Buys
On DVD, I got Haywire, Brave and the Bold Season 2 vol.2, Longford, Men with Brooms, Chuck Season 5 (still haven't seen anything post-Christmas), Shaolin Handlock, and because they were on the cheeeeap, the new Bionic Woman, the first two seasons of Warehouse 13 and the first three of Sliders. Plus, Doctor Who DVDs of Face of Evil, Nightmare of Eden, Dragonfire, The Happiness Patrol and Carnival of Monsters (special edition). Incredibly, the DCAdventures RPG Heroes and Villains vol.2 came out, featuring the other half of Green Ronin's stats for characters from a universe that no longer exists (sigh).
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Steven Soderbergh's Haywire seems to have gotten a lot of flack online, usually about his casting of a non-actor, mixed martial arts star Gina Carano, in the lead role. I have no trouble with it, personally. Soderbergh has been casting a lot of non-actors lately, to basically play versions of themselves. Carano doesn't emote much, but neither is she terrible. She's pretty hot in this and the martial arts are outstanding, with every performer pretty much doing their own frenzied fighting. In fact, this spy thriller has many of the sensibilities of Hong Kong cinema, which you know I appreciate. Action heroes chosen for their physical abilities and brute charisma, not their acting chops; a lyrical use of music, filters and editing; and character revealed through action and plot. I'm also a fan of spy thrillers that show off actual spycraft, and Haywire feels legit in that sense as well. Haywire is a slick, structurally interesting action movie that I hope leads to more for Carano. The DVD features interviews with the entire cast, a longer feature on Carano herself - from MMA to film star - and all the web-based promos that essentially give away most of the twists (maybe it's no wonder the film was reviled by some - they got spoiled!).
Mother's Day pick! I got Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles' two seasons for a song, but wasn't expecting much. After the first, short, 9-episode season, I can honestly call it a minor gem. My one (small) problem with it is the casting of Lena Heady in the title role, not because she isn't badass and devastatingly beautiful (she is), but because as a Brit, her American accent is distractingly indistinct. Otherwise, it's dark pre-apocalypse series that reminds me in many ways of Battlestar Galactica, not least because of of Bear McCreary's music. Plus, you know, Terminators = Cylons. We've even got Summer Glau doing what she was seemingly built to do as John Connor's new Terminator guardian. The series wins big points as well by being set after T2 and almost immediately erasing T3 from the time line. True to the films, it features uniformly strong action beats, but splits its focus between escaping evil robots from the future and the FBI, and trying to actively prevent the future from happening. There's a certain poetry to some of the episodes thanks to religious themes (again, BSG is invoked), and the creators don't shy away from filling in the blanks left by the films, including flashbacks (forwards) to the future. The DVD has some good extras, including commentary by cast and crew on key episodes, deleted scenes and outtakes, audition tapes and dance rehearsals, a revealing extended cut on "The Devil's Hand" with no music and unfinished effects, and a very good three-part making of.
The first time I saw Paul Gross' Men with Brooms, it may have been a sanitized TV version (though Canadian TV doesn't usually do that), because I don't remember it being so scatological in its first half-hour. Potty humor aside, it remains a fun, offbeat sports comedy that treats curling the same way others treat baseball (i.e. as poetry). You can pretty much expect that odd Canadian mix of eccentric characters, zany humor and truthful, well-acted moments. I do think it goes overboard in its conclusion, which feels like a parody of the Hollywoodian "happy ending". But fun. And the three leads are people that are always watchable - Gross himself, Leslie Nielson and the soulful Molly Parker. The DVD has a short making of featurette and an archive interview with Gross that has nothing to do with the movie.
Chang Cheh's Blood Brothers tells the same basic story as the more recent (and excellent) The Warlords with Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Of course, the aesthetic is completely different, lush greenery where the newer film is a gray wasteland choked with dust. The three blood brothers are here played by Chang Cheh regulars Ti Lung, David Chiang and Chen Kuan Tai, whose happy lives of banditry are ended by one of their number growing ambitious, joining the military and setting his sights on his brother's wife. Despite the love triangle, this is a particularly homoerotic effort from Chang Cheh, but amazingly, a relatively bloodless one. The action is strong across the board, the drama works, and the direction is interesting, but I'm afraid the film is monstrously padded in areas. Could have done with a big editorial trim. Doesn't beat out The Warlords, but still good.
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
III.ii. The Mouse-Trap - French Rock Opera
On DVD, I got Haywire, Brave and the Bold Season 2 vol.2, Longford, Men with Brooms, Chuck Season 5 (still haven't seen anything post-Christmas), Shaolin Handlock, and because they were on the cheeeeap, the new Bionic Woman, the first two seasons of Warehouse 13 and the first three of Sliders. Plus, Doctor Who DVDs of Face of Evil, Nightmare of Eden, Dragonfire, The Happiness Patrol and Carnival of Monsters (special edition). Incredibly, the DCAdventures RPG Heroes and Villains vol.2 came out, featuring the other half of Green Ronin's stats for characters from a universe that no longer exists (sigh).
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Steven Soderbergh's Haywire seems to have gotten a lot of flack online, usually about his casting of a non-actor, mixed martial arts star Gina Carano, in the lead role. I have no trouble with it, personally. Soderbergh has been casting a lot of non-actors lately, to basically play versions of themselves. Carano doesn't emote much, but neither is she terrible. She's pretty hot in this and the martial arts are outstanding, with every performer pretty much doing their own frenzied fighting. In fact, this spy thriller has many of the sensibilities of Hong Kong cinema, which you know I appreciate. Action heroes chosen for their physical abilities and brute charisma, not their acting chops; a lyrical use of music, filters and editing; and character revealed through action and plot. I'm also a fan of spy thrillers that show off actual spycraft, and Haywire feels legit in that sense as well. Haywire is a slick, structurally interesting action movie that I hope leads to more for Carano. The DVD features interviews with the entire cast, a longer feature on Carano herself - from MMA to film star - and all the web-based promos that essentially give away most of the twists (maybe it's no wonder the film was reviled by some - they got spoiled!).
Mother's Day pick! I got Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles' two seasons for a song, but wasn't expecting much. After the first, short, 9-episode season, I can honestly call it a minor gem. My one (small) problem with it is the casting of Lena Heady in the title role, not because she isn't badass and devastatingly beautiful (she is), but because as a Brit, her American accent is distractingly indistinct. Otherwise, it's dark pre-apocalypse series that reminds me in many ways of Battlestar Galactica, not least because of of Bear McCreary's music. Plus, you know, Terminators = Cylons. We've even got Summer Glau doing what she was seemingly built to do as John Connor's new Terminator guardian. The series wins big points as well by being set after T2 and almost immediately erasing T3 from the time line. True to the films, it features uniformly strong action beats, but splits its focus between escaping evil robots from the future and the FBI, and trying to actively prevent the future from happening. There's a certain poetry to some of the episodes thanks to religious themes (again, BSG is invoked), and the creators don't shy away from filling in the blanks left by the films, including flashbacks (forwards) to the future. The DVD has some good extras, including commentary by cast and crew on key episodes, deleted scenes and outtakes, audition tapes and dance rehearsals, a revealing extended cut on "The Devil's Hand" with no music and unfinished effects, and a very good three-part making of.
The first time I saw Paul Gross' Men with Brooms, it may have been a sanitized TV version (though Canadian TV doesn't usually do that), because I don't remember it being so scatological in its first half-hour. Potty humor aside, it remains a fun, offbeat sports comedy that treats curling the same way others treat baseball (i.e. as poetry). You can pretty much expect that odd Canadian mix of eccentric characters, zany humor and truthful, well-acted moments. I do think it goes overboard in its conclusion, which feels like a parody of the Hollywoodian "happy ending". But fun. And the three leads are people that are always watchable - Gross himself, Leslie Nielson and the soulful Molly Parker. The DVD has a short making of featurette and an archive interview with Gross that has nothing to do with the movie.
Chang Cheh's Blood Brothers tells the same basic story as the more recent (and excellent) The Warlords with Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Of course, the aesthetic is completely different, lush greenery where the newer film is a gray wasteland choked with dust. The three blood brothers are here played by Chang Cheh regulars Ti Lung, David Chiang and Chen Kuan Tai, whose happy lives of banditry are ended by one of their number growing ambitious, joining the military and setting his sights on his brother's wife. Despite the love triangle, this is a particularly homoerotic effort from Chang Cheh, but amazingly, a relatively bloodless one. The action is strong across the board, the drama works, and the direction is interesting, but I'm afraid the film is monstrously padded in areas. Could have done with a big editorial trim. Doesn't beat out The Warlords, but still good.Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
III.ii. The Mouse-Trap - French Rock Opera
Comments
I hated T3, personally. It was an unaffecting action film that left me cold and bored. A large part of that is due to the leads, but groaners like the Terminator's inflatable breasts didn't help matters. I did like the twist at the end, but that was about it.
It's entire possible that it misunderstood what makes the Terminator series engaging, and that's Sarah Connor.
As an action film, I can't deny that T2 is better, but it screws up T1's time-travel concepts so badly (specifically, its Moffat-worthy depiction of a stable time loop) that I much prefer T3 as the canonical conclusion to the saga. Or better yet, for T1 to have never had a sequel. YMMV, obviously.
Incidentally, I haven't seen Season 2 either.
As for the rest of the mega-happy ending, I didn't have too much problem with all the threads resolving favorably. George Buza's return / forgiveness was straight out of a couple episodes of "Due South", where a Lurking Figure Of Menace would unexpectedly be moved by Constable Fraser's virtue and side with the good guys. If you can't give your protagonist a ridiculous break once in a while, what's the point?
Magical realism, maybe? I guess we can allow for that, in a movie with so many Portentous Beavers.