I can't believe how incredibly long it took for Death Note to get a North American release. A year ago, I was in Tokyo, trying to tell myself that it was perfectly reasonable to buy the DVD of Death Note despite the fact that it was fifty bucks, didn't have subtitles, and was a region 2 DVD. But I was desperate. The movie had come out in 2006, it starred two of my favorite Japanese actors, and I knew the story was incredible after reading the manga. 5000 yen later, I was the proud owner of an incredibly awesome movie. However, since my Japanese is rudimentary, I could only pick out a few phrases here and there, and never really figured out what was happening on my screen, except for the fact that it was a whole bunch of crazy Japanese awesomeness.
FINALLY, Warner Bros. Japan has released Death Note for North America. It's packed with great extras, and yes, subtitles! After watching the film again I was only further convinced of it's greatness. Death Note is the first film of two in the series, and I just found out that Warner Bros. will be releasing the sequel very soon, with a short theatrical release in mid-October!
The story of the first film revolves around a college student named Light Yagami. Light is extremely gifted, but he has a coldness towards humanity. He's played perfectly by Tasuya Fujiwara, who was the lead character in my favorite Japanese film of all time, Battle Royale. Light is disgusted with the way society deals with criminals, and just as he's reaching his breaking point, he comes upon lone notebook that just appears on the ground. Light soon discovers that the notebook belongs to what the Japanses call "shinigami", who are demons that control death. He also learns that when you write someone's name in the Death Note, they die of a heart attack 40 seconds later. The possibilities and the power granted to Light cause him to slowly but surely lose his grip on reason, as he begins to administer his own form of justice, killing off criminals by the hundreds. Eventually he begins to believe that he is a new god, and will create a perfect world.
Enter the police of Japan and a super-secret agent known only as "L". L, played by Ken'ichi Matsuyama, is another gifted youngster whose quirky habits and large brain make him mesmerizing on screen. Matsuyama plays him like Donnie Darko mixed with a little Crispin Glover. In fact, Matsuyama's portrayal of the character has gotten him an enormous following in Japan, and there has already been a movie spinoff of Death Note that centers entirely around L.
What ensues is a thrilling cat and mouse battle of the wits between Light and L, as the audience is left to choose what side of the battle they lie on. Light is using his power to kill criminals and create a better world, but he also doesn't hesitate to stop anyone who gets in his way. It's a gift of a moral quandry, wrapped up in a police thriller, with a supernatural bow on top.
I had high hopes for The Last Winter. Ron Perlman stars in it, you all might know him as Hellboy. I know him as one of the men old enough to be my father who I crush on like a silly teenager. He's a great actor, I love everything he's ever done. Yes, even when he was the Beast in the 90s during the television series of Beauty and the Beast. Oh yeah, I was there. I won't deny it. I still love him after this film, but, in the end, I was disappointed.
The movie centers around a group of people who have been hired to begin tapping the last untouched part of the Alasakan wilderness for oil. A few members of the group are "greens", men hired by the oil companies to prove that they are trying to evaluate the impact they are making on the environment. The two sides clash, the oil drillers and the greens, but all of the bickering is quickly set aside when people start going crazy and turning up dead. It seems that the ice is melting, and what is released from the icy depths is none too pleased with the human race.
The film is a slow burn, focusing on the bleak and desolate settings and characters, until all hell breaks loose. However, I was slightly disappointed in the climax of the "monsters". The end of the film did bring everything together nicely and left me feeling scared for the planet and all of us who reside upon it. Still, I felt the movie would have been helped if it had more scares instead of the heavy-handed preaching. I get it, I am one of those liberals who believe the environmental issue is the most important issue facing us today. But still. Give me some blood and action with my political statements.
All in all, it's a good movie for the budget it was made on, and the acting on all parts is top-notch. Just don't put it on expecting scares at every turn. If you are up for a really slow burn of a psychological thriller, then you won't be disappointed.
Whether you love them or hate them, reality shows have become a huge, uncontrollable, monster in television during the last 10 years. It's gotten so everyone from dog groomers to professional airheads has their own reality show. Former contestants of reality shows have their own reality shows. It's a mind-bending, never-ending cycle of depravity and despair. I am not alone in wondering what they could possibly come up with next.
Series 7: The Contenders answers that question with a fatal gunshot to the head. Filmed as a mock reality show, the movie takes place in a very near, very scary future, where people are randomly selected by their social security numbers for a game show called The Contenders. These people are given weapons and must kill each other off until only one remains standing. The winner has to complete three rounds killing a total of fifteen other contestants to earn their freedom. These people have no choice in the matter, it seems this reality show has been given the ultimate power in society.
Our hero is Dawn, a woman eight months pregnant who only has five more people to kill to win the game. It seems the producers decided to give the show an extra twist by placing this season in Dawn's hometown, and choosing her high school sweetheart as one of the other contestants. Will Dawn be able to kill the only person she's ever truly loved in order to save her baby? Or will one of the other able-bodied contestants finally put down the champion? Among her competition is an 18-year-old girl who is a deadly perfectionist, and a 56-year-old zealously religious nurse who isn't afraid to use a syringe. Look at you. You know you want to watch this TV show already.
It's a low-budget film, but one that has a message that rings loud and clear. Where will we draw the line as a society when reality TV becomes more real than ever?
For the first movie of the evening, I chose to begin with one of my all-time favorite films. Dark City is an amazing movie from start to finish, and I never tire of watching it. It's also one of those rare films that reveals something new every time you watch it. It's like a Christmas present that you get to open again and again.
I can't say enough about this movie. The acting is incredible. The story is incredible. The cinematography is incredible. Oh my god, just go out and buy or rent this movie right now! The movie features several of my favorite actors including Kiefer Sutherland in one of my favorite Kiefer roles ever. For once instead of playing the bad guy or the hero, Kiefer stretches his acting chops and plays a bumbling scientist with a strange way of speaking. He steals every scene he's in. William Hurt, as usual, is Mr. Superawesome Supporting Actor in a Cop Role, and Jennifer Connelly is tragically beautiful in one of her best roles. I love this woman, but she tends to be hit or miss, but her role in Dark City is definitely a hit. Even Riff-Raff himself from Rocky Horror Picture Show shows up as the viciously creepy Mr. Hand.
But the movie would be nothing without Rufus Sewell. His performance as John Murdock, the man who liberates the human race from the oppresive brain aliens, is unforgettable. The story begins with Murdock awakening in a hotel room with no memories...but that is soon realized to be the least of his problems. As he stumbles through a wonderfully imagined noir landscape of a decaying city, he learns that the world at large is being controlled by beings known as Strangers. These Strangers shut down the place every night and imprint everyone with new memories in an attempt to learn what it means to have a soul. Through a series of events Murdock learns that he has the same abilities as the Strangers and that he is the only one who can save the last vestiges of humanity. What follows is a battle of epic proportions for the human soul...oh man, this movie is just so damn good. For a film made in 1998, the special effects are incredible and on par with a lot of films that are made today. Check this one out already!
Finally, I can honestly say that my brain is fried due to film. It is a dubious honor, but I accept it with grace, and with plans to continue the movie marathon tomorrow evening. Three movies tonight, and three movies tomorrow, for a grand total of six dystopian future films. It's enough to drive anyone mad, and the last film of the evening, Cube, is one that does not disappoint in that respect.
Cube...the movie that blew my mind. It's been about three years since I last viewed it, and I distinctly remember sitting straight up on the edge of my seat with my jaw firmly on the floor. For some reason, I thought it was much more dystopian future-esque than it actually is, which I learned on this second viewing. Cube really is more of a psychological thriller wrapped up nicely in a science fiction present.
It opens with one of the greatest shock scenes ever...I won't give it away, it's gotta be experienced. The plot concerns a group of seemingly unrelated individuals who wake up in a glowing, steampunk, claustrophobic....cube. All of the walls have portals to more cube rooms, and some of the rooms are ingeniously booby-trapped for maximum blood loss. The story unfolds as our intrepid group of dysfunctional folks tries to figure out how they got there, where they are, and how the hell they can get out with all body parts firmly attached. Naturally the human psyche gets in the way, and they are all playing vicious mind games with each other before long. I have never been more afraid of a villain in my life...this guy is truly off-balanced. For a low-budget Canadian film, Cube really impresses. The acting is incredibly good, and with scenery that could easily become tedious, the director is able to keep you guessing and hoping until the very end.
This movie also has two sequels, Cube 2: Hypercube, and Cube Zero. I would recommend skipping Cube 2, but Cube Zero is really a good mind-bender, and a sort of prelude to Cube.
For the second film in my "the world is truly doomed" marathon, I chose ExistenZ. Directed by one of my heroes, David Cronenberg, ExistenZ is one of my favorite types of movies. Truly great films are those that challenge the viewer, films that literally dare us to strap ourselves in for the ride. Cronenberg, whose most recent films, History of Violence and Eastern Promises have both been Oscar nominated, is the MASTER of mind-bending, reality-warping films. He has continually smashed through the border that defines real life from film, and I cannot wait to see what his genius brings to the screen next.
Existenz features incredible performances from both Jude Law and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and also includes several star cameos from the likes of Willem Dafoe, (I swear, this guy was created straight from nightmares) and Ian Holm.
Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a game designer in the near future, one where game systems have evolved into organic semi-aware beings. She has created a game, the titular ExistenZ, that is destined to bring about irreversible changes in humanity. Law plays a bumbling security guard who is entrusted with Leigh's care when an assasination attempt is made on her life. The two flee and periodically plug into the new game with disastrous results. What is reality and what is happening in the game is constantly questioned, leaving the viewer scrambling for purchse in a rapidly dissolving world.
Cronenberg is a director who is fascinated with flesh melding with science. His special effects are stunning as usual, including a sequence that takes place in a Chinese restuarant that will make you question whether you should ever dine in one of these establishments ever again. In the end, it's not too much of a leap to believe that game systems will eventually bring us the virtual reality we all thought would be here already. With new advances being unveiled at every game convention, I still believe that very soon, we may find ourselves locked in our own version of ExistenZ.
I am undertaking a task of epic proportions this weekend...a doomed moviethon composed entirely of dystopian future films! After declaring my undying love for this genre, (yes, I am even a fan of Michael Bay's The Island , I know, shame, shame) to my newfound friends, I decided that a movie marathon featuring films that consist of futures both bleak and despairing was in order. I stayed away from most of the mainstream films, such as The Matrix and Bladerunner, and tried to stick to more underground films that most people have not seen...and so we come to one of the greatest Christian Bale movies ever...Equilibrium.
My love for Christian Bale is no secret. I fell for the guy at the ripe old age of 11 in sixth grade, when I saw Newsies for the first time. From that point on, I have been a die-hard Bale fan, and while most people are experiencing the awesomeness that is Christian Bale for the first time in the recent Batman films, what they don't know is that he has been deftly flying under the radar for quite some time and Equilibrium is by far my favorite Bale performance.
In a near-future that has been decimated by a third world war, the surviving humans determine that the cause of all the world's problems is human emotion - hate, fear, love, joy, etc.- and create a drug called Prozium that effectively dulls all feeling. The enforcers of this new world of emotionless humans are called the Tetra Grammaton, elite warriors who can handle a gun like nobody's business. Bale plays one of the officers who, through a series of life-altering events, stops taking his Prozium. He begins to feel, and his transformation from unfeeling stone to sobbing mess will keep all viewers enrapt. And lest I forget, there are PUPPIES. Yes folks, puppies. This film proves, once and for all, that the ultimate cure for depression is puppies. I've been saying this for awhile, but I'm telling you. Take anyone who is suffering from depression and stick them in a room full of cuddly cute puppies for half an hour a week, and their depression will be cured.
Oh, yes, and there are gun battles. EPIC gun battles on EPIC proportions. The Matrix has nothing on these Tetra Grammaton guys. The action sequences are slick, beautiful, and will leave you fist-pumping the air in glee at the destruction that is wrought.
This film cannot be missed. If you like Christian Bale, puppies, guns, samurai swords, blood, guts, and martial arts, you are in for a treat.
There is a disease which consists in loving words too much. Logophilia first manifests itself in childhood and is, alas, incurable.
—Peter Ackroyd, "Visions from an addiction to fiction," The Times (London), March 20, 2002
