Battlestar Gallactica

I'm sure that much has been already made of the retelling of the Battlestar Gallatica tale, but hey, I'd really love to add my voice to the chorus.

The new storyline brings a much more robust character development to the sci-fi world born in the 70s. So, let's get a few things out of the way. Yup, Starbuck is now a woman. It's a fun modern way to approach the character, and I'm definitely a fan. The new Starbuck is a stogie-smokin' ball of fun that flys her way to stardom, yet only lacks the sexual vibrato of the previous incarnation. Her character is racked with the guilt of a former lover's death and the drama helps to round out the character interaction.

My favorite addition is the inclusion of cylons who are indistinguishable from their human counterparts. Yup, there are still our old favorite "toaster" models complete with the searching red eye. These new toasters definitely have a much stronger kick with articulated fingers that can slice through opponents with the swipe of a hand. Mmmm, I like toast.

With the addtion of a stronger contemplative religious aspect to both the cylons and humans, it makes for a fun argument between the nature of how we define the difference between what is human and what is machine.

For the joy of Hail Social

A little bundle of joy arrived in my mailbox last week. The new Polyvynil Records release by Hail Social is a very strong first record. Almost every song is a great power pop anthem with driving basslines, catchy choruses, and jangly guitars.

Hail Social has proved their worth by touring with Interpol and the Secret Machines even before the release of their first CD. They'll also be touring this August with Ranier Maria.

The most direct band comparisons that I can come up with come from the early 90s Seattle grunge era, but don't let that fool you, they aren't grunge. The Carnivore LP by Pure Joy got me going in much the same way.

Favorite tracks on the CD include: "Hands are tied," "Track #1," and "no title."

Check out the following sampler song: Get in the car
And don't forget to check out their MySpace page as well as their band site.

Oh, and don't let the totally inappropriate album art fool you. They really aren't a death metal or goth band.

Music Videos Not Dead

Well, maybe the music video is not entirely dead. As reported by Wired, the new video from Portland band, The Decemberists, has been released by the band directly onto Bittorrent. It's a great video, and a much higher quality version than the pixelated crap proliferated on the web. Heck, I'm proud to help distribute this video using my personal bandwidth. They're a great band, and it's a fun way to help support getting the word out. Other bands should move to this method of video distribution. Music videos are basically a little commercial for the band's CD, and a great creative art form that is deteriorating when it's left to the bouncing nubile breasts of Lindsay Lohan, the lewd misogyny of gangsta hip-hop, or the cliche darkness of the metal crowd.

Legend of Zu

It's easy for a Westerner to dive into many fantasy movies. You know what to expect - dragons, wizards, the occasional dwarf, halfling and ogre. Most Western fantasy seems to be based on characters that JRR Tolkin created, as well as the occasional D&D campaign. Looking to the East, there is an entirely different history of fantasy, and a viewer from the West will likely have a tough time relating and understanding much of what's going on. Take for example, The Legend of Zu. It's a film that drops all notions of realism and goes straight for new levels of outlandishness. The film is about these legendary groups of monks that live on floating chunks of mountain, fly through the air like superman, and have magical "swords" that come out of their hands. There is the tradional fight against ultimate evil, and those fights are filled with special effects, flipping and twirling bodies and the requisite sword play. I found it entirely enjoyable, if not a bit confusing at times. I never knew where it was going and loved the fresh feeling of the unexpected.

Kung Fu Cinema

The Jacket

Kris Kristofferson plays a great creepy doctor in this creepy and over the top treatment of a criminal psychiatric ward. It is an adrenalin producing and somewhat self-righteous rush. Takes some its cues from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but doesn't stand up to that level of quality.

Noam Chomsky playing on the TV in the group area of the psychiatric hospital is clearly some sort of comment by one of the sound designers of the movie. Even though I find Noam way too long winded and unable to articulate a clear point in less than 45 minutes, I'm glad that he's here.

I also love seeing Jennifer Jason Leigh again. Her performance in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ a number of years ago was great, and wouldn't mind seeing more of her in the future. Speaking of Cronenberg, where the heck has he been for the past few years?

In my opinion, it's not worth the price of an evening admission, but useful for a spine tingling evening on the couch.

IMDB
Studio Site

Koma

Take this urban legend: waking up in a tub of ice with "call 911 if you want to live" written on the mirror, only to find a cut in your back where one of your kidneys has been removed. Well, that's the basic premise of this thriller movie. The two main female characters are stunning, and do a fine job in their roles.

There are those "why the hell are you walking backwards when you know someone's in the house!" moments, but that's almost as common as the screeching cat jumping out from behind the blinds in suspense movies. I also wonder why when Asian women freak out in film that they must grab onto someone and thrash their bodies around. There's no option for quiet reflections of pain or emotional complexity, it's either all out distraught, or mellow serenity. Weird.

This movie had me on the edge of my seat many times, and I would definitely recommend it.

IMDB
Studio Site

The Contract

Oh, how Hong Kong cinema has progressed. This 1978 comedy is resplendent with goofy makeup, a silly storyline and plenty of slapstick. It's well on par with the quality of US films of the day - think about Herbie the Love Bug, or the fantabulous Pink Panter films. The Pink Panter movies were far better comedies, but the approach is incredibly similar.

It's interesting for the historical look back into cinematic past. Rent it for a rainy afternoon of goofiness.

IMDB

TV and the Dentist?

So I have a bit of a rant. I went to the dentist for my bi-annual cleaning this week. When I sat down in the chair, I was a bit shocked to be immediately handed a remote and have a television monitor quickly swiveled around in front of my face.

"Find something you like!" bubbled my dental hygenist. Now don't get me wrong, but this is one place that I never really expected to find a TV. I can understand the desire to get one's mind off of the scraping, poking and polishing, but I really don't want my hygenist to do the same. The first thing that I did with my remote was to mute the TV. Even after doing that, I caught her looking over at the TV every few minutes. I couldn't perform my job well with a hypnotic TV mere inches from my head, so why should I expect her to do so. This woman has sharp pointy objects in my mouth, and the last thing that I need is for her to be distracted.

Oy! I'm all for advanced in dental technology, but I'd argue that the Boob Tube should definitely not be one of them.

Ghost in the Shell 2 - Innocence

Ghost in the Shell 2 - Innocence is a beautiful and much more intellectual anime than any other that I've seen before. It has a bit slower pacing than many, but the depth of the characters and the numerous references to literature make it much more engaging than many other anime features typically targeted at a teenage audience.

The combination of tradional cell animation and CG is very well done and leans more toward the cell style look and feel. The blending of the two different techniques is more masterfully done than the earlier release of Ghost in the Shell (#1).

The notion of life and its definition when combined with mechanical means is yet again explorer. I kept thinking of the early 90s Japanese film Tetsuo, the Iron Man throughout the entire film. The Japanese definitely have a bit of a fetish with this topic, and if I can say, they are a bit ahead of the Western world in thinking about the ethics and differences between man/machine. Or heck, maybe the Japanese are just a bit more obsessed about it.

Studio Site

2046

Wong Kar Wei's 2004 masterpiece, 2046, is already making quite a stir around the globe. Recently released in France and the UK, the two lead actors, Leung Chiu-Wai (of Infernal Affairs and many others) and Zhang Ziyi (of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, House of Flying Daggers, etc.) have won awards for their performances in 2046 from the Hong Kong Critic Society.

The film jumps from one time and setting quickly to another. It can be somewhat disorienting at times, but works well with the plot and theme of the movie. The editing style and pacing makes the viewer think more about the plight of the main character (Leung) and his relationship to the many women in his life. The pacing can be slow at times, but when you get to look at beauties such as Zhang Ziyi and Li Gong, it makes it all the easier.



http://www.ocean-films.com/2046/sommaire.htm
http://www.2046.co.uk/

This blog killed the video star

OK, so what's the deal with music videos these days? Where have all the videos gone? MTV is now a mishmash of reality TV crap, and VH1 likes what happens behind the music more than the music itself. I like the trend of packaging a bonus DVD that many music labels are using to spur sales of CDs. It is a great way to see videos that otherwise wouldn't see the light of day, other than a grainy over-compressed .RM file over the net.

My most recent purchase was Enon's newest release, which came with a bonus DVD. The DVD has a number of interesting videos, as well as ton of junk that I'm sure most people will just skip over. (Who wants to see the band beat each other up in a hotel room, or crawl around on the floor with a shoe in their mouth?) The videos were quite fun though. Videos were to the 80s what album covers were to the 70s, and I suppose the web site would be the comparable 90-00s item.

I must say that it is refreshing that the full-length music/movie still exists. Take Daft Punk's Interstella 5555 as a recent example. Rock on!