MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES; THE RULES OF THE GAME; VENUS; LA DEMOISELLE D'HONNEUR; PETER PAN; ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS; THE PROFOUND DESIRE OF THE GODS; EIJANAIKA; SONG OF THE SOUTH; FACTORY GIRL; XXXHOLIC - A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM; GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES; LA BELLE NOISEUSE; BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA; WITHNAIL AND I; MUSIC AND LYRICS; THE SWORD IN THE STONE; POM POKO; L'AMOUR FOU; THE FOX AND THE HOUND; MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS; LITTLE NEMO; BLACK SNAKE MOAN; THE LITTLE MERMAID;  300; SUN IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE SHOGUNATE; THE QUEEN; ONLY YESTERDAY; FIDO; 2 OU 3 CHOSES QUE JE SAIS D'ELLE; BLADES OF GLORY; MEET THE ROBINSONS

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES

Sunday, January 7th, 2007

Today i went into the city to see a movie that i should've seen a while back (on a better screen), Manufactured Landscapes. It's not exactly a typical documentary.

It follows a photographer going from place of place, as he shoots many of the changes we impose on our environment, much of in China, due to its radical industrial growth in a relatively short while. On a few occasions, we see him addressing a crowd, and a few times we see his work in galleries.

One of the things he does is not become political about it - he says if he did, people would either agree with it, or they wouldn't - so he allows the pictures to speak for themselves, and the viewer to decide for themselves. So it is a lot like work in a gallery, in that often we're simply looking. The first shot is amazing - row upon row of manufacturing in a single plant which i believe is something like a half-kilometre wide.

Man, how much time do workers in China spend just being organized, let alone doing the work? And to the right, turning cities into rubble, before the Three Gorges Dam is completed.

A river of slag (in Canada?). To the right, ships left by high tide for dismantling by poor Bangladeshis.

Coal as far as the eye can see, in China.

THE RULES OF THE GAME

Sunday, January 14th, 2007

The movie i saw was Jean Renoir's 1939 film La Règle Du Jeu (The Rules of the Game).

'The movie takes the superficial form of a country house farce, at which wives and husbands, lovers and adulterers, masters and servants, sneak down hallways, pop up in each other's bedrooms and pretend that they are all proper representatives of a well-ordered society. Robert Altman... once said "I learned the rules of the game from The Rules of the Game." '

It reminded me at some points of Monty Python's Upper Class Twit Race sketch, and another sketch of theirs where the upper class twit hunters spend a day killing each other. Of course, Nazi Germany and war were very close, and they knew it. The rabbit hunt is a little disturbing - perhaps more so to a modern audience.

The director as actor. It's said to be one of the top two movies of all time.

" I have no choice but to dismiss you. It breaks my heart, but I can't expose my guests to your firearms. It may be wrong of them, but they value their lives. "

VENUS

Saturday, January 20th, 2007

"Oh, just kill them, kill the young, exterminate their disgusting happiness and hope."

Today's movie was Venus, starring Peter O'Toole. Maurice and Ian are aging actors and close friends. Ian agrees to let his grandniece Jessie move in to his flat to 'care' for him. She proves to be a surly hassle for him, but Maurice falls for her, to the point of nicknaming her 'Venus'. It was very good. It's both very funny (a lot of old age humour), and very sad.

"I can still take a theoretical interest."

"Oh, just kill them, kill the young, exterminate their disgusting happiness and hope."

"What were you playing?"
"A corpse, more or less."
"Typecast again."

"I hate sympathy."
"But you wouldn't have got any from me."
"I know! You're a true friend."

LA DEMOISELLE D'HONNEUR

Sunday, January 21st, 2007

"You're the one I was waiting for, you're my destiny. Welcome to my realm, my love."

The movie i saw last Sunday(!) was La Demoiselle d'honneur (The Bridesmaid), a weird sort of thriller-romance. Both disturbing and perversely funny at the same time. Love at first sight? L'amour fou indeed.

We don't see two people until well into the film, the husband of the sister, whom we see is laughably geeky (not to mention eager), and the bridesmaid herself.

He's oddly obsessed with a bust his mother tried to give away.

The photos do not do her charms justice.

PETER PAN

Tuesday, January 3oth, 2007

"Don't you understand, Tink? You mean more to me than anything in this whole world! "

The DVD i saw last night was Peter Pan, which i'd only seen just clips of before. It had a classic story feel, although i'm surprised there's not more objection to some of the content. The depiction of 'Indians' is so racistly stereotyped, you can't help but cringe. I suppose you can take it with a grain of salt, because it wasn't meant to be racist, and really it's a Scotman's playtime version of Indians for English boys, and bears about as much relationship to real Native Americans as Captain Hook does to real pirates.

What surprised me more was the depiction of the females, who are shown to be jealous and spiteful (this includes Tinkerbell, the mermaids and Wendy). Tinkerbell also seems to be worried about the size of her ass. Despite this, i actually enjoyed Tinkerbell's performance, and obviously so did the animators - parts of it seemed rather more adult than the rest of the story (i wonder if she were being designed today, would we be seeing her underpants?).

Tinkerbell is a bit of a flasher.

Captain Hook: A jealous female can be tricked into anything.
Peter Pan: Girls talk too much!

ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS

Friday, February 2nd, 2007

Oh my god, the place reeks! How many pets do you have?

In the late afternoon i watched One Hundred and One Dalmatians, the original cartoon. Actually, the histories say Disney didn't like it because to save money they started using photocopying, and it meant the art ended up less smooth, but i quite liked the style. Their character animating was amazing.

"Kids, if you're hungry, you can suck on our boobs!"

"Don't ask me, you were the one who wanted kids."

"Kill two for matching clogs!"

THE PROFOUND DESIRE OF THE GODS

Sunday, February 4th, 2007

Sunday i had lunch at the Queen Mother. The place was busy - i'm usually there earlier. Anyway, i just had 'appetisers', the vegetable-chick pea soup, the baby arugula salad (with walnuts and blue cheese), and fries. Yummy! And a glass of chardonnay. I finished off two manga and half a DC grahic novel.

In the afternoon, i went to see Kamigami no Fukaki Yokubo, The Profound Desire of the Gods / Kuragejima - Legends from a Southern Island, by Shohei Imamura. A product of both traditional Japanese culture meeting the modern world, and 60s psychedelia, it's a bizarre humorous epic of honour, incest, social exclusion and ambition. Fun!

Sarariman, meet retarded inbred hottie.

EIJANAIKA

Saturday, February 10th, 2007

The movie i saw was Shohei Imamura's Eijanaika, set in 1866-67, during the battles between the forces of the Emperor and the Shogun. It's not about the war though, but about ordinary people, how they're victims of both sides, and the manipulations of wealth and class. It starts off with a man who had been rescued from a shipwreck by an American ship, returned back to Japan after 6 years, to find his wife sold to an Edo 'carnival' (as a kind of stripper). Although she loves her husband, she doesn't want to go back to the misery of being a farmer's wife. Their lives are at the mercy of a gang boss who's on the payroll of both sides in the war.

Despite the description, it's not all bleak - it's full of humour (some black, some farcical) and eroticism. At one point, there's a huge cross-dressing procession of the urban poor. The refrain (untranslated) "eijanaika" means "ain't it great", although it's used in the sense, "what the hell". I really enjoyed it.

"I'm lazy and I'm loose. But I love you."--Ine to Genji

SONG OF THE SOUTH

Saturday, February 10th, 2007

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

Last night i watched a movie i rented, one that i didn't even put on my to-see list, because i thought the odds were so lousy, and that was Song Of The South. On it, it said it was converted from PAL, although i'm pretty sure the subtitles were Japanese (whom i believe are NTSC). Anyway, i can see why they have trouble releasing it. The story is pretty patronizing (and trite), but the animated pieces (of which there wasn't nearly enough) are lots of fun. Apparently there was a poorly received sequel, although it looks like they redid the character designs. I think they should flesh out a new animated frame, with new pieces done in the same style (there were more stories to choose from, and in fact, there was a newspaper strip that lasted for years). But, damn, isn't that tune catchy.

" Look! If you don't say 'howdy' time I counts three, I'ma bust you wide open!"

"You said this was a Laughing Place. And I ain't laughing."
" I didn't say it was your Laughing Place, I said it was *my* Laughing Place, Br'er Bear."

"Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

FACTORY GIRL

Sunday, February 11th, 2007

You're the boss, apple sauce.

The movie i saw today was Factory Girl, based on the life of Edie Sedgwick, during her time at Andy Warhol's Factory studio, starring Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce. Jimmy Fallon and Hayden Christensen were in it(!?), but they didn't overly annoy. Who knows how fictional it is? Bib Dylan claims never to have had a sexual relationship with her. The reviews have been lukewarm at best, but i actually enjoyed it. I thought both the leads were fun to watch.

"It's so much more fun in New York since you showed up."

The real Edie.

XXXHOLIC - A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Monday, February 14th, 2007

These wishes come at a price.

I finished watching the DVD, Gekijôban XXXHolic Manatsu no yoru no yume, xxxHOLiC - A Midsummer Nights Dream, based on the manga, of course. It's pretty true to the manga's style. The translation was just awful - not done by a native Englsih speaker. I enjoy xxxHolic more than Tsubasa.

Yuko, the Time-Space Witch (screenshot from the movie).

"April 1" (as they actually called him in the translation, although you could clearly hear 'Watanuki', without an honorific) and Doumeki.

Looking very Middle Eastern louche...

I just love the poster work of this series.

Yuko and Himawari with Sakura (who did a very brief cameo in the movie).

GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES

Wednesday, February 14th, 2007

Wednesday i watched the DVD, Hotaru no haka, known as Grave of the Fireflies. The Japanese word doesn't indicate singular of plural, so it's ambiguous whether it means 'fireflies' (the literal interpretation in the movie) or 'firefly' (more figurative) - The Firefly Grave would retain the ambiguity.

It's a Studio Ghibli movie, so you know it's well-made, and focusses on kids. It's an adaptation of a semi-autobiographical book, about a 15 year-old boy and his little sister struggling to survive after being orphaned by the firebombing of Japan towards the end of World War II. It's terribly sad, but beautifully done.

The thing i like most about Ghibli animation is how natural the children are.

LA BELLE NOISEUSE

Friday, February 16th, 2007

The movie i saw was La belle noiseuse, 'the beautiful troublemaker', 'noiseuse' apparently being a word not well-known in France but is Quebec, coming from 'noix' meaning nut, so someone who will drive you nuts, rather than someone who is nutty.

A young artist and his girlfriend are brought by their agent to visit his icon, an older artist, and his wife. The older artist had stopped working, but he becomes inspired by the girlfriend's beauty and the artist's passion, and wants to finish a painting he couldn't ten years before, when his wife was the model. At first the girlfriend is unhappy being a model, then becomes the driving force. It becomes a mind game, a battle of wills as he struggles to work and she struggles with how exposed she is (emotionally more than physically). Their partners also struggle being left on the outside.

I find some of the other reviewers description of the artist as being 'almost sadistic', when he seems to be rather matter-of-fact to me. And of course the French take everything too seriously, 'i love you' one minute, 'i hate you' the next. I like how the movie didn't go where you'd expect, and how we were witness to the creative process, watching the artist sketch and paint for quite some time (although it made for a long movie, 4 hours). It was often pretty funny, and Emmanuelle Béart is easy to look at.

It did strike me as odd how much he touched the model - in any lifedrawing i've been in it would be verboten.

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA

Saturday, February 17th, 2007

Today i saw Bridge to Terabithia. It's been getting good reviews, and was pretty enjoyable. I like how the story as different than i was expecting - it's not some ersatz Chronicles of Narnia and much more real than fantasy - and they take some risks. I didn't like the stereotyped school setting (it seemed a little cartoonish).

Like Narnia, it's notable for the Christian twist (both released by Walden Media). There is one scene where the characters go to church, and a couple where they discuss the Bible and hell. While it was a little out of place in the movie, it struck a bit of a chord with me, because i remember being 8 or 9, and having one of my neighbour and playmates tell me i was going to hell for not believing (he went to the Catholic school down the street). I think some people are bothered by the overt references, seeing Walden Media as a prosletyzing company, but what i found funny is how subversive it is (then again, The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy all show characters going to church regularly, and they're the most subversive shows on TV).

Jesse is uncomfortable with his beliefs, while his little sister is just parroting what she's been told, yet one character says God wouldn't send someone who doesn't believe to hell. Jesse's family is the most traditional and church-going, but they're pretty poor and not particularly supportive, while Leslie's is a little non-traditional (both parents are stay-at-home writers and have no TV) and agnostic, but reasonably well-off and have fun as a family (though it's small). Jesse and his little sister believe in hell and are fearful of God's wrath, while Leslie, who joined in out of curiosity, found the story of the Resurrection to be beautiful. Her motto is, "Just close your eyes, but keep your mind wide open," which she applies to imagination and magic as well as to religion. I think fundamentalist Christians would have problems with a lot of this, those who believe magic is evil, non-believers WILL go to hell (even children) and God favour those with faith.

But what's this about girls not being able to go to church in trousers?

See how she tempts you! Notice it's a JuicyFruit? She's Eve! She's Lilith! She's a witch! She's Violet Beauregarde!

She reminds me of someone... Naomi Watts?

Ha, ha, ha. I did a Wiki search out of curiosity, and found this: "Because of the novel's content it has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number nine. The censorship attempts stem from death being a part of the plot, Jesse's frequent use of the word "lord" outside of prayer, and concerns that the book promotes secular humanism and New Age religions, occultism, Satanism, and for accusations of sexual content."

WITHNAIL AND I

Saturday, February 17th, 2007

Flowers are essentially tarts; prostitutes for the bees.

Tonight i saw Withnail and I, about two loser actors in 1969 England, trying to get their shit together, or at least get warm, fed and intoxicated one way or another, without getting buggered. A job is seems out of the question.

Lighter fluid might warm you up.

There's something about Richard E Grant's Withnail that reminds me of Johnny Depp's Keith Richards.

W: "Right, you fucker, I'm going to do the washing up!"
I: "No, no, you can't. It's impossible, I swear it. I've looked into it. Listen to me, listen to me! There are things in there, there's a tea-bag growing! You haven't slept in sixty hours, you're in no state to tackle it. Wait till the morning, we'll go in together."
W: "This IS the morning. Stand aside!"
I: "You don't understand. I think there may be something alive."
W: "What do you mean? a rat?"
I: "It's possible, it's possible."
W: "Then the fucker will rue the day!"

Danny the awesome druggie philosopher.

"I don't advise a haircut, man. All hairdressers are in the employment of the government. Hairs are your aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos, and transmit them directly into the brain. This is the reason bald-headed men are uptight."

"No need to insult me man. I was leaving anyway. Have either of you got shoes?"

"The greatest decade in the history of mankind is coming to an end and as Presuming Ed here has so consistently pointed out, we have failed to paint it black. They're selling hippie wigs in Woolworth's, man."

"London is a country coming down from its trip. We are 91 days from the end of this decade and there's going to be a lot of refugees."

"Politics man. If you're hanging on to a rising balloon, you're presented with a difficult decision; let go before it's too late, or hold on and keep getting higher. Posing the question, how long can you keep a grip on the rope?"

MUSIC AND LYRICS

Sunday, February 18th, 2007

"Girls, tell me something... Are these pants a bit too tight?"

I saw Music and Lyrics. It was actually pretty fun. The romance is strictly by the numbers, but Hugh Grant makes a charming 'Andrew Ridgeley', self-deprecating, and doesn't take himself too seriously as the former pop star reliving his glory days at state fairs and high school reunions. His old band, 'Pop' is an obvious take on Wham, and there's a good spoof of 80s pop videos. It's actually an affectionate take on light pop songs, and i was surprised it was kind towards the 21st century girl diva (another funny spoof).

At least they're not 'gangstas'...

What's the attraction for pop music? Oh... nevermind...

THE SWORD IN THE STONE

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007

Higitus Figitus migitus mum, pres-ti-dig-i-ton-i-um.

Tonight i saw The Sword in the Stone. It was pretty fun, a very light plot-less take on what might be a more commonly ponderous subject (a la Black Cauldron). The character animation was loads of fun. I did find the absence of female characters odd - oh sure, there was Mim, the cook, and the two squirrels(!), but it's not the same.

I was annoyed however by the condition of the tape. There were places where there were stretches (you see a line of distortion travel down the screen), and a large chunk where the image was jittery or vertically flipping from frame to frame (there must be a name for that) - unfortunately, it was through the bird scene, and the main battle with Mim. Ugh!

When did Furry-love begin?

"Whoops!" Interesting overlap with Excalibur

For Disney classics on my Uberlist, this only leaves Fox & Hound, but i'll see Aristocats too. I'll be watching Pompoko tomorrow night, but considering how hard it was to find it and Grace Of The Fireflies, i think find the remaining anime movies (Little Nemo, Only Yesterday, My Neighbors The Yamadas, Wonderful Days, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, The Book Of The Dead) will prove near impossible.

POM POKO

Wednesday, February 21st, 2007

I watched the last DVD, Pom Poko, in Japanese, Heisei tanuki gassen pompoko ("Heisei-era Raccoon Dog War Pom Poko"). 'Heisei' is the era since the current Emperor has reigned. 'Pom poko' is written in Japanese as 'ponpoko', one word and with an N. It's much like the word 'sempai', which is written 'senpai'. What's happening is the sound assimilation between the nasal N and the bilabial P turns the N into the bilabial nasal M. The word refers to the sound the dogs use when they use their belly (or scrotum!) as a drum. I suppose our equivalent would something like 'pa rum pa pa pum'.

I suppose it's appropriate i start this as a discussion of terminology, because the whole movie is about translation. Firstly, what the dub and subtitles call 'raccoons' are actually raccoon dogs, a wild dog species that just happens to look raccoon-like, called 'tanuki' in Japanese. A lot of Studio Ghibli movies shows Miyazaki's European influence (eg. Porco Rosso), and a lot are more universal stories (Whisper of the Heart). This is the most Japanese anime i've ever seen, even more so than Spirited Away .You have to understand the roles tanuki and foxes play in Japanese folklore, including their ability to transform and their different natures. There's much use of Japanese folk rhymes, Japanese folk customs, jizo statues, mani neko statues, the Shinto priest/shaman figures, and then the parade of spirits from Japanese folklore.

I find that all pretty fascinating, and watching the parade of creatures in the movie is a lot like watching a fun parade in real life. But from a story point of view, i thought it was a little lacking. Or at least, stretched out too far. It was two hours long, and could easily be cut to 90 minutes. We needed a little less of the 'raccoon dogs play some trick, think they've scared off the humans, and celebrate, only to be disappointed'. Another issue is that it's not a movie for young kids - there are a lot of scenes of the dogs being killed.

I guess i was a little disappointed, because i was hoping it would be a little more like Totoro. Also, i don't know if this is my DVD player or the DVD itself, but the subtitles started going wonky, sometimes not showing, sometimes just flashing for a brief second, so i was forced to switch to English. I left on the subtitles but i find it odd how loose the translation of the dub is, occasionally missing important information. Also, the dub called 'pouches' what the sub (correctly) called 'testicles'.

But i did enjoy the switching in the animation style based on the moment - realistic tanuki around humans, cartoony when they acted human, cartoonier when they were even goofier.

L'AMOUR FOU

Friday, February 23rd, 2007

The movie i saw was Jacques Rivette's L'Amour Fou, which sounds so promising (from Cinematheque):

Called “the most important landmark of post-New Wave French cinema,” and “one of the most important films ever, a film that does as much to renew the cinema of today as CITIZEN KANE did,” L'AMOUR FOU is one of Rivette's key works. A stage director, preparing a production of Racine's Andromaque, must deal with the mental collapse of his wife, who is also his leading actress. Their marital break-up culminates in a terrifying, riveting episode in which the husband and wife lock themselves in an apartment for an orgy of lovemaking and wholesale destruction. “Filled with all the magic and sense of mystery which characterizes Rivette's finest work” (Roy Armes). “You emerge from it changed. It's a life experience as much as a film experience” (Jonathan Rosenbaum).

By 'life experience', i'm sure the reviewer referred to its length, 255 minutes. I wouldn't be surprised if i groaned when i saw the word 'intermission'. It says something about the movie that i couldn't tell whether it was halfway done or not. The direction scenes don't have a whole lot to do with the main story, and could have easily been cut back. Plus, i found the breakdown bit annoying - the existentially manic-depressive girlfriend/wife of the artist is such a French film cliche that SCTV was doing spoofs of it years before Betty Blue came out. Admittedly, L'Amour Fou came out in 1969, but at twice the length on an average film, for a pretty thin plot, it wrung any excitement out of it for me.

I also find the supposed 'realism' of French new wave films a little annoying at times. They're supposed to be more natural, with no soundtrack, hearing just the voices and the ambient noise. Except... they don't speak like real people. Hardly anyone has any expression, and every sounds like they're 10 feet away.

One thing i really liked was the pants the director was wearing later on in the movie - very modish striped pants, with varying widths and colours of stripe.

THE FOX AND THE HOUND

Saturday, February 24th, 2007

I watched one of the videos, The Fox and The Hound, one of the late 'classics' i'd never seen. It was pretty enjoyable. The story was pretty anti-hunting, which is fine with me. They kept trying to paint the fox as someone who caused a lot of trouble, but he was pretty much the innocent victim most of the time. It seemed to me the fox was pretty cat-like.

Words to live by: "Trackin' an' smellin' ain't enough. You gotta think nasty."

Hubba hubba.

MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS

Monday, February 26th, 2007

It is deep autumn; My neighbor; How does he live, I wonder. - Basho

Yesterday i finished watching My Neighbors The Yamadas (Hôhokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun), was was a surprisingly delightful movie from Studio Ghibli. It's done in a very different style, more like a comic strip, and its pacing reminded me very much of peanuts. I loved the whimsical bits, the speech at the marriage flaskback, as the parents are shown in traditional wedding dress, but then jump into a luge track that turns out to be part of the wedding cake, and symbolic of starting their trip through life together. It touches on the Western folklore of children being left by storks or found in cabbage patches, but they get their own children based on Japanese legend - the boy found inside a peach, the girl found inside bamboo. Adorable!

Awesome battle for control of the TV.

Baby-harvesting (the boy is born with glasses on - funny!).

LITTLE NEMO

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Monday was sushi day, so lots of good food and bitching about stupid students. After, i went to school and did some marking.

I saw the last anime i had rented, Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. Unfortunately, i could only find the VHS, which was an edited version (85 mins), while the full one (100 min) is on DVD. It's interesting, as an early collaboration between Japanese and American animation. Animated in Japan, so it shows the fluidity and natural motion of work like Studio Ghibli, but the character designs looked more 1940s style Disney of Fleischer. Apparently it didn't do that well, since at the time American audiences weren't ready for non-Disney animation.

It's an odd thing anyway, being based on a very old comic strip almost no one would had heard of - i had because i've studied the history of comics, and of animation, and one of the very earliest animations (1911) is a piece based on the strip. The surrealism of the strip does carry through, but the movie has the same problem as the strip - it's hard to warm up to a kid who simply exists to have dreams. Why is this kid being made King Morpheus' heir? Why is the Princess not the heir? I never really got into it.

BLACK SNAKE MOAN

Friday, March 2nd, 2007

I saw Black Snake Moan, with Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake. It's pretty lurid, with all the symbolism of a white woman with an itch what gotta be scratched being chained up by a hard done by religious man, framed by blues music all about itching and being hard done by, but it was kinda fun, in a white trashy sorta way.

"Kiss my rebel cooch!"

"God seen fit to put you in my path, and I am going to cure you of your wickedness."

THE LITTLE MERMAID

Sunday, March 4th, 2007

I forgot to mention that Sunday i saw The Little Mermaid on TV. It's been so long since i last saw it. The story is heads above a lot of the classic Disney movies, where the principles actually have personality. The animation is actually a bit cheap in places with Ariel's face deforming in odd ways, and it has a bit of that 'nicely painted backgrounds, cartoonier moving things' look. The chef scenes are surprisingly violent (he loses his teeth - more Warner Brothers than Disney).

Why can you never find the pics you want? I wanted Homer singing Under The Sea.

300

Friday, March 9th, 2007

So i saw 300. It was okay. There's something about those entirely blue/green screen movies that i find tiring and claustrophobic. Everything is always 'on', always at full contrast and full volume. You can see how it emulates the comic, with lots of slo-mo shots.

I've never read the graphic novel, but i did know about the battle of Thermopylae. I think the people might find the story confusing without some historical background. There were odd things, although a lot could be accepted as storytelling embellishment by the narrator. The depictions of the Ephors was just plain odd, especially for a Spartan - they were just the political leaders (like a council of 5 prime ministers), not mutated mystics. They were also the real powers, while the kings were the generals and religious leaders. And by the way, Sparta had TWO kings at a time. Spartans talking about freedom is a bit rich (it would be like Patrick "Give me liberty or give me death" Henry being a slave owner), and so is the slur about Athenians being boy-lovers. And just as an aside, while there were 300 Spartans at the final battle, there were 700 other Greeks witth them.

"We're here for our reservations... table of 300, to DINE IN HELL."

SUN IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE SHOGUNATE

Saturday, March 10th, 2007

The movie i saw Bakumatsu taiyoden, also known as Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate. It's a comedy set in a rough little street in Edo just before the Revolution, in a brothel. It's loosely structured around the presence of a resourceful commoner who scammed a couple of days of pleasure and a week long stay, turning from being imprisoned to employed (he was known as Mr. Wastrel). We also meet the owners, assorted prostitutes, scheming samurai, gamblers and a girl sold into prostitution to help pay her father's gambling debts. It's a comedy, pretty fun. Just as an aside, what does it say about a society that would allow daughters to be sold to a brothel to cover a gambling debt? The only saving grace i suppose is that prostitution doesn't have quite the same stigma - at least, once you retire.

"Come for the music, stay for the whores' fight."

Mr. Wastrel and his ladies.

I phoned L&R's place on the way home, but no answer.

THE QUEEN

Sunday, March 11th, 2007

Save these people from themselves!

Not wanting to feed the outrageous gas prices anymore than i had to, i stayed local, having late lunch at Licks. Then i finally saw The Queen. It was lighter than i expected, considering it revolved around Diana's death. Ellen Mirren is fantastic. It's a pretty positive portrayal of the Queen, Prince Charles (though his voice is wimpier then the real Prince's) and Tony Blair. Prince Philip was almost cartoonish though. I still say Pan's Labyrinth was better.

"The Prime Minister is on his way, ma'am."
"Prime Minister to be. I haven't asked him yet."

"Elton John wishes to sing at the funeral. Should be a first for Westminster Abbey."

ONLY YESTERDAY

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

It's directed and written by Isao Takahata, who also did My Neighbors the Yamadas, Pom Poko, Grave of the Fireflies, and also worked on Nausicaa and Castle In The Sky, among many others. It's produced by Hayao Miyazaki, who did the rest of the Studio Ghibli movies, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, and My Neighbor Totoro.

I loved this movie. The scenes of her childhood are so touching, both funny, and bittersweet, and so easy to relate to, which is why i prefer it over Grave of the Fireflies. It's something few animations aspire to, a truly adult movie. It's hard for it to displace My Neighbor Totoro as my favourite anime, because i love the magic of that movie, but i think it's the superior film. It's among my top 3 animations of all time, with The Incredibles and Iron Giant.

Taeko's younger and older selves cross paths.

The safflower fields.

"How did this precocious, curious child become the polite woman in a stale desk job?"

Other than that, my week has been ordinary. I got caught up with marking. I haven't had to do any interviews, but i've been grading submissions. Th weather has been mild (into the teens even), but the cold will come back. Why are gas prices so high? The closed refinery was supposed to be back in production.

FIDO

Friday, March 16th, 2007

"You crazy, wonderful zombie!"

The movie i saw was Fido, this year's zombie comedy (virtually its own genre now). It's a cross between Shaun of the Dead and Pleasantville. Set in a technicolor version of the 1950s, years after passing through a space cloud which reanimated the dead and started the Zombie Wars, things are peaceful now, as long as you stay within the gated communities, but if you die with your brain intact, you become a zombie ("The elderly seem friendly enough, but can we trust them?"). The world (presumably America, but we don't hear about anywhere outside the one town) is run by Zomcom ("A Better Life Through Containment"), the company which figured out how to destroy zombies (thus winning the war), and how to control them. With Zomcon collars, zombies have become the unpaid laboring underclass. That's just the backstory.

Funerals make Dad happy.

The story centres around a stereotypical suburban family of three. Dad reads Death magazine and wants to make sure his family has a proper burial ("I don't think i can, on my salary, afford... another funeral"). We meet Timmy at school, where kids learn how to shoot zombies. Timmy gets picked on and is lonely for a friend. Mom (Carrie Moss - she's very good) wants her family to look perfect ("Timmy, don't play ball by yourself, people will think you're lonely"), and is embarrassed they're the only family on the block without their own zombie.

When the head of Zomcom security moves to the street, Mom convinces her husband to get one (Billy Connolly!). Timmy names it Fido, and they become fast friends (shades of Timmy and Lassie). Dad is afraid of intimacy ("It's more important to live, than have feelings" - he also runs from the dinner table whenever anyone brings up the past), so Fido becomes a threat to his position at home ("Your dad is still part of this family." "Really?").

"If you won't dance with me, i know someone who will."

Filling out the cast is the head of security (pipe smoking 'war hero' Henry Czerny), his wife ("Jonathan says it's best not to get too close"), their sharpshooting, secret rebel daughter, and the creepy neighbour with his still sexy zombie girlfriend.

It's very different than the smart-arsed frantic Shaun of the Dead - it's all deadpan and satire. It's very funny and smart.

The world's worst shot.

2 OU 3 CHOSES QUE JE SAIS D'ELLE

Saturday, March 17th, 2007

The movie i saw was 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle (2 or 3 Things I Know About Her), by Jean-Luc Godard. Her refers both to the main female character, a 'housewife' who turns to prostitution more out of indifference than need, and to the actress who plays her, and to Paris itself. Often the actors address the camera directly, saying what's on their mind. Often, there's a narrator (i.e. Godard) whispering truths and context to us. Mostly, they're disengaged from their lives, and to the wreckage being done to Paris in the form of 'urban renewal' (read expressways), and to the Vietnam War. They wonder about the meaning of words, whether words can express reality, and so on. The garbage of capitalism has more life than they do. It sounds more depressing than it was, and it sounds pretty pretentious, which it perhaps is (of course the meaning of words is mere convention - that's why we have different languages, because of different conventions to meanings of words), but it was still fun.

"There is increasing interaction between images and language. One might say that living in society today is almost like living in a vast comic strip." [I like this one.]

This scene was hilarious, with the two women wearing bags over their heads.

"Words never say what I'm really saying."

"Something may make me cry, but the reason for my tears is not contained in their traces on my cheeks. In other words, you can describe what happens what I do something, without necessarily indicating what makes me do it."

"What will communist ethics be like?
The same as they are now, I expect.
Meaning what?
Look out for one another, work for one's country, love it, love the arts and science.
What will the difference be then?
It will be easier to explain when communism comes."

"If you can't afford LSD, try colour TV."

BLADES OF GLORY

Friday, March 30, 2007

The movie i saw Friday was Blades of Glory. Another Will Ferrell movie, funny like Talladega Nights, not that soccer one. Not quite as funny as Ricky Bobby, but that's because there's no Sacha Baron Cohen.

"I'm gonna get you get you drunk, get you drunk off my lady humps. My humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps."

MEET THE ROBINSONS

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Future Family Robinson

The movie was Meet The Robinsons, the latest non-Pixar Disney movie. I was actually impressed. Okay, you know from the maudlin set-up that it's gonna end up all schmaltzy, but it was pretty fun. What i hate about a lot of Disney movies is that they just go by the numbers, setting up romances just because, they almost always kill the villain, etc. All predictable.

This was a little different. First there was the plot: a villain comes back in time to steal an invention in order to change the timeline, while a teen comes back to stop him. The hero, an orphaned boy, who invents a machine to read memories, because he wants to access his memories of the mother who abandoned him, gets pulled into the future. But there's a twist to this time travelling which is kinda neat - actually, a couple of twists. At one point it becomes a scifi thriller.

The character animation was rather good - the villain, the man with the bowler hat, moved in a comically evil way, all spidery and spastic, and there were clear differences in how the two boys moved. The old guy looks like Geri from Geri's Game.

"I have a big head and little arms, I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through... Master?"

********************

I saw Meet The Robinsons in Digital 3D. I was impressed with the 3D - not those crappy paper glasses anymore. There's still some occasional floatiness, and reflections off the glasses. Interestingly, the most impressive 3D shot was in a trailer - i was 3/4 back from the screen, and i coulda swore the image came within 10 feet of me. It wouldn't have made sense for the movie itself to pop that far forward (until 3D is done holography, and a spaceship can fly past you). There's something i really *like about this movie - the sense of humour is pretty sharp in places.

"Hi Goob!" "Hey Goob, wanna join us?" voiceover: "They all hated me!"

*As it turns out, "After a test screening for John Lasseter, chief creative officer of animation at Disney, he suggested a lot of changes to director Stephen J. Anderson. In the next 10 months prior to the release, nearly 60 percent of the movie was re-shot (or re-rendered), adding new story elements and action scenes as well as a diabolic sidekick."