Moon Review

First, let me start by saying that this review is spoiler free. In fact, after all this talk I’ve heard of Moon spoilers and whether or not the trailer gave something major away (it didn’t), I feel obligated to say that its not all that easy to spoil. Traditionally, it may be a mystery movie, but one of the film’s major charms is that it doesn’t act like the major science fiction mystery that it is. Instead, it chooses to stay low key, and focus more on characters and small personal interactions then it does grand realizations and twist endings. There is no big reveal; in fact, there really isn’t a reveal at all. I’d say Moon is a prime example of how to give the viewer answers without needing big moments or spelled out answers. Everything comes naturally, and not once does the film hesitate to give anything away or stop to explain the question it just answered. It’s a mystery movie without reveals, a refreshing change in the direction of modern cinema.

But enough about the so called spoilers, lets talk about Sam Rockwell. To say that this is the best performance of the year so far is a grave understatement. His ability to create a character is astounding, and the emotion he shows makes us begin to care more about his reactions to the growing realizations then the realizations themselves. As I mentioned earlier, the film plays more on characters and interactions then it does plot or “mystery”. This is do in no small part to Sam Rockwell. As much as I think this was a fine debut from Duncan Jones, this is Rockwell’s movie. He carries it from start to finish and without him; the whole movie would probably have fallen apart. It’s his biggest roles yet and he does wonders with it. Kevin Spacey, too, does a great job as the amiable robot. This brings me to my next point.

*MINOR SPOILERS*

Robots. They keep killing people in sci-fi movies. Or, at the very least, attempting to kill people. So often do they end up killing people in modern science fiction, that when they don’t, I breathe a sigh of relief at the originality of whichever movie choose not have made the robot a soulless insane human-killer. In this case, that movie is Moon. It doesn’t make a big deal about it, in fact, for most of the film’s runtime the robot’s intentions are ambiguous in such a way to suggest that it’s neither good nor bad.  The bad guys, if there are any, are humanity. Which is unique in modern sci-fi. I don’t really care about robots, but that was to illustrate a point.

*END SPOILERS*

Moon is a completely original sci-fi movie. When pressured to think of something to compare it to, I keep falling short. In general, sci-fi likes to be big and grand, but Moon seemed to revel in being low key and personal. It had grand ideas, but it kept them on the small scale. It is possible that this choice was not a conscious one, and was instead a product of small budget, but even so, it made the film that much easier to relate to and ultimately that much more powerful. Second perhaps to Rockwell, this is the film’s greatest strength. Too often a film can get carried away with its ideas or its attempts to create an “epic world” for its characters, and loose track of the characters themselves or the small things that make the world so interesting. That’s where Moon shines, and from this, it creates a unique experience that is ultimately more charming and relatable then things like Blade Runner or 2001.

Maybe it’s for this reason that everyone is hailing this as the next big thing in sci-fi. “The future classic of the genre”. I can say that I, for one, agree. I would not be surprised if many years from now people looked back at Moon as being revolutionary or groundbreaking. Certainly, it is a refreshing change in a tired genre. And I would love to see it revive the genre in a way that isn’t simply continuing it. Originality is hard to come by these days, but Moon’s got it. By the handfuls.

Top 5 Albums of 2009: So far….

5.

Hazards of Love – The Decemberists

Until now I’ve often complained about The Decemberist’s lack of consistency. Their previous efforts have yeilded some good songs that tend to be intertwined with many mediocre ones. 16 Military Wives, for instance, is the only song I can recall loving from the entirety of Picaresque. Where those albums have failed, this album succeeds. In fact, one of the only complaints I can find for the album is that it doesn’t have any exceptional songs. It takes the idea of a concept album and runs with it, every song builds upon the last and the whole thing really only works when listened to in one continuous block. Its becomes less a collection of songs and more one giant song. A great acomplishment, even if it failed to reach a “peak”.

4.

Animals in the Dark – William Elliot Whitmore.

The acoustic guitar and classic blues sound of this album combined with the perfect vocals from Whitmore make this album seem like something that would have come straight out of the heart of the blues era. I’d say its probably the most accurate sounding classic blues rival album I’ve heard in quite some time. Whitmore has just the voice to pull it off and provides solid tunes to add the appropriate backing. Hopefully we see more from Whitmore and more blues albums like this.

3.

Noble Beast – Andrew Bird

This is far from the best Andrew Bird album I’ve heard (though it would be quite hard to match the quality of Mysterious Production of Eggs and Armchair) but its still a solid effort. And a solid effort from Bird amounts to quite a lot in my book. While it seems to lack the single song quality of the aforementioned albums, the song quality is consistently above average and the songs blend nicely together. Safe for one poor Radiohead rip-off, I’d say the songs ranged from good-great. The constant style changes may be offsetting, but I think Bird handles them wel enough. Andrew Birds great voice and affinity for violins and whistling stay true, and that just might be enough to make it onto my list.

2.

Grrr… – Bishop Allen

Though Bishop Allen is far from deep or emotionally involving, they continue to put out consistently entertaining albums that manage to put a fresh light on the Indie pop “genre”.  Their tunes are catchy, their lyrics are solid, and they have the presence and upbeat style to create a genuinely cheerful album. Some could criticize and say that Bishop Allen is simply another New York hipster Indie Pop band, and while I can’t necessarily argue about the classification , all I can say is that they are a GREAT New York hipster Indie Pop Band.

1.

Veckatimest – Grizzly Bear

I love this album. The song transition, the modernized folk sound, the experimental combined with the classic. Its simply my kind of album. Last year we got a similar thing from Fleet Foxes, but what Fleet Foxes lacked was the experimental tendencies that Grizzly Bear seems to revel in. They take the classic sound that Fleet Foxes perfected and toss it on its head. Its a strange mix of old and new.

My Top 10 Most Anticipated of 2009!

10. King Shot

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0892411/

Here is Alexandro Jodorowsky, the bona fide king of weird, making a movie starring Marilyn Manson, Nick Nolte, and the forever-lovely Asia Argento. Not to mention David Lynch’s production company is backing it up. So not only will it be weird, but it will probably be well acted as well, or at least the acting will be entertaining, which is more then I can say for his earlier works. I pretty much see this as the equivalent of giving a raving lunatic a camera and any actors he wants, which is turn amounts to a surrealists wet dream. Now being as big of a surrealist fan as I am, I fear that I couldn’t rightfully call myself such unless I danced with a banana in anticipation of this movie.

9. Inglourious Basterds

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/

Some may comment on how low this movie is but I personally can’t help but hold some fears that Quentin Tarantino won’t be able to control his gigantic and demanding cast. But even if he does loose control and the movie turns out to be nothing more then a random display of acting it would still be hard for me to say it wouldn’t be entertaining. As the cast continues to grow and more huge names are attached I keep getting more and more excited that maybe, just maybe, QT will pull another Pulp Fiction out of his ass and take this huge cast to the next level. Even if that’s just a pipe dream, I still want to see it happen.

8. Watchmen

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/

Another one that some will think is far too low. My excuse for this one is simply that I couldn’t put that much faith in the director that brought us 300 to adapt an insightful and meaningful graphic novel. But I can safely say that the trailer’s style is awesome enough to catch my interest and the cast seems perfectly chosen. This constant rumors about drastic (and rather stupid) changes in the script also worry me quite a bit. Now I sound like I’m bashing it, which I’m not, I’m just saying with all the talk going around I can’t put my full faith in movie. But I can hope and pray that it will be as good as everyone expects it to be and that Snyder will come to his senses and capture the depth present in the graphic novel.

7. Broken Embraces

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0913425/

This one is only on here because of its awesome combination of director and genre. It’s Almodovar doing noir, and 1950s style noir at that. In case you hadn’t heard of this one (its not as well talked about as some of my other choices) Baseline StudioSystems describes it as “Set in the 1990s and present day, centers on a four-way tale of dangerous love, shot in the style of a hard-boiled 1950s American film noir.” It stars Almodovar favorite Penelope Cruz and will hopefully be a return to the free for all style of some of Almodovar’s earlier works. If he has as much lack for sexual orientation and gender and as much brilliant writing as he used to and combines that with his always brilliant characters and a 1950s noir style, then I think we have the makings of a classic.

6. Where the Wild Things Are

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386117/

That picture really says it all. All of the photos released from this movie have been equally as stunning, enough so that I’m becoming convinced that I couldn’t have asked for a better style then what director Spike Jonze is creating. The other big reason I’m anticipating this movie is that Jonze has a real knack for originality, and that knack combined with the intense amounts of nostalgia present in the fact that its an adaptation of my favorite cildren’s book creates a hope that it will be both something new and exciting and something that will surely live up to my

5. Whatever Works

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1178663/

Larry David and Woody Allen. Need I say more?

4. The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054606/

Everyone keeps talking about Heath Ledger’s last performance as the joker, but apparently they have completely forgotten that his true last performance is in this Gilliam movie (one that excites me a helleva lot more then TDK did). That alone should be enough to make any fanboy wet his pants, but throw in Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell as Heath Ledger’s counterparts and completion of his character and you have yourself a movie of truly epic proportions. Also Tom Waits is in it, and he’s just badass.

(Gilliam is a better director then Nolan too, yeah I said it.)

3. Up

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049413/

Pixar’s newest stands out to me as being the most awe inspiring in the last few years. Or at least the idea behind it is. IMDB says the plot is this “By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn’t alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip”. Now that interests me and strikes my fancy far more then any rats or robots or (god forbid) nascars. The idea of getting away and having that complete freedom is universal, which is more then I can say for most of the movies Pixar has been putting out in the last couple years (I don’t mean to say anything about their quality, I love everything Pixar has done, even… Cars).

2. Arrested Development

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0901469/

I have my doubts that this will see a release in 2009, but IMDB seems to think it will, so I’m gonna go ahead and list it. Arrested Development is one of the best tv shows of all time, and fox screwed it like a 10 dollar whore. But now its got another chance, a big conclusion, and now Micheal Cera is screwing it like a 10 dollar whore. But that’s beside the point, I just want to see it make it to the big screen and I’d be happy, Cera or not. Some may think that it can’t make it as a feature length film, but I say nay to those naysayers and suggest that if they simply attached a bunch of episodes from any major arc (Mr.F!) its nearly like a movie. And the arcs are the best part of the show.

1. The Fantastic Mr. Fox

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0432283/

Wes Anderson is going stop motion, based on a Roald Dahl book, starring George Clooney. I fairly certain that that is one of the most awesome things I’ve ever heard. The mere curiosity present in wanting to see Wes Anderson doing stop motion is enough to make this my most anticipated, through in the awesome cast and great source material and I am filled to the brim with excitement. People always say that they can’t wait which is stupid because time works for no man (lol), I can wait but I’m not happy about it.

Battlestar Galactica: My thoughts after Season 3 (SPOILERS)

 

Well, one thing can certainly be said of BSG and that’s that they know how to do a proper season finale. They combine just the right amount of summing up with cliffhanger. So you don’t get the full season sum ups like HBO drama have a tendency to lead towards (more then likely out of sheer fear of cancellation) or the Lost style cliffhangers that leave you thinking that for every one thing they reveal they make 5 more mysteries that will go unsolved. No, what you get is a mix of the two, enough of a cliffhanger to make you want to immediately watch the next season and enough of a sum up to make you feel safe and sound, like everything will eventually end.

The season 3 finale may have done this more beautifully then any of the finales or breaks or even cliffhangers before it. The biggest mystery, the one from the start, was revealed in such a manner as to leave you both flabbergasted and wondering what the hell they will do next because, quite frankly, after that reveal anything is possible. So now we know Tigh, the Chief, the bitchy girl that works for the president, and Andars are cylons. There was no pussyfotting around or extending the mystery indefinitely. They got to the point and revealed 4/5^ths of the biggest mystery in BSG history in one fell swoop.

And I’m not even sure that was the best part. Starbuck makes a triumphant return, Baltar’s trial plays tell to many a secret and much betrayal, that Irish dude gave a pretty good performance, Apollo gave the only great speech he’s ever given, and the BSG crew sung a Bob Dylan song. I believe that’s what they call “frakkin awesome”. And then they leave you with the promise of a solution to one of two remaining large mysteries on the show, Cara Thrice knows where earth is. Next thing you know Ellen is going to show up with the identity of the last cylon. Actually, scratch that, she’d probably just end up leading Tigh to the bottle and screwing everything up, again. Anyway, point of the matter is that it wasn’t just the big reveal or even the surprise arrival of Starbuck that made the episode good, the acting in it was better then your average episode and the plot was tight and hugely interesting.

Now onto the real reason for writing all this and what other reason could it be then to speculate on the identity of the last cylon. Now I haven’t watched season 4 yet, or Razor for that matter, so don’t any of you readers go and spoil anything for me.

But I’m gonna go ahead and say that the president is the final cylon, and I say this with very little certainty other then a hunch. The biggest thing that leads me in this direction is that the dream that was shared by many others was only shared by cylons and cylon half-breed baby things, with the exception (maybe not) of the president. Besides the four that were just revealed, that captured the entire cylon population on board, at least that we know about. It also happened nearly exactly when it was revealed to the 4 that they were cylons. So, that to me screams only one thing, someone’s a cylon and the evidence points toward Roslin.

It could also be possible that her reason for survival wasn’t by chance so much as some sort of secret plan to take over the human race by controlling their leader. And it could also be said that after argueing with Adama and nearly having a fight, she got him to pretty much fall in love with her, meaning she has control not only over things she already does, but over his side as well. She has truly taken them over from the inside. So, I say it here and I say it now, the president is a robotron bitchbot.

Another question that shot to mind like a bat out of hell was whether or not there are other copies. And what that means for Earth. The Dylan song, aside from being awesome just out of sure relation to Dylan, also proved that the cylons have some awareness of Earth. This is the shows first mention of anything from our culture since it started; I very much doubt it’s a coincidence. The final five have a relation to earth, but what is it, is the fifth cylon on earth, or are these cylons, these final five, the ultimate undercover agent. So undercover in fact that they are kept secret from the cylons so as not to risk having their cover blown. Maybe they weren’t just sent to Galactica, maybe they were sent to monitor other places, like Earth for example. And maybe it’s the proximity of coming in contact with the rest of the models of the 5 that sent them off into their musical madness. And, if my theory holds true, connected Roslin and the other cylons.

So, now to switch gears once again, I’d like to talk about Baltar’s trial and the awesomeness that had a goofy name that I can’t remember. For sake of laziness I shall call him Irish. I very seriously hope that this is not the last we see of Irish the lawyer, as in the short time he was on the show he managed to outperform my favourite character, who is most notably for overacting and choosing himself over anything else. That’s right, Baltar himself, who I was expecting to love during the trial, but instead I found myself wanting to hear more and more from this smooth talking Irishman. So I can only hope that this is not the last we see of him, and I’m sorry for devoting an entire paragraph to what may be false hopes.

Now that I’ve ranted enough about a show I haven’t even gotten caught up on yet, I feel its time to wrap this fucker up. If I wasn’t sure if this show was great yet then this episode would have done it. I can only hope that when its all said and done the final episode lives up to it. If it does, then I assure you, this is a show for the books.

Christmas on Mars

If anyone knows anything about The Flaming Lips, its that their front man, Wayne Coyne, will do just about anything with the utmost determination. And for the past 7 years, that something has been a movie, a movie that I myself thought could possibly just be a myth out of the wacky drug addled mind of the Lips. But here it is, a real concrete thing, and while it isn’t quite what I expected, it hardly disappoints.

Anyone going into this movie expecting the wacky warm pop present in albums like Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots will probably be disappointed. It appears to be The Flaming Lips take on classic science fiction; a sort of experimental tribute to the classics, if such a think can exist. And nothing makes this more clear then the score itself, all at once a unique experience only the Lips can create and a throw back to the weird science fiction scores of movies like Forbidden Planet and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Overall, it created an odd and unsettling mix of past and future, as weird and tragic as the story itself.

About the story, as far as I can gather (it certainly didn’t come out and make anything especially clear) its about a number of people stuck on a space station on mars who are having technical problems. There is also some sort of important baby that can’t be let loose while the gravity is wacky (because he might fly away?). Then there is also a lack of oxygen which is causing people to go crazy, Coyne dressed as an alien, lots of vaginas (more on that later), and some sort of Christmas pageant. In this respect, it’s about what you’d expect from The Flaming Lips. It seems to be about desolation, and hope, and babies. I don’t know. Its weird.

Lets talk about the acting. The cast is made up of members and crewmembers of the band and friends of the band. The lead, near as I can tell, is played by Steven Drozd, who is pretty much single-handedly responsible for the Lips sound. The other members of the band all play key roles, Micheal Ivins as the mysterious technician and Wayne Coyne as the alien. The only real actor to speak of is Adam Goldberg, a friend of the band, who shows up in one scene and gives the only great performance in the movie. The rest of the acting is sub-par at best. All but one of the band members (Steven) never say a word, and they are good at that, I suppose. The rest of the cast isn’t so great, but seeing as this is meant to be similar to classic science fiction, good acting is optional. And really its quite charming, in that home movie low budget way.

Speaking of low budget, this movie is it. The great climax involves one of those funny swirly light things you can get for 150 tickets at any given arcade. But again, it all really depends on how serious you take this thing. If one can get over the fact that these objects can probably be found in most households, then one can see a certain charm in it. The same way one can find charm in watching cheesy special effects in an Ed Wood movie, sure you can see the strings, but that’s what makes it so fun. And really, considering the budget, some of the sets are pretty great. Take for example the bubble set where the baby is kept, it looks to me like something you’d find in your average big budget sci-fi movie. And that brings me to my next point, vaginas.

There was a lot of imagery and general weirdness in this movie, but nothing as much as the vaginas, whether they be in place of people’s faces or simple imagery on mars itself, they were everywhere. I can only assume they were supposed to represent either womanhood or birth, and since there was only one women with a whole lotta guys (have fun trying to figure out whose baby that is) I’ll assume it was birth. What this means, and how it relates to anything I do not know. I am sure that there were a lot of vaginas though. Especially in those few weird hallucination scenes, which were fairly unsettling (though I laughed, I’ll admit it).

So now I’ve gone on about technical stuff, but how does it bode on the meaningful scale. Well, I think it pretty perfectly captures what the Lips (or at least Coyne) have always been about. Hard work with a little bit of magic. The ending, even though the acting was especially terrible, turned out to be pretty emotionally effective. I guess maybe that was the rebirth, a rebirth into hope in a desolate and other worldly place. All our lives are Mars, and we all need a little bit of Christmas (or maybe aliens) to help make it all seem worth it. That magic is what keeps us going (Coyne). But not without the hard work characterized by Ivins.

I suppose before I wrap this thing up, I should mention that I’m a huge Lips fanboy. So that may have something to do with all this. But I honestly think that this movie is a good one, even if I’m blinded by my love for its creators. I had my doubts that this thing would ever be finished, and that when it was it was just going to be self-masturbatory nonsense. But it’s not as self involved as that, and I firmly believe that even nonLips fans can find enjoyment in it.

In the interviews on the disc it said that Coyne got this idea from his mom, who had made up an old science fiction movie that never existed. But effected Wayne so much that he saw fit to make it himself. And really, that’s what this is, The Lips making an old sci-fi movie, their own way. The score is perfect, which is as to be expected, and the direction is pretty good. Sure the plot is weak, the acting is bad, and the sets are low budget, but it seems to work with it, not against it. It’s a deeply flawed film but the flaws work, they make it seem more honest in a weird offsetting way. I almost think that without the flaws the film wouldn’t have worked, they are as much a part of the enjoyment as the wonderful score, for example.

Movies! Here!

So, I got one of this nifty things, I’m not sure what I plan to do with it, but chances are it will have to do with reviews and randomness. Which is essentially me, I should have wrote that in my about me, but I didn’t and won’t. If you are reading this, chances are you know me well enough to have interest in reading my blog, and so I shall now warn you that you will be disappointed, I’m a terrible writer and I’m certainly not anyone who should be writing at all. See, now I’ve set the bar so low that you will be pleasantly surprised no matter what. Wait, now I’ve gone and blown it. Fuck. Well, I can see I’m rambling, so instead of continuing I’m just gonna stop dead in my tra