Progress Report:Replay: X-Men: The Last Stand

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

Replay revisits what I've previously seen.

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When I first watched X-Men: The Last Stand, it put me in such a foul mood, I almost walked out of the theater. Many years later, I decided to give the film another chance. Like its predecessors, it hasn't worn well, which is unfortunate, because The Last Stand was an unbelievable mess to begin with.

The story is split into two separate and loosely connected elements: First, a private corporation has come up with a "cure" for mutants, that will suppress their powers indefinitely. In the other story, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) come back from the dead (as hinted at in X2). And some crazy backstory about Jean Grey having some hyperdestructive split personality or something like that comes out of it. Anyway, the cure stuff gets Magneto (Ian McKellen) pretty riled up (not that he wasn't already) and he goes on and goes back to his regular line about a war brewing with humanity and I guess the X-Men want to stop him from destroying the cure or something like that.

The story: The two stories don't really seem to have a point and a purposeful conflict. The "Phoenix" storyline featuring Jean Grey seems almost an afterthought, only to justify some shock value as she kills off various notable characters (and dozens of lesser ones). The "cure" storyline, while it has great potential for thematic exploration, mostly serves as an impetus for Magneto to assail the laboratory and lead to a grand showdown between the two mutant factions. Every character makes out-of-character decisions with such frequency, to drive the incoherent plot(s) forward, that the story appears to be assembled out of a series of necessary contrivances to justify the action scenes and special effect scenes. The resulting "story" is pointless, artificial, implausible, and boring. Given that it had the potential to explore the "cure" theme, especially as it interacted with the only believable story element, a love triangle around Rogue (Anna Paquin), Iceman (Shawn) and Shadowcat (Ellen Page), but that was all too brief in the course of the 104 minute film that it could hardly redeem the rest of the incoherent mess by itself.

So, given that the story is, at best, a ludicrous excuse for action and special effects, does the film at least provide that much? Yes, although not exceptionally so. Unfortunately without a believable motivation to the action, it seems like spiritless organized chaos, but at least some of the use of powers to fight were interesting. The acting itself was also hugely lackluster, with the actors trying to pour some meaning into the husks of empty characters resulting in ridiculous emoting as all that could be managed. And I can imagine it's hard to be motivated to perform well when the characters are so thoughtlessly wrought. At least the production values are nice, giving the film a nice Hollywood tentpole glow.

X-Men: The Last Stand, is at best, a messy excuse for mediocre action and special effects on display. And what is seen seems forced due to the lack of any stake in the action. The lack of a believable story and consistent (even if two dimensional) characters destroys the credulity of what occurs on screen. This is exceptionally disappointing because the conceptual conceit of a cure storyline actually had more thematic potential for drama than past X-Men films. Very little of that potential was fulfilled. I don't know why this film is called the Last Stand, but I believe it was as successful as its historical namesake undertaken by General Custer. 3/10.

Links:

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

Inbox: 가벼운 잠

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

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I probably would never have even heard of A Light Sleep if it weren't for Tom Giammarco's review at koreanfilm.org, but I'm glad that he took the time to review the independent drama for the site, because it caused to me pick it up and watch it and I found the resulting film surprisingly captivating, especially for it's characterization, acting, and subtlety in depicting grief, loss and frustration, and despite the probably unnecessarily dream sequence elements. I was also impressed that, even though its non-linear approach can be a little confusing and its type of storytelling non-standard, that it still manages to convey as much as it does.

The story follows Yuhlin (Choi Ahjin), a high-schooler, with a detached and almost impish disposition. Although she has friends and even a boy who likes her, she treats them cooly and spends most of her time on her own or taking care of her younger sister, Dalin (Yoo Hyunbin). It's soon clear that Yuhlin and Dalin are orphans and Yuhlin is put in the difficult position of having tight finances and having to raise her sister or give her up to an orphanage. Meanwhile, Baek Jugo (Yoon Chan), the boy who likes her (and she clearly likes to some degree) is also the crush of her best friend. As she tries to keep a brave face in order to keep her personal troubles away from her friends and classmates, the crushing reality of her loss and added responsibilities weight on her as she also deals with a case of severe insomnia since the loss of her parents.

A Light Sleep can be a touch confusing as the film isn't presented linearly. So, I did get lost occasionally as to what point in time I was linearly in the story. However, what I really like is how Yuhlin's is characterized, pushing down her grief deeply and keeping a smile on her face when interacting with others, but keeping a distance via impish attitude and behavior. I also like how the film focuses on so many small moments with Yuhlin and as she relates to the various people in her life, which builds an emotional portrait of her character, rather than following a conventional external plot, although that external plot is there and helps build towards the finale--but this external plot is rather light and just gives structure to the internal drama inside Yuhlin. And the best part about this film is how well it causes the audience to, like Yuhlin, glide along through the film smoothly on the surface, while still empathizing with her troubled heart inside, under the surface of the film.

Like I mentioned the film does have some difficulty keeping track of where it is linearly and leads to some confusion and the other matter I find fault with are the brief moments of visual effects (like having a bus fly into the sky or having Yuhlin blow colors and shapes from her mouth), which aren't used consistently through the film, especially as it goes on, so it's difficult to interpret and a bit distracting from the strong drama core of the film. And that drama core is held together well by the cast. Choi Ahjin in particular does a fantastic job of portraying the young woman who suppresses her feelings and captures some truly lovely scenes, especially with her onscreen sister Yoo Hyunbin. Another plus is that, for an indie feature, the production values are surprisingly nice and the film looks much better than I expected.

It's not without some flaws, but I think A Light Sleep definitely deserves greater exposure than it's had. I really love how subtly the character is handled, even if the visuals were at times distracting and am most impressed with how the film moves the audience along with its protagonist, keeping both her and our emotional reaction under the surface. When the credits rolled, I was surprised by how much I was carried along with the film's drama. And that kind of reaction at the end of a film is always a good thing. 9/10.

Links:

• Additional Reviews: Koreanfilm.org, Seen in Jeonju
• Available at YesAsia

Seen: Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation

Seen examines the shows that I see.

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Pixar films regularly have a short preceding them and, in the case of Cars 2, the short preceding it was a familiar one: Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation. I don't remember seeing a Pixar short that features existing Pixar characters, so this is a bit of a first for the animation studio, as far as I know.

In this case, Hawaiian Vacation takes place after the events of Toy Story 3 and so include the new inhabitants of Molly's bedroom and Molly is going on a vacation to Hawaii. In preparation for her departure, the toys also make plans for their own vacations. In particular, Barbie and Ken decide to stow away in Molly's backpack, but are disappointed to find that Molly didn't take her school backpack with her. In fact, Ken is devastated, so it's up to the toys to stage a play vacation to Hawaii for the couple, who were hoping to create a special moment for their first kiss.

It's a simple premise and the toys' characteristics are used creatively, although not being a fan of the "Spanish" Buzz plot of Toy Story 3, I was saddened to see "Spanish" Buzz back, even if briefly. Other than that, the short is a lot of cute fun and even if you didn't have a lot of awareness of the different characters, I think they are still pretty distinctly represented in the short. The short even has a sweet little ending.

Granted, in the end, like playing with toys, this is just good fun and doesn't really try to extend beyond that. It looks as good as the latest Toy Story film and it sounds like all the talent from the film came back for this short, so the acting is expectedly strong. In some ways, Hawaiian Vacation is a great match for Cars 2 as both continue on existing Pixar franchises, but I think how well Hawaiian Vacation is executed also highlights the weaknesses of the feature it is attached to. It's almost the highlight of watching Cars 2. And a lot of fun. 7/10.

Progress Report:Replay: X2

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

Replay revisits what I've previously seen.

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X2 follows the standard sequel model as in it does everything that X-Men did well and takes it to another level. This other level includes greater stakes, bigger action (and powers), and an even twistier plot. It even takes some of the very one dimensional characters and expands them into two dimensions (but not the two into three). As such it's a pretty solid improvement on the original, although the twistier plot does result in a number of logical inconsistencies that really damage the film with more attentive viewers.

The complicated plot follows X-Men and starts with a mutant attack on the US President, which results in Colonel William Stryker Brian Cox the authorization to assault the Xavier School for the gifted. Meanwhile, Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) works to free the imprisoned Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Xavier (Patrick Stewart), Cyclops (James Marsden), Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Storm (Halle Berry) try to figure out what's going on regarding, leaving the recently returned Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in charge of the kids (yes, with the government troops coming). And these disparate plot threads do eventually come together in surprising ways.

And that's perhaps the most impressive element of X2. Just like X-Men, it contains a well plotted out mystery with some seriously well planned out twists and turns, creating quite the impressive ride. Unfortunately, it doesn't solve X-Men's problems with flat characters. For example, while Storm is given an actual angle to play in X2, it's simply a single characteristic added to her one-liner on X-Men. Wolverine's own personal story, although it does loosely tie into the plot, still has no payoff and aside from the loose affiliation with the context, doesn't actually involve the plot, so it feels like a loose thread. Likewise, the love triangle around Jean Grey, Wolverine and Cyclops seems a touch forced and the development of Jean Grey's powers isn't particularly explored and results in what feels like a rather contrived setup for the third film. And the other problem with the film is that, perhaps due to the nature of the twisting plot, many characters behave in somewhat unbelievable ways, skipping past the common sense or logical choices to do crazy stuff, just to further advance the plot. And then some things happen that seem to break the rules set up by the world and those events really threatened to break the film for me, but fortunately, I was (barely) able to force myself to overlook them thanks to the well plotted story. But the contrivances really did take much of the enjoyment out of the film.

Like X-Men, X2 looks good and, in some ways, it provides even greater visual spectacle with more mutants displaying more powers and throws in a lot of geeky references to the comic books, which is a loving touch. I will say that even with the greater spectacle, something about the film still seems a bit smaller than the story suggests. The acting improved over the first film, but that was possibly just in part to the parts being more meaty and interesting for the actors and not all the performances are at the same level, although the Magneto/Xavier duo do work well. Likewise the modern production/sound design helped keep things slick and I appreciate that the film dialed back the silliness a little. It still had it, but it wasn't highlighted anymore.

I like X2's ambitions a lot and particularly how well it weaves many threads together into a surprisingly well connected story. However, the film ultimately seems kind of thin, with flat characterizations and lots of logic holes. Also, as the villain isn't as dramatically established at first, the story and conflict end up being a touch forgettable, since it all seems secondary to the "a-ha!" of the plot. Still, for its contrivances, paper thin characters and ultimately bland central story, the tight plotting and slick production keeps X2 a more interesting film than the first, in many ways, and can still be quite an enjoyable ride. But one that you should approach with critical thinking turned off. 7/10.

Links:

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

Inbox: 태풍태양

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

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Having loved the coming of age drama Take Care of My Cat so it was inevitable that I would seek out writer-director Jung Jaeeun's second film, The Aggressives (the Korean name, "Typhoon Sun"). Clocking in at almost two and a half hours, I did find a bit to appreciate about The Aggressives, but I also felt like, despite the long running time, the characters were underdeveloped and while the story does go in some interesting directions, the film almost feels like it's two separate films glued together in the middle and consequently feels a touch unwieldy and unnecessarily long.

Soyo (Chun Jungmyung) is a disaffected youth with a love of trick in-line skating. He falls in with a local crew of Korean street skaters, led de facto by Moggy (Kim Kangwoo), a slacker and expert skater and Gapba (Lee Chunhee), drawn in by Moggy's friendly girlfriend Hanjoo (Jo Yeejin). We watch as the group hangs out, performs tricks, and make plans to attend an international games and then, in an effort by Gapba to elevate the sport in the nation and raise some money for the games, they take a job on a commercial, but Moggy's distaste for skating for any cause other than himself leads to trouble.

The first half of the film is rather unusual in that it's shot almost like a documentary. It's observational and doesn't really had a direction, but we just follow these in line skaters around. One of the elements introduced is Soyo's absentee parents--but after its introduction and the resulting "empty house" for the skaters to hang out with, it's disappointingly never touched again. And then the story takes a rather strong change of pace in the second half as a character conflict between the group's two leaders takes place. Unfortunately, none of the characters were that strongly developed by the time that this takes place, so the conflict seems rather thin and it's hard to get vested in a group that never really becomes intimately familiar, including Soyo. I do think there is something to what Jung is trying to do here, but she spends a long time floating around with these characters before settling into a plot and once in the plot, the conflict (particularly in Moggy, who seems to be the dynamic character), doesn't really come to a real climax, but kind of burns out before it ever takes off. I do like that we spend time with these kids, especially in the first half, but I don't think the characters and conflict was developed enough during it to fully feed the second.

Jung has a great eye for her film and seems to almost lovingly capture the skating scenes, blending her own visual direction with that of an enthusiastic skate videographer and her more dramatic scenes are well composed. It does feel a touch indie in its production value, but I think that actually works well given the outsider nature of these skate enthusiasts. The actors largely do a good job here and I never felt like the personal angst of Moggy or the frustrated ambitions of Gapba were artificial. However, I do think Soyo was a touch blank, whether it was because his character wasn't developed in the writing or Chun's easygoing take on the character wasn't strong. Still, I don't think production, direction or acting were really weaknesses for this film, but rather the meandering story.

I wouldn't say that The Aggressives is a failure. It's still, in some ways, an engaging portrayal of these wandering youth and a comfortable one in the first half. Unfortunately, I don't think the film's story really sets up well for the second half and takes too much time to for so little character development. It is lovingly shot and I think the film really does well in capturing this kind of street sport in its element in a believable way, but I think the film's inability to focus on its characters or decide what kind of film it wants to be leads The Aggressives to seem rather passive. It's got its positive points and those that love dramas about the crisis of youth will probably find something to appreciate here, as well as in-line skate fans, but I don't think it's compelling enough for a general recommendation. 6/10.

Links:

• Additional Reviews: Koreanfilm.org
• Available at YesAsia

Seen: Cars 2

Seen examines the shows that I see.

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While I wasn't particularly impressed with Cars, I still thought it was a decent enough film. Still, the general critical disappointment with the sequel, Cars 2, led me to go into the movie with some trepidation. Would this be Pixar's first true failure of a movie? I don't know if it was the low expectations or that I intentionally wasn't aware of what critics were saying specifically about the movie, but I still managed to enjoy Cars 2, although it is definitely the weakest Pixar film I have watched to date, since its story lacks proper focus and it doesn't seem to be able to pick an audience.

Cars 2 takes the world of the anthropomorphic Cars and throws it into some strange hybrid of a buddy film and a spy film. That's right. A James Bond-inspired spy film, opening with the Bond-like British spy-car, Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) discovering a plot by a conspiracy of cars, at least somewhat led by Professor Z (Thomas Krestschmann), before moving onto Radiator Springs, where Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) entangles the recently returned Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) in a race against the arrogant Italian formula car, Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro), sponsored by Allinol, a new alternative energy gas by mogul Sir Miles Axelrod (Eddie Izzard). While Mater joins Lightning on the circuit, he gets incidentally drawn into the spy plot when McMissile and his cohort, Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer), mistake him for an American colleague. Hijinks ensue.

The story does have some amount of fun to it, in terms of twists and turns and even a slight touch of character growth from Mater, so it's not entirely a failure. But one of the biggest problems is that the story never decides what it's about. In particular, the spy story eats up so much of the film's focus that the theoretical "accepting your friends" story gets lost and furthermore, for it to work, Lightning would have needed to be a more dynamic character and have been given a greater part of the story. Instead, the resulting inclusion of Lightning throughout much of the film results in a bit of a distraction from the tow-truck as principal protagonist. The other big issue with the film is that it's crazy spy plotting, even if intelligently written, seems too complex and reliant on adult understanding to be enjoyed by children except on a simply visual level, but the story is otherwise pretty underwhelming and even patronizing to adults. All this results in a still somewhat enjoyable film, thanks to the tight plotting in the spy story, but it's also a story without a strong through line, which left me wondering what it was that I watched when I left the theater.

At least on a aural-visual level, Pixar doesn't fail. Cars was never the most ambitious when it came to visuals, but everything presented is clean and I love the homages to the spy film genre laden throughout the film. The actors all do good work here too and the combination of the animation plus voice acting really does give these cars some surprising life. Still, there's something a bit artificial about the end film in terms of design and that might be a result of making the entire world populated by vehicles, but it all seems a touch too sterile. An observation that extends to the first film.

Again, Cars 2 isn't a horrible film. There is definitely fun to be had in its premise and its execution. Its weaknesses, however, do limit the degree to which it can be enjoyed. Also like the first Cars, the sequel seems to lack the spark of originality that could help it, especially considering its rather familiar setting. This results in a film that's just all right. It really isn't bad, especially compared many other children's films, but I can definitely understand the critical disappointment, because Cars 2 is like a spare tire when compared to its impressive kin. But, you could easily find a worse way to spend a little time in a theater. 6/10. On the plus side, it comes paired with the cute Toy Story short, Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation.

Links:

• Feature website
• Available at Amazon

Progress Report:Replay: X-Men

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

Replay revisits what I've previously seen.

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I had forgotten just how simple a film the original X-Men was since comic book movies would become more complex and sprawling since. X-Men is also a bit less confident a movie than the many movies that would follow, taking a few self-conscious shots at its own silliness, but while it certainly doesn't hold up as a comic book film classic, it's still a fairly enjoyable, even if somewhat ordinary film.

The film obviates the typical superhero origin that many comic book "reboot" films tend to go for and instead throw the audience straight into the setting: A "near future" United States, much like the one we have right now, except that there are mutants--evolutionary deviations from "normal" humans that give them great powers. Amidst their population increase, we find the government and people riled up in fear of these mutants by Senator Kelly (Bruce Davison) who are demanding the passage of the Mutant Registration Act, which would number and "register" every mutant in the country with the government. This draws the ire of Magneto (Ian McKellen), a powerful mutant who designs a plot involving the kidnapping of the mutant(s) Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and/or Rogue (Anna Paquin) for some nefarious purpose, leading Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his X-Men to get into action, rescue Wolverine and Rogue and try to figure out Magneto's plan so they can stop it.

The story is a touch convoluted, but a lot is being introduced, so I think it manages, given that. The particular weakness of X-Men is that the characters are all quite thin, so that even Wolverine, who we spent the most time with, ends up a bit of a cypher. There is an interesting philosophical divide between Xavier and Magneto and I think placing Wolverine between those two would have been interesting, but the movie is quite lean and focused on the action/mystery and so I think it really loses its resonance and opportunity to exploit that rich potential. In the end, we have a standard save the world plot infused with some rather cardboard characters leading the action, but I think the interesting Mutant Registration backdrop and differing worldviews of Xavier and Magneto help keep things somewhat interesting. It's just a shame that it wasn't more focused on the more interesting elements. It also doesn't help that there are some plot holes that cause some believability issues--like how Magneto and company even discovered Rogue/Wolverine in the first place.

Being a blockbuster, however, does imbue X-Men with nice glossy production values and writer-director Bryan Singer manages to produce some engaging action, although, again, I feel that the production/art design did run a bit towards the silly, creating these overly stylized, but still comic-book like designs, especially in the underground X-lair and costumes. I suppose the acting is about as good as you can get given that most of the characters are paper thin, with the villains and Storm (Halle Berry) in particular being particularly blank emoters. I think with the gravitas of the greater tone of the series, I think being more serious in tone like Batman Begins instead of a bit more campy would have helped align the film altogether, although given the rather campy nature of much of the superpowers, costumes, and "code names", perhaps it might not have been avoidable.

Still, X-Men manages to keep it together enough to be a mildly enjoyable watch. I think it is well plotted: there is a good mystery element and the approach to the topic was interesting and intelligent, but that's married with rather poorly developed characters and larger thematic issues. The film looks pretty slick, but there's an element of more than winking camp to it that I think does clash a little with the more serious setting and tone. Consequently, I think X-Men just ends up a film that is a bit uneven, matching a rather grand attempt at a statement via it's bigger story with an underdeveloped emotional core. It's still enjoyable on a big Hollywood picture level, but it's still merely an adequate comic book film. 6/10.

Links:

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

Inbox: Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

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Not only did I have a good time reading the series, but I found the movie to be just as fun, appealing to the side of me that grew up playing a lot of the old school video games referenced in the series and the film. The film especially added a wonderful sonic element to the story which helped bring to life the music that was always an unheard part of the comic books. So, seeing the movie at a good deal, I couldn't resist picking it up, so I could enjoy Pilgrim's insane comic adventures yet again.

Progress Report: 茶母

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

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Damo is a rather notable drama for a few reasons, but the most notable is for being one of the earliest, if not the earliest, "fusion saeguk", which is essentially a Korean historical drama that incorporates modern elements and appeals beyond the normal viewership of historical dramas as a result. In the case of Damo, the dialog is modernized, the action incorporates a lot of elements of Asian (particularly Chinese) fantasy and the music itself is entirely modern, consisting of ballads and rock tracks. While at times, this can be jarring (especially the music, at first), in many other ways, these adjustments to the more historically rigid Korean historical drama actually makes Damo a lot of fun to watch at times. Damo is also blessed with a captivating tale of crime, insurrection, rebellion, good vs. law and courtly intrigue which ended up being the compelling force that took me through the whole of the series. On the downside, that part of the story plays second fiddle to a hyper-melodramatic, at times contrived, and painfully stagnant romance storyline between the three leads, which caused no end of frustration for me.

A damo is a tea servant, part of the bonded (slave) class and while damos served in many different noble households, this particular story is set in a time that police bureau damos were used as investigators into affairs that involve women, as it would be inappropriate for men, for example, to examine a woman's corpse. Our particular damo is Jang Chaeok (Ha Jiwon), a bit of a headstrong woman with a sense of justice that exceeds her caste. Since her childhood, she's been a servant to Hwangbo Yoon (Lee Suhjin), a commander of the Left Police Bureau (the "main" police bureau for the kingdom) and a rather righteous man. These two share an affection for each other, although they are divided by class. The police bureau is engaged in an investigation of a kingdom wide counterfeiting racket, which might has ties with a mysterious swordsman named Jang Sungbaek (Kim Minjoon) that Chaeok encounters and leads to a plot that might even threaten the kingdom!

This story of crime, investigation, intrigue and conspiracy is very well done for most of the drama's running time, and stays pretty interesting. There are lots of interesting revelations, twists and turns and subtle maneuvering in the various levels, criminal gangs, internal conflict in law enforcement and in the court of nobles that keeps things constantly interesting and it's the best part of the show. I especially love the implicit tension between the two male leads representing "good" on opposite sides of the law. However, this is weighed down by a love triangle. Romance isn't necessarily a bad thing and can really elevate a good story, but in this case, Damo starts off everything wrong. We know before we even get into the story that Chaeok and Jang Sungbaek are brother and sister, but rather than creating suspense, it deflates the inevitable impossible romance between the two. The other problem is that the show is full of lengthy scenes of angst, sometimes encompassing almost the entire episode where the leads are put into some situation where they just reminisce about the love that they cannot have, but in the end, they never do anything about it. Consequently, the romance story never actually develops much once it becomes a triangle until the very last episode and even that is undone for an incredibly contrived ending where characters abandon all character development and good sense for maximum angsty drama. It's enormously frustrating to try to sit through the non-action of the romance, which mostly involves reaction shots of the leads with a sorrowful k-pop ballad playing and cutting to various flashbacks of great longing. No, thank you.

In terms of direction, it's hit and miss. The action ranges from incredibly silly, like the fight in the bamboo trees at the very beginning of the show, to kind of cool, like the guerilla combat between the government troops and the rebels. The action is influenced by Hong Kong style wire-using fantasy combat, which is pulled off to varying degrees of success, but even if it's campy at times, I had fun with it. What I wasn't so much of a fan of was the endless stream of k-pop laden flashback montages used to display a character's inner angst as they struggle (or not struggle) with their love/loyalty to each other. The acting, given the characters, was pretty good, even if at times over the top with Kim Minjoo's manic/angry/crazy face really going into overdrive, but I think it worked for the over-the-top world that they were in. I liked the art/production/costume design, as much as any Korean historical drama, and it too is fused a touch to give it a taste of "cool", like the elite soldiers' black outfits with masks or large straw hats. Very cool, although not likely historically accurate. The music, like most modern Korean dramas, oft repeats the handful of k-pop songs over and over as character themes, to go with action, etc. and I think many will find the ballad, pop and rock to be too anachronistic at first, but after a while I got used to it and it only became apparent again during those brooding flashbacks where it would proceed to drive me crazy. That said, while I remember the music well from over-repetition, it certainly doesn't inspire me to buy the soundtrack.

All said, I think that I saw so much good in the overall "investigative crime/conspiracy" part of the series that I found the flagging romance story to be all the more frustrating and disappointing and especially so when it seemed to be developing only to "reset" in the end in an especially extreme way (although it did lead to a rather poignantly shot scene). That said, this drama really pushed one of my major pet peeves (the angsty musical flashback) too far, so perhaps less demanding viewers might have more fun here. As for me, I can't say that it was all fun, especially since my favorite part of the show didn't really have all of its threads tied up in favor of pushing the doomed love triangle out of the bounds of believability. Still, I think Damo was successful for a reason, because for all of its faults, it has style and a strong underlying story that remains interesting until the love triangle dismantles it. Still, I can't totally recommend this one, but will say that some might reasonably appreciate it. 6/10.

Links:

• Set index
• Series website
• Watch for free at Crunchyroll and Drama Fever
• Available at Amazon and YesAsia

Inbox:Replay: À bout de souffle

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

Replay revisits what I've previously seen.

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Breathless is one of those films that film historians love to point at as a representative of the French New Wave and I think they do so with good reason. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard and written by Godard and François Truffaut, the film had the talents that drove the thought, philosophy and cinematic products of the French Wave at its forefront. Godard's own contributions to cinematic innovation are present here, both in the brashness of the film's directing and editing as well as in the story's narrative structure, resulting a film that even this day seem surprisingly fresh.

The setup is that antisocial car thief Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) murders a cop while fleeing from them and proceeds to head to Paris to pick up both some money and rekindle a relationship with an American woman, Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg). But, Michel finds it more difficult than he expected to both get a hold of his owed money and convince Patricia to go with him to Italy.

The interesting thing about the story is that while it does a play a role in driving Michel and Patricia to a certain point, the film actually spends a significant amount of time following one or both of them as they interact with each other or go about their daily lives, including a lengthy scene in Patricia's bedroom as Michel pursues an agenda to sleep with Patricia and she resists. In some ways Patricia is as much a main character for this film as Michael as ultimately her own decisions, born of personal fears, drives her to make decisions in the end that almost have a greater sense of agency than Michel's. And the conflict between freedom and being bound in attraction is well represented by these two during their interactions. It might not be conventional straightforward storytelling, but it works well to convey the larger conflict of the film.

In terms of direction, the film is handled in a fashion that imparts it with a kind of immediacy to it. Whether it's the close quarters shoot of Patricia's bedroom, the lovely stroll that Michel and Patricia take along or riding shotgun with Michel as he talks to himself as well as the camera while driving along the French countryside, raging against slow drivers and expressing his appreciation for countryside. Then there's the jump cut editing technique which Godard used to such impressive effect in the film and has been since oft repeated.

If anything, Breathless does wink perhaps too much at cinema, embedding the Cahiers into the film and having Michel stop to obsess about Humphrey Bogart, but I think it's only natural for cinephiles to place their tributes in their films. I do find it hard to like Michel as a character, as though his boldness in his honestly makes him seem any less like a thug, and I don't entirely buy his affection for Patricia, but I suppose that's small complaint for a film that retains its freshness and vibrancy half a century since it's debut. A classic for a reason. 8/10.

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Progress Report: 茶母, Episodes 13-14

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

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Note: As this is a television serial, this article includes spoilers for the series pertaining to the episodes discussed.

I was really hoping that Damo would redeem itself in the end and although the final two episodes had some moments, I don't believe it ever overcame the stagnancy in character development and romantic plot development, ending no further along than it began and in a highly sense-obliterating melodramatic fashion.

After both Chae-ok and Boss Jang get out of the cave they spent the entirety of episode twelve in, we spent the early part of episode thirteen doing a whole lot of angsting on the part of the three main romance triangle players, leading to some non-lethal stupidity on the part of the characters. The conspiracy part of the plot also marches on as Jang decides he doesn't want to be a part of all the rebellion stuff b/c of his affection for the woman he doesn't know is his sister. At least we don't get another tease on this matter until the very end of the series--on the other hand, why the heck do we not get to deal with the consequences of this knowledge until the very end of the series? Talk about stagnancy in plot development.

Anyway, another disappointing element is that the conspirators' manipulation of Boss Jang never fully comes to light--even at the end, it's never implied that he understands he's been duped, but rather that Magistrate Choi only betrayed him in the end. Fortunately the conspiracy element of the series mostly holds up to the end, which is something I appreciated. I also really liked the actual development in the relationship between Nanhee and Commander Hwangbo, even as the forces of romantic melodrama undo it as well undoing much of the aftermath of the foiling of the conspiracy.

On the plus side, the show has some amount of guts to kill lots of innocent characters, include significant bit players, to motivate the main characters, but a lot of this waited until the end of the series. As for the ending, we know what's coming because the end of the series actually takes place in the first episode and I think that decision was a mistake, because it really spoils the whole romance angle, even if it would have been a cheap reveal for them to discover that they were related--that element could have been better incorporated.

Also the unnecessarily sacrificial deaths of at least our titular character and Commander Hwangbo were almost wallbangers as the Commander caught the idiot ball and didn't tell Boss Jang who Chae-ok really was until after he'd been killed. And then he never told Chae-ok and undid a whole lot of character development that happened with him in the last two episodes by reattaching himself to his damo. Egad, and then the meaningless sacrifice in the end.

Such is the problem with Damo--when the most interesting part of the show happens to be the background story that motivates the most frustrating and stagnant part of the story, the whole experience becomes an exercise in patience. I get why someone would find the ending so tragic and moving, but I ended up finding it obnoxious because of the high degree of contrivances, teasing and implausible character behavior it took to get there. And that the main characters hardly develop at all, nor does their romantic storyline until the very end means that we're watching the same obnoxious pop ballad driven scenes of angsty brooding over and over again for fourteen episodes, with only a change of scenery and conditions to motivate it.

No. I don't know if I could say that the pretty cool conspiracy/police part of the series really makes up for the pain of the main story. I guess I'll see after thinking about it for a couple more days.

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Inbox: Cars

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

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When I first heard of Cars, I didn't have much faith in it, especially since the word of mouth for the film was quite mediocre. Consequently, I let the film pass me by, but getting a generous coupon on the film on Blu Ray, when combined with a nice coupon on the Incredibles, I thought I might as well get both and catch up with the first Cars as the second one strolls into theaters. My faith in Cars got shaken more as I watched overwhelmingly negative reviews of Cars 2 stream in from critics, so my expectations were quite low. However, upon watching Cars, I was surprisingly pleased with the result. Granted, it certainly fails to achieve the greater levels of Pixar's better films, but this much smaller and less ambitious story is still a pleasing film that might not demand viewing, but is certainly not a bad time either.

Cars, unsurprisingly is about anthropomorphic cars, inhabiting a car world. Obviously, racing is quite a big deal for many cars and young, brash, and arrogant Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is one of the best of them. After ending a three way tie for the Piston Cup, he takes off for California for a tiebreaker race, but pushing his driver too hard, he finds himself stuck in the little rural town of Radiator Springs, on the hook for repairing a road he mangles. And as he spends just a little time in the rustic town with its few residents, he learns a little bit about what to value in life as well as the charms of that little town.

And that's about all there is to the story. It really is about the big star finding himself and community when stranded in a little town. The film hits all the expected beats, including a love interest in a Porsche, Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt), a city car transplant, and an eccentric group of residents. I do think that the weaving of the story was a touch uneven, especially when it comes to bringing in the character of Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), who I think could have been better placed throughout the film. Also, like A Bug's Life, the film really hammers home its message with the same nuance as your typical inspirational film. This results in a film that seems small and quite content to be nothing more than it is, which is a touch disappointing considering Pixar's greater films.

Still, as expected from Pixar, the art is a lot of fun, although clearly a little more commercial than other Pixar films. Still, to see these cars brought to life is impressive, although it does remind me strongly of the Chevron cars from their fuel commercials. Direction, like the writing, isn't quite mindblowing, but more than serviceable for the story being told and while hyper sentimental moments like the "flashback" in the story comes across as a bit too forced (complete with sad music), overall, the film is clean and well driven. Pun intended.

Cars is by no stretch of the imagination a great film. However, I think the film's small goals were all well achieved in telling this typical story about finding and valuing community and humility, with all the flash and style that Pixar is capable of. And that's enough to make Cars an enjoyable watch, even if not a necessary one. 7/10.

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Progress Report: 茶母, Episodes 11-12

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

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Note: As this is a television serial, this article includes spoilers for the series pertaining to the episodes discussed.

Damo is certainly grating on me now. The problems it had from the first couple episodes haven't gotten any better, which is namely the non-development of the romance arc to the story. I don't feel like elaborating any more since I've pretty much stated the problem for several reports now. Ultimately, even the developments seem like minor gains, since even in self-realization, our three characters have mostly been unable to admit anything to each other (except for Commander Hwangbo, who suffers from the problems inherent in the "good boy" love interest).

Another problem that shows up especially in episode twelve is another large portion of the episode that becomes very stagnant when Chae-ok and Boss Jang fall into a sinkhole and pretty much spend the entire episode stuck under there angsting away with almost nothing happening. In fact, that "development" results in a huge lack of any action from the police and the rebels as well as they just spend their time bickering about how to find the two. And that makes much of the episode a bit of a chore, made more of a chore by another problem the drama has:

The teasing.

Okay, I've seen enough near misses by now. You're in the second to last episode and it feels like nothing significant has happened to the characters since the first episode. They haven't developed. Even if they've had to admit feelings to themselves, these near misses keep them from discovering truths about each other and discovering feelings about each other too. And it's frustrating because they actually seemed contrived in order to keep fueling the angst, which, at this point, has worn out its welcome. Another missed opportunity for the two Jangs to discover that they are indeed brother and sister.

I do find it amusing in the ironic setup that Chae-ok thinks of her Commander Hwangbo as a brother figure and Boss Jang as a lover figure, but that amusement can only hold for so many hours and twelve hours is beyond its expiration date. So, what keeps me going?

The conspiracy plot. Yep. It's not even the main emotional focus here, but merely a setup for which to tell this otherwise painfully constructed and melodramatic angst-only love story, but I daresay that the conspiracy plot is the most interesting thing about this drama. I like the interplay between the police, the government and the rebels and that there are conspirators among the government. There's suspense and, with the exception of episodes wasted on non-character developing angst, the story moves along fairly swiftly and has twists and turns. I will finish it to see where this all leads and even suffer through the trite and contrived love story to get there.

But, all said and done, Damo has a lot of work cut out for it to redeem itself. Even in the more action packed Episode 11, due to the fact that the series kept repeating the same beats over and over, all that action didn't really make the story any more interesting. In my stories, I prefer seeing more dynamism. Characters develop, change, confront those changes, deal with conflicts stemming from decisions made, rather than the grand indecision which is Damo. Indecision isn't dramatic. It's angsty. And I've nearly had my limit. Only two episodes left--here's hoping Damo redeems itself.

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Inbox:Replay: Stagecoach

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

Replay revisits what I've previously seen.

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Sometimes I wonder if the Criterion Collection is just grabbing film history syllabuses to decide which movies to pursue (and, inexplicably, The Rock and Armageddon). Anyway, my Film History I memories came flooding back to me after I popped in Stagecoach, John Ford's notable Western with his collaborator, John Wayne. Stagecoach actually almost plays like a chamber drama for much of its time because much of the conflict is between the various members travelling on the titular stagecoach, however, it very much benefits from its grand cinematic scope and fantastic photography.

The premise is quiet simple. A diverse group of people are taking a stagecoach to Lordsburg for various reasons, whether by choice or otherwise. We have Lucy Mallory (Loise Platt), a married woman on her way to see her army husband; Hatfield (John Carradine), a mysterious Southern gambler who has taken in interest in Lucy; Buck, the comic sidekick stagecoach driver (Andy Devine); Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell), an alcoholic doctor; Dallas (Claire Trevor), who is implied to be a brothel worker; Mr. Peacock (Donald Meek), a soft-spoken whiskey drummer; Gatewood (Berton Churchill), a blustery and shifty banker, and Marshall Curley Wilcox (George Bancroft). Along the way, Curley finds the man he's been looking for, Ringo Kid (John Wayne), who's looking to get to Lordsburg for some revenge against the Plummer brothers. Many of these characters have conflicts with other characters, but what makes the journey more perilous and tense is the threat of attack by an aggressive Apache contingent, led by Geronimo.

What works well is the degree of tension built by having so many conflicting characters on a single trip. For example, the "social undesirables" in Dallas, Doc Boone and Ringo Kid versus the "gentlefolk" of Gatewood, Hatfield and Mrs. Mallory. But the threat of the attack ratchets up the tension to another level in stimulating a lot of believable drama between the characters. Some other elements of the story seem to be missing, like Hatfield's story seems rather abruptly curtailed and we never really get into Gatewood's shiftiness enough to care as he's otherwise a very unpleasant fellow. Also, Curly's character doesn't seem entirely consistent, especially towards the end of the film. And finally, the total dehumanization of the Apache people is pretty ugly to witness, as they are dealt with as a merciless force of nature more than people fighting for their lands that were violently encroached upon. Still, the romance between the idealistic Ringo and the cynical Dallas is pretty cute (even if it's a little hard to believe), so the film has a way of making things that ought not work, work.

And it owes a lot to Ford's sharp direction: both in how he organizes his scenes, like the chat between Dallas and Ringo in the dark, which steps into the light as Ringo starts to win Dallas' heart, and the immense photography of the Old West, which is clearly an inspiration to both Kurosawa and Italian Western makers. In fact, the shot where we are first introduced to Wayne has a kind of dynamic camera movement that is still quite a sight to behold (even if it comes across as cheesy to cynical cinephiles). And while the actors overact to some level, especially the "characters", its in line with the acting styles of the times and Wayne and Trevor do a good job of selling their little romance. I do think the ending was a touch anti-climactic and deflates some of the drama and character development otherwise built by the film, but Stagecoach is still a pretty fun ride, even with its bumps. 7/10.

Links:

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

Progress Report: 茶母, Episodes 9-10

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

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Note: As this is a television serial, this article includes spoilers for the series pertaining to the episodes discussed.

So, it turns out that the element of Damo that's been frustrating me for the series so far has not gotten any better, which is the rather same-note relationship between Chae-ok and Commander Hwangbo. It took ten episodes to even get the tiny movement that we did, but I'm inclined to call the romance aspect of this series quite stale. In fact, I think it's a bit obnoxious since the love triangle around our titular tea servant also includes the brother that she doesn't know is her brother. The first near miss of them discovering each other's identity, I swallowed, but the second near miss was little difficult to bear, because now it seems contrived--the odds of them near missing at their parent's temple on the same day seemed designed only for angst and not for story development purposes.

The other thing that really annoyed me is how our damo spent a considerable chunk of episode 10 near death and all we did was watch slow motion footage of her being taken care of by Commander Hwangbo. Really? You take the principal protagonist out and the whole episode slows to a massive crawl.

Fortunately, the intrigue around the conspirators and rebels is still quite interesting and at least that part of the plot moves pretty well, although I think the end of episode ten does not bode well as it looks like the love angle and the police story are going to meet in a potentially annoying way. I'm still hoping for the best though and that characters can actually develop and move along, because while I love the intrigue, how static these characters can be, especially in the romance side, is starting to eat away at me. Don't get me wrong, appropriately placed angst lets us deal with the conflict with the characters and consider the dilemmas at hand ourselves, but continuing to pour down the angst isn't just tiresome, it wears down the conflict and doesn't add any meaning. This might be fine for those who only care to "feel" along with the characters, but for anyone that cares about stories that have actual impact, it's rotten fruit.

I'm hoping that Damo can capitalize on the basket of fruit it's built with its setup and story while it's still ripe and not drag on this romance angle any further.

Also, I have to say that we're not spending enough time with our second male lead of Boss Jang. He had just a couple minor scenes and, while they are fortunately more dynamic than the main couple, I'm afraid it's going to lead him to be quite underdeveloped when he comes into the main picture again.

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Inbox:Replay: Modern Times

Inbox features items that I have recently purchased or received.

Replay revisits what I've previously seen.

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Modern Times is an interesting film to think about because it sits on a hinge of film history: when sound entered the picture. In fact, by the time of the release of "Modern Times", talkies were quite commonplace leaving silent film an almost archaic form. However, writer-director-star Charlie Chaplin was by no means forgotten, having written, directed and starred in some of the most celebrated pictures of the preceding decade, so Chaplin was obviously going to have some sort of impact with Modern Times. And Modern Times doesn't ignore the advent of the sound age of cinema, having its own genuine soundtrack complete with sound effects, music, and, yes, spoken dialog, although it is still a hybrid piece as the soundtrack is somewhat limited and intertitles are still used for much of the dialog.

Modern Times is set in a kind of futuristic world of its own era. A world that resembles the real world with its industrialization, job woes, and labor movements, but also a future world where telepicture communication exists in machines and complicated machinery is used in conjunction with human labor in factories. There are three main arcs to Modern Times: The factory worker (Chaplin) at work, then the factory worker in the system (jail/unemployed), and, finally, the factory worker as he encounters the dispossessed gamin (Paulette Goddard) and develops a kind of relationship with her, as they both struggle to put food on their plates and a roof over their heads throughout the course of the film.

Many silent films, including some of Chaplin's ends up being a string of gags without having much interest in telling a story and while Modern Times does seem like one of those films as we spend a more time on the gags than on the story, the story itself carries throughout the film and actually has a point as well quite the commentary industrialization, on an individual level (the dehumanizing factory) and a societal level (unemployment/labor movement), even if characters themselves are somewhat shallow. And that narrative grounding and larger commentary in which the gags and jokes are even dipped, makes those physical gags even more interesting, although, like I mentioned the connective thread is still a little weak.

As expected, Chaplin's physical directing and acting is quite strong, with lots of amusing stunts with great timing, which goes beyond merely pratfalls, but continuous kinetic compositions, like when the worker and the garmin find a house to squat in and it turns out to be a disaster. The acting overall is still expectantly in the mold of silent film, but the Goddard's got charisma and Chaplin is charming as usual. As for the sound, it's pretty simple, but there is a lovely moment where we get to hear Chaplin himself sing, albeit the song he sings is in gibberish, but it's still a rather amusing moment and one of significance as Chaplin continued to resist making sound films and recording his voice for some time into the sound age.

I don't know how well the silent film conventions, especially the gag-focused nature of Chaplin's oeuvre holds up to most modern viewers. I think it might try the patience of many modern moviegoers, however, I do think the story subtext is interesting and will provide interest for cinephiles and Chaplin's physical acting very strong in Modern Times and so those who can appreciate more visually-oriented entertainment will still appreciate Modern Times well. As for me, I know that silent film has some amazing capacity for storytelling from watching early Ozu or King Vidor and so it's been hard for me to fully warm up to Chaplin's less developed stories and characters, but Modern Times is definitely one of his stronger works thanks to its interesting setting and subtext. 7/10.

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