Ikiru
17/01/2010
The first Akira Kurosawa movie I ever saw was Rashomon. It pretty much set my expectations for other Kurosawa movies – black and white, samurai, Toshiro Mifune, chaos, but really good. Different, complex, and made in the 1950s, no way! Too sophisticated for its time.
Then on some whim, we got Ran on DVD. Samurai movie, in colour, large sets, King Lear. I didn’t think any of the other Kurosawa films I saw after that topped it. Kagemusha was similar but lacking, especially after Rashomon. KF went through the whole 7 Samurai, Yojimbo, Red Beard phase, but I was so over samurai movies. Especially in black and white. That was years ago.
Lately we caught up with Kurosawa again, this time because they were available at the library. Nora Inu was again, pretty surprising. It was apparently the first Japanese detective-thriller type movie. Again, a really sophisticated movie, with characters that are well thought out and realistic. I liked it. Toshiro Mifune was splendid.
But my favourite of the lot is Ikiru. It was made in 1952, like classics of its kind, it is not just relevant still, it resonates with some sort of universal truth. It’s about living. And dying. And coming to terms with it.
There are seldom scenes that are so memorable that they stick with you outside the movie. Usually they’re pretty gross, like the Mr Blonde Stuck In the Middle with You ear scene. Or the Francis Ng – the world shouldn’t be like this scene in Infernal Affairs II.
In Ikiru, it’s a simple scene: Shimura Takashi is singing The Gondola Song. About how fleeting life and love is. It’s the scene that made the movie. And it’s a terribly good movie even if it rings a little too true to feel good.
in the eye
09/05/2009
F**K doesn’t even begin to express the extreme freakin situation. I went to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth (after a late night movie, which I was originally going to blog about), and when I hit the pump dispenser for the hand soap – I use a lightly diluted mint castille soap mix – it squirted through a hole in the gunk, flew out of the dispenser and hit me right in the right eye.
FUCK!!!! does not begin to express my freaking displeasure.
In fact, I’d rate the magnitude a 9, on the Pissedher Scale, probably a notch below Nero when Spock screwed him over, and Nero yelled SPPOOOCCCKKKKK instead. Who knew them Romulans spoke American, because it certainly sounded like what I yelled in the bathroom.
Get over it, it’s not much of a spoiler.
The Star Trek movie was a true JJ Abrams vehicle. Complete with all that sci-fi mumbo-jumbo: warp drives, ejecting the core, black holes, rifts in the space-time-continuum, crazyass hungry creatures, aliens – the only thing missing was a conspiracy. I suppose I was hoping for something more Spock, less Kirk. But like Kirk, the movie was full of action, sound and fury, cowboy diplomacy and a big reward for “winging it”. I’m just not a big fan of that whole premise. Haven’t we seen enough of that? It’s so commonplace here it’s acceptable, it’s probably an aspiration for most. I just happen to believe that kind of behaviour should be discouraged to say the least.
Sylar is a pathetic attempt at a reproduction of Spock, failing even more miserably because of the glaring comparison you’re bound to make.
As for entertainment, there was no-one droolworthy, no really cool lines, no mind-blowing action, no crazyass cutting edge technology. Sorry geek fanboys, I was not particularly impressed.
What then, did the Star Trek movie have? Original Spock. Dr Who. Eomer. Hester. At some point the comedy was a relief. Oh, great soundtrack. The stuff you want to have playing in the car when you’re on the freeway. Gotta have it.
What did I think of Star Trek? Weak plot, actors who had big shoes to fill and couldn’t, and stuff that belonged on the other JJ Abrams franchise, the one with the island and the bunch of random looneys running around in it. Was it entertaining? Yes. Lots of action. Lots of comedy. Lots of ka-ba-boom! Do I recommend it? Only to the Trekkies, but then again, if they were trekkies they wouldn’t need a recommendation.
The bottom line? Kirk is an ass. Jean-Luc Picard rules.
There said it.
The Dark Knight
02/08/2008
Caught it this evening and I liked it, but I’m partial to dark films. I like when the hero gets beaten up and smacked around. In fact, I’ve a feeling I’m going to like Quantum of Solace even more. How could you not love a movie with a title like that? Anyway.
*** SPOILER ALERT ***
You should read no further if you don’t want to know what happens in the film.
star wars is neato
14/03/2008
Transformers
10/07/2007
Deceptacons look
For cube to take over world
Foiled by weird geekboy
Was impressed with the CGI.
But there was so much going on, half the time I couldn’t tell the Autobots from the Deceptacons when they fought.
3/5: Probably worth it for a slow night.
oscar monday
27/02/2007
I can’t believe The Departed won best picture. That’s gross. That’s like saying burgers are gourmet. Ok. Maybe this was one of those expensive burgers, the kind with truffles or foie gras in it.
But a burger’s a burger. It’s still makes for unglam eating.
What do you do on your day off?
26/12/2006
I’m hanging out at home, clearing out my closet (and making a mess of it), making myself bean porridge, watching Lee Byung Hun in a movie.
Despite it’s really weird title, Bungee Jumping on Their Own is a pretty good movie. It’s about love, soulmates, and love beyond life. Not my usual kind of movie, but hey, it’s got Mr Lee in it.
Gotta go finish sorting out my closet, and then onto Fragile Things. I love having days off.
What’s your favourite Neil Gaiman book?
19/12/2006
Mine’s Stardust. Something about it is just whimsical, magical and beautiful. And like many others before it, it’s about the hero’s journey, and how the journey was what made the trip worthwhile.
They’re making it into a movie, finally. And thankfully, a British director is at the helm. So he’s married to Claudia Schiffer. Won’t hold that against him.
So it’s been raining for more than a day. On and off, no doubt, but mostly on. It’s rained so much that the North of the island – the water catchment areas – are flooded. The water reached waist height (ok, my waist) in the morning, apparently because it rained all night.
It continued to rain all day today. It’s wet and miserable but totally cool.
I hope it stops raining a little. I don’t mind little sprinkles, but it pours all day. I hate getting home all drenched.
The Prestige
25/10/2006
It’s a good movie. I loved it. I didn’t notice any rules of film-making broken, I was just in for the ride. And it was a great tale. Just had to sit back and be mesmerised.
Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman did remarkable jobs as Borden and Angiers. Lovely. And Christopher Nolan makes lovely movies. I liked Memento, I loved Batman Begins and I adore The Prestige.
The Nolan-Bale partnership seems to be working well, what with the second Batman (The Dark Knight) movie in the works, that’d be three.
Gold Class is really nice too.
Watch it. It’s a good, complicated movie, told simply.
The Prestige
25/10/2006
It’s a good movie. I loved it. I didn’t notice any rules of film-making broken, I was just in for the ride. And it was a great tale. Just had to sit back and be mesmerised.
Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman did remarkable jobs as Borden and Angiers. Lovely. And Christopher Nolan makes lovely movies. I liked Memento, I loved Batman Begins and I adore The Prestige.
The Nolan-Bale partnership seems to be working well, what with the second Batman (The Dark Knight) movie in the works, that’d be three.
Gold Class is really nice too.
Watch it. It’s a good, complicated movie, told simply.
