Wednesday, November 30, 2022

The Magic is Repackaged

I was a huge fan of Willow when I was a kid. It was one of those things I wanted to watch over and over. I loved the soundtrack, the characters, and most of all, it fulfilled my desire for mediaeval fantasy onscreen better than anything else I'd seen at the time, except maybe Excalibur or The Last Unicorn. It was the best live action mediaeval fantasy that someone under the age of 14 could watch. Anyway, this means I was certainly going to tune in for the premiere of the new Disney+ Willow series last night. I wouldn't say, "I was excited for it", life has taught me too many lessons for that. But I'm happy to say I enjoyed it, for the most part.

I was such a Willow fan that I actually read the three books George Lucas and Chris Clairemont wrote as sequels to the original film. They weren't great books, though the tone of the first one is memorable. But after taking so much flack for disregarding George Lucas when making the Star Wars sequel trilogy, it's surprising the Willow series deviated just as much. In this version, the focus is on the children of Madmartigan and Sorsha. Joanne Whalley returns as Sorsha and does a good job but, sadly, Val Kilmer's heath issues prevented him from returning as Madmartigan, everyone's favourite character from the original film. But the tone of this show is frankly so different from the film, it's hard to see where he'd fit in in a satisfying way.

Their daughter, Princess Kit (Ruby Cruz), is a feisty, somewhat annoying young warrior, something that might bother a lot of people, but I know a young Luke Skywalker when I see one. This is the medicine audiences don't like to take but which often makes for some of the most interesting fantasy protagonists. She's also a lesbian and in love with a young, wouldbe knight called Jade, played by Erin Kellyman, whom Disney still apparently really wants to be a star.

I don't imagine this show will do the trick. There's the homophobic factor, particularly tricky waters to navigate in family fare, and her character is basically just stoic and supportive. So far.

The two end up going on a quest with a small fellowship of the Tolkien mould, which I'm definitely always up for. They're off to rescue Kit's brother, a Robert Plant-ish lothario played by Dempsey Bryk, whom I wish had the personal charisma to match the skill of his hairdresser.

They're joined by his chambermaid lover, "Dove", my favourite character so far. She's just the kind of delicate pretty I'd have been looking for in a fantasy movie when I was a kid and she's also got a bit of the Luke Skywalker syndrome. Writer Jonathan Kasdan (son of Lawrence) tries to write George Lucasian bickering amongst the bunch but it usually feels a little forced, sadly. Not a single joke lands. That includes the lines from a character I'd really like to like, the dangerous rogue accompanying them called Boorman (Amar Chadha-Patel).

At the end of the first episode, Willow himself finally shows up, played once again by Warwick Davis.

He's perfect. He feels like the same character after a space of time. His daughter is now played by Davis' real life daughter (there's no explanation so far as to what became of his son and wife), Annabelle Davis, who pours her heart into the role and is great.

Visually, the show is kind of lousy. The lighting and sets look like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, an odd fit in this age of grandiose and intricately designed fantasy series, and certainly not matching the sense of scope conveyed in the 1988 film. It looks like writers of future episodes are drawn from the same stables of incompetence that ruined Obi-Wan Kenobi and She-Hulk. But, alas, I like the characters and story enough so far I'm sticking with it.

Willow is available on Disney+.

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Yule Approacheth

On the train lately, I've been reading MR James stories but I mixed it up a little bit a few days ago and read HP Lovecraft's "The Festival" again. I'd totally forgotten it's a Christmas story.

As the road wound down the seaward slope I listened for the merry sounds of a village at evening, but did not hear them. Then I thought of the season, and felt that these old Puritan folk might well have Christmas customs strange to me, and full of silent hearthside prayer. So after that I did not listen for merriment or look for wayfarers, but kept on down past the hushed lighted farmhouses and shadowy stone walls to where the signs of ancient shops and sea-taverns creaked in the salt breeze, and the grotesque knockers of pillared doorways glistened along deserted, unpaved lanes in the light of little, curtained windows.

This is one of several stories, most famously The Shadow Over Innsmouth, in which the horror is intimately related to the narrator. Revelations of his own heritage slowly increase his anxiety and give meaning to his actions beyond those directly ascribed by the narrator.

As I hung back, the old man produced his stylus and tablet and wrote that he was the true deputy of my fathers who had founded the Yule worship in this ancient place; that it had been decreed I should come back, and that the most secret mysteries were yet to be performed. He wrote this in a very ancient hand, and when I still hesitated he pulled from his loose robe a seal ring and a watch, both with my family arms, to prove that he was what he said. But it was a hideous proof, because I knew from old papers that that watch had been buried with my great-great-great-great-grandfather in 1698.

He hangs back, yes, but what drew him this far? The real horror is unstated, that he may not be in control of himself, or he may not understand his own motives and essential nature. It's a tormenting, existential problem.

I suppose the story would be a good example to present to someone who wants to know why HP Lovecraft is considered great. The simultaneous love and fear he evidently felt for old New England is endlessly compelling.

. . . endless labyrinths of steep, narrow, crooked streets, and dizzy church-crowned central peak that time durst not touch; ceaseless mazes of colonial houses piled and scattered at all angles and levels like a child’s disordered blocks; antiquity hovering on grey wings over winter-whitened gables and gambrel roofs; fanlights and small-paned windows one by one gleaming out in the cold dusk to join Orion and the archaic stars. And against the rotting wharves the sea pounded; the secretive, immemorial sea out of which the people had come in the elder time.

I get that feeling often where I live now in Nara, Japan. There's no shortage of old buildings around here, some hundreds of years old, "scattered at all angles". I don't quite get the same impression of malevolence that comes through in the impressions in Lovecraft's fiction. I haven't been everywhere in Japan, so there may well be such places, but mostly the places in Japan feel sleepy and sedate, a contrast to the always hustling and caffeinated people. I've been thinking lately of how much this place will change once the diminishing population and economy will finally loosen immigration policies. When I came to Japan, I felt happy to be leaving a dying U.S. to come to a place resting on a more solid foundation. Yet, even then I suspected my perception wasn't accurate and now I can see how this place is dying, too. I think a lot about the tragedy of Japan's weak English education system, how necessary the language will probably be to these kids who are dissecting English grammar like frogs in a science lab; a weird, alien curiosity. To-morrow that frog will be Cthulhu.

Monday, November 28, 2022

Nightmare Exercises

I've been remembering some of my dreams again lately. A few nights ago, I dreamt I was in a mall back in San Diego and I was being chased by a short, bald man wearing a bright red polo. I think it's because I hate polos so much.

I suspect I'm getting more troubled dreams because I've been playing video games before bed, something I realised long ago I shouldn't do for this very reason. But somehow I've gotten sucked into Skyrim again, twelve years after the game's initial release. It's a good game on its own but it still seems to have a very active modding community so the Skyrim I'm playing now is vastly different from the one I first played over a decade ago. It has improved graphics and a better interface. I'm able to have more than one follower and I'm able to give them specialised combat roles.

Oh, yeah, and they're all dressed as Playboy bunnies. What do you expect? I'm a big old pervert. My character is the vampire in yellow with the knives, Junko. One of the mods I'm using creates a more complex perk tree which makes duel wielding daggers much more useful and interesting. Those bunny clothes don't count as armour, I've been levelling my character without building any armour skill. In Skyrim, it's actually beneficial to avoid levelling some skills because the enemies level up with you. This is an assassin character so she's good at sneaking and backstabbing. When I sneak up on someone and get them from behind with a dagger, I do 24 times the normal damage. The only trouble is this character is shit when fighting against dragons, particularly since I installed a "Deadly Dragons" mod because I always thought the vanilla dragons were too easy. This mod also makes the dragons use cool special abilities and spells. I especially like the "Storm Dragon" which summons a rain storm when it appears. It's nice atmosphere and it's easier for me to sneak in a storm. Not that I've managed to successfully backstab a dragon yet.

You can raise the difficulty level in vanilla Skyrim but that just seems to give everyone more hitpoints, which results in tedious sessions of me hacking repeatedly at someone. These mods are much more interesting.

Twitter Sonnet #1645

Obtaining plushy dreams promotes the group.
Dividing chores, the festive rodents run.
Observing rock, musicians slowly roll.
Successful dough imbues the butter bun.
Absurd as rolling bellies burn a sweet.
Revolving games align for lover dreams.
However, bats asleep alone were beat.
Forgotten cars concealing naught, it seems.
With proper balance, bowls can hold a soup.
Embarrassed bats could never dance again.
Without a wrap, the lady pawned a dupe.
Embargoes stopped the flow of cash to bin.
Dissolving snakes desired food to stay.
Devoured night deposits sunken day.

Sunday, November 27, 2022

From One Bed to Another

The wheel turns and lovers change in their significance and identity, each caught in the ever changing stream of reflections in 1950's La Ronde. Max Ophuls' adaptation of the 1897 play was considered obscene in America, of course, as it not only acknowledged the existence of sex but of extramarital sex. But it's a lovely, delicate, oddly sweet film about how people are isolated in a crowd by discreet lies and the roles they play.

Anton Walbrook plays our interdimensional host, striking a graceful, slightly melancholy, ruminating tone as he tells us how people are doomed to only seeing one half of their relationships. He alone, a strange figure who stands outside the logic of the film, sees La ronde, sees the unending cycle. Identifying the film set and the artificiality of the production, he transports us to 1900. "I adore the past," he says. "It's so much more peaceful than the present."

He meets with the first of the film's magnificent ensemble cast, Simone Signoret, playing a prostitute. Frustrated at being unable to find a john, she finally offers free sex to a soldier. He hastily accepts. Clearly she expected some consideration in the end, but she ends up loudly rebuking him for not even giving her a cigarette as he rushes off to his girlfriend, a chambermaid played by Simone Simon, whom he will also abandon.

Walbrook consoles her that she will find a better situation, romantically and professionally, as a chambermaid to a wealthy family. She makes love to their handsome son, perhaps his first love, and then we follow him to the arms of a wealthy, married woman (Danielle Darrieux). We follow her seemingly sexless husband to a scene where he seduces a 19 year old shopgirl (Odette Joyeux).

This after a lecture to his wife about the moral decrepitude of adulterous women. With his wife and with the shopgirl, he arranges things to be perceived as a moral and/or sexual authority, but to us, and, to some extent, to them, he only looks small and foolish. But everyone in this chain tells lies, clings to a perception of sexual dynamics, however obviously false. To borrow a phrase from Bob Dylan, do any of them on line know what any of it is worth?

La Ronde is available on The Criterion Channel and HBOMax.

Saturday, November 26, 2022

The Deadlier Groundhog

What bonding experience could be better than a shared, ultraviolent nightmare? 2022's Karada Sagashi (カラダ探し, "Looking for a body") is the live action adaptation of a popular horror manga that started in 2011 that's already had an anime adaptation. This one, though, plays up similarities to It to capitalise on the popularity of the new It movies in Japan. The trailer even explicitly references the fact that the film comes from Warner Brothers, the same studio that produced It. Karada Sagashi isn't a great horror movie, its sentimentality is conspicuously artificial at times, and it's obviously derivative. But it's not really bad, either. I like the monster, the stars are cute, and I was genuinely rooting for them.

It's a bit like It meets Groundhog Day. A quiet, pretty girl named Asuka (Kanna Hashimoto) is the point of view character. One night, she goes to bed and finds herself dreaming she's in her high school with five of her classmates. All of them are butchered, one by one, by a bloody little girl they call "Akaihito", "The Red Person". They all wake up to repeat the previous day, only the six of them aware of the time loop and remembering previous versions of the day.

This leads to tonally very odd scenes of the teens cavorting at the beach or laughing together over fruit parfaits. I think we're meant to be enjoying their freedom and camaraderie but they're too perfectly pretty and the scenes are as artificial as McDonalds commercials. Since one of them is a nerd and one of them is quiet, I think they're supposed to be kind of a Breakfast Club but they just come off as the most obnoxious clique in the school. To say nothing of the fact that they take this new supernatural horror in their lives pretty lightly.

It feels very much like a video game and I think that's why it appeals to so many young viewers. It reflects the real experience of kids to-day. There's nothing so out of the way about a group of kids bonding over getting killed repeatedly in a dream world after school. That's basically your average MMORPG. And, eventually, they figure out they need to find the parts of the Red Person's body hidden throughout the school and assemble them in a nearby church, a pretty standard fetch quest. And after a certain number of parts are found, the Red Person merges with her ragdoll to become a boss monster. This monster's face opens like the Demogorgon (or like Pennywise) and when it swallows one of the kids, that kid's existence is erased from reality. The next day, the remaining members of the clique find no-one else remembers the suddenly absent student.

I liked the look of the boss monster. It seemed to be mainly practical effects, a big suit with long arms and neck. The film also has a couple of new songs by Ado, a popular singer with a nice voice.

Friday, November 25, 2022

The Highest Christmas Tree Star

Thanksgiving is over and so Christmas has begun. This we can observe from the release of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. It must have been good because I was absorbed in it, I was never bored.

Mainly it's the story of how Drax and Mantis kidnap Kevin Bacon as a Christmas present for Peter Quill. Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff are still sweet and funny together.

Klementieff, in particular, is adorable. The standout scene for me was her beating up a bunch of cops and telling Drax he's not allowed to kill anyone. But the funniest gag was actually Nebula's Christmas present to Rocket. I won't spoil it for you but I hope it has real repercussions for the MCU.

The music was good, of course, even if The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" has gotten to be kind of an obvious choice. That's how traditions start, I guess. In a twenty years, it'll be a standard for childrens' choirs, minus that one politically incorrect line (which was absent from the special, of course).

It was good, but not as good as Peacemaker. The DC universe really is a better fit for Gunn. But you can be sure I'll be checking out Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is available on Disney+.

Twitter Sonnet #1645

Vermilion coins deposit bronze in weight.
Respected stones revoke amounted guts.
Amorphous fish deny alluring bait.
Prodigious cherubs chart enormous butts.
Assembled kings denounce assembled bards.
Egregious writing broke the crumbling wall.
Resplendent hands accept the standard cards.
Aggressive kicks propel the soccer ball.
Accosted guys relinquish 'staches trim.
Delighted lords remove to verdant shade.
Electric lights arranged to pleasure's whim.
Successful deeds deserve their troubles paid.
Disrobing trees reveal a Christmas prank.
Beneath the snow the candy vessel sank.

Thursday, November 24, 2022

A Club for Some Times

Since it seems to be so popular here in Japan, and I hadn't seen it in 20 years, I decided to watch 1999's Fight Club last night. I still enjoy it very much but here's definitely a movie that's been changed by my time and place.

I don't know any Americans who have the lifestyle Edward Norton's character is rebelling against. I know quite a few who wish they had their own nice little apartments where they could obsess over Ikea furniture. In 2022, you have to run like the Red Queen just to stay in one place. Meanwhile, in Japan, which has a much more comfortable middle class, it's easy to see why such a non-conformist film has appeal.

I think also, ironically, in the U.S. and Asia, the effeminate man-boy Norton's narrator character despises himself for being has become the ideal for many. He's attractively tormented without being threatening; he's like a teddy bear, running around in his underwear.

I couldn't help thinking of Lost Highway, which I viewed recently. Both are Jekyll and Hyde stories--truly, 1990s arthouse cinema owes a great debt to Robert Louis Stevenson. The different approaches taken by the two films represent a difference of fundamental artistic philosophy. Lynch is more of a sensualist, determined to truly immerse the viewer in this terrifying experience. Fincher's film is more of an analysis. Norton's narration, like Ray Liotta's in Goodfellas, is so amiable, it feels like you're sitting comfortably in a coffee shop, having a fascinating conversation, far away from any of the dangers being described.

I really admire how Palahniuk and Fincher use this format to show how a terrorist group might come into existence. It begins with genuine insight--Tyler Durden taps into a real sense of devalued masculinity. Showing he understands and knows how to provide cathartic outlets for repressed feelings is enough to win him the trust enjoyed by a guru. And I also like how, in fracturing the character's personality, Palahniuk creates a character too intellectual to be member of his own club. Which is probably true of most gurus.

Fight Club is available on Disney+ in Japan.

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

A Road was the Destination

Last night's finale of Andor, "Rix Road", concluded not just the best Disney+ original series, but the best show I've seen this year. I guess it's a close competition between Andor and House of the Dragon but the writing on Andor was, for my money, certainly more consistent in quality. And I realised I wasn't looking for anything this good in Star Wars anymore. It was a very pleasant surprise, and it continued to surprise, week after week, right down to last night's finale.

I'm glad I was wrong about Maarva's death, that she really did die, because, as a point of dramatic weight, her death is so much more interesting. Fiona Shaw really sold that hologram speech, too, another great performance in a series filled with great performances.

Some critics are calling the finale boring, and I noticed it's the episodes actually written by Tony Gilroy that seem to get this criticism most, to the point where it feels like people have an ax to grind with him. I'd have to really scour "Rix Road" to find a speck of boredom.

I'd say the episode's two highest points were two rescues--Cassian rescuing Bix and Karn rescuing Meero. When Cassian promised Bix and the others that he would find them, it felt like Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mohicans. I got chills. But maybe I liked the Karn and Meero bit even better.

I love how, in an instant, viewer sympathy is twisted around. Here are the good people of Ferrix, rebelling at the instigation of Maarva's stirring speech, and here's Meero, the ruthless woman who tortured Bix. But then, suddenly, Meero is the frantic woman caught in a rabid crowd of madmen, and Karn, whom she had no reason to expect to even be on the planet, is there. And he requires no thanks. They're so wrong and so sweet. I'm getting Lannister vibes.

I lovded Luthen cracking a genuine smile for once at the end of the episode. I loved Mon Mothma's manoeuvre with her husband about his supposed gambling problem. I love all the evocative detail on the world of Ferrix. I love this show. I can't believe I have to wait till 2024 to see the rest. I hope it'll spend next year accruing a big fan base of people binging it. I hope Bob Iger puts Tony Gilroy in charge of Lucasfilm.

Andor is available on Disney+.

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Thanks for All the Chicken

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, though I guess it's still Tuesday right now in much of the U.S. It's Wednesday here in Japan as I write this, just after 11am. To-day's Labour Day in Japan, so I get the day off, so I guess I'll celebrate Thanksgiving to-day. I don't know if it's possible to get turkey around here. The reason, according to legend, KFC is so popular during Christmas in Japan is because some Americans visiting Japan in the '70s ate at a KFC when they couldn't find turkey. I think the real reason is actually KFC's really successful ad campaign from the '70s or '80s but turkey is really hard to find here. I've never seen it in the supermarket, anyway. What I'd really like to find is some nice big American pumpkins. People here are content with the little green Japanese pumpkin.

Here's a picture from the art club at the school I currently work at:

I drew the sombre Mario and Luigi for some reason, students added the red to their noses and faces and other embellishments. I don't know who Tamaki or Tamatyan is but he's evidently someone's favourite character.

Twitter Sonnet #1644

A mild jungle walk exhibits cats.
Provided droopy suns could keep it fresh.
Assessing human thought, the creature chats.
The grain demands another day to thresh.
The eager orc was only slowing life.
A science snared the name of witch for gold.
A mountain yields again the mental knife.
The Martian young defied the Earthling old.
A swirling fire bounced to van of chump.
Advancing men were making pipes to clean.
We never built a bilge without a pump.
A likely ear discerned the book of bean.
The bigger bird would break the eastern chair.
The danger lay in flying mammal air.

Monday, November 21, 2022

The Continued Misfortunes of Alien Saps

Everyone's favourite telekinetic alien siblings returned in 1978's Return from Witch Mountain. The kids are still innocent, wide eyed victims who can't act, and they're joined by an LA street gang of other kids who can't act. But, in the villain department, this film has the captivating duo of Bette Davis and Christopher Lee. They're delightful together and this is a genuinely good movie whenever they're onscreen.

We catch up with Tony (Ike Eisenmann) and Tia (Kim Richards) as they arrive in LA in a flying saucer. Their uncle Bene (Denver Pyle) tells them to avoid using their powers and then leaves them for some reason. Almost immediately, they get separated and lost and Tony is captured by a sinister man with a mind control device.

This is Dr. Gannon (Christopher Lee), whose lofty dreams of world domination are frustrated a little by the humbler avarice of his accomplice, Letha (Bette Davis). When Gannon turns Tony into his slave, all Letha wants is to make lots and lots of money.

The only scene in the movie that made me laugh is when Letha takes zombified Tony to a museum where a big stack of '49ers gold bars is being exhibited. After causing a distraction, she tells Tony to deliver the gold bars to her nephew outside. Tony follows her instructions and the nephew is nearly killed by the heavy flying bars and their car is crushed.

This isn't some kind of intentional foiling of the plan on Tony's part. It's actually a bit creepy how totally he's dominated by Gannon's device throughout the film. Even when Gannon is telling him to kill his sister, Tony doesn't flinch when trying to drop an elevator on her.

Really, it's Christopher Lee that makes this movie. He plays it to the hilt, regardless of the quality of the material and he's mesmerising.

Return from Witch Mountain is available on Disney+.

Sunday, November 20, 2022

Truth and the Nazi Hacienda

Nazis and man-eating dogs are chasing you through the jungle, but the real question is, do you really know the person running by your side? 1956's Run for the Sun sort of half-heartedly maintains a theme of truth in romance, the main appeal of the film being its production values, performances, and suspense. I'm not sure if the weak link is director Roy Boulting or screenwriter Dudley Nichols. A lack of chemistry between stars Richard Widmark and Jane Greer may also be at fault. But there's plenty to admire here. I could take a million screenshots that look like individual pulp covers.

The whole film was shot on location in Mexico, with much of it in jungles near Acapulco. Even the soundstage interiors were reportedly shot on Mexican soundstages. And they're well lit by cinematographer Joseph La Shelle.

That's not rear projection, Greer is in a real car in real Mexico.

The film begins with a magazine reporter, Katie (Greer), tracking down the reclusive novelist, Mike Latimer (Widmark), to where he's living, integrated into the life of a Mexican fishing village.

Mike spends his evenings in bed with a bottle, torturing himself about his inability to find truth in his writing, the character clearly being based on Hemingway. There's the start of something interesting in his inability to trust any perception of truth after his wife left him for another man but somehow this theme doesn't quite get off the ground.

Katie can't go through with her assignment to write a nasty expose on Mike. He insists on flying her to Mexico City in his little yellow plane. Unbeknownst to him, she has a magnetised notebook in her purse which she sets next to the dashboard compass, not realising she's throwing the two of them off course. I guess Mike can't even trust the laws of magnetism. If we take the purse to symbolise what it usually did for Hitchcock, a vagina, this plot detail becomes a little more interesting. What could throw Mike off-course into hot, steamy wilderness?

Individually, Widmark and Greer are fine, but there's just no sense of passion between the two. They certainly look passionate, hacking their way through foliage and muck.

Just look at that cinematography; all the shadows of those leaves and how subtly the eye is drawn to Greer's face.

The villain, played by Trevor Howard, somehow works out to be much more fascinating. He tries to conceal his true identity as a Nazi behind a natural geniality, but there's always a kind of carnivorous intensity in his eyes.

Run for the Sun is available on Amazon Prime.

Saturday, November 19, 2022

Don't Light the Wick

I finally got around to seeing 2014's John Wick. It's not bad. Oddly, my feelings about it are similar to what I had for The Matrix. I thought it was a good movie, though I don't quite understand the fervour people around me seem to have for it.

John Wick, directed by two of Keanu Reeves' stunt doubles from The Matrix, certainly doesn't aim for the philosophical profundity of the Wachowskis' Sci-Fi classic. Part of the appeal of John Wick is its unassuming simplicity. It's about a killer fighting a bunch of killers.

The fact that the Russian mobsters killed his puppy makes Wick slightly more sympathetic, not unlike Alan Ladd's fondness for the kitten in This Gun for Hire. And you can certainly see the influence of John Woo.

It's fun seeing a few high calibre actors in simple supporting roles. John Leguizamo, Adrianne Palicki, Willem Dafoe, and Ian McShane are all terrific, no one of them with a whole lot to do but packing a decent punch with what they have.

The fight scenes are certainly the best part of the film and, as it was made by stunt performers, you can see an understandable fidelity to practical effects.

The writing isn't strong but it's also not ambitious, so it's fine. I wish the cinematography were a little more interesting. There's some attempt at noir-ish shadows but all the pink, blue, and green light kind of evens out to blandness.

Reeves is pretty good as a physical presence.

John Wick is available on Netflix in Japan.

Twitter Sonnet #1643

The inches gathered metric tonnes of cents.
The elephant consumed a patch of pipes.
The rabbit never showed a lick of sense.
A plumber buys the cup the koopa hypes.
The gleeful magnets spread a rumour fast.
Reflected harm was sort of taking hold.
Is something wrong, has something wicked passed?
Is something true because the group was told?
A distant cat was lengthened past an egg.
Retired bottles carried milk in time.
A million eyes would never spot the leg.
'Twas merely shade we glimpsed beneath the brine.
Recumbent candles lift assassin threads.
Expensive joints include exclusive beds.

Friday, November 18, 2022

An Air Rotten Basement

There are real risks involved in staying at an AirBnB but they're not generally the horrors depicted in 2022's Barbarian. Parts of this film are really effective horror, parts of it are distractingly dumb.

It's a dark and stormy night and Tess (Georgina Campbell) pulls up in her expensive SUV near a cute little house. After struggling with a keycoded box, she's surprised when Keith (Bill Skarsgard) opens the door. It turns out they've been double booked for the same AirBnB.

Gradually, they get to the point in which they share the accommodation--he on the couch, she in the bed. This movie is very much a rumination on MeToo psychology. The first half of the film is from the point of view of a young woman having to decide if she can trust a man in a strange situation. The second half of the film is from the point of view of a famous actor, AJ (Justin Long), who's been accused of rape by a co-star.

The ideas of sexual politics are played with over the course of the film and a vast, weird, subterranean monster's den below the house functions as a nice symbol of preconceptions and preoccupations. It also just works as good, suspenseful horror as we follow Tess getting drawn further in, finding one secret door and then another, going further and further underground with just the light on her cellphone as a guide. The monster's existence doesn't make much rational sense but does make significant thematic sense. It's hard to think of a more appropriate minotaur for this labyrinth.

The section of the story focusing on Justin Long's character is less satisfying. There are hints of complexity and I would have liked if the filmmakers had left it vague as to whether or not AJ is actually guilty of the rape. The climax of the film is stupid both in terms of plot and message but even the third act has some decent moments of tension and suspense.

Barbarian is available on HBOMax and, outside the U.S., on Disney+.

Thursday, November 17, 2022

The Old Funny Future

I decided to see what all of Kevin Feige's fuss was about and started watching Rick and Morty. Though, seven episodes into the second season, I still haven't seen any episodes written by Jessica Gao and Michael Waldron, the two talents Feige hired from Ricky and Morty to mastermind Marvel projects. So far I've enjoyed the show and it's pretty much what I expected--an ultra-cynical, postmodern Adult Swim comedy, not too far afield from Venture Brothers or Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Actually, what it really feels like is Futurama, and the central character, Rick, is like a combination of Bender and Professor Farnsworth.

Some of the plot concepts are genuinely thoughtful, if not quite reaching their potential depth. Last night I watched "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" in which Morty's parents go to an alien planet for marriage counselling. The aliens' devices create physical manifestations of Jerry and Beth's perceptions of each other--Jerry's Beth is a giant, powerful, and angry bug monster while Beth's Jerry is a whiney worm. Writer Alex Reubens (Key and Peele, Community) takes the concept in interesting directions. The two manifestations are naturally co-dependent so they work together to take over the alien planet. It results in some good gags and a sort of "wrong-sweet" moment when Beth realises the bug monster's existence implies Jerry sees her as the smartest and strongest person he knows. Maybe that is just as far as the concept needed to go.

The first two seasons I've been watching come from those far off days of 2013 and 2015 so the show isn't saddled with to-day's paranoid political correctness. Much of Rick's humour is reliant on him saying and doing fucked up things, like the episode where he accurately describes the love potion Morty has him make as ruffies, or a subtler joke in a later episode where he uses an alien racial slur. I wonder if this is related to the fact that the viewership chart on Wikipedia shows viewership dropping off sharply after the third season. Maybe it just reflects the exodus of viewers from cable television.

Anyway, it's a surprisingly nostalgic experience so far. I used to watch Adult Swim all the time in the early 2000s, back when the concept of cartoons for adults on normal television was kind of a novelty.

Rick and Morty is available on Netflix in Japan and on HBOMax in the US.

Twitter Sonnet #1642

A puppet waits upon the parapet.
Repurposed purses pluck the pouches clean.
Denuded numbers change to alphabet.
Corrupted cats'll cut the cutlass keen.
Returning lances light the seas for eyes.
Repeated words became a mindless noise.
Determined squash becomes the pumpkin pies.
Subconscious basements hide the evil boys.
The vampire dice were sucking all the bones.
Revolving clouds were nothing underground.
Discerning rocks diminished thoughts of stones.
Assorted eyes beheld the mob around.
The joker's fuss results in funny shirts.
Revenge attracts the Ernies more than Berts.

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Negotiating Death and Secrets

Last night's Andor was the penultimate episode of the season, the first part of a two part story written by Tony Gilroy. It had heartbreaking moments, effectively suspenseful moments, and intellectually fascinating moments. More than anything, it whetted my appetite for next week.

We find out at the beginning that Maarva has apparently died. I think most viewers suspect this is a ruse, that she'll turn up alive somehow next week, fighting for the Rebellion. My theory is that Meero has planted some kind of listening device on the droid, so that's why everyone had to act sincerely as though Maarva is dead in front of the droid. That poor droid, B2EMO. He be too emo. No, not really, I feel bad for the cracked little mop bucket.

If I'm right, it doesn't bother me that I successfully predicted something. In any case, it adds to a pretty heavy list of motivations for Cassian. If Gilroy's mission with this season, as he did say it was, was to establish why Cassian became a Rebel, he's certainly done that. After the experience in the prison, plus Maarva's death, real or feigned, it's clear he'll be a committed Rebel after this.

But my favourite scene last night was between Luthen and Saw.

Both Forest Whitaker and Stellan Skarsgard were captivating as each character tried to measure out how much information, trust, and sacrifice were wise from one moment to the next. Saw, in particular, is a slightly scary character to watch, knowing how conflicted he is between the meaning of the cause and winning at any cost. And it was all capped off by a wonderfully tense and effective space battle.

Nice to see one of those in Star Wars again.

Andor is available on Disney+.