RobotSkirts

I’m guessing everyone’s tired of me whining about work by now; so I’ll move on. I watched Suicide Club about a week ago. It is one of the most disgusting/beautiful movies I have ever seen. Usually gore and shock techniques don’t really get to me and I worry that maybe I’ve become too desensitized. During this movie though there were several times I was jerked bolt upright clutching to cover my gaping mouth while trying not to fall off the couch. This movie is solely for the hardcore and I guarantee you’ll figure out if you’re in that group in the first five minutes. I thought this movie was wonderful, but some people are offended when they find out it doesn’t actually have a plot and it doesn’t really succeed in delivering its message. Either way it is still a beautiful thing to behold.

I’m not really sure how I ended up with this movie. It’s the story of two life long friends/ping pong players. Peco is cocky while Smile is submissive despite being the better player. Nothing too spectacular here, but definetly worth your time, if you can tolerate subtitles. If you enjoyed Bend It Like Beckham (and you should) you’ll probably enjoy this movie too.

I think that screenshot is interesting because unlike the U.S. where we would ride Dumbo, a flying elephant, the Japanese ride flying elephant beetles.

I usually don’t expect to have fun on holidays since the most entertaining parts of life seem to be spontaneous. So, I spent the 4th of July relaxing and watching movies.

Cronos, one of Guillermo del Toro’s early films. His most recent movies were Hellboy, Blade II, and The Devil’s Backbone. I had asked Justin Brink what the movie was like when I borrowed it; He said, “It’s a del Toro movie”. Del Toro always does an excellent job directing and produces a good looking, high quality movie, but as Justin implied: if you’ve seen one you know exactly how you’ll feel when watching this one. Not exactly a spectacular movie, but definitely an entertaining time.

Tetsuo: the Iron Man Man is this thing bizarre. “A man is experiencing problems with metal showing up and protruding from his body.” This movie is shot in black and white using a hand held camera with stop-motion effects. I found it as a bittorrent and had remember Brink expressing an interest in seeing it. It was an interesting time and I’m glad I saw it, but seriously what is wrong with the Japanese? Oh, well, maybe the sequel will provide more insight .

Oldboy This is an awesome Korean movie about a man who is mysteriously imprisoned for 15 years and then released to find his captor. The emotional pitch that this movie reaches is incredible with amazing visuals and performances. The pacing can seem slow at times, but the viciousness of the final act makes it worth the wait. Although not as heart wrenching, I would say that like Dancer in the Dark it is almost impossible to comprehend what the protagonist must be feeling.

I’ve got a few more movies lined up so I’ll let you know how they go: more foreign weirdness.

This is the latest movie from director Hayao Miyazaki. Disney has picked up his last three films and distributed them in the US; Howl’s had limited release last week. I downloaded a subbed cam video of this about a month ago. I enjoyed it and as most critics have said, it is above and beyond anything that Disney could actually produce. Compared to Miyazaki’s recent efforts I was disappointed by this film. I would rank it third behind Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. It is really good and I will see it in the theater when it’s released here, but I feel it was a little too convoluted and is not his best effort.

The Ross is showing The Animation Show 2005. Frosty and I caught it on Saturday. It is composed of 12 short animated films. They are really diverse which makes it far from cohesive. I had seen three of the films already: Ward 13 and Guard Dog being the best. Producer Hertzfeldt’s entry was one of the weakest. If you’re a fan of animation you’ll like this. If not it might be a little taxing.

I was really skeptical when I started seeing Lords of Dogtown tv-spots. Is a fictionalization really necessary if there is already an excellent documentary. I looked into it and found out that the script for this movie was apparently written by the writer/director of the documentary, so I’m going to hold off judgment. They also got the production designer from Tank Girl to direct. That’s good right? I mean Naomi Watts survived that and it only took six more years for people to appreciate her.

I saw the tv spot for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I had seen the trailer a couple weeks ago and thought it looked great. Seeing the spot this morning prompted me to grab the copy out of my bedroom and start reading in anticipation of the April 29 release. It came in usefull later when my mom read me the haiku she had constructed; I responded “Never let a Vogon read poetry at you”.

UPDATE: Adam’s biographer says the movie sucks, I haven’t read superfan’s review (spoilers before the release, what an ass), but I did finish the book so at least a little good came out of this.