The Great Mouse Detective – Mystery in the Mist Edition

Written by Hombre Divertido

Prior to the release of The Little Mermaid in 1989, the1980s were generally considered to be somewhat of a black hole for Disney when it comes to animated films. From The Fox and the Hound (1981) to Oliver and Company (1988) Disney failed to achieve the success that it had established in decades past. The Black Cauldron (1985) and The Great Mouse Detective (1986) find themselves sandwiched in this period.

In reviewing the aforementioned films, one may find that they have missed some entertaining movies. That is certainly the case with The Great Mouse Detective. No, certainly not in the same league as the wonderful films that Disney would release in the 1990s, but it is a cute movie.

Based on the Eve Titus' book Basil of Baker Street, The Great Mouse Detective follows the adventures of Basil (Barrie Ingham), the Sherlock Holmes-esque mouse detective, and his newly found sidekick, Dr. David Q. Dawson (Val Bettin), as they help young Olivia (Susanne Pollatschek) find her father Hiram (Alan Young) who has been kidnapped by the evil Professor Ratigan (Vincent Price).

It is the vocal talents of the above-mentioned artists and the direction of Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, David Michener, and John Musker, that allows this simple story to over achieve. This is just simple storytelling done well with energetic and extremely likeable characters.

Almost eight years after the first DVD, Disney releases the digitally restored Mystery in the Mist edition with an all-new “So You Think You Can Sleuth Challenge” and the bonus material that was included in 2002: “The Making of The Great Mouse Detective” and the “The World's Greatest Criminal Mind” sing-along song. Unfortunately, two animated shorts included with 2002 disc have been replaced by “Dylan & Cole Sprouses: Blu-ray Is Suite!” and “Learn How to Take Your Favorite Movies On the Go” which really have no right being listed as bonus features.

The digitally restored film looks great, but the “So You Think You Can Sleuth Challenge” will prove to be disappointing to children. “The Making of The Great Mouse Detective” is an interesting and entertaining look into the development and production of this film. Though the fact that CGI was used for the first time in a Disney film to create the chase through the workings of a clock is highlighted in the featurette, said scene still manages to be distracting as it looks too different from the animation utilized in the rest of the film. The Sing-along song is fun for all who choose to join in.

Recommendation: The Great Mouse Detective has been overlooked for too long. The performance of the legendary Vincent Price as the power-hungry Professor Ratigan alone is worth the 71-minute investment. This film is great for the whole family, though the barroom scene is a bit racy for young children. The overall energy of the film is perfect for kids, and adults will appreciate the Sherlock Holmes references including a vocal cameo by Basil Rathbone himself. There is not enough new material her to warrant the purchase of the Mystery in the Mist edition if you already own the 2002 release.

"On the Trail":

KICK-ASS Does Not

Written by Fido

Okay, that’s the last easy joke I’ll make about the title. But seriously, this movie, while made with good intentions, misses the mark on so many points. I’ll do my best to keep the rant under novel length.

First off, the story about a wannabe super-hero who makes his dream come true through an online-ordered suit and a circumstantial YouTube video is a cute idea in its essence. The problem with Kick-Ass is that it has made the lead character, the unassuming Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), an all-too stereotypical teenage nobody seen in countless better forms before. Now that is no big deal, really. I like those kinds of characters; they tend to work. The problem here is that he’s just not funny, charming, or sympathetic – at all.

The sniveling nature of the character grows old about 20 minutes in and really, overall, there’s zero attachment generated for him. I put an equal helping of blame on Johnson, director Matthew Vaughn, and the material itself, all looking to other similar characters for their cue, rather than building something that works for this particular movie. Lizewski’s persona is so hackneyed and so rushed that once he got to the business of being a superhero I found myself wanting him to lose. Not really what you want the audience to feel for your hero.

Another character issue is the absolutely rushed “relationship” Lizewski has with his would-be girlfriend Katie Demeaux (equally blandly played by Lindsay Fonseca) is thrown in to give the girls something to partially swoon about. It just feels like such a “oops, we forgot a girlfriend” piece of semi-plot that at no point do I feel a bond between either of these people. Again, I just want something to go terribly wrong between them so I don’t have to deal with watching them in their impossibly stupid goings-on again.

What's odd is the guy the movie is named after and who should have the most impact on the story isn’t the lead. His character is not what drives the story forward and in the end it isn’t what foils the bad guys. Revolving around that point – there’s an inordinate amount of time spent with the bad guys in this movie. Mobsters, that at no time offer any kind of amusement or threat outside of the yawn-inducing, stereotypical gangster whose dialogue seems cut and pasted from 1,000 other (far better done) characters in the same tired vein.

I’m all for villains. It’s great to spend a lot of time with your baddies (see: The Dark Knight for justified copious amounts of bad guy screen time). Hell, usually the bad guys are more interesting than the good guys anyway. But if you’re going to do that, those bad guys better bring something more interesting to the table than the character equivalent of fruitcake to a Christmas party.

Christopher Mintz-Plasse, whose geeky musings have been fun to watch thus far in his career, is misused in the role “Red Mist”, a.k.a., Chris D’Amico. But as it is, I appreciate the movie trying for something different in making him a co-heavy, but it falls flat. Making a comedic actor play a role that calls for no scenes of comedy is yet another bad idea in the cavalcade of bad ideas that is this movie.

So you have a grip of bland mobsters, miscast sidekicks and cohorts and a hero that is really hard to give a crap about. So you ask yourself what keeps the movie from falling apart altogether? Well, the answer lies in Chloe Moretz and Nicolas Cage. Though they have far too brief an amount of time on-screen, they steal the movie in those spare moments.

Every frame spent away from Big Daddy and Hit Girl is a moment wasted. Between Cage’s unappreciated Adam West-speaking gait and Moretz bringing an unparalleled clutch of pain and foul-mouthed awesomeness to her character - they are what the film should’ve been about. Their chemistry is unexpected. You wouldn’t think this functioning dysfunction would work so well, but it does, better than anything else this film has to offer. Even the plot-exposition moments between the two of them are seamless. There’s a bond between the two characters you can feel and it’s them who drive the plot forward, make the bad guys run, and keep the movie from completely disintegrating. The only time the movie (and the audience for that matter) truly lights up is when they’re on screen.

However, despite their quality performances, they aren’t the crux of the film. And that right there is where this over-hyped whirlwind of mediocrity really fails outright. Somehow, the script and director Vaughn do their best to dodge around their best characters in favor of everything worse – which is a lot. My friend said it best as we walked back to the car – “Why don’t you want to spend more time with the murderous little girl who says (see you next Tuesday) in casual conversation?!”

Speaking of the “everything worse” department, this movie has one the emptiest runs of nothingness in it I’ve seen in a long, long time. There is quite literally a 30-minute stretch in this film when there are no laughs (though most of the laughs, or pseudo laughs were in the trailer), no action, no character development, and no nothing in it. The audience was deathly quiet and the urge to sneak into another theatre, look at my hand or count the number of chairs in the theatre was tough to fight. So not only does the movie sputter along at a painfully herky-jerky pace, it leaves you with this cinematic equivalent of a drum solo right in the middle of itself.

Once it does get going again, it kicks in full bore, making you think it’s going to really start moving now (an hour-plus into the thing), but then right as the action rolls in, it screeches to another halt (and another “high above the city” shot that is used a total of three times in the movie. A gag run into the ground is the not-funny-once reference to Spider-Man that the film managed to do four times).

Mainly what you’ll hear about is the violence in the film. It’s violence that is no different than a million others before it; it’s just that now some of it is at the hands of a small girl and scrawny teenagers. That might put some off, but really it’s nothing more than a sideline to the movie’s parody aspirations.

Some of these fight scenes are done well (as in the drug apartment and running the hallway scenes), but there are two that feel nothing but out of place. They manage to take away from the better ones in the film by both betraying character and by feeling completely jammed into place. One, Big Daddy kills some mobsters and burns down a warehouse in a scene that felt like nothing more than the director realizing he didn’t have enough action scenes in it to warrant the movie’s title. The other is this “first-person shooter” video game looking gunfight scene that is just not what we were told the character would do.

I could go on and on, complaining about this major disappointment of a film. Suffice to say that Kick-Ass really isn’t a full-fledged comedy, action film, drama or otherwise. The only thing it manages to accomplish in full is in being one lost garbled mess of a film that winds up feeling like nothing more than a couple cool action scenes hastily pasted together with some seriously lacking runs of all too familiar “zero to hero” caulking.

Have Gun - Will Travel: The Fourth Season, Volume One

Written by Fantasma el Rey

Have Gun - Will Travel: The Fourth Season, Volume One finds our hero Paladin pretty much right where he left off, traveling the West and hiring out his gun for just cause. Richard Boone stars as the “fast gun for hire that heeds the calling wind” and rides into nineteen more half-hour episodes in this first half of the fourth season which cover late 1960 to early 1961. The plots and action have never let up in this series and Boone is perfect as the no nonsense, very wise and skilled gunman with a level head and quick draw.

The overall premise of Have Gun - Will Travel is as the title implies: a skilled gun hand hires out his pistol to those he deems worthy or situations he finds interesting. Paladin would rather settle any problems without his gun but you never push, prod, or threaten Paladin. He will send you to an early grave. Based out of San Francisco, this very well educated, mystery man of a good family isn’t simply a hired killer; many times he’ll show up and switch sides when he realizes his potential client is in the wrong or is simply bent on having someone killed.

Sounds simple and easily tiring yet it is not, at all. With many great writers, the stories stay sharp and involving. From the opening horns where we see Paladin drawing his black revolver (with cool chess knight emblem on the handle) and quoting an interesting line from that episode to the closing theme song “The Ballad of Paladin” sung by Johnny Western, you’re hooked and wonder what will happen to the gunman in black this time.

Through out the three DVDs we explore the many aspects of Paladin's wisdom, critical thinking and judgment. Have Gun - Will Travel is very adult and tackles some good issues or at least hints at them. We hear a tale of an Indian massacre by the U.S. Army in “The Montebank,” anti slavery in “Killing Of Jessie May,” the stigma of being a long-time felon in “The Prisoner,” and the prejudice against women in certain occupations with “The Tender Gun.”

Each episode is interesting and different, some are lighthearted as with “Love’s Young Dream” about a pelt scavenger who inherits a fancy nightclub; “Out Of The Old Ballpark,” which finds Paladin as baseball umpire to some feuding townsfolk, “Foggbound,” based on "Around the World in 80 Days," and “Princess And The Gunfighter,” in which Paladin himself falls for a lovely young princess.

On the other hand there are well-played dramas that lack not for action. “A Head Of Hair” finds Paladin facing off against Indians as his guide reflects on his mistreatment by a certain tribe, “The Calf” is a about a range feud begun between brothers, and then there’s “Quiet Night In Town” in two parts. “Quiet Night” is a solid story and has Paladin’s prisoner being lynched by rowdy, bored townfolk, and Paladin himself takes a beating and that’s just Part I. Part II sees Paladin awake again and mad as hell, at first, seeking revenge which he gets in a way. His cool head prevails and his hand is “forced” to kill where he would have been content to hand the killer over to the Sheriff.

Overall, Have Gun - Will Travel: The Fourth Season, Volume One is just as action packed, hard hitting and interesting as the first three full seasons, which I’ve seen regularly since I was a child thanks to my Father. As always "Have Gun-Will Travel" is packed with guest stars such as Robert Blake, Denver Pyle, Jack Albertson, Harry Carey Jr., George Kennedy and Ben Johnson to name a few, and there are always lesser-known actors of the past who pop up in supporting rolls. Once again without the aid of my Father these names would be forgotten or not known at all to me. Thanks again, Pop. So “Wire Paladin San Francisco” or just look online or at a DVD store near you to find the latest installment of ave Gun - Will Travel.

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG (Blu-ray)

Written by Senora Bicho

Disney was always the cornerstone for animated movies, enjoyed for many years by young and old. Then Pixar came along and set a new standard. I no longer rush out to see the newest Disney movie because the days of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King seem long gone. The Princess and The Frog is the first to grab my attention in quite a while and it rekindles that old Disney magic.

Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) is a waitress who dreams of owning her own restaurant in New Orleans to fulfill her late father's dream. She is working two jobs to earn enough money to buy the building she wants and finally has enough to make an offer but Eudora (Oprah Winfrey), her mother, worries that she is working too hard and missing out on love.

At the same time Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) arrives in town after being cutoff from his parents for being too frivolous. In an attempt to improve his financial situation, he plans to marry Charlotte La Bouff (Jennifer Cody) who is Tiana's best friend and the daughter of a rich sugar-mill owner. However, Prince Naveen and his servant Lawrence first run into Doctor Facilier (Keith David), who lures them with his voodoo powers and promises of great riches. However, Dr. Facilier unveils his real plan and turns Prince Naveen into a frog. Lawrence, having been abused by Prince Naveen for too long, agrees to take on his appearance to marry Charlotte and split her money with Dr. Facilier.

Tiana is catering the party that Charlotte is hosting to welcome Price Naveen. She learns that someone has outbid her for her restaurant, and while in despair she comes across Prince Naveen who has escaped. He mistakes Tiana for a princess and promises to give her the money she needs if she will kiss him. She agrees but after the kiss she instead turns into a frog. Prince Naveen and Tiana are then set off on an adventure to become human again and set everything right.

Disney takes great care in maximizing the Blu-ray experience here. Most notable about the 1080p/MPEG-4 AVC encoded transfer is the vibrancy of the colors. They explode off the 1.78:1 screen. Also well rendered is the sharpness of the lines are sharp and the clarity of the details. I didn't notice any artifacts in the picture. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track immerses the viewer within the movie. The many instruments in Randy Newman's New Orleans score are identifiable. The dialogue is understandable. Ambiance from many locales can be heard from the surrounds.

The extras are definitely worth watching and add value to this collection. I wasn't sure that I would ever watch it again but some of the extras actually heightened my enjoyment of the movie and I will definitely watch it again with more appreciation of the depth of the story and all of the work then went into making it.

An audio commentary by co-directors/co-writers John Musker and Ron Clements along with producer Peter Del Vecho is provided. From the first cell, they point out valuable and interesting information. There is Work-in-Progress Version that played in the upper left corner allowing viewers to compare the film's early stages with the final product. "What Do You See? The Princess Portraits Game" gives younger viewers the opportunity to pick princess out of fireflies.

The following extras are all presented in high definition. "Bringing Animation to Life" (8:08) illustrates how they used live action footage to help the animators create more real life scenes. It is really interesting to see how these techniques help the characters move more realistically. "Magic in the Bayou: Making of a Princess" (22:11), "The Return to Hand Drawn Animation" (2:43), "The Disney Legacy" (2:31), "Disney's Newest Princess" (2:51), "Princess and the Animator" (2:26), "Conjuring the Villain" (1:50) and "Return to the Animated Musical" (3:13) all provide behind the scenes information help create a stronger connection to the movie and deeper meanings. There are also Art Galleries, Deleted Scenes (11:43) and a music video for "Never Knew I Needed" by Ne-Yo (4:04).

At first I didn't think that The Princess and the Frog lived up to the old Disney glory. But after viewing the extras and pondering on it a little bit, I have changed my mind. The characters have depth and charm and the story is well developed with a good message. This is traditional fairy tale with a modern twist. The princess is a strong independent character who doesn't need to be rescued. Yes, she ends up with the Prince in the end but only because they are the perfect team who bring out the best in one another. You want them to end up together to take on the world.

As a bonus, Randy Newman works his magic and creates a great soundtrack. The songs really help to create the mood for each scene and bring the New Orleans setting to life. If you have been on the fence on giving this movie a try, jump in with both feet and be prepared to be delighted.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not (1930-32) - The Complete Vitaphone Shorts Collection

Written by Fantasma el Rey

Robert Leroy Ripley was a cartoonist, writer, entrepreneur, and amateur anthropologist. A successful blending of those accomplishments is what made the man and his name famous and well known around the globe. He is the Ripley in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. What started as a newspaper panel feature with some text and a drawing of the subject became a radio show, movie shorts, numerous books, and a short-lived early T.V. series. Those movie shorts are now available on DVD for the first time from the Warner Brothers Archive Collection.

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not is a two-disc collection of the 24 complete Vitaphone short films shot in 1930-31. Each episode is filled with on-location footage, photos sent by followers of his panel, and of course, his world famous drawings. Supposedly filmed as if each short took place in a different setting, such as Ripley’s office, a courtroom, on board a passenger ship, an elegant estate dinner, and so on, each appear to be just another studio set. Yet on that set there was always one person that would have some kind of trick or feat to wow the audience and give them the treat of a live "Believe It Or Not," as these presentations of facts, oddities, and tricks came to be known. Each episode features Ripley presenting the information then drawing a picture, showing some film, or merely just making a statement or answering a question put to him.

Each roughly eight-minute episode is crammed with many "Believe It Or Not"s and provides a good look at some of these oddities captured on film. Like the women who can read 200-plus words in 24 seconds, a two-headed turtle and many other odd animals with some special distinct feature or distinct patches of fur, like the cow with Mr. Lincoln on its side. Some more good tidbits of info include the fact that at the time America had no national anthem and Rip shows that that The Star-Spangled Banner was based on an old drinking song. He also presents some of his most famous drawings that include the man who had horns, the man who bored a hole in his head so he could carry a candle, and the ladies of Burma who elongate their necks by adding rings to them. And those are just a few of the treats provided.

The drawback is that some feats, as neat as they are, just aren’t very interesting. Like the lady who made the large yarn ball. Some of the footage shown is of people and places that time forgot, which consist of old hermits who lived on the same out of the way farm all their lives. Looking back at 1930s America that doesn’t seem that hard to believe. But at the time I’m sure folks were wowed by it. The information is presented quickly and at times is a bit hard to digest or get a handle on, making it a bit difficult for those that want to go and actually check Ripley’s facts. An interesting note here is that Ripley did have a fact checker, one of the best and most dedicated in a linguist named Norbert Pearlroth, who had been with Rip since his early newspaper days. So I’m sure most of the facts stand true, believe it or not.

The two-disc DVD is a good look at Ripley and the legacy he created. We see in these 24 short films the beginning of the latter-day television shows, one hosted by Jack Palance is the one I remember most, which continued to bring these odd feats, strange places, and people right to our doorsteps and into our homes. The major drawback to the two-disc set is that there are no special features at all. Not even a five-minute look at the life of Robert L. Ripley, which would have been the best part of the set, giving us a bit more information on the man and what he created. It would have been nice to further explore the T.V. shows that came later, the museums and “odditoriums” he opened and which house many of his finds and art work. If you want to know more you have to search it out which is okay but it seems like a missed opportunity to make this set even better by adding just one more short film on Ripley himself. I say rent this one for its bits of good facts, displays of oddities, and historical significant but overall not really worth the loot, especially with no extras.

Believe It Or Not.

Available to order through Warner Bros. Archive.

OLD DOGS

Written by Hombre Divertido

Sometimes it is just best to put old dogs out of their misery.

With a plot that is too contrived for adults, and contains nothing to which children can relate, there is no audience for this film. Nonetheless Disney sent this 88-minute (which happens to be about as long as it was in theatres) dog to store shelves on March 9th, 2010 in a set that includes a Blu-Ray, DVD, and digital copy, thus providing you and your family with three ways to avoid Old Dogs.

Disney somehow managed to get John Travolta, Robin Williams, Seth Green, Kelly Preston, Matt Dillon, Rita Wilson, Bernie Mac, and Ann Margret to participate in a script so thrown together and contrived, that it is a mystery how it ever got sold. It’s bad enough that Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston are in this, but to have allowed their child (daughter Ella) to participate should be considered a form of child abuse.

In Old Dogs Charlie (Travolta) and Dan (Williams) are lifelong friends and co-owners of some sort of sports-related marketing company, which like other aspects of this film, is loosely defined. Seven years earlier, Charlie had taken Dan to Florida to help him get over his divorce. One night in Florida, they get drunk, Dan gets a tattoo on his chest, meets Vicki (Preston), gets married, has sex, and gets an annulment. Vicki shows up (present day) to let Dan know that she has to go to jail for two weeks, and that he is the father of twins (Conner Rayburn and Ella Blue Travolta). Yup, it’s got Disney family film written all over it. So Dan and Charlie end up being saddled with the care of the children for two weeks while negotiating the biggest deal in the history of their company.

Since there is little introduction to the children or exploration into true childcare issues, ridiculous scenarios are introduced such as people taking the wrong medication and then dealing with the side effects. Again, a great comedic vehicle for a family film. Even more contrived is Charlie’s soliciting the help of friend and children’s entertainer Jimmy Lunchbox (a wasted Bernie Mac in what would sadly be his last film) who helps turn Dan into a human puppet so that he can better relate to his children.

One cannot help but feel for these actors as they clearly realize they are in a poorly written film and thus try desperately to breathe life into dead scenes. Unfortunately this results in what appears to be some of the worst over-acting seen on screen in years.

The bonus material includes a blooper reel on the Blu-Ray and DVD that is so poorly edited that it is impossible to appreciate, audio commentary, and deleted scenes. The audio commentary is more distracting than anything else, and the deleted scenes deserved to be deleted. The packaging indicated music videos on both the DVD and Blu-Ray, but they did not appear to be on the DVD.

Recommendation: The release of this film was delayed three times: According to Disney, the postponements were due to the death of Bernie Mac, Travolta’s son, and the health issue faced by Williams. The poor quality of the film should have been the reason, and it should have resulted in the project being scrapped long before filming began. There is nothing here worth your time or money. Wait for it to come out on television, which, based on its brief stay in theatres should not be long, and then watch something else.

Hannah Montana - Miley Says Goodbye?

Written by Pirata Hermosa

To coincide with the end of the third season, Disney released the latest Hannah Montana DVD today. As the title suggests, there’s a big question that needs to be answered. Is Miley (Miley Cyrus), really planning on leaving behind her secret life as Hannah Montana and moving back to Tennessee?

Thinking back on her visit to Tennessee, which was the basis for 2009’s feature film, Miley finds herself dreaming about her horse, Blue Jeans. Longing for the country life, she talks her father, Robby (Billy Ray Cyrus) into bringing the horse to California. But Blue Jeans isn’t satisfied at just being left in the stables; he begins following her home, to school, the beach, and just about everywhere she goes. Not knowing what to do about her horse’s wandering ways, she goes back to sleep and once again dreams about Blue Jeans, who helps her realize that she wasn’t just missing the horse, but she’s missing Tennessee. And the only thing to do is to pack up her belongings and move back home.

While she struggles with her decision and how she is going to tell her two best friends, Lilly (Emily Osment) and Oliver (Mitchell Musso), that she’s leaving, her brother Jackson (Jason Earles) is busy struggling with his first apartment and the fact that it’s falling apart. To make things even more complicated, Oliver has been asked to open for the band “Tepid Funk” on their six-month world tour. This means they would both be leaving Lilly totally alone. Feeling guilty, they decide to take her out for a day of fun and adventure, so she’ll have something to remember them by. After a little more soul searching, some advice from her brother, a pinch of wisdom from her father, and a musical montage about friendship, everything works out in the end.

The DVD contains five Season 3 episodes: “You Never Give Me My Money,” “Papa’s Got a Brand New Friend,” “Promma Mia,” “He Could Be the One,” and the two-part season finale, “Miley Says Goodbye?” There is also an alternate ending for “He Could be the One” and two other bonus features.

"Sister Secrets" is a look at the set with behind-the-scenes access to the cast as Miley’s sister, Brandi, interviews them and asks embarrassing questions about one another. This was actually fairly entertaining and a little silly, as it should be.

"Hannah’s Highlights" is reminiscent of watching Pop-Up videos on VH1 where interesting trivia and completely random thoughts are shown on the screen during the episode “You Never Give Me My Money”. If you’re interested in just watching the episode, it’s much better to watch without the comments because they are very distracting.

It’s hard to understand why this season finale is being marketed as it is. Granted, there is a cliffhanger, but it’s not really a good one. Not only has it already been announced that there will be a fourth season, but the suspense only lasts for a week as Part One was shown last Sunday and Part Two is on this Sunday. With the DVD dropping between the two airings, it probably won’t generate any extra purchases.

The season finale is also a little flat as it deviates from the normal formula. It spends way too much time focusing on Miley’s dreams and her talking horse. Normally, Miley would be dragging her friends in to some elaborate scheme that ultimately backfires, but instead all of the humor is left up to Jackson and his new apartment.

The other four episodes on the disc are random selections from throughout the season and don’t really have any common link between them. They are fairly typical episodes and most fans will like them.

FlashForward: Part One, Season One

Written by Hombre Divertido

Its 11:00 a.m. Pacific Standard time, and everyone in the world passes out for exactly two minutes and seventeen seconds, during which, they all have a vision of their lives six months into the future. Once everyone awakens, there are disasters everywhere. Planes, helicopters, cars, and buses, have crashed, patients in surgery have died, swimmers have drowned, chaos reigns. A team of FBI agents in LA are assigned to figure out what happened, how it happened, will it happen again, and can it be prevented. John Q. Public tries to deal with their individual Flash Forwards (Visions). Are they real, and can the future be changed?

During the FBI investigation, videotapes are reviewed. People are seen passing out at banks, grocery stores, malls, and sporting events. One tape reveals a person walking around at a baseball game while everyone else in the world is passed out. Intrigued? Welcome to ABC’s newest science fiction anthology series Flash Forward.

The series premiered on September 24th 2009, and after ten episodes, went on hiatus. With episode eleven scheduled for broadcast on March 18th, ABC released the first ten episodes in a two-disc set on February 23rd. This would appear to be a marketing ploy to allow people who have possibly missed some of the shows to get caught up, but more importantly to draw attention to a series that has been off the air since November. One can certainly wonder how effective this will be since the episodes are available online, and people who are interested in owning the series would wait for a full season release.

Nonetheless, Flash Forward opens with two strong episodes that are sure to draw in the most skeptical and even those who don’t consider themselves science fiction fans. The characters are generally easy to relate to, and the individual stories are told effectively considering the limited time available. The introduction of the mysterious figure at the end of episode one, the discovery of a second person who apparently also was immune to that which caused mankind to blackout, and the delivery of the line “D. Gibbons is a bad man” (Which needs to be on t-shirts) by the young daughter (Lennon Wynn as Charlie Benford) of the lead F.B.I. agent (Joseph Fiennes as Mark Benford) on the case, make for some of the most enthralling writing for television in years.

Unfortunately, when you start that strong, it is hard to sustain the momentum, and the writing does begin to falter, as due some of the performances. Though it has only been ten episodes, there are still too many storylines that have gone nowhere, and though they still may, from a purely investigative perspective it seems illogical that they have not thus far. The introduction of a possible explanation to the unusual event could easily be seen as a huge error in judgment by the writers, as it clearly seemed to suck the energy out of the episode in which it occurred. Certain characters have made choices and taken action that seem obviously inconsistent with that which has been established, and other actors are simply not up to the task of playing the roles in which they have been cast. Sadly, one of the most obvious is Dominic Monaghan, who was so wonderful to watch as Charlie on Lost, but is now miscast as Simon Campos, the arrogant quantum physics genius who claims to have been responsible for the blackouts.

Whether Flash Forward can regain the excitement and mystery established in the first two episodes remains to be seen. That and the answers to many other questions are forthcoming in the next six weeks. Regardless, it would seem that a release of the first ten episodes on DVD with bonus features that include a look ahead as well as an interesting and entertaining, though all too brief, feature on how the series opening scene was created, is going to be somewhat of a hard sell.

Recommendation: Flash Forward has the potential to follow in the successful footsteps of the phenomenon that is Lost. The writing needs to get back on track, allow the characters to be more consistent in their behavior, and some of the performances need to get better. There is certainly enough pure energy and mystery in the first few episodes of the series to make them worth owning, but waiting for the entire first season to be available would seem to be a better choice in these tough economic times.

Lola Montes - The Criterion Collection

Written by Musgo Del Jefe

Criterion may singlehandedly be keeping the idea of Film As Art alive today. The films they release can't appeal to the broad range of people who rent their movies from a box outside of a 7-11. But for those who are willing to put in the time, they can be memorable and rewarding in ways that I usually only get from good literature. Last year, I had the privilege of reviewing their release of a relatively current film, Brand Upon The Brain!. That film was untraditional in its narrative and told a number of stories, rewarding the viewer for repeated viewings with its depth. It was very stylized but the substance was there to be unlocked.

Criterion has now released what is considered a classic of the art/cult film genre, Lola Montès. The film from 1955 is directed by the legendary Max Ophuls. This film is my first opportunity to see one of his films but the German director is legendary for those of us who read about the classic directors. His use of cinematography and long sweeping shots were a definite influence on the works of Kubrick - you can see it almost directly in Barry Lyndon. But while this film was groundbreaking at the time of its release, what is always curious to me know is how will it resonate with audiences 55 years later. We are sophisticated viewers for the most part - and people who are going to pick up a historical film in French by a German director probably have higher expectations of their movie than anybody who pays to see anything with "Squeakquel" in the title.

The movie is told in six parts. Each forms a sort of movement in a symphony. Each part does not necessarily stand alone but they each illustrate the themes of the picture and do form different emotional beats throughout the film. Most of the story will be told through flashbacks - it's an old standard that allows the director to manipulate the story. Dishing out facts at the director's discretion often makes a movie feel forced, which is why the flashback can backfire. Here, it allows a natural progression of themes to illustrate what we see in the beginning and leading into our final scene.

The movie opens in a circus. It's here that we see the glory of all of the director's bag of tricks. It's also the place that I started to worry about the next two hours. The camera tracks back and forth across the members of the circus. There is a cacophony of movement - the camera and characters. It's hard to even know where to focus. That is until the Ringmaster (Peter Ustinov) takes over as our de-facto narrator. He's going to guide us through this early scene and direct us to where we will look in Lola's life during our flashbacks.

A circus is a great symbol for many reasons. For one, it's a little self-contained microcosm. It can represent the world in general with people and animals from all walks of life and geography. Or it can be a simple family. In Lola Montès, the circus is the world that Lola has escaped to from the "real world". But like we'll see in the "real world" - the question will become "Is Lola a prisoner (a trapped and trained animal) or is she really the one in control?" As she descends (as if from the Heavens) for her entrance, she commands the attention of the Ringmaster and the crowd of men. The power of her sex and love is palpable (beautifully portrayed by Martine Carol). That descent is also going to be symbolic of her descent in real life.

After seeing Lola as more of a commodity to the Ringmaster, we are guided to the second movement of her symphony. This is the first of many flashbacks that will be told out of order. Here we see her relationship with Liszt. This scene is Lola at one of her heights. She is at the peak of her talents as an artist - singer, dancer and actress. Dance is her calling and main talent. The colors here are so brilliant - it's amazing to think this is the director's first color film. Baz Luhrmann could only have wished for the colors in Moulin Rouge to be as brilliant or as evocative. Lola's green dress is life in all its glory.

The third movement finds us starting back at the circus - about to reach the halfway point, not at a peek but at one of her deepest valleys. Lola is filmed at such angles to appear a caged animal. The Ringmaster takes us back to her "happy childhood" but his words are juxtaposed by Lola's flashback. The scene with her mother is once again full of movement and disorientation. Lola's mother treats her like a commodity to - an asset to be married off as soon as possible. Their relationship is underscored by the fact that a young Lola is portrayed by the older actress - it shows us that she is still the same scared girl trailing after her mother.

The fourth and fifth sections are where the movie is really made. The symbolism becomes a little heavy handed - she literally bites the hand that feeds her as she escapes her first marriage. As we transition back and forth between the three rings of the circus and their activities and the three ring circus that her life becomes, we get that same dizzy feeling. We see Lola's emergence as a sexual being after leaving her husband - using her sexuality for power in ways that won't be popular in films until almost a decade after this film was released. We also get an insight into her talents as a dancer - "you give your body but you keep your soul" is advice that she gets about her dance but it applies to her sexuality also. The fourth section ends with the Ringmaster promising her money to be in his circus (can she keep her soul if she sells her body for his money?).

The fifth section revolves around her relationship with Ludwig I. It's a wonderful set of scenes that function like a microcosm of the film. Lola and Ludwig have a wonderful seduction of each other through art and dance. But once the King has Lola, he realizes that he can't keep her. This is brilliantly portrayed through a sexually charged painting of her without actually having to show the two of them together. Her power is not one that can be contained. The camera illustrates this with more gorgeous movements and various color schemes.

The last section is the coda to the symphony. The crescendo of the fifth section flows back into the climax in the circus. Lola is literally performing without a net, just as we've seen her the whole movie. Can she survive another fall - in this case, a dive from the high wire. I'll leave the final act to the viewer but once again, Ophuls can't resist taking the viewer by the hand. His final tracking shot lasts a lifetime as he backs further and further away from Lola. It feels like the viewer is being taken off the stage so the curtain can fall on the big top for another day.

So that leaves Musgo to ask the question again - does a 55-year-old movie hold up to today's viewer? In most ways it does. The themes don't mean the same as they did in 1955. The shock of Lola's emerging sexuality is precious but not shocking. In fact, her treatment by men and the Ringmaster is best revisited today as an allegory on how we treat star actresses - not a theme that would have resonated the same way when the film was released. It's hard to do just a multi-layered story justice in a review like this and that's a good sign. Multiple viewings are going to be necessary to put the different sections into the overall context.

The movie is a treasure for those with patience. The acting is flat in spots - but that has to be the direction. It's important that Lola appear to be no more important than a piece of meat or a collection of expensive clothing. As viewers, we're aware that we're watching a movie the whole time - the narration and camerawork call attention to it often. But I compare it to reading a book - every time you turn a page, you realize it's a book but your brain is able to use that time to slow down and let the story expand in your mind. That's what this film does - your brain takes what's on the screen and over time your mind fills in all the missing details. That just doesn't happen with anything described as a "Buddy" movie.

Criterion has done a wonderful restoration. The movie looks tremendous and the extras are just what you'd expect of a cult/art film. The audio commentary by Susan White is like attending a college lecture on the film - very informative. There are multiple features on Max Ophuls that makes me want to explore more films from his career. I hope Criterion finds the right audience for a film like this - someone needs to pick up this torch and continue making films like this.

Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 - Season 1, Volume 1

Written by Fido

First off, this write-up is coming from a 40-year old guy who grew up on 2-D animation as the choice du jour. So, even though I like some 3-D computer animated shows, this one, Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5, just didn’t do it for me in the slightest. Let’s hit onto the obvious stuff before the high and mighty artistic rant to follow.

It’s a show about a team of racing kids (politically cobbled together: Asian kid into martial arts, an English kid into music and partying, a couple of brothers – one panicky and funny-ish and the other a jock, a sassy African-American chick and the team leader, Vert Wheeler, a Southern California-esque teen with a nose for speed and immense amount of hair-styling products) getting pulled into the Multiverse in a battle for Battle Keys – and subsequently the fate of Earth. They race through portals to find all the keys in order to save the Earth from the impending invasion of the Vandals (a far too Masters of the Universe feeling lot, with people bodies and animal heads) and the Sark (yes, the same name as the bad guy from Tron - and yes again, they drive cars that look eerily similar to light cycles). If one or both of those two groups get the keys first, they’ll have the power to open portals and invade Earth – somehow taking it over Battlefield Earth style with only a handful of baddies to handle the whole planet.

Anyhoo – each episode unfolds with the kids getting called into Battle Zones by Sage (yet again, another very Tron-ish looking character who even goes as far to transform into a Bit – and for people who know the movie, you understand) and trying to get the key before the aforementioned bad guys.

So there’s the plot, easy and simple to follow. Great for kids, nothing crazy complicated.

The action sequences, which this whole show is built around, come replete with a shaky-cam effect that is sure to induce some kind of nausea from all age groups and a directorial style similar to the dreaded Transformers movies. It’s a questionable but understandable move (I guess) considering the amount of money they made off of those movies with the same demographic probably watching these. But damn, it still is just aggravating to never get a clear vision of an action sequence. Those quaky camera moves throughout action cuts and jagged storytelling in those same scenes makes what should be the most exciting part of each episode into the most tedious. In fact, to further the Transformers parallel, the cars themselves transform when fighting the beast-headed Vandals and/or the “Space Paranoids”, err, Sark. Sequences are chopped up into barely comprehensible bites all while being way too close to camera to comprehend any kind of scope.

They’ve taken an obviously brash 22-minute advertisement for on-shelf or upcoming Hot Wheels toys (which is fine, no problem with promoting through cartoons, it’s an age-old practice) and made it vastly more obnoxious by transforming it (sorry, had to do it) into an animated version of a Michael Bey film – and, um, that’s not a good thing – at all.

There are limited swipes at humor, some hit, but most miss. The origin story is beyond rushed. Though it may be boring to the audience they’re looking for, showing some kind of training on the cars could’ve been a fun, action-filled, and most of all, character-building episode. More character equals more identifying with the characters or developing feelings about both good and bad guys and that in turn leads to a more devoted following of those same characters. That’s pretty basic stuff, completely thrown away here.

It has interesting enough “cel-look” feel to it, but as far as distinctive looks go, that’s about it. To give you an idea, it’s executed in the vein of the newest version of the animated Spider-Man and has been seen in swipes on several shows. It’s an initially cool look that wears thin once the animation begins to break down into stilted digital shadow puppet-like movement.

The episodes are the standard one-off episodes, all ending well and never really putting the heroes in any sort of peril. And that’s all fine and dandy, it’s expected. But that’s what this cartoon’s major problem is – it’s all very, very expected - in its stories, characters, and above all style.

Stylistic choices in animation based on what people think viewers will like rather than making a choice to make the cartoon stand out now and in the future is what has made so many modern cartoon series fall short. This one is absolutely no exception.

Series like Genndy Tartakovsky’s first Clone Wars (along with the previous and to this day still brilliant Samurai Jack) series went with a style that wasn’t already a safe bet and wound up setting a new pace and in turn a high-water mark for others to follow. Though I totally get why studios are reluctant to do it, they have to look at the fact that when it is done, it’s typically regarded as, at the very least, interesting to watch. That interesting often turns into more stable over time which can translate into long term sales of the attached merchandise (looking at it from Mattel’s point of view).

Unfortunately for series like the current Clone Wars and Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5, they’ve strategically sidestepped having the guts to go out on any creative limb in favor of being as vanilla as possible. And hey, I love me some good vanilla, but we’re talking blue stripe, plain wrap, and flavorless here.

I can appreciate this show/DVD for almost coming out and admitting through its rushed stories and hackneyed ideas that it knows it’s a flash in the pan. But when properties have a healthy wellspring of money behind them, along with some obviously talented people/artists lurking, as this one does, it would be great to see them go crazy and be, I don’t know, artistic about the art of animation.

I’m probably asking too much from a cartoon about a toy car line. It just seems sad that so much talent is wasted on easy bake shows like this. It would be like having Mario Batali and all the ingredients for an amazing meal available right in front of you, but hitting Taco Bell instead because you’re too lazy to walk to the table.

Perhaps the charm came from the sadly dwindling art of 2-D drawings instead of the almost instantly tired 3-D computer animated, do-it-because-we-can shows that get rolled out nowadays.

Writing this, I feel like a bitter jaded old guy accusing all new animation as unworthy. I don’t mean to come across that way, but when you find yourself sighing within five minutes of watching a mere five-episode DVD, something tells me it’s not hitting me in the good spot. It is possible for new cartoons/kids’ show's animation to be promotional in nature, creative, and fun to absorb. I refer back to that original Clone Wars run and Batman: The Brave And The Bold as two modern-day shows that showed (and still do to this day) that good style, original drawings, characters you care about and flat out fun can still be had in an action cartoon.

I feel like I’m bashing this poor show (double entendre there – sweet) to death, but I just can’t see anyone beyond an ADD-stricken kid latching onto this. Even then, it just doesn’t feel like a show built for the test of time. It feels like it’s made for the here and now, which saddens me to a degree or two. When all is said and done, that’s what bums me out about Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5 and many newer cartoons – substance replaced by flash.