Claymation!

Wallace & Gromit



Some of the best claymation ever put to film was coming out of Nick Park’s studio in the 1990s. For those who missed them, they can be found in a collection called Wallace and Gromit in 3 Amazing Adventures.

‘A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit’, released in 1989, is probably the weakest of the three – and that’s only a relative term, since it pretty much blew away 90% of all animated shorts that year out of the water. In this adventure, W&G go to the moon in search of cheese. Good, but gets caught up in slapstick at the expense of storytelling. But, like I said before, that’s only relative to other W&G films, when compared to the competition, it is light years ahead.

The series really hits it’s stride in 1993 with ‘Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers’, a story in which an evil penguin uses Wallace as a pawn in a heist. This should make the list of best animated shorts of the 1990s.

And then, just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, in 1995, Park released ‘Wallace and Gromit in A Close Shave’. Gromit is framed for sheep rustling, by the best villain since the evil penguin. Nominated for an Academy Award, and justifiably so. Should make the list of best animated shorts of all time!

Success, and a partnership with Dreamworks brought digital animated techniques into the world of Wallace and Gromit for their feature film debut, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit. The film is excellent, and very entertaining – and the use of newly found digital tools does not take away from the charm of the series. However, this feature length film, at times feels more like ‘A Grand Day Out’ than the latter two shorts, particularly at the climax where the slapstick gags come rapidfire for a bit too long. Still, it’s great fun, worth checking out!

Japan's Edo Period - on film!

Kwaidan



Kwaidan (sometimes Kaidan) literally means “ghost story”. Given the generic term, there have been several movies that have had this title, but the one we are referring to is Masaki Kobayashi's Kaidan from 1964.

Basically this film is something like a Japanese Tales From the Crypt, containing four horror stories in vibrant color Tohoscope, all set in Japan’s Edo Period.

The first story, ‘The Black Hair’, is reminiscent of Ugetsu, wherein a man leaves his wife to attain social status, only to encounter supernatural ruin. The second story, ‘The Woman in the Snow’ is a haunting ghost story of the kind that is universally familiar. The third story, ‘Hoichi the Earless’, is the longest, but perhaps the best, including a historical recreation of a Japanese naval battle. The final story, ‘In a Bowl of Tea’, is probably the weakest, but it does have some of the best martial arts.

Overall, Kwaidan is full of beautiful set pieces and costumes. The sparse, haunting Japanese music is a stark contrast to American film scores, and really works to give these stories an eerie feel. Winner of a Special Jury prize at Cannes, it’s a cultural experience recommended to everyone, but particularly to American audiences who’ve been turned on to Japanese horror in the last decade thanks to imports like The Ring and The Grudge.




Kagemusha

When talking about Japanese cinema, one sooner or later, inevitably runs into Akira Kurosawa. While Kurosawa needs no introduction, I am constantly astounded at how many people never went to see Ran in its initial release. To read the reviews on the web, it seems like the majority of Americans never saw this film until the re-release in the 2000s! What did they think the rest of us had been gushing over for the past 25 years?

Well, if there are any new converts to that epic Kurosawa masterpiece, I encourage them to seek out Kagemusha (literally ‘Shadow Warrior’), the film Kurosawa made just prior to Ran.

The story concerns petty thief who is hired to masquerade as a deceased Clan Lord, and who turns out to be more true to the spirit of the Clan's Lord than the actual generals who are his handlers.

There is no doubt that this is a flawed gem. The subtitles are verbose, and having to read them takes away from appreciating the cinematography – which is gorgeous. There is also an overabundance of long takes that contributes to the film’s extensive 2 hour and 40 minute run time. But by far the biggest flaw is the music score, which is annoying and repetitious, with a reliance on brass instrumentation, giving it a distinctly un-Japanese (or at least un-Edo Period) flavor.

Still, with all it’s flaws, it’s still excellent, and comes across like a rough draft for Ran.

Miracle Plant or Devil's Weed?

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High



The Union is a documentary about perhaps the most maligned plant in history, hemp, and specifically about the illegal marijuana trade in Canada. "The Union" of the title is the nickname for an entire economy (including many legitimate businesses) that is directly or indirectly related to the illegal marijuana trade.
British Columbian filmmaker Brett Harvey was inspired to make the film after witnessing first hand the boom in marijuana business in his home province.

The film delivers a lot of the back-story on cannabis in North America, but its done in a very accessible way, and never feels like a dry history lesson. The film’s primary focus though is on the current state of marijuana as an illegal cash crop. This is not an unbiased film – it’s pretty clear the filmmaker opinions are – but it is well sourced and logical in its arguments, and would likely be fascinating viewing regardless of what your opinions are on marijuana – even those who have no opinion one way or another are likely to get sucked in.

Assassin of Youth



Unless you’ve been living under a rock your whole life, you’re doubtless familiar with the infamous anti-marijuana propaganda film Reefer Madness, a film many find endlessly entertaining for it’s bad acting and heavy-handed moralizing. But Reefer Madness is hardly the only drug education film ever made, and for the camp connoisseur, Assassin of Youth (also known as The Marijuana Menace), is perhaps even better.

Like Reefer Madness, Assassin of Youth is a cautionary tale. Small town girl Joan is set to inherit her grandmother’s fortune, provided she can live up to the will’s morals clause. Linda, Joan’s cousin is next in line to inherit the dough, so she and her husband conspire to besmirch Joan’s character. Meanwhile, undercover reporter Art Brighton has come to town to expose Linda as a dope pusher. What follows is all the standard bad acting and kids-getting-high-and-doing-the-jitterbug scenes you've come to expect from a quality anti-drug film.

Adding to the hilarity is the fact that the surviving print of this film is full of breaks and splices which both helps pick up the pace, and lends some absurdity to the viewing experience, as scenes occasionally begin or end in the middle.

It almost seems like they were trying to make a pro-drug film. The only likeable characters other than the reporter and Joan are the dope smokers. While they are of course drug-addled buffoons, the adults are so self righteous that at times they give Dana Carvey’s infamous ‘Church Lady’ character a run for her money. The town gossip, for example, actually looks and sounds like the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, and is shown cackling and flying by on her scooter so exactly like Hamilton in Oz, that it can't be a coincidence.

Why I'm Not Watching the Olympics

Bigger Stronger Faster



I used to love the Olympics, the Olympic ideal of the best of every nation on earth coming to one place and competing. The Olympics back in the 1980s were really something to see – new records were being broken all the time.

But first the rumors started, then everything came out in the open. Performance enhancing drugs – the East Germans were using them. Then it got so bad that we had to test everyone and some people got in and some people got rejected. And some of the ones that were rejected admitted to using drugs, and some denied it. Moreover, some of the ones that got in, and even won, later admitted to ‘doping’.

So whenever I’m asked about whether or not I’m going to watch the Olympics, or just about any other major sporting event, I’m reminded of the Saturday Night Live sketch about the 'All Drug Olympics’. I still remember the laundry list of drugs one athlete was said to have taken followed by the line, “This is not only not against the rules, it's actually encouraged in the all drug Olympics.” While it was made as a satire, this idea bears serious merit- there's always going to be new drugs, new ways of hiding them, people who play by the rules, people who bend the rules, people who cheat, etc. The only way to make it fair is make it ALL legal. Anyone can take anything, voila, once again it's a level playing field. No one can claim they were cheated because they too had the option of taking or not taking performance enhancing drugs. No one can have their record stricken from the record books or whatnot.

Bigger Stronger Faster actually includes a clip from that Saturday Night Live sketch. This film gives the straight dope on dope. Written and directed by a former anabolic steroid user who no longer uses steroids on “moral grounds”, this documentary covers the issue from all sides. Mark Bell (who can't compete with his own brothers without steroids) has made a thoroughly entertaining, and comprehensive examination of the issue. From interviewing Stan Lee of Marvel comics who created Captain America (for those not in the know, Cap basically took drugs to achieve physical perfection) to opening his own legal supplement business in the living room; from talking to a man whose child died from alleged steroid use to talking to his Congressman, to fighter pilots who still use performance enhancers, and with his own family at the center of the whole steroid controversy, there is no better insider to tell this story.

And it is a story we like to sweep under the rug. Even the title of this movie has been expunged, the full title is Bigger Stronger Faster* The Side Effects of Being American. But on the DVD it has the more palatable, Bigger Stronger Faster* Is It Still Cheating If Everyone’s Doing It?

Werewolves

Werewolf of London



Released in 1935, Werewolf of London was the first werewolf “talkie” werewolf film ever made. It was one of the first films in the Universal monster series, and while not as good as The Wolf Man, it still holds up pretty well today.

Like a lot of the thrillers of the day, it relies heavily on dialogue and mood. And it has some great dialogue, such as, “You are foolish, but without fools there would be no wisdom". But it’s technical aspects were very good for it’s time too. Particularly the way the transformation sequences were handled, and a very clever telephone montage.

Ginger Snaps and Ginger Snaps: Unleashed




Ginger Snaps: Unleashed another werewolf movie, is the sequel to Ginger Snaps, part of the recent trend of what I call "alternative horror", horror flicks featuring the alternative aesthetic, made outside the Hollywood system and often involving twisted takes on traditional horror material; a subgenre that was kicked off by the success of The Blair Witch Project. These films, part Hammer Horror, part Heathers play equally well in the arthouse and the drive-in.

Without spoiling too much, the original, Ginger Snaps, was kind of like a modern take on the camp classic I Was A Teenage Werewolf, but instead of serving up a cheesy Teen Wolf comedy romp, Ginger Snaps went straight for the jugular (pardon the pun), dealing head on with the concept of lycanthropy as a metaphor for the changes of puberty. But, here the Michael Landon role is a teenaged girl named Ginger, which reinforces the metaphor as she and her younger sister struggle to deal with the changes wrought on their relationship by the onset of Ginger's "curse". And the thrills just pile up as teen angst gives way to adult horror.

Ginger Snaps: Unleashed picks up where the first movie left off. Ginger's sister Brigitte, now infected, struggles daily to keep from being overwhelmed by the curse. Eventually her strange peccadilloes land her in a rehab clinic where she is forced to deal with a host of unseemly characters, including Tyler, a perverted intern and a hostile ward of the hospital called Ghost. To make matters worse, Brigitte is being pursued by another werewolf, which makes her and everyone in the hospital a sitting duck. With the help of Ghost, Brigitte plans to escape to the wilderness, and an inevitable showdown with the beast out there, as well as the beast inside herself.

Sequels, almost by definition, can't be as groundbreaking as their predecessors, but Ginger Snaps: Unleashed covers enough new territory to make it a worthy successor, and a solid standalone feature. The increased production values may in fact put it in the rare category of sequels that outdo their originals. Despite Hollywood's slick silver bullets like Underworld, Canada's Ginger Snaps series alongside the recent UK film Dog Soldiers proves that the werewolf mythos are alive and well in the 21st Century.

The Man Behind the Camera

The Last Horror Movie



In past reviews I’ve mentioned the attempt to bring Cinema Verité style camera work to dramatic features. This technique seems particularly well suited for the horror genre, as mentioned in the review for [REC] (q.v.)

If you were raised on very steady, tripod shot films, you may be in the group that finds extensive handheld camerawork, tedious and nausea inducing; if on the other hand you like the style for the sense of immediacy it brings, The Last Horror Movie may be worth searching out.

Its several years old, so it deserves scads of credit for prefiguring the recent trend of documentary style horror films, but the last seven years have brought many changes, so it’s a tad dated already – videotape still predominates, and the local video stores were still a dominant force.

As you can probably guess from the title, The Last Horror Movie like 8mm, is metafiction. But it’s no slick lifeless 35mm Hollywood thriller about 8mm snuff films. This UK shot-on-video piece puts you in the action as you accompany a serial killer making the rounds. The killer is a wedding videographer who, with his assistant, travels around killing people and videotaping it.

Comparisons to Man Bites Dog are inevitable, but this film forgoes the black humor in favor of a more “real” and menacing feel. The killer, probably not accidentally, bears more than a passing resemblance to Ted Bundy. Good looking, charming, and able to go from zero to psychopath almost instantly. In that respect, it reminded me a little of American Psycho, but again, less slick.

Certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, but then no movie featuring a serial killer is.

Peeping Tom




If you like The Last Horror Movie, you might want to go back even further to seek out another rare treasure. Peeping Tom might actually have been the inspiration for The Last Horror Movie. This movie deals with a disturbed young photographer/filmmaker who kills models and actresses in London and captures it on film in a sort of 1960s update of Jack the Ripper.

This film was clearly ahead of it’s time. Made in the late 1950s and released in 1960, it resembles the 70s films of a decade and a half later more than anything else from the time. In fact at the time, its dispassionate, unflinching look at the psyche of a serial killer was so scandalous that it nearly ended director Michael Powell’s career. Powell was relegated to working on TV jobs and foreign films until cinema caught up with him 15 years later, when he was venerated and vindicated by the likes of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

Two Deaths in November

Two Deaths in November

Image of an Assassination



What is the most watched film in history? That distinction probably goes to 22 seconds of 8mm footage shot by a Dallas dress maker named Abraham Zapruder.

On the morning of November 22, 1963, Abraham Zapruder almost forgot his 8mm home movie camera, but returned home to retrieve it when reminded by one of his employees. Less than a block from his office, at Dealey Plaza, he shot a clear film of the assassination of the leader of the First World. Perhaps the only assassination ever to be caught on film to that time.

Image of an Assassination: A New Look at the Zapruder Film

The DVD release of this film includes special features includes various versions of the film in various states of restoration and at various speeds, pages of events chronology from 1963 to 1998, other important news film and video clips from the time, and biographical and contact information of the film’s custodians making it an essential document for historians of the period.

Dear Zachary

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father is a poignant film about the life and death of a small town doctor made by his childhood friend.




Kurt Kuenne always wanted to be a filmmaker and cast his childhood friend Andrew Bagby in all his movies. When Bagby was murdered shortly after graduating from medical school, Kuenne decided to make one last film with him, gathered from all the footage of Bagby he had, and interviews with family and friends, as a gift to Bagby’s infant son.

Right from the start, the film lands like the blow of a sledgehammer, as it swings back and forth between the wonder that was Andrew – a guy you really want to meet – and rapid fire cuts about the horrifying details of his death on November 7, 2001.

Bagby was so beloved by so many people that there were memorial services for him in at least 5 different cities in 3 different countries. Although the film is a tearjerker at times, it’s the kind of film that makes you want to live your own life to the fullest. But that’s not all - every time you think the story is over, a new twist comes to light, making it an engaging mystery, a poignant tribute, and a scathing indictment all in one.

Kids Picks

I often get recommendations for good kids movies. For very young children, you’re on your own, but for kids above about age 6 these should do fine…

Holes



The problem with most kids movies is they feel they have to talk down to kids. Everyone thinks their child is smart and exceptional. But everyone tolerates kids movies that insult the intelligence of even preschoolers.

This is not the case with Holes. Holes is an intelligent, complex story for kids that has a nice easy flow. Yes, the characters are slight caricatures, but they are believable ones. Yes, like so many kids films, there is a “message” here, but it doesn’t beat you over the head with it, it’s deftly interwoven into the story.

Based on an award winning children’s book, the story deals with Stanley, a city boy who is wrongly convicted of a crime and sent to a juvenile labor camp where he and the other boys are forced to dig holes in the desert “to build character”. But is there really another reason behind this seemingly mindless exercise?

Highly recommended for kids and adults alike.

Bernard and the Genie



Bernard and the Genie isn’t really the most original film ever made. Average guy, Bernard, has the worst day of his life – loses his job, loses his girlfriend, etc. – but happens to rub a magic lamp producing a genie who grants him anything he wishes for. What follows is the standard wishes for money, revenge against the ex-boss, etc. We’ve seen this storyline a million times before – mostly on sitcoms. Still, the film is handled well; its a lightweight romp with an unpretentious charm.

Lenny Henry steals the show in his over-the-top performance as the genie (possibly the inspiration for Robin Williams’ genie in Aladin). Also watch for cameos by Bob Geldof and one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

2000s in review: superheroes

Continuing our look back at the first decade of the 2000s on screen, probably the biggest development for action movies was superheroes. After decades of trying to get their superheroes to the big screen the comic book giants Marvel Comics and D.C. Comics finally succeeded in sustainable box office franchises.

In 2006, director Bryan Singer left the X-Men franchise to do a big budget Superman reboot, while Brett Ratner, the director who had been tapped for Superman took his place and for X-Men 3. How did they fare?

X-Men: The Last Stand



I must admit I approached this one with some trepidation. After all, I think a lot of what makes a good film is a good director, and Bryan Singer has proven himself time and again, a great helmsman, while Singer's replacement this time out, Brett Ratner, has proven himself time and time again as... well, an adequate one.

I won't bother summarizing the plot, as you can find enough about that in the trailers and other published material inundating the web.

Though there are more characters than ever, there is less characterization this time out - which is not necessarily a bad thing - we already know about Rogue's angst over not being able to touch anyone, and Magneto's belief that humanity can never be trusted. We need little more than gentle reminders. While this leads to occasional ambiguities in the characters' behaviors, this is after all a climax for the series, so it's time for action. And action plays to Ratner's strengths.

While it is disappointing that some things had to fall by the wayside (Wolverine's search for his past for one) and other things are a little glossed over (I've always thought Storm should easily be able to go toe-to-toe with any of the mutants in the Marvel Universe - at least on Earth) for the most part what we have is a worthy sequel.

I do think that it is disappointing that in the interest of trying to keep the number of characters down to a few score, they plain omitted some (Nightcrawler is nowhere to be seen) and merged others; Callisto of the Morlocks becomes a combined version of Callisto, Quicksilver & Caliban(?!?) which allows the movie to bring her rivalry with Storm to the screen without having to engineer a way for them to fight sans powers, but also makes Callisto a far cry from her comic roots - especially since she is portrayed by bombshell Dania Ramirez instead of a wiry one-eyed street fighter (think Chrissie Hynde with an eye patch) like she should have been. I mean, come on, don't you think at least one adult female mutant would fail to be blessed with superpowers *and* supermodel looks?

But aside from that casting disappointment, overall the movie is well cast. Particularly Kelsey Grammer as new-old-X-Man "Beast".

So, with great writing, a good cast, and an adequate director, we have a pretty good movie. Maybe not one that soars to the heights of the first two, but certainly worth seeing, and indeed a satisfying final chapter.

I'm glad the X series is being put aside for awhile instead of being flogged to death as was done in the comics, but there is talk of spin-offs, so who knows we might still get the silver screen versions of a million other "X" books.

Superman Returns (spoilers)



I had high hopes for this one. The director, Bryan Singer has had a great track record up till now making great films full of excitement and depth. Since the Batman franchise, began with two good movies, was followed by two terrible ones, and was ultimately redeemed in the new millennium by a visionary young director, I hoped the same would be true of the Superman franchise.

Unfortunately this was not the case.

The movie was a mixed bag, and there's no way I can explain myself without going into the details - so spoiler alert - I am breaking my tradition of spoiler free reviews in order to make a post for those who have already seen the film.

As I mentioned, Bryan Singer has shown himself to be a great director, and my opinion of him has remained unchanged especially given that he stepped into a project which had a revolving door of directors attached to it, and was definitely suffering from "too many cooks" syndrome.

(Brainiac was going to be the villain who went to the Fortress of Solitude and learned Superman's secrets. If you haven't heard that story, rent An Evening With Kevin Smith, Smith was an early writer on the project - it is a hilarious look at how Hollywood still doesn't get the comics.)

No, it is not the direction that I found faulty here - it is the writing (which has also suffered at the hands of at least a half dozen writers). To begin with, there are several instances where the behavior of the principals is out of character. Lex Luthor, the evil super-genius attains his vast wealth by bilking a little old lady. Luthor is many things, evil certainly and cunning too, but one thing he has never been is a common con artist. Lex Luthor would find a grand scheme to make money, not some simple grift. Soon thereafter, we have Superman, the most moral and upright of all superheroes, spying on ex beau Lois Lane. With super hearing, it is inevitable that the big guy is going to accidentally catch a snippet of conversation here or there - and that I wouldn't mind - but here, in a creepy-voyeur stalker type scene, he plain listens in (and watches with X-Ray vision) for several minutes!

Then there’s the annoying characters: Luthor's girlfriend, Kitty though not as annoying as her predecessor, Ms. Teschmacher, is still sufficiently bimboish, and worse, Lois Lane's kid, who thankfully doesn't say much, but still takes the movie into more of an Annakin Skywalker direction than I'm comfortable with.

But my biggest problem with the movie is the plot itself. Once upon a time, Superman built the fortress of solitude, with the help of Supergirl. He built a giant door with an immense key that you had to be, well, Superman to lift and use. Then came 1978's Superman: The Movie - a pretty good film, all things considered, except one thing - the introduction of the Kryptonian crystal of Jor-El, which Superman takes to the NORTH pole, and throws, whereupon it grows a large doorless crystal cavern, complete with a super crystal TV set which allowed Superman to talk to his dead father. This opened the door (pun intended) for Lex Luthor to walk in, and learn how the Kryptonian technology works (more than the audience is told - we just have to be satisfied with an old Arthur C. Clark quote) and use it to create a vast new crystal continent where the Atlantic ocean and most of North America is. In the past, I was able to overlook the Kryptonian crystals/Fortress of Solitude stuff, as it played a relatively minor role in the films (except in II where it stripped him of his powers, a fairly major plot device, also annoying, but nevertheless, able to be mostly overlooked), however, here this pseudoscience is so integral to the storyline, that it just cannot be ignored.

This is not to say the movie is all bad. Far from it. The casting is mostly pretty good. Brandon Routh does an excellent job filling the enormous red boots of both Superman and Christoper Reeve. Kevin Spacey is also an excellent successor to Gene Hackman as Luthor. And, Frank Langella and Sam Huntington are great as Perry White and Jimmy Olsen, respectively. Luthor's thugs are all pretty forgettable, but that's O.K. they are in the comics too. Perhaps the only disappointment is Kate Bosworth who is too passive as Lois Lane - even the Lois Lane of the Max Fleischer cartoons in the 1940's was more proactive!

All in all, the movie is essentially a remake of Superman: The Movie with Luthor's plan to destroy even more of the U.S. to create his utopia. And as a remake, it ended up being O.K., even stunning at times, but ultimately, "nothing new here", much like Peter Jackson's King Kong. A fresh story would have gone a long way. If there is a bright side to all this, its that they now have the celluloid broth of all those cooks out of the kitchen, and the counter can be cleaned for a true reboot ala Batman Begins in the sequel to this. I'll be watching the skies, I'm looking forward to it.

Science Fiction Double Feature

Avatar (Real D 3-D)



The plot is ridiculously simple, almost to the point of campiness. There are some wonderful aliens that live in peace and harmony with nature on their home world. We want their natural resources. We send in crippled ex-soldier undercover in one of their alien bodies to try to convince them to leave peacefully or we will destroy them. Crippled ex-soldier likes new body, new alien girlfriend and goes over to the other side. There is a big Ewok style battle of primitives vs. army. The End.

Let’s face it, this whole thing is just a big special effects showcase. But, that said, wow are the special effects good. The alien forest looks kind of like it was ripped off of the night elves forest from World of Warcraft, complete with giant trees and bioluminescent flora.

But the real kick here is the 3-D technology. With the ‘Real D’ process, they’ve finally gotten this technology working really good. Because it (for the moment) can’t be replicated in the home (unless you’re Bill Gates), this could be the Great White Hope the ailing movie industry has been looking for. Only time will tell.

So, if you want mindless science fiction, check out Avatar. If you are willing to live with less revolutionary special effects, but want a better science fiction film, let’s turn the clock back a few years…

Serenity




One of the biggest coups Joss Whedon has ever pulled off, was getting FOX to put up the money for him to make a big budget film of his aborted TV series Firefly before the sets were scrapped and the cast scattered to the winds.

The film was mostly made as a sort of series finale, but it was written in such a way that it could stand alone, even for those who had never seen the TV show. The story concerns a telepath named River who was a secret government weapon who, along with her surgeon brother, is hiding out with a bunch of outlaws aboard a spaceship. River knows many things the government wants to keep quiet, so they send their most ruthless killer to eliminate River and anyone who stands in his way.

Unlike Avatar (which has grossed more money than we can keep track of), Serenity didn't even make its money back. I guess that’s the price of making a movie that appeals to the brain more than the senses. Multi-award winning science fiction writer Orson Scott Card called it “the best science fiction movie ever made”. While that may be a bit of a stretch, it’s certainly a very good one, and very worth your time.

Military Science Fiction

Terminator: Salvation



The Terminator movies follow a basic formula – robot from the future is sent back to the past (our present) to murder a human to ensure robots will be victorious in the coming robot vs. human war.

This premise was fresh and exciting with the original film, The Terminator. It was as good or even better when it was done with a twist as the big budget sequel, Terminator 2: Judgement Day. But it became completely a retread by the third film, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Fortunately Terminator: Salvation does away with the formula. No longer are we in the present, being visited by robots from the future, but we are actually transported to the future, where the war has already begun.

The story concerns Marcus, a man on death row who agrees to donate his body to Skynet’s medical research as a final act of contrition for his crimes. He wakes up years later, after the war with the machines has started, as the sole survivor of a human attack on the Skynet facility where he has been stored.

Marcus eventually meets up with John Connor and the resistance movement, but who is Marcus really working for, does he even know himself?

The film has a great cast, including Christian Bale as the adult John Connor, and Sam Worthington as Marcus, but it also some good supporting cast members like Helena Bonham Carter and Michael Ironside who thrives in these kinds of roles.

Terminator: Salvation is not a thriller like the first Terminator, not an action film like the second two; it’s a war film, plain and simple. A science fiction war film to be precise, but a war film nonetheless, and whether or not you like that genre, will probably determine whether or not you like this film.

But, it’s also more than that. The ‘Salvation’ in the title not only refers to Marcus’ efforts to save humanity, but also his own redemption. The heart (literally and figuratively) at the center of this story is what makes it a cut above the forgettable Terminator 3, and may just be the Salvation of this series.

Soldier




Military SF isn’t done very often. In fact it’s hard to think of many films that have made it to the big screen that can truly be said to fit in this subgenre – Aliens, and the much maligned Starship Troopers are the first (and perhaps only) examples that readily spring to mind. There are probably just as many reasons a serious film fan might want to avoid this genre as there are reasons to seek it out. But, if military SF is your bag, I’d like to draw your attention to a film you might have missed (or like me, deliberately avoided) in the past.

Soldier got very mixed reviews in its initial release, but like so many other Kurt Russell sci-fi films (Escape From New York, The Thing, Stargate, etc.) it slowly grew in popularity on DVD as word of mouth spread that it was a vastly underrated film.

The story concerns Todd 3465, a man trained since birth to be the ultimate soldier, who is eventually discarded when Caine 607 and a new crop of genetically engineered super soldiers are deployed.

Roaming the junkyard planet Arcadia, he befriends some lost colonists, and is thrust into the role as their protector when Arcadia becomes the testing ground of Caine 607’s unit. It’s admittedly a simple, campy plot, but it’s significantly more complex than say, James Cameron’s Avatar.

One of the big complaints critics had with this film was the lack of dialog, especially on the part of the hero (Russell speaks less than 80 lines in the whole film). But, this is actually one of the movie’s strengths. Todd 3465 was supposed to be a tool, not a man, and was raised apart from normal human interaction – the awkward lack of dialog actually reflects this well. Furthermore, laconic dialog is often an advantage with action stars who are rarely known for their acting (e.g. Mad Max, The Terminator, etc.)

Most people may find it typical, or mindless, but genre hounds who actually seek it out will be rewarded with the sci-fi equivalent of Shane.

Two Great Animated Films from Japan

We’ve talked about Hayao Miyazaki, and Studio Ghibli a few times. It’s no secret that I think Spirited Away is one of the greatest fantasy films of all time. But that was released in 2001 – just what have Miyazaki and the Ghibli crew been up to in the past decade?

Today we’ll look at the first two films they released following Spirited Away.

Cat Returns
(Neko no Ogaeshi)



Miyazaki came up with the concept (allegedly on request from a theme park) and produced this Studio Ghibli production, but turned the directing reigns over to Hiroyuki Morita. The Cat Returns is definitely skewed toward a younger audience than Spirited Away, more like the films Studio Ghibli produced in the pre- Princess Mononoke days, which is not surprising since it’s essentially a sequel of sorts to Miyazaki’s earlier film Whisper of the Heart.

The story involves a young girl who rescues a cat from being run over in traffic. It turns out that he is the Prince of Cats, and she soon finds herself the object of all sorts of unwanted attention from felines, including becoming engaged to be married to a cat.

While it’s far from the best Studio Ghibli has done so far, the story is fun and charming in a Wizard of Oz kind of way, and this is one anime that was so carefully handled in the English dubbing that I can definitely recommend the English language version.


Howl's Moving Castle




Miyazaki’s feature length directorial follow up to Spirited Away, is Howl’s Moving Castle, based on the book of the same name. This is another fantasy film with complex plots along the lines of Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away, and while not as good as Spirited Away, it’s still among Miyazaki’s best.

The story concerns a young girl afflicted by a curse, whose sole salvation lies in the hands of a self-absorbed wizard named Howl, but just finding howl is a challenge as his castle doesn’t stay in one place for long.

In addition to a pretty strong storyline, Howl’s Moving Castle features some of the best cell animation ever filmed – the artwork and landscapes are breathtaking. With this one I recommend the subtitled version (although you will miss out on Billy Crystal as the fire elemental ‘Calcifer’ – one of the few really good comic relief characters in English dubbed anime) which is a much better translation.

Two Classic Musicals

The Sound of Music



Recently I went back and re-watched this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. It’s been a perennial classic, and it seems likely to stay that way. Everything about it was calculated to appeal to the widest audience possible. While I can’t say I’ll ever be a fan, it does have it’s own corny charm, and yes, it’s still corny after all these years.

China Town



Another classic musical made just a few years earlier is China Town. Not to be confused with the Roman Polanski neo-noir film Chinatown, China Town is a musical that has been near and dear to the hearts of many Indians the way The Sound of Music has been to many Americans.

This Hindi film is a black and white film worth seeing for the music if nothing else. It contains a wonderfully diverse mix of Jazz, traditional Chinese and traditional Indian music as well as early Rock and Roll, and even classical music in the score - 'Night on Bald Mountain' appears during a chase sequence.

Shammi Kapoor stars as Shekhar, a hotel lounge singer who agrees to impersonate a gangster named Mike for a police sting as a way to prove himself to his sweethearts father and get his approval to marry her. Shekhar is a dead-ringer for Mike, one of the key members of an opium ring in Calcutta’s China Town.

Yes, there are racist overtones, but no moreso than in Hollywood films of the time - despite a long common border, it's clear that the Chinese were perceived just as mysterious and inscrutable to the Indians as they were in the west.

It's proto-Bollywood, so you have to be able to accept that people break into song at random times with full instrumentation springing forth from nowhere. There is a fair amount of buffoonery here, but it’s worth putting up with to see stuff like Pompadoured Shekar's Indian Elvis moves – the film seems to be India’s answer to King Creole.

Unfortunately, like most Indian films of that vintage, the preservation isn’t great – the print is very rough in some parts - there are some breaks and gaps where footage has been lost, but very few, not enough to really detract from the story.
The fact that it has survived at all is cause for celebration because at the time of it’s release, it was never more than a minor hit, peaking at #9 in the Indian the box office.

Hearts, Minds and Votes

Hearts and Minds



A lot has been written about this film. It won both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Documentary in 1975. Entertainment Weekly named it one of the Top 50 Documentaries of all time. And while it is distinctly not unbiased, it is very thorough, including footage and interviews with heads of state, military leaders, Vietnamese peasants, current and former soldiers, draft dodgers and even random people off the street.

Made in more than a year before the fall of Saigon, the Vietnam War was still ongoing at the time, Hearts and Minds is a document of the times, but given many of the events of the 2000s, it’s one that’s still relevant today.

The final 15 minutes of the film contains the still shocking images of child napalm victims running down the road, which unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 35 years you’ve probably seen dozens of times, but which still packs an emotional wallop.

Which brings me to a documentary of an entirely different sort…

Please Vote For Me



Please Vote For Me documents the class election of a “class monitor” in a 3rd grade class in Wuhan, China, supposedly the first such election anywhere in China for this position. The position is a bit of a cross between class president, and the kind of “informant” that the Chinese Communist Party has relied on since the very early days of the Communist Revolution there. The students did not demand a class election, they were just told they were going to have one, and were given no background in democracy or the democratic process by seemingly equally oblivious teachers, and all sorts of bribery and corruption work it’s way into the system, aided and abetted by the children’s own parents.

Democracy is something that must be embraced by those who want it, and whether it was the filmmakers’ intention to or not, Please Vote For Me accurately illustrates why democracy can never be imposed on people and efforts to do so are ultimately doomed to failure.