Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Introduction:

Was this the first attempt to take a classic television series and turn it into a film? Maybe we can blame this film for The Beverly Hillbillies feature? OK, that is a little harsh, but let’s see what the combined talents of four talented directors yields.

Summary:

You’ve got four stories here each based on or inspired by an episode from the classic series The Twilight Zone. First up a bigoted man (Vic Morrow) finds himself turned into the very thing he despises. Let’s see how he likes being a Jew in a Nazi controlled country. Up next Scatman Crothers uses some mystical powers to help a group at a rest home find their inner child – literally. After that a teacher (Kathleen Quinlan) runs into a little boy (Jeremy Licht) who has some serious issues with power… and cartoons. The final segment has John Lithgow going bananas on an airplane, as some… thing… is on the wing destroying it. Dan Akroyd and Albert Brooks bring some laughs in a wrap around segment of this bizarre little movie.

Good Points:

• Manages to capture some truly Twilight Zone moments
• Jerry Goldsmith provides a clever musical score
• Aside from the first segment, it never takes itself too seriously

Bad Points:

• Never comes together as a whole
• Pacing between the segments creates a bizarre viewing experience
• Veers away from the Twilight Zone feel on a number of occasions

Overall:

Nostalgia fans for 80s films will find a lot to enjoy here. But fans of the original show may be disappointed. I’ve also run into people who dislike the film because of the sordid issues that occurred during its creation. But taken as a film, it’s entertaining and showcases some of the talents of the cast and crew.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 4

Acting: 3

Script: 3

Music: 4

Direction: 3

Entertainment: 3

Total: 3

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

Eight Men Out (1988)

Introduction:

Never been a big fan of sports-centric films, but every once in a while I’ll watch one, just to see what all the fuss is about. My wife actually recommended this one to me and since I knew little about the whole “black sox” incident, it sounded like an interesting movie.

Summary:

In 1919 the Chicago White Sox were set to win the World Series. They were the best baseball team thanks to players like Lefty Williams (James Read), Eddie Ciotte (David Strathairn) and Shoeless Joe (D.B. Sweeney). But after a heated debate with their owner of salaries, many of players discover that they can make more money from throwing the World Series than they can off of their normal income. They decide to go for it. All seems to go smoothly, until a couple journalists begin to dig a little deeper and find out just how dirty these White Sox were. John Cusack, Clifton James, Christopher Lloyd and Charlie Sheen round out the cast.

Good Points:

• Costumes, sets and musical score really capture the period
• Well-written and executed script
• Some excellent performances

Bad Points:

• Focuses much more on the scandal over baseball action
• The scheme moves quickly and is fairly complicated
• May be too subdued for some viewers

Overall:

What a surprise this was. Not your typical underdog sports tale, instead Eight Men Out focuses on a more complex and dramatic story. The whole production is well executed, presenting the entire scam and the fallout from it in detail. At the same time we get to know more about the players who participated and how it tarnished “The Great American Pastime”. Excellent performances all around make this one well worth seeking out.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 3

Acting: 4

Script: 4

Music: 4

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 4

Total: 4

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

Time Chasers (1994) – MST3K Review

Summary:

Nick Miller (Matthew Bruch) has just created a time machine using his small plane and a combination of his old Tandy computer and his Nintendo Entertainment System. As a result he can fly through awesome colorful visual effects and land in a futuristic shopping mall. He’s convinced he can make some serious coin doing this so he contacts Lisa Henson (Bonnie Pritchard) a local journalist and corporate big-shot J.K. Robertson (George Woodard).

Well wouldn’t you know it, Robertson is out to turn the time machine into a weapon! So Nick and Lisa must race against time (see, because it’s a time travel movie!) to top Robertson. Prepare yourself for early 90s fashions, time paradoxes and a trip back to the American Revolution as the Time Chasers attempt set things right.

Movie Review:

Also known as Tangents, this is actually a good bit of independent movie making fun. Sure it’s a bit silly and looks dated, but there’s a fun story at the center and the cast and crew are obviously enthusiastic about the project. This is one of those cases where the sum of the parts don’t add up to a stellar whole.

The movie was filmed in 1990, and you get a strong 80s vibe off the whole affair (Lisa’s outfits and hair in particular are very late 80s). But it’s also a movie more inspired by Spielberg than Tarantino. The movie aims for thrills and adventure over snarky dialogue and angst (two trademarks of the mid and late 90s). So the movie was already dated by the time it was released.

Filmed entirely in Vermont by a plucky group of independent filmmakers, you get the feeling that this is a labor of love. Sadly to make a solid sci-fi effort dealing with time travel to the future and the distant past, you need quite a bit of cash. That’s where things fall apart. The time machine itself is ridiculously low tech. One of the benefits of the Back to the Future trilogy (which was obviously a huge inspiration here) is that we never get a good look or understanding of how the time machine works. All the mechanisms and glowing lights are more fantastical than straight up science. Time Chasers makes the mistake of showing us the computers used and the old floppy discs that supposedly store all the time travel technology. Not only does this immediately date the film, but stretches the credibility for anyone vaguely familiar with the limits of 80s computer technology.

The script itself is actually handled pretty well. There are a few plot holes, but the movie breezes by them, so you don’t really notice until you think about it afterward. Unfortunately some of the acting is suspect. Our main character Nick is like a variation on the character Richard Dreyfuss played in Jaws, and Bruch seems to be channeling Dreyfuss any chance he gets. Our main character is the nerdy hero who gets in over his head. But the script has our hero make some boneheaded decisions and Bruch approach can make Nick actually abrasive at times.

Henson is hit or miss, sometimes fitting the part of the dogged journalist with a thing for scientists with huge chins. Other times she seems lost or confused (maybe the patterns on her clothing hypnotized her). Woodard is having a blast as the evil villain, yeah he’s over the top, but he makes the whole thing more fun. The rest of the cast is either over the top or stumbling through lines (friends of the cast and crew I suspect).

The special effects used for the time travel are low budget and silly. You can’t help but laugh. However I have to give them credit for creating as much of a futuristic look to the mall as they could with the budget they probably had. The two future scenes (one attempting the bright Back to the Future Part 2 style future, the other the cruddy post-WWIII future that looks like old Detroit from Robocop) try to do a lot with very little. Sadly it isn't too convincing. For the American Revolution scenes, director David Giancola recruited the local reenactment group and had some fun. Sure some of these guys look as close to minutemen as I would have back in the 90s (hey I had the ponytail!). But its not everyday you get a group of redcoats chasing around a business exec who happens to have an UZI with him.

The movie boasts a few action scenes with Nick and Lisa attempting to escape some corporate goons or maybe some crazed future denizens. The most memorable scenes are when Nick attempts to escape from pursuers in a car while riding a bike (inspired by The Final Sacrifice perhaps?). The other scene has Nick attempting to climb down a tree before his own plane falls down on him. This scene is very close to the similar one in Jurassic Park that would come out a few years later. Was Spielberg inspired by Time Chasers?

What it comes down to is a movie that overstretches its reach. Sci-fi usually relies on special effects, and even if you have a fun and entertaining story to work with, if the surrounding elements look shoddy it can be a deal breaker for some viewers. But not for me. I appreciate the effort the cast and crew put in. It’s a flawed but fun movie. Still it has a lot of material to work with for our favorite riffing crew.

Episode Review:

Time Chasers is the middle episode of the heroic three episode conclusion to season eight. These three episodes are some of my favorite from the entire series run, mostly because they all fit into one my favorite genres: cheesy 80s sci-fi. And while Time Chasers is technically 90s, it is so rooted in 80s style that it fits right in.

Part of me thinks Mike and the bots come down a little too hard on a movie that was obviously made by a group of independent filmmakers who tried their best with the resources they had. But the final result is an episode that is so funny and entertaining in its own right that I think the whole thing works better together: like chocolate and peanut butter.

They pretty much go after everything in the movie from our nerdy hero (Crow quips “I refuse to accept this guy as our hero. You hear that movie?") to the hideous early 90s fashions (Tom says, “I’m a naked robot and even I know you don’t dress like that").

They have a lot of fun with Woodard’s villainous performance as well as his office (which looks like it was filmed in a library or mall). Woodard has some odd speech patterns and they pick right up on it, adding lines and mimicking him exactly. Anytime he’s on the screen they have a good time.

They also comment on everything during the actual time travel sequences, from the costumes, sets and especially the Revolutionary War extras. Mike wonders how fast the British would have won if these guys were defending our country.

While there are a few slow spots, they are few and far between. You get one of the best riffing sessions of season eight. And while I prefer Space Mutiny and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, it’s a strong middle episode in this trilogy of riffing.

The host segments are some of the best of the season taking the time travel element and having some real fun with it. The opening segment has Mike trying to avoid saying the phrase Lost in Space or else something horrible will happen. Then Mike and Pearl have a nice chat in her van. It’s actually a nice little scene with Crow popping in for some laughs.

At the first break Tom decides that the only way to keep Mike from becoming a prisoner on the Satellite of Love is to send Crow back and time and convince him not to take the temp job that would land him in this mess. Well Crow goes back in time all right but things don’t go as planned. When Crow gets back, he discovers that Mike’s brother Eddie (also played by Mike) is now the poor dope on the SOL. And Eddie is a chain smoking, beer swilling jerk who uses Tom Servo as an ashtray! After suffering through a riffing session with Eddie, Crow travels back in time in the next segment to stop himself from convincing Mike to not take the temp job. The final segment has Mike and Pearl discussing the movie and Crow’s time travel adventure. But Pearl points out that somewhere in the 1980s another version of Crow is wandering around. The episode ends with Crow working in a cheese factory in the 80s.

So not only do you get a really fun riffing session, but a solid (if low budget) time travel film and some of the best host segments from the Sci-fi era of the show. This episode easily gets five pink blazers out of five.

This episode is available on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 5

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

Introduction:

This anime title would always pop up when I was doing some research on Satoshi Kon films. He didn’t have anything to do with it, but it seems that a lot of folks who like his stuff enjoyed this film. So I decided to give it a try.

Summary:

Makoto Kanno (Emily Hirst) is your typical high school aged girl. She’s got a couple guy friends Chiaki Mamiya (Andrew Francis) a handsome goofoff and Kosuke Tsuda (Alex Zahara) an athletic baseball fan. When she isn’t hanging out with these guys, she’s running late to class, annoying her sister and visiting her aunt Kazuko (Saffron Henderson).

One day Makoto finds something odd in the storage room behind the school science lab. She never gets a good look at it, but from that day forward she can time travel. With a leap, she can hurtle back in time. Mokoto quickly uses this to correct mistakes she makes throughout the day. Annoying sister eats her pudding snack? A quick jump back and Makoto gets to first. She makes an ass out of herself during Home Ec? Jump back and let some other poor dope lights his food on fire. She’s having so much fun that she doesn’t realize that all her little changes are affecting everything around her. When one of her friends ends up in very real danger because of her changes Makoto has to figure out a way to undo the damage before her ability runs out.

Good Points:

• An interesting take on time travel
• Manages to work a little romance and poignancy into the story
• There’s a neat twist at the end

Bad Points:

• Some of the animation is a little on the sparse side
• The tone of the movie varies wildly
• Makoto is a bit dense at times.

Overall:

This movie was a pleasant find. Many of Makoto’s actions feel just like something a typical teenage girl would do if granted the power of time travel. But the movie can’t seem to nail down a tone – one minute it’s silly high school comedy, next it’s a meditation on fate and death, next it’s a romance. It ends up hurting the pacing a bit and kept pulling me out of the story. But the final result was an entertaining film with enough depth to make it worth your time.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 3

Acting: 3

Script: 4

Music: 3

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 4

Total: 4

In Depth Review

Most tales of time travel focus on the big picture. How will the character shape or interact with major events in history. Its rare to encounter a story that focuses on time travel in the smaller scale, just jumping back a day or two to change things around.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is not about the why or how time travel is possible, but more focused on the themes of choice and fate. In that way, it’s less a sci-fi story and more of a character study of Mokoto. She’s your typical high school aged girl. She’s unsure of herself, a bit awkward, but a decent girl who only seems to be truly annoyed by her little sister. But also she’s completely focused on herself and how others perceive her. That’s not to say that Makoto is vain, but she’s a typical adolescent.

We watch her during the course of one day, the way she interacts with people, the choices she makes, and the little incident in the storage room behind the lab. But on her way home things go badly: the brakes on her bike don’t work and she ends up being thrown in front of a train. But this “leap” pushes her into a time warp and the next thing she knows she can time travel. Once she figures this out, it becomes a game to her.

At first the movie is light fun, with Mokoto doing her best to make the perfect day. In a lot of ways it reminded me of Groundhog Day. But the incident with the train stays in our mind (and Mokoto’s). After a conversation with her aunt, who is often referred to as Aunt Witch, Mokoto realizes that the little changes she makes may be affecting others.

This is combined with the fact that a small couple of numbers appears on her arm, counting down the number of jumps she has left. Now Mokoto attempts to fix some of the impacts she makes on others and discovers how interrelated everything is. This is actually a very interesting concept: a dash of chaos theory. The smallest thing can have a huge impact on the way her day turns out. There are times when she gets asked out on a date; other times she is left wandering home alone. Sometimes one of her friend’s ends up on the broken bike, and killed, other times she finds herself back at the same fork.

What I found interesting is the fact that death appears early in the film and continues to loom through the rest of the movie. It’s like those Choose Your Own Adventure novels that would end in your demise. Mokoto doesn’t want her friends to die, and she doesn’t want to die, but is it necessary that someone dies in front of that train?

Eventually the movie reveals how Mokoto obtained the ability to time travel, and while it does end up slowing down the finale of the film a bit, it also adds an interesting twist to the whole thing. We’ve seen so many of the same moments with slight variations that it becomes obvious that one of the times that Mokoto ends up in the storage room, she could easily have run into herself or someone else who is also time leaping (shades of Back to the Future Part 2). This combined with some of the more cryptic lines from Aunt Witch and we begin to wonder just how often folks end up time leaping.

While all these themes are present the movie spends most of its time providing an interesting combination of gentle laughs, a bit of romance and some sadness to the story. The only problem is that these transitions end up being a bit jarring. Things get a bit convoluted in places and the ending lacks the proper punch, because of all the different elements that make it up. In all honesty this is actually a pretty ambitious story to tell, and I can see how it ended up a bit tangled.

The animation is pretty good, a bit plain looking in places and lacking in some detail (especially compared to something like Tokyo Godfathers or Ghost in the Shell). But in many ways it fits the story and the mood the film is going for. There’s a lot of softness to the movie and the colors tend toward the golden and airy. The exceptions are the time warp scenes, which utilize hard looking computer animation and lots of brilliant colors. It makes these sequences stand out but again, fits with the story.

The English voice acting was pretty good and fit the characters. So if you prefer your anime in English this one won’t cause your ears to bleed. The musical score was a perfect fit, but never really caught my attention.

All in all you get a pretty solid movie, one that takes a typically sci-fi premise and turns it into something of a romp. Anyone looking for something a bit different for a weekend rental will find a lot to enjoy here.

Nostalgia Nugget – Thinking Fourth Dimensionally

Revisiting nostalgic films is something of a summer ritual around these parts. It brings back memories of watching these flicks as a kid, hanging out with friends and injuring yourself reenacting your favorite scenes from these movies. One of the biggest nostalgic trilogies form my past are the Back to the Future films. Checking these movies out again I let my mind wander… what would happen if Hollywood remade these flicks today?

I can already see the jaded youth that Marty McFly would be transformed into. He’d be bitter, resentful and angry at his parents and family. He’d trash talk at Biff and we’d probably get a Doc Brown who was either a smokin’ hot babe or a man closer in age to Marty, who was also angry and bitter that his inventions were so misunderstood. The DeLorean may still act as the time machine (to throw a bone to us old timers). But instead of going into the ‘50s, Marty would go back to the ‘80s! How crazy is that!?! The whole time he’d be bitter and angry about how stupid everything was in the ‘80s. Sure we can keep the basic plot points of running into the family and maybe even the clock tower finale, but Biff would be even more evil and heartless than he was in the future…

Oh screw it, this is depressing me. Just a note to Hollywood – DON’T REMAKE BACK TO THE FUTURE. It’s just fine the way it is. Watching the trilogy again it became even more obvious just how grim and annoying Hollywood Blockbusters have become. There is so much fun crammed into this trilogy, so many clever ideas, great dialogue and a real thrill of adventure – that the cynic in me can’t see it being recaptured by a remake in the least.

I’m not saying Back to the Future is the perfect film. It has its flaws, but most of them are easy to ignore because of the amount of things it does right. Sure it looks a little dated these days (the effects would look a little slicker if made now), but the effects weren’t the heart of the movie. It was about following the hapless Marty and watching him get in and out of trouble.

Watching all three of the films back to back, I still feel that Back to the Future is the best of them. The story is well executed, the characters are engaging, the thrills and comedy are perfectly balanced. The threat to Marty’s existence is handled well, and the ticking clock (the photograph) is not over played. Watching the film I realized how much I missed seeing this type of movie in the theaters. I was also reminded how rarely you actually see time travel stories done with this much skill and fun.

Back to the Future Part 2 is the weakest of the trilogy. Surprisingly it doesn’t suffer from middle movie syndrome. It works well as a stand-alone story, having a definite beginning middle and end. Only the finale creates set up for the third movie. But we never get the feeling that the whole movie is a lot of running around and setting up stuff for the third. I really enjoy the journey to the future, with its over the top colors and fashions. It feels like an extension of the ‘80s and is a nice change of pace from something like Blade Runner’s dark and dreary version. (If Hollywood ever did remake this trilogy you know they would go dark here).

Unfortunately I find the movie loses some steam once Doc and Marty go back to the alternate 1985. Part of this is because there has been a real change to the characters of Biff and Marty. Biff is now not just a bully but a borderline psycho. He has no problems trying to kill Marty in the ‘80s or in the ‘50s. Before, Biff was just a bullying jerk who just needed to be taught a lesson. In this movie he should be locked away somewhere. I understand the need to create an antagonist and threat for Marty, but it always bugged me that Biff was so sociopathic in this film.

The whole “Marty can’t stand being called chicken” plot point comes out of nowhere. To this day and watching both Part 2 and Part 3 feels slightly off. I can’t see the Marty of Back to the Future having a problem with someone calling him chicken. He’d just laugh it off or make a smart-ass remark. Sure it moves the story along and throws a wrench or two into place, but it really feels like a plot convention.

Part 2 does some fun stuff with messing with time travel. I do like how Marty and the Doc have to travel back to the ‘50s to stop the alternate future from happening. It’s clever and fun to see elements for the first film replay from different points of view. At the same time, it feels like you just saw most of the movie (especially when watching them back to back). It makes the film feel a little longer than it actually is. I still love the last couple minutes when ‘50s Doc is confronted with Marty right after he sent the kid back to the future. Classic moment.

Back to the Future Part 3 is one of the few trilogy end episodes that wraps up the story just about perfectly. Setting the adventures in the old west was a stroke of genius, and allows for all kinds of interesting and fun sequences. It also allows the character of “Mad Dog” Tannen to make a more realistic villain. This guy isn’t Biff, but a distant relative. So Mad Dog being a sociopathic jerk works just fine, and adds an element of very real danger to the film.

I also like the introduction of Clara as Doc’s love interest and injecting a new obstacle into the movie that doesn’t revolve around the perils of time travel. It also gives us a bit more insight into Docs character.

The finale on the train is nearly as much fun as the finale of the original film. It builds plenty of tension and keeps us wondering if Doc is really going to go back to the ‘80s with Clara. Alan Silvestri’s score goes into overdrive in these scenes and it turns it into a real blast. The clever last minute rescue was icing on the cake that caused people to cheer in the theaters. Part 3 is a definite improvement over its predecessor, even if it isn’t quite as good as the original.

If you haven’t revisted Marty and Doc in a while, do it. I think you’ll be surprised at how well these movies have held up and how much fun they can provide over a lazy weekend. Just try to ignore the extremely disturbing idea of a remake these movies. If Hollywood has to return to this world, give us a sequel involving Marty’s kids or something. Leave the classics alone.

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Introduction:

For his third feature film, director Satoshi Kon delves into a gritty reality stuffed with over the top comedy, a healthy helping of booze, a plot inspired by a John Wayne film, and a dash of Christmas spirit. It should come as no surprise that Tokyo Godfathers stands apart in his filmography, but does that mean it isn’t worth your time?

Summary:

This is a tale of three homeless companions and their Christmas miracle. First there is Gin (Toru Emori) a boozy loser who seems to have given up at everything except drinking. Then there’s Hana (Yoshiaki Umegaki) a transvestite with a dream of being a mother. Finally there’s Miyuki (Aya Okamoto) a runaway who is hiding from her past.

One night these three unlikely souls find a baby abandoned in a pile of trash. At first Hana wants to keep it for his very own, but the other two convince him to do the right thing. They want him to take the baby to the police, but Hana goes on a quest to find the baby’s parents. The adventure takes them all across Tokyo encountering a huge variety of bizarre characters and circumstances. As the journey continues we learn more and more about these Tokyo Godfathers and that miracles still happen at Christmas – even in Japan.

Good Points:

• Amazing detail and motion to the animation
• Some of the most interesting characters in Kon’s work
• Hilarious dialogue

Bad Points:

• If you are not a fan of over the top anime style humor, you may want to skip this one
• Kon keeps his flights of fancy to a minimum
• Why is this animated?

Overall:

While this isn’t his strongest work, it is for many people his most appealing. There is a lot of heart and humor on display, and if you’re in the right mood, this is a fun little movie. Animation-wise it’s got some amazing sequences, the finale car chase is a doozy. But I like Kon best when he is delving into the surreal. Some touches of that appear here, but mostly it’s a romp on a Christmas night.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 5

Sound: 4

Voice Acting: 3

Script: 4

Music: 3

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 3

Total: 3

In Depth Review

Loosely based on 3 Godfathers a John Wayne film from 1948, Tokyo Godfathers could also be called 3 Hobos and a Baby, you know if you’re feeling cheesy. Like those two ‘80s movies, it takes a tragic story about an abandoned baby and turns into a source of comedy and adventure. But Kon is never one to let surface elements completely dictate his film, and so there are a lot of layers going on. You can enjoy it for it’s over the top moments and fun action sequence in the finale. But what keeps you watching is seeing how the lives of Gin, Hana and Miyuki were changed by their past decisions and how they change because of the adventure they have.

The heart of the film is the characters and its what you’ll always remember after viewing it. Each of them is multifaceted and has a lot more going on than they initially appear. Even Hana who seems to be solely around for the cross dressing jokes turns out to be a fully fleshed out character, a man who is truly a mother at heart.

Kon throws in a bit of Charles Dickens in his approach to the film. Nearly every character you meet in the film, even if it’s only a small part, has something to do with the main plot or will pop up again before the film ends. Coincidence falls upon coincidence and yet it all makes perfect sense. Kon dealt with the idea of fate in Millennium Actress and here it seems to pop up again. We can believe that all these things were destined to happen so that each character gets a fitting end, or we can just chalk it up to Hana’s theory that baby is magical and protected by God. By the end of the film, either option seems valid.

As far removed from Kon’s other work as Tokyo Godfathers appears, there are plenty of little moments where Kon’s amazing eye of the dreamlike and visually interesting kicks in. Most of the flashbacks in the film follow the style of his previous films. There is no transition, we just see a character, suddenly interacting with a different group of people in a different setting. It’s a bit jarring, but if you are familiar with his style it fits right in. Most of the flashbacks are key to the story, and Kon never overuses the concept. While Millennium Actress dealt directly with memories and concepts of reality, Tokyo Godfathers never gets that abstract. The flashbacks are simply storytelling devices. He also uses the dream style for a couple of fun interludes. My favorite is when a beaten and drunk Gin runs into the lovely Christmas Angel, only to have her go completely psycho on him.

Yet dreams are a theme of the movie. But instead of using forms of consciousness as the plot device, like he does in Paprika, Kon is focused on the goals and dreams of person and how they fail to meet them. Each of our leads had a dream they wanted to fulfill, but because of a mistake or a vice they end up ruining these dreams and end up living on street. These dreams constantly pop up in conversations and fuel the reactions and motivations of all three. All three have given up on their dreams and their lives, and Kon seems to be saying that once they find direction, they are redeemed. The journey to find the baby’s parents is a trial by fire for our heroes and while they all get burned at some point, they all are able to catch that dream again. You couldn’t expect anything else for a Christmas movie.

For Tokyo Godfathers, Kon had a bigger budget and was able to really make use of it. None of the shortcuts that hurt Perfect Blue or Millennium Actress are present here. Instead we get some amazing detail in the cityscape of Tokyo. I never really noticed it till this review of his work, but Kon loves his urban settings. They are present in all his directed work with the exception of Millennium Actress which focused on the movie elements of the story. Here the city is always in motion, surrounding us, noisy and a bit dirty. Since our leads are homeless they are often in some of the less attractive parts of the city, but Kon does get in some great shots of Tokyo Tower and other interesting backgrounds. More often we get a sense of decay. This adds another layer to the film. It never lets you forget that at the heart of this, is an urban world where a baby was left in a heap of garbage.

Beyond the setting there is the chase scene in the finale. The baby is abducted and our heroes must do everything in their power to save her. Kon unleashes all the stops here with the high-speed chase, the baby in peril and our heroes using what limited abilities they have to come to the rescue. It’s a kinetic blast and certainly a precursor for some of the amazing action work we’d see in Paprika. Even if the rest of the film never quite connects, I heartily recommend the finale of Tokyo Godfathers to any animation fans out there. They’ll get a blast out of it.

I watched the original Japanese voice version and it works really well. I always have a bit of trouble judging comedic performances in anime, because they tend to go over the top – way over the top. That’s the case here. Combined with the more realistic character design it would be too much. But many times the characters adopt exaggerated facial expressions, putting Jim Carrey to shame. In a way its reminiscent of what he did with the director Genya and his assistant in Millennium Actress, but he continues to use this in Paranoia Agent as well. In the end the performance fit the visual style, but I’m not a huge fan of the final result.

I’ll also comment on the musical score by Keiichi Suzuki. It fits the film and adds to its zaniness on a number of occasions. But most of the original score is over powered by the use of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from his 9^th symphony. Used in many a Christmas film, as well as many a ‘90s anime, it’s almost a cliché at this point. Whenever I hear it, I’m reminded of the powerful moment from Neon Genesis Evangelion when it’s used. But hell, even Die Hard used it, and it’s a Christmas movie! So when it pops up here a number of times, it’s both fitting and a bit distracting. I have to say I did start laughing when the end credits kicked in with a jazzy version of the tune accompanied by some hilarious animation.

In a way this is Kon’s lightest and most heartfelt work. He goes for the laughs, as well as the irony. His story is about redemption and hope even in the face of grime and despair. While he never came across as a pessimist to me (Perfect Blue, his darkest film, has a positive ending), I think his humor is most effective when its duel purposed and sly. His next two works have some great dark humor in them and it feels more genuine than some of mugging found in Tokyo Godfathers.

I’ll also admit that cementing the story so firmly in the reality of the characters took away from what I love about Kon’s work – the surreal. Tokyo Godfathers has some top class animation in it, and I can admire the technical skills it shows off. But the visual play and depth of meaning in images is greatly decreased in this film. Perhaps Kon felt that too much of his dream style would take away from the weight of the film, and maybe he’d be right. But I think it makes this film a little less interesting in comparison to the surrounding works.

So Kon made his Christmas movie about miracles and redemption. If you don’t mind a movie with its heart on its sleeve, some fun characters, over the top humor and a great chase scene, give Tokyo Godfathers a try. As of this writing the Sony release is still floating around on DVD, and it’s a solid presentation. I’ve run into a lot of folks who enjoy this movie a lot and never got into Kon’s other works, so this could be a Kon movie for people who don’t like the surreal. But if you’re up for some twists of reality and a healthy dose of dark humor, then check out what Kon does with a 13 episode television series called Paranoia Agent.

The Black Dahlia (2006)

Introduction:

It’s a murder mystery that has plagued Hollywood since 1947, and countless books and television series have explored the brutal and mysterious death of Elizabeth Short, known as The Black Dahlia. Is there anything new to say? Well director Brian De Palma must have thought so. He took James Ellroy’s novel and brought it to the screen.

Summary:

Bucky (Josh Hartnett) and Lee (Aaron Eckhart) are two ambitious cops who have different approaches to enforcing the law. Lee is much more aggressive, going for the throat. Bucky is more willing to let things unfold, to make sure they are catching the right criminal. But all that gets turned on its head when they are put in charge of finding the killer of Elizabeth Short (Mia Krishner).

Soon, the dead girl becomes an obsession for both cops and leads them down very different but destructive paths. Lee’s girlfriend Kay (Scarlett Johansson) is afraid for both men. And Bucky gets entangled with the sultry and unstable Madeleine Linscott (Hilary Swank). It becomes very obvious that anyone involved in the case of The Black Dahlia is going to end up with a touch of madness.

Good Points:

• Some great style to the filming and production
• Wonderful noir score by Mark Isham
• Not afraid to get seedy and dark

Bad Points:

• Wow is Josh Hartnett miscast
• Should be called “Bucky’s Screwed Up Life”
• Extremely disjointed

Overall:

The focus of the film is on Bucky and his life as a cop. Yes the Black Dahlia case plays into this and provides the climax (with a solution for this unsolved case), but the bulk of the film is watching him self-destruct. Not a bad thing, if the actor had been up to the task. But Josh Harnett never connects with the viewer. Combined with a severely edited final product and De Palma’s very stylized vision the end result is a bit of a mess. Noir fans may find something to like, but mostly it’s a misfire.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 3

Acting: 3

Script: 2

Music: 4

Direction: 2

Entertainment: 2

Total: 2

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

Magnetic Monster (1953)

Introduction:

Never heard of this film, but managed to catch it on TCM the other night. I wasn’t expecting too much more than some fun ’50s style sci-fi hokum. Turns out this little movie was trying for something a bit more.

Summary:

Dr. Jeffrey Stewart (Richard Carlson) and his partner Dr. Forbes (King Donovan) are sent to investigate a strange case of magnetism at a local hardware store. After messing with the employees and throwing metal objects around they finally go into the loft above the store and discover large amounts of radiation and a dead man. They perform some detective work and trace back the source of the radiation to a new and highly unstable radioactive element. The two must work against the clock to determine this elements properties and figure out a way to stabilizes it before it destroys the world.

Good Points:

• Mixes plenty of science in with the fiction
• Moves at a pretty good pace
• The finale set piece is pretty intense

Bad Points:

• Seen that before? Sure. Lots of stock footage
• Earnestly and seriously ‘50s
• A bit on the talky side

Overall:

What a fun surprise this was. Sticking with the science the film crafts a good story with plenty of tension. The use of stock footage from other films is handled well with some creative editing. While the movie is dialogue heavy, it never really loses it’s pacing. Fans of ’50s sci-fi flicks will enjoy this one quite a bit.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 3

Sound: 3

Acting: 3

Script: 4

Music: 3

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 4

Total: 3

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.