Ric Meyers, famous writer, fellow critic, and some say the American expert on Kung Fu films, graciously allowed me to interview him about his new book and corresponding movie, Films of Fury! before he trotted off to the San Diego Comic Con. At this biggest and baddest of the comic cons, at 7:45 p.m. in Room 6A, yesterday he premiered Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Movie!
We had a great time. UPDATE: So I had a great, edited, wonderful copy of the interview with a header and footer and lots of bells and whistles, and for some reason Windows Movie Maker will not process it. I begged, pleaded, and almost came close to throwing my laptop out the window. So here it is folks, the raw copy, uncut and unplugged. The first chunk is about 20 minutes long and the second is about 11 minutes long (don't have to watch it all in one go if you don't wish) long and no fancy intro but bug-free. Hope you enjoy! MANY thanks to Casey Schoenberger who played cameraman and managed to get the video uploaded to his YouTube channel, and for Ric for being patient and a good sport as always.
After over sixty years and in his early nineties, British soldier Denis Avey broke his silence and found a way to tell the incredible tale of his experience as a POW in World War II.
The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz tells of a British soldier's courage to go-willingly-into a Jewish prisoner camp to give one man two days of freedom - and find out for himself the horrors that the prisoners were being subjected to.
This is a very personal and important book, which must have been very hard for Denis Avey to write, even with the assistance of BBC journalist Rob Broomby. What I enjoy so much about the way this book is written is you not only get a feel for what Avey experienced while he was in the war - watching his friend get literally blown to smithereens, for one - but the loneliness and isolation he felt AFTERWARDS.We get the back story, the aftermath, that one so rarely gets to hear about; the long healing process and mental and physical toll the experience took on him as a soldier and as a person. He doesn't tell any of this in a self-pitying way. The writing is direct and finds humor in the most unlikely places.
British narrator James Langton is really quite perfect for making this tale come to life. He strikes the balance between the lighter and darker moments of the book, yet giving it the overall solemn poignancy that the subject matter requires. What makes this such a great audiobook is because the content is so personal, having a compelling voice relating it and infusing it with the appropriate emotions for each passage gives the story an even deeper dimension.
The book takes us through Avey's earliest days of the war fighting Italians in the desert, jumping off a ship to avoid being a POW, his tense flight as a fugitive in Greece, and his capture by the Nazis. Avey was taken to Poland and placed at the British POW labor camp, labeled E715, near Buna-Monowitz, more famously known as Auschwitz III. He recalls the chilling sign in front of his camp and others, reading "Arbeit Macht Frei", which translates as "Work Will Set You Free."
Avey tells of his deeds switching uniforms with Jewish prisoner Hans and writing in code to another Jewish prisoner’s sister in England in order to send him cigarettes, which was the currency of the camps - a valuable asset that could prove the difference between survival and death. He tells all of this with a matter-of-fact attitude that neither pats himself on the back nor diminishes his heroic actions. He unflinchingly relates the horrors of the camp and the war itself not with the intent to shock, but to honestly send forth the message that yes, all of this really truly did happen, and history must never repeat itself. He also includes how he had an opportunity to have an easy time of it during his early involvement in the war after he saved a man in the desert, but went back to fighting because he felt in his gut it was the right thing to do.
This book left me with renewed focus on the importance of the Holocaust and how it is a terrible chapter in our history that should remain undimmed for the ages. Remain so, because it reminds us of how close we are to becoming inhuman and how valuable the lives of others truly are. And it also reminds us that the soldiers who fight for us are very human as well, underneath a hard shell of discipline and courage that allows them to do what they have to.
Whatever made this man tell his story - I am grateful for it. Had it gone to the grave with him; what a huge loss for all of us, what an important message gone unsaid. This is a story that will stay with me for a long, long time.
Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, and Bad Robot Productions
No movie this year has surprised and delighted me as much as Super 8did; which I managed to see this weekend quite by chance. It's been one of the most rewarding viewing experiences I've stumbled upon lately.
I chose this movie to review on Fourth of July partly because I just can't contain my enthusiasm for seeing a film THIS good, but mostly because I can't think of anything more American than a plot that revolves around a bunch of precocious kids in 1979 Dayton, Ohio, running around making movies.
It's a good old-fashioned, growing up geeky in America mixed with a good dose of action/thriller supernatural good times. The brain child of Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams, the two directors use this film to wax nostalgic about their mutual passion for film-making from a young age. Indeed, young Spielberg was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and started his film career running around with, you guessed it, an 8 mm.
The film has a kind of movie magic, a kind of wonder, that I have seldom seen since the great adolescent/coming of age films of my youth - The Goonies, E.T., Flight of the Navigator and Summer of 42 all come to mind. Indeed, the Amblin Entertainment logo featuring the iconic scene from E.T. of the bike flying against the moon is the first thing the audience sees, already stirring up the nostalgic cockles of the audiences' hearts.
The biggest complaint I have about the film really only involves the massive amount of suspension of belief the first dramatic scene asks of the audience. You'll see what I mean. But as things get increasingly weirder and weirder; the quality level just goes up and up.
A big part of it is that the kids, who are trying to film a zombie movie in the midst of a real supernatural occurrence going on in their town, are all great actors. Many of them are newcomers - according to Entertainment Weekly, Joel Courtney, who plays the main character Joe Lamb, went to Los Angeles last summer to visit his brother without a single acting credit. "I really wanted a commercial and $100, and I got Super 8," the article says. Elle Fanning, who plays Joe's love interest Alice Dainard, is probably the most well-known out of the bunch for being the kid sister of Dakota Fanning. Riley Griffiths, who plays the obsessive director Charles, definitely comes across as kid Spielberg personified. Add in a stoner friend with a car and a kid with a penchant for explosives and flames, and you're in for one wild, fun ride.
I won't get into the plot. I think its important to watch the story unfold on the screen without knowing much about it. I will say this - there are some scary moments, one that actually made me jump back against my seat, but just as things are on the verge of getting a little too tense, the directors toss you a lifeline of levity with great writing that shows no matter how crazy their current situation might be, kids will still be kids.
What most impressed me about Super 8 is the writing of the script shows kids being intelligent; not stereotyped cardboard cutouts that many high school films portray them to be. It's not about the jocks vs. the nerds, or who's better than who. You never even see the kids at school because its summer and the directors wisely chose that as the perfect time A. to release the movie and B. set the movie because it allowed them to focus solely on this small group of adolescents that are just doing their damndest to follow their hearts and their passions. And best of all, the message brought home at the end is that there's a whole lot adults can learn from kids as well, if they would only listen.
So seriously, what are you still doing here reading this? Go forth and Super 8!
To be totally honest, what I knew about World War I would fit into a very small teacup before I started listening to To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918. Usually I shy away from these types of war biographies, but what intrigued me about this book is that it is told through the eyes of the peacemakers in the war, from a very human, vulnerable point of view.
Narrator Arthur Morey sets the right tone for this book: his voice is clear and soothing, but gives the kind of depth and solemness needed for such a serious topic. Rather than being told as a straight-out chronology of events, author Adam Hochschild engages the reader by focusing on the relationship between the people fighting the war and the people opposing it. One of the most interesting points the book makes is how World War I really set the stage for World War II; and how Germany's losses in World War I embittered a well-known soldier, Adolf Hitler.
The book picks apart several major historical figures, delving into their psyches as only an author who has done an exhausting amount of research can. Field Marshal Douglas Haig, who was the British senior officer, became so obsessed with the idea of Britain claiming a victory that his ambitions led to the deaths of thousands of soldiers, particularly during The Battle of Somme in France. The opening day of the battle saw nearly 60,000 casualties on the British side.
The book also talks about the women who were very influential during the war, such as Maria Bochkareva, a 25-year-old Russian woman who was given special permission by the goverment to enlist in the Army. She then organized the "Women's Battalion of Death", whose members "shaved their heads, slept on Bar boards during training, endured the same corporal punishment as male Russian soldiers, and sported a skull-and-crossbones insignia." Boy, would they have made a great Roller Derby team or what?
The book also talks about the Pankhursts, a family of powerful women who promoted their ideas through newspapers and public gatherings. However, two of the sisters would find that their differing beliefs about the war would divide them straight down the middle. The book also talks of the writer Rudyard Kipling, his involvement with the war effort, and the crushing blow that the death of his young son John in the war dealt him. For John had bad eyesight and the Army would not take him, but his father, ever supportive, managed to get him in anyway through his political connections. His son's body would never be found.
Hochschild reminds us that the impact of the war remains prevalent today...."some half-million pounds of First World War scrap is still collected from French and Belgian fields each year. And everywhere along the old Western Front the soil continues to yield up bones: the remains of 250 British and Australian soldiers were found beneath a French field in 2009."
Sobering, but vital, it is a book with much heart, as well as being a great, easily understood overview of the war, its immensity, and its impact. Morey's gentle voice and incredible research on the pronunciations of names and places gives the story its due honor as well as making it a great listening experience.
Following up an already great film is never an easy task, and some don't always hit the mark. Take Iron Man 2, for example. The first one was pretty much flawless - great acting, great plot, wonderful special effects, snappy dialogue and killer pacing. The second- not so much. It had all the right pieces on the game board; with Mickey Rourke as Whiplash and Don Cheadle a worthy replacement for Terrence Howard as Rhodey/War Machine, but it just didn't have the zip and zing of the first. Perhaps in its own right, its not such a bad movie, but once you've seen the first you can't help but wish it was just as clever and brilliant.
Such is the burden on filmmakers with sequels; particularly second installments. There are benefits too - not being weighed down by character development and setting the stage, you can just push play and hit the ground running. The creators of Kung Fu Panda 2 used this benefit to their full advantage. Right from the start, you get a loving reference to a dearly departed character from the first film artfully rendered into the studio logo, and then BAM away we go.
And WOW is the animation gorgeous; even more so than the first. The textures in fur and the patterns in clothes are detailed to the extreme, and Po, though slimmed down a tad (all that kung fu will do that to you) is fuzzier and cuter than ever. The 3D well-worth the extra couple bucks on the movie ticket; it enhances rather than hinders the already dazzling animation.
Things I loved about this film- more scenes done in the unique hand-drawn animation style that we got a glimpse of in the first film. It looks like ancient Chinese tapestries come to life. I also enjoyed the evolved friendship between Panda and Tigress, considering their relationship was definitely off to a rocky start in the first film. When I first read that the villain was going to be an albino peacock named Shen, I was like rather skeptical. But the ever-versatile Gary Oldman really rose to the occasion and made him menacing to the point of scary, especially to very young children.
It was also a joy to hear more from Mr. Ping, voiced by James Hong, who will always remain endearing to me as Cassandra's Dad in Wayne's World 2. His character is a duck who owns a noodle shop and happens to be Po's clearly adopted father. He becomes a central character later in the first film and remains central in the second. And here's where the plot becomes tricky to navigate.
As my boyfriend said to me after the film was over; I LIKED just having Mr. Ping be Po's Dad without a lot of explanation. And delving into one's mysterious origins is a well-trod plot path, and is tricky to make fresh, new, and well, not downright trite.
But somehow, they did it. The sequence when Po begins to put the pieces of his past together (the flashback scenes rendered in that gorgeous hand-drawn animation style I gushed about previously) literally brought tears to my eyes. It brought home the idea that family is where you find it, which is a theme I think is too seldom seen in films.
I just wish the last few moments of the film had been taken out entirely, or at least put at the end of the credits. But I would've preferred to not have it in at all. Without giving too much away, it is in direct conflict with all the previous statements and themes the film has built up to this point. It left me feeling a little cheated. And honestly, would it have been too much to ask to give Monkey (voiced by Jackie Chan) a COUPLE more lines? Maybe in the third movie...
]The action continues to be fantastic and well-researched, and a delight to see especially if you know anything about kung fu. Watching Shifu, Po's teacher, do the Tai Chi move "Wave Hands Like Clouds" at the beginning of the film made me tingle a little inside with happiness.
Overall, a solid follow-up with plenty of fun for kids and adults alike. Stay for the great animation during the credits! Very much looking forward to seeing what they come up with for DVD extras.
P.S. Look for Master Croc, who gets a pityingly small role, voiced by Jean Claude Van Damme, do a signature "Van Damme" split!
Like father, like daughter: The Critic with her Dad after his panel, Anime Under the Radar at AnimeNEXT 2011
I realized that as AnimeNEXT turns 10, a convention held in Somerset, NJ that I attended from June 10-12, I will also be reaching a geeky milestone myself.
Ten years ago, almost a wide-eyed freshman in college, I wrapped up my college days by setting foot inside my first anime convention, which was Otakon 2001 in Baltimore, MD. And much like this year, my Dad was by my side, ready to geek out with the best of them. I guess you could say in terms of conventions, I'm as of this year, a proverbial "X-Man" (sorry guys, if you know your Roman numerals, I couldn't avoid the obvious pun.)
Flash forward, and things really haven't changed much. Sure, I've graduated and somehow through a lot of hard work and the grace of God I have a full-time job that I actually like and an apartment to call my own (plus kitteh!) but my love for the proverbial "con" remains the same.
What is it about the con that draws myself, my Dad, and all the lunatics I know that I'm proud to call friends? For me, it's always been the chance of being able to gather with like-minded people and feel like I'm a part of some kind of huge, slightly scary, but never boring family reunion. Yes, I happen to be one of those freaks who dress up and I love it. There is nothing cooler to me than wearable art. If it works for Lady Gaga...
Speaking of wearable art, I made a little slide show of some of the best costumes I saw at the show. I hope you all like it, and if you happen to see yourself in here, feel free to comment and tell us a little about the creation of said costume!
Being on staff this year gives me a somewhat biased opinion of the convention, I admit, but I enjoyed myself a heck of a lot more this year than I did the year before. Part of it was that there seemed to be more staff in general and the con overall had a better sense of what panels were going to be super popular and putting them in rooms that didn't cram everyone in super tight. There were still the usual bugs - events starting late, the Artist Alley being in way too small of a space which counteracted the convenience of it being across from the Dealers Room as opposed to in another building like it was last year. But overall the people working the con were knowledgeable and polite, and the tech guys were really on the ball in making sure projectors and the like could be hooked up to laptops and net books easily for presentations. Both my Dad (AKA: Professor Bill Ellis), and my boyfriend, Casey Schoenberger, did panels and neither had any problems setting up their Power Point presentations or getting sound to work, or any of the usual pitfalls that can bog down and plague a panel presentation. Also, the con staff was pretty johnny-on-the-spot about making sure people didn't run over the time limit, and would pop in and say courteously (and then, if they had to, slightly less courteously) if the person only had 10 to 5 minutes left. This made for smoother transitions between panels.
And then there was this guy...CHIPOCRITE. He came. He saw. He geeked hardcore. And then we were compelled to do the same, as you can see...
Basically, this guy (Paul Weinstein's) shtick is that he "repurposes" old video game hardware into synthesizers, so he's actually controlling the music using an old Game Boy. Pretty great stuff. I wanted to buy his CD because it was only $5, but they went like hotcakes, as they say. Thankfully, this Philly native's music can be heard and bought here.
I also went to some pretty awesome panels, one of which was called Fandom & Criticism:The Art of Active Viewing, which was put on by these cool guys. Basically it gave an interesting overview of how does one decide what is actually good or not, and can BAD anime or movies actually be GOOD? And considering critiquing is what I do on this site, it proved to be a very enriching panel that left the neurons in my brain singing long afterwards. When I handed one of the presenters a bookmark for this blog, he said "Wow. Movie reviews and cats. You must be the most popular blog on the planet." High praise indeed. Working towards it a little at a time...
Anyway, I'll get into more of the other cool panels in Part II! But at least gives you a taste of the good times that were rollin' out.
Image courtesy of Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Yarr mateys, here we be again with Jack Sparrow and his son of a sea rahhht friends On Stranger Tides. And it wasn't half bad.
I have to say, I had my doubts. As many of you know I am a big fan of pirate lore and pirates in general, but the thing I didn't like about the last film, At World's End, was that they were trying too hard to make it into a BIG EPIC TALE: sort like Lord of the Rings with pirates. SPOILER AHEAD MATEYS IN REGARD TO WORLD'S END: About the time I got to the scene where Jack Sparrow and Davey Jones are fighting each other on the prow of their decks as their ships swirled around in a giant sinkhole in the middle of the ocean...well, I'd had enough.
I didn't go to this film expecting a bucket full o' treasure, but I left feeling like I had a lot of fun.
You could tell from the start they had stripped down a lot of the characters from the first film, not having Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan (played by Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, respectively) which I was just as happy about. Their plotline had gotten worn down to the nubbin and frankly, their constant whining was starting to piss me off. A lot of the minor characters were chucked, which made for a more streamlined story that revolved mainly around Blackbeard (Ian McShane), his daughter Angelica (Penelope Cruz) Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp, of course), and Captain Barbosa, played by the ever-versatile and captivating Geoffrey Rush.
I would like to take a moment and just gush about Rush's performance in this film. He is 150 percent pirate. There is a great part when he is telling Jack about his epic battle with Blackbeard and you can see the story unfold in the fire of his eyes. This is a true actor, my friends; when someone can steal you into a tale on the strength of their voice and expression, that defies all action sequences and special effects. And when Barbosa gets his just deserts at the end, you can't help but feel a swell of pride on behalf of his character.
The saddest part about this film is despite the scaled-down nature and more plot-based storyline (less reliant on a variety of action sequences and special effects that bogged down the third film) is the plot isn't terribly good. Jack is on a quest for the fountain of youth, as is Spain, as is Blackbeard. And everyone seems to find it without too much trouble, which seems odd for being such an elusive thing. Cruz is entertaining as Angelica, a good strong pirate gal (with a kickass hat) that Geena Davis of Cutthroat Island could be proud of, but her relationship with Jack is rather frustrating. One minute they love one another, the next they are trying to kill one another. The playful banter is nice but some kind of consistency in what the heck is going on between the two of them would be nice.
Also, while I love Ian McShane and he always plays a good villain, his rendition of Blackbeard didn't exactly shiver me timbers. I never got the impression he was truly as evil as he was portrayed to be...maybe just indifferent to good rather than opposed to it? And his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, was impressive but a wee bit too CGI-ed for my taste.
The mermaids are terrifyingly lovely and some of the best use of non-action CGI I have seen as of late. I particularly enjoyed that when they showed their more deadly side, they did not transform completely into ugly, terrifying beasts - the fact that they retain their beauty while adding just a touch more bite to their bark was highly enjoyable.
In essence, this film was a fun ride, and a good coda, bringing back some of the beloved characters of the past movies, but the script be gettin' a little green around the gills, me hearties. The sharp biting crispness and pace of the first movie seems te be all but lost, but endin' the film on the shore with Sparrow and Mr. Gibbs, his loyal mate from the start, seems like a good enough endin' fer the likes o' me.
Now, let's be pointin' our compass for other shores besides the Caribbean and leave Capt. Jack well alone. There be other pirate tales and plots uncharted to explore.
