshua Brown - netflix). Jan Lewan was practically a legend when his extravagent lifestyle and inflated ego started overtaking his reality. Unable to sustain himself with his music or business, he starts grifting his fans and his community with a Ponzi scheme. The Polka King is a lightly dramatic retelling starring a delightful cast -- including Jack Black, Jenny Slate,Jason Schwartzman, and JB Smoove -- while the documentary is a little dry but still heartbreaking when it affirms the reality of the hurt Lewan inflicted on people's lives (but also a little frustrating how trusting people were in giving him money to start with). Not essential viewing but rather engaging as a pair (the doc runs just over an hour)
Don't Think Twice (2017, d. Mike Birbiglia - netflix) Comedian Mike Birbiglia is a very gifted storyteller. He's a captivating and hilarious orator and author. It's a bit surprising then that he's rather far from that as a filmmaker, but maybe it's just the story he's trying to tell. Don't Think Twice is a story about an improv comedy troupe dealing with reality when one of their members becomes famous but the rest are left struggling. It's such a narrowly defined reality that even someone like myself, who loves standup, sketch, improv comedy in all its different distributions, could care less about this story or the characters within it. The cast is a great one, with Gillain Jacobs pulling the MVP role within it, but it has no real meat to it, not for lack of trying.
Keanu (2016, d. Peter Atencio - TMN) The transition from sketch to feature has been hard for almost all sketch comedy group, Monty Python excepted. The more successful moves to feature-length scripting tend to find a coherent story formed out of what are effectively a series of sketches. Unfortunately, with Keanu, Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele's first foray into the cinemas as a duo, either the sketches were too restricted by the story of the film, or they weren't intended to be sketches at all. Either way, the film doesn't really work. It's attempting to be a buddy action comedy, and it hits those notes, but they're almost all fairly mundane and and familiar notes. Key and Peele aren't offering anything here that surprises or is memorably quotable, unlike so much from their sketch comedy. It's not a terrible movie by any stretch, but it's missing the sparks of brilliance we had come to expect from the duo.
The Nice Guys (2016, d. Shane Black - TMN) This is Shane Black's thing. Two kind of down-and-out professionals of a type, getting on each other's nerves but developing a respect and friendship along the way. These two guys are Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling... not exactly the dynamic duo on the forefront of everyone's mind, but it works so well. Both are quite into it and Black produced a hilarious and charming script about losers with more style and craft than any of his other outings. A great little movie, worthy of rewatching.The Late Shift (1996, d. Betty Thomas - TMN) Based on the book, a dramatic retelling of the tensions between David Letterman and Jay Leno following the announcement of Johnny Carson's retirement from The Tonight Show. HBO has been investing in these niche stories for a long, long time, and while it looks painfully like a film made in 1996, it's still actually a very engaging watch. There's no reason anyone should really care about what went on behind the scenes of the Tonight Show any longer, and yet, there's something legendary about this fued which makes this sometimes goofy imagining of it captivating. Kathy Bates playing a ball-busting agent is worth the watch alone.
Arrival (2016, d. Denis Villeneuve - blu-ray) Villeneuve announces himself here as the next great director of big screen science fiction. Next he takes on Blade Runner and Dune, showing that he has little humility in the face of his ambitions. But he produces beautiful looking movies, cast with amazing actors who he draws out commanding performances. This is a procedural, of sorts, which finds linguist Amy Adams discovering how to break through and communicate with a very alien sentience that arrives on Earth. It's not an action film, but the intensity is high, and the depth of emotion is perhaps even more suprising than the aliens.
Fire & Ice (1980, d. Ralph Bakshi - Amazon Prime) This type of fantasy, swords, sandals, beards and crystal balls is not my thing. I find these types of stories tedious and dull. But beyond the tedious story is beautiful hand drawn animation which kept me in admiring awe throughout. There's a stiffness and lack of fluidity at times, but that's somehow part of its charm.
The Lost City of Z (2017, d. James Gray - Amazon Prime) Colonialist epics are a thing of yesterday, unless you can present a story that is absolutely aware of its place within modern cultural norms. The Lost City of Z does have its cake and eats it too, by telling a story spanning three time periods, three adventures in the the Amazon, where explorer Percey Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) discovers evidence of an advance tribe from eras past. The British aristocracy finds any intonation that any non-white civilation would have superior capabilities heretical, but Fawcett, more concerned with truth than politics obsessively forges forward to find further proof, with his family left behind to bare the brunt of his herecy. It's a very tranquil and meditative film, with moments of tremendous intensity, and a few moments of maddening truth regarding our forefathers' ignorance. Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Sienna Miller and Ian McDiarmid co-star.
Jim & Andy (2017, d. Chris Smith - netflix) Jim Carrey played Andy Kaufman in the 1999 film Man on the Moon. It left him a little scarred. This documentary examines Andy Kaufman's life through Jim Carrey's experience trying to completely inhabit another man's skin. It's a fascinating if inessential documentary that provides interesting perspective on Kaufman, but also insight into the craft of acting and how it can be psychologically dangerous to pretend to be someone else for a while. Now all we need is the meta-movie that is the dramatic retelling of this story.
Black Panther (2018 [the dark year], d. Ryan Coogler - in theatre) Turns out I actually wrote a review in 2018 but never published it (all I had to do was attach some pictures). I corrected that and published it now. I've watched the film a couple times since, and it's in my top 10 of all time superhero films.
Creed (2015, d. Ryan Coogler - TMN) I saw at least some of Rocky III and probably all of Rocky IV when I was a kid, but I wasn't that big into boxing movies then, and I'm still not now. I don't really care. I skipped the chance to watch Creed for free on the big screen when it came out (well, actually, arrived late and was locked out of the theatre) but it was my hyped reaction to Black Panther that made it a must-see. I love it. It's a tremendous movie. I've seen it a couple times now and I'll watch it again. Michael B. Jordan is magnetic, his chemistry with Stallone and Tessa Thompson is incredible, and Coogler's direction is amazing (that seamless one-shot of the boxing match is viscerally engrossing). It's a story about legacy, something I love in superhero comic books, and this is really just a comic book superhero of a different type.
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018 [the dark year], d. Julius Onah - netflix) - You can look elsewhere on the internet for the backstory on how this project came to be, and how it came to be on netflix. My hot take is that its incredible cast - Chris O'Dowd, Gugu Mbuthu-Raw, David Oyelowo, Elizabeth Debicki, Zhang Ziyi, Daniel Bruhl - is kind of wasted on such an incredibly badly executed story about parallel dimensions. It's a film that couldn't quite figure out what it wanted to be, sci-fi or horror, not doing either all that well with split focus, and then got shoehorned into a film franchise that isn't a film franchise. There's a few inspired entertaining seeds here but it just doesn't come together. Can we get the cast together again for a do-over?
Ghost in the Shell (2017, d. Rupert Sanders - netflix) There's so much content in the world you have to make blanket concessions somewhere. For me it's books and anime. I've never seen the original GitS so everything in this film is new to me. I get the controversy surrounding it, and I do agree with it: ScarJo wasn't the appropriate casting choice. Moving past the whitewashing (if you can, understood if you can't), the film is quite striking visually and I found the story is very engaging. There's only really one scene, in which ScarJo meets her Japanese grandmother, where the whitewashing becomes so brutally flagrant, but otherwise it's not a constant offense throughout the film (unless to you it is, which is valid).
The Disaster Artist (2017, d. James Franco - rental) Is Franco now cancelled or can we still talk about him with some appreciation? I haven't been keeping up on all the cancel culture news. I know The Room mainly from podcast talking about it and a few clips I've watched obsessively online. Tommy Wiseau is a fascinating personality, and the story of his creation of The Room is bountifully as bizarre as he is. Franco takes one step past impersonation here, capturing Wiseau's strange mannerisms and injecting his own sense of his personality, trying to creating a flesh-and-blood living being out of such an enigma. Dave Franco then, playing Wiseau's de facto best friend and naive partner in crime Greg Sestero, has to do much of the emotional heavy lifting, but since it's a film based on Sestero's book of the same name, it's built for such a focus. It's a very entertaining film about a film that's possibly way more entertaining depending on your disposition. But it serves as a great entryway into The Room for the uninitiated and also a fun dramatization for fans of Wiseau (winking or otherwise).
I, Tonya (2017, d. Craig Gillespie - in theatre) If you were a teenager or older in the early 90's then you knew all about Tonya Harding. Or, at least, you thought you did. She was the "bad girl of figure skating", as the media liked to sensationalize her. She came from lower-class rural America, she liked to perform to hard rock and wore outfits that weren't as refined or standardized as other skaters. She was a curvy, muscular girl, with crimped dirty blonde hair that seemed borderline unmanageable. Everything about her flew in the face of the sport's typical pageantry. So she was stigmatized and villainized by the media, especially when compared to her chief competition, Nancy Kerrigan. Kerrigan was a Disney Princess come to life, long and lean, with flowing, shiny brown hair, doing everything by the book. Of course, as the story goes, Harding kept some pretty bad company (her domineering mother most extremely) and it eventually led to the legendary kneecapping incident that got Harding banned for life from the sport. This is a tragi-comedy featuring both the absurdity and the abuse in Tonya's life, with magnificent performances from Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan and Paul Walter Hauser.
Annihilation (2018 [the dark year], d. Alex Garland - in theatre) Perhaps the most intense and legitimately frightening film that isn't an outright horror movie. It's a bit of a puzzle that when pieced all together still requires some thought on behalf of the viewer to get to a resolution. It's got serene moments of beauty, and start moments of terror, with many emotional thoughts in between. It's a film that demands rewatching, but may be too intense for some to actually want to. It's wonderful, one of the best genre films of the decade.
The Shape of Water (2017, d. Guillermo del Toro - in theatre) My dirty nerd secret is that I don't really like del Toro's films all that much. The big benchmarks in his career, Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone are probably my least favourite entries in his repertoire. But Oscar darling The Shape of Water is a strange delight. It's as much a tribute to the history of cinema as it is about a deaf lady falling in love with a fish-man, which explains why the Oscar voters keyed into it so much. There's little else Oscar loves more than films about film. There's just too many beautiful, romantic even, moments in this film to not get swept up, even when it gets cartoonishly heavy handed (intentionally so) and it's so precise (as all del Toro films are) in its details that it's such a marvel to behold. Plus, it's basically an Abe Sapien from Hellboy spin-off in everything but name.
---
OH NO! Unwritten about TV shows. Blerg.
11.22.63 (Hulu) - A mini-series adaptation of the Stephen King novel about a guy (played by J*cancelled*o) who finds a time vortex in his closet and goes back in time to stop Kennedy's assassination with disastrous consequences. Kind of fun in the moment, pretty forgettable afterward.
The Night Manager (Amazon Prime) - A John LeCarre adaptation about a night manager (Tom Hiddleston) at a hotel who gets recruited into being a spy, infiltrating the organization of a previously untouchable global weapons dealer (Hugh Laurie). Olivia Coleman plays Hiddleston's handler. Elizabeth Debicki plays Laurie's girlfriend. It's a great cast and an interesting story, but it plays too rhythmically like a book, so it feels like it gets distracted frequently from the main thrust. It would probably have made a tighter movie.
GLOW Season 1 (Netflix) I've written about Season 3 already, but going back to the beginning and remembering Ruth and Debbie and the gang as they were at the start, it's been a remarkable journey for them all. It's really a show about camaraderie, about unity, feminine spirit, and it all starts with Ruth sleeping with her best friend's husband, getting found out, and then having to face that person every day in a challenging, close-knit environment, where failure would be the last straw for all of their careers. There's comedy, which is great, and there's drama, which is even better, and there's wrestling, which is terrible, but in a very fun way. It's ridiculously charming, the cast dynamic is perfect, and it doesn't shy away from having difficult conversations. Its mid-80's trappings are painful reminders of a gaudy, ugly era of fashion, but it certainly gives the show a distinct feel as it leans heavily into the neon style.
Ghosted (Fox) Craig Robinson and Adam Scott join a secret organization to fight supernatural entities. It was a rough start. I think I lasted four episodes. I'm certain it could have gotten better (and apparently it did) but a rough start more often than not leads to cancellation rather than patience as it finds its footing. The comedy wasn't sharp or original enough and the characters Scott and Robinson were playing felt like exactly that, characters they were playing. Both leads were better than the material.
Runaways season 1 (Hulu/Showcase) I don't even remember at this point if I lasted out the season. The joke about Runaways, now in its third season, is that it took them an entire season to become the titular runaways. The show got way too mired in the dynamics of the parents and kept harping on the squabbles between the adults, and the tense and/or awkward relationships they had with their kids. I loved the first run of the comic by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, and the show uses almost everything that was there but tries to build out and extend the story to exceptionally tedious results.
Mindhunters S1 (Netflix) I've already written about season 2, so looking back on season 1, I notice that we've completely dropped Holden's love life in the second season, which is great, because it had done all it needed in season 1. Season 2 did drop the ball a bit on Wendy, Anna Torv's character, who was a real highlight of the first season. Season 2 had a more focused story, but season 1's building of an entirely new method of investigation, of criminal profiling, through the gathering of data by interviewing serial killers was gripping television, specifically the interviews with Ed Kemper, a massively imposing man with impeccable manners and a complete emotional detachment from the horror of his crimes. It's not a show for the faint of heart, that's for sure.
Manhunt: Unabomber (Netflix) - a mini-series trying to fall into the American Crime Story vein, a modestly successful stab by the Discovery Channel to enter the premiere scripted television era. It's an engaging story if told a little bit cheaply. It's important to understand that Sam Worthington's character of Jim Fitzgerald is a bit of a lie...he is a real person, but in the show he represents a whole team's worth of activities, so a lot of the actions he takes and conclusions he makes in the show were performed by others in reality. That said, it's certainly bingeable watching and Paul Bettany's Ted Kaczynski is pretty riveting. It makes for a good pairing with Mindhunters, although the latter's production values are so much higher, making this look like a 90's TV show.
American Vandal seasons 1 and 2(Netflix) - I didn't know what this was until I watched it. I had heard raves about it but still thought it was yet another Ryan Murphy or Ryan Murphy-type season-long anthology project. While it is kind of a season-long anthology, it's also one of the funniest shows on TV. Taking inspiration from all facets of true crime documentation and investigation, this show embraces and exploits the tropes to maximum comedic effect while still actually managing to create some genuinely interesting and engaging characters and a reasonable amount of dramatic tension. The first season finds our intrepid duo of high school documentarians investigating the vandal who scratched dicks into the paint of every car in the school's parking lot. One student was suspended for it, but did he really do it? The second season revolves around investigating who put a laxative in the cafeteria lemonade, causing much of the school to poop themselves. These subjects are very silly, and it's the treatment of them with dire seriousness that only heightens their hilarity. It's a shame this only lasted two seasons, but at the same time it's better than none. Worth revisiting.
Black Lightning season 1 (Netflix) you know, I covered season 2 already and that pretty much expresses my feelings about the show overall.Mindhunters S1 (Netflix) I've already written about season 2, so looking back on season 1, I notice that we've completely dropped Holden's love life in the second season, which is great, because it had done all it needed in season 1. Season 2 did drop the ball a bit on Wendy, Anna Torv's character, who was a real highlight of the first season. Season 2 had a more focused story, but season 1's building of an entirely new method of investigation, of criminal profiling, through the gathering of data by interviewing serial killers was gripping television, specifically the interviews with Ed Kemper, a massively imposing man with impeccable manners and a complete emotional detachment from the horror of his crimes. It's not a show for the faint of heart, that's for sure.
Manhunt: Unabomber (Netflix) - a mini-series trying to fall into the American Crime Story vein, a modestly successful stab by the Discovery Channel to enter the premiere scripted television era. It's an engaging story if told a little bit cheaply. It's important to understand that Sam Worthington's character of Jim Fitzgerald is a bit of a lie...he is a real person, but in the show he represents a whole team's worth of activities, so a lot of the actions he takes and conclusions he makes in the show were performed by others in reality. That said, it's certainly bingeable watching and Paul Bettany's Ted Kaczynski is pretty riveting. It makes for a good pairing with Mindhunters, although the latter's production values are so much higher, making this look like a 90's TV show.
American Vandal seasons 1 and 2(Netflix) - I didn't know what this was until I watched it. I had heard raves about it but still thought it was yet another Ryan Murphy or Ryan Murphy-type season-long anthology project. While it is kind of a season-long anthology, it's also one of the funniest shows on TV. Taking inspiration from all facets of true crime documentation and investigation, this show embraces and exploits the tropes to maximum comedic effect while still actually managing to create some genuinely interesting and engaging characters and a reasonable amount of dramatic tension. The first season finds our intrepid duo of high school documentarians investigating the vandal who scratched dicks into the paint of every car in the school's parking lot. One student was suspended for it, but did he really do it? The second season revolves around investigating who put a laxative in the cafeteria lemonade, causing much of the school to poop themselves. These subjects are very silly, and it's the treatment of them with dire seriousness that only heightens their hilarity. It's a shame this only lasted two seasons, but at the same time it's better than none. Worth revisiting.
Toast of London seasons 1-3 (Netflix) Have you ever had to ask the question "Can you hear me?" And did someone respond, rather oddly, with "Yes, I can hear you Clem Fandango", leaving you quite puzzled? Watch Toast of London to find out why and laugh yourself silly. Matt Berry is the egocentric Stephen Toast, a thespian of ill-repute struggling to find meaningful work (or any work for that matter) in modern London. This is an exquisitely crafted comedic persona, Berry infusing all sorts of vocal quirks, physical mannerisms, plus curious psychological and emotional boundries into the character creating for truly off beat and bizarre but always hilarious and usually unpredictable scenarios for the character to fall into. He has a chief nemesis in Ray "Bloody" Purchase (the cuckold whose wife Toast frequently sleeps with), an apathetic supporter in his agent Jane, and a confidant in fellow aged thespian/flatmate Ed. It's hard to overstate just how commanding Berry is in this show, which offers the actor/writer/musician the luxury of a new song each episode to punctuate the emotional aspect of a particular scene but also to afford the show some sheer creative lunacy. There's frankly not another sitcom like this. It won't be to everyone's tastes for sure (just seeing Berry's whinnying sex face is enough to put anyone off who doesn't get the hilariousness of it) but it's worth it for the Jon Hamm episode in season 3 and every Clem Fandango appearance.
Jessica Jones season 2 (Netflix) Is there really a reason to continue watching a show where the lead character learns nothing and continues to alienate the people around her. I mean, most shows with a toxic lead tend to have characters surrounding them who either enable that toxicity, dismissive of that toxicity, or absolving of that toxicity. In Jessica Jones, Jess' toxicity does drive the people away from her and even though she could help it, she doesn't, and it's kind of heartbreaking but also extremely annoying. Season 2 dives deeper into Jess' troubled psyche, some of which has to do with her mother, who reappears with superpowers and is a total murderer. This causes Jess some more psychological distress on top of her already potent PTSD. I struggle to understand just what the show is getting at with Jess, what they want us to glean from her... is it that it's okay to still look for the good in someone who acts so awful? Season 2 was a real fucking bummer, with all the performers killing it in their roles, but creating an end product too unpleasant to enjoy too much. Jessica Jones is a great character, and Krysten Ritter excels at playing her, but the showrunners needed to find another note or two for her to play.
Lady Dynamite season 1 (Netflix) With this new golden age of television, so many comedians are being given the opportunity to create a television show with their own unique vision. Too often those visions are too limited by what's come before, and there's a lot of redundancy or familiarity in the outcome. But Maria Bamford's vision is so uniquely her own that it's amazing that Lady Dynamite was even a thing allowed to come into existence. Bamford's comedy is one that explores the diverging topics of mundane life and mental health, and her show is a representation of that kind of schism. It's a quasi-manic time-bounding story that takes place in at least three different time periods, one being the present day with a semi-successful Bamford finding love and cohabitation rather challenging, another time frame being her return to Los Angeles and the cutthroat world of acting and comedy after having a mental breakdown, and the third time period taking place at the tail end of that mental breakdown where she's in and out of the hospital and dealing with her well-meaning-if-not-always-helpful parents (a wonderful duo in Ed Begley Jr. and Mary Kay Place). It's a hilarious but also challenging show to watch, as the time jumping isn't always obvious so it's left to the viewer to sort out what reality we're in, but I think that's a deliberate move on Bamford's part, just a simplified viewport into her brain. It's also got one of the best title credit sequences of the decade. I've been watching this very slowly over the past few years, most of season 2 remaining, but not for lack of enjoyment.
Collateral (Netflix) is a murder mystery mini-series starring Carrie Mulligan as a sleepy London detective inspector trying to navigate a sticky web of intrigue after a pizza delivery driver is murdered. I remember next to nothing about this story. I recall I was somewhat engaged with it at the time, but even then I found the story overly complicated with not enough meat to Mulligan's character to get totally invested in it. If it were any longer than four episodes I probably wouldn't have continued watching past the first episode.
Star Wars Rebels season 4 (Disney XD) - if there are people out there convinced that Disney killed Star Wars, then they haven't watched Star Wars: Rebels. What started out as seemingly a kiddie-fied cartoon set in the pre-A New Hope days evolved into a glorious action adventure drama starring a makeshift-family that grew and grew and grew in scale to something glorious. If there was any burden for the show it was the expectation that it would ultimately dovetail into established Star Wars canon, be it Rogue One's climax or A New Hope's Battle of Yavin. But it found its own path, and its ties to established canon ran much deeper than just, say putting the crew of the Ghost in conflict with the Death Star. The character building reached its apex in Season 4, with each character continuing to evolve, or fulfil their ultimate destiny in exciting or heartbreaking ways. The journey with the cast of Rebels truly is an epic one, as much the equal of any Skywalker or Solo family memeber, and perhaps even more rewarding. This season continues to build upon the understanding of the force, as well as providing insight into the scale of the fight the rebels have against the empire. It comes full circle, bringing together things learned in previous seasons to show that liberal fluidity is more powerful than conservative rigidity. It's a show that further bridges the prequels to the original trilogy, it reinforces the importance of the Clone Wars cartoon in the pantheon, and it gives us some of the franchise's best characters (in a franchise already full of great ones). Thanks to Dave Filoni and the creative crew for this amazing ride.
Star Wars Resistance season 1 (Disney XD) As one series ends, another begins. This time however, it's set in the era of the sequel trilogy, season one ends colliding with the events of The Force Awakens. But unlike Rebels, which seemed to have a mission to further explore the nuances of the galaxy it inhabits, Resistance is a small show with small dreams. It's still spearheaded by Dave Filoni, but Filoni's interest here seems to primarily be channeling George Lucas' love of slapstick and physical comedy. It's central character is Kazuda Xiono, a bumbling Jack Tripper-type who bumbles his way through his espionage mission aboard an outer rim refueling station that the First Order is courting influence with. The selection of Kaz as their spy is the first of hundreds of absurdities that this show asks its audience to believe in. The supporting cast features few likeable figures, and it gets so mired in its sitcom-like setups each episode that it never feels high stakes. The show works best when Poe Dameron shows up, Oscar Isaac's confident performance as an actual competent agent elevating everything about the show, and lending it its only air of authenticity. The First Order is full of threats, with scattered appearances of Captain Phasma, but the only actual menace they actually generate is when the show dovetails into Starkiller Base's destruction of an entire system. The show, it's bad. It's a bad show. The animation is weird, but not unwatchable, which is more than I can say for the rest of the show. I don't like it. Season 1 basically ends where, all things being equal, it really should have began.---
And that's it. The long list of 2017 (and a bit of 2018) in the bag. Some good thoughts, but mostly half-hearted ramblings about things I've mostly forgotten. But that's not all that unusual for this blog now is it.
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Alita: Battle Angel
2019, Robert Rodriguez (Machete) -- download
I have said it before but there is a certain type of genre movie that seems to be made for me. Think big, expansive worlds like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets or over the top scifi worlds like in Mortal Engines & Jupiter Ascending. I like big, cinematic and imaginative. That is one of the reasons I was always attracted to anime, for nothing gets its vast on like the melodrama in anime. The Japanese are not afraid to make their worlds too big, just like the eyes and just like the cries out loud. And the melodrama.
Alita: Battle Angel came originally as a Manga and then as a popular 90s anime movie. Rodriguez comes along, after James Cameron gives up to focus on his blue elves, with a grand film that is faithful in many ways my memory says it was. It's been years since I either read the comic or saw the movie, but the world, the characters and the sheer audacity of its far future human cyborg relations is faithful.
In case you haven't guessed, I rather liked it, and I will have to either see it (if possible) in the cinema or at least get a blu-ray, as my wont of downloading decent rips doesn't always translate well with movies as CGI illuminated as this one, with digital breakup taking over many scenes.
In this world Zalem, the last remaining floating city (the rest taken down by war hundreds of years prior), hangs above Iron City. The rich are above, the poor are below but everyone is mixed up in trans-humanity, some going so far as to only have their brains remain, the rest of their bodies converted into fantastic creatures, many so far as to become monsters. Ido (Christoph Waltz), the local free-clinic doctor, finds the upper torso of Alita in the trash (all that falls from Zalem can have a new life in Iron City) and reconstructs her, including the lower body of his lost daughter. Her memory is absent so he tries to instill in her a wonder for Iron City while ignoring the fact she has a legendary warrior buried somewhere inside her.
Migawd this movie looked lovely! Iron City is just lovingly created, drawing upon the source material but also using imagery that made me think of Mexico City. Of course, the parallels of the current US / Mexico situation, with the glorious, rich city in The Sky (behind The Wall) compared to people who are just doing their best to gain enough prestige to move there. That's not to say Iron City isn't a lovely place to live, as despite the obvious separation of lifestyles, you can still be happy & healthy in Iron City. As long as the monsters don't get you.
While the overall plot of a young girl finding herself and her empowered place in the world doesn't entirely work, the classic anime of What Is Human does. I always translated that to What Is Sentient, because who are we to decide what gets to be A Person? Humanity is likely not the only intelligent life in the universe, so its not so much as whether you are Human or not, as whether you are a living creature of intelligent & emotion. Ghost in the Shell took that premise and decided that the presence of a Ghost, a migrated otherness (soul?) that was housed in an entirely artificial shell, was enough to be Human. They don't go as far here, for as long as there is a brain that generates humanity, the metal people of Iron City are human. Or so the story wants us to believe. Meanwhile, we question the humanity of the man who while entirely biological, seems to act as the shell for another man.
This one will definitely bear another watching or two, and likely join The Shelf. That said, I am thinking its maybe the time to get a proper 4K blu-ray player.
Alita: Battle Angel came originally as a Manga and then as a popular 90s anime movie. Rodriguez comes along, after James Cameron gives up to focus on his blue elves, with a grand film that is faithful in many ways my memory says it was. It's been years since I either read the comic or saw the movie, but the world, the characters and the sheer audacity of its far future human cyborg relations is faithful.
In case you haven't guessed, I rather liked it, and I will have to either see it (if possible) in the cinema or at least get a blu-ray, as my wont of downloading decent rips doesn't always translate well with movies as CGI illuminated as this one, with digital breakup taking over many scenes.
In this world Zalem, the last remaining floating city (the rest taken down by war hundreds of years prior), hangs above Iron City. The rich are above, the poor are below but everyone is mixed up in trans-humanity, some going so far as to only have their brains remain, the rest of their bodies converted into fantastic creatures, many so far as to become monsters. Ido (Christoph Waltz), the local free-clinic doctor, finds the upper torso of Alita in the trash (all that falls from Zalem can have a new life in Iron City) and reconstructs her, including the lower body of his lost daughter. Her memory is absent so he tries to instill in her a wonder for Iron City while ignoring the fact she has a legendary warrior buried somewhere inside her.
Migawd this movie looked lovely! Iron City is just lovingly created, drawing upon the source material but also using imagery that made me think of Mexico City. Of course, the parallels of the current US / Mexico situation, with the glorious, rich city in The Sky (behind The Wall) compared to people who are just doing their best to gain enough prestige to move there. That's not to say Iron City isn't a lovely place to live, as despite the obvious separation of lifestyles, you can still be happy & healthy in Iron City. As long as the monsters don't get you.
While the overall plot of a young girl finding herself and her empowered place in the world doesn't entirely work, the classic anime of What Is Human does. I always translated that to What Is Sentient, because who are we to decide what gets to be A Person? Humanity is likely not the only intelligent life in the universe, so its not so much as whether you are Human or not, as whether you are a living creature of intelligent & emotion. Ghost in the Shell took that premise and decided that the presence of a Ghost, a migrated otherness (soul?) that was housed in an entirely artificial shell, was enough to be Human. They don't go as far here, for as long as there is a brain that generates humanity, the metal people of Iron City are human. Or so the story wants us to believe. Meanwhile, we question the humanity of the man who while entirely biological, seems to act as the shell for another man.
This one will definitely bear another watching or two, and likely join The Shelf. That said, I am thinking its maybe the time to get a proper 4K blu-ray player.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Ghost in the Shell
2017, Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) -- cinema
Yes, I went to see it. By myself, at 10:30am on a Saturday morning. Of course, I wasn't seeing it in the first few weeks, nor in 3D, but not long after it had been bombed down into only a few theatres. And the only one accessible to me was downtown, with showings while I was at work. So, this weekend, I made the effort, got up for the only Saturday showing and sat as the Only Other Person In the Theatre to see it.
And I enjoyed it.
But let me get this out; I am a rather big fan of the franchise. I saw the original anime movie ages ago, Ottawa ages ago, cinematically and adored it. English printed Manga was not big back then so, other than a few American comics out since, it was all I knew of it. And not until here in Toronto, many years later, the two TV series came out, Stand Alone Complex and SAC 2nd Gig, and I bought them faithfully as soon as the DVDs hit the shelves. Eventually I did read the Manga, but to be honest, Motoko's even more overt sexualization turned me off, and of course, the books are incredibly dense reading -- there are almost more addendum and footnotes than there are main story. But still a fan. Action figures everywhere, and a little plastic tachikoma travels with me from desk to desk wherever I work.
So, when a movie was coming out, live action starring Scarlet Johansson, I was simultaneously excited and bothered. The early visuals seemed to capture a lot of the intent which made the original movie so popular. But why white wash her? Theoretically I know why, as its obvious for there to be American appeal, an American actress has to play her. Or so the industry keeps on telling us. But no, they didn't really have to cast her that way. Anywayz, I moved on, cuz to be honest, I like ScarJo --- remember, I am the one who really enjoyed Lucy.
But the lingering bit that really bugged me was the idea that her name was now Major. Not Major Motoko Kusanagi, and not even as a rank. But her first name seemed to be Major. "This is Major, " the character says while standing on a rooftop, in the trailer. And as more data came out, her name had been further revealed to be Major Mira Killian. But still, not always used as rank, but as name. And then Marmy played me a bit where Sanders mispronounces a supporting character's name. Bleah. Losing further hope.
But still, I knew I would see it, and pretty much expected to like it. And I was right, but... there were as many raising of expectations as there were minor disappointments.
Let's get the spoiler stuff out of the way!
The whole white washing turns out to be a misfired intentional plot and marketing campaign element. Her character is actually white washed in the movie itself. If you don't know already, the idea is that Major (or Mira) is a full body mod, the "first of her kind". They have taken the brain from a dying girl and transplanted it inside an incredibly advanced robot body. The process wipes her memories. But in fact, they actually kidnapped a girl, the young Moto Kusanagi (Japanese refugee) and stole her life from her. The Evil Corporation actually does white wash the person into the cold, white, beauty that is ScarJo. So, not exactly the best way to handle the situation, but at least it is clumsily handled.
Also, despite the Director, everyone else knows how to pronounced Batou, which rhymes with gateau. And his character is rather well portrayed, right down to his dog. The actor gets his character
But how is the movie?
Meh.
Again, it looks good. But Rupert seems intent on recreating some of the most memorable scenes in the anime (like the hand to hand fight in the inches deep water) but only tenuously connecting the scenes together into a viable story. Gone was the density of plot from the anime, replaced by a simple, accessible story of it being bad to kidnap people and force them to become your new ultra-cyborg military source. Like I said in my post about Passengers, there could have been more dialogue about the ramifications and the questionable terms about how much can be replaced, and leave you still "human" but those are reduced to a handful of snippets of conversation and mournful looks from ScarJo. In the end, the whole story is rather pedestrian.
As a nod out the door, I am known to blame the producers for reducing movies to lower than their original intent. While much of the blame lies heavily in Sanders hands, I think I am noticing a new trend -- Chinese producers. This movie is another in the growing line of Hollywood movies funded by Chinese production companies. This time, inserting Asian actors was not the requirement, but the evening out of dialogue sure was. There are many scenes that reminded me of the dramatic structure of a Hong Kong action flick, with characters speaking in short sentences, strong enunciated, interspersed by dramatic pauses. Places that could have had dense dialogue were reduced to one liners and stares. Cultural transpositioning? Perhaps. Or just bad direction.
And I enjoyed it.
But let me get this out; I am a rather big fan of the franchise. I saw the original anime movie ages ago, Ottawa ages ago, cinematically and adored it. English printed Manga was not big back then so, other than a few American comics out since, it was all I knew of it. And not until here in Toronto, many years later, the two TV series came out, Stand Alone Complex and SAC 2nd Gig, and I bought them faithfully as soon as the DVDs hit the shelves. Eventually I did read the Manga, but to be honest, Motoko's even more overt sexualization turned me off, and of course, the books are incredibly dense reading -- there are almost more addendum and footnotes than there are main story. But still a fan. Action figures everywhere, and a little plastic tachikoma travels with me from desk to desk wherever I work.
So, when a movie was coming out, live action starring Scarlet Johansson, I was simultaneously excited and bothered. The early visuals seemed to capture a lot of the intent which made the original movie so popular. But why white wash her? Theoretically I know why, as its obvious for there to be American appeal, an American actress has to play her. Or so the industry keeps on telling us. But no, they didn't really have to cast her that way. Anywayz, I moved on, cuz to be honest, I like ScarJo --- remember, I am the one who really enjoyed Lucy.
But the lingering bit that really bugged me was the idea that her name was now Major. Not Major Motoko Kusanagi, and not even as a rank. But her first name seemed to be Major. "This is Major, " the character says while standing on a rooftop, in the trailer. And as more data came out, her name had been further revealed to be Major Mira Killian. But still, not always used as rank, but as name. And then Marmy played me a bit where Sanders mispronounces a supporting character's name. Bleah. Losing further hope.
But still, I knew I would see it, and pretty much expected to like it. And I was right, but... there were as many raising of expectations as there were minor disappointments.
Let's get the spoiler stuff out of the way!
The whole white washing turns out to be a misfired intentional plot and marketing campaign element. Her character is actually white washed in the movie itself. If you don't know already, the idea is that Major (or Mira) is a full body mod, the "first of her kind". They have taken the brain from a dying girl and transplanted it inside an incredibly advanced robot body. The process wipes her memories. But in fact, they actually kidnapped a girl, the young Moto Kusanagi (Japanese refugee) and stole her life from her. The Evil Corporation actually does white wash the person into the cold, white, beauty that is ScarJo. So, not exactly the best way to handle the situation, but at least it is clumsily handled.
Also, despite the Director, everyone else knows how to pronounced Batou, which rhymes with gateau. And his character is rather well portrayed, right down to his dog. The actor gets his character
But how is the movie?
Meh.
Again, it looks good. But Rupert seems intent on recreating some of the most memorable scenes in the anime (like the hand to hand fight in the inches deep water) but only tenuously connecting the scenes together into a viable story. Gone was the density of plot from the anime, replaced by a simple, accessible story of it being bad to kidnap people and force them to become your new ultra-cyborg military source. Like I said in my post about Passengers, there could have been more dialogue about the ramifications and the questionable terms about how much can be replaced, and leave you still "human" but those are reduced to a handful of snippets of conversation and mournful looks from ScarJo. In the end, the whole story is rather pedestrian.
As a nod out the door, I am known to blame the producers for reducing movies to lower than their original intent. While much of the blame lies heavily in Sanders hands, I think I am noticing a new trend -- Chinese producers. This movie is another in the growing line of Hollywood movies funded by Chinese production companies. This time, inserting Asian actors was not the requirement, but the evening out of dialogue sure was. There are many scenes that reminded me of the dramatic structure of a Hong Kong action flick, with characters speaking in short sentences, strong enunciated, interspersed by dramatic pauses. Places that could have had dense dialogue were reduced to one liners and stares. Cultural transpositioning? Perhaps. Or just bad direction.
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