The Film Noir Experience

In this film, Humphrey Bogart plays Babyface Martin, a man who has murdered many people, who has come home to collect his girl and see his mother and then disappear out West. Home is a tenement neighborhood on the East River that is overlooked by encroaching upscale buildings. In this neighborhood, gangs of kids fight, people do odd jobs to make ends meet and sole-supporters of families go off to stand on the picket lines every morning in an effort to force management to raise everyone's pay. In short, this film that came out in 1937 is a tale that makes you think, "Wow, the more things change, the more they stay the same."

That being said, it was very good. Bogart plays an excellent murderous psychopath. Sylvia Sydney is strong and thoughtful as the striking sister doing everything she can to move her younger brother away from the gangs and the poverty, and Joel McCrea is also excellent as the out of work architect/moral backbone/cynic of the neighborhood.

This film was based on a play and that shows in the pacing (and, the moral summation given by the brother of a judge towards the end.) But, it warrants a watch.

Posted by Kate at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Half way through this film Ed Helms sings a song about tigers, what they dream of, and what has happened so far in the film. It has been stuck in my head all. day. long. That is okay, though, because it is hilarious and every time I catch myself singing it, I smile.

This film is about three guys who take a friend to Vegas for his bachelor party and then proceed to have such a wild time that they don't remember what they did...including where they lost the groom. This film was funny, inexplicable and well executed. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much. Hooray.

Posted by Kate at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Oh, Sam Raimi, how I love you. love you almost as much I love GDT. (Almost.)

So, this film is about a cute, little blond thing (Alison Lohman) former Pork Queen from down on the farm, dating newly-minted Professor Dr. Nonbeliever (Justin Long) who is up for a promotion at her branch of the bank when an old lady comes in to ask for an extension on her loan. She has to make a tough decision, in order to prove she can make tough decisions, in order to put herself ahead of the competition for the promotion. So, guess what happens? Yup. Bam. Curse.

Highlights of this film: Possessed man dancing like a marionette, gore (so GROSS), Gorey-esque opening credits, Ash/Uncle Ben's car, Alison Lohman

Drawbacks: As much as I love Mac, this wasn't his best performance. Also, (and, this isn't the film's fault) it was paired with Orphan at the Drive-In, and well, you read what I thought about that.

Posted by Kate at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Former musician/Yale Professor/Drunk and Architect (I think) look to complete the circle of love by adopting an older child after a terrible and traumatizing still birth. They are a couple with secrets. He cheated on her drunk ass. She once passed out and almost let one of their non-stillborn children drown. Dr. Yaley Lush still has horrific nightmares about the still birth and feels incredibly guilty about it. So, they go to the orphanage and pick out the quiet kid from Russia painting and ignoring the festivities downstairs. She turned out to be a total psychotic bitch with secrets of her own.

This film was boring. Worse, the "twist" was something we guessed fifteen minutes in. It got points (okay, a point) for allowing to make a reference to the Tales from the Crypt in which a ribbon worn as a choker is the only thing keeping a girl's head on her shoulders. That was it. The soundtrack wasn't great. The acting couldn't save it. One of the other girl's in my car at the drive in fell asleep. This doesn't even get a meh.

Posted by Kate at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This may have been the most ridiculous film I have ever seen. And, since I've seen pretty much everything Monty Python has ever made, that is really saying something. (And, it is not saying something good.)

It is a cool concept for a film. Something terrible happens and we see it from more than one perspective. Right, I am with you. And they even went all out on casting Dennis Quaid, Sigourney Weaver, Dr. Lost...I mean, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Zoe Saldana and my favorite hispanohablante Eduardo Noriega. It should have been a good film, right? I mean, Zoe Saldana AND Spanish-speaking eye candy!

There are explosions. Dennis Quaid chases Dr. Lost through the streets of Salamanca in a cute, little European car. Dr. Lost has the worst Gringo accent when he speaks Spanish. (Oh, and the rubbish he says. My God.) It hurt. Forest Whitaker saves a little girl from inevitable and painful death (which, by the way, I felt was the punch line in a Lars Von Trier kind of way. This was also painful.) El Guapo looks guapo even when he is being rundown by the Secret Service and, in the end, Dennis Quaid saves the day. I painted my nails during the last half of this film because I had to do something to keep from scoffing at the screen. (There were some continuity errors as well, like why is Forest Whitaker agreeing with El Guapo in one scene and the shocked, shocked! to be running from a bomb in the next?)

I should have listened to Media Zombie, but I didn't. This film was punishment. Boo.

Posted by Kate at 09:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jean Harrington and her father Handsome Harry are professional gamblers working the Southern Queen and taking rich idiots for a ride. That is, until Jean meets Charles "Hopsy" Pike, heir to the Pike Ale fortune and falls in love.

Him, too.

And, its all going swimmingly until Hopsy's overprotective man-nanny/body guard outs her as a professional gambler and breaks his heart. Hopsy then breaks Jean's heart. Time passes and Jean is presented with an opportunity to reacquaint herself with Hopsy as the Lady Eve Sidwich. Of course she takes it. She's plotting revenge.

So, that's the basic premise of the story. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Girl is given a way to get back at boy (with whom she is still secretly in love) and she takes it. Really hilarious revenge scene ensues. Boy runs boldly back into the arms of girl not even caring that she's totally played him.

While The Lady Eve is not one of Henry Fonda or Barbara Stanwyck's best, its a pretty good boy meets girl comedy and I did find it entertaining.

Posted by Kate at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There are things in my Netflix queue that are honestly there because I was watching an awards show or reading a list of winners and just added things to my queue. That is how Vals Im Bashir got into my queue. All I remember about this addition to the list was that it was award winning and about a war. Maybe. I was expecting it to be brutal. Just not in the way that is was.

Writer/Director Ari Folman interviewed other veterans from the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon in order to help him fill in the gaps in his memory. As he tells a friend of his early on in the CGI film, "Its just not recorded into my system." He has a dream that seems to be about something that happened to him in the war and in order to put it together he discusses with other veterans their experiences of what happened. The film is a series of mini-stories, each one representing a memory of another veteran, all of them leading up to a comparison between things that happened during that war to other past atrocities and the suggestion that one might not be able to remember something because they don't want to admit to a role (even a minor one) that they may have played in it.

This film was shocking and a little heartbreaking. It wasn't a complete history of the events of the invasion of Lebanon; it wasn't comprehensive in its discussion what happened and why, but I think it is a pretty good chronicle of what some of the soldiers on the Israeli side went through and felt and how that has since effected their lives.

And, this might seem like an unfair or inappropriate comparison, but it reminded me a little of the Blind Spot, in that we take part in these things and we don't think about their consequences and then later we sit down and unravel some of what has happened and are presented with a picture that is dark and of which we are baffled, angered, upset and ashamed. I am happy that this movie was CGI animation and not live action, because it was difficult enough to sit through as it is. I think that a live action film would have cut into the film's ability to get the message across.

This is a good film and I'm glad I watched it. But, it was heart-breaking and there may have been tears (I admit to nothing).

Posted by Kate at 04:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've had in the past month or so a mini Guillermo Del Toro Fest. El Espinazo del Diablo is a film about ghosts, gold, growing up, falling in love and standing up for yourself. Its, I think, the first of Del Toro's films set during the Spanish civil war in which the main characters are children. In this film, Carlos is brought to an orphanage away from the front where he meets Jaime and the other orphans that have been taken in and cared for by head mistress Carmen, Conchita and the Doctor.

Of course, the orphanage is also home to its full complement of secrets including but not limited to the unexploded bomb in the court yard and a ghost of a former resident. This film pretty embodied many of the things that make excellent children's literature excellent. Things like the difference between adults and kids and the power of fear. But, even so, this is still a film about a ghost so there are all the scares you'd expect on top of all the drama of being a little kid in a warring adult world.

Now, my feelings on this film (or anything else made by Del Toro) may be a little suspect because I have a bit of a crush on the man, but I really enjoyed this. It was scary. It was funny. It was heartbreaking and occasionally touching. It was hot. The bad guys get what they deserve. And, the story was woven with a palette of muted desert colors and rocking '40s hairstyles.

Given this film and the Orphanage, it may be possible that the best films about ghosts are made by Spanish speakers.

Posted by Kate at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, at this point, I figure everyone has already seen this, but just in case you haven't, There are going to be spoilers in this post.

Robots and Explosions. Robots and Explosions! Robots AND Explosions! This film should have been so good. It should have been awesome because the robots were in disguise. It should have been funny. It should have been ridiculous, but it should have been a good time. And, maybe if someone else had edited the film and it had been, say 45 minutes shorter, it would have been all of those things. Except it wasn't 45 minutes shorter, it was eight and a half hours long (in slow movie time, not in *actual* time.) At some point in the second half Shia and Megan Fox were running from Petra to Giza (!!!)* and it occurred to me, "Wait, Megatron captured his parents and they haven't turned up yet. Oh, man, we have to sit through them rescuing the parents, too?!?!" And, then they turn up and I'm not even bothered that they might get killed by rampaging Decepticons because by that point I'd given up on all of humanity, starting with director Michael Bay.

Also, dude, after two years Shia's character Sam, just tell the super hot chick you love her. Tell her you love her and stop torturing your audience with all this, "I'm really fond of you." bullshit. It is not often I find myself wishing I had to pee so I wouldn't have to watch something. Also, while I wasn't completely surprised by the unending dick and balls jokes, they got a little old. By the time John Turturro informs the aircraft carrier in the Gulf about the deploy a top secret super Anti-Robot weapon that he's underneath the evil robot's scrotum, I couldn't even laugh anymore. What should have been clever completely failed to land because of all the juvenile blather that had come before.

And, finally, what is this killing Optimus Prime rubbish? Those of us who are old enough (and/or sufficiently geeky enough) to remember the original cartoon film have already lived through this trauma. While horrifying the first time, this time it just made me mad.

Can Michael Bay go back to making films about asteroids and prison breaks, please? Those were fun films. This one was just...ugh. Although, it did have nice explosions.

*Since Petra is in Jordan and Giza is in Egypt, it was quite a run. Maybe if they'd just cut that out we could have saved the requisite amount of time.

Posted by Kate at 07:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This film had a few things going for it from the outset: first, it has Ben Kingsley in it. Second, its about intrigue on the Trans-Siberian railway and I think it would be AWESOME to see Russia and other Asian destinations picking the train up in China and taking it to Moscow. Third, It has Eduardo Noriega in it and he's most welcome eye candy. (Also, Sorta Spoilers Ahead.)

In this film, Emily Mortimer and Woody Harrelson play a couple who have hit a rough patch in their marriage who have gone on a mission trip to China through their church and are now doing some traveling before heading back home. They meet another couple, played by Eduardo Noriega and Kate Mara who tell them that they were teaching English in Japan. Ben Kingsley is a narcotics cop who discovers a missing stash of herion and a murdered drug dealer in Vladivostok. So, ya. Missing drugs. Cop. Fishy stories. Russian nesting dolls. Hot Spaniard. Rocky marriage. Oh, and somewhere in there, someone goes missing and someone dies and someone gets tortured by drug distributors looking to find their missing goods. But, you pretty much knew that was where this was going.

I don't know what I was expecting, but meh. It wasn't a bad movie. It just wasn't great. I'm not sure I really cared about Mortimer and Harrelson's characters and I didn't really get what could have been between them in the first place so it was hard to believe that they were trying to rekindle something. Kate Mara was great, although there was a part of the film where she disappeared that I didn't get at all. Ben Kingsley was a believable Russian narcotics cop who may or may not be hiding something. Again, it wasn't bad, it was just...meh.

Posted by Kate at 06:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Richard Sherman is a married man (married for seven years) who works in publishing in New York City and who has just put his wife and son on a train to Maine for the summer.

He's all set to spend a nice quiet summer in the sweltering New York heat, not drinking and not smoking in his quiet building while the other summer bachelors step out, play cards, drink and smoke cigars, and stay out until quarter to nine in the morning. That is, he's all set to do these things until he comes home after a nice vegetarian meal to find out one of the other two flats in his building has been rented to a beautiful young woman. Richard Sherman then turns into Walter Mitty and pictures himself seducing this young woman and other possible scenarios.

The girl, played by Marilyn Monroe, is funny and a little ditzy and a good sport. Sherman and the girl become friends and spend some time together and Sherman wrestles with wanting to become closer to the girl without cheating on his wife, some pretty funny imagined scenarios take place. All in all, this iconic film (think Marilyn in a white dress standing over a subway grate while the trains pass underneath) was warm and funny with a happy ending.

Marilyn as always is gorgeous and well-dressed. I particularly enjoyed the champagne drinking dress. I also enjoyed the reference to the gay couple upstairs. But, here's the one thing I don't get about the comedies in which Marilyn Monroe stars: I can get that she's the pretty girl who doesn't understand how beautiful she is, but I just don't understand why Ms. Monroe always has to play the dumb blonde.

Posted by Kate at 05:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Oh, Stella Dallas, you are such hard work. I just do not approve. This is a film about a selfish and unsympathetic woman who, through her utter devotion to her daughter, learns to think of others and be more than just selfish and shallow.

If you can't already tell, I wasn't on board with the title character of this film and that made this character analysis hard to sit through. Stella starts out as a girl just looking to improve herself who falls in love with a former millionaire playboy who now works at the mill where her father and brother work. Stella orchestrates a meeting and two scenes later they are married. A scene after that, they have a baby. While she loves being a mother, she is shortsighted and more impressed with the trappings of the hard-earned modest means of her husband. She's now a member of the club she's fantasized about her whole life and she gets to wear fancy clothes and meet people who would never have looked at her twice before her marriage. She stops with her own self improvements and when her husband's job takes him to New York City, she refuses to go. Stella Dallas never stops being the slightly uncouth mill worker's daughter, despite her rise in station through her marriage. All that being said, when Stella does grow up, it is heartbreaking and beautiful.

Barbara Stanwyck plays the hell out of Stella- from the dialect to her walk when she's trying to be fancy. And, her moment of triumph when her daughter has everything she could ever want is so subtle and elegant that it is amazing. Anne Shirley is also a treat as Lollie, a daughter who loves and implicitly trusts her mother. Their relationship is very touching. If you are interested in character studies, this is a Master Class by Stanwyck. But, if you're looking for cracking dialogue or a solid redemption story, take a pass. When it comes to redemption, this film is a lot o work for about fifteen seconds of pay off. Stanwyck gets an A. Stella gets a C. True Story.

Posted by Kate at 08:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have this past week continued to investigate the question of how classic films (or perhaps, just films from before 1960) hold up to time. The other night I watched Too Late for Tears (1949). In this film Jane Palmer (played by Lizabeth Scott) has to decide whether she wants the life she has or the life she could have with a satchel full of ill-gotten gains.

Mrs. Palmer has a serious case of the Keeping-up-with-the-Joneses-itis. Her husband has all he needs because he has her (insert head-cock and "Aww" from the audience.) The two are on their way to a friend's house for dinner when a blackmailer's payoff accidently lands in their car and they are faced with the tough decision of what to do. Should they give it to the police? Should they keep it for themselves? What if the blackmailer should find them? Smooth Jane talks her husband into keeping the money for a week and they put the bag in the baggage claim at the train station to think on it.

And, as per usual, All Hell Breaks Loose.

The blackmailer turns up. Jane's sweet and innocent sister-in-law who happens to live across the hall gets nosy and suspicious. Her husband, after an argument over the money, decides it should be turned into the police. And, a mysterious man claiming to an old army buddy of her husband's appears on the scene. What's a girl to do? Lie, cheat, scheme, and murder, of course!

In the end, this one turned out to be a tale about why avarice is a deadly sin. Or, perhaps why marrying the wrong kind of girl isn't good for your health. The contrast between good girl sister-in-law Kathy and bad apple Jane was pretty obvious, but wasn't at all heavy handed. This was refreshing. Lizabeth Scott plays the house wife/bad apple with style and grace. You want to believe she's the girl Alan Palmer married but you have to believe she's the girl scheming along with Danny Fuller. The plot is entirely character-driven and as such is an interesting investigation of what people will do for money. (Sorry, not just money. Buckets of cash, or as they say in Latin, multas pecunias. )

The print that I saw wasn't the best. Sadly with old movies transferred to DVD, sometimes things jump or the sound cuts out because something happened to the original film. It wasn't too bad but it was noticeable enough to break me out of the story which is always a shame. Also, while it had some of the snappy dialogue common to films from the era:

Jane: What'll I call you besides Stupid?
Danny: Stupid'll do if you don't bruise easily.

it doesn't force it. I got to the twist before the characters did, but that's pretty common in character-driven films. You know what's going to happen because the character's flaws are completely obvious to you but not to them. Still, this film was well done and definitely worth the watch.

Posted by Kate at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Its like jello on springs. With a motor.--Jerry (Jack Lemmon) in Some Like it Hot.

There is really only one thing you want to know when you see are about to settle down to watch a classic film, "How has this stood up to time?" I have a number of classic films in my Netflix queue, so I am often in the position to find out how things have fared. Recently, I had a chance to sit down and watch Some Like it Hot. I have seen this film a number of times; Usually I have it on as background noise while I knit or read or cook. But, this time I really sat down and watched it.

I was really worried, to begin with, that some of the humor and the acting would not have aged well. I was worried, in the opening minutes of the film, that I would end up with that feeling of embarrassment that you get when someone has done something and it hasn't turned out just they way they planned, but they worked really hard on it and you really wanted them to pull it off. The film opens with cops chasing after bootleggers in Chicago in 1929. The speakeasy where are heroes are employed as members of the band is raided a few minutes later. We meet Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) and we find out that they are roommates and that Joe is a total cad. They later witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and have to flee the city disguised as women as part of an all female band in order to save their own skins. This is also when our heroes meet Sugar Cane (Marilyn Monroe).

At this point, my feeling of embarrassment on the filmmaker's behalf subsided. Marilyn Monroe is hilarious (and super hot) as Sugar Cane. All of her lines are delivered with this sense of artless innocence, like she doesn't really know what she's got going on. Its wonderful. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as men pretending to be women are also top shelf. No sense of embarrassment here. (And, why I would have thought that, I shall never know, considering the caliber of those two actors.) Tony Curtis for most of the film goes back and forth between being a man and being a woman. And,some of the timing involved in the switches that go on in the film is spot on and flawless. Plus, the challenges to conventional takes on gender and sexuality that a film like this puts forth still have merit today. Who would have thought that a film set in 1929, made in 1959 would have the potential to make you think about "convention" and "how things are done" today. So, at least with Some Like it Hot, the answer to the question is, "Why, yes. Yes it does."

Posted by Kate at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This little kid melts my cold, cold heart.

These kids do, too.

They have become my new favorite study break, after Free Rice and Peter Thiel, of course.

Posted by Kate at 07:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night I found out a friend of mine has never seen a Steve McQueen movie before. Ever. In fact, she didn't even really know who he was until she started dating another friend of mine. Then, I learned something that I had didn't know: Steve McQueen movies should be seen in pairs because there are a number of excellent Children's films that owe much of their plot to the classics.

For example, one should watch The Great Escape featuring Mr. McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Coburn, Donald Pleasance, Charles Bronson, David McCallum and James Garner (among others). Then, one should watch Chicken Run.

We talked about some of our favorite Steve McQueen films and this afternoon, after lunch I turned on the telly to discover that The Thomas Crown Affair was on. How lucky am I? The guy introducing the film suggested that the remake was better than the original. Now, I liked the remake. But, I don't think that its better. The guy suggested it was better because John McTiernan's filming style was less complicated and plot obscuring than Norman Jewison's. I liked it, though. And, I never had any trouble following the plot. Rich playboy thinks he's gotten away with the perfect crime. Pretty super-detective always gets her man. You can imagine where it goes. Or, not. You could just see the film. It made chess sexy and exciting. (Although, I have a feeling that Steve McQueen could have made doing laundry, washing dishes, or scooping the litter box sexy and exciting.)

Posted by Kate at 03:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?
T. S. Eliot

I know everyone else discovered this film when it first came out in 2003; I'm a little behind the curve. It is beautiful and compelling. The story of two Americans trapped in a foreign culture by obligations who become friends, bonding over their inability to sleep as well as their outsider status with both the culture surrounding them as well as their obligations.

The film itself is beautiful, Tokyo seems to be perpetually glowing with a steely, blue light. The buildings all gray and white with people running around in charcoal and navy business suits. While shots of Charlotte (Scarlett Johannson) in temples around Japan are often lit brightly and warmly with a much richer colour palette including rich greens and reds.

So, I know this hasn't been much of a review, honestly I'm a little out of practice. The film was incredibly enjoyable and I recommend it.

How great would it be to start of a Jazz band with Bill Murray?

Posted by Kate at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I first heard of Batman Beyond I was a bit perplexed. Beyond what? I thought. I had visions of a Batman set someplace that was not Gotham; Batman elected to public office, turning up to Capitol Hill in the Bat suit and voting down criminally minded pieces of legislation. (Hey, it could work.) But, that is not what Batman Beyond is. It is the story of Batman beyond Bruce Wayne, beyond the Joker, beyond Scarecrow, The Riddler, Penguin, and Harvey Two-Face.
Season 2 picks up with Terry McGinnis, a high school student in the employ of Bruce Wayne. Now, McGinnis doesn’t just have any part-time job working for Wayne, he has the job. He is Batman. While McGinnis is out in the Batsuit, kicking keister and taking names Bruce Wayne stays behind in the batcave and takes care of lower key, Batman-ish things (tests theories, builds things, researches, that sort of thing). The season opens with an episode called “Splicers” in which the teens of Gotham are having their DNA spliced with the DNA of animals in a body art sort of way. Of course, Batman has to investigate this new trend because he suspects something fishy is going on. After a few fights and some narrow misses, the evil genius behind Splicing is vanquished. The first episode, with its clean animation, its absolutely horrifying villain, and its excellent voice talent (one of the spliced teens is voice by Ice-T).
All in all, this is an entertaining show. The episodes explore both Terry’s life as a high school student, brother and son as well as his time as Batman. He takes on Curaré from the League of Assassins, Spell Binder, Shriek, The Stalker and the Jokerz. However, the most entertaining episodes didn’t deal with the big villains, but rather with how the Terry balanced his responsibilities as the dark knight with his responsibilities to his family and friends.
The show has interesting animation; its quite visually appealing. Gotham has a very smooth, very streamlined look in this series. Its still the dark and possibly dangerous place its always been, it just seemed updated and a little more technically advanced. And, you couldn’t get really when it comes to the vocal talent, In addition to guest voices such Ice-T, Stockard Channing, Seth Green and Teri Garr lent their voices to the show. Bruce Wayne in the series is voiced by Kevin Conroy, who was also Batman in Batman: The Animated Series.
If I have one complaint about the show, it is this: the villains just aren’t up to snuff. There was a real sense of rivalry between Batman and villains like the Joker. There was a sense of history. Also, they were just cool. While the Batman Beyond villains may have potential, (The villain Spellbinder can affect what people see and think and Shriek blames Batman for his hearing loss) they just can’t stand up to previous Batman villains.
Even with this complaint, I’d have to say the show more than makes up for it with the Batsuit, which is a character all by itself, from its rocket feet to its Bat vision. The suit is genius and it is looked at in depth in this season in episode 4, “Lost Soul”. Plus, you have to love Bruce Wayne running the show from the Batcave. Its brilliant when Batman is hanging from a building looking like he’s talking to himself when he’s really talking to Bruce Wayne.
The second season comes on four discs. It has commentary on two episodes: “Splicers” and “Egg Baby” the latter of which the show one an Emmy for. There is also a panel of the show’s creators talking on the fourth disc. I prefer there to be commentary on every episode, but I will gladly take what I can get and the perspectives of the directors, producers and talent on the episodes were quite interesting. Also, the set includes French and Spanish language tracks.
Even with the semi-cool villains and the limited commentary, this show is still awesome. If you like Batman, I recommend that you give Terry McGinnis a try as he grows into the batsuit.

This has also been posted to Blogcritics.org

Posted by Kate at 04:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have recently had the terrible affliction of getting theme songs stuck in my head. The most popular of these seem to be from cartoons, most notably the theme song from “A Pup Named Scooby Doo.” With that in mind, you can imagine how grateful I was to get a copy of Season 2 of “The Teen Titans” animated series. I can now hum the Titans song performed by Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi. I don’t recommend that you pick your TV based on theme songs, but I can tell you that this one is infectious.

The Teen Titans are from the DC comics universe. They live in a giant T in a city on the west coast, Real World style, without the hassle of parents or secret identities or really anything that might require long, drawn out explanations, back story or episodes full of character development and a lull in the action. In short, in every episode there will a villain who causes some sort of trouble that will require the Titans to sort it out. This often involves quick wit and cartoon violence! The Titans are Robin (whom you might recognize from Batman), Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy (whom you might recognize from Doom Patrol) and Starfire.

Season two sees the Titans coming to terms with whom they are and kicking some serious villain behind. This DVD contains thirteen episodes on two discs. According to wikipedia, the main story arc of season two is based on “The Judas Contract” from the New Teen Titans. It involves the Titans meeting another super-powered teen named Terra, their decision to let her join the team and its consequences. It also involves Robin’s arch-nemesis Slade who is voiced by Ron Perlman. Five of the episodes in this season focus mainly on Terra and Slade. They are entertaining. These episodes also have a subplot in which Beast Boy falls in love, which is both cute and a little heartbreaking.
However, my favorite parts of this season fall outside the main story of the season. They are all character-driven episodes focusing on how the Titans relate to each other and come to terms with their powers, their emotions, and who they are. Cyborg wrestles with his humanity in episode four “Only Human”. Starfire learns to trust that her friends will not abandon her in the face of change in episode seven “Transformation”. Raven learns that it is okay to admit how she is feeling in episode five “Fear Itself” and Robin is confronted by his need to succeed in episode nine “Winner Take All”.
The highlights of Season 2 include the first episode “How Long is Forever?” in which Starfire travels to a dark future and meets Robin, who is now Nightwing, and has to return to the past to set everything right and episode six “Date with Destiny” in which the villain’s list of demands includes a date with Robin. However, my favorite episode in this season is number 11, “Fractured”. In this episode, Robin’s fan boy from another universe pops over the Titans’ universe after Robin injures himself fighting Johnny Rancid. During the course of the episode reality is fractured in attempt to fix Robin’s broken arm and the Titans have to battle not only to make reality whole again, but to save the city from Johnny Rancid’s dark view of things. This episode rocks, from the clouds at the beginning of the episode to the portrayal of the changes in reality; I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Continue reading "Teen Titans--GO!" »

Posted by Kate at 03:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, the wedding is beautiful.  The bride's dress laced up the back and was strapless and had a nice train (that she told me later she had to keep people off of all night.) And, I got to meet more of John's friends. 

The evening started by walking to the pub to have a drink with the other people we thought we were going to the wedding with.  As it turns out, they all decided that they'd rather get drunk instead of going to the wedding.  (Which, I thought was both lame and cheap of them, but that's a rant for another time.)  So, John and I (who were dressed up nice and were looking quite sharp) left after he and his friends Sparko and Michael had an interesting discussion about film.  (Also, I got to hear about Sparko's trip to Thailand as I've not seen him since he's been back.)  We flagged down a cab and the taxi drive sped off.  He kept asking us if we knew where it was.  So, we told him. It was an the Llanishen Golf Club which is in Lisvane (which is right near Llanishen village.)  So, it was a basically in the Suburbs.  The driver didn't know where it was.  So, he had to call in and ask.  Then, he lost his signal on his cell phone and instead of using his cabby radio he just moved the taxi up the road a bit and waited for his mate to call back.  Finally, he got some directions and we went along.  We stopped and asked a kid walking down the street.  Who pointed us up a hill.  Then, he pulled into a pub and asked a guy leaving the pub.  He pointed us further up the hill and then told us to turn right, which we did.  We finally found the golf club and the cabby knocked a our fare down for getting us lost. 

The Brits seem to have a thing for karaoke at weddings.  So, in between the band (which played a lot of soul music that was great for dancing and there was always people on the dance floor.)  We chatted.  I got to meet John's friends Sian, Gemma, and Lydia.  I also got to meet Gemma's brother David who is also studying at Cardiff Uni.  (He's working on a business degree, though.)  We stayed out until almost 1 in the morning before calling a cab and heading for home.

Needless to say (because we had been at a wedding) that we were a little tipsy so John made us a frozen pizza and we watched some of the Original Star Trek series before heading to bed somewhere around three.  I took loads of photos with a disposable camera which I will take to get developed tomorrow.  But, I did manage to get one shot of us with the digital camera looking sharp before we put on our pjs. Don't we look nice?
 

Posted by Kate at 03:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

So, yesterday was my friend Georgia's birthday.  Even though I have a shit ton of work to do, (as does everythng else) we all went out.  We went downtown and met at are pub called Central Bar.  John and I walked in, looked around, didn't see anyone we knew and then I went to sit down and checked my phone and noticed I had a missed call.  It was Anne Marie who then immediately turned up and said everyone was upstairs.  John came over when he saw us and immediately said, "There's an upstairs?"  Well, yes.  We all reconvened upstairs, which we pretty much had to our lonesome, which was nice.  Dawn was there and Steffi turned up with her new guy friend Alex.  Then, the birthday girl turned up and we all started to drink.  Pints were had....pitchers of cocktails were had.  A good time was had by all. 

Georgia, Brian, John and me took a cab back home and we got out a little early and bought a late night snack.  Then, because neither of us were tired we watched Midnight Run.  Which is SO FUNNY if you haven't seen it.  Robert DeNiro plays an ex-cop turned bounty hunter employed to bring Charles Grodin in.  Everyone kicks off, another bounty hunter is brought in, the FBI are on the trail, the mob boss (who has history with Robert DeNiro's character) is has put a hit out on Grodin.  They're on planes, trains, buses, their own two feet.  Its amazing.  Top that off with a perfect  Danny Elfman soundtrack this comedy is a classic.  Huzzah

Posted by Kate at 07:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

John popped a frozen pizza into the oven and I sat on the couch continuing to compile information for my dissertation.  While I worked and pizza cooked John went through the collection of Star Trek and found the next episode for us to watch.  Finally, with the pizza done and the episode chosen, we sat down to continue on with Star Trek. 

Shore Leave is an episode in the first season.  Dr. McCoy prescribes some much needed rest for the crew and the Enterprise locates a planet that seems to be without any animal life on it.  Sulu, McCoy, and a search party beam down to the surface of the planet to take samples of the flora and examine it, to make sure it will be safe for the crew to take a break on.  The surface of the planet is lovely, as Bones puts it, "Like something out of Alice in Wonderland."  Sulu bounds off to take more readings and as McCoy strolls along the most unusual thing happens--he sees a white rabbit.  But, more than that, he sees a white rabbit in a plaid waistcoat and jacket with a pocket watch that's being chased by a little blonde girl.  And here's where the mystery begins.  This episode is full with strange things popping up.  Meanwhile, Spock notices that the communications between the ship and the away party are growing weaker and that the ship is slowly losing power.  Are the crew of the Enterprise going mad?  What is the source of this mysterious power drain?  Kirk and the crew do, in the end solve the mystery and get their much needed rest.  It was a very entertaining episode, although it clues the audience in what is happening a little earlier than it needed to.  Ah well, it gets full marks for being quite funny. 

Posted by Kate at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

First off, I taking suggestions for what to call this that doesn't sound as stupid as "TV Sharing Time". 

Show: Star Trek

Season:1

Episode:Court Martial

    My Love and I have a thing for well-written tv and films.  We like to laugh.  We like to be moved.  He likes to go on about camera angle and shots and editing (as he should because film’s his game).  On our first date we ended up back on my sofa, staring at my computer screen (because I don’t own a TV) watching the first episode of Invader Zim.  I love Invader Zim.  And, that episode fantastically sets up on main character Zim and his need to invade with such fantastic lines as, “Invader’s blood flows in my veins like radioactive rubber pants!”  Yes, the rest of the series will be like this.  Over our nearly eight months together we have shared our infectious love of stuff with each other.  This will be a small series that will hit the highlights of the things we share.

Continue reading "TV Sharing Time: Star Trek" »

Posted by Kate at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

That is the teaser trailer for the animated film John has been working on.  He has been toiling late into night, sitting at his desk which happens to be at the foot of our bed.  Sometimes he laughs while he works.  Sometimes he swears, but after he's edited he always come to bed happy.  And you can't beat that.  

Posted by Kate at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My Mother (who is pictured above.)  has this theory.  Well, its less of a theory than a routine.  She figures that as long as she has not seen it, she can class it as new. This is important when one of your favorite shows, Jeeves and Wooster, is no longer in production.  Since she enjoys the show and watching its new episodes so much, she also figures that she should stretch out the watching of the new ones for as long as she can.  So, she is watching them all in order, working her way through the seasons and every time she gets to a new episode, she goes back to the beginning and starts again.  Sure, that means that she's seen the first one buckets of times, (and as a matter of fact, so have I) but she still finds it enjoyable. (Funnily enough, I still find it enjoyable.  Its the one where Bertie's cousins are trying to get into the seekers.  Its also the one where Bertie gets done for trying to knick a constable's hat.) Keep my Mother's theory in mind.

About two months ago, we got Firefly on DVD under the recommendation of my friends back home and also a bar buddy of John's.  We watched the first episode, and I was immediately enthralled.  John enjoyed the show, but said that he had seen the movie Serenity and that sort of ruined the show for him.  Bummer.  So, I've been slowly watching the series, parcelling it out in bits, at first so as not to get too far ahead of John.  Recently, however, my Mother's theory has come into play. 

Continue reading "Applied Science: The Jeeves and Wooster Theory applied to Firefly." »

Posted by Kate at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It rains here all the time... and, joking aside that I do live in Wales, honestly, I think its been raining too much.  And, I'm not just saying that because I'd like to get outside every now and then and not get soaked and not because I'd like to see the sun (because both of these things are true) but because the other day someone said to me, "Its usually not like this."  They then shrugged and said, "so much for the water shortage". 

Today we are going to go and look at houses for the next six months.  I will be living with John and his current housemates Lee, Jigger (whose real name is Matthew) and Craig.  They are nice boys, a little set it their ways, but then who isn't? 

Right now I am sitting in the library and the kid at the computer next to me is hitting the keys so hard he's shaking my computer.  Now, how's that for conviction of what you are saying.  I just have to finish up this entry and print something.  Then, I have to go so that I can meet everyone at the estate agents. 

John and I have begun watching firefly.  I enjoyed the first episode.  They are space cowboys!  yee haw!  I will write more in-depth about this later. 

Posted by Kate at 02:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)