Progress Report: To Be or Not to Be

Progress Report provides ongoing impressions of serials or sets I view them.

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Not having seen the original film, directed by Ernst Lubitsch during the middle of World War II, I didn't have much to compare Mel Brooks' remake of To Be or Not to Be to when I viewed it recently. What I found was a surprising balance of comedy and drama and a film that, while restrained, remains quite entertaining.

The story, following the original closely, involves a Polish theatrical company, led by Frederick (Mel Brooks) and Anna (Anne Bancroft) Bronski, the headlining stars. When Germany invades Poland during World War II, the Bronskis continue to run their theater company but get mixed up with the Polish resistance when Lt. Andre Sobinski (Tim Matheson), who had previously attempted a liaison with a willing Anna shows up and needs their help in order to prevent the Gestapo from receiving a list of the Polish underground resistance.

From what I've read, the film actually stays really close to the original, so credit to the original for putting together a film that has plenty of dramatic tension, interesting complex characters and a whole lot of laughs at the same time. Some things that were changed includes adding in the stories of the persecuted Jews and homosexuals (and gypsies in passing), much of which just couldn't be shown so close to wartime for one reason or another (lack of information, social taboo, etc.) as well as some changes to some characters and scenes. But, it all works pretty well, although the beginning is a little rough. And I have to say that I love the "Naughty Nazis" musical number at the beginning. But it's great how well woven the script is together so that different plot elements allow these actors to be heroes of sorts. The protagonists are dynamic and funny and even most of the villains are quite amusing. I found the flustered rapport between the soft-minded Colonel Eirhart (Charles Durning) and his beleaguered Captain Schultz (Christopher Lloyd) to be laugh inducing. I did have my brain logic-checking at times because sometimes the story really pushed past the boundary of plausibility, even despite its comedy genre, but I could mostly let that go because of how enjoyable the whole affair was.

One thing that you immediately can tell about this film is that it's not directed or written by Brooks, even as it's produced by him. The film has a kind of smoothness as well as restraint that really benefits to telling the characters' stories and while it doesn't amp up the gags and verbal comedy like Brooks' wacky high energy style does, it complements the story that needed to be told well. Performances are pretty solid across the board and it looks like the actors really enjoyed hamming it up as hammy actors with Brooks perhaps giving one of his most pathos-laden performances in a comedy. The art team does a good job of putting together the look of the film as well and the music, especially the musical numbers are fun. The opening scene is a musical number actually done in Polish along with some dialog thereafter. And, to be honest, I probably would've enjoyed the whole thing in Polish, but they decided to break the fourth wall and have some omniscient voice announce that the film would thereafter be in English. A Brooksish gag, but the only one that was particularly off kilter.

I don't know how necessary this remake was because the original film is so well regarded and appreciated. But, even if it's not a necessary film, it is still quite enjoyable from start to finish and from it, we get to see the range of Brooks as a comedic actor. It might not be a classic like the original, but I thought it was darn good time and quite possibly more enjoyable that a number of Brooks' own films since Young Frankenstein, even if it's not super original. Because the original is so well regarded, I'd say that it would probably be the one I recommend to watch, but the Brooks take on this film is plenty good as well. 7/10.

Links:

• Set index
• Available at Amazon

Inbox:Replay: Toy Story

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

Replay revisits moving pictures that I have seen in the past.

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I almost can't believe that it's been fifteen years since the original Toy Story (and Pixar) showed up in movie theaters. I remember how I originally went in to catch the movie with some trepidation as, back in 1995, I wasn't sure how I'd find a 3D animated film. And, yet, when the credits rolled with Randy Newman singing the now familiar tune, I was delighted. Toy Story set up a series of expectations for Pixar films: high animation quality, inventive and emotionally mature storylines while still very kid-friendly, and a whole lot of fun that the animation studio would largely match for the rest of their releases.

But, I wondered if the original Toy Story was going to seem dated, going back to it fifteen years later. And, the answer is, only slightly. Animation technology has come a long way since Toy Story debuted, but it's only most obvious in the animation of the human beings in the film, which clearly look less textured and move a little more stiffly than they do now. The rest of the stylized art still looks great today.

Interestingly enough, I'd partially mixed up the story of the two Toy Story films together, but I suppose time can do that. The first Toy Story is about the introduction of Buzz Lightyear, a spaceman action figure, into Andy's bedroom, taking over the spot of previous favorite toy from Woody, a more classic cowboy action figure. Problem is that Buzz Lightyear actually believes he's the real Buzz Lightyear and his lack of awareness of the fact that he's a toy leading to the nonchalance and unawareness that he's taken Woody's most cherished place on Andy's bed leads to a lot of jealousy and resentment from Woody. This gets Woody plotting in some rather dark territory and then the adventure takes off from there.

Watching it again after all this time, there are some minor quibbles I have with the logical consistency of the rules of being an animate toy, especially insofar as how Buzz relates to it: why does Buzz bother to go limp and pretend to be a toy at all when around Andy and other humans? But outside of that quandary, the story stays largely intact and, in fact, I think I've come to appreciate it even more watching it now. Ultimately, it's story about the fear of being replaced, dealing with jealousy and welcoming a new person, something both children (who are expecting younger siblings) and adults (who might find such scenarios at their workplaces) can relate to. Furthermore, it doesn't shy away from the darker implications of jealousy nor does it necessarily try to paint Woody as a goody-goody, which I think is a positive sign.

The voice actors, professionals Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and a host of other notables making up the rest of the cast all do a great job of establishing memorable characters and it's amazing just how much life the animators bring into the toys. Of course, now Disney favorite Randy Newman provides a set of some rather fun songs, very clearly in his own idiom.

When the credits rolled back in 1995 when I first saw Toy Story, I marveled at what I saw. Having had time, perspective, a whole boatload of film history/theory/making classes and seen hundreds of movies since then, I thought my reaction to my recent viewing of Toy Story would be cooler, but it turns out that the film really did deserve its marvel. From the complex and full story to the fun and whimsical art, Toy Story really deserved to put Pixar in a class that wouldn't be reached for at least a decade. Even now, despite a couple minor logic issues and some slightly aged computer animation stiffness, the film still is able to say everything that it wanted to fifteen years ago and leaves you feeling like you've seen something worth seeing when it's all done. That, my friends, is animation history. 9/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD) and iTunes

Hardware: Receiver Upgrade Fail

Hardware covers the technology of watching/listening to moving pictures.

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I recently purchased the Onkyo TX-SR508, a new 2010 HDMI receiver to help bump up my sound and let me purchase and use more HDMI-enabled devices in the future. I was very excited about using it until I discovered that, while it's a fine audio-video receiver, it actually lacks a major reason why I purchased it.

First, I needed at least 4 HDMI inputs as I anticipate someday having an HD cable/satellite receiver, my PS3, an Xbox 360 when I get one and leave one open for another device should one appear. Second, I wanted to put every input into the receiver and have it push everything through via a single HDMI cable, creating a single switch on the receiver instead of having to change the input mode on both the receiver and the TV each time you switch a signal. Those were the two main things I was trying to accomplish.

The Onkyo TX-SR508, a mild upgrade in terms of power and a tremendous upgrade in terms of features gave me the four HDMI inputs I was looking for. What it didn't provide was the ability to pass through video signals from non-HDMI sources via the HDMI. I knew it wouldn't upconvert the signal, but that's not something I was looking for to begin with, so it wasn't a problem when I was looking at receivers. I was just hoping it would pass the video signal through the HDMI unmolested, but after spending a couple hours rearranging my audio-video cabinet and hooking everything up, I discovered that, no, it wouldn't pass through.

So, now I've taken everything back apart and put the old Onkyo HT-R520 back into its old spot (albeit, I'm not passing the satellite box through the receiver too and dropped a few unnecessary cords). I'm going to request an RMA from J&R and ship it back at my own expense.

I've decided that, for now, until I need another digital sound source through the receiver, whether that means upgrading to an HD satellite box or picking up an Xbox 360, I will stick with the old multi controller, multi switching old school setup. And when it's time to finally have to upgrade, I have a number of options, although I'm mostly going to be looking at Pioneer and Onkyo AVRs. Then, I'll have to decide whether to upgrade the AVR for basic functionality as I did with the Onkyo TX-SR508 or to upgrade with the intent on taking on improved speaker upgrades (looking at Paradigm, Energy, Aperion, Axiom, SV Sound and a few other options), which would mean looking for a chance of adding a pre-amp to the receiver: Onkyo's 700-series and up or Pioneer's 1100-series and up. But that's a bridge I'll cross when I get to it. Of course, if a good sale price shows up on one of these parts, I'll cross that bridge pretty soon.

Inbox: 지금, 이대로가 좋아요

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

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I picked up Sisters on the Road on a whim, because it had a couple actresses that I liked and was being sold at a decent price for an import. Fortunately, my capriciousness largely served me well this time because, while I feel that Sisters suffers from a bit of a contrived plot twist which deflates the third act, the film has a lot going on for it with the strong portrayals by the actresses and the interaction of the titular sisters.

The film starts off with the death of the sisters' mother, leading to the return of the estranged Myungeun (Shin Mina). As she returns, tension is obviously in the air, but Myungeun still asks her half-sister Myungju (Gong Hyojin) to accompany her on a trip to find her absent father. Along the way, the sisters strong personality differences lead to conflicts, large and small and we get to learn more about the history of this family of women (fathers and husbands are all absent).

Honestly, the story up to the big twist in the third act was pretty captivating, watching these two clearly different minded sisters interact. And it was nice that neither sister was clearly the "good" one, but each have their own problems. I liked how natural their interactions were and I also liked how the film gradually exposed the characters' backstory via flashback to help inform us of why they ended up the way they are. However, while some people might find the big reveal interesting, I found it to both be contrived and unnecessary. I felt that it takes the built up conflict and almost deus ex machinas it into a non-issue--making the resolution feel awfully cheap and unearned. I think it does too much to take away from the focus of the relationship between the sisters and their mother and their absent fathers and cheats any real resolution, which really flattened what was, until then, a stimulating and intriguing study of family and reconciliation.

Gong does a wonderful job at playing her carefree character. Shin, while she has her moments over the course of the film, performs a little unevenly, leading me to, at some times, not believe her outbursts, because she can be a little wooden, and at other times marvel at the grudge she's been storing up inside of her when she is able to pull off the high strung moments. The writer-director largely does things well, but there were a few moments where I felt the directional flourish, especially the inclusion of non-action montage was just a little too gimmicky and meaningless, and likewise some of the camera movement choices were a little distracting from the story on the camera. However, I think that her directing of the actresses was well done, especially as they relate to each other. And the film looks, overall, pretty good for an independent one, so I'll definitely give credit to the production team for that.

Overall, the film was mostly a strong family/character drama, but one that goes off of its rails at the end because of the plot twist, which I felt cheapened the story as a whole. I'm sure your mileage might vary on that and I could've seen it be more meaningful if the film were more centered on Myungeun, especially watching her grow up, but that the space is mostly shared between Myungeun and Myungju, it just takes away from the focus. Still, the film has merits because of the strong first and second act, the interesting characters and the interaction between the two leading ladies. I can't necessarily recommend this one because I was pretty put off by the twist, but it's still at least in part a decent character/family drama. 6/10.

Links:

• Available at YesAsia

Inbox: 달콤, 살벌한 연인

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

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My Scary Girl, likely a play on the title of the hit film "My Sassy Girl", whose title is more closely translated "My Sweet, Brutal Girlfriend" is a bit of an unlikely hit. A low budget film, shot in HD, featuring two relative unknowns as the lead and yet it managed to take in well over twenty times its cost. Perhaps it was the surprisingly uncompromising mixture of black and romantic comedy, but then again, I suppose success doesn't necessarily equate with excellence.

Basically, the story is about a awkward 30-something professor Daewoo (Park Youngwoo) who has no experience with women, but has recently developed a desire to have a relationship with one. After some prodding and romantic comedy-style bumblings, he eventually ends up asking his new neighbor, Mina (Choi Kanghee), an art school graduate out and somehow manages to, after some more awkward failures, earn her favor. Of course, outside of all the lovey dovey new romance/first romance things that they go through, she also has a past, which shows up in the form of a well-endowed naked thug of an ex-boyfriend. But, Mina has a past and her ex-boyfriend quickly is out of the picture so she can date Daewoo freely. But, like most shady pasts, hers will catch up to her and threaten their budding relationship.

I like the black comedy and romantic comedy mix-up. It actually works pretty well as far as the story goes. Mina's character is fairly well developed and I like how she's a practical, even if unrepentant, character. Daewoo's character on the other hand is a bit rougher. I never fully bought his awkwardness because it seemed a little forced. The drama between then was fine and the supporting characters were adequate, but because I never really bought the protagonist and that sometimes the protagonist baton swapped between the two romantic leads, I just didn't buy the overall story.

The direction itself was decent, even if unexceptional, but the film had surprisingly good production values for its budget--perhaps they were following the rule of keeping things simple. Again, the acting was largely adequate, but whether it was how Daewoo was written or how Park played him, left him a cold character to me and that often left me uninvolved in the story. Not a good way to go. But, for a high definition video-based film, it looked pretty good.

Ultimately, My Scary Girl is not bad and that's because of its interesting setup and mix of black and romantic comedy. However questionable characterization and/or acting of the main character is a bit distracting and the film doesn't entirely recover from that problem. Nor is the film funny or dramatic enough to really lift it beyond just having promise. For that, I don't know if My Scary Girl is a film I could genuinely recommend, but I guess it's not one I'd warn people away from. It's okay. 6/10.

Links:

• Additional Reviews: Koreanfilm.org, Rainy Day
• Available at YesAsia

Seen: 여배우들

Seen takes a look at the shows I have seen in person.

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Filmed documentary style and scripted by what seems like a workshop-like process with the actors, The Actresses, is a kind of film that's different from what I've seen out of writer-director E J Yong. A creatively collaborative effort between the director and the actresses (playing themselves!), the film benefits from its format by abandoning traditional story structure and absorbs itself in the characters, but also provides a fascinating look at the lives of Korean actresses.

Set on Christmas Eve of 2008, Vogue Korea manages to gather six of Korea's top actresses, each one representing a generation for an unprecedented photo shoot with the theme "actresses more precious than gems". The actresses, veterans Yoon Yeojung and Lee Misook, the recently returned Ko Hyunjung, international star Choi Jiwoo, and two younger actresses Kim Mihee and Kim Okbin, immediately show different personalities just in when and how they arrive and tensions are apparent from the start. But as the night unfolds and the Vogue staff (also playing themselves!) try to keep their ship together while they try to recover a shipment of gems that got stuck in a snowstorm in Japan, we find the actresses both fighting and bonding, eventually coming to a somber and heartfelt discussion of what life is like in the public eye for women like them.

The film is clearly scripted, even if the dialog is improvised, as the film breaks many of the limitations of actual documentary filmmaking, but plays close enough to the vest to be believable. It is a bit of a wonder how closely the actresses are playing themselves, but that it's even a thought that the film could be more sincere and genuine in their practiced dialogs is a really positive statement on how fleshed out the actresses on screen are. I like how every scene has a point and that we never waste any time during the whole of the film. Even if there's no story beyond the women being stuck at the shoot thanks to delayed gems, there's enough conflict to drive the film. But, even in the absence of conflict, the interaction of the various actresses is fascinating. Furthermore, the film is, at times, absolutely hilarious, with Yoon's bluntness as well as some of the ego-matches driving some rather big laughs. And yet, despite what could just be an observation of a photo shoot really gets deeper into the actresses as people and the impact that the star life has on their relationships, both with each other and with the public. So, the film never feels ephemeral. With character interactions this rich and subject matter this ripe, who needs a traditional story?

Of course, the success of a film like this hinges upon the actresses' performances and fortunately, all of the actresses are up to task. Perhaps it's because it's comfortable to just play oneself, but all of the actresses seem absolutely natural and believable and even vulnerable here. Not necessarily being parodies of themselves, but playing themselves as real human being could be quite risky, being so exposed to the public, but none of the women falter. Of course, more screentime deservedly goes to the elder women and they truly make the whole affair worth watching. Even the Vogue staff and caterers and so forth all do a perfectly believable job as a batch of beleaguered workers trying to keep the actresses in check and get together a remarkable shoot. As I mentioned before, the film does occasionally fail to uphold the rules of documentary filmmaking and you especially notice this in the two-shots where the camera jumps instantaneously as two women converse with each other without ever seeing another camera or their lights. Fortunately, only those who are studied in film logic would really notice this, so it doesn't really distract and the film is so well done that I could easily put it aside. Because of the cinéma vérité style of the film, there isn't much music to speak of, but there is one lovely moment in the film where the camera (and the ladies) get to witness a nice song.

While I knew, going into it, that the Actresses would be at least an enjoyable affair, I was absolutely surprised by how entertaining it was, both in capturing emotions and in drawing out lots of natural humor. The few quibbles I have with it are just a byproduct of it's faux documentary nature and certainly won't affect any regular viewer. As such, the actresses is a fine work of documentary-style fiction, both hilarious and, yes, heartwarming. Highly recommended. 9/10.

Links:

• Additional Reviews: eastern Kicks, Hangul Celluloid, Korea Class Massive, Koreanfilm.org, Otherwhere
• Available at YesAsia

Inbox: 타짜

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

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When I first got my hands on Tazza, I had to buy a used copy of the barebones edition because the film was out of print by the time I discovered Choi Donghoon and the print left me suspicious of whether or not the copy I purchased was legitimate. I also spent a surprising amount of money for such a poor quality copy and so I was a bit frustrated.

The film itself was a touch frustrating too. While it was fun, the story was a bit all over the place and the mechanics of how the protagonists succeed at the game (cheating) and how that played into any victory in the film was rather deflating. Tazza has nothing on Rounders as far as a film goes about a movie. But the twists and turns were fun, outside of all the card game business and the film has plenty of flash and style. So, as far as Korean films go, it was a decent choice for CJ Entertainment's limited edition Blu-Ray line.

Seeing a chance to replace my questionable copy of the DVD with a nice classy limited edition Blu-Ray, I decided to grab it while I still could.

Progress Report: History of the World: Part I

Progress Report provides ongoing impressions of serials or sets I view them.

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I think with History of the World - Part I, Mel Brooks finally returns closer to the rambling style of comedy that informed Blazing Saddles. Like the majority of his films after The Producers, History is also a parody, but this time stabs at multiple genres at the same time--all of a "historical" nature. And while I think tying together a more loose sense of comedy and parody helps the film, overall, I think its jumbled scatter-shot nature keeps the whole affair from being coherent.

The film is actually divided into five segments:

• "The Dawn of Man" is a parody of dramatized prehistoric documentaries, taking broad concepts of prehistoric man and making gags out of it. Some jokes hit better than others, but the slow pacing and lack of any driving narrative leaves this segment too loose and slow.
• The film then spends a brief moment in "the Old Testament". It's literally a one-joke note. A funny enough joke and because it's one-note nature, perfectly suited to this mish-mash.
• Then we hit the longest segment of the film, "The Roman Empire". This also happens to have the most developed story in the film as stand-up philosopher, Comicus (Mel Brooks), gets booked to play Caeser's Palace (heh) by his agent, Swiftus (Ron Carey), rescue the slave Josephus (Gregory Hines) from being sent off to be fed to lions with the help of vestal virgin Miriam (Mary-Margaret Humes) and then get into all sorts of trouble when his comedy routine ends up insulting Emperor Nero (Dom DeLuise).
• "The Spanish Inquisition" follows and is just a simple and wonderfully anachronistic juxtaposition of a Busby Berkeley musical number set in an Inquisition torture chamber.
• We end with "The French Revolution", which is, again, a longer segment with a minuscule story. Essentially, the Revolution is going on and poor patsy piss boy Jacques (Brooks), who happens to resemble King Louis (also Brooks) is drafted into acting as a decoy for the King. Clearly, this can't go well for Jacques.

Part of the problem with History lies in the fact that the different segments are very uneven, even just in time. The Roman Empire eats up the majority of the film and consequently, the other segments just feel like bits attached to the Roman Empire story. Furthermore, the longer segments just aren't consistently funny and don't pay off well. On the other hand, some of Brooks' silly humor works very well here. Unfortunately, there are just as many jokes that just fall flat. Also, the parody concept is very loosely applied here--the film really just is a bunch of skits mashed onto one full film set in different time periods. Perhaps if History went more the shorter skit route with a follow-through theme or just went with and expanded upon "The Roman Empire" it would've been more coherent, but the result as we have it is quite hit or miss and unfocused.

Brooks' consistent players (DeLuise, Kahn, Leachman, and Korman) all turn out fine performances, even if their parts are limited. Larger roles, like Brooks and Hines' are adequate, but something feels just a little artificial about their performances. In terms of the production and art, they do a good job replicating the look of the various source films so History looks good. And the musical number in the Spanish Inquisition is a lot of fun. The rest of the music is decent too, but sometimes feels like it's running on the fumes of previous Brooks films.

And, so, History of the World - Part I isn't a failure. It's funny at times and some of the jokes presented here would become staples for future Brooks films, just as some of the jokes from past Brooks films gets deliberately recycled in here. However, it's disjointed, unfocused and misses almost as much as it hits, leaving pockets of time where the film just isn't that interesting. And, I think, making the different segments of the film uneven just draws attention to the uneven nature of History. It's not required viewing by any means--there's enough here to make it funny enough to watch, but not quite enough to recommend it. 6/10.

Links:

• Set index
• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD)

Inbox:Replay: Sideways

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

Replay revisits movies and shows that I have seen in the past.

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When I first watched Sideways, one of my thoughts while watching was that I couldn't believe that wine geeks really existed. Of course, I eventually met some actual wine geeks, along with geeks of every stripe, so the film's characters become more real. However, as a person who rarely drinks alcohol, much of the enthusiasm for wine in the film flew over my head. Fortunately, the stories about friendship, about romance and about life didn't fly over my head and I found myself, even upon watching this film again, chuckling along with the situations that the buddies of this buddy road trip comedy find themselves in, but also moved by the plight of our dour protagonist in the film.

Our protagonist, Miles (Paul Giamatti), an aspiring writer, 8th-grade English teacher and wine geek, takes his buddy Jack (Thomas Haden Church), a libidinous actor, on a trip to wine country in California for his final week as a bachelor. Although Jack is on board for all the wine drinking and golf that Miles planned, he also decides that he needs to take advantage of his last week before being married and have as much sex as he can fit into the weekend as well while also helping Miles score as well. The duo run into Maya (Virginia Madsen), a waitress at a restaurant Miles frequents and Stephanie (Sandra Oh), who works at a winery, both also wine geeks, and romance develops between Miles & Maya and Jack & Stephanie. Obviously some lies are involved, so this is bound to go badly.

I haven't read the book from which this film is adapted, so I can't really comment on the quality of the adaptation, but as far as the story's pacing, characterization and structure is concerned, Sideways does well. Our buddy duo are developed as complex characters, believable and almost frustrating in their flaws. Of course, being the protagonist, Miles is developed the most, but I really like how Miles and Jack's relationship is drawn as well. I think the film's overall storyline does suffer a little from being segmented, being composed of multiple stories, but with the section focused on the wine tasting trip being dominant, but not being the whole story. The end of the film seems a touch disjointed as a result, but it's not that much of a problem, because Miles' personal story arc, which includes Maya, isn't actually resolved until the final frame.

The film itself is set to a pleasant jazzy score and the film also takes to that sort of temperament, shot indie-style, playful and warm. It takes plenty of time to absorb the viewer in the world of grapes and wine and food and golf. It tricks around with split screen and dissolves, but never feels gimmicky. I also like how the photography changes the night Miles gets particularly drunk. Of course, a character focused film like Sideways lives or dies on its actors' performances and the quartet really holds up well, capturing the nuances of their characters (where nuances are present to be captured) and making them all believable, even as silly as Jack's character can be. Even the supporting and minor characters do well here.

Sideways holds up really well as a buddy road trip film. Its portrayal of both friendship as well as the lost adult of Miles is thoughtful, insightful, and ultimately, empathetic. At the same time, the film contains fun, food and plenty of comedy and drama, balanced well so that nothing ever gets dragged down by heaviness nor drifted off due to insignificance. It makes me interested in reading the book and almost makes me interested in wine, as Miles and Maya both make some interesting comments about how life intersects with the development of wine. Tastes great when paired with dinner and drink. 8/10.

Links:

• Available at Amazon (Blu Ray) / (DVD) and iTunes