Review (w/minor spoilers): The Brothers Bloom (2008)

11/05/2009 at 7:46 PM · Filed under Film Review ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Brothers Bloom was an enjoyable watch. It wasn’t hilarious, it wasn’t sad, it wasn’t fast paced, it wasn’t too long, I guess I should start with what it was. The Brothers Bloom is a film about two brothers who grow up to be Con(fidence) men. It shows them from their humble beginnings as children when they execute their first con, and then jumps to their final few grifts. There’s some solid characters within the story, and not just the brothers. The two female leads, Rinko Kikuchi and Rachel Weisz, stand out as “Bang Bang,” and “Penelope Stamp,” respectively. They truly steal the show. Rian Johsnon, who directed Brick (2005), which I didn’t but now will see, has a very interesting style of direction. The atmosphere had just the right amount of creepy to effectively pull off a dark comedy.

Johnson points out early in the script that the use of symbolism will be often and apparent. Everything, from the way the characters wave to each other to the outfits they wear, says something about the story and the character representing the story. In fact the name of the film itself symbolizes the light-hearted take on dark events clearly with the play on the names of popular storytellers the Brothers Grimm. I look forward to seeing more of Rian Johnson’s work in the future, and after watching Brick, there will be no more material to catch up on. More Rian Johnson A.S.A.P. Hollywood!

Speaking of people there should be more of in the film world, Mark Ruffalo turns in another great performance. I’m not sure which film it was, but somewhere between Safe Men and Zodiac, Mark Ruffalo became one of the top 20 actors working today. Crazy little tidbit I just realized, Ruffalo plays Stephen in this, and Max Records plays the younger counterpart. Both were in the opening scenes of Where the Wild Things Are together. The character of Stephen is certainly the more interesting of the two brothers, but that’s probably due to the performance, as he certainly has the most boring motivation of any of the four leads. As I said earlier the true scene-stealers were the ladies, as even without words, Bang Bang had more screen presence than Adrien Brody, who was forgettable in his turn as “Bloom.” Rachel Weisz is either really funny, really lucky Adrien Brody makes her seem funnier due to his dryness, or both. She nailed her role as an over-the-top New Jersey Heiress shut in with no friends and tons of hobbies.


Kikuchi and Ruffalo

I could live without ever seeing another film about Con Men. It’s just played out to me at this point. The Brothers Bloom had it’s own spin on the deal, and that made it watchable, but I’m certainly not as enthused as I’d be about this movie if I didn’t have to watch Matchstick Men, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Sting, Confidence, etc. It takes a lot to get something original from a source tapped as many times as this one, but I certainly can’t say I didn’t enjoy the Brothers Bloom, so Johnson pulled it off somehow.

Some supporting roles that deserve to be mentioned are Robbie Coltrane and Maximlian Schell. Coltrane played “The Curator,” and was great in his drunken haze. Schell was the films main Antagonist, who is only on screen for about two minutes all together, but does enough in that time to show why the titular brothers loathe his existence. It was also nice to see the quick exchange between Ruffalo, Schell, and a wine bottle. The most intense moment of the film I’d say. While I’m talking about great supporting characters in the film, did I mention Rinko Kikuchi as Bang Bang? Oh, I did.

The Brothers Bloom is an interesting experience with familiar material, but I guess every movie is based on familiar material these days. Rian Johnson shows he’s going to have an interesting future in the business, and brings a lot out of a great cast. Always nice to see the writer/director be so successful at seeing his image all the way through. This film is just the right length to keep from getting repetitive, but is also just not funny enough to demand repeat viewings.

Rating: Rent, Borrow, or Watch onDemand

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Review (w/ minor spoilers): Moon (2009)

11/03/2009 at 12:08 AM · Filed under Film Review ·Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Moon breathes fresh air into the space station science fiction sub-genre. In all the areas that Danny Boyle’s Sunshine (2007) failed, Moon excels, dialogue, special effects, originality, acting, it’s all just leaps and bounds more enjoyable. Duncan Jones (or Zowie Bowie as he’s been known) has certainly succeeded in his first attempt at directing a full length motion picture. I can’t really think of any complaints I had with the film at all, and that’s saying a lot as I can usually come up with something when I really want to.

Coming into the film I was just expecting a bit of a Sam Rockwell acting crazy, but what I ended up seeing was a clever take on cloning, big brother, and the whole monotone computer character that is so popular in science fiction. Kevin Spacey was perfectly cast as the voice of Gerty. You can sense the emotion behind his quirky short answers, the man acts masterfully without ever entering the screen. I also liked the usage of smiley faces to show his emotional reactions. Rockwell had a lot on his plate, playing four (1 off-screen) of the same character, and some of which in the same frame. He carries the film with his acting, but none of it would have worked if Duncan Jones’ direction weren’t spot on. Anytime there were multiple Sams on the screen, their interactions were seamless, which is impressive for a first time director.

Who’d a thought a film with only one actor on the screen for the majority of the duration would produce such a great script. The dialogue has great back and forth rhythm, is cryptic, and is even comedic at certain points. There’s nothing funny about finding out your entire memory is a lie, but somehow Jones and his writing partner made it work. The delivery of Spacey and Rockwell certainly add to the flavor of the words they’ve been given, but it feels as if Jones wrote the parts specifically for them.

The sets looked great, as did the exteriors. The whole design of the moon, and all the bases around it, would have been jaw dropping to see on the big screen. Each and every room of the base felt as though it really existed, there were never any parts of the film where it felt like the actor(s) was dealing with props. I especially liked the design of Gerty, and all the different ways that it was used. There is certainly a throwback feel to the way the space suits, and probably the overall set pieces, were designed. I felt as though everything in the film was easily recognizable, despite having never been an astronaut myself.

I appreciated the fact that Gerty wasn’t an malicious, or treacherous form of Artificial Intelligence. Giving the machine a chance to display compassion for the clones was certainly something I wasn’t anticipating. In fact the way the film played on the emotions is pretty impressive considering it was about a bunch of unnatural, man-made creatures. I felt bad for the clones, and I even felt a little bad for the robot, who had to give away all of his memories to help out. Duncan Jones certainly knows how to add depth to what he is working with, and that’s impressive in this genre.

This film was made on a five million dollar budget. That’s about 195 million less than Transformers 2. A big budget can’t hide bad storytelling, and clearly a small budget won’t hinder great storytelling. I can’t wait to see more of Jones’ work in the future.

Rating: WATCH A.S.A.P.

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LOST: “Some Like It Hoth”

04/17/2009 at 2:49 AM · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Spoilers and possible rambling ahead…


Father and Son

Season 5, Episode 13: This episode was interesting, but with a much slower pace than last week’s Ben-centric episode. Miles is a character whose power has been plainly stated on LOST for awhile, so he’s basically unlike any other characters in this way. What’s Jack’s power, or Ben’s, or Christian’s, or even Richard’s? We don’t know, but we pretty much know where we stand with Miles. We get some information about his past, and we found out who his dad is, “Namaste” himself, Pierre Chang. That’s right, Miles is the son of the guy from all the orientation videos that we’ve been seeing since season one. Miles is also the only character who has seen his 70’s self, when Pierre was reading to him towards the end of the episode.

Most of the on-island stuff featured Miles going around with Hurley. Usually I’m all right with Hurley, but in this episode he was about the most annoying character I’ve ever seen on this show. The way he screamed to stop the van over mayo, the way he asked all the right questions at the right times, the way he kept telling Miles about Miles’ own feelings, and the fact that he just wouldn’t shut up. I loved that he was writing the Empire Strikes back for George Lucas, and the scene where he teased Miles and Chang about hanging out, so I guess you just have to take the good with the bad.


Before Hurley is brought into the “Circle of Trust.”

It was interesting to see “Hank” from Breaking Bad as one of Miles’ clients in his ghost whispering adventures. That guy can play the hard ass dad to a tee, but here he didn’t have a whole lot to do, and handled it as well as he could. I didn’t expect to ever see the Naomi character again, and loved the scene where Miles read the brain of one of Widmore’s goons. I suspect Ben killed the man that Miles was reading. Naomi had more speaking parts in this episode than the rest of her character’s entire history, which is all that much, but still adds some more depth to the whole plot.

“What lies in the shadow of the statue?” I’ve heard the answer to this question is “the orchid,” but the real question to me is, who the hell are these people (headed by Brad William Henke)? They don’t seem to work for Ben, and definitely don’t work for Widmore, so who are they working for? Are they just their own separate faction, not headed by any previous LOST character? Maybe, but I doubt it. Perhaps they work for Jacob, or maybe Eloise Faraday, whoever they work for, I’m sure we’ll find out what they’re about sooner than later.


First Choke, now this, B.W.H. is taking over the world.

Roger Linus is a miserable drunk. Kate is the dumbest character on the show, as Hurley just plays stupid, while Kate pretends she isn’t, but clearly is. No character on this show is less interesting, more repetitive, and just all around boring than Kate. Is this all on purpose? Probably just the blind ignorance part, but that’s what Jack’s character was all about until recently, so it wasn’t ever all that necessary to the show. Kate is pretty much the only character who hasn’t learned anything, or changed in any way since the first season. Juliet has had much less screen time, and has already come a lot further as a character than Kate. Oh that’s right love triangle, that’s why she’s around, not like any other shows have had a love triangle going on. I guess the love triangle has changed, Jack-Kate-Sawyer has become Kate-Sawyer-Juliet, so I guess she has that going for her.


Kill her off already… PLEASE!

This episode didn’t end without a big reveal, which is where Daniel Faraday comes in. Nice to see him back on the show, as I want to see some more time travel stuff, and he’s always got that surrounding him. Can’t wait for the next episode, “The Variable.” Aside from that, the Losties are in trouble because Phil knows “who took the kid.” Where Jack succeeded in talking Roger down from ratting out the crew, Sawyer failed by using the dreaded one-punch knockout on poor Phil, and tying him up. Head of Security f’d up big time, which was only a matter of time with all of his nonsense about running the show.

One thing I hate about this season, it split Locke and Ben from the everybody else, so we don’t get to see them every episode.


Can’t even give us one Locke/Ben scene this week?

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Rescue Me: “French”

04/15/2009 at 8:11 PM · Filed under TV Review ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


The Chief and the French Writer

Season 5, Episode 2: I just want to start out by saying the scene with Franco and the French writer was perhaps the most honest writing I’ve seen on 9/11 since it happened. In fact, this entire episode was the most honest take on that catastrophic event that I’ve seen. I know this show has always handled 9/11 realistically, but rarely has the show expressed any feelings other than sorrow over the event, maybe a little anger too. Rescue Me is considered a comedy, but when the writers want, they can turn this into one of the most dramatic shows on television. I cannot wait to see where this whole 9/11 retrospective storyline goes.

The bar that Mike bought, and came up with the idea of, was seemingly a good concept. I guess that should have tipped off everyone (including the viewer) that it was an idea he stole from somewhere, but for some reason I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Franco’s reaction to Mike’s F up was pretty funny, especially after such a down episode. I wonder what’s going to happen with their bar now. Will they redo everything, will they open it as is, will they just give up on it? I imagine next week Franco will be the one coming up with the new theme of the bar, and that’ll work out.

Tommy’s outburst before his section eight interview was pretty funny, but all things he’s said to the characters at some point or another. Hopefully the rest of the firehouse doesn’t hold it against him too long, that could get a bit tedious, like Sheila. I don’t think I could care any less about the relationship between Tommy and Sheila. I did enjoy the little girl calling her a “dumb bitch,” this episode. More of that, and less of her talking, and I’m way down for more Sheila screen time. I know 9/11 has affected her greatly, and that’s why she is the way she is for the most part, but she’s done so many inexcusable things (drugging Tommy?), that I just don’t have much sympathy for her at all.


The two worst AA sponsors ever?

It was revealed that Michael J. Fox’s character isn’t able to use his legs, but I kind of caught onto that fact with some of the promo pictures I’d been seeing. The scenes with he and Leary have been nothing short of great, and I can’t wait to see more of that relationship. The scene where Mickey Gavin convinces Tommy to have a drink, then smacks him a couple times was hilarious. He’s got to be the craziest AA sponsor someone could ask for, that is until he forced Tommy into sponsorship. I imagine this relationship with Derek from AA is going to come to a life or death situation at some point. Will Tommy save Derek, or will he die, and become a part of the conscience that drives Tommy’s insanity? Also, whatever happened to the dead people that used to follow Tommy around? Not that I miss those segment, but just seemed like a bit part of the show for a long time.

Tommy didn’t react much at all to “Black Shawn” telling him that he’s with Tommy’s daughter. I expected something, a right hook, a curse word, a “who cares?” Something. Instead it just cuts to Gina Gershon and Tommy in bed, which just seemed out of place. If the episode didn’t wrap up with Mike and Franco walking into the copycat bar, the ending would have been a let down for sure.

I liked that Tommy was cleared of the section eight due to revenge, but what the hell was with that car crash scene? We get it, Tommy can save anyone from anything, at any time, but how coincidental does this show need to be? Did Tommy dream that whole thing up? It wasn’t mentioned again after that, but it seemed as though it was meant to have actually happened. Either way that scene also seemed out of place. Kind of a disjointed episode all in all. Still looking forward to the rest of the season, but I hope there’s more great dialogue, and less pointless accidents that seem to follow Tommy around. Perhaps he’ll make mention of the happening, and the rest of the crew will tell him it didn’t even happen. Who knows with this crazy show?


What an idiot…

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Party Down, A Show You Need To See

04/15/2009 at 9:25 AM · Filed under TV Review ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Did you know Paul Rudd created a comedy series, and that it’s currently four episodes into its first season? He didn’t create the show alone, but his name is one that caught my eye from the opening credits. Other names that I were pleased to see in the cast list were Ken Marino (if you’ve read my film reviews, you know why), Jane Lynch, who has been consistently funny for a long time (40 Year Old Virgin, Role Models), and Martin Starr, who I’ve enjoyed since his role on Freaks and Geeks. Starr isn’t the only Freaks and Geeks alum, as Lizzy Caplan, who played Jason Segel’s eventual Disco-loving girlfriend, is also a main part of the catering crew.

That’s what Party Down is about essentially, a catering crew. There are six characters who make up the crew, and each one seems to have wanted to be a part of the entertainment industry at one point, aside from the boss Ron (played by Ken Marino). There’s two failed actors, one aspiring actor, one aspiring screenwriter, and one aspiring comedian. They all live and work in Southern California, and they’re all thinking about other careers as they sit in this seemingly dead end job.


Marino and Scott

Adam Scott’s (Eastbound and Down) character is the lone exception to the rule, as he seemingly doesn’t want to do anything, but bartend parties, for now. His character was apparently a part of a popular beer commercial ad series, but has been unable to remain an actor after the fact. The entire pilot discusses this quite a bit, but his past work hasn’t been brought up since.

Party Down is currently airing on the Startz network, and is the only original series of theirs that I’ve given a chance. I know they had a show based on the film Crash, but I thought the film it was based on was too melodramatic and soap opera-like, to warrant any kind of spin off. The positive side to Party Down airing on Starz is the freedom of language usage, and occasional nudity. I can appreciate a show that’s allowed to actual do what it wants, and so far this show has seemingly been unhindered.


Hansen hijacks Starr’s script

I still can’t believe a superb cast like this, full of names that I enjoy, was able to get past me for four aired episodes. Luckily I know people who weren’t so slow on the uptake, and I was allowed to catch up. I can’t wait to see where this series goes, and I hope it stays on for awhile. I know I don’t do half hour comedy reviews often, but I enjoy a great many of them, and this has jumped high up my list of importance amongst them. This is the perfect show to fill the void that Eastbound and Down left in my heart.


More Kenny Powers ASAP!

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Cowboy Bebop: Sessions 5-9

04/14/2009 at 5:55 PM · Filed under TV Review ·Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Ballad of Fallen Angels: This was the episode that got me into the series. My sister told me it was her favorite, showed it to me, and I’ve wanted to catch the rest of the series ever since. This episode has a lot of opera going on, which lends an interesting atmosphere to the episode. This is the first session that really deals with Spike or Jet’s past. Spike has to return to a planet he knows all too well, to face off with a man named Vicious, who ended a mob truce about three seconds after it was agreed upon. Dude is a killer, and uses a sword as his primary tool of destruction.

This episode had tons of action, and features Spike getting shot for the first time in the series. I guess he’s not invincible after all. The whole church scene may well be the best scene I’ve ever witnessed in a cartoon, and I’ve seen tons of cartoons, so that’s saying a lot I think. Everything from Spike popping a guy in the dome for holding Faye hostage, to a close range stand off between Spike and Vicious, where Spike has him at gun point, but Vicious has spike at sword point. An interesting change on the age old dynamic of two characters holding each other at gun point.

I have a feeling that’s not the last I’ll be seeing Vicious in this series, despite possibly being blown up.

Sympathy For the Devil: Another great episode, and one heavy on mythology. What seems to be a normal bounty, ends up becoming a battle against an immortal child. I love the gun play in this show, and the way that little kid looked when he was trying to shoot Spike was crazy/cool. I think I saw a baby or something firing a gun in Trigun, but that was only in passing, so perhaps not, but that’s the only time I can even think of a little kid having a gun fight.


Kid can jam…

I loved the blues theme of the episode. Have I mentioned that I love the music for this show? I’m sure the graphic novels/manga for this aren’t bad, but I can’t imagine enjoying the stories as much without the soundtrack. I feel like music is the key to the show, and sets the tone in everyone of these stories. I loved how they needed to forge a special bullet to help the boy back into a (rapid) aging process. Spike wasn’t going to waste his one and only shot, and him standing there taking fire without moving was pretty intense. Dude is a bad ass.


The Heavy Metal Queen herself, and her cat Zeroes

Heavy Metal Queen: Spike and Faye team up for the first time to try and bring in a bounty named “Decker.” Though the main character of this episode isn’t one of the Bebop’s crew, but instead a space trucker known only as V.T., who carries around fat stack of money, which she will pay to whoever can guess what her initials stand for. She’s the “Heavy Metal Queen,” and she was a pretty bad ass minor character.

Decker is a scrawny little dude, who has a bunch of high powered explosives, and very little else of interest. As usual, the crew doesn’t round up the bounty on the dude due to his death, but that’s just the luck of Spike and Co. In an effort to save V.T. from a mining satellite, which was a pretty crazy setting, Spike eventually goes into zero gravity/oxygen to jump from his ship to V.T.’s. He almost missed V.T., and is nearly lost into the vacuum of space, but he pulls his gun out, fires, and changes his momentum. The way he used his gun to reverse his direction was bad ass, probably my favorite part of the episode.

Spike eventually guess V.T.’s name, but doesn’t take the stack of cash. Instead Spike just takes on of the bills off her, and let’s her keep the rest for her dead husband.

Waltz For Venus: This episode features a strange character named Roco Bonnaro. The guy is a little goofy, and keeps asking Spike to teach him how to fight. Eventually he tricks Spike into teaching him a little something, but as soon as their training gets underway, a gang of dudes chase Roco away from Spike, but not before they arrange another meeting for the next day. Roco also gives Spike something to hold, which is a rare flower only found on Venus.


Roco sits behind Spike at the beginning of the Session

Turns out Roco is a part of a gang, who are all wanted men, and those were the ones chasing him away from Spike. The Bebop crew decides to try and round up Roco’s whole crew, but first Spike goes off to meet Roco’s blind sister, who he ends up befriending. Later Spike goes to meet up with Roco, but it’s a set up, and a gun fight breaks out. Faye shows up in her ship, and helps round up all the bad guys. At one point Roco dodge an attacker using the fluid movements that Spike taught him earlier, but then gets shot in the back a moment after. Roco drops the plant, destroying it, and then dies after a conversation with Spike.

Spike has to go tell Roco’s sister the bad news. She’s in the hospital preparing for surgery to correct her site, so she can see her brother for the first time, but instead finds out of his death. A great episode, and shows Spike isn’t the emotionless bad ass he pretends to be.

Jamming with Edward: Probably the weakest episode in the series so far. There’s an Earth hacker named Radical Edward who has been following the exploits of the Bebop for sometime, and excitedly awaits contact with them. The crew comes to Earth to collect a bounty on a hacker who has been drawing crop circles with satellites stationed around Earth. They come into contact with Edward, who tells them it’s a satellite doing the drawings, and (s)he tells them what they must do to collect their bounty.


Radical Edward

Spike and Faye go into a large pile of satellites, have to fight them all off, and in the end they don’t even get to keep their bounty due to computers not being considered living organisms. Screwed on a technicality, the Bebop crew can’t catch a break. By the end of the episode Edward joins the crew on the Bebop,and Spike angrily questions Jet about their new crew members. I guess Edward is going to be a main character now, which I’m not exactly enthused about, but perhaps the character will grow on me…

“See you Space Cowboy…”

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Breaking Bad: “Peekaboo”

04/14/2009 at 8:38 AM · Filed under TV Review ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Season 2 Episode 6: What an episode. We get a bit of progression in the Walt/Skylar storyline, although even that was probably obliterated with the line “and yet she still drives a Bentley.” It feels like Walt and Skylar have been walking around in circles all season. First she wants to know where he’s going, then he wants to know where she’s going (to smoke a cigarette), and then vice versa again. I feel like a divorce is going to be the final outcome between the two. I just feel like either Walt will tell her about the drug money (unlikely), or just keep telling her nothing about the money, which is way more likely. Either way she’s going to get fed up eventually, and I imagine that will lead her to leave Walt.


I just can’t let it go…

Jesse had a pretty interesting week. First he tried to step up as the new head drug dealer in town, only to be disarmed by a dirty (unwashed, not perverse) little boy. The scenes with him and the kid weren’t bad, but I feel like Jesse left the kid hanging in the end. I guess his character would have a hard time trying to raise a kid, especially illegally, but it just seemed like the kind of drastic turn of events that this show is known for.

Nice to see Walt bonding with Walt Jr. The scene where they drove home was the first time I’ve seen them actually getting along in a while. If the parents do split up, it’ll be interesting to see the dynamic of this father/son relationship. Also can’t wait to see what kind of madness Skylar giving birth is going to bring, how far along is her character? Seems like she could pop at any minute.

No Hank again, which sucks since he’s one of my favorite characters on television, but perhaps we won’t be seeing much more of him with his new promotion. I feel sort of like last week left me wondering about the outcome of his panic attacks, but also like I was supposed to get more out of him throwing away Tuco’s grill than I did. Did he take the job, did he not take the job, does him taking the job, but throwing the teeth away mean he’s relieved himself of his panic attacks? More Hank now please.

I think the best scene of this episode has to go to the Gretchen versus Walt dinner scene. It’s not a common occurrence for Walt to drop an F-bomb, especially in the company of a lady, but he did that in a big way this week. That will forever be known as the “fuck you,” scene to me. Another great scene involved an ATM squishing a man’s head like a bug, which was an interesting murder weapon. This week didn’t let me down in the slightest, and I can’t wait to see where the rest of this season goes.

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Cowboy Bebop: Sessions 2-4

04/13/2009 at 7:50 AM · Filed under TV Review ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Session 2 – Stray Dog Strut: The first episode to add a new member to the Bebop’s crew. We don’t find out that his name is “Ein” until the next episode, but that’s the name of the “data dog.” This whole episode is pretty much about three parties, Abdul Hakim, whoever Hakim robbed (played by 3 dudes cruising in a surveillance van), and the Bebop crew. Hakim reminds me of a character out of Watanabe’s later series, Samurai Champloo, but is apparently based on Kareem Abdul-Jabar from Bruce Lee’s “Game of Death” (according to wikipedia).

Up to this point Spike hasn’t shot anyone, but he pulls his gun on a person in a clever way involving a fish tank. This session introduces the bounty hunter show, “Big Shots,” which features two characters dressed as cowboys telling everyone which bounties are the highest paying in the galaxy. There’s a part where Spike tries to get information from a weapons dealer, but dude asks for money, so Spike changes the subject to antique nun chucks, and eases the guy into revealing the information. Dude is smooth.


Ein

This episode wraps itself up tightly, but I didn’t really dig the ending all that much. Just don’t understand why Spike and Jet would keep the dog instead of selling it for the high bounty. Spike is clearly watching Big Shots when they’re talking about the dog.

Session 3 – Honky Tonk Women: Episode opens with Faye Valentine walking into a smoke shop. I love that a lot of the characters smoke in this, adds a film noir feel to the atmosphere. It was nice to see the three old men from Tijuana (Session 1) gambling, and winning. Groups of three seem like a theme in this show. Spike makes like Goku again, and shoves anything he can down his face, this time it’s a cigarette and a poker chip.


Faye Valentine

At one point in this episode a man running the casino executes another man at gun point (off-screen). I appreciate a good mercy killing in the animation world, let’s you know those guns aren’t just for sound effects, and shooting windows. There’s a cool part where Spike jumps from the Bebop to another ship. I thought this was a clever way to set up the age old “hand-off” scene. This show takes a lot of classic film cliche’s, and finds ways to turn them into something cool/original.

This episode ends a bit like Session 1, where Spike and the main female (Faye Valentine) share one last bit of dialogue before parting ways. This is my favorite episode so far.


Mom and the Space Warriors

Session 4 – Gateway Shuffle: The Space Warriors and their leader, “Mom,” reminded me of “Mom’s Friendly Robot Company,” from Futurama. I guess Groening and Co. were spoofing Cowboy Bebop with those characters, and I never even knew. The Space Warriors were like P.E.T.A. with guns, which is a scary thought. Fanatics are the deadliest of protesters.


Mom from Futurama

The way all the test subjects, who were turned into monkeys by the Space Warriors virus, reminded me of the opening to 28 Days Later. This may not have been where Danny Boyle got his visual cues in that scene from, but I wouldn’t doubt it. I’m also not sure the line “Us or them,” was a Pink Floyd reference, but in a show this cool, I imagine it was entirely intended to be.

The theme of three was invoked again in this episode, when the missile the Space Warriors shot split into three separate missiles. Still not sure if it means anything. Faye Valentine, the gypsy that she is, has seemingly joined the crew of the Bebop at the end of this episode. It doesn’t surprise me, and she seems like a cool enough character, I’m just glad Mom and her boys didn’t last. That lady was beyond annoying, especially hearing her in my headphones. Can’t wait to get deeper into this series, as it gets more enjoyable with each passing session.

“Easy come Easy Go”

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The Tudors: 3.2

04/13/2009 at 3:18 AM · Filed under TV Review ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Season 3. Episode 2: This week featured a very defensive King Henry. He was bed ridden for a decent portion of the episode, which reminded me of early second season Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) from Deadwood. Both seemed to not want to except that they were mortal enough to be sidelined by sickness, and took it upon themselves to work from their bed. Toward the end of the episode there wasn’t much mention of Henry’s injury, so I wonder if they’ve moved past it already, or if it will be revisited next week.

It was nice to get a little more out of the Sir Francis character this week. He basically hooked the King up with a mistress he seemed to fancy last week, which is a damn loyal move from a guy who already lost an eye for his majesty. It seems he will play a close adviser of the king, which is what all the notes I’ve read about him in history have claimed him to be. Seemed last week he’d be just another playboy, who would fall off the map eventually, but instead he’s got his opening opening title card.

One thing about the Tudors that I love, is that even the characters who are featured in the opening credit sequence aren’t safe from the wrath of King Henry VII. I defy someone to find a show with more dead opening credit characters than the Tudors, in the same amount of episodes (or seasons). Obviously you could just open a history book, and find out a lot of the spoilers from there, but I came into this series pretty blind to the facts during the first two seasons. I mean I knew Anne Boleyn would get her head whacked off, but who hadn’t heard that?


But for how long?

Princess Mary Tudor was back at court for the first time in what seems like forever. The King is a bit of a dick, or a lot of a dick, and his daughter has gotten some of the worst treatment out of it. He even went as far as to have Sir Francis creepily make a pass/tease her about her innocence, which I believe has to do with her virginity. Not the kindest fatherly thing I’d ever seen. I have a feeling Mary will play a large part in the end of this revolt that has been worrying the king this season.

Speaking of the Revolution, can we get some action already? This show has always found a diplomatic way to avoid war, and showing wars, but I think it’s time to take this to Braveheart levels. Perhaps that’s a bit too far up the epic scale for what we’ll probably see, at least give me something, it’s damn cival war! The preview for next week confirms that an arrow penetrates a man’s skin, so hopefully that isn’t some kind of sporting accident, and is a sign of battle. I love the political conversations as much as anyone, but I want to see the King (his people anyway) forced to battle for once. If for no other reason, just to see how he reacts to the whole turn of events.

Nice to see the former Spanish Ambassador Mendoza return this episode. I’m always a fan of continuity. Can’t wait to see what episode three comes up with. I also want to say congratulations to Travis from Arizona for winning the Trivia contest for Seasons 1 and 2 of this fine show on DVD. Thanks to everyone who participated, and made that happen!

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Cowboy Bebop: “Asteroid Blues”

04/12/2009 at 5:44 AM · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Spike undercover

Session 1: I’ve only ever seen one full episode of Cowboy Bebop before sitting down with Session 1. Until today, I’d only listened to a few selections from the soundtrack (which I always felt were tasty jams), that one episode, which my sister calls her “favorite,” and that’s it. I knew a lot of people dug it, that it aired on Toonami, and that the lead character was called “Spike.” Aside from that, I’m about ten years late on this series.

The episode itself takes place in Mexico, has a scene very familiar to the openings of both the original El Mariachi, and Desperado (Directed by Robert Rodriguez) put together, and features some interesting direction, most notably when the antagonist is on “Red Eye.” Keiko Nobumoto and Shinichirō Watanabe have come up with something that is truly cool. That word is thrown around a lot, but this show is pretty much the definition, as everything from the characters’ speech patterns, to the harmonica opening the session, capture the essence of cool. There’s a fine line between cheesy and cool, but in my eyes Cowboy Beebop plays all its cards just right.

The story of the episode features Spike and Jet, the show’s main protagonists, and bounty hunters, attempting to round up a bounty for a man named Asimov. At first Spike isn’t interested in folowing Asimov to Tijuana, but after Jet mentions food, Spike changes his mind quickly. At this moment I was reminded of Dragonball’s Goku, who was another main character in a popular Anime that was always thinking with his stomach. I loved Dragon Ball Z though, so that’s not a bad thing by any means.


Goku eating again…

The episode features some sci-fi drug use, a whole truck load of fired bullets, and even a great hand-to-hand battle between Spike and his bounty. A lot of cartoons play the good versus evil thing, so you don’t have to worry about trying to figure out who the bad guy is, but in Cowboy Bebop there doesn’t seem such lines drawn in the proverbial sand. Here you just have people doing what they need to do to survive in the underworld (undergalaxy?), who have their character faults, and own reasonable motives. Few cartoons put as much care into each character, but I think I’m going to appreciate that most about this show. The attention to detail of a feature film, but length of a series, something I always look for in a show, and seem to have found again with Cowboy Bebop.

“See you Space Cowboy…”

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