thatphilguy

MOVIE REVIEW

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:00:00 GMT

Hey look, a review of the upcoming horror/comedy "Zombieland" by... um... nobody...

http://www.cinemaspy.com/article.php?id=3174

GREEN LANTERN MOVIE NEWS!

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:05:23 GMT

Am I the only one excited about this? Not only is Warner Bros. committed to investing $150 million in a live-auction "Green Lantern" movie, but they've hired a pretty good director for it, the site Cinemaspy reports.

"Director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) will be at the helm of the comic book's big-screen adaptation, working from a script by Greg Berlanti and Michael Green. Pre-production on Green Lantern is set to begin in July, and filming is scheduled to start in November. Warners is aiming to release the film in December 2010."

Seeing as how "Watchmen's" box office supposedly disappointed, and "Superman Returns" failed to resurrect a once-popular franchise, the only bankable DC Comics property out there has been Batman. Will Green Lantern (not pictured above) turn that around? Personally, I'm all for more movies based on DC heroes, especially with how many more Marvel Comics properties have been hitting the big screen, but I would prefer Warners maintain their current approach: line up A-list, visionary directors (Does anyone even remember who directed "Ghost Rider" or the last "Punisher" flick?) even if that means only one film a year.

Granted, I haven't liked everything Martin Campbell has done, but given that his resume boasts "The Mask of Zorro" and "Casino Royale," I think it's fine to expect great things.

CHABON WRITING "JOHN CARTER OF MARS"

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:52:55 GMT

If the rumors that Andrew Stanton ("Wall-E") wants to do a "John Carter of Mars" movie are true, then it's probably going to happen, for a 2012 release, no less. But who will be writing the screenplay? According to the site io9 it'll be Michael Chabon, the novelist behind "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay."

I can't recall just how much pulpy sci-fi was in "K&C," but Chabon clearly showed a passion for icons of old-timey entertainment. According to io9, the author confirmed his involvement through a fansite. "I've been hired to do some revisions to an already strong script by Andrew Stanton and Mark Andrews," Chabon said. "I wrote my original screenplay The Martian Agent back in 1995 because I wished I could do [Edgar Rice] Burroughs's Barsoom. So this is pretty much a dream come true for me."

SEXY MAN ANGRY AT PIRATES

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:28:26 GMT

So Hugh Jackman has chimed in over the leaked copy of his upcoming "Wolverine" film and, not surprisingly, he's unhappy it got out.

“It’s a serious crime and there’s no doubt it’s very disappointing — I was heartbroken by it,” Jackman told a news conference widely reported by the Australian media, according to the ScreenIndia. “Obviously people are seeing an unfinished film. It’s like a Ferrari without a paint job.”

Personally, I've only seen one film in "unfinished" form ever, and admittedly, I didn't rewatch it when it inevitably came out in theatres. So I can understand 20th Century Fox and Jackman's concerns: even if the pirated "Wolverine" looks cruddy, audiences will have gotten the plot and performances. Is it really worth $10-$12 to see the film a second time, especially if only some superficial things are different?

Of course, the argument has been made online that the movie's core fanbase -- those who would plunk down the cash to watch "Wolverine" on opening weekend -- may have refused to watch the pirated, incomplete version. Unfortunately, the box office for "Watchmen" shows a comic book-based movie can't just rely on hardcore comics fans.

TCM GETTING INTO LIST-MAKING RACKET

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:31:38 GMT

It appears that Turner Classic Movies (a division of Time Warner) has put out its own list of The 15 Most Influential Movies of All Time, CNN reports.

“The Birth of a Nation” (1915); “Battleship Potemkin” (1925); “Metropolis” (1927); “42nd Street” (1933); “It Happened One Night” (1934); “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937); “Gone With the Wind” (1939); “Stagecoach” (1939); “Citizen Kane” (1941); “Bicycle Thieves” (1947); “Rashomon” (1950); “The Searchers” (1956); “Breathless" (1959); “Psycho” (1960); and “Star Wars” (1977) all appeared on the list.

I've only seen about nine of the 15 films, but I can't argue about the greatness of any of them. "Pulp Fiction" was clearly influential on a lot of the movies that came out during my youth, so I'm a little surprised to not see it (I might have substituted it over "Breathless"). Also, the CNN writer cited "Star Wars" as the "Godfather" of the summer blockbuster, but I could have sworn "Jaws," which was also left off the list, was the first big summer movie.

DOES ANYONE REALLY CARE ABOUT VENOM?

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:46:40 GMT

Apparently, some executive at Sony does, which is why a spin-off of the character is in the works, the site Sci-Fi Land reported.

"Sony is officially moving forward with its Spider-Man spinoff movie focusing on Venom and has hired Zombieland writing team Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese to pen the script, the writers told a group of reporters."

Personally, I never got the popularity of the character, who is basically an anti-hero with Spider-Man's powers who would occasionally say insightful things like, "I want to eat your brain!" As far as I can recall, he never starred in an ongoing series that lasted any significant amount of time. Of course, one could say the same thing about Blade, and he's had three movies.

So to go back to the titular question, does anyone out there really care about Venom? Why?

MOVIE REVIEWS UP

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:20:53 GMT

It's not your parent's "French Connection," that's for sure.

NOWHERE TO HIDE (1999), dir. Myung-Se Lee
From the site "Look! A Bunch of Movie Reviews!"

Imagine “The French Connection” with Wong Kar-Wai and such luminaries of Japanese cinema as Seijun Suzuki and Shohei Imamura at the helm, and you’d end up with something like “Nowhere to Hide.” Although frequently over-the-top, this Korean-language thriller’s highly-stylized nature is what makes it so unique, even if one can never take it very seriously. Meanwhile, it features a terrific performance by Joong-Hoon Park as a violent slob of a cop in the Popeye Doyle tradition.

The slaying of a gangland leader puts the Homicide Division’s best detectives, Woo (Joong-Hoon) and Kim (Dong-Kun Jang), on the trail of an assassin named Sungmin (Sung-Kee Ahn). As one might expect, the two cops are yin and yang: Kim is a conventionally-handsome, introspective family man, while Woo is a blustery, mean-tempered bear of a cop whose first instinct is usually force. But saying he’s tough would be an understatement. In the film’s opening montage, Woo takes on an entire gang of hoods in a warehouse single-handedly, displaying an agility that would make Sammo Hung nod in recognition.

Writer/director Lee liberally cuts back-and forth from that pitched fight to Kim and the others from the Homicide Division, who strut around carrying metal pipes, which they use to check the air in criminals’ heads. They resemble a pack of vigilantes more than police, and that, the filmmakers seem to argue, is the reason they’re so effective at their jobs. Like many classic cop movies, success in “Nowhere to Hide” requires tossing out the proverbial rulebook and resorting to excesses like torture and beatings; however, there are blackly-humorous touches that take some sting out of the brutality (at one point, the entire division decides to beat up on a suspect, but in their unbridled enthusiasm, they trash their headquarters, too).

The subject matter has the potential to be thought-provoking, but the story occasionally gets lost amidst the hyperactive visuals. “Nowhere to Hide’s” first third is a seemingly-non-stop tumult of freeze frames, slow-motion, punk rock guitar riffs and sound-mixing straight out of a spaghetti Western. Now don’t get me wrong; the blitzkrieg of sight and sound does get the adrenaline pumping to a certain extent, which is probably Lee’s intent. My only criticism is it doesn’t ebb and flow the way, say, Kar-Wai’s equally-playful “Fallen Angels” does; rather, it talks in a steady stream of exclamation points as a Michael Bay flick might.

Luckily, once the central investigation kicks in, the visual excesses seem appropriate, what with the lengths Woo, Kim, and the others are willing to go to collar their killer. Moreover, especially during the second half, Lee actually seems to tone things down, as if realizing the performances and plot were now sufficient to maintaining his audience’s attention. The movie continues to be inventive, albeit in ways film buffs may find derivative: the occasional emphasis on powerful images over continuity, a la Suzuki; voyeuristic first-person tracking shots similar to Imamura.

Although “Nowhere to Hide” concerns the Homicide Division as opposed to narcotics, like “The French Connection,” the plot involves surveillance and pursuit (including a memorable set piece involving a train) and cops who play close to the edge. Detective Woo has the same distinctive hat-wear and smile suggesting a punch to the face that Gene Hackman packed, and once the film races to its conclusion, it leans more heavily on Joong-Hoon, who conveys surprising depths to this unapologetic thug. As he explains to a beautiful co-conspirator (Ji-Woo Choi) of Sugmin’s whom they hope to bring around to their side, he knows his job, and that’s nailing the bad guy by any means necessary.

Woo is so convincing at not being self-delusional that the denouement – one of those “waiting by the side of the road, hoping for the woman whose boyfriend you just served justice to will give you the time of day” shots, seemingly borrowed from “The Third Man” – is rather poignant.

I GUESS SUPERMAN HAS HAD IT "ROUGH" RECENTLY

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:17:27 GMT

One of the inevitable mistakes any journalist will make is misspelling someone's name. For those who don't know, I spent about two years working as a newspaper reporter, and I did that a few times myself. Still, at least I had the excuse of not being able to easily look up every person whose name I needed to spell. Not so with the writer of the following NY Daily News article.

Writing about the suicide of a character played by Kal Penn in the TV show "House," political correspondent Michael Saul totally abused the first and last names of an actor friend of Penn's.

"On the campaign trail, Kumar helped get actor friend Brendan Rough, aka Superman in "Superman Returns," to stump for Obama. On occasion, they campaigned together."

The individual Saul is referring to is actor "Brandon Routh," not "Brendan Rough." Just to be on the safe side, I checked through imdb if a "Brendan Rough" ever played Superman (who incidentally, is not pictured above), and alas, no thespians with a male gay-porno star-sounding name ever took on the role. It should also be noted that Saul refers to Penn as "Kumar" in the same paragraph, and prefaces his article with, "Way to go, dude!" One wonders if Saul was being playful on purpose, or just a jackass. Admittedly, the "Rough" thing was a really small detail in the overall story (which isn't even about Routh), but it just seemed weird to me that the reporter couldn't bother spending 30 seconds looking up the name.

Then again, "Superman Returns" was considered a box office disappointment.

The article should still be located at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/04/07/2009-04-07_actor_kal_penns_surprise_suicide_on_hous.html

THIS MOVIE LOOKS... TERRIBLE.

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:07:54 GMT

It's like three-and-a-half minutes of bad haircuts, prosthetic teeth, and so-so CGI. They also overdo the fast-motion to slow-motion thing that's become all the rage in movie trailers.

"Kung Fu Cyborg," as the movie is apparently called, is the "Chinese equivalent to Hollywood special effects-laden extravaganzas such as 'Transformers,'" according to the site Far East Films, which hosts the trailer at http://www.fareastfilms.com/newsPage/Promo-Reel-For-Kung-Fu-Cyborg-718.htm. I don't recommend watching it unless you want to wait a really long time for anything remotely interesting to happen, but I always find it strangely reassuring to see other countries are capable of making crappy, commercial films like ours.

WHO WOULDN'T GIVE THEIR RIGHT HAND TO BE THIS GUY?

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:18:33 GMT

It's an example of life imitating art: a big-time Hong Kong movie star has a bunch of sexual trysts with other, beautiful actresses. Unfortunately, photos of these dalliances end up on the Internet. Worse, it appears every actor in Hong Kong is protected by the Triads, so now there's a $110,000 US bounty for this actor's right hand.

But Edison Chen's so brave, he said during a press conference that it won't stop him from promoting his new movie.

Am I just way too cynical, or does anyone else think this is a brilliant PR move? I kept waiting to read about his story being optioned into a movie starring him. Full story at http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jwCktciLd1YZ4bOWwUBpIBi65BKA

WOO OUT; WHO WILL HELM ASIAN "TITANIC"?

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:34:53 GMT

My God, when is the last time a John Woo-directed movie got released in the States? I remember the time when he was an A-list filmmaker who could get any project he wanted done. Has anyone out there even seen the two "Red Cliff" movies he made for the Chinese film industry?

According to this article, which can be found at http://www.asianpopcorn.com/default.asp?display=Woo_Pulls_Out_Of_Pacific_Steamer_-22713, Woo has dropped out of directing "Pacific Steamer," a Chinese-language romantic epic set between the final years of the Chinese Civil War and the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, due to the Taiwanese company behind the production going back on previous agreements.

AND THE NEXT BATMAN MOVIE VILLAIN WILL BE...

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:47:27 GMT

Beats me how reliable Collider is, but in a recent interview with Sheila Roberts, Michael Caine speculated who the villain would be if a third Batman movie gets made.

Q: Do you think [Christopher Nolan will] come around to doing a third one?

MC: I would imagine so. That would be probably The Riddler.

Of course, even Caine is speculating at this point. It's a pretty neat interview overall, and includes an interesting anecdote about why the British actor never loses his cool on a set.

MC: I lost my temper on a movie years ago when I was doing a movie called The Last Valley. James Clavell was the director. I’m not a very good horseman and they put me on this horse that they knew was a killer and it ran away with me for two miles and I brought it back at a slow pace and then I got off and all the unit were laughing and then I started and I outdid Christian by about 30 minutes with more language than he knew. So James Clavell broke the crew for an hour and he said, “Let’s have a cup of tea.” And so we went and had a cup of tea. James Clavell was captured in Hong Kong when he was 14 by the Japanese and spent the first part of his life in a Japanese prison camp. He said to me, “The way I survived was I became a Japanese in mentality. So I knew where they were coming from in their treatment of us and I knew where I should be in everything.” He said, “The one thing that the Japanese never do is they never lose their temper because anger is an emotion that you should never show to strangers because you expose too much of yourself.” He said, “You must never expose yourself like that to strangers.” And he gave me this long lecture on the Japanese and anger and I have never lost my temper on a set since. I go home and I scream at the kids. (Laughs) But I have never lost my temper on a set since.

IT BEATS ANOTHER "RUSH HOUR" MOVIE, DOESN'T IT?

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:48:14 GMT

It sounds like the premise for a typical Jackie Chan vehicle: A mechanic (played by Chan) migrates to Japan to find his girlfriend. He discovers she has married a Japanese yakuza boss. Normally, that's where the kicking would begin.

Only this time, there will be no kicking. Instead, the character played by Chan goes to work for the yakuza leader in exchange for Japanese citizenship, and in the process, goes from rags to riches financially. Unfortunately, his morals also change, from simpler black-and-white to gray.

That's the plot of "The Shinjuku Incident," which Chan recently described as "a universal story about the struggles of migrant workers in the countries they choose to call home."

"Some thrive while others fail," he said. "In my case, I play a complex character who starts off timid but ends up ruthless."

Chan hinted there is a scene in which his character violently "chops" his enemy. The film has already been banned from China after failing that country's censorship test, but the 55-year-old actor expressed confidence the rest of Asia will enjoy it, although he confirmed "The Shinjuku Incident" will not feature his trademark martial arts or stuntwork.

The whole story can be found at http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/NewsBreak/20090331194527/Article/index_html in a piece by Dennis Chua.

KATZENBERG SAYS 3-D FUTURE OF ANIMATED

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:34:15 GMT

So did anyone go to see "Monsters vs. Aliens" this weekend? If so, did you see it in 3-D?

In a relatively-short interview published at http://www.courant.com/entertainment/sns-ap-as-dreamworks-animation-3-d-theaters,0,3004673.story, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Chief Executive of DreamWorks Animation, said theaters have been slow to upgrade to digital projectors and 3-D technology due to the high cost. He said it takes about $100,000 to upgrade traditional theaters with new digital and 3-D equipment.

Personally, the only 3-D film I ever recall seeing was "Captain E-O" at DisneyWorld (Yes, it starred Michael Jackson, but it was also directed by Francis Ford Coppolla. Bet you didn't know that!), and although it had its moments, it seemed more like an interesting novelty than a terrific way to watch movies. However, Katzenberg has said the new 3-D technology is far superior to its ancestors, a "Ferrari" compared to a "horse and buggy."

15 to 20 percent of theaters showed "Monsters vs. Aliens" in 3-D this past weekend. The film took in $58 million during its opening.

Anyway, to reiterate the question, what did people think of the "Monsters vs. Aliens" 3-D experience?

NOW I CAN FINALLY DUST OFF THAT "SPEEDBALL" TREATMENT

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:07:07 GMT

From Cinematical
Who Wants To Write for Marvel?

by Elisabeth Rappe

If you long to turn your keyboard to a Marvel movie script, you might actually get your chance. According to Variety, Marvel Entertainment is getting ready to assemble an army of screenwriters to be at their beck and call, and develop properties for their characters -- and with 5,000 in the stable, there will be no shortage of work.

While they'll be looking to their current comic staffers, Marvel also wants to bring on five new writers every year to develop whatever pitch the studio throws at them. They're particularly interested in finding people who can help them launch lesser known characters like Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Cable, Iron Fist, Nighthawk, and Vision.

As we speak, the first group is being recruited, and will be expected to tackle projects this year. Don't be surprised if it's one of the guys name-dropped above, as it wasn't that long ago that Kevin Feige was putting Doctor Strange on the to-do list.

Marvel is borrowing a page from the Disney model, but you can't blame them for getting an assembly line going, and striking while the iron is hot. If you're exhausted by it all, you can blame it on Iron Man, who rose from second-tier status to being everyone's favorite hero. (Seriously, if you can win my mom over, you've succeeded.*)

Now, I'm off to go churn out some writing samples of my own ... your loss, Simon Beaufoy, Wolverine 2 is mine!

(*As I headed off to write this, she was reading the latest issue of The Invincible Iron Man. She flung it down when Prince Namor showed up, and said she'd be embarrassed to claim me as her own if I wrote his movie.)

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE TRAILER

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:32:52 GMT

It could be good, or it could be terrible. A few months ago, there was a report the studio behind "Where the Wild Things Are" would be reshooting the entire film, due to parents at a preview complaining about it being too scary. Producer Gary Goetzman responded that they were only helping Spike Jonze "make the vision he wants to make."

I read Maurice Sendak's book as a child, but I'm too old now to remember anything beyond the monsters. The trailer seems to do a good job conjuring them up; they look like muppets, straddling a fine line between obviously fake and downright whimsical. The film itself looks dark and emotional, so maybe this won't be another "The Cat in the Hat."

If I have any qualms after seeing the trailer, it's that the music, and the fact it's a Spike Jonze film, make me worry this will be ultra-hip and clever at the cost of charming. Then again, I can't remember if the original book was charming.

AND WHEN IS JAMES CAMERON GOING TO MAKE ANOTHER NON-DOCUMENTARY FEATURE?

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:33:11 GMT

In case you haven't read it yet, there's a transcript of conversation between Steve Daly and James Cameron over at Wired. It's here.

Understandably, there's a lot of speculation about "Terminator: Salvation," but I was more fascinated by what Cameron said about the original "Terminator," how he remembers finding a pamphlet for fallout shelters when he was a child, and how that shaped his worldview and the eventual script. I also liked his explanation of "The Terminator" as being about the fight against dehumanization (I didn't remember that myself, given that I haven't seen the film in over a decade).

"I don't think anything resembling The Terminator is really going to happen. There certainly aren't going to be genocidal wars waged by machines a few generations from now. The stories function more on a symbolic level, and that's why people key into them. They're about us fighting our own tendency toward dehumanization. When a cop has no compassion, when a shrink has no empathy, they've become machines in human form. Technology is changing the whole fabric of social interaction. We're absorbing our machines in a symbiotic way, evolving to become one with our own devices, and that's going to continue indefinitely."

I found that last sentence especially compelling, since the trailer for "Terminator: Salvation" reveals that's exactly what happens, although the "we" isn't exactly what Cameron thought (machines have evolved to think they're human). This gives me hope the movie could actually take the franchise in a bold, different, yet entirely relevant direction, and not just be "The Best of Terminator 1 & 2," which is what "T3" seemed like.

IMDb's Top 15 Independents

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:23:26 GMT

So IMDb recently put up a list of the Top 15 Independent Films according to users, and I must say, after looking at it, I need someone to clarify for me what constitutes an "independent film." The list can be found at http://www.imdb.com/features/poweroffilm/index7

Now, I can understand "Pulp Fiction" and "Memento" making the list. As far as I am aware, in those two cases a couple of guys working outside the studio system cobbled together what money they could, filmed their movie, screened it at the festival circuit, then sold the distribution rights to a major studio. To me, those seem like definitive "independent films." But in the case of something like "Apocalypse Now," Coppola may have fronted a lot of the cost via his own Zoetrope Studios, but United Artists did put up about $7.5 million. So half the money to make "Apocalypse Now" was put up by an American film studio. Yet it makes the list as an "independent."

I would like to point out that I don't think any of the movies on the list are particularly bad. However, I am disappointed "Halloween," "Blood Simple," "Do the Right Thing," and "Drugstore Cowboy" didn't make the cut.

IT STARTED LIKE ANY OTHER TRIP TO THE MEN'S ROOM

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:48:01 GMT

The other day, I spent 15 minutes hiding in a men’s room stall sans pants. This happened because I rubbed the front of them against a sink counter without noticing how wet it was.

In turn, I hadn’t been paying attention because of the man inside the handicapped stall who was urinating, loudly and steadily. It was a process that had started before I entered the bathroom to relieve myself, and was still ongoing as I walked over to the sink to wash my hands.

At that point, he had been urinating an impressively long time, and I might have left it at that if he hadn’t started humming. I couldn’t tell you the exact tune, but I knew I had heard it before; specifically, it was used in Maxwell House coffee commercials during the 90’s.

Then the man in the handicapped stall – whose feet I could see through the bottom of the partition, and who was clearly not wheelchair-bound – suddenly reaching up for the metal bar stretched horizontally above the stall. This bar, ostensibly, was for handicapped individuals to raise themselves off the toilet, but he grabbed onto it with both hands as if to steady himself. Then he began tapping his thumbs against the metal, producing a solid drumbeat. His urine flow also paused and restarted occasionally, and the sound actually resembled, in my mind, the pouring of Maxwell House coffee into saucer cups.

The whole production was strangely entrancing, and I found myself watching the reflection of his hands through the mirror when a sensation like cool dampness seemed to invade the front of my trousers. Looking down, I realized the sink top had practically been flooded with water, which unfortunately, my pants had sopped up. What followed may have been the result of being in a bathroom, but I found myself immediately self-conscious of looking like I had just wet myself. It was then I heard the sound of someone clambering down the hallway outside.

Grabbing a handful of paper towels, I quickly threw myself into the nearest empty stall, shut the door behind myself, and started trying to dry my pants. The paper towels weren’t getting the job done, so I ended up taking off my damp trousers and hanging them up to dry. At some point, there was the sound of a toilet flushing, the conductor from the other stall having finished his, er, movement.

I lost track of how many times the men’s room door squealed open and slammed shut, whilst I remained there in my pants-less prison.

Later, I saw one of my co-workers moving several large boxes into the elevator. I didn’t recognize him at first; he was dressed in a heavy coat with a wool cap covering his head, and I initially mistook him for the delivery-person. But as I walked up behind him, I recognized THE HANDS, which weren’t fettered by gloves. Something about their shape, rings on fingers, and shady spots of short hair immediately jogged something akin to the tune from an old Maxwell House TV commercial.

Now whenever I see this co-worker, my immediate thought is going to be: You, sir, are some kind of musical genius in the handicapped stall.

MOVIE REVIEWS UP

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:40:47 GMT

I was shocked to discover this was an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004.

EVIL (2003), dir. Mikael Hafstrom

What is “pure evil?” According to this searing Swedish drama, it’s causing pain to others simply because one is bigger, or has the protection of the authorities. It’s bullying, and it’s even worse when the bully is reasonably intelligent. Stand up to this kind and they may leave you alone temporarily, but all the while, they’ll be plotting any manner of alternative ways to get at you.

At the beginning of “Evil,” public school thug Erik Ponti (Andreas Wilson) is accused of being exactly this sort of psychopath. He scraps with his classmates, has been suspected of stealing, and despite what glimmer of academic ability he has shown, there is little chance he’ll be admitted to college. What Erik’s critics don’t know is the physical abuse he’s endured at the hands of his stepfather; only Erik’s mother knows, and in desperation, she sends him off to a private boarding school called Stjarnsberg, pleading with him to save what’s left of his future.

From the outside, Stjarnsberg looks like any other preparatory institution for sons of the rich and prominent. Despite being 17, Erik is roomed with younger, fresher-faced students, and his roommate is Pierre (Henrik Lundstrom), an affable dork who brings him up to speed on how things are run. Here the upperclassmen police the lowerclassmen, punishing infractions such as public cursing with some physical reprimand – for example, one student gets struck over the head with a spoon. But it goes further: basically, the lowerclassmen have to do the upperclassmen’s bidding, and when Erik balks, he finds himself at odds with Silverhielm (Gustaf Starsgard), who proves one heck of a sadistic senior.

Pretty much the entire Stjarnsberg upper class sets out to make Erik submit. When he won’t clean a pile of their mud-encrusted shoes, they make him dig ditches in the yard and other forms of hard labor. As for the headmaster, he generally turns a blind eye to whatever the older students do to the younger. Worse, there is a boxing square where lowerclassmen can be challenged to fight, but it’s always two-to-one in favor of upper-classmen, meaning it’s really a place for bigger students to beat smaller, weaker boys into pulp. Erik would be the exception; however, he refuses to engage in fisticuffs out of his promise to his mother to stay out of trouble.

Viewers will figure out early that Erik gets off the sidelines (note the scene where he and Pierre bond over their mutual love of “Rebel Without a Cause,” and the latter says his favorite scene is when James Dean is standing over his best friend’s dead body). To be fair, “Evil” doesn’t telegraph itself quite so cleanly, and it’s pretty good until about halfway through, when a plotline involving Erik’s swimming ability – which gives the underclassmen their first opportunity to steal some glory from the uppers – gets abandoned in favor of escalating antics (although nothing quite tops the use of a bucket containing human waste during the film’s middle).

What lesson are we supposed to take away from all this? Authority figures with absolute power can corrupt absolutely, be they favored students or step-parents? That’s all well and good, but as far as I can tell, the movie never presents or proposes any solution to this problem (and “Evil” does seem to think it’s that). If Erik is to be our example, the only real hope appears to be enduring indefinitely or getting oneself a good attorney. True, he does get a love interest for distraction, but their relationship is strangely underdeveloped, although one scene which amounts to, “You appear to have hypothermia. Let’s have sex,” is pretty funny.

The movie does try to say something about how abuse can shape us, either as individuals or as a mass: Erik was a thug because his stepfather would verbally and physically hurt him; meanwhile, Pierre points out that when Silverhielm was an underclassman himself, he probably had to endure atrocities similar to what he dishes out now. When the movie does allow Silverhielm an explanation, he says Erik’s defiance in and of itself caused him a “living Hell.” This implies the cyclical nature of bullying at Stjarnsberg breeds peer pressure; poor Silverhielm must make his charges fall in line, or else.

However, the most telling scene about the effects of abuse might be when Erik gets one of his tormentors alone, acts like he’s going to kill them, and starts explaining how he will commit the murder and get away with it. It all sounds half-baked, but the victim breaks down and starts begging for their life, at which point Erik looks at them, genuinely half-surprised. “You really thought I was going to do it, didn’t you?” he says, and the answer is: Of course they did. When a person has spent so much time around human beings at their absolute worst, what else would they expect of anyone but the same?

KOOKA-MANGA!

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:04:49 GMT

Here it is, folks, the last word on the last volume of "Junk," a series I managed to review the whole of for Pop Culture Shock!

Junk: Record of the Last Hero, Vol. 7
By Kia Asamiya
DrMaster, 192 pp.
Rating: Ages 15+

Now that I’ve read all of Junk, I think I see Asamiya’s series for what it is: a subversive take on the super-hero genre. Back in the first volume, teenager Hiro Yuki acquired super powers and suffered a familial loss on the same fateful night. However, since then he hasn’t done much heroic; rather, he spent six books living out power fantasies and bedding eager women. Actually, those Hiro cared the most about were the ones he was most likely to fail.

This time around, the stakes could not be higher, and as such, we expect Hiro to finally accept his role as a hero and act responsibly. Asamiya, however, has other plans. I won’t give them away, except to say both Hiro’s personal growth and Japan’s whole government hang in the balance, yet the narrative only seems to think one is important. What results is an ending consistent with most super-hero origin tales, but which may be thumbing its nose at them as well.

That probably sounds like praise, and volume seven is definitely an improvement on the convolution of more recent volumes, even if the extraneous sex and explosions still feel like pandering. The less-interesting storylines were wiped out by the end of volume six, setting the table for a final confrontation between Hiro’s Black Junk and the mysterious Blue Junk. Unfortunately, by the time we reach this battle, which is conveyed in a very self-important way, so much stuff we haven’t cared about has happened in the series that it carries little resonance.

Also, the middle-aged guy wearing the Blue Junk endlessly pontificates, and it gets old quick. As readers, we find ourselves siding with Hiro, not because we’ve actually learned to like him, but he’s in a position to make Blue Junk shut up.

Volume seven of Junk: Record of the Last Hero is available now.

And here's the link to the PCS version:

Manga Minis, 3/2/09 | Manga Recon

LOOK BACK IN ANGER!

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:29:37 GMT

It was disgusting then, and it's still disgusting now.

Reprinting Saturday, March 12, 2005

ADVENTURES IN OVER-THE-COUNTER MEDICATIONS, or SHAMPOO U

I just finished washing my hair. That shouldn’t be a big deal, except, as it turns out, I haven’t cleaned it in almost two months.

The unbelievable story: Sometime in January, I realized that the generic brand of shampoo I was using just wasn’t cutting it anymore. Maybe the cold weather played a factor, maybe it was the fact that my hair was getting long, but the bottom line: My scalp began developing a bad case of dandruff. I have long argued that I myself resemble a case of dandruff, in that I am persistent, yet flaky. Still, even I didn’t itch so much, or leave sore patches in my wake.

So I went to the local pharmacy and bought a bottle of "Head & Shoulders Dry Scalp." "Head & Shoulders" has been my brand ever since I was old enough to not need "Johnson & Johnson’s No More Tears" baby shampoo. Yeah, I was seventeen. I figured, I’m old enough to shave with a razor, so I’m probably ready to use a more grown-up shampoo.

Getting back to the story, I used the "Head & Shoulders Dry Scalp" roughly twice a week, for almost two months, hoping to cure my dandruff. While the problem didn’t get worse, no matter how much I applied, rinsed, and repeated, my hair never seemed to get better, either. Now, during the last week/week-and-a-half, I was a little too busy to wash my hair at all. Although I didn’t have any large snowflakes to report, I did find, whilst occasionally perusing my head with my hands, more sore spots and pimples than usual. What the heck was going on in my scalp?

K., being wonderful, expressed her own concern. While I scratched my head over the matter, she suggested that I buy a medicated shampoo, such as T-Gel. Taking her advice, I walked to the pharmacy early this morning, went to the shampoo aisle, and looked for the strongest dandruff medication I could find. T-Gel seemed most appealing. However, as I examined the bottle of T-Gel, I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, the wide variety of "Head & Shoulders" brand shampoos. Especially eye-catching was the "H & S Dry Scalp," which, for some strange reason, looked a lot different from the bottle in my bathroom at home.

For one thing, the bottle I was looking at had its cap on the top. The one at home, meanwhile, resembled a toothpaste bottle with a wider base. You could stand it up, and the cap would become the bottom. But no way was it anything like the bottle in the store right in front of me, which was sort of a rectangular cylinder. The radical design difference perplexed me.

Then I remembered: "Head & Shoulders" shampoo ALWAYS came in a rectangular cylinder. So why was the one at home different? Did I purchase a smaller size container? Scouring the shelves, I found an identical bottle to the one I’d been using for two months. It said "Head & Shoulders," it said "Dry Scalp." But then I noticed the word following "Dry Scalp"—"Conditioner."

I had been washing my hair with conditioner for two months.

Suddenly, it all made sense: The fact that, no matter how much elbow grease I exerted, or how much "shampoo" I applied to my head, I was never able to create anything remotely resembling a lather. The fact that, while my scalp itched and burned and stung, it was always awfully maleable, and easy to comb. Finally, it occurred to me that the phrase "Use after shampoo," which I had noticed in small green letters on the back of the bottle, might not be a typo, as I had originally suspected. After all, if you’re going to apply conditioner, it seems like highly proper strategy to apply it after shampoo.

It’s too bad the pharmacy didn’t sell over-the-counter moron relief medication, too, or I would have bought some. Oh wait, moron relief was available! Because I bought the bottle of "Head & Shoulders Dry Scalp" SHAMPOO, used it on my head, and now my scalp feels cool, smooth, and clean. I forgot how good a fresh scalp could feel. Maybe now some of those ugly welts will finally go away.

MOVIE REVIEWS UP

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:54:13 GMT

Saw the last film Leslie Cheung ever appeared in. What a shame he died so young. I am curious, though, whether the public knew he was gay before he killed himself, or whether the pressure to remain "closeted" drove him to despair.

INNER SENSES (2002), dir. Chi-Leung Law

Ever since “The Sixth Sense” came out almost a decade ago, various movies have tried following in the footsteps of M. Night Shymalan’s supernatural-themed drama, mostly by packaging boogedy-boogedy tales with twist endings. The made-in-Hong Kong “Inner Senses” starts off as such a retread, but doesn’t take very long before finding its own way. The path it takes may be more romantic and mainstream than “The Sixth Sense,” yet the film is entertaining nonetheless, even without the twist ending, which is actually more like a twisted middle.

As in Shymalan’s film, “Inner Senses’” main protagonists consist of a fragile soul who claims to see dead people, and a haunted-looking psychiatrist who tries to help. It should be noted that the predecessor starred Haley Joel Osment as a young boy whose “I… see… dead people” quickly became a popular catchphrase; “Inner Senses” star “Karena Lam,” on the other hand, is an extremely beautiful young woman. My point is we don’t expect the “The Sixth Sense’s” surrogate father-son relationship so much as a romantic one, especially given how good-looking a couple she and co-star Leslie Cheung make from the outset.

However, before these two can ride off into the sunset, they have to deal with the problems of Lam’s character Yan, who claims she isn’t sick but really does see ghosts. We first glimpse her ability shortly after she has moved into a spacious but creepily drab-looking apartment, and a man appears in a room one moment and is gone the next. Having already seen numerous doctors to no avail, Yan ends up with Cheung’s intelligent, rational-seeming, and thoroughly workaholic Dr. Jim, who gives university lectures on how ghosts are merely the result of years of cultural stimuli.

According to Jim, Chinese culture is especially steeped in the supernatural. “We use ghosts to teach things,” he says, giving an example of how parents often tell their children, “Do this or don’t do that, otherwise a ghost will get you.” It is interesting that, in a Hollywood ghost-related film, the supporting cast is typically composed of non-believers, but almost the opposite is the case here – Jim is practically surrounded by superstitious, spirit-appeasing characters. In one scene, a respected colleague admits he will not take Yan in, despite being married to her cousin. Is it because Yan thinks she sees ghosts? On the contrary, it’s because she might actually see them, and both this rational-seeming medical professional and his wife are terrified of ghosts.

“There are already so many people in Hong Kong. Where would the ghosts live?” Jim asks his colleague. Nevertheless, in typical cinematic psychiatry-fashion, he and Yan manage to develop a close friendship over a short period of time, as he attempts to unearth the repressed memories responsible for her specters, including being abandoned by her parents when very young and rejected by a boyfriend after getting too possessive. But is burying the past and boosting her self-esteem really all Yan needs? Meanwhile, what’s up with the strange changes the good doctor appears to go through, including insomnia and flashbacks that initially seem connected to Yan’s childhood?

Like “The Sixth Sense,” there is a mighty twist, only it happens about an hour in as opposed to the last five minutes. As such, “Inner Senses” is a movie of two halves, the first carried along by scare scenes and the burgeoning relationship between the two leads, the second by recycling the first half’s themes of repression, trauma and suicide, and amping up the stuff going bump in the night. Unfortunately, the latter represents the film at its weakest; “Inner Senses” has some creepy-effective moments early on and in the middle, as we wonder if Jim’s problems are purely psychological, the result of a fear of intimacy. But as soon as the horror gets more visceral, the movie just gets grosser and goofier. On the bright side, it culminates in what could be the most touching necrophilia scene ever committed to celluloid.

But at least the first half sets up enough clues that we don’t feel cheated once the twist kicks in. We also come to care about the protagonists; Kam and Cheung convey vulnerability well, and Cheung’s performance is particularly great, the actor practically embodying such qualities as intelligence, decency, and empathy. He also shows a wealth of versatility in scenes I won’t get give away, except to say they could be compared to Mickey Rourke in “Angel Heart,” which I mean as the highest compliment. It should be noted that “Inner Senses” was the last movie Cheung worked on before committing suicide, and watching him try to help someone with their personal demons seems highly ironic, knowing how he ultimately couldn’t outrun his own.

YOUR LETTERS ARE NUMBERED!

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:24:24 GMT

People do blather on when they write letters. None of the following correspondences were intended for this site, but they were mailed to a major metropolitan newspaper. As a public service, we’ve decided to type them up, abridge them if necessary, and boil them down to their bare essences. That’ll teach these folks to write anything longer than 75 words in this age of IM!

When will someone finally stand up for the whites in America?!

Dear Editor:

While in the army in 1953, I was buddies with a black guy named Mitch from Penn.

He told me in a statement that was popular in his neighborhood, “If you’re black, stay black; if you’re brown, you can hang around; if you’re white, you’re alright.”

For an 86-year old Baptist preacher named Joseph Lowery, in his benediction speech at the presidential inauguration, to use the same terminology that was used in 1953 plus adding a little more of his lies, is unspeakable.

Yes, there is some racism in America, but now it’s on both sides of the coin. Come on, Mr. President, speak out against reverse racism. After all, you are half white.

Sincerely,

XXXX
Middle Village

I keep my money in a mattress and stockpile gunpowder and glycerine in the fallout shelter behind the house.

Dear Editor:

There should be some common sense actions that could be done to improve the economy. I can think of many ways such as:

Cut taxes by 80%, including the federal income tax. That would encourage consumer spending and revive the dreadful situation. The government doesn’t need the money anyhow with all the waste and $400 million dollar helicopters for the president.

Stop all foreign aid. Would you believe we are still giving away billions? Even a five year old can tell you that foreign aid is wrong.

Audit the Federal Reserve Bank and seriously consider abolishing this clever Ponzi scheme.

Sincerely,

XXXX
East Rockaway

MOVIE REVIEWS UP

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:42:20 GMT

During the mid-1990's, Wayne Wang directed "The Joy Luck Club," which fanned the hopes of white dudes everywhere looking to score a Chinese woman. But did you know that in the early 80's, Wang made a great film that did justice to all Chinese?

CHAN IS MISSING (1982), dir. Wayne Wang

“Chan is Missing” is a movie about the Chinese made by a Chinese-American, and it avoids the racial stereotyping a lot of Hollywood films do not. It was directed and co-written by Wayne Wang, who has gone on to direct other films about under-represented minority groups, including an adaptation of Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club.” Although the low-budget “Chan is Missing” was filmed over a decade earlier, Wang’s penchant for Chinese characters with real depth already showed.

The movie centers around two San Francisco cab drivers named Jo (Wood Moy) and his nephew Steve (Marc Hayashi), who want to start their own taxi service. When the movie opens, they have given $4,000 to their partner Chan Ho, a relative of Jo’s ex-wife, to go file their business with the city. Unfortunately, several weeks have passed and they haven’t heard back from him. Then they find out from a social worker that Chan was recently involved in a traffic accident, but hasn’t made any of his court appearances.

What happened to Chan? Is he dead, or could he have run off with the money after the accident? Jo and Steve go looking for Chan in Chinatown, only to be told by his co-workers and friends that they haven’t seen him around either. But his jacket turns up at a nightclub he frequented, and there are possible clues in the pocket: a clipping from a local newspaper, about an elderly Chinese man who killed another man over political differences; and a letter from Chan’s brother written in Chinese.

The friends at the nightclub think Chan used the $4,000 to go back to China and resolve a family matter. But Jo, intrigued by the clipping, takes it to a buddy at the Chinese consulate. It turns out to be warning about how dangerous the political climate has become between Chinese who support the mother country’s stance against Taiwanese independence, and those who side with Taiwan. Later, during a stakeout of Chan’s apartment, they hear from his neighbor that a mysterious woman stopped by to talk with Chan about some photographs.

Could the photos Chan supposedly took have something to do with his disappearance? The mystery gradually unravels, but what makes the movie so fascinating is having these Chinese characters do the investigating. From the very beginning, Jo and Steve aren’t the usual Chinese stereotypes; the kind of buffoons Mickey Rooney wore yellow-face for in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” They don’t have buck teeth or misplace their r’s and l’s, they don’t practice tai chi or kung fu. On the contrary, both men speak English that sounds vaguely American, and while they exist in a universe of Chinese culture – for example, at the house of Chan’s ex-wife, she gives Jo an orange – such references never seem like attempts at exoticism.

The movie also allows Jo and Steve to be very aware of what non-Chinese think of their kind. The former mentions that his fares inevitably ask where a good place to eat at in Chinatown is; he’ll start telling them the differences between regional Chinese cuisines, leading to a good tip. Meanwhile, Steve, who is the more cynical of the two protagonists, bristles over having gone to see “Saturday Night Fever” at a Chinese theater, only to find the opening theme dubbed, “You can tell from the way I use my wok, I’m a Chinese cook, I’m a Chinese cook.”

Finally, the movie shows Chinese can be prejudiced against one another, which may blow some people’s minds. In the history of American cinema, it’s not uncommon for those with similar skin tones to be lumped together, and Asians have especially gotten that treatment. While heterogonous-minded Hollywood still has trouble distinguishing Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans from one another, in “Chan is Missing,” what gets emphasized is that Chinese come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and political beliefs, and certain sub-groups consider themselves better than others.

For example, early on there is a scene in which Jo, Steve, and Steve’s sister are sitting around the kitchen table, teasing each other about the ingredients in the meal, whether they’re from American supermarkets, as opposed to the more questionable Chinese groceries. They also say unflattering things about “New Money” Taiwanese, disparage “Commie-lovers” who support the regime back in China, and discuss how two Chinese City Council candidates draw from very different demographics within Chinatown.

Being that the main protagonists are American-born Chinese (or “ABC’s”), Jo and Steve initially expect Chan to fit certain stereotypes for a “FOB” – a derogatory term short for “Fresh off the Boat,” or recent arrival to the United States. Steve in particular has a negative image of them, beliefs that get thoroughly subverted over the course of the film. By the end, one character realizes Chan, who could very well be a stand-in for all Chinese, can no longer be so easily categorized. Not that that’s such a bad thing.

thatphilguy

MOVIE REVIEW

GREEN LANTERN MOVIE NEWS!

CHABON WRITING "JOHN CARTER OF MARS"

SEXY MAN ANGRY AT PIRATES

TCM GETTING INTO LIST-MAKING RACKET

DOES ANYONE REALLY CARE ABOUT VENOM?

MOVIE REVIEWS UP

I GUESS SUPERMAN HAS HAD IT "ROUGH" RECENTLY

THIS MOVIE LOOKS... TERRIBLE.

WHO WOULDN'T GIVE THEIR RIGHT HAND TO BE THIS GUY?

WOO OUT; WHO WILL HELM ASIAN "TITANIC"?

AND THE NEXT BATMAN MOVIE VILLAIN WILL BE...

IT BEATS ANOTHER "RUSH HOUR" MOVIE, DOESN'T IT?

KATZENBERG SAYS 3-D FUTURE OF ANIMATED

NOW I CAN FINALLY DUST OFF THAT "SPEEDBALL" TREATMENT

From CinematicalWho Wants To Write for Marvel?

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE TRAILER

AND WHEN IS JAMES CAMERON GOING TO MAKE ANOTHER NON-DOCUMENTARY FEATURE?

IMDb's Top 15 Independents

IT STARTED LIKE ANY OTHER TRIP TO THE MEN'S ROOM

MOVIE REVIEWS UP

KOOKA-MANGA!

Manga Minis, 3/2/09 | Manga Recon

LOOK BACK IN ANGER!

It was disgusting then, and it's still disgusting now.Reprinting Saturday, March 12, 2005

MOVIE REVIEWS UP

Saw the last film Leslie Cheung ever appeared in. What a shame he died so young. I am curious, though, whether the public knew he was gay before he killed himself, or whether the pressure to remain "closeted" drove him to despair.INNER SENSES (2002), dir. Chi-Leung Law

YOUR LETTERS ARE NUMBERED!

MOVIE REVIEWS UP

During the mid-1990's, Wayne Wang directed "The Joy Luck Club," which fanned the hopes of white dudes everywhere looking to score a Chinese woman. But did you know that in the early 80's, Wang made a great film that did justice to all Chinese?CHAN IS MISSING (1982), dir. Wayne Wang

From Cinematical
Who Wants To Write for Marvel?

It was disgusting then, and it's still disgusting now.

Reprinting Saturday, March 12, 2005

Saw the last film Leslie Cheung ever appeared in. What a shame he died so young. I am curious, though, whether the public knew he was gay before he killed himself, or whether the pressure to remain "closeted" drove him to despair.

INNER SENSES (2002), dir. Chi-Leung Law

During the mid-1990's, Wayne Wang directed "The Joy Luck Club," which fanned the hopes of white dudes everywhere looking to score a Chinese woman. But did you know that in the early 80's, Wang made a great film that did justice to all Chinese?

CHAN IS MISSING (1982), dir. Wayne Wang