One Missed Call (2003)

Introduction:

After Ringu exploded across the Japan, it started a whole slew of ghostly girl/techno-fear films. Of course these were all the rage for a while and eventually made it over to North America where Hollywood decided to adapt most of them with mixed results. Near the end of the craze in Japan director Takashi Miike was given the reigns of this film. While he is best known for disturbing movies like Audition and Gozu, he was ready for something a little more conventional. But would Miike be able to add his own unique twist to this style of horror film?

Summary:

It all starts with a simple phone call. Yoko (Anna Nagata) doesn’t recognize the ringtone so she doesn’t answer the call. When she listens to the message, it displays a date and time that have yet to occur, and the voicemail is her voice screaming in terror. Sure enough, when that date and time arrive Yoko is brutally killed by a train. Her friend Yumi (Kou Shibasaki) is disturbed by this odd demise, and starts to investigate.

But things get more dangerous as people on Yoko’s contact list receive the same strange ringtone and hear their own demise. Her friend Natsumi (Kazue Fukiishi) turns to a television program for help, but they quickly descend into a horrifying ratings generated frenzy, as they countdown to her death. It becomes apparent that some kind of spirit is stalking people using the phone, but is there anyway to stop the fiendish creature? What does the suspicious undertaker have to do with this? Why are round red candies found near all the bodies or in their mouth? But how long will it take for Yumi to look at her phone and see the message: One Missed Call?

Good Points:

• Some bizarre and outrageous set pieces (especially the television show sequence)
• Does a good job building the dread and horror as the body count rises
• Good mix of gore and creepy suspense

Bad Points:

• Very familiar if you’ve seen Ringu or The Grudge
• Looking for Miike’s more surreal or over the top antics, you won’t find too much here.
• The wheels come off a bit near the end, as thrills take over for sense.

Overall:

Miike takes the familiar tropes from the ghostly girl/techno-fear genre and plays within that sandbox. That means a lot of the visual elements and story construction will be familiar to anyone who’s seen Ringu or Ju-on. I did like how Miike added some social commentary with the television show and poor Natsumi. The movie is worth seeing for that plot line. I also liked his final twist on the story, and the identity of the ghostly killer. But the way the movie gets to the final act is overly convoluted and stretches the plot a few too many times. That said, the movie has some great atmosphere, creepy moments, horrific deaths and a disturbing finale. It isn’t a masterwork of horror, but it is very entertaining, and man that ringtone is just plain creepy!

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 3

Sound: 4

Acting: 3

Script: 3

Music: 3

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 4

Total:  3

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Movie Musings: Does it Have to be a Trilogy?

"How could you forget about me, mate?"

So a few years back I wrote a blog asking where the adventure movies of the 80s and 90s went. I provided a pretty strict definition of "adventure movie". If you don't want to head back to that blog here is the definition:

I’m talking about something set in our world, maybe in the past, but a past where heroes still use their fists and their smart mouths to get out of trouble. The hero is usually on a quest of some kind, and there are obstacles to overcome and a girl to win over. While these movies have action, they are more about the exotic locations, overcoming the obstacles and getting away alive and with some kind of loot. 

Pretty basic right? Well I actually forgot an entire trilogy of movies in my examination back in 2011. The Pirates of the Caribbean films of the 2000s would fit perfectly in that group. Curse of the Black Pearl came out in 2003 and was followed up by Dead Man's Chest in 2006 and At Worlds End in 2007. This was a big series for that decade, right up there with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. This was Disney's fantasy adventure juggernaut and audiences went in droves to the films. One of the big reasons was Johnny Depp's unique and hilarious performance as Captain Jack Sparrow. But all three movies had tons of eye candy, top notch action sequences and a score by Hans Zimmer that has pretty much redefined what swashbuckling soundtracks should sound like.

So how the hell could I forget these movies? Easy, the sequels weren't all that good.

You don't know jack about Captain Jack (DDR style).

Curse of the Black Pearl is a fun movie. It takes the pirate film tropes, the adventure movie tropes and Disney movie tropes, scrambles them all around and twists them up in some entertaining and unique ways. Yes Johnny Depp's performance is key. But I argue that Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa is just as integral to the film. He is the foil to Sparrow, and has almost as many memorable lines as our roguish lead. He makes for a great villain, and one who has a reason to do what he does - to shed his undead state and live the life of a human again. The fluffy romance between Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly takes a backseat to the shenanigans of the pirates. It does provide a bit of a balance to the rest of the characters. The movie does overstay its welcome a little bit, but all in all, it is solid entertainment, and was a bit of a surprise hit when it came out.

Of course Disney is never one to miss a trick. So when the film's popularity blossomed they pulled in director Gore Verbinski to direct two more films, back to back to create a trilogy. This is not an uncommon practice. Back to the Future did this with some success. But so did The Matrix and most folks dismiss Reloaded and Revolutions as misguided and unnecessary.

"See what happens when you leave me out of your
bloody film? ARRRRRRR!"

I submit that the same fate befell the two pirates films. The first film was 143 minutes long. The second film 151 minutes long. The third film was 169 minutes long. The sequels make you feel every last minute. Dead Mans Chest  is especially bad. Geoffrey Rush only appears in cameo and new villain Davy Jones (played with verve by Bill Nighy) just doesn't cut the mustard. I also argue that the  two sequels have way too much Jack Sparrow in them. His cooky, crazy schtick gets really old really fast, especially without a good foil to play off of. You realize very quickly how much Rush added to the original film.

The visuals and production design remain impeccable, but the action scenes go on way too long (something that was a bit of a problem in Curse of the Black Pearl as well). As much as the movie tries to be fun, there just is a dowerness to the whole that the Davy Jones plot line adds that makes the films move at a crawl.

Um yeah, this is just too much - 169 minutes too much.

What is really strange is that Dead Man's Chest ends with Captain Jack Sparrow being killed and then awakening in a strange limbo in At Worlds End. (Oh and those scenes with multiple Jacks arguing with each other is visually kind of cool, but man was that just plain Johnny Depp overload.) Pretty much the same thing happens to Neo at the end of Reloaded and he starts in a subway station limbo in Revolutions. Where the creators of the Pirates movie doing an homage to the 2003 film? Or was it just a case of lazy screen writing?

Hard to say, but after seeing the borrowed scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, I'm thinking they knew what they were doing. So we had a trilogy of adventure films in the 2000s. I'm not crazy about them, and still feel that the flawed Indiana Jones films are still better then either of those painful Pirates sequels. Yeah, I would even put Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ahead of Dead Man's Chest. Sadly, Disney won't let the Pirates films die, even after mediocre reviews for On Stranger Tides back in 2011. People keep going to see these films, and I'm guessing it is all the Depp fans out there.

I'd rather watch The Pirate Movie again, than watch those
sequels. No seriously, I would.

The thing is, studios need to stop with the spontaneous trilogies. Buried in the scripts for Dead Man's Chest and At Worlds End is a solidly entertaining film. It would probably run around 151 minutes or so, but with the fat cut out and the adventure focused on (and with Barbossa in a more prominent role) you could have had a sequel that matched the original film. But we get this messy trilogy instead. And studios still haven't learned their lesson. The Hobbit trilogy suffered the same bloated fate. The lesson is, focus on making a single great movie, unless you have a story worth telling in trilogy form. Sadly, Pirates of the Caribbean just wasn't that story.

Movie Music Musings: The Matrix Trilogy Part 3

Composer Don Davis was told to make the music for Matrix Revolutions bigger than anything he had done before. Davis took this to heart and steered his final score for the trilogy toward an operatic epic scale. The highlights of this score are enormous choral delights, and the action music goes for an overwhelming sound as opposed to the more dense and intricate work of the first film.

The techno influence is also downplayed from its role in Reloaded. Juno Reactor did contribute to three tracks of the score, but this primarily Davis’ show. Much like his original score to The Matrix Davis does use some electronics, but he keeps them in the background, adding to scenes, primarily with Agent Smith and his burbling electronic signature.

While the Matrix motif is heard in the score, it is less prominent here, with most of the big action set pieces of the middle of the score using lots of percussion to blaze away at your ears. It is all very dense stuff, but the scale is much bigger and open than the previous scores. It approaches Lord of the Rings levels of grandeur in places.

The other key piece of Matrix Revelations is a final tragic statement of Neo and Trinity’s love in the track Trinity Definitely (a play on the first track of The Matrix called Trinity Infinity). This cue gives us the best statement of this love theme, but Davis tinges it with sadness, one of the few times in the series where this type of emotion is delved musically.

The real reason to seek out this score is for the music Davis crafted for the final third of the film. Here Neo faces Agent Smith one last time, and these tracks are right up there with John Williams Duel of the Fates from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in the ability to capture an apocalyptic battle of titans. The highlight cue of Matrix Revolutions is Neodammerung a battle cue using Davis trademark matrix style, choir chanting in Sanskrit and pure bombast. Everything comes together in this massive piece and it is a real treat.

Davis then heads into the finale allowing the music to reach a triumphant and melodic conclusion. It is satisfying to hear this after nearly three albums of dissonance and conflict. The final moments of For Neo are a wonderful end to the series.

But Juno Reactor steps in one last time to combine with Davis for the end title track Navras. It is a propulsive and dance worthy reimaging of Neodammerung with clearer statements for the choir and a ton of power behind it. The Matrix Revolutions ends on this high note.

Score fans were treated to a solid album release with the film with a generous CD clocking in at nearly 64 minutes of music. Some of the most aggressive and bombastic Battle of Zion music is missing, but all the key tracks are there. La-La Land delivered a complete version of the score in 2014. It gives a fleshed out vision of the score, as well as some exciting alternate takes that highlight Davis’ amazing orchestral work.

Don Davis’ accomplished work on The Matrix trilogy is something that needs to be revisited by film music fans, and film fans in general. He introduced a new language to film music, and collaborated to create an amazing and effective fusion of electronic dance music styles with orchestra. These scores are unique in their own way, and yet build on one another and create a sonic world and story that evolves over the course of the films. Even if you aren’t a fan of the movies themselves the music will grab you with its unique approach.

For many film music fans, scores of the modern era are in a bit of a stale stasis, with the Zimmer sound dominating all large budget genre and action films. It’s a shame that Davis’ style didn’t take off, and at least provide an alternate vision of what a film score could do. The music to The Matrix is nearly 15 years old at this point, but it sounds so fresh compared to the big budget scores we hear today. It appears that only in video game music has Don Davis’ work inspired. Check out this track from the game Remember Me, and hear some major influence from The Matrix.  

Movie Music Musings: The Matrix Trilogy Part 2

I mentioned in my musings on the score for The Matrix that the techno music made the biggest impression on fans of the film. I won’t say that Don Davis’ work was ignored, because his signature Matrix motif is very recognizable. But his dense tension and action music is the kind that supports the visuals but not in an obvious thematic way. While this was an innovative direction for film scores of the time, it was only the beginning. With The Matrix Reloaded he was going to switch things up a bit.

While The Matrix was primarily a horror and suspense score, Reloaded plays much more like an action film score. The pure horror moments are replaced with a more triumphant sound for the Zion sequences, and fleshing out of the love theme for Neo and Trinity.

The biggest change comes in the form of Don Davis teaming up with techno music artists like Rob Dougan and Juno Reactor. This fusion works wonders during the action scenes, adding electronic driving pulses to Davis dense style. The final result takes the trilogy’s music to an entirely different level, one that is much more accessible in some ways.

For me there are two highlights for the electronic and orchestral combo in Reloaded. The first is the Burly Brawl where Davis and Juno Reactor score the fight between Neo and the infinite Agent Smiths. The music starts out aggressive, almost like a battle between the orchestra and the electronics. It builds and builds and builds into a frenzy of insanity.

My favorite cue is the techno heavy Mona Lisa Overdrive, which accompanies the intense freeway chase in the film. Here Juno Reactor dominates the music creating a dance worthy piece that works Don Davis’ orchestral sound, and warps it. The track is relentless, building a bit with each battle, but then returning to a constant motion. It’s one of my favorite tracks from the whole series and from the 00s in particular.

Thos looking for pure Davis material will find some really great stuff with the moments between Neo and Trinity, and a bit more melodic interludes when the heroes confront the Merovingian. But Reloaded is a score this is all about the action tracks, and the techno fusion.

For film score fans, Matrix Reloaded was an odd release. In 2003 at the time the film came out, a two-disc album was released. The first disc included mostly songs used and inspired by the film. But also had some of Rob Dougan’s contributions Furious Angels and Dread Rock, both are worthy additions. The second CD contained the score and Juno Reactor and Don Davis material. But most of the Davis only material was relegated to a 17-minute suite at the end. It was OK, but not a great representation of the album.

La-La Land came to the rescue in 2013 with a new two-disc set of the complete score. All of Davis’ material is included, as well as all the key music from Juno Reactor and Rob Dougan. The only thing missing was Dread Rock, but you get some interesting alternate versions of tracks and source music.

In a way Matrix Reloaded is the most fun and energetic music of the series. It provides a solid sample of Davis’ approach to the concept, and the techno pieces are a perfect fit. The final entry would go in yet another direction.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Introduction:

Being a fan of Quentin Tarantino I was pretty excited to see Kill Bill. There was a good strong buzz about the film. It sounded like a fun blast of Tarantino action with a strong Kung Fu film influence. But then I heard they were splitting the film into two parts, and I started to worry. Was this just going to be an extended cash grab from Miramax, or was there a reason to split the film?

Summary:

The Bride (Uma Thurman) is leaving her life as part of team of super assassins behind. She’s going to get married, and have a wonderful new life in El Paso. But her old boss, Bill (David Carradine) has an issue with that. So he brings his assassin squad to Texas and proceeds to kill everyone in the chapel. The thing is, he didn’t do a great job, because The Bride survives – and now she’s really pissed off.

After escaping from the hospital where she lay in a coma for years, the Bride begins her systematic destruction of Bill and the assassins. In volume one she faces Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox) a master of knife fighting, and now living the life of a suburban mom. But her killing skills are sharper than ever. The Bride must also face O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), the head of the Japanese crime gangs. She’s got an army of killers known as The Crazy 88 protecting her. And even if The Bride gets past them, Ishii is a master with the katana. But The Bride has a plan, to obtain a katana of her own from the master sword smith Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba). Will The Bride survive her encounters and finally Kill Bill?

Good Points:

• Combines elements of Japanese pop culture together in a very exciting way
• The pacing is perfect, building up to the confrontation with Ishii
• The cast is have a great time

Bad Points:

• Anyone who doesn’t enjoy the style of Japanese pop culture may find this film unwatchable
• Foul mouthed and bloody as all hell
• Very much style over substance

Overall:

When it comes to pulp fiction, Kill Bill: Vol 1 really nails it. It is an over the top revenge story told using a myriad of styles and influences (primarily Japanese anime, manga, movies and television in this segment, but there are plenty of other influences in there too). It is done with a joy for the material and telling the story that the whole thing just flows. It is cool, old school, and yet modern all at once. Certainly one of my favorite films in Tarantino’s filmography.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 5

Sound: 5

Acting: 4

Script: 4

Music: 4

Direction: 5

Entertainment: 5

Total:  5

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

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.