Re-Watching... E.T. (1982)

Haha! Yes, that's what I did! I totally rewatched E.T. to see if it was as good as I remember it being when I was a kid.

Come on, you all know E.T. right? It's the classic tale of spaceship landing in America... alien getting left behind, boy meets alien, alien creates telepathic link with boy, alien starts dying, boy starts dying too, spaceship comes back, alien goes home. Sounds familiar, right?

This is classic Steven Spielberg. It has a great score, a dynamic cast, an up close and personal movie 'monster' and of course suspense! 

What is mesmerising about this film are the children. Children in this film sit around playing Dungeons and Dragons, their bike rides are exhilarating rather than 'exercise', T.V can hold interest for a few minutes before it's boring, and the outside world is there to be explored and dominated by them. This film is a celebration of childhood even if it did not intend to be. Spielberg is just excellent at shooting children and depicting childhood, Hook (1991) and Jurassic Park (1993) are excellent examples of his craft.  

E.T. gets excellent reviews all round. I know this, and I understand why. It is a coming-of-age tale about an alienated boy and of course the Martian that he comes to love. Spielberg always manages to unite mundanity with the paranormal/otherworldly, he does this in other movies such as The Goonies* (1985), Poltergeist (1982) and Hook.

So the real question is how has it dated? Do I still feel the same way I did when I was little? Unfortunately, no, I don't. In fact there were times where I would go walk-about forgetting that I was even watching a film (no, that's not old age!). When I was little I remember being filled with so much awe, and being terrified in all the right places, but this time round the film felt a little stale. The strangest part is that when I started it, I had honestly  forgotten the majority of the film... after all, I had probably been around six years old when I first watched it. So although I had forgotten much of what would happen, I had not forgotten the score... not a wink. The score is just so amazing.

I can't rate it as high as I would have as a child I'm afraid. I know, I'm being harsh, but even though it's a film that creates such feelings of nostalgia, without it, the film is a little slow for my tastes... and not much really happens. 

Anywho - if you think I'm some crazy crackpot let me know down in the comments section. Of course you are also welcome to scream 'MOVE BLASPHEMY' at me over on Twitter @OrisiB 

Also! Here is a fabulous video of John Williams Creating the Score of E.T.


 

*Please be aware that Spielberg is a director but also a writer. Some of these films he wrote the story or screenplay for rather than directed

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Django Unchained - A Review

I had originally saved this post for when I went to the cinema to watch Django a second time, but we're actually off to watch something else (shhhh, don't be so impatient, I'll let you know soon!)

This film certainly caused quite a stir. 

I had expected something so explosively controversial that I waited on the edge of my seat to be horrified and shocked. What I found was a classic example of a Quentin Tarantino film! I went in to see a Tarantino movie... and that is exactly what I got. I think those who went in to the movie expecting anything different were kidding themselves.

I am a massive Tarantino fan. I've seen all his films I have all the soundtracks to all the movies. I'm sad that way, but I can't help it. I find his work so refreshing. His movies don't take themselves so seriously, I find the dialogue to always be brilliant and witty, and of course the action scenes are both grotesque but poetic at the same time!

Django Unchained is no different. It features a slave in America, who is bought by an ex-dentist (now a bounty hunter) to help track down three brothers. Although the dentist abhors slavery and acknowledges that he's being a complete hypocrite for partaking in this act of of buying Django for his own means, he promises that when the job is done Django will be a free man. When Django is freed he tells the good doctor that he wants to track down his wife. And that is what they do. Lots of carnage follows of course.

The soundtrack was awesome. There were times during fight scenes where Tarantino would just blast a rap tune, or at other times rockabilly type music or gospel inspired songs. It was all simply in his style and fit in a way that only a Tarantino film could pull off.

I didn't find the movie as gory as Kill Bill Vol. 1 - 2. I mean, Kill Bill was out of this world in terms of violence and blood. But the violence in Django Unchained was different because the violence was against those who could not defend themselves (such as the slaves), and those scenes in particular were very uncomfortable to watch. 

Django Unchained is both outrageous and audacious in it's subject matter but it is also a bromance in that it features two men, riding around on horses having strange conversations and looking out for each other. This is something that I feel has been ignored in the reviews that I've read. 

The movie is based in the south, the pre-civil war south, and features the many different ideas we have about the south in pre-civil war times. Tarantino does not mask the stereotypes but instead takes advantage of them. The film was quite like reading a comic book as are most of his films. 

Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz are absolutely brilliant and believable and although the rave reviews have all commended Samuel L Jackson's performance I wasn't that keen to be honest as I found his to be the most uncomfortable performance of all. Leonardo DiCaprio's role as the deplorable Calvin Candie... slave owner and Francophile, is pretty amazing. He's just so loathsome and his character did not express ideas or beliefs that were routinely spouted in those times. Calvin Candie holds a particular interest in phrenology (and uses it to justify his views of the African slaves) and also the revolting sport of mandingo fighting. DiCaprio really is scarily believable, and gives Candie a look and feel of a young man who has grown old before his time.

Now, I've heard that part of the controversy was the constant use of the 'N-bomb' that littered this film... and it did! It was all over the place. But it didn't seem out of place. After all, it is 'The South', it is pre-civil war times, it is plantation owners and Ku Klux Klan members, and those who believe in phrenology... it is also Tarantino, remember how much the 'N-word' was used in Jackie Brown? Context is important, I feel (not that I believe this film to be historically accurate).

I've pored over Quentin Tarantino's defence of this film, I've also read his own very blunt views about how the US is still dealing in slavery (go have a read, his views are intriguing), and he's also pointed his finger towards countries in the world where you can see slavery openly practised. His views, opinions and arguments do not seem to me, to be those of an ignorant fool who has no respect for the past.

I thought that this film was good. Very good in fact. I enjoyed the writing, the shooting, the production in general. I enjoyed the performances, the soundtrack and the comic book feel. I also like the trailers. 

I'm just a teeny-tiny-Tarantino-bopper. Forgive me.

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The Heresy of Dr Dee - Phil Rickman

'At what point this night I became afraid, I'm not quite sure. To a scholar, fear arrives with a certain shame, akin to the same a soldier feels, holding himself back from the heat of the fray as his comrades are cut down before him.
  Not that I'd know. Unlike Dudley, I've never been a soldier, the kind of knowledge I hold having preserved me from bodily conflict. A bargain with the Crown which decrees I must stride out, wearing knowledge like armour, the questing mind thrust forward like to a sharpened blade.' Phil Rickman, The Heresy of Dr Dee

I totally suck. It wasn't until I finished this novel that I realised that it was part of a series, haha! But to be honest, whilst reading it, there were not moments that I felt I was lost because it was necessary that I read previous books to follow the plot. That was a pleasant surprise.

So, pedal to the metal. This is about the very intriguing historical character Dr John Dee. It's right around the time that the death/murder/assassination/accident/suicide of Robert Dudley's (Queen Bess' favourite) wife Amy transpires (check out Wikipedia if you don't know anything about tiny bit of history). Dr Dee is looking desperately for a scrying stone, because, he kinda told the queen that he had one. Although he is a natural philosopher, mathematician and other very smart things, he's suddenly taken a very firm interest in the occult and wants to study such things from a scientific view point. So, Roberty Dudley (who just cannot be seen in court because everybody thinks he killed his wife) and Dr Dee, decide to go on an adventure to Wales to see if they can get hold of one of those fanciful stones. They become entangled in a high-profile court case, Dr Dee meets a strange boy who can sniff out human bones from the ground, and all the while there's a very odd, very violent, potentially possessed criminal cursing everybody. This is a murder mystery played out in a maze, almost. It's all very... obscure. 

There was some beautiful pieces of prose in this book, and some parts were quite haunting. But to be honest I found myself drifting at times, and not really able to focus on it for long periods. It's not that it was boring. It's just that it sometimes got a little distracted... and there are SO many characters that you may meet once... and then not again till so far in that you kind of forget who they are.

I think that having background knowledge of the period and of Elizabethan life was imperative to enjoying this book, and bringing colour to the novel. Without knowledge of the time period, or even characters in the court during that time, I think the narrative would have been a little flat. It was my previous knowledge that filled out details that Rickman left out. 

Part of what I really enjoyed about this book was that the majority of it was set in Wales. This was excellent as Wales is really quite easily forgotten when looking at British history, and so to have a book based in the Elizabethan period and not only acknowledging that Wales exists... but sets it during that time is awesome. I thought that was so refreshing and had a feeling of novelty. 

Phil Rickman did a great job of characterising the main personalities, and I did enjoy them greatly. I very much loved the enigmatic Robert Dudley, and even took a shine to Dr Dee himself (although he can be a little... whiny). Unfortunately it was the author's tendency to go off topic regularly that just put me off and at times made me lose my way. 
Overall - yes, it's a good read if you enjoy historical fiction and if you've previously read any other Dr Dee books. If you're a fan of Elizabethan Britain then I'd recommend it too. It's a mystery, semi-supernatural, historical kind-of novel, but worth reading. 

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Flash Gold - Lindsay Buroker

'A fur-clad figure loomed, head an inch shy of the top of the frame. With those broad shoulders and that height, she assumed it was a man, though a cap buried his eyebrows and a scarf swaddled his face. He gripped a rifle in one gloved hand, and the hilt of something - a sword? - poked over his shoulder. Who in tarnation brought a sword to the Klondike?' Flash Gold, Lindsay Buroker

This was another free download from Kindle and I really quite enjoyed it! 

It's steampunked Canada set in the 1890's. Kali, a tough talking and super intelligent inventor is building a steam powered sled for the upcoming dog sled races. Unfortunately, she's also the daughter of a dead alchemist who found out how to make the mythical flash gold. With a huge bounty on her head and all sorts desperate to get hold of the flash gold, a mysterious stranger tries to help her, and Kali has to overcome challenges to try to win the races.

This will be another mixed review I think. I was pleasantly surprised with the novel. The writing was pretty good, the sentence structure tight and the story line propelled at a good pace by the author. As there was not the same type of finish that one expects from mainstream authors, I assume that this book is by an 'indie author'. 

Although I enjoyed the novella, and was definitely surprised, I found the characters quite cliched. I know, that may sound harsh, but it the was the same story just in a different setting... tough talking, I don't trust anybody, super intelligent main female character, being aided by a talk, dark stranger, with a troubled past... until eventually she drops her defences and well, I can just guess what will happen in the sequel. Granted, many people enjoy reading those types of  characters - and I do too! But I would have loved to see more be done with these enigmatic characters. 

The storyline is pretty tight and I have to say Buroker has definitely done a great job in making me want to get a hold of the sequel 'Hunted'. I'll definitely be visiting the world that she's created again to see what happens to Kali and Cedar. 

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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami

“All right, then, I thought: here I am in the bottom of a well.” 

― Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Now this quite literally is the strangest book I have ever read. Although it was strange, and although it went against every literary convention I am used to, and confused me, and puzzled me, and frustrated me, and infuriated me - it filled me with such intrigue and such hunger that I almost feel like I need to fill the hole (with another Murakami book) that it left once I completed it.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is made up of three books: The Thieving Magpie, Bird as Prophet, and The Birdcatcher. All three books are narrated by the main character Toru Okada. He is a man-child, he has no job, no accomplishments, no aspirations and a failing marriage (though he does not seem to be aware of this).

The story opens with Okada being deeply concerned that his wife's cat has disappeared. This perplexes him so much that he becomes obsessed with finding it. One morning though, he wakes up to find that his wife - who had not come back from work the night before - was also missing and so he then searches for her. All the while, through all these searches, he bumps in to and makes friends with characters that veer from the odd to the outright weird. 

I am realising that this sounds like the most bizarre description of a book ever... it's because the book is so fragmented and so strange. At some moments within the book you do not know if Okada is dreaming, telling the truth, is crazy, or imagining the personalities he meets or their stories. One thing you do know though, is that the characters that he meets (a psychic, a prostitute, a mute, a sixteen year-old girl, a war-veteran) bring a little colour to his otherwise grey world.

The Audiobook
The book is fabulously narrated by Rupert Degas. He does, quite simply, an excellent job in narrating and emoting a story that is quite chaotic. 

His pronunciations of Japanese and Manchurian names and places seem to be so well executed that to my untrained ears it sounds as if he is a native speaker (of course I do not speak Japanese and this is just my uneducated assumption). 

Degas does his best with the female character voices, which can sometimes be quite funny to listen to, but you do get used to it - and they do start to sound quite convincing! 

The Story
I have to say that this book just blew me away, and maybe not for all the right reasons. 

Whilst listening to it, I felt like I was pacing on a treadmill that I was unable to stop - that I was watching the brilliant imagery and scenes pass by me, not really able  to absorb the scene before being moved on by the author to the next part.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle on stage

Surreal images, scenes and situations are experienced or described to Okada and he seems to show the same confusion, or apathy that the reader does. The sub-plots, which are all so painfully curious, are threaded beautifully throughout the novel, but as one reaches the end it is easy to become panicked as you'll come to realise that not everything will be explained. 

Destiny and fortune is a recurring theme personified, which is ironic, as Okada's lack of direction is reflected in the book's lack of direction. For those who love a tidy ending, and tight structure, this book will bug you to no end. 

Everything about this book should have had me hating it.
But I really quite loved it actually. The book was so refreshing and so tantalisingly curious that I could do nothing but need to listen on. I found the story monotonous at times, the characters so bizarre that they were bordering on annoying, and the hardest part of the novel was that nothing really happens. All the while, Murakami is winding you up, making you hold you breath so patiently, sure that there is going to be a climax that will make your eyes pop out of your head - but there is nothing.... and at the same time, in true style, there is everything.

I recommend this to anybody who wants to try something new. Anybody who enjoys surrealist literature, and anybody patient enough to read 600 plus pages and run the risk of blinking at the end, confused as to what you've read.

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P.S. Okado spends a good bunch of pages sitting down the bottom of the well, walking through well walls in to hotels and curing people with a spot on his cheek that he got from said well.

P.P.S. Don't let the above 'P.S' put you off.

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O Brother Where Art Thou? - A Review

The majority of my friends who have seen this film, were not particularly impressed. In fact, a few of them looked a little bewildered when I said that I quite liked it.

The movie is set during The Great Depression, in the late 1930s. We're introduced quite quickly to the three main characters (one of which is played by the dashing George Clooney), who have just escaped a chain-gang and are on their way to find McGill's (Clooney) $1.2 million that he'd stolen and hidden. The rest of the movie is quite literally a feast for the eyes as they cross the South and in 'Forest-Gump Style' bump in to figures that lived during that time.

The best part of this movie other than the sheer aesthetics? It's based on Homer's Odyssey, yes, you've heard me right! Maybe this is where I trip over my own geekdom, but for real, they meet a kind-of-Cyclops (John Goodman) and even some kind-of-Sirens (played by three lovely ladies)... this was just awesome! 

Some may not enjoy this movie, as it is not as fast as most Hollywood movies we see today; but to be honest, this was written, directed and produced by the Coen brothers, and so it follows their same quirky and witty style that not everybody will 'get'. It most certainly was fast enough for me.

I spent much of the movie researching who the historical figures were. This may bug somebody to no end, but I enjoy thinking while I watch something, so, I felt that I learnt quite a lot about that era and the people they were bumping in to whilst I watched it (the pause button is my friend). 

O Brother, Where Art Thou? was praised for its soundtrack, and I'm not surprised by that. The Coen brothers seem to have done their best to bring some of their wit, appreciation of the aesthetic, quirkiness and love of music all together in to awesomeness. [Click on the YouTube video below and enjoy a small snippet!]

But even though I enjoyed it quite thoroughly, I finished the movie feeling a little dissatisfied. It was full of action, laughs, and awkwardness, but there was something missing. Because of that, I could only truly give it a 7/10. 

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