The Number 23 is a typical Joel Schumacher film - slickly edited whodunit, special effects, wizardly credits et al. But I quite enjoyed this film - it's visually good, especially in the flashback parts (which are high-contrast with undertones of green) and the story is plausible enough. Nice to watch with a bowl of popcorn on a weekend.

One scene in particular stood out - Jim Carrey and Virginia Madsen meet at the scene of an arson/killing. The song for this scene, as I found out later, is  called "Tear You Apart", by a band called She Wants Revenge, whom I'd never heard of until I saw the film. As the video below shows, both the song and the scene go together perfectly. It might not be as effective unless you see the whole film, but you might still want to turn up the AC. ;)

(warning: lyrics and video Not Safe For Kids.)

High contrast, undertones of green, both Carrey and Madsen clad in black, Carrey looking uncharacteristically hot (and that badass tattoo, oh my) ... it's sex, death, bondage and Goth all rolled into one. Hot damn.

Tear You Apart

She Wants Revenge

Another song by them that I liked was this one called "Killing Time". After the first one minute of (rather repetitive) piano, it starts to develop influences of the tango - one of my favourite kinds of dance and music. I could actually visualise doing a typical tango sequence to this song, and the context is very appropriate for the dance as well.

(Can you tell I'm a sucker for Latin ballroom dances?)

Killing Time

She Wants Revenge

Except for having a penchant for repeating certain lyrics or parts, which can get tiresome and stretch the song unnecessarily, She Wants Revenge seems to be pretty good. I'd like to hear more of their stuff.

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Purplesque reminded me about Ratatouille yesterday, and I also remembered some other films that I'd meant to review but forgotten.

Ratatouille was nicely done - a little unbelievable of course (a Cordon Bleu who's a rodent?!) but who says fairy tales should only happen in the "days of yore"? The story premise was familiar and a little jaded, as is with most commercial animated films, but it was unusual in the fact that instead of the beaten-to-death man vs. nature battle, man and nature join hands to come up trumps. That's what I liked about Bee Movie as well.

Story-wise, Brad Bird's two earlier films - The Iron Giant and The Incredibles - were better. But Ratatouille was nevertheless nicely animated, with excellent lighting and texture. Also it was obvious that a lot of effort had gone into the research of Paris's famous gastronomic culture, especially with the addition of the death-like food critic Anton (aptly named the "Grim Eater"!) However, I wish they had animated more scenes of the food, since that was so central to the plot.

Realm of the Senses. This Japanese film, made in 1976, is inspired by a real incident in the 1930s, when China was sending its troops into Japan. It's about a married landlord who has a torrid affair with a former protitute-turned-brothel-maid. It's a very explicit film - two hours of almost non-stop full frontal male erect nudity, penetration, the works - sometimes in close-up. Some scenes are borderline repulsive. This threatens threatens to overwhelm the story in parts, but it makes sense when you find out that the film was made specifically to rebel against Japanese censors, who had no problems with depiction of violence and rape, but were prudish about sex. (Damn movie censors - they're the same everywhere.) That explains why the cast and crew is Japanese but the producers are French.

I found the movie extremely boring beyond a point, and even the unusual ending didn't surprise me because I sort of expected it. It was only later when I was mulling over it that I realised how the female protagonist's character undergoes a sea change from the beginning to the end, but I had not noticed. That was interesting, if a bit too long.

If you can see beyond the pornography (I don't even know whether to call it pornography, because it was a fictionalised narrative in spite of the unsimulated sex) there are very interesting displays of Japanese cultural motifs - specifically blood and death. Both are so deeply ingrained with Japanese culture that it is present in virtually every aspect of Japanese art, and especially so in this film, where the colour red stands out in particular. Those familiar with Miyazaki's work will know that these are present in his films too, which can be enjoyed by children as well.

There is Japanese traditional vocal and instrumental music throughout the movie (the lead actor sings really well, by the way) and there is even an unusual Kabuki-inspired dance accompanying a post-wedding orgy. Those familiar with Indian classical music will find an unmistakeable similarity in their music and ours, whether it is the ragas, notes and style of singing. Very interesting.

Overall, not really a must-watch movie, but it does have some historic and cultural value.

Woman of The Dunes. This film, also Japanese, is one of the most intriguing I've ever seen. An entomologist is looking for insect specimens near a beach, when he learns he has missed the last bus home. So the local villagers lead him to a house inside a sand dune occupied by a lone woman, and he accepts her hospitality. The woman and her home are very strange - every night, they have to shovel the falling sand so the house does not get buried. Soon the man realises he is trapped, as he cannot climb out. The woman asks him to stay with her and help look after the house. He goes mad, and is extremely angry with his hostess because she is content to just live inside the dune forever and has no desire to explore the world outside. After various attempts to escape are thwarted, he hits upon a plan. Whether it works or not I won't tell because this is a must-see film, and a taut psychological thriller as well. The feeling of endlessness and claustrophobia are beautifully captured.

Billy Elliot. I saw this movie last night. I had last seen it several years ago on cable, so some scenes and dialogue were censored, so this time I had the pleasure of seeing it raw. A heartwarming film set in County Durham, North England, it tells the story of a boy who dared to learn ballet instead of boxing while his miner father and brother are on strike. It is set in 1984 but still very reminiscent of the 60s British New Wave - films like Tony Richardson's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning - which portrayed the life of the working class.

Jamie Bell does an excellent job as Billy Elliott, and so does Julie Walters as the local ballet teacher, Mrs. Wilkinson. There's also an unapologetic exploration of sexuality - Billy's attraction to his teacher's daughter Debbie and his coming to terms with his friend Michael's homosexuality. This is a distinction in British cinema, which does not hesitate to have its child actors use swear words and enact scenes of sexual tension if the story demands it (also see December Boys, Daniel Radcliffe's first non-Harry Potter role.) Billy even dares to ask his ballet teacher if she fancies him! The scenes when Billy is saying his goodbyes before leaving for a career at the Royal Ballet school are especially wrenching.

The accents will take a little time to get used to, but they are authentic and do not distract from the film. Fun fact: Apparently, the Durham slang for gay is "poof"!

I'd rank this movie as a must-see, especially for Jamie Bell. That boy can swear, cry, tap-dance and pirouette like a pro. Too bad we aren't getting to see more of him on a regular basis.

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This weekend was full of surprises.

While I was expecting Michael Clayton to be a thriller, it turned out to be a depiction of conscience battles. Nice. It wasn't really a new one in terms of storyline, but I was blown away by the performances. For the first time in ages I have seen a film where nearly all the leading performers did a great job.

Tm Wilkinson's monologue, the first lines in the film, were possibly the best movie lines I've heard in a while. His performance and dialogue delivery was excellent too - in fact, better than Tilda Swinton and George Clooney. He totally deserved the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Swinton was good, but that wasn't really a surprise since I've heard her reputation as a great actress. I don't know if she deserved the Oscar, as I haven't seen the performances by the other nominees.

What did surprise me was Clooney's performance. I feel that his looks often get in the way of his acting, so I enjoyed his performance in Syriana as the overweight, bearded spy. But he was surprisingly good in Michael Clayton and brought some uncharacteristic sensitivity and intensity to his role. Good stuff.

The other surprise was Bee Movie. I was not really keen on watching yet another Hollywood 3D animated film, but I decided to watch this one because I knew it would be light-hearted and I needed to unwind. Turns out, it wasn't so bad - it was written by Jerry Seinfeld, among others - though the animation was comparatively sloppy. The story looked like a spoof on the RIAA/MPAA and all those copyright infringement battles going on. It even had neat guest appearances by Larry King, Ray Liotta and Sting.

Best line from the movie, is when a mosquito (voiced by Chris Rock) is newly appointed as a lawyer:

"I was already a bloodsucking parasite - all I needed was a briefcase!"

MAJOR GOOFS: Only FEMALE bees make honey, and only FEMALE mosquitoes suck blood, yet both the lead bee and mosquito in the movie are males. After doing all that painstaking research on bee communication patterns, they completely sidestepped this fact!

This is why anthropomorphism sucks.

Other movies that I've seen this month but forgot to review:

Annie Hall. A one-time watch and reasonably good film. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Diane Keaton's clothes - feminine, smart, classy and sexy all the same time. Especially the black-waistcoat-and-tie combo with white full-sleeves formal shirt, khaki pants and black fedora. That was genius.

No Country for Old Men. Not that great a movie, and I couldn't understand some of the dialogues because of the heavy Southern accents, but it was beautifully shot. However, the highlight of the movie was obviously Javier Bardem.Not because he was hot - though he definitely is, come to think of it - but because his performance was INSANE. Brilliant. Frightening. After a point, I kept putting the speakers on mute whenever he entered the screen because I had actually come to be terrified of him. The relaxed way he spoke, the glazed look in his eyes, the uncertainity of whether he was going to blow off someone's head... it was too much to handle. It's not that hard to make viewers cry and laugh along with the character you're portraying, but it takes genius to be able to scare the hell out of them. He totally deserved his Oscar.

Juno. BAD: Cleary the most overrated movie of the year. Shockingly cavalier about something as life-altering as pregnancy - even the parents are so calm! Sure, people having been having babies for aeons, but many poor folks die at childbirth due to lack of medical care, and here we've got an irresponsible, loud-mouthed 16-year-old casually going ahead with a pregnancy since papa and mama dearest are there for her, after all. It wasn't even that she was pretending to be cool when in reality she was scared to death (That, or Ellen Page is a lousy actress.)

I'd bring the roof down if MY 16-year-old got pregnant, especially if she's been making a show of oh-look-at-me-i'm-so-cool-with-my-condescending-slang-and-slasher-movies bullshit. I'd either get her an abortion, or let her have the baby and give it up for adoption, depending on how far along she is - but not without giving her a good ass-whooping first.

(Oh, and if my 16-year-old son got someone pregnant, I'd whoop his ass too.)

Sure, it's not that big a deal if you're prepared for it, but pardon my conservative thinking, I think 16-year-olds have way better things to do than getting pregnant. Babies are fragile, helpless, and a lot hard work - and baby stuff is expensive. Jeez, when you're an adult, ALL you'd be doing is getting knocked up, whether its your boyfriend, boss or your goddamned tax inspector.

One one hand, the respectful attitude towards babies in general and the pro-adoption message is good; nevertheless, it is also an anti-abortion movie, but cleverly done. Anyone else notice that the character Su Chin, who protests alone outside the abortion clinic, is Chinese? To me that seemed a little forced and unusual. Maybe they couldn't have Americans protesting because that would put off the pro-choice folks. So they got in a Chinese girl, which would make sense since abortion in China (and India) is usually an excuse to get rid of baby girls. Atleast that's what I think.

GOOD: The only character in the film who was worth watching was Michael Cera. His character too was to blame for the pregnancy, but he didn't pretend like he was so cool and awesome while being scared inside. He continued to be as nerdy and clueless as ever, with an air of resigned innocence and naiveté rather than indifference.

The music was pretty nice too - I like the folksy bluegrass feel. Some of the quotes were funny too.

So anyway, sweet on one level but really stupid on another. Okay if you have nothing else to watch.

Gotta get back to work now. I've been working with the Wacom, and while it isn't as good as the old pencil-on-paper, it's way better than the mouse. Atleast my hand moves in circles instead of jerking in all directions. :P

Definitely one of the first things I need to buy in the near future - though I'd happily settle for the less expensive (1/3rd the price) but just-as-good iBall.

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I've been going bonkers reading Mike Ashley's fantasy anthologies. This was the first one I read:

The Mammoth Book of Seriously Comic Fantasy

Mike Ashley

I don't remember which author wrote which story, but here I found some of the titles here. These are the ones which I remember and really liked:

A Slow Day in Hell

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The Shoemaker and the Elvis by Lawrence Schimel - I particularly liked this one, it was very cute!

Escape from the Planet of the Bears by Tom Holt - Excellent parody.

The Case of the Four-and-Twenty-Blackbirds by David Langford. A very Film Noir, Raymond-Chandler-private-detective tale.

Then I read this anthology of science fiction, from the same publishers.

The Mammoth Book of Science Fiction

Mike Ashley

This page contains the entire list of the stories. Special Mention:

The Pen and the Dark by Colin Kapp - Gripping suspense, IMO.

Inanimate Objection by H. Chandler Elliott - This really influenced me, I started seeing all the inanimate objects in my house out to get me!

High Eight by Keith Roberts - This one was really violent and scary...

Shards by Brian W. Aldiss - Has some Monty-Pythonesque instances of brilliant wordplay.

Into Your Tent I'll Creep by Eric Frank Russell - A must-read for ICHC fans who think cats are plotting world domination. It's actually the dogs!

and my top favourite, A Death In The House by Clifford D. Simak - a sweet, touching story about a country farmer who finds a dying alien.

And now I'm on the third - The Mammoth Book of Awesome Comic Fantasy. This far surpasses the first one I read.

The Mammoth Book of Awesome Comic Fantasy

Mike Ashley

The opening story, Happy Valley, is by none other than John Cleese and Connie Booth. BRILLeffingIANT. The second one, Attack of the Charlie Chaplins, is also hilarious. I read a couple more but I can't remember them at the moment.

All of last month and this one, the Film Club at college is showing New Wave. I saw two British New Wave films this week - Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Karel Reisz, and A Taste of Honey by Tony Richardson. The effect is already showing - I've caught myself on more than one occasion yelling in a British accent to no one in particular: "Make me a nice cup o' tea, love!"

The first film is like the British version of On The Waterfront, because Albert Finney's chequered shirts look like those worn by Brando. But he's different in that Finney doesn't have any of Brando's affected mannerisms and brooding demeanor, and the story is of the individual and not of his entire class. And though he is very reminiscent of Brando at the beginning, he gradually grows into his own mould - a very brash, very British working-class rebel, but someone with a slightly playful side.

The second film is a funny and poignant story of Jo, a schoolgirl who falls in love and gets pregnant by a black British sailor, and eventually befriends a gay man Geoffrey, while her single mother Helen continues to pursue men and neglect her. Rita Tushingham, who played Jo, was brilliant. I couldn't shake off the feeling that she somewhat resembled another famous actor throughout the movie, and it was only when it ended that I realised that I was thinking of Gael García Bernal! Her mother's character, Helen, does have occasional lapses of maternal instinct for her child, but failed to redeem herself towards the end when she selfishly barges into the house after a failed marriage and drives out her daughter's caring gay roommate.

Oh, and I just downloaded the first 9 songs of Nine Inch Nails' brand new album Ghosts I-IV. Whee!

(Thanks to Bobavey for the info!)

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