Ashes of Time: Redux

Impressions before seeing it
I will say up front that I have not seen the original version of this movie. Nor had I seen any trailers or footage, but I was aware of its existence. A martial arts epic by my favourite Chinese director? SOLD!

How was it?
This is not a typical martial arts film. In fact it's not even a typical epic or a typical "redux" film: it's only about 90 minutes long, and shorter than the original at that. There are action scenes of course, but they are shot weirdly... It's almost as if Kar Wai was trying to use fast movement and editing in order to avoid showing the fight choreography in detail. But it's not really about the fighting. Being a Wong Kar Wai film, it's about love and relationships. And a lot of voiceovers with wise sayings and musings, which is what makes his movies charming.

I will say that the opening was badass. It was the kind of opening that makes you excited for the rest of the movie because it's just so damned cool. There were some other comparable sequences and a lot of nice visuals, but the rest of the movie didn't really live up to this initial hype. It wasn't bad by any means, but I did find it confusing at times. I think it was the characters; some of them were having identity crises, and there were a lot of phrases thrown around to describe unseen characters rather than actually use their names, so I found it difficult to keep track of who was being referred to and if they were supposed to have any significance to the plot. Maybe watching it again will help.

Recommendation
I don't know who this film's target audience would be. If you are a big martial arts fan, you will probably be disappointed. If you are a romance fan, you will probably also be disappointed (for a story about love I don't think the relationships were developed as well as Wong Kar Wai's other films). If you are a fan of the director, you might enjoy it because there are certainly recognizable elements of his style. But I would reccommend seeing his other films first so that you learn to appreciate him before moving on to this one.

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Impressions before seeing it
I'm a Pixar fan and I knew it would be good. They always seem to have good ideas and good execution, so expectations were high.

How was it?
Let's just say expectations were met. From the very beginning when little starry-eyed Carl watched his idol on the big screen and then married and lost his true love in a sweet little montage, the movie sets you up to sympathize with him when he grows up to be a grouch. I didn't find Carl mean at all though; I understood that he was just trying to fulfill the dream that he and his late wife had and he was getting pissed off when things threatened that. But through his adventures and the characters he meets, Carl realizes that maybe the dream isn't the most important thing in the world.

As usual the animation was also top-notch. I'm not sure if they used motion capture or not, but the character movement, especially on Carl, seemed impressively lifelike. I also thought the voice acting was well done, even the kid who did young Russel's voice, which was good because not all kids can act. ...Maybe I should watch more bad movies, because this blog is just going to make me look like I like everything.

Recommendation
If you've enjoyed Pixar's films in the past, you know what to expect and will most likely enjoy this one too. Or if you just like a good classic fantasy adventure, this one's for you.

DVD Buffet #1

DVD Buffet is a feature I'm going to do sometimes where I talk about the special features I watched from a variety of DVDs. Sorry if you thought this post was about all you can eat digital discs.

Oldboy - Commentary
First off let me just say, for those who are unaware: this film is a masterpiece. It has everything that makes a good movie, including what is easily one of the greatest fight scenes in cinematic history. I have the special three-disc collector's tin version, and it actually comes with three commentaries. I watched the one with the director and cast. It's a little unusual watching a subtitled commentary, and I get the feeling that a few comments may have been overlooked here and there, but it wasn't bad. With the cast there it didn't get too technical, there was a lot of joking and talk about performances and some behind the scenes stories, so it was an entertaining one, which is a relief because if you watch a lot of commentaries you know how boring some of them can be.

Kenny vs. Spenny Season 4 - Deleted Scenes and Alternate Episode
A few of the deleted scenes on this one weren't even deleted, they were in the episodes, so that was lame. But other than that there were some funny ones. I enjoyed seeing Spenny having to bring a goat to his dentist appointment, and Kenny messing around with people in his fat suit. The alternate episode was for the "First One to Stop Singing Loses" competition, so basically what we got was more songs by Kenny. I loved the one that was almost like a TV show theme song about how Baby Spenny was born when a homeless guy jerked off in a trash can and then it got struck by lightning. I don't care if the show is scripted or not, that's funny.

WALL-E - Deleted Scenes and 2 Short Films
I appreciate that the deleted scenes had introductions by the director, because I like hearing the reasons why scenes were omitted. Most of the time it's just for time or redundant content, but there was a scene here that required a whole explanation because they decided to re-do it in a different location with the characters' roles reversed because it wasn't quite right, so it was interesting to see that. The short films were both funny and cute. I loved the idea of BURN-E being about a robot who keeps getting screwed over by the events in the movie. Next time I watch WALL-E I'm going to look for him, because if he's visible in the actual movie then that's even more awesome. The other short, Presto, was about a hungry magician's rabbit who is denied a carrot so he messes with the magician and refuses to come out of the hat, causing all kinds of craziness that the audience seems to think is part of the act. Gotta give Pixar props for creativity.

The Breakfast Club - Character Profiles
When I say "character profiles" I mean people talking about the characters/actors in interviews, not little written articles that they sometimes do on DVDs. I have the "Flashback Edition" of the DVD, which was released somewhat recently, so seeing what the castmembers look like now and having them look back on the film was cool. Unfortunately Molly Ringwald and Emilio Estevez seemed to be unavailable for comment, and John Hughes hasn't been seen in public for many years, but the other castmembers offered a lot of insight. For example, I always felt that Alison sells out at the end when Claire gives her a makeover, and some of the people interviewed said that as well, but Judd Nelson had an acceptable theory: she didn't sell out, she was only letting Claire do something nice for her, it was just kind of a bonding experience. She probably wasn't about to come to school like that every day anyway. Interesting stuff though and a great movie. There were more featurettes about things other than the characters so I will look into those sometime too.

Dollhouse - Ghost (Pilot)

Impressions before seeing it
I'd been wanting to see this ever since I heard about the concept. It sounded original (which I highly value) and interesting enough, but then when I saw the footage it lost its spark slightly and I thought Really, where can this go as a series? Also, being on FOX I assumed it was only going to get cancelled. It has been picked up for a second season, and while that still doesn't mean it's safe, it is an accomplishment in itself. So I only just watched the pilot for the first time last night.

How was it?
I have to admit, it caught my interest. I thought that maybe it was going to be one of those non-serialized shows where every episode Echo (Eliza Dushku) becomes a different person and goes on some action-packed adventure and then boom, memory erased and everything is reset for the next episode. Well, that part is true actually, but they've also set up some bombs to go off later on down the road: the "Dollhouse" is a secret place, and not even the "dolls" know what they're a part of (I didn't know this part coming in but it adds a nice dimension to the show); and there is also some kind of agent who is searching for the Dollhouse due to some kind of obsession with Echo. And one other mysterious thing that I caught: at the beginning of the episode, Echo - before becoming a doll, I think - says something like "I wanted to make something of myself, just like she said," and then at the end of the episode we see a tape of the woman Echo used to be, saying that she wants to make something of herself. This kind of infers that they're not the same person. Whaaaa?

Eliza played two characters this episode (three if you count Echo, but I don't because she doesn't have much of a personality): a cheery flirt and a firm but vulnerable psychologist/hostage nogotiater. Personally I liked her performance better on the second character, although to be fair the first one didn't have that much screen time. I hope she will be able to continue carrying the series because this kind of concept requires some character acting, and not that Eliza is a bad actress but she doesn't exactly come to mind when I think "character actress". But if she proves herself throughout the series I will gladly give her the title.

Recommendation
Well, I'm going to keep watching for now, unless maybe the show goes downhill. Watch it if you're a fan of new ideas, Joss Whedon, or Eliza Dushku. If you don't like any of those things, don't bother.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Volume One

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is crazy, fun, and hilarious. I got to see their debut on Space Ghost and probably the only thing that carried over from that was Meatwad's voice. They were originally a superhero team but that was just for the sake of pitching the show because studio execs didn't "get" a show about food items doing random things, so a lot of the first episodes are about them solving crimes (usually pyramid schemes) brought on by Dr. Weird's experiments. But I'm happy to say that the first episodes are still as funny as any of the others, and having structure in a show that later had no structure does not subtract from the overall enjoyment. My one complaint, however, is that the early episodes had some rapper guy as a narrator, which I found to be completely useless and unfunny. All he does is say stuff like, "Come on, Meatwad, y'all should know better den dat!" or "Shake, you one cold mofo!" Actually he's less a narrator and more a commentator. But luckily that element was eventually removed from the show.

My favourite characters are Shake and Carl (who you can see in the banner at the top of the page) because I find them the funniest. Shake because his selfish douchebag shtick projected by whoever his awesome voice actor is just delights me; and Carl, the Aqua Teens's fat loser neighbour, because pretty much everything about him makes me laugh: his sweatpants and thick mustache, his permanent hands-on-hips pose like everything is annoying him, his funny voice and accent, and the way the Aqua Teens are always destroying Carl's pool, car, or house, or sometimes even Carl himself. And who can forget the time he used the magic belt from 80's rock group "Foreigner" to accidentally turn his own head into a Connect Four board. Classic.

Recommendation
It's not for everyone. I'm sure there are those who would just find it weird (and it is weird), but if you have a bizarre sense of humour and enjoy randomness to the max then give it a shot. It's also a great show for those suffering from A.D.D., because the episodes are just over 10 minutes long.

The Tracey Fragments

Welcome to the blog! I'm going to start off with a movie I most recently watched on DVD: The Tracey Fragments.





Impressions before seeing it
I saw the trailer a while back and it looked like something I'd like to see. Messed up characters interest me, and after seeing Juno and Hard Candy I wanted to see what else little Ellen Page could do.

How was it?
Well, it wasn't quite what I expected. Maybe that's not a bad thing, and maybe it is. I didn't realize that the whole thing was going to be done with multiple split screens and windows coming and going at all times, I actually thought that was just a gimmick for the trailer. But I got used to it and I have to give it points for uniqueness there. The Fragments part of the title became highly appropriate, as it's definitely not linear, but the way it flows is a lot like the stream of consciousness of a human brain and that made it pretty effective. To be more critical, in all honesty this movie was probably just an excuse to show off some cool editing techniques. It could have just as easily been made as a regular linear drama, but I'm glad it wasn't because that would just make it dull. I can't say the character was much of a stretch for Ellen, but she did about as well as you'd expect from her, which is not bad at all.

Recommendation
Watch it if you don't mind non-linear art films, or if you are a fan of editing and/or Ellen Page. Don't watch it if you like to have an ending that wraps everything up and leaves you satisfied.