OK, here are all the various movie and book reviews I posted in 2004, lovingly cut and pasted.
December 2004:Movie Review: Brighton Beach Memoirs
This adaptation of Neil Simon's autobiographical stage play is just great. About a Jewish boy growing up in the tumultuous 40's. His family, already struggling to make ends meet, has to deal with with a multitude of life problems that all come crashing down at once. The spectre of Nazi Germany also hovers as their relatives in Poland are in danger. Yet somehow this movie still retains a lot of good cheer and is a great comedy. Seinfeld's Jason Alexander (with hair) has a small role of a menacing card shark. 8/10
Movie Review: Dune
David Lynch spent 3 years making this huge sci-fi epic. While the imagery is great and Lynch does capture a lot of the feelings from the book it just insn't a great adaptation. However it is still better than the 6 hr version that the Sci-Fi channel recently did. Strange to think that Lynch turned down directing Return of the Jedi to do this picture instead. Imagine how weird that could have been! The best thing about this movie is that in exchange for making it David Lynch was given total control over his next project which turned out to be the seminal Blue Velvet. 6/10
Book Review: Oriental Mythology - Joseph Campbell
Historical and mythological comparision of Oriental mythologies/religions beginning in Egypt and ending in Tibet and Japan. It's fascinating to see how religions stand on the back of their predecessors.
Movie Review: Howl's Moving Castle
Miyazaki's latest anime spectacular, ハウルの動く城, Hauru no Ugoku Shiro. I saw this with my friend Dan in Sannomiya. He had read the original book so he told me the basic story. The film was completely in Japanese so I thought his little summary might make it easier to understand. Well it didn't. The movie's story was completely different than the book's. A young hat-making girl is cursed by an old witch and turns into an extremely old woman. She then befriends a Wizard named Howl who likes to turn into a giant bird. Howl lives in a giant, walking, robot castle. He lives with a boy apprentice and a cute fire demon who powers the castle. There is a bloody war being fought between two kingdoms with very high tech airships. Strange jelly like creatures are constantly attacking Howl. The cursed girl befriends the witch who cursed her, as well as a very animated scarecrow on a stick that is always hopping around. How this all fits together I have no clue. The movie was quite long at 2 hours and I took a short nap about halfway through. I think Miyazaki was trying to tackle the big issue of war in this movie, as he has done with environmentalism in previous films. Due to massive incomprehension and general boringness I give it a 5/10.
Movie Review: The Control Room
Fascinating documentary about Arabic Al Jazeera TV. Very interesting as it focuses on a few key members of Al Jazeera as well as a member of the US Military's media relations in Central Command. 8/10
Book Review: Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
By the same author of the fabulously popular novel 'Da Vinci Code'. A Harvard symbologist becomes embroiled in a murderous plot by the nefarious Illuminati to destroy the Vatican once and for all. While the writing was more than a couple of notches below Faulkner the story was very compelling. Brown obviously did a lot of research and I'm a sucker for a good conspiracy story so I liked this one. Sure there were a few plot problems but this was a good vacation book.
Movie Review: Uncovered: The War on Iraq
Robert Greenwald's fantastic documentary about America's decision to go to war with Iraq. A collection of interviews with high ranking Intelligence & military officials, Middle Eastern specialists, UN personnel and former weapons inspectors that point-by-point debunk the arguments given for the need to invade Iraq. Much better than Fahrenheit 9/11 in my view. 8/10
Movie Review: Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
Greenwald's next big documentary takes on the blatantly right wing Fox Network. Not as good as his previous film as it doesn't take an expert to tell you that Fox news is not fair and balanced. For the same reason it didn't need to be as long. 6/10
Movie Review: Shrek 2
I found this movie hilarious, even better than the first Shrek. This movie finds Shrek and Fiona, and Donkey of course, visiting Fiona's parents in the Kingdom of Far, Far Away. Pop references fly every few minutes. Non American TV watching viewers unfortunately wouldn't understand most of the jokes so I was lucky. Yukiko really loved it too. 9/10
Book Review: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
I started this book ages ago but even though it is quite short it took me a long time to finish it. Being almost totally disinterested in the story didn't speed things up either. The story followed an American frontier-era family trying to take their mother's body to her birthplace for burial. Lack of money and washed out bridges prove to be far bigger obstacles than I thought they should have been. The writing style was spectacular though. Each short chapter was written from the point of view of different characters. This made for complex character development over the length of the story. Not enough to make me want to read it again though.
Movie Review: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
From the warped minds of Russ Meyer & Roger Ebert. Yes that Roger Ebert. Luckily he kept his day job because this movie is just awful. Sure there are plenty of beautiful women and some cool cheesy music but this movie just stunk. I will give it credit for the totally unexpected 'Crying Game' moment at the end though. Story synopsis: Young female rock band moves to California where they hit it big. The big time does bad things to nice people and they get caught up in drugs, sex, financial scandals and trans-gender shenanigans. 3/10
Movie Review: Dodgeball
Now I'm as big a fan of stupid comedies as the next person. And I really expected to like this one because both Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn are hilarious. However this one just didn't cut the cheese for me. The entire movie seemed to be a rehash of old South Park jokes. And if you've seen Parker & Stone's movie 'Baseketball' you've basically seen this one. Typical sports comedy story. Group of losers band together and against incredible odds beat the mighty opposition. Not worth more than a 1 night rental IMO. 5/10
Movie Review: Eraserhead
David Lynch's first full length film which he spent about 5 years filming with his friends while studying at the Philadelphia American Film Institute. This is one of the densest, most purely Freudian iconographic experiences you can have. I see more in it each time I view it. This film is pure, uncensored, Lynch. Themes, images and sounds from this film will resonate in everything else he does. 8/10
Movie Review: Elephant Man
Lynch's first feature film. And what a debut it was. Hired by Mel Brooks to direct, this film was nominated for a slew of Oscars. Sticking to his black & white guns, as he used in Eraserhead, this film really captured the feel of Victorian London. It was an amazing leap from Eraserhead to this. From weird cult director to Academy Award nominated director. It also shows Lynch's compassionate side which really wouldn't surface again until years later in his film 'The Straight Story.' 8/10
Movie Review: Valley Girl
I believe this was Nicolas Cage's feature film debut. While I expected nothing more than a stupid 80's teen sex movie I was pleasantly surprised. Following the formula of Romeo and Juliet this movie did a pretty good job of showing the trials of teen angst and the peer pressure kids face when trying to go outside a clique of friends. It also stings the ears with a barrage of 80's Valley Girl talk such as: totally tubular, gag me with a spoon, etc. The soundtrack is great too. 6/10
Movie Review: The Panama Deception
A documentary about America's brutal invasion of Panama in 1990. While ostensibly it was merely an operation to arrest the drug dealer Manuel Noriega this invasion had several goals: the destruction of the Panamanian army, installation of a US friendly government, and the destruction of many unions, opposition parties, etc. According to this documentary the main goal was to return the Panama Canal Zone to American jurisdiction but history has unfolded differently as the zone returned to Panamanian control in 2000. A fascination film. You can watch it online
here. 8/10
Movie Review: Bush's Brain
Now I'm as big a Bush-basher as the next guy but this film just wasn't all that great. You wouldn't know it by looking at the cover but this film is in fact about Bush's advisor Carl Rove. Based on a book of the same name this film interviews many people and presents a lot of evidence to show that Rove is a liar and a sneak. So what? It doesn't do much to show that Rove is really the brains behind Bush. If it weren't for all the Democratically-slanted movies appearing this year I don't think this one would have even been produced. It goes so far as to imitate a scene from Fahrenheit 911 with the camera following around a family that has lost a son in Iraq. This felt very disjointed as the links between Rove and the war are tenuous at best. Interesting but not compelling viewing. 6/10
Movie Review: Kill Bill vol.2
Unlike my friend Peter, I really liked this one. A lot better than volume 1. This is probably due to volume 2 containing the actual story. Volume 1 was just an extended action sequence. Volume 2 had it all, big fights, corny kung-fu flashbacks, and some quasi-philosophical speeches about superheroes that Kevin Smith would admire. 9/10
Movie Review: Casshern
A Japanese sci-fi film based on a popular anime series. Contains all the essential ingredients for Japanese sci-fi: robots, swords, unexplainable glowing energy sources, big transformers, etc. Actually this was probably the best Japanese sci-fi I've seen since I've been in Japan. And it's one of the first movies in the world to be (except for the actors) completely digitally produced. The actors performed everything in front of a blue screen and the entire movie was done in post production. Definitely worth a watch. 7/10
Movie Review: Cutie Honey
Another Japanese sci-fi film based on a popular anime. The original anime is what is called a 'sexy-anime' in Japan which means that the heroine and any female villians are generally very busty and apt to having their tops ripped off in the heat of combat. With a formula like that I figured this live action movie couldn't be too bad. However this seems to be the one element from the original cartoon that didn't carry over to the new movie. In all other regards the movie certainly captures the feel of the original and its characters. I'm sure fans of the original anime like this movie but it seemed a little too immature for me. Sort of like the new Scooby-Doo movies which are certainly aimed at a younger audience. 6/10
Movie Review: The Punisher
The one comic book adaptation that you'd think they couldn't screw up, but they did, a second time. Based on the dark but very popular Marvel Comics character, the Punisher is about a man who's family was gunned down by the mafia and is out for revenge. Lead actor Thomas Jane is a far better Punisher than Dolph Lundgren was in the first 80's Punisher movie but the violence is much tamer here. Violence is what the Punisher is all about! And making friends with his 3 geeky neighbours just doesn't fit the Punisher's bill. Travolta sinks a little deeper back into obscurity with his mediocre performance here. He must be calling Tarantino every night begging for another role. 6/10
November 2004:Movie Review: Bowling for Columbine
I'd already seen it but Yukiko hadn't so we rented the DVD with Japanese subtitles. While I like Michael Moore and generally agree with his point of view I don't like how he seems to fudge his data. For example, Moore asks a person on the street why Canada and America have such different levels of gun violence. The person (an American) answers that there is far more poverty in American. Moore counters by saying that Canada has more unemployment than America so that can't be the reason. This segues into a scene of a reasonably nice neighbourhood that Moore reveals to be a typical 'slum' in Canada. Good on ya Canada! However, unemployment doesn't necessarily entail poverty. As Moore himself states somewhere else in the film Canada has a better social assistance program for people than America does so perhaps many of Canada's unemployed are not in poverty. And while Moore seems to be saying that Canada's 'slums' are idyllic communities it's obvious he hasn't seen some of the dilapidated Indian reservations dotting the country that have been unfavourably compared to Third World slums. Overall still an excellent movie though. 9/10
Movie Review: Fahrenheit 9/11
Moore's Bush-Killer movie. Well... at least he tried. Aesthetically this movie was a lot better than Bowling for Columbine was. Mainly because Moore wasn't in front of the camera as much. Not because he's unpleasant to look at or anything (although he could do with the Subway diet a little) but because this movies focuses more on it's subject than it does on him, as it should. Unfortunately this also made the movie slightly less entertaining than his previous one. 8/10
Movie Review: Fahrenhype 9/11
The supposed Moore-killer film. Well apart from making a few salient points this film fails to deliver like a one-legged pizza delivery boy on a 10 speed bike. The good points: there are just as many democrats involved with the Carlyle Group as there are republicans, and every American president has been in bed with the Saudis since anyone can remember. The bad points: some of the people interviewed in Fahrenheit, while not recanting anything they said, don't like Michael Moore. Very relevant stuff. 6/10
Movie Review: Tampopo
A culinary comedy from Japanese director Itami Juzo. The movie focuses on a tough but sensitive truck driver who volunteers to help a widower improve her ramen restaurant. The art of making and eating ramen are shown in detail and lead to an instant craving for the nutritious noodles. Short scenes involving other characters and their relationships to food are interspaced throughout the movie and provide some different moods. A very fun movie to watch. 8/10
Movie Review: Calendar Girls
A group of older women in a small English town decide to bare it all for a calendar to raise money for charity. A very funny and sweet film. It does for women what 'The Full Monty' did for men. 7/10
Movie Review: Secret Window
Caught this flic at the theatre in Tokushima. Depp and Turturro are great and the story was well done but honestly it isn't anything I haven't seen before. 7/10
October 2004:Movie Review: Naqoyqatsi
The finale of Godfrey Reggio's Quatsi trilogy. Like the others this film involved just images and music. Unlike the others nearly every image in the film was processed or digitally enhanced in some way. While this neatly fit the theme of "Life as War" (the translation of the title) with technology replacing nature, it was banged over my head a little too much. Not that the images weren't impressive because they were, but it was much more difficult to watch over a sustained time than the previous 2 films. 6/10
Movie Review: The Early Films of David Lynch
This DVD contains Lynch's ealiest works, a painting/film combination and several short films. The 2 best short films were 'The Alphabet' and 'The Grandmother.' Both are very good lead ins to Lynch's famous, cult, feature film debut 'Eraserhead.' Although they are both somewhat more accessible. The Grandmother is about a young boy who lives with abusive parents. He plants some strange seeds in a bed in the attic and a giant pod like plant develops. The plant gives birth to an old woman who gives the boy all the attention and love he desires. It's only 30 mins long but this is a real treat for David Lynch fans like me out there. The Grandmother rates an 8/10
Movie Review: A Hole in the Head
A real interesting find on suprnova.org This documentary takes a serious look at trepanation, the act of a drilling a small hole in your head to increase blood flow to the brain. Apparently this can lead to a permanent increase in energy and vitality, as well as a constant sense of being partially high. There is footage of a few people performing this operation on themselves but it's not all that gory. Aside from lots of blood. A very interesting film. 6/10
Movie Review: Twenty Bucks
I originally saw this a few years ago and really liked it. Recently I found the videotape in a free library somewhere and decided to give it another look. I didn't find it as engaging this time around. There's a very loose story involving a large cast of characters that are generally unrelated. The camera follows $20 bill that goes person to person, affecting their lives in one way or another. A good idea with an eclectic cast. 7/10
Movie Review: Alien vs Predator
Slightly better than Freddy vs Jason. Numerous plot holes, weak lighting to hide bad special effects, and only about 10 mins of actual alien vs predator footage. Worth a download. 6/10
Movie Review: Whale Rider
Conventional story but it's very well done. A young Maori girl learns the old ways despite her curmudgeony old grandpa's disapproval. The young actress was amazing. 7/10
Movie Review: The Village
The latest in M. Night Shyamalon's ending-with-a-twist series. This movie felt like an extended episode of the Twilight Zone. And while it certainly had a somewhat creepy mood to it, it just wasn't all that scary. The story, a small village of holier-than-anyone do gooders are surrounded by a creepy forest inhabited by those they dare not mention. There are lots of scary sounds, some unexpected events, and secrets revealed. Might have been ok if it hadn't been the same as every other movie he's made. 6/10
Movie Review: Cold Mountain
American Civil War epic about a young couple who fall in love just as one is drafted into the South's army. He has to survive the horrors of the war and try to get home while his love, a well educated debutante, must learn to support herself and deal with the struggles of those left behind in the small town. While the 3 leads were excellent (Kidman, Zellweger, Law) I was very impressed with the numerous bit players. Brendan Gleeson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Giovanni Ribisi and Donald Sutherland all turn in great performances. A tad depressing but none the less a great movie. 8/10
Movie Review: Japanese War Bride
Another fine Matt Kauffman recommendation. Actually he lent me this movie because I was unable to see it when he showed it during his monthly 'Hollywood-Japan file' film screenings. I was surprised to see such a frank and honest examination of American anti-Japanese sentiments in a film made in 1952. The story, after the Korean War and American GI and his new Japanese wife move in with his family in rural California. While some of the GI's family are outwardly accepting, others are painfully cruel. One of the more interesting characters was a young Japanese American man who was interned in Japan during WW2. Meanwhile his Japanese born father was interned in America. The son hates Japan and loves America even though he is openly discriminated against. It was also a little shocking to be reminded how, not long ago, a husband slapping his disobedient wife was not in any way unusual. 8/10
Movie Review: Van Helsing
From the director of The Mummy series although this looked like a sequel to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. This movie follows the exploits of the famous vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing's little brother Gabriel. Not content to just hunt Dracula, this movie also throws Mr. Hyde, werewolves and Frankenstein into the brew. It's about 4 monsters too many though. Full of plot holes, bad dialogue, stupid action scenes and even weak CG, this movie sucks harder than Dracula did. The plot revolves around the Prince of Darkness using werewolves and Frankenstein to jumpstart his army of still-born vampire babies. Thing is the little vampire babies are just about the cutest things you've ever seen. More like a cross between a Gremlin and a muppet than a blood thirsty undead horror. Certainly not very scary. You know a movie is really bad when the only compliment you can give it is that the woman were all pretty. 3/10
Movie Review: I Robot
Caught this one at the theatre with my friend Dan. Impressive CG and the action was pretty good if not a little over the top. Having someone jump off a motorbike and fire off 2 pistols simultaneously while flipping in the air (with every bullet hitting its mark of course) just doesn't do it for me anymore. The story was very predictable too and I had figured out the criminal mastermind in the first 5 minutes. The product placement was also pretty bad. The story takes place in the future but the Fresh Prince was sporting a pair of vintage 2004 Converse basketball shoes. Just to hammer the promotional point home throughout the film the minor characters are often commenting about how cool they are. Ugh. There was a very ambiguous ending with an image of the 'human-like' robot becoming a saviour or leader of all the other unwanted robots. But this wasn't developed at all and just seemed to be thrown in for the neat visual effect. I'd recommend the original collection of short stories called 'I Robot' over this movie. Funny how the openning titles wouldn't even say this movie was based on the Isaac Asimov story but was merely 'suggested' by it. That's a first. 6/10
September 2004:Movie Review: U-571
A brave American submarine crew heroically board a disabled German U-boat and capture the Enigma decoder giving the Allies an advantage in the Atlantic. Problem is that the British were the ones who did this; the Americans weren't even in the war at this point. Historical problems aside, this movie had 1 really big flaw. The German submarine they captured was supposed to be so disabled that it was adrift. Yet the Americans somehow manage to perform difficult manoeuvers, descend to record breaking depths, sink an enemy submarine and destroyer, and still manage to sail into Allied controlled territory. Even with all the big names in the film I found this a little hard to swallow. 6/10
Movie Review: Baraka
One of the most impressive, thought provoking movies I've ever seen. Directed by Ron Fricke, the cinematographer of Chronos and Powwaqatsi, this movie also has no dialogue. It is a collection of beautiful music and vivid scenes of varied cultures from around the world. The use of time lapse photography is excellent, showing the disparity between traditional and modern humankind's view of time. This film has inspired many of my travel destinations. 10/10
Movie Review: Ararat
Latest film, I think, from Canadian director Atom Egoyan. Ostensibly about the Armenian genocide, this film must be Agoyan's most densely layered and difficult. The film takes place in 3 times happening concurrently, with the actual events of the genocide being portrayed by a cast & crew making a movie about the events. Every character has background issues and they all intermingle together in a beautiful but somewhat confusing mosaic. I'll need to watch it again sometime to try and take in everything going on. 9/10
Movie Review: One Hour Photo
Known as 'Stalker' in Japan this was a pretty chilling movie. My friend Peter won't believe me but Robin Williams does a great job in this. He plays a very quiet, lonely, introverted photo technician at some megamart. He becomes unusually attached to one family and makes copies of their family photos for himself for years. One day he discovers something in the photos and their lives change forever. Visually the movie is also very impressive. Williams character is dressed and lit in such a way to virtually disappear into the monolithic store he works at. 7/10
Movie Review: Cold Creek Manor 
I was under the impression that this was supposed to be a good movie. Boy was I wrong, what a stinker. Dennis Quaid was so good in the last movie I saw him in it was disappointing to see him lumbering around this clunker. A family moves away from the big city into a big old rustic fixer-upper in the country. The former owner (played pretty well by Stephen Dorff from Cecil B. Demented fame) turns up and things develop into an out and out ruckus. Predictable from start to finish this movie was just plain bad. 4/10
Movie Review: Bulletproof Monk
I heard this one was good too. Oh well. So blatant a ripoff of the Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon it hurt. The "story", a Tibetan monk charged with protecting a sacred scroll (which incidentally contains the power to rule the world) is given super martial arts powers and must fight off bands of Nazis... yes you heard me, Nazis. A guy needs a sidekick for comedic relief though. Cue Stiffler errr, Seann William Scott. While no match for the Tibetan monk he has no problem fighting off hordes of gang members and Nazi flunkies with the skills he learned watching movies. He also falls in love with a beautiful girl who happens to be the daughter of a Russian mobster allowing them access to plenty of guns, explosives, and a very impropable remote controlled SUV. Bad dialogue, bad acting, bad SFX, what's left to say? Got Milk? 4/10
Movie Review: Super Size Me
Ah finally, an oasis amidst the stupidity. This was an enjoyable watch. The director decides to see how healthy fast food really is by eating nothing but McDonalds for an entire month. Of course he gets really sick and the doctors were telling him he could die if he continued with the diet. This is really only about half of the documentary though. In between shakes and fries the film follows director around the country as he investigates school lunch programs, talks to lobbyists for the big fast food and junk food companies, and talks to various nutritionists and doctors about what a healthy diet really is. The film casts quite a shadow on the fast food culture. Enough so that shortly before its release McDonalds decided to stop offering 'super size' foods throughout their restaurants. 8/10
Movie Review: Aliens
Best of the bunch. Hardcore space marines vs Aliens. However, why were so few marines sent? 9/10
Movie Review: Alien 3
The final film of the Alien-on-TV series. I liked it much more this time compared to when I originally saw it. Perhaps all the negative hype at the time influenced me. It was a brave creative choice, to forgoe all the macho weapons of the previous film and to have the alien battle unarmed convicts. The ending was very weak though. 7/10
Movie Review: Unfaithful
Story of a woman who becomes swept up in a romance with a much younger man despite having a perfect family. It takes a real dramatic turn when the husband finds out. Richard Gere does a fine job but it is Diane Lane who steals the show. 7/10
Movie Review: In Plane Site
Controversial film claiming that the events of 9/11 did not happen as we were led to believe they did. First of all, the film claims there is no photographic or video evidence of a plane hitting the Pentagon. Most of this is taken from the website called
Hunt the Boeing. The questions raised seemed to have been answered by many
experts however. The 2nd half of the film focuses on the jets slamming into the WTC. Close ups of the 2nd jet seem to show something attached to the bottom of the plane, and a flash emanating from it moments before the collision. The film claims this could be a missile being launched to ignite the jet fuel that will be spread moments later. Interesting to see but definitely not worth buying. I'd rank it alongside attempts to disprove the moonwalk. 6/10
Movie Review: Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation
Second of Godfrey Reggio's 'Quatsi' trilogy. Filled with beautiful imagery and great music by Phillip Glass. However, this film seems to lack a message like the first film Koyaanisquatsi did. The earlier film concentrated on the northern hemisphere (mainly America) while this one looks at the southern hemisphere. The images of 40 000 workers hauling bags of dirt out a 2km deep strip mine in Brazil is very impressive. But many of the music tracks are just variations on the same theme and it gets somewhat repetetive. Still reccomended viewing though. 7/10
TV Reviews: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 1st SeasonA pretty good show, I can see why young teens would like it. Some aspects are a little hard to swallow though. I can accept the vampires and other monsters. What I have more trouble accepting is a high school where numerous students are attacked and/or killed, an English teacher is nearly suffocated with a plastic bag, a science teacher's head is bitten off, and the principal is eaten by hyena-possesed students -- and nothing is done about it! Forget those intercity, gang infested schools. This must be the most dangerous school in America. Yet there are no metal detectors or police officers anywhere. Even the dress code is lax. Buffy is just asking for undead trouble with those short skirts she keeps wearing.
Movie Review: Red Zone Cuba
Right down there amongst the worst movies ever. This movie by the late, great Francis Coleman is equally as stinky as his first movie, The Beast of Yucca Flats. It's sort of about 3 men on the run from the law who participate in the ill fated Bay of Pigs invasion, then kill an old man for his car, then try to get into the precious minerals business. Yes the movie is really this disjointed and stupid. Luckily I saw the Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) version which was hilarious. Worth a watch if you can appreciate really, really, really bad movies. This one makes Ed Wood Jr. look fantastic, really. 1/10
Movie Review: The Challenge
Another fine selection from Matt Kaufman's monthly
Hollywood Japan File series. A down on his luck boxer is hired to bring a valuable katana to Japan whereupon he gets involved in a deadly gang war. Luckily most of the participants are fluent in English. For me the most intersting part was that Steven Segal was the fight choreographer and the techniques were all pure Aikido (except for the shuriken bits). Watching the lead character struggle to eat live lobsters and other squiggly creatures was also pretty funny. 7/10
Movie Review: Alien
This week on NHK2 they are showing the complete Alien series so Yukiko & I settled in, between the howling wind and the earthquake bulletins, to watch this seminal horror flick. Hard to believe this movie is over 20 years old now. Still stands up pretty well, except for scenes when the alien is moving. Here it really resembles a puppet in a wet suit on a skateboard. 8/10
August 2004Movie Review: Lady Snowblood
Probably the single biggest influence for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. This 1970's Japanese samurai blood fest has more arterial sprays than... sorry I don't know how to finish that one but there are a heck of a lot of arterial blood sprayings. In the Meiji period, a group of hoodlums kill a husband, son and rape the wife for 3 days straight. Born in prison, the wife's daughter is trained from childhood to take vengeance. A very fun movie to watch. 8/10
Movie Review: Far From Heaven
This movie was very stylish. Director Todd Haynes has really created a believable 50's feel to everything. The plot revolves around the seemingly perfect 50's American couple played by Julianna Moore and Dennis Quaid. Things go astray when the husband comes to realize he is gay and the wife becomes enamoured with her black gardener (played by 24's Dennis Haysbert). Dennis Quaid is spectacular as the emotionally tortured gay man trying to cure himself of his 'sickness'. However the movie tries to deal with too many issues at the same time and the impact of each is lessened. 6/10
Movie Review: Spiderman 2
Well right off the start, the action in this movie is great. The story, which seems to come mainly from an old issue of the Amazing Spiderman comic book (#50 I believe) is generally good but there were a slew of small errors and things that didn't make sense. I understand how Doc Ock's mechanical arms were attached to his spine and then coerced him into a life of crime. But how did he get so tough and resistant to pain? He was thrown through walls and Spiderman hit him many times but the good doctor just shrugged it off. Still, it's an exciting movie to watch. 7/10
Movie Review: Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem 
French electronica band Daft Punk teams up with Japanese animator Leji Matsumoto to create a 1 hour music video/movie for their 2001 album 'Discovery'. The #1 band from a planet of blue humanoids is abducted by a ruthless record producer. He brings them to Earth, changes their skin colours and brainwashes them. And you thought Napster was bad. Why does he do it you might ask? The producer is the head of a strange cult and they've built a machine which, if equipped with enough gold records, will allow them to take over the universe. So the story is pretty wishy-washy but at least it's short. The retro style animation and the music do work well together though. 6/10
Movie Review: Twilight Samurai
AKA 'Tasogare Seibei', this movie has swept the Asian film festival circuit. It was also nominated for the Academy award for best foreign language film (losing to The Barbarian Invasions). Wow, this movie was great. Set in the same time as 'Last Samurai' (and featuring one of the key actors Hiroyuki Sanada) this is a very human story. Short on action but big on genuine situations. A petty samurai is looked down upon by his colleagues because he must always rush home from work to look after his 2 young children and senile mother. Prefering the simple life of farming and raising his children, he must decide what to do when his superiors order him to challenge a master swordsman. 8/10
Movie Review: Chronos
Directed by Ron Fricke, the cinematographer from Koyaanisqatsi. This film is really just a shorter, 40 min, clone of Koyaanisqatsi. Beautiful locations + time lapse photography + music. And while the locations and music are beautiful they just aren't as dynamic as in the earlier film. A little disappointing after seeing his earlier work. The various sites in the Middle East & Europe are amazing though. 7/10
Movie Review: Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance
First in a trilogy by Godfrey Reggio. It's not a movie in the traditional sense at all. It's really an experience, like the final scene in 2001 when the camera enters the time/space warp and meets the Starchild. The film has no characters, no dialogue and no story. There is definitely a message though. It's about the natural world, the human/technological world and their interactions. Hard to describe, but very beautiful to witness. The film includes many amazing locations across America. Philip Glass's music is mesmorizing. 8/10
July 2004:Movie Review: The Barbarian Invasions
Winner of multiple awards including the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. This film from French-Canadian director Denys Arcand is actually a sequel to a film he did many years ago, The Decline of the American Empire. The film revolves around a man who is dying. He wants to make peace with his estranged son and reminisce with his free-thinking friends about their lascivious youth (as portrayed in the first film). A very touching film with strong acting throughout. 9/10
Book review: The Illuminati Conspiracy - Donald HolmesI thought this was going to be a fun, conspiracy filled book about the secret world leaders. I have read a few books like this already and they actually were based on some good research. This book, however, seems to based on sources that came from the 'occult section' of a mom & pop shop. While technically speaking this book is fiction and the story revolves around a fictional character, all that character's discoveries are based on real books and real historical events. So it is somewhat of a semi-non-fiction book. However the character's reasoning skills are pretty childish. Because the character has never actually witnessed anyone dying in war, or knowing anyone who has witnessed it, he concludes that most wars are staged and that most casualty reports are fake. And while he doesn't just come out and say it he also alludes to the Holocaust as never happening. Here are some choice quotes, "He found he had no explanation for the curdling tragedies at Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the attempted genocide in Nazi Germany - but neither did he altogether believe any of them."
He also cites author
Erich Von Daniken as someone who has 'proven' that extraterrestrials have previously visited the Earth. You might be familiar with Daniken or one of his books "Chariots of the Gods," "Gods from Outer Space" or "The Gold of The Gods." I read these books and intellectually dismissed them when I was about 12. In one of the books Daniken shows a picture of a strange shaped ornament that was found in an Egyptian pyramid. Then he says, "doesn't this look kind of like a modern space shuttle? Therefore it must be a model of a spacecraft of some kind." Using Daniken's results to support his own theories certainly didn't help the book.
Daniken discovers another alien artifact
Here's another example of his masterful argumentative skills at work. When describing the effects of high tech products on average citizens he says, "Housewives of America... you are being tacitly trained as flight technicians for intergalactic space travel! ...
That's a fairly palatable thesis - if true." Well duh!
As much as I usually like conspiracy books (no matter how outlandish - ie the Bermuda Triangle is the gateway to Hell) this one was so illconconceived and lacking any useful research that it was a chore just to finish it. If you want to read a good book about the Illuminati I'd suggest 'Holy Blood & the Holy Grail' which is a very well written and researched book.
Movie Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Watched this on a whim as I remember it being a cult classic. Well it fell a little short of the mark for me. The vampires were about as weak and pathetic as the skeletons in Army of Darkness. I wouldn't be too worried about anything that Luke Perry is able to fight off with his bare hands. The acting was just as weak. Rutger Hauer, o where art though Rutger Hauer? Hard to believe this was the same guy who shined in Blade Runner. Even Pee Wee Herman's Paul Reubens was lackluster. Far inferior to the later produced television series. Only real highlight was the highschool basketball coach. 5/10
Movie Review: LOTR: Return of the King
Still waiting for the Extended DVD version to come out. This is a real modern day epic despite the fact that most of it is CGI. Being a real fan of the book though there are still many changes that I didn't like. Gondor is really put to shame here. The King, who is supposed to be slightly mad but still noble and wise, is reduced to a clown that Gandalf bonks with his cane 2 or 3 times. The Gondorian soldiers seem little more than Keystone Cops running this way and that until Gandalf takes charge. The soldiers of Rohan are far more impressive.
There are a few key plot changes too. Firstly, the movie has Elrond carry the sword of the King of Gondor, alone, halfway across Middle-Earth to deliver it to Aragorn. This is just plain stupid. There is no way the 2nd most important Elf alive (Galadriel being the most important) would take such a risk while the armies of Mordor were wreaking havoc about the countryside. Of course in the books Aragorn has the sword with him when he leaves Rivendell.
Another major change is the army of the dead that accompanies Aragorn when he saves Gondor. This army is for all intents and purposes unstoppable and they quickly decimate the attacking forces. Why didn't Aragorn just continue on with them to Mordor as they were his to command? In the book, if I remember correctly, the dead really didn't do much if any fighting. They merely frightened the Corsairs off their boats which allowed Aragorn and an army of human allies to surprise the forces of Mordor.
The ending of the movie was excellent though and there are a few things I hope will be in the extended version:
Death of Saruman
Aragorn confronting Sauron with the Palantir
the Mouth of Sauron meeting the allies at the Black Gates
Sam taking the last boat into the West
(real nice bonus) Legolas taking Gimli with him into the West as well
10/10
Movie Review: Kangaroo Jack 
While it was aimed at a younger audience I still found this movie somewhat funny. In brief, the son-in-law of a New York Mafia leader screws up and to make amends he agrees to deliver an envelope of money to someone in Australia. Of course his wisecracking, always getting into trouble friend goes with him. Then while driving through the outback to the unforgettable sounds of Men Without Hats they hit a kangaroo. Believing it to be dead they do the only natural thing... they dress it up to take pictures to send back to their homies. Of course the kangaroo isn't dead and it soon hops off wearing their jacket with the money-filled envelope in the pocket. Hilarity and dingo-ate-the-baby jokes ensue. Luckily the scenes of the kangaroo talking only happen in 1 character's heat induced visions. 5/10
Movie Review: 28 Days Later 
Fun homage to Dawn of the Dead like zombie movies. As the story begins a man wakes up in a hospital bed in London and finds the city deserted. Turns out a highly infectious disease has mutated the populace into mindless, yet agile, killers. The hero bands together with the few remaining survivors to try and just stay alive. Hilarity and crazed-killer-ate-the-baby jokes ensue. 8/10
Movie Review: Comandante 
Oliver Stone's interview of Castro that HBO refused to air. While I generally like Stone's work this was fairly uninteresting. Stone really didn't press Castro on any difficult topics and kept continually asking him about 'the new world order.' Very little was said about major international events such as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, or the Cuban involvement in Angola. I hear that the follow-up documentary "Looking for Fidel" is supposed to be much meatier. 6/10
Movie Review: An Evening with Kevin Smith 
It's over 3 hours but very entertaining. Smith is a great public speaker and very funny. No wonder his film dialogue is so great. Smith takes questions from crowds of University students and isn't afraid to answer any of them. Sex, drugs, homosexuality, religion, he manages to weave them all into hilarious stories, most of which are true. Funny to think that his on-screen persona, Silent Bob, rarely speaks. His anecdotes about working with bigtime Hollywood producers and filming a documentary for Prince are priceless. 8/10
Movie Review: About Schmidt
Impressive character study about an older man who loses his wife of 42 years shortly after realizing they don't understand each other at all. He travels by himself around the country and attempts to dissuade his daughter from marrying a man he doesn't approve of. Often funny but with moments of true human honesty. Jack Nicholson is subtle but great. It's nice to see him play a very quiet, introspective character instead of a loud-mouthed know-it-all for a change. Kathy Bates also stands out as the hippie/nympho mother of the groom. 7/10
Movie Review: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Extended version of course. While I still enjoyed this movie it wasn't as good as the first one. Some of the changes from the novel were good while others were very bad. In the movie a host of elves join the Rohirrim before the great battle. This didn't happen in the book but I'll admit it looked great on film. The Battle at Helm's Deep was also magnificent. One of the greatest battle scenes I've ever witnessed in a movie. However, the characterization of Faramir in the movie was almost opposite that in the book. The many scenes with Faramir dragging Frodo and friends back to Gondor were also pointless. Admittedly the extended version of the movie does explain much more clearly the relationship between Faramir, Boromir and their father Denethor than was shown in the theatrical version of the film. This all felt rather tacked on to the movie though and did nothing to progress the plot. 8/10
Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
I'm not sure which Harry Potter is my favourite now. This one or the first one? The 3rd movie is the darkest, fastest paced and most mature of the 3 movies. However, the first movie spent a lot of time introducing us to the wonders of Hogwarts and the magical world of wizardry. This has largely been dispensed with in the next 2 movies. The 3rd film again had a good opportunity to show us this magical world when we entered the town of Hogsmeade for the first time but it was skipped over quite quickly. The characters in the movie were just great, although it's a little strange to see how much the child actors have grown. It's a little difficult to believe they are supposed to be only 13. Neville looks like he could be a starting centre in the NBA. I also worry about the actor who plays Ron. He is obviously the Potsy / Skippy / Screech character in the series and will forever be typecast as Ron. The red hair also won't help his career much. My biggest problem with this movie is that too much of the story has been cut out. Most importantly, the relationship between James Potter-Sirius Black-Peter-Lupin-Snape. I think this was crucial to the story and should have been explained a bit more. Still, it was a very enjoyable movie. 8/10
Movie Reviews: Red Rock West 
I've wanted to see this movie for a long time and I finally got the chance. It was as good as all the hype I'd heard. I'd seen John Dahl's next film, The Last Seduction, and I loved it. This film is also a great example of modern film-noir. A down on his luck drifter ends up in a small town and the answer to all his problems presents itself - he is mistaken for a hitman and is offered a wad of money to kill a local man's wife. Of course he accepts the deal which begins a long and twisting path that leads him everywhere but out of the little town of Red Rock. Nicolas Cage is great in one of his better roles and he's well supported by the likes of Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle and J.T. Walsh. 8/10
Movie Reviews: Donnie Darko 
What a strange, dark movie. No wonder it's become such a cult hit. If you haven't seen it yet I definitely reccomend it. Only if you like movies that need multiple viewings to try to understand however. A somewhat disturbed teenaged is nearly killed by a jet engine crashing into his bedroom. He also has visions and receives messages from an apparition wearing a bunny costume. Lots of talk about God, worm holes through time... This movie's got a great
website as well. However the cryptic puzzles will utterly confuse those not familiar with the film, as well as many of those who may be. 9/10
June 2004:Movie Review: Quick Change
Pretty simple storyline, bank robbers' plan goes flawlessly but the get away isn't as smooth. Not very demanding roles for any of the actors. Randy Quaid and Geena Davis are simply forgettable. Bill Murray is alright but this movie certainly didn't do anything for his career. The only real standout as far as I'm concerned was Tony Shalhoub who played a hilariously confused, foreign taxi driver. And unfortunately he was only on screen for about 5 minutes. Worth watching if it's on TV (or you can borrow my tape). 6/10
Movie Review: Airplane 2: The Sequel
I rented this one on a whim. I haven't seen it in years. It's not quite as good as the original, which is a personal favourite, but still very funny. They were pretty ballsy to make a movie that follows almost the exact same storyline as the original (Teen Wolf Too tried this as well), as well as including most of the same actors, just putting everyone in a space shuttle instead of an airline. The non-stop, silly, immature jokes made me laugh as a teenager and they still have the same effect today. I guess that means I haven't progressed much as a human being. Oh well. The William Shatner role & the Battlestar Galactica music are also great. 7/10
Movie Review: Clerks: the Animated Series
OK, not a movie, but just about the same running time. This set of 6 animated TV shows from Kevin Smith (the writer/director of Clerks, Mallrats, etc) is about the adventures of 2 slackers working at a convenience store. Based on characters of the live action movie of the same name this show was surprisingly funny. Only 6 episodes were ever made and only 2 of them were ever aired. I couldn't believe that these 2 foul mouthed characters could be cleaned up enough for a prime time cartoon but that's exactly what they did. Jay & Silent Bob were also changed from drug dealers to firecracker sellers. It's still very funny though. The cast & crew commentaries are also very funny, as they are still trying to figure out how they got cancelled. 8/10
Movie Review: Monty Python & the Holy Grail 
My mum sent me this DVD for my birthday earlier this year and I finally watched it. The DVD had a lot of documentaries, 2 commentaries, and 26 seconds of deleted material. If you're a Python fan you can't ask for much more. The creme-de-la-creme of comedies. 10/10
Movie Review: LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring 
Extended DVD version of course. Rewatched this great movie for the xxth time. LOTR is my favourite set of books, and the movies are certainly my favourite trilogy now. It's a shame some things from the book have been cut, like Glorfindel the Elf and Tom Bombadil, but it's perfectly understandable with the time constraints the movie has. I also like how Arwen's role has been expanded upon. Her story was mostly detailed in the appendices of the book and always seemed like a bit of an afterthought. The extended DVD is just amazing. 3 commentaries, about 10 hours of documentaries, thousands of art pictures... wow. But a film this good deserves this treatment. If you've only seen the theatrical version you're missing out. 9/10
Movie Review: Qui-est Vous, Monsieur Sorge? 1961 B&W French film about real spies in Japan before World War 2. I didn't know Sorge and his role in the war so the historical aspect of the movie was interesting for me. That was about it though. The movie was over 2 hours long and yet seemed longer. It was also a little strange that these characters were German, were spying for Russia, lived in Japan, but spoke French? Everyone spoke French. When a Japanese train conductor questions a German diplomat he says, 'You are German? Bonjour.' Subtitles don't liven up an already boring film either. 5/10
Movie review: Showdown in Little Tokyo
This movie makes other buddy cop movies like Tango & Cash, and even Turner & Hooch look good. Possibly only the Whoopie Goldberg/dinosaur movie is worse but I'm committed to never finding that out. Suprisingly Dolph Lundgren's Japanese lines came out better than his English ones. Shows what a fine thespian he is. 4/10
Movie review: Auto-Focus
Supposed to be the real life story of former Hogan Heroes' star Bob Crane. However a quick search on the Internet will show that many things in the movie never happened. Willem Dafoe is amazing as usual. He must be one of America's top actors. Is there a role he can't pull off? Entertaining if you don't know much about Bob Crane's lifestyle. 6/10 The DVD also includes a documentary about the real investigations into his death. These were far more informative than the movie.
Movie review: Japanese Story
One of the best movies of 2003. A very beautiful story about a Japanese business man and his Australian guide (Toni Collette, who never ceases to amaze) as they drive around the Australian outback and discover something wonderful. This movie is part Lost in Translation, part Walkabout, but altogether something beautiful and original. I want to get my hands on the sountrack too. 9.5/10
Movie review: Carandiru
A Brazilian film, based on true stories, about life inside a very dangerous, very overcrowded Brazilian prison. A new doctor joins the staff of the prison and the film is mostly told from his point of view. He meets prisoners while he is administering AIDS tests and hears their various stories. The movie very slowly introduces us to a large group of characters and allows each story to progress a little. The movie floats along at this pace for about 2 hours until the shocking riot finale when police kill over 100 prisoners. The movie is little more than a character study for the first 2 hours while the ending is a horrific, violent action sequence. Not much of a storyline, but still very watchable. The acting is excellent and the movie is very realistic. 7/10
Movie review: Troy
I haven't read The Illiad but I know enough about it to know this movie is very different from the original. In the movie the entire siege lasts about 2 weeks while Homer's poem clocks in at over 10 years. I've also read reviews saying that all the major characters died at different points in story, or didn't die at all. However I won't criticize a film for not staying true to it's original source. Kubrick's 'The Shining' is one of my favourite movies, and it's different from the novel. In fact I think it's superior to the novel. I don't even mind that the Greek Gods' roles are completely eliminated from the movie. This makes the movie more realistic and less Clash-of-the-Titans. I came into this movie with very low expectations and for me it exceeded those expectations so I don't think it was all that bad. The action was pretty good, the acting was pretty good (except for Orlando Bloom's character and Helen of Troy) and it was beautifully filmed. However there was nothing innovative or challenging about this movie. It was just a standard wanna-be-epic movie that blatantly rips off Gladiator and Braveheart.
Was Gladiator that much better though? I don't think so. Why do so many people like Gladiator better? Was it all the annoying tie-dye togas in Troy? I don't think so. Was it because no one could believe they fell for the old Trojan Horse trick? I mean how old is that trick?! I think the big difference is that in Gladiator everyone was cheering for Maximus, he was an obvious good hero. Who was the hero in Troy? Well of course it's Brad Pitt's character Achilles. But he is not a good hero. Hector was the real 'good' character yet Achilles kills and then dishonours him. Maybe people didn't like Troy because they they find it difficult to cheer for the main character? 6/10
Book review: Act of GodBegins with an interesting premise. An American Cardinal is next in line to become Pope. His researcher friend claims to have found the skeleton of Jesus (and a manuscript to prove it) while on a dig in Israel. The cardinal believes that if this news goes public, true or not, the Catholic church will be in big trouble. Added to the mix, the Cardinal's niece is dating a detective with the Attorney General's office who is assigned to investigate some artefacts stolen from Israel. However after about 50 pages this turns into a predictable detective story with a weak ending that resolves almost none of the mysteries that came up. However the author of the book,
Charles Templeton , led a very interesting life. I didn't know anything about him until I just looked his name up but he was a very famous Canadian. Former radio personality, cartoonist, journalist, author, nearly the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, and an evangelist. He toured the US with Billy Graham and many believed he would be the world's biggest evangelical preacher. However he did an about face and rejected Christianity. He even wrote a book entitled 'Why I am Not a Christian'.
Movie Review Max 
This movie generated some controversy when it came out because it's about Hitler before his rise to power. The movie tells the story of 30 year old Hitler in post WW1 Germany. The army wants to exploit Hitler's provocative speaking style to rouse the people. A Jewish art dealer tries to convince Hitler that his vision would best be served as a painter. Unfortunately the whole movie is very slow and boring. Seeing as how this movie is almost entirely fictional it's a surprise the filmmakers couldn't come up with more compelling characters or a more interesting story. 5/10 Only really worth seeing if you are having problems sleeping.
Movie Review: Phone Booth
Plenty of plot holes, weak dialogue, dumb ending. Anything else you need to know? The movie was filmed (almost) entirely around a phone booth. Ok this is interesting, but if you want to see a movie with a single location watch Rear Window instead. The ending of the movie was especially dumb. ***SPOILER** Would the main character really believe that the dead pizza delivery guy (who he argued with earlier and had a thick NY accent) was the sniper who he'd been talking to for over an hour?? Kiefer Sutherland and the pizza guy sounded completely different. Guess they just wanted a quick wrap up to the movie. Kiefer should stick with 24 in my opinion.
