nbutcher-69458 Reviews

Monkey (1978–2004)

Thank You Baby

[10/10 · 30 May 2024]

How this NHK TV production found it's way out of Japan and onto the TV screens of English speaking children in the 1908s is something of a testament to how good the series is. Not many Japanese TV shows manage to reach escape velocity from their own domestic market. Monkey was many a child's formative exposure to the world of the far east, and my goodness, did it leave an impression!

Smashing onto the screen with some incredibly catchy 1970s rock music courtesy of band Godiego, the power of Monkey was irrepressable! It's strange to think in hindsight that this genre of music would fit with it's setting of ancient China, but it certainly does. Songs like Monkey's title theme, "Thank You Baby", "Havoc in Heaven", and "Ghandara" are seared onto my consciousness and those of the same generation.

Monkey had everything. Wild English dubbing, crazy jokes, ham-fisted performances, extravagant costumes, hokey special effects, and violent fight choreographed scenes. Amongst it all were sentimental and serious Buddhist teachings and philosophy about the human condition, delivered by a narrator and handled with great sensitivity. Most of this went over our heads as children, as we treated the Buddha as a make believe fantasy character peculiar to the world of Monkey Magic. We were more fascinated by the violence. Going beyond this, rewatching Monkey as an adult is considerably more... enlightening!

Unlike the source material of the "Journey to the west", Monkey doesn't really resolve itself properly in line with the overarching plot of the journey to India. This is expertly cast into the themes of it's final episode. I am not alone in feeling a desire for more episodes. Yet as the Buddha teaches, the source of all our suffering is desire. It is very hard to want nothing and to keep moving, but if we are to be enlightened, we must discover that this is in fact very easy.

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998 Video)

Foundation breaking premise may upset kids & parents

[8/10 · 20 May 2024]

Scooby Doo on zombie island commits the sin of breaking it's show's foundational premise. It starts treating the supernatural as real, and taking the show's format out of the realm of mystery and firmly into the horror camp. That just didn't sit well with me.

For one thing, parents can usually trust Scooby Doo will solve the mystery, helping the kids understand that there is no supernatural monster under the bed, and that everything has a rational explanation if the mystery is solved. Along with this you got some campy comedy, some clever Rube-Goldberg traps, and an appreciation of science and investigation. Scooby Doo has been taking the fear out of the unknown for kids for years. Sadly, Zombie Island does away with all of this. I figured if they were going to start accepting the supernatural as real, why not go further and just have the gang exercise their second-amendment rights on the monsters - instead of laying some overly elaborate trap as they usually do?

On the positive side it's actually well animated and has a well thought out plot, and some genuine scares and horror. There's also a number of self-referential gags poking fun about the formulaic nature of the Scooby Doo format, but the movie ends up subverting all of them - in a good way if you like horror, but should this have really been a Scooby Doo film?

If, however you watch this with your child and you are dismayed by the formula being broken right under your nose, there is good news. A sequel "Return to Zombie Island" has Velma is on a quest to make sense of this film. Thankfully it's a much needed book-end.

Falling Down (1993)

Clever character study

[9/10 · 14 May 2024]

Michael Douglas' fantastic performance of frustration with society usually gets most of the attention in this film, and quite rightly so.

However, what's actually going on is a contrasting character study between two frustrated old men. Each has what the other wants, but both men feel trapped in any case. Douglas' character has been fired, unfairly estranged from his wife, and has a child. He has decided to go on a rampage. Duvall's character is willingly leaving his police job, has an annoying wife he wants to stay away from, and lost a child he wanted. Yet he decides to stick around and play cop.

Many of the situations that Douglas' character finds himself in is extremely relatable, if somewhat exaggerated. He goes ahead and does what most of us may have felt like wanting to do, but refrain from doing because we're not psychopaths. Falling Down exposes the raw nerve that many of us experience. We have all been let down by what life promises, but always seem to fail to live up to. How we deal with that is what's important.

Legend (1985)

The Rocky Horror Show does dark fantasy

[6/10 · 7 March 2024]

So tell me if you've seen this one before: Two innocent lovers are corrupted by an evil villain played by Tim Curry in a dark castle where they somehow have to escape but are forever tainted by the experience.

I could be talking about the Rocky Horror Show, but I could also be talking about Legend. Both films are cult classics, and I think the reason why they manage to achieve this is through the time-tested "Garden of Eden/Original sin" plotline. The difference is that Legend lacks all the fun, silliness, and musicality of the Rocky Horror Show. It's all replaced with a dark fantasy setting and supporting actors that look the part.

I saw the US release with the Tangerine Dream soundtrack. The music is not at bad, especially the unicorn theme. Costume design is incredible as one imagines just how long it took for Tim Curry to get his demon head on before every filming session.

Ultimately the writing and pacing is fairly weak and it's not hard to see why it did poorly at the box office. I lived through the 1980s as a child and had never even heard of this film until recently. Now I know why.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The Garden of Eden as a B-movie.

[9/10 · 21 February 2024]

The tough thing about understanding the RHPS is whether Richard O'Brien was deliberately trying to say something with this stage musical, or whether it was just an excuse to throw science-fiction B-movie tropes into a pot and to stir it all up for fun and laughs.

In the end, it may not really matter. People really love this movie/musical and it will stay with you once you've seen it and had time to take it all in.

The film will speak to everyone a bit differently, and perhaps that's the point. Members of the LGBTQI+ community find solace in the film (and Tim Curry's fabulous portrayal of the evil Dr. Franken-Furter), but conservative viewers can be equally satisfied in the ending as well. Others will see the entire film as frivolous drivel and take nothing away from it.

There seems to be something of a bizarre "Garden of Eden" story going on under the surface, with all the moral concepts that alludes to. There's also lots of strange references: such as the 1930's "American Gothic" portrait and two of the characters in the film, along with the pitchfork, foreboding what is to come. References to King Kong and Frankenstein are obvious, including some blink-and-you'll-miss-it ones. One might wonder if it all means something or not under closer analysis. Equally it could all just be a dreamworld that should be seen in a cinema with similar minded freaks at midnight, and enjoyed as the raucous musical it is. I could easily be reading too much into it!

Toy Story 4 (2019)

Disney trashed Toy Story's legacy with this

[6/10 · 24 October 2023]

There are so many things wrong with Toy Story 4.

Primarily it ruins character consistency with the rest of the Toy Story movies, and then stomps on the themes and messaging of the first three, and not for the better. In addition to that, there are some scary and creepy bits that might upset kids.

They have a new character which seems to be suffering severe depression and behaves in a way that's extremely concerning. It just feels completely wrong for this kids film to take such a dark turn.

However by far the worst part is it's emasculation of Woody by the female characters. It's almost as if they set out to do this - as it's so blatant - and in doing so, ruin the messaging of the first three movies. It feels deeply unsatisfying as you feel that the evil characters end up winning.

Toy Story 4 is a perfect case of an unnecessary sequel done for money, less interested in telling a story, and more concerned with pushing an agenda.

That said, it is really well animated.

You might want to get your kids the DVDs of the first three movies, but you'll deliberately want to skip this one as if it doesn't exist.

Electric Dreams (1984)

Silly and fun, but it hits different now

[7/10 · 18 September 2023]

This is a fun, lighthearted movie about boy meets girl meets computer! Of course, the plot is a little cheesy and silly but none of that really matters when it's fun and takes us back to a simpler time. What makes it fun comes from the context of technology in the 1980s. Early home personal computers struggled with storage capacity and computing power to do little more than write a short letter and play primitive games, and their future role in the home was still being questioned.

Watching this film these days is a little laughable and a bit unsettling because of how far the technology has come, and as such it hits a bit different. There's less suspension of belief now which actually makes it a bit more distracting from the main plot than a simple fairy-tale. It throws a lot of shade on the film that was not originally intended because of how much it predicted that it got right.

We don't need to spill champagne on the circuit board to have a computer to perform a good facsimile of artificial sentience and intelligence when we have functioning chat bots using language learning models. And although there'd be huge network dropouts and long waiting times, our computers would not fry themselves trying to download the internet over a dial-up telephone modem! Leaving our computer on for hours hooked up to home automation isn't far fetched anymore either, and getting our news from the internet is commonplace - even if we don't need to make hardcopies of it! I just warn that you will have to suspend your thinking about the legal implications and health impacts of what damage that computer causes by the end of the film.

The arc of the computer learning about love mirrors the protagonists journey in learning to love. To that end it succeeds and the ending pays off thematically as well, because that's what it was really aiming for.

One thing I will say is that a fun film can never have too many montages, and Giorgio Moroder's end sequence music "Together in Electric Dreams" is a classic 80s hit that is still great even today.

Threads (1984 TV Movie)

The most horrific movie ever filmed

[9/10 · 7 July 2023]

There are horror movies, and then there is "Threads".

Watching threads will likely scar you for life. I don't think there's ever been a more realistic horror movie than this one.

The horror comes from the fact that unlike any movie monster or supernatural power - a nuclear holocaust is all too real a possibility.

What makes the horror so effective is the BBC documentary style of the film, and the film's attention to detail to the realism of what would likely happen in the aftermath of a nuclear exchange. The reality that Threads presents is utterly bleak and devoid of any hope.

The film starts off almost as a typical British soap opera, as we learn of the characters lives and begin to empathize with them, but the foreshadowing of what's to come hangs heavy. The tone shift eventually comes thick and fast, and where it ends up is as far removed from soap opera as it gets. It's not just the bombs hitting that are frightening, but it also paints a picture about what a realistic aftermath would probably look like.

Threads is an incredibly important film that everyone should watch at least once in their lifetime. As a species we must at least understand the threat of a nuclear "sword of Damocles" which now seems to permanently sit over us. I would recommend this film especially to anyone who would take war lightly, and to monstrous world leaders who think that nuclear sabre-rattling is ever a valid thing for a humane person to even consider.

This is not an easy film to watch, but regardless, this film will stay with you. Many will not be able to even finish it. For many it may make them physically ill and it's likely to give nightmares. If you survive all of this it will give you an appreciation of the life we have and the responsibilities we have to each other as human beings.

Toy Story (1995)

A modern classic

[10/10 · 23 May 2023]

Toy Story is the first fully computer animated feature film. For that reason alone it is an amazing achievement, but the quality of the voice acting, the writing, the comedy, the characters, and the heart that the film reveals makes Pixar's first animated film a timeless classic as well.

It's a rare film that parents can truly enjoy with their kids. The children respond to the toys, and adults will relate with misty eyed nostalgia for their childhood. Everyone will laugh from the jokes. Despite the computer animation looking a touch dated, It still holds up incredibly well.

It's really a buddy movie, but it cares about the children watching - teaching them about the problems jealousy and not to break their toys!

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Watch a woman act horrible for four hours

[8/10 · 22 April 2023]

One of the most famous films in American history is widely celebrated, particularly for it's score, costumes, set pieces, and it's acting. However, this still remains a considerably polarizing film. Not only for it's depiction and glamourization of confederate America, Gone with the Wind also suffers from it's own self-inflicted extraneous runtime and abrupt pacing in it's second half. It's also a really dark film with no happy endings.

So why is this film enduringly popular? In addition to the film being about survival, and what it drives people to do, I tend to think that this film is something of a female dark fantasy. It's like a "anti-heroes journey" for women. The Old South is set up to look like the Garden of Eden - complete with happy slaves - and Scarlet O'Hara is it's Eve.

Scarlet O'Hara is a thoroughly unlikable anti-hero of the film. The good people around her suffer in poverty and die, while she continues to live on in wealth while exploiting them. Her entire character arc, if you can call it that, does not even evolve one jot right up until the film is ready to finish, and even then you have to wonder if she learnt anything at all. In fact it leaves everything over for another 2 hour "Act 3", but we are all exhausted by this point.

If there are any heroes in this film, then - somewhat ironically - it's actually the "help".

It's classic cinema, but a masterpiece? For 1939 it certainly was.

Today, it's flaws are visible, but it's not hard either to see how this film has stayed with it's audience over the years.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Pure fan service

[7/10 · 22 April 2023]

If you've ever played Nintendo's suite of games, then there's plenty of fan service, spanning the suite of Mario games including Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. Easter eggs for all the fans are scattered everywhere in blink-and-you'll-miss-it scenes.

Basically this is a kids movie, but some elements of it include some mild horror. Some scenes will actually scare younger children. There's also a lot of cartoon violence involved in pushing the plot too, and that ensures that it's inappropriate for younger kids. It's particularly disappointing. Simply speaking, if your child isn't coordinated enough to play through the first level of Super Mario Bros., they probably should avoid this movie.

The action never really lets up, and visually it's a stunning animated movie. Plot-wise it's predictably somewhat ridiculous, but you'd expect as much for a film about a video game.

The Batman (2022)

Gritty, grounded, Batman

[8/10 · 18 April 2023]

DC's take on the superhero movie tends to aim for the more mature, adult, and almost "Watchmen" like take on the idea of superheroes. What I do like about it are the more grounded characterizations on the likes of the Penguin and the Riddler. However Batman himself is still a little over-the-top and mostly indestructible.

The first hour is particularly great, but gee, this is a long film and a good 30 minutes could have easily been cut. This is all the more noticeable towards the end where extra narrated exposition could have been left on the cutting room floor to let the scenes and pictures tell the story more subtly. "Show, don't tell" would have worked better here.

The plot does get hard to follow unfortunately, and for a detective story with some superhero fighting along the way, this is a disappointment. Eventually you stop trying to understand what's going on and who is linked to whom in the investigation and just try to run with the spectacle. The attempts at exposition then feel like a dull and empty part of the film, and a breather from it's more action packed set pieces.

Music is particularly good, with the theme riffing off Chopin's funeral march, and Nirvana's "Something in the way"

Overall, Batman fans will be pleased.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Multilayered sexual mystery movie

[9/10 · 3 April 2023]

Along with "Fight Club", "The Matrix", and "American Beauty", 1999 really was a year of films that aimed to reveal that not all is real as it appears to be. "Eyes Wide Shut" is no different in that regard.

This film is a slow burner. As with most Kubrik films, "Eyes Wide Shut" is heavy on the symbolism and visual references as it leads us around it's dreamlike world. Many references so tiny and nuanced that they're like easter eggs when you find them. The dialogue is a bit stilted in places, but in others there is some very clever innuendos in play. The film only really opens up to the attentive viewer upon repeated viewings.

It is about a married doctor who slowly starts realizing that something is amiss in his marriage to his wife, only he just doesn't know what exactly. What follows is a sequence of events that he stumbles through - all seemingly trying to tell him something - but only for his cognitive dissonance to get in the way. Hence the "Eyes Wide Shut" title of the film.

He attends two parties over the course of the film. One which is superficially socially acceptable, and a private one which clearly is not. If you understand what both of these parties represent then you're halfway to understanding the film and what it seeks to communicate. If you still don't get it, then perhaps some film analysis or manosphere blogs can explain for you.

As all great art does, this film will disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.

Ten Canoes (2006)

Secret Men's Business

[10/10 · 22 March 2023]

"Ten Canoes" feels part documentary, part mythical drama. Indeed it is both. Even to Australians familiar with their own country, stepping into this film feels like being transported to the dawn of time. Much of this is in part due to skillful narration as well as the filmography. Also, the level of authenticity the film carries with it, using indigenous actors and speaking in their own language.

What I didn't expect, however, was a multilayered approach to the story telling. A group of men sit together to make canoes and share their lore, given that the youngest male member of their tribe has now taken a love interest.

There is a story in here, with something profound to say, but it isn't forced, or spelled out. It's in these nuances of the film's pacing that the careful observer will put together all the pieces and reach a powerful conclusion that feels almost understated and anti-climatic.

At yet, the message is as timely today as it ever was - especially for us men. Even if we have substituted canoes for cars in this modern age, and in this modern society which - at it's most secretive inner-core - still functions much the same way.

The Wonder Years (1988–1993)

And there you had it... one of the best TV series of all time

[10/10 · 29 January 2023]

The Wonder Years came on TV at a time when I was about the same age as Fred Savage and his character Kevin Arnold. What makes the show stand out is the realism and the life lessons that each episode gently handles in the most innocent and sensitive of ways.

Watching it as a kid and watching it as an adult is a completely different experience. As a child you are relating to the characters and taking notes about your own coming-of-age, but as a mature adult... oh boy... some of the scenes are hard to watch. Kevin puts his foot in his mouth repeatedly, hashes out lie after lie, selfishly puts his feelings first above his friends, fails to commit to anything, loses his temper, equivocates to no end, and makes obviously terrible decisions. His cluelessness with the girls in his life, particularly Winnie, eventually becomes cringeworthy... and at a few points I was almost yelling at the screen for some of the characters to change course - alongside the narrator. Yet, despite all of this, the show stays accurate to the source material. This *is* how lot of kids fumble their way through adolescence. Without bad decisions, we just don't get interesting stories, or learn life lessons.

The Wonder Years manages to sweep us all up into teary-eyed nostalgia for our own clumsy and formative years with many scenes we can relate to. If you were a child of the late 60s, even more so. Regardless, in more than few places the show manages to land a number of emotional gut punches.

Despite the show's perspective of the late 60s, early 70s, the lessons and themes contained within each of the episodes are essentially timeless - making this show an equally timeless classic. With the exception of a "clip show" episode, the quality of the show doesn't falter across all six seasons. The music of the period is also fantastic, and with so much of it in the series, the DVD almost didn't get released due to licensing issues.

In short, this is great family viewing for young and old alike.

The NeverEnding Story III (1994)

A textbook example of how NOT to make a sequel

[2/10 · 29 December 2022]

The NeverEnding Story III would be bad enough as a standalone film. Given it's a sequel to a beloved classic film - it's crime against motion picture productions is particularly egregious.

The NES3 makes a mockery of the lore and characters proceeding it. The acting is atrocious and goofy and full of cringey dialogue. Many scenes are stupid. The story makes no sense and completely lacks any of the profound metaphor the original did. Worse of all, the movie can't seem to get itself to Fantasia. It's stuck in a "saved by the bell" school drama with school bullies.

The music is uninspired, and don't even get me started on the "born to be wild" final scene of the movie.

This movie doesn't deserve to exist. It only has value is in being a warning to any writers and directors who deign to work on a sequel to a successful property that they had nothing to do with.

David Brent: Life on the Road (2016)

The master of cringe-humour is back

[7/10 · 24 December 2022]

Ricky Gervais clearly took some further inspiration from the "This is Spinal Tap" mockumentary playbook for his hit show "The Office" and apes it further by including the disastrous musical road trip element as well. So here we are!

David Brent is a thoroughly dislikable character, and sadly I have to say, there are real "David Brents" out there. I worked for one once. He figured he could be nice to me and throw a lot of money at me, but then the power got to him and he then began to treat me with contempt because he thought he owned me. Then when he realised that this wasn't making him likeable, he fired me with zero warning like the mean and nasty piece of work he really was.

Similarly David Brent in this spinoff movie buys a few session musicians and... well, see for yourself! The band's name is "Forgone conclusion" after all.

So why do we watch these horrible characters?

I think it's because each of us has a selfish little David Brent in our psyche who wants to do whatever, say whatever, and believe whatever. We all want to selfishly chase a dream without having to worry about other people, our responsibilities, and our own limitations, and when we can't do this, we all respect people who bravely go forth with the extremely high possibility of failure.

You're either going to love or hate this kind of comedy though. If there's part of you that enjoys seeing sad and angry men suffer then you might like it. You might also like it for Ricky Gervais comedic genius and how he seems to effortlessly write funny lines for his character that cause offence and sour the mood so profusely until there is no possible salvation. Or perhaps because maybe you can relate to the character in either others or even (gulp) yourself!

Yellow Submarine (1968)

A psychadelic journey that delights young and old alike

[9/10 · 23 December 2022]

Whether the Beatles realized it or not, they not only set the template for future boy bands, but also children's entertainers. The Wiggles may have a "Big Red Car", but they clearly stole inspiration from the original "Yellow Submarine".

Yellow Submarine is really a children's movie, but despite appearances, it doesn't dumb down it's subject matter or treat it's viewers like idiots. The blue meanies and their lackeys look like nightmare fuel. Songs like "Elanor Rigby" and "Nowhere Man" are depressing. The monsters at the bottom of the ocean are grotesque, hostile and dangerous. All of this is mitigated by the Beatles endless optimism and effortless in-jokes, puns, and gags, surreal weirdness, and of course by the whimsical and ever-present Yellow Submarine that acts a beacon of hope for the persecuted people of Pepperland.

The cartoon espouses the spirit of the late sixties, conveying timeless messages of love, peace, and forgiveness. The colorful and visually stunning psychedelic artistry of the film is utterly unique, memorable, and instantly recognizable. It really is a one-of-a-kind cartoon. Sure, in many ways it's also a constantly running music video - but it's so rewatchable!

To a child who's never heard the Beatles - they'll be entertained by all the gags while developing an appreciation for the Beatles' music.

To an adult, it's an absolute trip of a film that deserves to be appreciated sober, possibly in addition to other states of consciousness.

In short, it's a classic animation.

300 (2006)

A testosterone fuelled dark fantasy epic

[7/10 · 20 December 2022]

300 is one of those great action films that doesn't ask much of the viewer and simply rewards them with great fight cinematography.

The director has been able to turn ancient Greek history into a overplayed and fictional dark fantasy, reminiscent of the "Conan the Barbarian" fantasy films. Here, the Persians have supernatural monsters and dinosaurs in their ranks as well. Not exactly period accurate.

It certainly gives the teenage boys everything they're after: an orgy of male camaraderie, salacious female nudity, blood, violence, death, horror, gore, and video-game CGI. Of course, there has to be over-the-top comic book scenes and highly memorable quotes and unlikely dialogue that can easily be turned into memes. To wash it all down, there's also period correct... heavy metal music?

This is something you're either going to love or hate - probably depending on how old and mature you are. There's not much to the story other than some common, if two-dimensional, tropes of good and evil.

You're watching this for some spectacular cinematography, and don't get me wrong, it's great. I'm sure it inspired a number of video and games and other films with the art style. Much like John Wick films, however, the cinematography is all it has to recommend.

House of the Dragon (2022– )

Paint-by-the-numbers GoT

[7/10 · 28 August 2022]

The writers and directors of the House of Dragon really understand what made Game of Thrones tick, and as such, they've heaped together remakes of all the best bits into the premiere episode.

A corrupt kingdom falling apart? Definitely. Dragons? Yep. Gory tournaments? You got it. Pointless violence? Absolutely. A bit of T&A here and there? Oh la la.... and it still manages to surprise with a scene that will force any woman who has even given birth to switch off half way through the first episode.

The problem is that the first episode breaks the fourth wall by being a little bit too obvious about what it is setting out to do - and to be fair - it's going to struggle to do it's own thing. More of the same thing isn't bad, but what House of Dragon is lacking so far is good characterizations and pacing to go with it. We don't understand the characters or their relationships that well before they're already doing things we don't comprehend. It just makes the pace feel a bit rushed with so much happening. Maybe it will all make a bit more sense later, but then -- well it's early days -- it might not either.

Walkabout (1971)

Finding balance between Order and Chaos

[9/10 · 15 August 2022]

Walkabout is fundamentally a story about Order and Chaos It's not a good versus evil story, but something more yin-yang. Even the black and white skin tone of the main characters give this away.

The more I thought about the contrast between civilization and the outback - expertly shot in this film - the more I realized that both could be considered chaotic and orderly.

On the one hand, we sense the desolation of the outback, yet marvel in it's beauty. Similarly we see the creature comforts of civilization, yet are confronted by the chaotic nature and make-believe required for it to even function. Our characters also go from primly and properly dressed to stark naked over the course of the film.

Walkabout itself is about the Aboriginal rite-of-passage where a young aboriginal man must learn to live off the land by himself. In many respects Walkabout is an attempt to find balance and contentment somewhere in the middle. For the whole film the main characters are trying to get back to civilization but when they arrive, they discover something they didn't expect.

It's the themes of the this film that really drive the cinematography and story. Certain scenes only exist to drive a point, as opposed to being interesting to watch. As a result it can become a tedious watch for some people, but for those who appreciate cinema as art, then this is a masterpiece of filmography and substance.

Ready Player One (2018)

1980s pop culture easter egg hunt

[6/10 · 24 May 2022]

Well this is the perfect "Father and Son bonding over a movie" watching experience. Dad will catch most if not all of the 1980s and early 1990s pop culture and video game references, blasted in quick repetition. Son will enjoy a story based on his favourite pasttime - complete with all the trappings of modern on-line gaming, pay-to-play, cheating, hacking, and corporate privacy issues. At least Daddy will remember a simpler time before video gaming turned into the morally ambiguous swamp. And yes, that leads us straight to the plot of this story, with it's "Willy Wonka" inspired moral. Nice and predictable, sugar-coasted, and unsurprising.

Having never read the book, I have a feeling that it was more dystopian and darker than what we see on screen. The pacing of the movie goes so quick that anyone not well versed in videogaming lore is going to be getting lost really quickly in the dialogue while trying to understand just what in the heck is really going on. That said, the correct market segment had to be targeted, so here we are with a Spielberg directed romp through the video game arcade with a group of teens.

Sadly that aspect of it is probably going to turn a lot of more adult viewers off, but hey - there's some serious CGI chops being shown off in this movie. Why then, does it remind me so much of Avatar? Maybe because it feels like I'm watching someone else play a video game? The film tries to bootstrap itself with real stakes and suspense, but the cartoony world makes it all feel unearned.

This is box-office fodder and it doesn't take itself too seriously. Just as well then, that I couldn't either. It was an entertaining easter egg hunt spotting all the 1980s pop references, but I also feel that the story doesn't really get out of it's pixellated two-dimensional treatment of the subject matter and into fully rendered 3D when it had every reason to do so. We're stuck in the Chocolate Factory when in fact we need to be in the Matrix. Is reality the only thing that's real? Well, what if it's not? Will the people of this movie put down the game long enough to rebuild their real world? Will the computers running the virtual reality sim have their resources switched to running protein folding simulations to discover a cure for cancer? This movie has no answer.

The Gate (1987)

An influence on "Stranger Things"

[6/10 · 13 May 2022]

Netflix's "Stranger Things" borrowed more than a thing or two from this campy 80's horror classic. Then again, the 1980s is full of films like this one where groups of early teen kids are facing off against the weird and supernatural. "The Gate" being only just a step up from Gremlins - and also lacking any blood and gore.

I must have watched this when I was about 12 years old and I remember just about having a heart attack from the good scare scenes ("You've been bad!" haha). Of course, the whole thing looks absolutely cheesy and campy by today's standards - but therein lies it's charm as a 1980s nostalgia drawcard really. All the tropes of the genre are here, making it a classic for that reason.

In every other way the film is terrible. Poor acting performances, bad stop motion animation, obvious foreshadowing, poor pacing, and scenes which just waste the viewer's time. It has a nonsensical plot which muddles any message it is trying to convey. Maybe in conclusion it's suggesting that kids persist with their dreams despite parental disapproval - or that maybe metal rock bands are trying to teach kids to fight the devil rather than be brainwashed by them? I'm not sure.

It still manages to be entertaining, and definitely a cult 1980s classic nonetheless.

Tokyo Vice (2022– )

I worked in a Japanese company in Japan

[9/10 · 11 April 2022]

I've walked part-way in Jake Adelstein's shoes. I used to work in a Japanese IT company in Tokyo as the only Japanese speaking caucasian employee. I took hour long trips through the crowded train stations, learning to sleep while standing up, jammed between other commuters. Finally returning home after a late night karate lesson to what can only be described as a hole in the wall. Only to get up again with little sleep and do it all over again.

The scenes in Tokyo Vice are as authentic as I've seen - given it's based on a true story, filmed on location, and advised by Jake himself.

From the English teaching, the casual racism, long hours, the stifling bureaucracy and office culture, to the heavy smoking and drinking, to the Russian girls in the hostess "snack" clubs. The neon wonderlands of Kabuki-cho and Shibuya are here on display, but it's portrayed dark, gritty, and noir given the subject matter. People unfamiliar with Japan will be struck by the seemingly absurdist culture which juxtaposes young men trying to act and look tough in a world surrounded by sexual objectification, neon lights, video games, and cuteness - and a near impenetrable ancient culture.

Viewers might also be struck by the Japanese constantly trying to practice their English on the foreigner all the time - despite his high Japanese fluency. When human relationships are fraught with distrust and are only resolved through transactional quid-pro-quo in Japan - something which this series highlights - getting a freebie language practice opportunity is worth it's weight in yen. It's certainly a lot cheaper than the hostess clubs.

Ansel Elgort's attempt at Japanese is a pretty good one, playing the role of the "gaijin" - the well meaning, Japanese speaking, and learned foreigner who is never taken seriously by the culture he's immersed in.

Ken Watanabe is - well - not much else to say. He's brilliant as usual, and his moody detective certainly plays the part.

Can't wait to see the rest of the series, as the first three episodes are extremely watchable.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Just the right amount of 1980s callbacks

[8/10 · 1 February 2022]

What I liked about "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" was the amount of references to the original film - and other kid-friendly 1980s horror films thrown in for the bargain. Much like "Stranger Things" borrowing from 1980s films (and including one of the actors no less) there are a number of scenes that look like they were copied from "Gremlins" and "The Goonies" and some other films I can't quite put my finger on. There's even some foreshadowing with "Cujo" being overtly mentioned.

It's hard to list out all the references without spoiling the film. For a 40+ year old who grew up in the 1980s and watched the original on VHS is going to have more nostalgic experiences than kids only having seen this instalment.

"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" still manages to be it's own thing and tell it's own original story, but it hits all the notes of the 1984 original at the right moments to be a serviceable sequel. Only thing it really lacked was some more Bill Murray deadpan comedy to relieve the tension of the horror. Thank goodness Bill makes an appearance!

Sure it's not a perfect film, but it's certainly a fun and entertaining and much better than the atrocity that was the 2016 reboot - which hopefully never escapes it's ghost-trap to come back and haunt us.