"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Flipped the new Green Hornet film, and I must declare it a mitigated failure. I mean, Gondry's a visually exciting director (just look at Kato vision, the splitscreen sequence and the waking dream where the Hornet puts all the pieces together), but from the commentary, it's very clear he wasn't really in charge. He's vocal about his frustrations even though he's in the room with Seth Rogen and the other writer, and yet the atmosphere remains a fun and friendly one. I also respect their attempt to subvert all the clichés of the superhero film genre. And there are some excellent character actors in this thing - Edward James Olmos, Christoph Waltz and Tom Wilkinson among them. Good action scenes too, with the last act almost overcoming the film's deepest flaw for me. That flaw? The attempts at comedy are just that: Attempts. Seth Rogen plays a Sandleresque "comedy jackass" that never becomes sympathetic. Jay Chou as Kato isn't comfortable enough with his English to make the banter work properly, and any interactions the leads have with Cameron Diaz sound like forced attempts at sounding like Iron Man's Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. And guys, way too potty-mouthed. So there's good stuff here, but the comedy just doesn't work for me. In addition to the revealing commentary, the DVD includes a fun gag reel and two good featurettes - one on how the film was written (and re-written many times), and one on the design of the Black Beauty.
The Flag of Iron, this week's Kung Fu selection, features Kwok Choi (who I should really give a poster spot to) as an honorable man whose clan turns to the dark side. Director Chang Cheh's hallmarks are all there: Fun new weapons (introducing Flag Fu!), shockingly brutal guttings, accidental homoeroticism, and the participation of actors collectively known as the Venoms. A surprise is the whore with the heart of gold, a female character with a romantic subplot, nothing new to cinema, but rare in Chang's work. And he keeps the film alive, as he so often does, by using a structure that he hasn't before. I appreciate the variety of story telling he brings to the screen, even if there's less variety as far as tone and tropes go. The DVD has a few pictures and trailers, but nothing else, I'm afraid.
In 1990, Derek Jacobi agreed to direct Kenneth Branagh's first (theatrical) Hamlet, and Discovering Hamlet is a 53-minute documentary that follows that process from rehersal to opening night. Jacobi has some really interesting ideas (that I'll have to discuss on my Hamlet blog eventually), but there's entirely too much narration explaining what the story of the play is for my tastes. Useful for high school students, say, but the interviews and rehearsal scenes, while illuminating, are too short and sparse. That's where the rest of the DVD comes in. The second disc provides unedited interviews with cast and crew (but mostly Jacobi) and the full footage of many rehearsal sections as well as a drunken cast party. Disc 1 also has a current day interview with Jacobi, looking back at his sole directing project (some repetition may occur). This package as a whole is MUCH MORE interesting than the original documentary, providing fascinating insights into the play and how it is approached from the actors' point of view (as even Jacobi only ever sees himself as an actor).
Books: I don't know why, but I don't really want to read fiction these days. I'm all about essays. My latest read was Umberto Eco's On Literature, a collection of literary essays (often reworked from talks) published in 2002. Eco's engaging, personalized style makes for interesting reading even when you don't know anything about the book or books discussed or referenced, which happens rather a lot because of his Italian point of view. Works integral to Italian culture aren't always familiar to the English-speaking world. The litmus test for me is always the same: Does it make me want to read or re-read great works? The answer is yes (whether I immediately will rather depends on my coming off my essays kick). Better yet, it's made me want to WRITE. And I'm always happy when a famous critic pans a work of literature I have only disdain for, in this case, The Count of Monte Cristo. Hehehe.
New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 8 new cards from all over, and speaking of "all over", that's the end of The End of Time AND of WhoCCG 1st Edition! I'm now supposed to start real work on a more playable (yet completely backwards compatible) 2nd Edition. Let you know how that goes.
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
II.ii. The Players - Kline '90
DVDs: Flipped the new Green Hornet film, and I must declare it a mitigated failure. I mean, Gondry's a visually exciting director (just look at Kato vision, the splitscreen sequence and the waking dream where the Hornet puts all the pieces together), but from the commentary, it's very clear he wasn't really in charge. He's vocal about his frustrations even though he's in the room with Seth Rogen and the other writer, and yet the atmosphere remains a fun and friendly one. I also respect their attempt to subvert all the clichés of the superhero film genre. And there are some excellent character actors in this thing - Edward James Olmos, Christoph Waltz and Tom Wilkinson among them. Good action scenes too, with the last act almost overcoming the film's deepest flaw for me. That flaw? The attempts at comedy are just that: Attempts. Seth Rogen plays a Sandleresque "comedy jackass" that never becomes sympathetic. Jay Chou as Kato isn't comfortable enough with his English to make the banter work properly, and any interactions the leads have with Cameron Diaz sound like forced attempts at sounding like Iron Man's Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. And guys, way too potty-mouthed. So there's good stuff here, but the comedy just doesn't work for me. In addition to the revealing commentary, the DVD includes a fun gag reel and two good featurettes - one on how the film was written (and re-written many times), and one on the design of the Black Beauty.
The Flag of Iron, this week's Kung Fu selection, features Kwok Choi (who I should really give a poster spot to) as an honorable man whose clan turns to the dark side. Director Chang Cheh's hallmarks are all there: Fun new weapons (introducing Flag Fu!), shockingly brutal guttings, accidental homoeroticism, and the participation of actors collectively known as the Venoms. A surprise is the whore with the heart of gold, a female character with a romantic subplot, nothing new to cinema, but rare in Chang's work. And he keeps the film alive, as he so often does, by using a structure that he hasn't before. I appreciate the variety of story telling he brings to the screen, even if there's less variety as far as tone and tropes go. The DVD has a few pictures and trailers, but nothing else, I'm afraid.
In 1990, Derek Jacobi agreed to direct Kenneth Branagh's first (theatrical) Hamlet, and Discovering Hamlet is a 53-minute documentary that follows that process from rehersal to opening night. Jacobi has some really interesting ideas (that I'll have to discuss on my Hamlet blog eventually), but there's entirely too much narration explaining what the story of the play is for my tastes. Useful for high school students, say, but the interviews and rehearsal scenes, while illuminating, are too short and sparse. That's where the rest of the DVD comes in. The second disc provides unedited interviews with cast and crew (but mostly Jacobi) and the full footage of many rehearsal sections as well as a drunken cast party. Disc 1 also has a current day interview with Jacobi, looking back at his sole directing project (some repetition may occur). This package as a whole is MUCH MORE interesting than the original documentary, providing fascinating insights into the play and how it is approached from the actors' point of view (as even Jacobi only ever sees himself as an actor).
Books: I don't know why, but I don't really want to read fiction these days. I'm all about essays. My latest read was Umberto Eco's On Literature, a collection of literary essays (often reworked from talks) published in 2002. Eco's engaging, personalized style makes for interesting reading even when you don't know anything about the book or books discussed or referenced, which happens rather a lot because of his Italian point of view. Works integral to Italian culture aren't always familiar to the English-speaking world. The litmus test for me is always the same: Does it make me want to read or re-read great works? The answer is yes (whether I immediately will rather depends on my coming off my essays kick). Better yet, it's made me want to WRITE. And I'm always happy when a famous critic pans a work of literature I have only disdain for, in this case, The Count of Monte Cristo. Hehehe.New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 8 new cards from all over, and speaking of "all over", that's the end of The End of Time AND of WhoCCG 1st Edition! I'm now supposed to start real work on a more playable (yet completely backwards compatible) 2nd Edition. Let you know how that goes.
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
II.ii. The Players - Kline '90
Comments
Plus, now I really want to see the alternate universe version of this film starring Nicolas Cage as a white Jamaican. Where does one get DVDs from Region Earth-2, eh?