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blauhund
Reviews
Mei to koneko basu (2002)
Cute addition to Totoro
I had the pleasure of visiting the Studio Ghibli Museum this past April (2009) and saw this wonderful short by Miyazaki. It's only shown at the Museum, so to see it you'll have to visit Tokyo and make sure you make a reservation months in advance.
This 20 minute short takes place in the world of Totoro, though it is unclear whether events are occurring in the same time frame as Totoro, or after wards. In the film, Mei is visited by a "Kitten Bus" (Koneku Basu), that seems to be the child of the cat bus from Totoro. The kitten bus takes her on adventure to meet what turns out to be a very large family of cat buses including a grandfather bus. Really not much more to it than that. Totoro makes an appearance, and Mei goes home.
Like all Miyazaki films, the beauty and wonder is in the drawing and the characterization of children, specifically Mei. Her wonder at meeting the cat bus family is a sheer delight to watch and I found myself as delighted and filled with wonder as she is in the film. No animator (or possibly any film maker) today understands children like Miyazaki and it shines through in this film.
If you can get to Tokyo, its worth the trip to the western suburbs.
In Japanese without subtitles, but they're really not necessary.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Just fun mindless nonsense
But what fun! Sure the nuclear explosion was nonsense, and the climax was a bit confusing (other dimensions???), but having spent the day before watching all three previous Indy's with my six year old, and hence watched the fourth as part of a "flow", have to say it more or less delivered: lost cities, oddball artifacts, dusty tombs in faraway places, evil empires attempting supernatural world domination....it's all part of of the Indiana Jones formula. I suspect that any disappointment is due more to the expectation of hoping to feel the way we all felt when we saw our first Indy film (for me, Raiders on opening night). But who can ever bring that back? I thought the attempts to fill in the last 20 years were also interesting and the hints at Jones's activities during WWII were interesting. Furthermore, I liked Shia LaBoeuf as Henry Junior. He was flawed without being too macho.
Anyhow, overall, I enjoyed it a lot more than others and have already recommended it to neighbours with this: don't expect the old magic and you'll have fun
The Mist (2007)
The Ending Makes You Want to Slap Someone
Darabont wants to make a throwback 1950's monster flick, and he almost succeeds. Further, its the first time I've ever seen a King adaptation that actually gets the weird characters and dialogue right without seeming cheesy or over the top. All the religious fanaticism in his books doesn't really translate well to the screen, and neither does a lot of of his dialogue, so it was refreshing, as a sometimes fan, to see it all work for once. The concept, as well, was truly scary and there are some great jump out of your seat moments.
But, the thing is way too long, and it's too cinematic to really evoke a 1950's monster chiller horror film. And the O. Henry twist at the end is just really too much. As my 12 year old daughter said, it would have been a much better film with a cliché ending. Oh, I know there will be those who say that it was brave of an American film maker to do what he does (and no I'm not gonna spoil it beyond saying there's a twist), but I'll bet once the "I can't believe he had the balls to do that" shock wears off, no-one will care. Quoting my kid again, "that ending just made me want to go and slap someone". Irony is not art.
Vers le sud (2005)
Haunting Film Difficult to Forget, though not for everyone
I saw this at TIFF last night, in the North American premiere. I gather it had been in competition at Venice the week before. Confess I had not heard of the film prior, nor the director and attended as I got two free tickets....
The film takes place in Haiti in the late 70's and is about three older single women visiting a beach resort to take advantage of the sun, sea, sand, and young Haitian men. Essentially sex tourism.
The film explores the relationship of these three women with the younger men, and uses these relationships to explore their relationships with each other and themselves. Each women is looking for something different from their visit, though not all is at appears on the surface.
Charlotte Rampling is radiant as Ellen the oldest of the three, who has a relaxed attitude to the sex, and the almost unspoken transaction with the men. To paraphrase, she always realized that no man would be interested as she aged and always assumed she would pay young men for sex when she got older (believe this is a reference to Simone de Beauvoir). Ellen's focus is on the elegant and charming Legba, as played by newcomer Menothy Cesar (who picked up an award for this performance at Venice last week).
Brenda, as played by Karen Young, is returning to the island for the first time in three years, her life having recently fallen apart . She too has a relationship with Legba from three years prior and is determined, if not obsessed, with renewing it. Ms. Young is given the difficult task of portraying a women at the threshold of middle-age, who is both naive and unwilling to admit to her base desire. She doesn't always pull it off but it is the most difficult role in a film full of challenging performances.
Sue, as played by Louse Pitre a fine French Canadian Actress, is from Montreal and her attitude towards the situation is far more down to earth than her two friends. She understands that things are different "down here", and understands that she would not be treated so well under normal circumstances. No matter, she is determined to enjoy the situation for what it is without complications. In the end she is more of an observer of the conflict that arises between Ellen and Brenda and is meant, I think, to provide a contrast to what is going on behind their masks. She is also the only one who is happy.
The linchpin to the movie is Legba, the young Haitian who is the obsession of both Ellen and Brenda. They believe he is a simple man with simple values, and yet in extended scenes away from the resort, his personal life is revealed to be a nightmare typical of the oppressed poor under Duvalier, further complicated by his relationship with the mistress of a Colonel in Duvalier's army. Cesar is terrific in this role and beautiful to watch.
There is minimal plot in the film withe focus clearly being on character development and exploring the masks people wear, to both protect and fool themselves. Slowly, over the course of the film, Ellen, Brenda and Legba are all revealed to be much different from our initial impressions of them, and more interestingly, their impressions of themselves. The question is whether this is interesting for the the viewer to watch as the film does drag at times. Indeed, I walked out of the film more concerned with where I had parked my car than what I had just watched.
Darn it all, however, when I woke up this morning, this movie was the first thing I thought of and it has haunted me all day. The sad revelations at the end of the film say a lot about human nature and in the end will keep the film in my mind for many weeks to come.
Veronica Mars (2004)
Absolutely the best show on TV right now
To put this in context I was a HUGE Buffy fan. Thought it was the best show on TV at the time. When it ended there was a huge hole in my viewing schedule. Thing is, I was afraid to admit it as I was a mid 30 year old career guy who warn't supposed to like teen drama. Little did I know. After some time I started to talk about it publicly, quietly at first, maybe after a few drinks, and lo and behold I gradually discovered many many more like me.
Veronica Mars is of the same oeuvre as Buffy (minus the vampires) and easily fills its place with complicated story arcs (some of which already look like they could easily last years), great foreshadowing (e.g. all the who are my real parents plots, or Weevil's brother secretly falling for a débutante), terrific dialogue and out there characters who are easy to relate to and fall in love with. It's funny, smart, tense, mysterious and after the watching the opener you WILL want to know who killed Lilly Kane.
This show appeals to my whole family, my wife ,my kids, and we never miss an episode. So why are the ratings so bad!?! Possibly being on UPN isn't helping, but a prime slot on Thursday nights on CTV in Canada did nothing for it and it was (temporarily was the last rumour I heard) with yet another forgettable reality show.
Hopefully CBS's push this summer will help.
Reading the board it feels like I'm preaching to the converted, but if you haven't seen this yet, put on your must-see list. You will not regret it.