Couchbound/Continued #368 - Ore Monogatari/My Love Story, Episode 4, "Through the Fire and Flames!"

I'm going to get this out of the way right now... not all anime is deep. In fact, the grand majority of anime is LCD fluff. Everything from Naruto to GoLion to Fate/stay night is pretty shallow fare. Sure, there might be some feels and pseudo-philosophical ranting at some point, but for the most part, it's all about the widest spread of merchandising appeal.

Ore Monogatari/My Love Story isn't really an exception. Where OM/MLS stands out from the crowd is that it's telling an atypical story using a familiar rubric... or, rather, it's telling the same old anime love story with an atypical lead.

Most romance anime which focus on a boy falling in love usually fall into one of two sub-genres, a harem anime where one less-than-ideal guy (an otaku or loner of some stripe) somehow inexplicably garners the attention of a bevy of beautiful ladies... or a sappy coming of age romance where a seemingly unobtrusive but unique character leads a rose-colored life. OM/MLS is the latter.

A big, brutish, somewhat dim guy with a heart of gold constantly gets crushes on girls who are only interested in his handsome but standoffish friend... until one day he saves a cute girl who goes to a neighboring all girls school from a molester on the train. She falls for him, he can't believe it, cue  a plethora of moe feels.

It should be boring. It should be a one and done affair, but I can't stop watching. There's no complexity, the message is hammy and the delivery is predictable as all get out, but it has just the right amount of schmaltz to reel me in. It's manga was the same way... and I can't help but wondering if I'm biased towards the anime because I enjoyed its print version, because I honestly can't say if there's enough to the anime to justify a recommendation.

Ninety percent of the time, the art is cheap and shoddy. To pad their shots, MADHOUSE makes use of gratuitous pans every chance they get. Instead of being an homage to the framing of the comic panels, most of the time it looks like a budget piece from the 90's. Only a few shots really shine when it comes to dynamic movement, framing, and color... and one of those shots is the climax moment of this episode, where Takeo makes an insane leap from a burning building. Very reminiscent of the buff guy action archetype that he's a send-up to. Additionally, MADHOUSE skimps on detail at key moments while overcompensating on background art at the wrong times. Very distracting.

Still... watching Takeo waffle between falling in love with a cute girl and trying to do what he thinks is the right thing (Takeo encouraging his love interest to go after his friend since he cannot fathom her liking an ogre like him) is oddly endearing. Sure, it's not a series I'm going to return to all that often. It doesn't have the graphical excellence or emotional resonance of top shelf productions like Hyouka or the like, but it also isn't necessarily a guilty pleasure anime either.

In this episode, we get to watch two young (and innocent) lovers be cutesy, suffer backlash from friends, and weather the very real (but so conveniently staged) threat of possible tragedy. It's predictable, it's corny, it's... okay. I'd say stay for the sappiness and put it in the back of your mind never to need visiting again.

Until later, Potatoes~

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-eight - Fringe: Season 4, Episode 15, "Squeeze-tube Love"

One of the main arcs of this season deals with the fact that Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) was erased from both universes, but through sheer force of will was able to break his way back in to a world where the love of his life, Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), doesn't remember him at all. That is, until her memories from the old timeline begin to overwrite the present ones... something that she is conflicted about to say the least.

Meanwhile, season arcs aside, the MotW (Monster of the Week) is a serial killer who is stealing the juices from men in loving relationships, dumping their bodies, and using their concentrated pheromones to seduce their wives before he murders them as well. As far as mysteries go, it's not all that compelling, but that's not the real meat of the episode.

No, the real meat is Olivia's gradual realization that, despite the fact that it means the loss of her old self, she actually does want to give into the memory rewrite and love Peter. Normally, that would be a bad thing... in fact, Walter (John Noble), goes so far as to laud Peter for his restraint in trying to stay away from Olivia in the hopes that absence will stop or at least slow the overwrite.

There's also the continuation of the Observer subplot where Peter goes on a search for the one seemingly good Observer who is trying, however obscurely, to help humanity. I like the Observer storyline, and know it's going to come to a head in season 5, but after a while it just becomes so much noise such that I never understand why the other Observers don't just kill the Fringe teams in both worlds. It really makes no sense to keep the one group of people who can stop you alive.

From a storytelling standpoint, the episode is one of the weaker ones when you consider the actual mystery. The arcing bits are great, but those are the only things to care about. The cinematography is your standard Abrams greatness, as he and his crew really know how to put a show together that is beautiful, moody, and compelling. I don't think I could ever be disappointed by Fringe, no matter how freaky or weird it gets. It has all of the strengths and none of the weaknesses of its more famous cousin, Lost.

Will I continue to recommend Fringe? Yes, of course... and that's probably why I should stop watching it for the blog. I'm pretty sure that all of my fawning is getting repetitive and puerile at this point. Maybe I'll come back to it for Couchbound for the finale, maybe there will be something that I just can't wait to tell you about in the interim which forces me to go back on my word, but if there's one thing I really want for the blog, it's authenticity, not pandering... so we'll see.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Three Hundred and Twenty - Chuck: Season 1, Episode 10, "Black Friday Blues"

Perhaps I should've saved this episode for next week, but I can't help but stumble onto holiday episodes when I binge watch, and this one was seen fortuitously close to the holiday it's supposed to cover, so... what the heck.

It's a CHUCK Family Thanksgiving!

To catch folks up since the last episode I blogged about was the pilot, Chuck Bartowski was entrusted with a super-MacGuffiny bit of fake technology, a computer program that downloads itself into his head thanks to his old rival, a CIA Agent named Bryce Larkin, who was thought to be dead for the past nine episodes or so, but shows up completely recovered and ready to screw things up. This is especially true since Sarah used to be together with Bryce, but was kissing Chuck (finally!) during the last few ticks of a supposed bomb they were unable to defuse and were thusly doomed, making it okay to bring out the tongue.

Draaaamaaaaaaa~

Anyways, THIS episode features Bryce trying to reinsert himself both in Sarah's love life and Chuck's spy life as he is hunted by a secret evil CIA faction called Fulcrum. Meanwhile, Morgan and Anna are dealing with her jealousy issues at Thanksgiving dinner concerning Ellie. Oh, and Chuck catches Bryce and Sarah snogging at dinner the day before a giant Black Friday shootout at the Buy More, which leaves the episode on a cliffhanger of whether she will chase after her old flame or stick with the new.

Ouch.

CHUCK is and always shall be cheese, but it's fun cheese, scratching my lonely gamer geek wish-fulfillment urges. Even the perpetual, back-stabbing losers of the cast, Lester and Jeff, manage to live full and happy lives at their dead end retail jobs!

It's weird that it just openly acknowledges that we live as sheep in a wide, conspiracy driven world where we are saved from disaster only through luck and perseverance from dedicated hotties (Yvonne Strahovski) and gruff John Wayne types (Adam Baldwin) and there are always bigger, more secretive nefarious organizations to thwart. Maybe that fact makes it easier for real life New World Order conspiracies to keep us as content consumers, but you can't prove it... and maybe that's the point. Scary thought.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-eight - Land Girls, Episode 1, "Classism, racism, upstairs, downstairs, blimey... what a mess."

It appears, due to the fact that I have watched and enjoyed Call the Midwife, that I'm to be suggested every period BBC series in existence. There's Foyle's War, Bomb Girls, and now... Land Girls.

It's not so bad, really, the suggestions or the show, but the former can get tiresome when you're looking for variety and the latter? Well, let's just say that Land Girls doesn't exactly start with a quality flourish. About the only thing that seems to sit well are the music and the costumes.

For one thing, there's the forced conflict over the racism angle as one of the leads almost instantly befriends some African-American soldiers only to constantly get them in trouble with the racist sergeant who dutifully enforces the segregation codes... even though they're in rural England and it's horribly wrong, no matter how historically accurate. It just feels like it's played for cheap points.

Then there's the same girl who manages to get sweet-talked into dropping her knickers to the very GI who ratted out her black friends to the MPs... and only comes to realize his duplicity when she sees him snogging another pretty young thing.

Moving onto another annoying character, there's the sophisticated priss who not only complains about every single aspect of farm life in the Women's Land Army, but manages to begin tempting the Lord of the Manor into possible wickedness, much to the dismay of the prim and proper Lady Hoxley.

Oiy ve... save me from forced melodrama.

I think what bothers me the most is the sheer obvious ploy that the lusty GI throws in the path of young Bea and the sweet nothings he whispers to have his way with her... and how she's instantly preggers because of it.

On the whole, Land Girls is nowhere near the quality of Call the Midwife... be it in story, dialogue, character, or structure. I mean, seriously, they end on a cliffhanger that isn't even resolved on the next episode (I watched the first five minutes), but don't mind the showrunners as they charge right into another cheap crisis.

I think I'll give it one more episode to shape up, but I can't rightly say that I'm happy with the series so far... aside from the wonderful soundtrack that has me wishing I was playing Fallout 3 or New Vegas instead of watching four vulnerable stereotypes be taken advantage of by the Gentry, the Americans, and each other.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Sixty-four - I'm Reed Fish, "but who cares, really?"

Okay, so I was mining the Suggestions Queue for quirky romantic comedies and happened upon a films I'd never heard of before called I'm Reed Fish. I probably wouldn't have watched it purely for Jay Baruchel as, not that I hate the guy, but his attempts at leading man material the past few years have been a bit disappointing (see: The Sorcerer's Apprentice and She's Out of My League). Honestly, the only thing I have truly enjoyed from him in recent memory was How to Train Your Dragon.

That being said, what hooked me was the fact that sharing the lead with him, supposedly, was Alexis Bledel. As a card carrying fanboy of Gilmore Girls, I was instantly sold... then I found out she's not so much a co-lead as supporting love interest.

Curse you, Movie Posters and your lying ways!

You see, the film is about Jay's main character, the eponymous Reed Fish, and how his life is supposedly thrown into turmoil when his childhood best friend/soul mate (who is NOT Alexis Bledel) returns to their small town and throws his heart out of whack. Reed is already engaged and about to be married (yes, TO Alexis Bledel), but he very obviously has cold feet and they argue about the most mundane things... like asparagus.

Anyways, long story spoilerifically short, Reed manages to alienate both the women in his life and pretty much ends up the butt of all the anger in his town as folks are jealous and gleefully wrathful that he seemingly had it all with one gal... then ruined it attempting (and failing) to get the other.

On top of that, there's this whole undercurrent of "living up to one's father" but that angle is corrupted by the fact that Reed's father killed himself, his wife, and his son's fiance's mother in a drunk driving collision... and Reed is trying to emulate him for some reason? Wha-huh?

But, wait! There's more!

About a half an hour into the picture, we're treated to the revelation that we're not actually watching Reed Fish's fall from grace... we're watching a movie WITHIN a movie about Reed Fish's yadda, yadda, yadda, and not only are Alexis Bledel and Schuyler Fisk (odd name, cute actress) actors in the meta-film, you're not sure until the end which one of them is playing the fake version of the "real life" mysterious girl whom Reed invited to the screening... the woman he REALLY loves.

The premise, itself, is one giant tease that awkwardly provides the framework for a long series of shots of Jay Baruchel looking depressed or goofy or mildly annoyed with his character's small town life. To be honest, it mostly leaves me cold and I find myself disappointed overall.

With that in mind, I do want to point out the good bits. Katey Sagal does well in her maternal role as the mayor, Maureen, though there really isn't enough of her for it to help the overall film... and I'm always happy to see DJ Qualls get work, even if he has the range of a thimble.

On the whole, though, I think the film is too scattered and awkward to be much of anything quality and its advertising (the blue poster that is on Netflix) is deceptive. It really felt like a waste of time.

I would almost say it was an admirable failure, as the meta device of the movie screening is an interesting concept, but it was so shoddily executed that it actually lost points for the film. Props for the attempt, at least, though.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Sixty - MST3K: The Touch of Satan, "ZAA!"

When they say a "Touch of Satan" they really mean just a light dusting... as there isn't so much as a goat hoof or pentagram to be found in this seventies love story about a witch, her would be hipster lover, and her apple granny doll grandma/sister. Still, that doesn't stop Mike and the Bots from riffing the hell out of this cheese-fest and its random murders, stake burnings, and fish ponds.

Set in what I can only assume is rural California (due to the constant San Francisco reminders) where Jodie Lee Thompson (Michael Berry), who IS a guy... don't let the name fool you... is on a road trip across the state on a journey of self-discovery. Jodie randomly turns down a country road (after belittling a local hillbilly's vocabulary) and meets a mousy, farm girl type who strikes his fancy. Her name happens to be Melissa (Emby Mellay) and her family are the local outcasts as everyone thinks that she's been trafficking with the Devil... even her.

Of course, its obvious by the murder plot and all the religious superstition that she actually IS a witch, but Jodie will hear none of it, no matter how many bodies pile up.

The movie is silly dreck, which is just perfect for Mike and the Bots... and Touch of Satan has quite a few of my favorite inbetweeners, such as Tom Servo's crazy, homicidal grandmother (I didn't even know he had a grandmother) and Beth "Beez" McKeever, the propmaster of MST3K, showing up as Brain Guy and Bobo's babysitter, treating the grown man and ape as a child and dog respectively.

Joke standouts revolve around the pond "where the fish lives," the public domain hymnal usage of Amazing Grace, and Mike and the Bots being constantly on 70's alert for bit actors and stereotypes of the era.

I can't really say that The Touch of Satan is the best episode of MST3K available right now, that title (of course) belongs to Soultaker, but it's definitely better than Pod People, and you'd be hard pressed to actually find a bad episode of MST3K... just saying.

The series has and always will make me laugh, I'm just sad that this is the last one for a while, though I hear several more episodes will be available in the next few months. Here's hoping they come right quick as watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 is one of the best uses of Netflix that I can think of!

Quick shoutout to Robert Easton, who plays the mob leader during the flashback sequence. Did you know he played the Klingon judge in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country? I sure didn't. Kudos to him!

Oh, and "ZAA" everybody... "ZAA, indeed!"

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Thirty-four - Charade, "For crying out loud... Audrey, you slay me with my own desire."

Where the rest of the world is enamored with Breakfast at Tiffany's, I think I prefer this Audrey most of all. She's sophisticated, witty... of course, very lovely... and has the best lines that run contrary to what you would expect in conversations concerning stolen gold, murder, and espionage.

And there's Cary Grant, too! Double trouble!

Set in Paris of the 60's, Audrey is the jilted widow of a man who seems to have been both a spy and a thief. Of course, she didn't know that when she married him, and was about to divorce the cad when she managed to escape the marriage the old fashioned way... he died.

Or rather, he was murdered, by persons unknown.

Having just returned from a ski holiday with a friend, she finds her husband has been killed, her apartment shuttered and divested of all property, and a fortune she never knew she had twisting in the wind somewhere. She's not the only one curious as to what's going on, though, as not only does the Paris police have questions, but also the CIA (Walter Matthau) and quite a few ruffians (in the form of James Coburn, George Kennedy, and Ned Glass).

If that's not enough, she's assisted and/or possibly hindered by a man of many names and trades, but who happens to be played by the always debonair Cary Grant. Within the confines of the film, the two of them alternately swoon and snap at each other for the duration as Grant's Peter (or Alexander or Adam or...) seems to be working for all parties, most especially himself.

I love this film for every scene but one.

From the moment we meet Audrey's Regina Lampert, we fall in love... which is standard procedure for anything she does... and watching her go from scared widow to giddy adventurer and back again is a delight. Of course she is a delight to watch, but she's not just an empty dress as her wit and good humor are almost always about her, even as her violent suitors begin to drop like so many flies.

And Grant? Well, Grant can carry just about any film as we've seen before. Sure, the one scene that I just cannot stand is his comical clothes-on shower scene as he tries to deflect Audrey's attempts at seduction... I mean, honestly, who wouldn't need a cold shower after any of her attentions? I could almost forgive him if it wasn't so ridiculous and terribly unfunny. He almost loses me again when he gives her a goofy face during the falling action (ugh!), but I survived... in part thanks to Audrey's reaction when she catches up in the conversation.

While the supporting cast isn't numerous, the names they got were great. Sure, James Coburn is a little hammy as Tex, but I really enjoyed Walter Matthau as Bartholomew, the CIA contact who keeps popping back up to warn Reggie. He does a great job of keeping her (and her romance with Peter... or Alexander... or Adam) off balance.

It's also fun to have George Kennedy in a much more malicious role than I'm used to seeing him in (like in is work in The Naked Gun series). While his fight with Grant on the Paris rooftops is silly, it's still a great scene between them.

The mystery itself needed a few more references so it didn't come as such a shock when the whereabouts of the fortune were revealed... especially since they emphasized the dental appointment a little too much, but it flows pretty naturally once it does start rolling. It just seems a bit too convenient a wrap up... especially considering other, better heist movies like To Catch A Thief.

Charade is also notable for its almost Hitchcockian shots, such as the shadowed dialogue scene just after Reggie returns from being interrogated the first time... and the morgue scene with the POV shot from the corpse's perspective.

When it comes down to it, though, Charade is a dazzingly film. Not quite up to the levels of perfection it probably could have been, but Audrey is in fine form and Grant only just below his normal levels of charm. I can't really blame him for that, though, as it seemed more an issue of writing than anything else. There are a few plot holes unfilled and character threads left dangling, but nothing too egregious.

Definitely worth the watch, I think... especially if you're a fan of classic suspense films.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Thirty-two - Moon Phase: Episode 1, "A little creepy, but maaaaan... those are some gorgeous backgrounds!"

If there's one thing about Japan, they're a little more... shall we say, liberal, about exploring their paraphillias than we are. One such fetish is the Gothic Lolita style where girls dress up like Victorian Dolls complete with frills, lace, and minimized secondary sexual characteristics (see: flat-chested).

It's safe to say that Moon Phase is very firmly rooted in its Goth Loli persuasions... along with several other archetypal otaku fantasies like the cute, chibi-vampire and imouto/onii-san (little sister/big brother) complex. It's wacky and a bit creepy, but sells... a lot.

Playing the role of the Goth Loli Vampire Queen is Hazuki, who has apparently been mystically imprisoned in a massive European castle for hundreds of years, yearning for an escape... which she seems to be going to find in the form of Kouhei, a Japanese ghost photographer who is visiting the castle on assignment from an occult magazine. He finds her irresistibly attractive and she...? Well, it's sort of hard to tell what Hazuki feels as she's supposed to be the mysterious outsider, an impossibly old soul trapped in a child's body.

The majority of the episode is just the initial setup to get the two of them in the same room together. Kouhei takes photos of the castle from a distance while Hazuki lounges about her gilded prison. There's a gratuitous bath scene (a standard for most anime) as well as plot hammers such as a sneaky exorcist and a magical golem guardian.

What is interesting about the title, despite its pervy, fan-service tendencies, is the massive amount of production value when it comes to the animation, particularly the setting and props. I mean, serious amounts of effort were put into these backgrounds, I am not kidding. They're just gorgeous.

It's such an odd combination of stereotyped ecchi and quality horror/fantasy art that I can't quite decide whether to despise or adore it... and, maybe, that's the point. That, in order to serve as contrast to the obvious perversions of the Goth Loli pairing, tremendous work was put into the sundries to raise the value of the series.

Granted, their character animations could be a bit better, but man... those backgrounds! Yum!

Either way, I feel both extremely uncomfortable and oddly transfixed by the opener... which is, I think, an apt feeling to have when it comes to vampire tales. So often, nowadays, we're given vamps that are nothing more than the Greek Gods reborn... sparkly, lustful Adonises who are nothing more than expressions of the desire for sexual domination, no longer the creatures of horror. While I cannot say that's the case here, as Hazuki is definitely a sex object of a different persuasion, the artifacts and creatures that they have surrounding her are much more suited to the horror of her monster mythology roots... at least, in the pilot episode. Much more Castlevania as opposed to Twilight.

I just wish that they weren't so pervy and blatant about Hazuki, herself.

One good thing about it, though, it's yet another anime title that features both the English and Japanese (with English subs) vocal tracks. Netflix has been getting pretty good about that lately and I'm always very happy to listen to a title in its original language than suffer what could possibly be a bad dub. It's just safer for me, in my opinion, to watch it subtitled.

I can't say that Moon Phase is appropriate for anyone younger than their teens and it definitely has some sketchy fetish action going on, but I also cannot say that I'm not intrigued. Just, remember, Caveat Emptor and don't say I didn't warn you.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Twenty-one - The Last of the Mohicans, "We will winter in Ken-Tuck-Ee!"

My sister loves Last of the Mohicans... and so do I, albeit for differing reasons.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel that, were I to ask her, she'd say that her primary delight in the film comes from the stirring romance between Madeleine Stowe's Cora and Daniel Day-Lewis' Hawkeye... the kind of romance that comes from several days of smoky stares across crowded rooms and not-so-crowded wilderness.

My own love for LotM, though, comes more from how lovingly crafted Colonial America was recreated. From the effete and arrogant British and French to the quaint and rustic Colonials to the Mohawk and Huron tribesmen. Tons of detail, dirt, and respect is embedded all throughout this film.

Set during the French and Indian War, Last of the Mohicans follows Hawkeye and his adopted father and brother (played by Russell Means and Eric Schweig, respectively) as they rescue a British officer and the two young ladies he was escorting from a Huron ambush. The three scouts take the "Yengeese" to their destination only to find that it is under siege from the French.

Eventually the fort surrenders, but not until after a steamy (but relatively chaste) love scene between Hawkeye and Cora, and the English retreat... only to be massacred by the Huron and leading to a canoe chase and the eventual capture of the remaining Brits: Cora, her sister Alice (Johdi May), and Major Hayward (Steven Waddington).

Cue dramatic rescue (including some significant deaths) and roll credits.

While I do think the romance is more than a little rushed and stress dependent, it's still a more sensual and effective courtship than most love stories in film. I do enjoy how Cora and Hawkeye's connection is so very often unspoken, underscored by those long, fiery looks between them. In that, I think my sister may be quite correct.

I think the true gem of the story, though, is the tragedy of Uncas.

He and his father are the last true Mohicans and very early on in the film it is lampshaded that he should have long since settled and continued the line of his people. It seems he takes that criticism to heart over the course of the events of the trip to Fort William Henry as he, too, begins to share longing looks... with Alice.

Uncas even goes so far as to charge after Magua (Wes Studi) to free Alice after she's taken as a slave by the judgement of the Huron Sachem. This, of course, leads to a cliffside confrontation between the two which leaves Uncas dead at the bottom of the mountain... and Alice taking the lover's leap when Magua tries to bring her back from the brink even though he has Uncas' blood quite literally on his hands.

Best freaking shot of the movie in that scene.

Moving on, I think a lot of people give Russell Means crap for his political and activist past, particularly his involvement with AIM and connection to Wounded Knee. Here in LotM, I think he did a fine job portraying Chingachgook.

I love the way the writing and pacing of the film shows him as a fine tracker but a man who is aging and definitely losing a few steps in comparison to his two sons who are in the prime of their lives and in peak physical condition. It also serves to contrast with his elder wisdom during the climax scene where Magua kills Uncas.

Even enraged, it's obvious that Chingachgook is the superior fighter as, what his son couldn't do in three separate rounds, he manages in one without taking a single wound. In fact, he deftly dodges Magua and cripples him in a single blow, but goes on to punish him with several more bone breaks before finishing the villain off.

And Wes Studi does a great job as the Huron villain Magua. Tormented by the deaths of his family, he embraces the treachery and butchery of his enemies and becomes that which he hated. I love his subtitled insults to Major Waddington before the ambush and his conversations with General Montcalm (Patrice Chéreau) reveal much about the character. His final scene (with Alica, Uncas, and Chingachgook is probably the best I've even seen him... and there's nary a single word of dialogue. It's tremendous what he can do with a single look and a blood-soaked gesture.

Quick shoutout to Steve Waddington for his portrayal and prim and jealous Major Heyward. He hasn't been in much that I've scene, as I only remember him being in this and Sleepy Hollow, but I think he did a great job balancing the arrogance and honor of an officer in His Majesty's Army and his ultimate sacrifice is a nice bit of redemption during the climax.

A second quick shoutout to Peter Postlethwaite who has a small role as a British captain at Fort William Henry under Cora's father.

Finally, I want to mention the soundtrack by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman. A lot of the character and dramatic tension in the film is highlighted by the score, particularly to repeated fiddle reels and rising crescendos at key moments. Whenever I get chills at movies, it's usually due to the music cues and this is a prime example... so much so that it's probably one of the few orchestra soundtracks that I could listen to over and over again entirely separate from the movie.

Last of the Mohicans, in my opinion, was one of the best films of the 90's and should be in everyone's queue. Sure, the history isn't quite right and its romance is a bit melodramatic, but it's very balanced and Native positive and an interesting look at both frontier life and the early wars in the Americas. It and The Mission are examples of this that I hold in high regard.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Eight - The Mask of Zorro, "It's hard enough to get Mexican-American heros on the Silver Screen..."

...without two of them being British.

I say that, but it's still a good thing to have Antonio Banderas, still a rising and bankable star in the 90's, bringing forth the old Californian pulp hero, Zorro... a Latino hero who has almost always been played by Anglos.

For the most part, my favorite memories of Zorro don't center around the Disney adventure series or the Douglas Fairbanks films, but on George Hamilton and Zorro, The Gay Blade... which is, sadly, not available on Instant Stream.

Still, Martin Campbell managed to produce a gritty, oddly realistic portrayal of Spanish and Mexican-America that still had a lovely tinge of romance and panache.

I especially liked Banderas' transformation from the filthy thief to the elite and cultured swordsman needed to inherit the mantle of The Fox, not to mention the wild exuberance and physicality of Catherine Zeta-Jones' Elena Montero/De La Vega. They both portray their characters with grace and heated sensuality.

Pulpy goodness that it is, though, The Mask of Zorro leads you by the nose from plot point to plot point, with there never being any real mystery or suspense. You never get the feeling that the good guys won't prevail or that the leads won't fall in love. It's all very much rote and predictable.

It's hard to argue, however, with the fun (and practical!) action sequences and just the right amount of comedic beats to keep the non-vengeance related fight scenes light-hearted and the actual vengeance fight scenes serious.

There just needed to be more intrigue!

I think I would've much preferred if they'd made it into a mini-series or full season prime-time soap opera with the same level of production value so as to draw at the suspense and make the romance between Alejandro and Elena out to be more that just a few short sequences of lusty passion.

But, when you know, you know, I suppose... when your soul mate arrives.

The Mask of Zorro definitely holds up as an adventure flick and has very few faults to contrast its plucky swordfighting and fiery romance. If you haven't yet checked it out, I can certainly recommend it... especially if you're a fan of pulp adventure.

I just wish The Gay Blade was streaming.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Five - People Will Talk, "But then, they always do."

That Cary Grant was, most probably, the single most charming and beguiling actor of his era is undeniable in my opinion. The man was a powerhouse of presence and some of the greatest of classic films came over the span of his career.

There are actually quite a few Cary Grant films up on Netflix and for that I'm glad, as I probably would've never been exposed to half of them through normal channels, partially because I've given up cable/satellite with the likes of TCM and AMC which occasionally show some classic films but certainly not all of them.

Personally, my favorite is To Catch a Thief, but that's not why I'm blogging tonight. No, I'm typing furiously away thanks to one of his lesser known works, People Will Talk.

I find People Will Talk to be oddly interesting... not because it's a great film, by any standard, but because Grant manages to pull it along by sheer force of his charm alone. The plot meanders, the conflicts and weak and easily dealt with, and the chemistry between Grant's and Jeanne Crain's characters, well, I wouldn't believe it if it were done by any other person.

I mean, honestly, it's a "love at first sight" situation that is never really resolved, and only from the Miss Higgins' (Crain) perspective, but they call stark attention to it. It's plainly said and we really have no idea why or how Grant's Dr.Praetorius fell for a desperate woman, but through calm, husky timbre, he manages to smooth it all over and away.

Then there's the issue of Hume Cronyn's weaselly Professor Elwell who seems to have it in for Dr.Praetorius from the start. He spends the film trying to dig up dirt to get Praetorius fired but, of course, only seems to make himself out to be a petty monster thanks to a climax tribunal in which the good doctor's constant companion, the mysterious Shunderson (Finlay Currie), bares all and takes the wind out of the proceedings... breaking the tension of him having been an oddity for the majority of the film.

Really, I love Hume Cronyn, and I applaud him his professionalism here, but this was not his best role, both in terms of actual screen time or likability. In my own opinion, I preferred his performance in the remake of 12 Angry Men, but that's just me.

It's funny, there's really not much meat to this movie. Nor laughs. Nor romance, though they do try with "magic shots" of Grant and Crain in the sweet embrace of a kiss.

The scandals that the film tries to shop around with (Marrying an already pregnant woman, practicing medicine without hanging a shingle, killing a man who was presumed dead by the man who served sentence for killing him the first time) could've been explored with much more depth and screen time, never really materializing... instead they're pretty much glazed over with barely a thought, and that's a disservice.

That said, Grant still managed to keep my attention throughout the entire film in that hypnotic way that only he could do.

It's no To Catch a Thief, mind you, not by a long shot... nor even close to Arsenic and Old Lace... but there are worse ways to spend an evening.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and One - Firefly: Episode 14, Objects In Space, "Well, Here I Am."

Still needing the comfort of the familiar and pleasing, but not quite so desperate that I can't handle a little heartbreak and longing, today's entry was easy to decide on... being the last episode of Joss Whedon's ill-fated and much beloved Firefly.

There's so much to love about this universe. It's a Western, but Science Fiction. It isn't bothered by its space-faring trappings and strictures, instead using them to great effect when necessary and, the grand majority of the time, not even bothering... choosing to tell quiet, human stories of grit and perseverance.

Objects In Space doesn't spend a lot of time with the actual crew, a rarity for final episodes, instead spending most of its effort on the guest character, Jubal Early (Richard Brooks whom most folks would probably recognize from his work in the early seasons of Law & Order).

I like Jubal... he's an interesting foil.

Obviously a psychopath, Jubal has a calm, mellow charm that is offset both by his odd questions/musings and his stark shifts from friendly to threatening.

Most psychopaths portrayed on television are done so severely, showing their threatening nature with heavy violence and tense soundtracks. Jubal is much more interesting due to his systematic and rational takedowns of the crew and subsequent negotiations with River/Serenity.

For me, all the joy and interest in the character comes from his thought process. I mean, honestly, the "Am I a Lion?" scene with Simon is pure brilliance in its awkwardness... and the only rough parts come from the quick madness cuts while River dresses Jubal down over the comm system.

Objects In Space is also great thanks to all the callbacks to previous episodes. Whether it's the assault on Niska's Skyplex or Jayne getting slashed, it's always good to have a show that doesn't live on stand alone episodes, like Star Trek does for the most part as an example. Rich, organic, self-referencing continuity makes for often tremendous television.

It's sad to see a favorite series end, even though I've been here with Firefly many times before... and even though it does continue with the film Serenity... I just mourn for all the grand potential the series had yet to explore and never rightly got to, even with the movie and the comics. Hell, especially because of the movie, since many compromises had to be made to give the film enough oomph worthy of both a feature and a sendoff.

If you haven't yet become a Browncoat, I definitely recommend the series. It was one of the greatest scifi shows to air in recent years and was cut tragically short by the network.

But the dream lives on in all of us Browncoats out here, subsisting on Netflix and DVDs and Blu-rays.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~