[old blog import] Welcome to the 20th century, boys.

There are at least three thing that truly make a Japanese film Japanese, even more so than being actually made by Japanese people speaking Japanese in Japan.

Those three thing off course being Giant Robots, Nuking the shit out of Tokyo, and thinly veiled Ultraman References.

20th Century Boys is a very Japanese film. It is also a rather good one. This comes as something of relief actually, considering that it's cost me nearly thirty quid to go see it. But the point of the excersize was that the film was actually seeable at the cinema. Even if I did have to trek all the way up to poxy London for the privilage.

The film is pretty much good all around. Well directed, well acted (even the baby was good!) and with an involving plot and good SPFX when the situation calls for.

It is worth noting that, as is often the case with this sort of thing, it's kind of obviously based on a longer running Manga. Whilst things do build towards the eventual finale in a fairly cohesive fashion which allays the whole "spot the end of the chapter" feeling you get from some other films (I'm looking at you Mushishi) there is a distinct feeling that some portion of the story has been glossed over in order to fit the film into a manageble running time. Whilst you technically could have sped up the pacing in the first half of the film you'd loose the whole sense of building up the mystery. But aside from that one obvious skip, the whole thing flows very well.

And of course, this is just part one. There is, as they say, more where that came from.

Overall I really enjoyed it. I'm quite keen to see part two, though whether or not that'll get a release over here remains a mystery for the future. And whilst future events such as these may well affect you in the future, you'll forgive me if I don't hold my breath. At the very least I'm certainly inclined to pick up the Manga so I can get the full depth of the story.

Because if theres one thing I really NEED right now it's another extensive series of Manga to buy into.

At the end of the day this is another really good Japanese film, which shows of the kind of awesome that Japanese cinema has to offer, but which will never get any sort of widespread release because of that crazy foreign jibber jabbber that keeps going on, so you'll never get to see this at your local cinema.

SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. SUBTITLES ARE NOT HARD.

[old blog import] Is it done yet?

I have, at long last, finally completed my Japan trip scrapbook. It's only taken me a month and a half to find the time, and several rolls of sellotape to complete the hideous mishmash of random junk, flyers, tickets and whatever else caught my attention for whatever incomprehensible reason.

It's random, poorly organised, crudely stiched together and will doubtlessly age poorly and fall apart with time, but somehow that all strikes me as strangely appropriate. It reflects it's creator quite well in that regard.

The question I find myself asking however, is after all that, what was the point? It's not like anyone will ever see it except me. And I've seen it all already. Not really sure where this line of thought is going, probably nowhere. But it nevertheless remains a question, hanging over the completed artifact. Possibly like the sword of damocles. More realisically like one of those air fresheners shaped like a christmas tree or something.

Anyway, whatever, I don't fucking know.

It's done, thats the main thing.

[old blog import] Friday The Umpteenth

Whilst tomorrow will no doubt be a day for sitting alone, eating to much choclolate and quietly sobbing, today was only suited to an entirely different sort of pursuit.

Because if you go down to the woods today you're sure of a big suprise. If by "suprise" you in fact mean "Machete in the FACE".

So yeah, I went to see the ne Friday The 13th movie. How could I not? I've liked Friday The 13th movies for a long time and frankly found the idea of a remake quite interesting. Normally I would be against the very notion with military zeal and a fanatical gleam in my eye, but Friday is for me a unique case. After all, the popular image of Jason does not make it onto screen until halfway through part 3. So how would this be handled? You are, after all left with the choice of remaking 3 films into one, or rewriting the mythology of the series in a dangerous way. So since to much Doctor Who has fosterd an interest in story structure and script editing in my feeble little mind this promised to be quite interesting from a technical standpoint if nothing else.

I'm pleased and frankly shocked to say that I found it to be a highly enjoyable experience. The movie stays true the essense of the series whilst jettisoning the bloated continuity that it finds unessesary to the telling of the story it wants to tell. So no zombie Jasons, psychic teenagers or anything like that. Just a big scary guy, in the woods, killing the shit out of a group of students or whatever in various fun ways. Spot the stiff is scarcely the most challenging game to play in a Friday The 13th movie. It it breathes, it dies. Spot the survivor is slightly more challenging, and this movie does actually pull a couple of tricks to give at least a small suprise as to who that is.

Worth noting are the many visual cues sprinkled throughout the film as a kind of tribute to all that has gone before, so if your familiar with the others theres a little something extra to look out for. It's interesting to contrast this technique with AvP2, where the whole thing felt like it had been storyboarded using clips from Predator and Alien, and just felt forced and unnatural. This movie achieves a much more subtle direction for these kind of shots.

The characters are, as ever, basically just meat. But at least a few of them acieve some small trace of depth or likability. Just a shame none of them survive.

Jason himself looks good, with a really solid performance from the guy playing him. Because solidity is what Jason's all about. He is an implacable, inescapable force of death. It's worth noting that whilst you do get a glimpse of the unmasked Jason a couple of times you never quite see him clearly. Just enough to tell he's deformed and hideous, but not enough to quite grasp the full makeup. This works very well. The unseen is always scarier after all.

The the film has an interesting structure, with the events of the original film covered in the first 5 minutes, followed up by what could almost be considered a mini Friday movie (which I guess you could call the part 2 section) which eventually ties into the main section (which could be considered the part 3 bit.) It's the area where Jason gets his mask, so I suppose thats a reasonably apposite summation.

So all in all, happy fun times all around, despite the presence of a certain name in the credits. I'm guessing that his production role wasn't massively hands on. Though there was one brief moment of hyperflamable tunnel that ALMOST looked like an explosion chasing someone down a hallway. I'll bet that was his idea. Fucking hack.

But yeah, enough of that git. JASON LIVES.

Of course he does. There's always room for a sequel. It's like jello.

Murder flavored Jello.

[old blog import] In many ways this could be considered a rhetorical question

So, how good are LM.C live? Do you rock, rock the L M C? Because I've been rock, rocking on the L M C, and I have to say, it was rather good.

The queue was kind of fun. It's not every day you get hugs and bicuits from random strangers just for turning up. There was a certain amount of, shall we say, disorganisation as the campers at the front tried to sort themselves out, and the back and forth did become rather tedious, but whatever. We're not here to que, are we? We're here to rock, rock the L M C. Is that joke getting old yet? I could use it bunch more times if you'd like. No? Oh well....

So yeah LM.C take to the stage and blast through an awesome set for something a little over an hour and a half. I can't remeber what songs they played off hand, and it would be tedious to list them anyway. They worked the crowd well, despite their lack of english. Indeed, they did get a girl in the front row to translate a bit, which was pretty fun. A real nice touch was the guy who came out before the band for a little chat about the difficulties getting here, and to tell everyone to take care, not push the band and stuff like that. Maybe it's because they're not used to playing venues like the underworld (shitholes) or maybe they do that all the time, I don't know. It gave proceeding a nice personal touch.

There was a meet and greet session after the concert, but I decided not to stick around for a number of reasons. Such as concern over the trains, being absolutely knackered, not wanting to pay to much for the taxi. But mainly because the place was rather crowded, and it's really not like I have anything particularly edifying to say in the first place. I like your music! Bet they haven't heard that before.

Again tonight witnessed the strange phenomenon of people twlling me I look cool and/or asking to take photos of me. I'm still a little disturbed by this behaviour. Whilst it's very nice and all, I have to wonder why they keep doing it. Did I suddenly wake up interesting last week? I don't feel interesting. In fact I'm pretty sure I'm as boring as ever, probably more so. Maybe fashioned changed when I wasn't looking and ugly is the new awesome? Who can tell?

That guy. He'd know. Ask him.

Anyway, I am go sleep now, for I am tired beyond the ken of mortals. Maybe even beyond their barbies as well.

After all, it's not like I went to sleep at half six yesterday evening or anything, oh no.

I am such an old man right now.