The Twentieth Century Way

My girlfriend (mi novia) took me to a play called The Twentieth Century Way last night. It was amazing. The cast is only two actors, the production design is minimal and the set is a stage. The characters are actors waiting for a movie audition. The play takes the form of an improvisational story line that the actors create as a form of competition while they wait. The story is a true story about the criminalization of homosexual activity and the use of actors by the Long Beach police department to entrap the men engaged in those activities. The scenes are done by the two actors as they slip from character to character to make the scene work.

The play was filled with a lot of meta thinking about acting and the nature of the craft. The way in which the actors create each character and the depth of each characterization makes it quite a performance. I highly recommend it and will probably be going again sometime. After the performance last night, the actors, writer, and director stuck around to answer questions. I was so overwhelmed by the play and the performances that I couldn't come up with any questions. I think I need another viewing to get it all in my head.

Some caveats: Because of the setting of the improvisation that the actors are creating, there is some sexual tension between the two male actors. Homosexuality is one of the primary themes of the play. The play ends with both men nude. The play runs 90 minutes with no intermission.

I recommend it highly.

Music

For a few weeks now I have been moderately obsessed with the band Placebo. I had heard a couple of their songs over the years but never given them much attention. I was working at the facility that edited the trailer for the upcoming movie "Daybreakers" and overheard the Placebo cover of the song "Running up that Hill" repeatedly while they were editing. It got into my head, and lead me to look into them a bit more. My co-worker Aarin noticed and bought me their live in Paris DVD. So it has been Placebo in the car, on the home computer and on headphones at work. If you like alternitive music, songs in minor chords, and good lyrics, check them out.

Also I picked up the new John Mayer album yesterday, and I am disappointed. There is noting extraordinary on this album. I am a fan and really get into about half of the songs on each of his previous albums, but this one left me flat and unimpressed. The musical arrangements are good, there is interesting layering of sounds but nothing sticks out. The entire album sounds like the songs that I skip in his previous albums. Oh well, you can't win them all.

Kings

I just watched the first episode of a TV show called Kings. It is excellent. It is about a modern day king and how he rules his kingdom. Check it out while you can it is available on Hulu.com

Review: Watchmen

I went out to see Watchmen on Thursday night with my brother and a few friends. It was a midnight showing which was probably a bad idea seeing as I had work the next day, but I did it anyway. The movie was good. They did a great job of adapting the novel. The scenes, background, and characters were all very faithfully reproduced. The problems with the movie were few but deadly.
First was the choice to show Dr. Manhattan like he is in the comics. Part of his personality is a certain disconnection from regular human society. One way this manifests is his disregard for clothes. He appears naked in many panels of the comic and so appears naked in many scenes in the movie. The film makers did a good job of limiting the amount of time he is shown naked from the front but they also don't force awkward cover-ups in order to censor the image. I wouldn't have done it any other way, but this limits the possible appeal of the film to more conservative moviegoers.
Another problem that is actually a flaw and not a regrettable reality is the music. The soundtrack includes quite a few good songs central to the times and places where the events unfold. The problem is that it happens too many times. There are far too many music breaks and musical montages where you are almost beaten about the head and shoulders by an iconic song perfectly representative of the era and mood.
Lastly there is a love scene in the movie that is a bit too long. I find that in love scenes the goal is to describe to the viewer the emotions between the participants and then get out of there before it becomes pornographic. So to achieve this purpose you generally don't show more than two positions. This scene had more like four positions and had me thinking 'what kind of movie am I watching here?' I am aware that this is not a rule written in stone as the sex scene in "the Thomas Crown Affair" was sensual and expressive but this one seemed uncomfortable and a bit unreal for the characters.
To wrap up The Watchmen was an excellent movie and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys comic book films or hero films or action films. Just think twice and maybe three times before you bring young children.

Review: Coraline

Sarah and I saw "Coraline" this weekend. It is an animated film about a little girl who finds a door to a parallel realm and deals with adventures there. I couldn't help but be reminded of "Pan's Labyrinth" even though Coraline was much less brutal. It was a good film if a bit predictable. The young heroine moves to a new place and has trouble with her parents, then she finds an alternate world with alternate parents that are too good to be true. (This is not a spoiler because you know that much from the trailer so don't whine) It doesn't get any more original plot-wise but the stunning visuals and entertaining characters keep you interested. One note though. This is not a movie for small children. The events get kind of freakish but I won't spoil it for anyone by spelling it out. I recommend.

review: Push and Fanboys

My brother and I went out and saw Push on Saturday. It was a cool movie. The plot based around people with special abilities. Movers (telekinetic) Watchers (can see the future) pushers (mind control and memory alteration) and others, and how some of them were fleeing a government organization that aimed to control and weaponize them. Overall it was cool. Except for an unrealistic learning curve and too good master plan, the movie was a neat ride. The special effects were excellent and the powers were impressive. I liked it and found myself wanting them to make more. In all honesty it was a flimsy fantastic and unrealistic story where every character with more than one line seems to have some huge power, but it was fun and I go to the movies to have fun. I recommend.

Sarah and I went out and saw the movie "Fanboys" today. For those of you who don't know. it is a film about a group of Star Wars fanatics who take a trip across the USA to break into skywalker ranch (George Lucas's home) and get a first look at Star Wars Episode one(it takes place 6 months before the release of SWE1). This was another fun movie but not as much as I expected. The trailer has most of the funniest jokes in it and there were way to many shots of trekkies with bad hygiene. In the last few scenes it gets a little sentimental in a way you aren't prepared for, and the characters are tired stereotypes. Overall its a good movie if you are familiar with the movies (as well as with Jay and Silent Bob) and have a good sense of humour about your love of them and if you don't love them are prepared to mock those who do. One thing I didn't expect is that Kristen Bell is actually in more than half of the movie and is kind of funny in that surprisingly hot nerd-girl way. Now if you are still on the fence as to whether to see this move allow me to tip you over. In one of the last scenes Kristin Bell is wearing the slave Leia outfit. The tragic part is there is only one good shot of her and only for about 1.5 seconds. Well its not exactly like more of that would have made it a fine film.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" review

Today Sarah and I saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." It was a grand film with stunning special effects based around the life of the title character. The central focus of all of the movie's conflicts and plot points is that for some never explained reason, Benjamin is born as an old man, and grows younger over the course of his life. This is an interesting premise, but to build an entire movie on it leaves you wanting. Individually, the events in the story are interesting, amusing, or compelling. Every scene is well constructed and they are emotionally effective in pieces. The great problem comes when one considers the work as a whole. The characters show no great triumph, and no unique insight. In the end it is two imperfect people who share a love that ends imperfectly.
The title character is a quiet polite person with a unique perspective borne of patience and observation. I could not help but think of Forrest Gump, and then later of Joe Black (another Pitt character). In the end Benjamin is a weak character despite his depth.

On a less professional note: when I saw in the credits that it was based on a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I threw my hands in the air and said "of course, that's why it was pointless" My girlfriend was not amused.

Awakened Mage

My review of "Awakened Mage" by Karen Miller
What can I say about this book that I haven't already said about "Innocent Mage"? The story plods along at the same frustrating pace. The characters carry out the roles that have been etched in stone for them from the second chapter. Any novelty in the setting has worn off after the first book leaving only a grudging desire to reach the end to carry you on with the same inexorable plot-line that varies not one inch from the expected. If there is any interesting and unique part to this story it is the saviour-based religion that springs up around Barl the historic mage that created the paradise that is the kingdom of Lur. Oh well I guess I should have seen this coming, but I always like to finish the novels that I start.
Oh and a word about the climax. The final battle that has been alluded to throughout both very long books is a short affair and taking in to account all the hype that lead up to the battle, It was disappointing.

Punisher

I watched the new punisher movie today. Now I know you are already saying "Why would you do such a thing!" Well, I was with friends and it was a social thing so that's my excuse.

When you go to a comic book move you expect a certain level of unreality, and when you see a punisher movie you have to know what the franchise has in store for you. So with that in mind I was still disappointed.

There was a constant juicy violent gore. Bullets flew and heads exploded. That is to be expected and even acceptable here, The Punisher was a hardcore and driven to revenge to the exclusion of all other things. The big problem is the other characters. While the punisher is a two dimensional gun charged revenge factory, the supporting characters are all caricatures of tired stereotypes. The main villain who somehow manages to survive being blended with broken glass is a wacky and plucky stitched up criminal mastermind. And his brother James LBJ AKA Looney Bin Jim who is a kind of Hannibal Lecter if he were also prone to bouts of childish glee and jumping around on stuff.

I would go over the weakness in the plot but lets not beat this dead horse

Innocent Mage

I just finished a book called "Innocent Mage" by Karen Miller. I am a bit put off at the ending, however. It is the first half of a two part series. This is particularly maddening as it is one continuous story that is published in two volumes. Now I am stuck with a cliffhanger that I won't see the other side of until I buy the other book, "Awakened Mage." Well on with the review.
The story is set in the fantasy land of Lur. The kingdom of Lur is peopled with two races, the olken and the doranen. The Doranen are the nobility, a blond haired fair race with the command of powerful magic, and the olken are the commoners, with dark hair and no magic. The main character is Asher of Resthaven, a rude and forthright olken, harsh almost to the point of unlikeability. And it follows his trip to the capital city of Dorana to seek his fortune. I found the characters interesting and fairly realistic, but unbending and static despite their depth. The story has some Prophecy Ex Machina, that I dislike (except of course for self-fulfilling prophecy which I find delicious) and some generous flexibility given to the friendships of adverse personalities.

The world seems an over-simplified construction with idyllic society and utopian government, but this is somewhat explained by the fact that the kingdom was created to be a utopia by Barl their ancestor-deity.

Will I read the other half? Yeah I have to. The supporting characters refer to Asher (behind his back) as the innocent mage, and hint that he is the only hope for Lur, and I find it so strange considering he is a magickless olken that I must find out. Oh well Its a decent book despite my nit-picking