Aside from being one of my favorite scenes/songs in Little Orphan Annie it depicts the point of this section quite nicely. I'll post my witty commentary here and try to leave out any spoilers!
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So I have been hinting at this, but just to confirm all of your suspicions, yes, I am Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
In all seriousness, I am once again abroad--In Israel now--and once things have settled into some form of normalcy I will begin to blog about my experiences here--and they are many!
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More often than not, I read blogs that serve as daily diaries of a sort or review trollops (not that I don't enjoy my review strumpets). Astrum Umbrarum (or "of star shadows" as the Latin is translated), lies somewhere in between, as I have discovered over the years. Life Reviews. As I live, and travel, create and explore, I will discover beautiful things. This space is where I hope to share those things with all the snark they deserve.
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Okay so I will be the first to admit that remakes usually suck--excuse me, are bad. So when I saw the posters for the Karate Kid featuring Young Master Smith and Jackie Chan, my reaction was to be expected. Reer. Danger, DANGER! Steer Clear--AVAST YEE! Even as I watched the movie I was bracing myself for the collective squeal at the end "He was so great" and all that. But despite my cynicism, Younger master Smith was fantastic. And Jackie Chan? I officially forgive him for the Forbidden Kingdom.
Honestly, Jaden Smith is a talented little actor, his comedic timing is spot on and he handled being the displaced child phenomenally. His tears were real, his pain was real and I found myself cheering the little guy on in the end. He did his own stunts, which I respect--and am immensely impressed by (see the movie. You'll understand)--and I guess he can add kung fu master to his list of growing skills. I really do look forward to more from him.
Jackie Chan whipped around more then his fists in this film. He had some heavy acting chops. Seriously. He was funny--I mean really funny. Not just the awkward "hee, haw" because his accent is a little heavy. And the drama! Goodness he acted his role with fineness; I really am impressed with him. One thing I wish, is that we got a little more back story on his character. Like why does he have a dojo? Why does it seem like he and the evil karate teacher have history? That sort of thing. But the story you do get does explain his limp, his strange attire, and his tendency to stay away from large crowds.
I couldn't help but notice some of the really cool scene transitions (Smith kicking to trophy fade out to name one). As a movie alone this had really solid cinematography, not LOTR-- nothing can ever be LOTR-- but appropriate for the venue. And I did dig the music score, from epic to "Asia-land" cool, Karate Kid was solid here as well. The choice to do this movie in China was gold. I can never thank them enough for that. It would have been just bad, otherwise.
So that's my piece for now...I wanted to review Prince of Persia...but I'm not even going to go there. I'm still recovering, if you must know. This of course will be catelouged in my "Let's Go to the Movies" section.
I've been waiting to make this post. I saw the acclaimed mind cramping masterpiece this past Friday; it has taken me this long to build up the courage to write on it. That's right. It was that awesome. Word to the wise: if you have not seen this movie, go and see it. Now. In theaters. It is worth the ten bucks. That said, I want to again stress the general and overwhelming mind-blowingness (hah pulled a palin-speare)of this film--piece of art really. If you see this film, your mind will be blown. Inception + Seeing = Mind blown^infinity. Really simple math here, kids.
Where to begin without giving anything away? Well I suppose we can start with the visual. This film was beautifully done in this regard. Five out of Five stars. Everything was breathtaking, I was on the edge of my seat just trying to watch everything at once. My hat goes off to whoever decided that the entire film didn't HAVE to be perpetually shot through a blue filter lens. Inception was full of color with scenes ranging from rooms reminiscent of the Hall of a Thousand Lanterns on Mt. Koya to landscapes right out of COD 4's Tundra (Call of Duty for non-gamers). In short, it was really nice to look at.
When I initially planned to address the soundtrack I was going to give it a lower score, something like three out of five. But then I realized why and had to smile at the genius of it all. The music was unobtrusive, building tension when needed, and splashing a taste of whimsy when the situation called. I wanted to rate the sound track lower because I didn't remember the music. But with a work like this, the audience must be focused. One cannot stop to marvel at how pretty the music is or they will find themselves left behind. The music has to be such that it enhances the play on the screen without drawing any attention to itself, which is exactly what they did. Touche Legendary Pictures. I am chastised.
I was surprised to find Inception wickedly clever at times. Being as horrifying and heart-stopping as the genre called, Inception managed to be utterly hilarious as well--yes this movie was actually quite funny. It provided just the right amount of humour to the very serious--and that made everything all the more real. After all in the face of certain death and the like humans are more likely to fall to the ways of humour than they are to paint on a serious facade. This nuance is usually ignored by Hollywood, thrown to the wayside for cool speeches and steely gazes. But inception utilized this; the dialog and the way the characters were built is what pulled that off. Inception does what I love to do when starting a short story or novel: it dropped the audience in media res. There was no build up. Just "Oh, we're in the middle of a job. Don't know what's going on? Then PAY ATTENTION." This was a great move because it forces the audience to listen, and doesn't allow us to make any theories of our own until later on. You also get to see the characters in their elements right away. Less telling and more showing this way. And because we get to watch them so closely, because they are human (or are they?) we get to observe the humorous little things that occur and/or are said when one is scared witless.
The whole concept of Inception, the world within which there exists an entirely different set of rules is also delivered almost effortlessly. While my mind was annihilated by the end of this movie (more because of the ending and the endless wonder of "what happened?" than anything else), all the rules and strictures were explained fully and thoroughly. I didn't find myself confused at all; in fact I found myself piecing together the consequences of the characters actions along side with them. By the mid-end, things no longer needed explanation. If something happened, the characters would give each other knowing looks, looks mirrored by those in the audience. Soo good.
If I took the time to consider what Inception has done for the Science Fiction realm, I might never get to sleep. That said the leap from the science fiction expected of today to Inception is very much like the difference between the first Matrix and all the others. Inception has Supermaned and the cameras are still trying to find it. This was a tasteful, wonderfully rendered piece of science fiction art. Only problem is, now the next Batman has to be better than not only the Dark Knight but also Inception. Impossible? Who knows. Miracles happen everyday.
Where to begin with this post, where indeed. I have just had the pleasure of watching a masterpiece of a children's film. The title is "You are Umasou", translating to "You are Delicious-looking." It was almost as astonishing as my experience with Brandon Sanderson's "The Way of Kings," which I will review soon. The main character is a Tyrannosaurus Rex raised by an ambiguous plant eater. Heart, our T-Rex hero is found as an egg floating down stream. His adoptive mother finds him and takes the egg in, protecting it from the elements and from a scavenger dinosaur attack. Once he and his mother's remaining egg hatch, it is discovered that he has jagged teeth, meant for the eating of flesh. The village elder attempts to trample the baby Heart, his mother intervenes and then is promptly ordered to abandon him. She almost manages to do so, but finds the silence after his wailing cries to be too much. She goes to him and it is revealed later that she chooses exile from the herd rather than leave him. Heart grows up with his brother Light knowing nothing at all about what he is. He cannot eat plants or acorns like his older brother, only red berries and as a result he is malnourished and tiny. My synopsis stops here. Because mentioning anything from this point on will ruin the movie. All I can say is that Heart becomes a T-Rex of the Kung Fu wielding variety and somehow it is not ridiculous. I cannot do this tale justice. Alas. What to do with my inadequacies?
Umasou by upnahdon (Devian Art)
This film is an interesting blend of backgrounds and nature settings almost photographic in their detail and the cartoonish dinosaurs. The effect is jarring and more than a little comic. Oh and that cute beyond words thing that I posted above (you see what I did there? You see what I did?!) That is the title character, Umasou, Heart's adoptive son. Without ruining too much of the film, I can say that the struggle Heart endures over his meat-eating nature, the way he was raised and his resulting self-loathing and fear of his own instincts are the most authentic and heart-wrenching I have ever seen in an animated film. Of course, not many films deal with self loathing over one's need to eat flesh to survive...but you understand my meaning. All in all, for it's deep look into the meaning of family, I give Umasou an empire sized stamp of approval. Find a copy of it in the depths of the internet near you. This post will be added as a comment to my "Let's go to the Movies," section
It began with posters in my local cinema. Kristen Stewart standing in a dark approximation of the Disney princess's iconic gown or creeping through a Grimm-esque forest; the beautiful Chris Hemsworth performing that rugged smolder he seems to have been born with--compelling images all, and sprinkled innocuously enough to whet my appetite without my fully being aware of it.Insidious and worthy of my reluctant respect. I admit that my gut reaction to any cast member of the unfortunate Twilight franchise is a mix a pity and amusement; nevertheless, I thought casting the homely Stewart as "fairest of them all" an interesting choice and was curious to see how she would fair in what I believed would be a gritty retelling of Snow White and her Seven Dwarfs. Charleze Theron as the Queen and Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman, while not obvious choices, fell well within the realm of the expected. I was unsurprised, but still excited to see how everything would come together. How honest to the Grimm's tale would this film be? As television ads grew more frequent, my anticipation grew. In retrospect, I must tip my hat off to whomever managed the advertising for the film. I, with all my skepticism and practiced pessimism, did not realize I was being reeled in. Snow White and the Huntsman would usually have been the textbook image of the sort of teenie bopper, "edgy" fairy tale retelling I avoid on principal. But it was handled with just the right amount of gravitas, important while still realizing what it was, and I found I could not help myself.
The film began with a voice over by Hemsworth, following in the footsteps of the "Once upon a time" tradition. I note with some amusement that the writers of Snow White and the Huntsman were obviously aware of the original Grimm's tale--their introduction proves it; they merely chose to ignore it. Once the film was over, I was left with the vague inclination that something had just happened, perhaps a film. This is not to say that Snow White and the Huntsman was a horrible film. On the contrary it was fine. But I find that even now as I reach back for details there is not much to sift through. Honestly, I thought I would have more to say about this film than I do, but it was a very "blah" film. Visually, it was stunning. The landscapes, from dark forest to light (called the Sanctuary in the film), and the creatures that inhabited them, faeries and trolls, were beautifully rendered. The cinematography was properly epic in scope and the notable landmarks properly dark and dirty. Charleze Theron was fiercely beautiful, as expected and Kristen Stewart was a pleasant surprise as the beautiful princess. She was, in fact, beautiful. Everything was beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. But my impressions from here grow less distinct.
I recall enough to be able to say I found Hemsworth a treat. Theron occasionally skirted the overacting line, but on the whole was wonderful to watch and listen to. Stewart surprised me with a monolouge before the final battle, that may or may not have been accidentally brilliant. I think she sounded quite daft as she delivered it and if that was an intentional choice... then it would seem I have gravely underestimated her. Of course her being virtually monosyllabic throughout the entirety of the film until that point did lend to the shock factor.
The "prince" was a non character and dwarfs even more so. But I did enjoy all of the folk tale references the film made. From the prince being named William and being an archer (see William Tell) to the Fae stag. Yes, this movie gave nominal winks to an awful lot of folklore; that might be why it seems to be such an amorphous blob in my memory. There was simply too much it was trying to do and consequently the story itself was compromised. The dialogue did little to help the situation. While not falling to the level of James Cameron's Avatar and "unobtainium,"
Snow White and the Huntsman's dialogue was not exactly delightfully witty or particularly well written. Snow White's final and only speech, while full of feelings, did not make any particular sort of sense and William's ruse to sneak into an enemy band of mercenaries was punctuated by the unfortunate waste of a perfectly set up comedic/bad-ass moment, to name a few offenses.
Snow White and the Huntsman is what I now call a "Mini- Epic." Not Lord of the Rings, but still a tale that follows the coming of age or growth of a "chosen" savior figure. The most interesting aspect of this film was not the savior- hero dynamic--that remained as tried and true as ever--rather it was the fact that these typically male roles were filled by women right down to the hero led siege/ battle and the "We are not so different, you and I" tactic often employed by the villain. The movie was surprisingly un-gender biased and that was refreshing. But as a film that forced my friend to ask, "Continuity, what is it?" and brought me to helplessly reply, "Not a thing that happens in movies," Snow White and the Huntsman still falls short of perfection.
Long story short, she gets a solid B from me.
This review will appear as a comment in my "Let's go to the movies" section.
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