3.10 to Yuma

Finally got this as an afterthought. My German Expressionism collection don't work, traded for four Marx Brothers (2-discs) and the Fly Collection (2-discs). The Fly Collection didn't work, traded it for this and Inland Empire.

I was expecting something uplifting, not to say it's not, just not in the way I was expecting. The ending you could see a mile coming, after all, it hardly comes as a surprise when you're basically rooting for the "villain" from the word "Go!", with his rakish charm and strange code of honour.
I'd think this didn't make the Malaysian shores cos of its ambiguous morals, and not that it's a Western.

Still, I feel slightly upset when the confession about how he lost his leg came about. Funny when Ben Wade threw the guy down the ravine for insulting his mother.

All in all, a beautiful Western that you might just call a re-revisionist version.

Inland Empire : A Woman inTrouble

I have a weird way of falling in and out of love with David Lynch. Sometimes, it's just a shot to the arm his movies are, other times, it's so what...

Inland Empire falls somewhere in between. At 3 hours, I would like to say it's an ardous watch but not so, as there's just too many things happening. Continuing the switched personalities angle started in Lost Highway, this one is not as perplexing,as it's into the character Laura Dern plays in a movie.

Not as jarring or startling as Lost Highway and certainly not as coherent as Mulholland Drive, this one might just drive you crazy trying to work out its logic. But damn,those anthropomorphic rabbits are cool.

A nice twist to the old movie in a movie sequence. My favourite bits are the dance sequence with the whore doing the Locomotion, and the neighbour's face melting. And the interview bits are rivetting.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)

The first horror movie, I believe. Not much to say about this one except maybe it deserves it's classic status. A sheer palpable tension pervades the entire movie. The set designs are dreamlike and mirror the somnabulist Cesare's (in the famous cabinet) mind set. Clearly, even if it's common knowledge, Tim Burton's Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands owe a lot to this movie.

My copy comes with a free jazz soundtrack that adds a lot more to the edgy surrealism. (I bought this in a four DVD "German Expressionism" pack that includes Hands of Orlac, Waiting Shadows and Secrets of a Soul, which I'll post my thoughts when I've watched them). The guitar bits sound a lot like John McLaughlin. My only gripe is that this one should work better monochromatic rather than tinted.

And the ending is a big fucking mind-trip, and of course, constantly aped but seldom surpassed or equalled. Awesome!

Across the Universe

Ever felt you've been had? Curiousity got the better of me so I bought this. And yeah the cat died. Absolutely stinky crap with leaden dialogue and a contrived plot. "Ze turbulent 60s!" This one sheds absolutely no light on anything.

The Beatles are massacred with no pity, and John and George should be on their way as zombies looking for the director. To be fair, two songs are reworked well - the gospel "Let it Be" and the Joe Cocker-sang "Come Together". And the part where "Strawberry Fields Forever" has its meaning subverted is at least interesting. But the rest is cat poo. The "I want you" sequence is so corny I cringed. "If I Fell", "Somebody", "I Wanna Hold your Hand" and "All My Loving" would have been moving in more capable hands but here, the singers struggle to enunciate.

And the plot:- Put a Hendrix clone with a Joplin clone. D'oh! Let's have it end by putting a concert on a roof-top. D'oh! The hallucinogic sequences also look terribly amateurish in an era of CGI.

This is profound. A PROFOUND WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY! I wouldn't recommend this to anybody, least of all Beatles' fans.

Was quite slow when I came back from my gf's pad. So watched these two:-

The Cat Returns (2002)

A follow-up to the fantasy story in "Whisper of the Heart". A bit too short for my liking, although this does give it a brisk pace. Given that I'm a cat person, I no doubt found this fascinating, especially the bipedal cats in black suits. Set at a frenetic speed that never lets up, it is however strangely hollow. Some morality about being true to yourself gets bandied about but never fully utilised.

Grave of the Fireflies

Supposedly critically acclaimed, I found this one downright depressing. How could it not be when the main character dies in the first five minutes? And it's all death dying dead. Set during World War 2, this one tells of a young man's struggles to nourish his sister amidst bomb raids and a bitchy relative. Hardly the thing to watch while you're down. And all the while I'm watching this, I have images of Jews being dissected on those slabs in Auschwitz. So there, you Axis motherfuckers! No love or pity from me at all.

The Incredible Hulk (movie)

Just caught this yesterday. Pretty good as disposable fun but hardly as essential in the Marvel canon as Iron Man or Fantastic Four 2. Could do without the love story as Ed and Liv just act like they casually know each other. Some pretty funny moments which were ignored by the audience I saw it with - the emergency warning during the lovemaking. Better than Ang Lee's vision, the climactic better is also pretty well done, it's violent as shit. I was happy they inserted something about the Leader's genesis, although the original Sam Sterns was a janitor, not a scientist. More exciting is that Tony Stark talks about forming the Avengers at the end, and has glimpses of an intelligent Hulk.

Forgive me, I'm a fanboy.

Cat People (1983)

One movie I forgot to list in my watched DVD list. This one is just a crappy version of the werewolf story, with people turning into leopards after having sex. Uninspiring and some scenes are just too fucken lame to be taken seriously - such as Malcolm McDowell jumping onto the ledge of the bed and growling while Natassja Kinski is sleeping. I like Paul Schrader's movies overall, his Patty Hearst Story is quite watchable but this one...... I dunno. The flesh is cool and I do get a perverse enjoyment out of watching Superman's Mom strip to her panties (Annette O'Toole is one of the bit actors here) but that's about it, really. The David Bowie song is nice but then again, I'm partial to the Let's Dance album.

And oh yeah, the Val Lewton original ought to be good, although I've only watched "White Zombie".

I really am not that good at bandying about technicalities. I sure can play it but when it comes to describing it.... Anyway, here goes:-

The Essential John McLaughlin

2 CDs of his stuff, although it is a bit too eclectic for any casual listener. Me, I'm disappointed slightly, anticipating the kind of shred-jazz found on "Trio of Doom" (see below) but finding an assortment of classical, flamenco, Indian classical and blues-rock. His licks are always tasty, from jamming with 2/3rds of Cream on Graham Bond's "Doxy", to the Spanish frenzy of The Guitar Trio.

Trio of Doom - John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius, Tony Williams

I love this. Absolute wankery but it's brilliant. Tracks from a one-off show and a subsequent single recording session. Shows all three at the peak of their powers although the live tracks can be a bit sloppy, as Mclaughlin put off releasing this until a few years ago. "Dark Prince" is awesome and they even tone down the virtuoso on the funky "Paca Oriente".

Brilliant Corners - Thelonius Monk

If I'm not mistaken, the most commercial-sounding of his albums. I like this better than his solo piano stuff, evoking the same kind of mood as Miles' "Kind of Blue". Nothing too taxing, though. Having an accompaniment also covers any deficiencies in his chording.

Invitation - Jaco Pastorius

Damn! I had hoped this would be more virtuoso wanking but it's his big band captured live in Japan. Some nice bass solos aside, and a marvellous "Continuum", the arrangements aren't really that clever and adds nothing much to the big band milieu. Maybe I got the wrong CD.

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

Got this cos I'm a big fan of the Farelly Brothers, but it seems their brand of gross-out comedy is going fast past the expiry date. Nothing really much funny about this except the sex scenes, which are a bit derivative anyway. And the love story is contrived. I think it's time to move on..... The part where Malin Akerman knows every song on the radio is a bit like me, though.

Dumplings

The full-length version of the middle story in "Three...Extremes". Hardly as good, with a different ending which is not as gruesome and unfulfilling. Also has a long drawn out sequence with Bai Ling and Tony Leung which is hardly erotic. As it stands, it is a pretty good exhibition of the weird gourmet the Chinese love, although my appetite barely has that kind of range.

Pistol Opera

Seijun Suzuki's sequel/update of the honoured "Branded to Kill". Seeing this, one wonders why that cult classic is so revered by current "hip" directors. This is torturous, with a barely comprehensible story, the more boring elements of kabuki theatre and even some paedophilia. The effects are also really crap, with a clearly plastic hand to denote an assassin's numbness to pain as he stabs it. Not recommended to anyone, unless you want to gouge your eyes out waiting for it to end.

Frau Im Mond (Woman in the Moon)

Fritz Lang's last silent movie. Although set in the same grand scope of "Metropolis", this one is
ignored now merely because of the dated subject matter, which is a trip to the moon. Although the science tries to be as exact as possible, and some scenes clearly influenced "2001 : A Space Odyssey", once they land on the moon, it breaks down. I found the first half engaging though, with the same kind of frenetic pace and deception/espionage as his far superior "Spies", but I can do without the moon scenes. Still, an interesting experiment in making a "realistic" sci-fi film, probably the first of its kind. The constant bitching in space also no doubt influenced "Alien".

Blade Runner : The Final Cut

My 20th time watching this. The remastered footage is very nice, in so far as the outdoor and city panorama scenes are concerned, as there is some CGI tweaking involved and it looks prettier. Otherwise, it looks pretty much the same as the "Director's Cut". Other tweaks include the gorier death sequence of Tyrell, the correction of the "sixth replicant" error (during Captain Bryant's briefing in the original, there were six escapees and only five accounted for), Batty calling Tyrell "father" instead of "fucker", a brief scene of futuristic go-go girls, the inter-city transit and Ford walking around in Bradbury Apartments are a few seconds longer and the soundtrack has been tweaked. I am underwhelmed. Funny thing is - correcting the "sixth replicant" error renders the book tie-ins redundant. Now where can I find the five-DVD version?

Transformers

A bit sad I missed this at the cinema cos this is actually quite entertaining. Sneakily got this from my bro's collection, this is one of the few Michael Bay movies I enjoyed, nevermind there are elements stolen from other movies, like Black Hawk Down, Godzilla, King Kong and all those conspiracy movies. Shia Le Bouf is hardly as irritating here as in Indy Jones 4. The CGI looks a bit patchy, though, as if the CPU have trouble keeping track of all the rendered mechanical components. Otherwise, I enjoyed this.

One cartoon:-

Speed Racer ; The Next Generation

Pilot of the new Nicktoon cartoon, a continuation of the Japanese series. The comedy is more effective than the recent movie but the racing is monotonous, all on virtual tracks. Still, there are some scenes of the original in the featurettes, that's what gets my heart pumping. I missed the original as I was too young then, but the images are kinda familiar, as my previous toddler mind still have vestigial imprints and they were exciting to me then.

Portishead - Third

Thank God they didn't forget about writing tunes for this one. Generally a vast improvement over the eponymous sophomore, although it doesn't really have the same spookiness as "Dummy". Some nice jazzy singing in "Nylon Smile" and "Hunter". The banjo on "Deep Water" is a welcome break from all the digitaliness. "We Carry On" is just thrash metal played on synths, and "Machine Gun" is semi-industrial. I do have a bit of a gripe with "Small", which is just unending torture, and never stops when you want it to. Otherwise, I enjoyed this a whole lot barring "Small".

Calexico - The Black Light

Concise and textured music, veering towards mariachi. The instrumentals are superb and evocative, even if some tracks just scream for vocals. Other instrumentals are not so suitable for vocals, with dramatic shifts in tempo and rhythm. Otherwise, excellent for what is essentially an Americana album. The vocal tracks also seem like an afterthought, with not much of a melody. The mariachi songs sound a lot like they belong in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy.

Calexico - Hot Rail

I didn't like this as much as the above, as the arrangements are more complex and the genres are broader, going beyond Spanish folk music, country and blues-rock and into jazz. The production is also denser, unlike "Black Light"'s stark bare-boned sound. There is at least one meandering listless instrumental - "Untitled II". "Untitled III" is alright, though, sounding like something from the Final Fantasy 8 game soundtrack. The vocal tracks also don't work so well here, with Miles Davis-ish "Fade" given a vocal melody which it hardly benefits from. I guess only "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" or "Drenched" are really that great vocal tracks, being more straightforward country rock. Generally not as good as the above, even if I'm intrigued and will get "Feast of Wire" if I see it.