Sakura of DOOM

First, I am sure everyone has heard about this by now, but just in case you haven't or have but didn't check it out yet: Hamilton Original Cast Recording Spotify playlist (or if Spotify doesn't work for you, YouTube). I've been dying to see or listen to this musical since I heard about it a few weeks ago, and now that the soundtrack is out, I can at least listen to it. Lin-Manuel Miranda's mix of hip hop and Broadway and other pastiches (the BritPop!) is amazing, and it reminded me of the excitement of listening to Rent for the first time in the 90s after only having heard Andrew Lloyd Webber and Les Mis. The recitative bits sounds a little like Rent to me, but other than that, Hamilton is entirely its own thing. Also, Thomas Jefferson sports natural hair and purple velvet.

I also saw East Side Sushi over the weekend, a cute indie film about a Latina woman who gets a job in a sushi restaurant and decides to become a sushi chef. The plot is pretty much what you would expect—opposition from her more traditional father, racism and sexism from the Japanese owner, a competition where she Proves Herself—and it sometimes felt a little clunky, but it's extremely charming and features Mexican-Japanese fusion food. It's also filmed in Oakland by a local director, so I got a ton of enjoyment out of seeing familiar places on screen as well.

And I (FINALLY) played through Hatoful Boyfriend, aka the pigeon dating sim, thanks to bluerabbit. Although to be accurate, it's more a piece of post-apocalyptic science fiction masquerading as a pigeon dating sim, which was not what I was expecting. Also, you date pigeons (and other birds). If this interests you and you're generally not into video games, I'd give this a try. It's a visual novel, so there's not that much game play involved aside from making some decisions about who to talk to and etc., and it's worth it to go through all the storylines.

I also mean to rec N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season and Zen Cho's Sorceror to the Crown, but I am still holding out hope that I will write actual entries on them.

Initial random thoughts! (With spoilers for the comics arcs as well.)

( Spoilers )

I really love the world of this movie: the claustrophobia of giant walls going up, the success then failure of the jaegers, how so many people were exhausted and tired of fighting, instead of just encountering the threat for the first time. It also gets points for having more than one speaking role for POC. On the other hand, I wish more of the supporting cast were POC as well and that Mako had more to do.

I'm also surprised that I've found little to no comparisons to anime in the write ups I've seen on my network! I know both Guillermo del Toro has said the movie is not based on Evangelion, and Travis Beacham says he wrote the bulk of the script before having seen the show/movies/franchise, but it feels as though the influence of the show is everywhere.

( Spoilers for Pacific Rim )

I really wanted more of the world after watching the movie, so I checked out the Tales from Year One comic. Alas, while it had some good backstory, I found it largely skippable and rather annoying.

( Spoilers )

Wreck-It Ralph

Really loved this. Love all the gender stuff and how quietly and matter-of-factly the movie codes gaming as a gender-neutral or sometimes leaning-toward-female thing, LOVE Jane Lynch's character, adored the Sarah Silverman character, and was very impressed by how Dreamworks managed to make a pop-culture-inspired movie that feels so much bigger than just a string of pop-culture jokes. Also had thoughts about Ralph kinda sorta representing male gamer privilege when he's so medal focused. CB didn't quite think so, though. What do people think?

Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva

So weird to not be solving puzzles by myself for the whole movie! Alas, the series continues to have saintly, largely inactive girls and women, though at least this one features Emmy for a bit. There are also a lot of Laputa influences. Mostly it makes me want to play the newest Layton, which I have discovered is now out but only available for the 3DS. ARGH. Want to play but don't want to buy a 3DS just to play a single game!

The Hobbit

I've never been a fan of the book (read it once in sixth grade, never mustered up enough interest to ever finish a reread), so mostly I had fun with the movie. Was happy just to be back in cinematic Middle Earth, especially once the Shire theme started to play. Mostly the movie is notable in that a) now I can at least remember one or two of the dwarves' names (me watching FotR Moria scene: "Who the heck is Balin?"), b) Thranduil's doofy-looking "I am not emotional" expression, c) the hunger-inducing first scenes in Bilbo's house, and d) RABBIT SLED.

Fellowship of the Ring rewatch

Wow, I can't believe it's been ten years. The special effects hold up amazingly well, I'm guessing because they did a lot of things with stunt doubles and forced perspective and miniatures. And though I'm now largely uninterested in mainly-male medieval Europe-ish quest epic fantasies, this one has so much nostalgia attached, both for the books and for the movies, that I don't care and I love it anyway. I was also extremely amused that the very first shot after the Fellowship is formed is a long shot of the Fellowship traversing a mountain range, silhouetted against the sky. Also, the end Boromir + Frodo scene is filmed disturbingly like a rape scene.

This is a movie in which the dog dies in the beginning.

(I am totally posting this entry just so I could open with that line.)

There were some free advanced screening tickets circulating around work (how do those work anyway?).

This is the most Tim Burtonesque of Tim Burton's movies that I've seen in a while: a black-and-white gothic American suburbia stop-motion animation movie referencing horror movie tropes, mid-century modern design, loner kids, and the bond between boy and dog. (Does anyone beside Tim Burton do Gothic Suburbia?)

I love stop-motion animation, and although I liked Corpse Bride and Coraline, I love how old-fashioned Frankenweenie is, and the animation feels just a bit more rickety and stop-motion-y than the previous two.

The movie is basically a rewrite of a short Tim Burton did when he was younger. Young Victor Frankenstein is a bit of a loner, but he loves his dog Sparky. Alas, Sparky is not long for the earth, at least until Victor rigs up various kitchen appliances and kites and manages to reanimate Sparky. His classmates, fearing that Victor will win the science contest, soon try to get in on the reanimation party, to rather disastrous results. I was expecting to be entertained, given the premise, but it's a really heartfelt movie along with being entertaining. It feels a bit like a classic already.

I only wish Burton had as much fun skewering non-horror tropes. The bad accent for Japanese student Toshiaki was terrible, as is the fatphobia and the lack of girls. Weird Girl is the scene stealer of the movie, but I wish Burton had the girls be just as competitive for the science contest. And Elsa is, alas, mostly just the cute goth girl crush object who isn't even crushed on that much.

Much less importantly, there is also a dead rat, which upsets me.

That said, I love pretty much everything else about the movie, particularly Mr. Whiskers and Weird Girl. I love how dog-like Sparky is, even undead, as well as the science teacher's unfortunate speech to the PTA, the character designs, the absolutely perfect mid-century modern props and architecture, the various monster rampages, and the way the film spirals deliciously out of control as Victor finds keeping Sparky a secret to be harder than he thought. Also, bonus points for parents who are involved and not stupid.

But more than that, it's about having a pet and loving that pet, and I wanted desperately to play with my rats when the movie was over.

This is why I should not go into movies with the expectation that I might like them.

( Spoilers. Kind of. It's hard to tell. )

So yeah. That was a movie. It had some great eye candy, I liked the clothes, and there were bits that could have been something, but the plot and pacing made even less sense than your standard Hollywood action flick.

I rewatched this to try and catch more bits of Black Widow characterization, and wow, now I remember why I was so very hesitant when going in to watch Captain America last year.

So yeah. Despite overflow happy hearts from The Avengers, still hate Tony and Iron Man here, am appalled by how he treats Pepper, hate the objectification of all the women, really hate how Tony's statement about solving world peace in the very beginning is never really dissected, and overall am left with very bad taste in my mouth.

ETA: ( Further notes, with spoilers for both movies )

In late Victorian and early Edwardian England, stage magicians Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier form a rivalry with each other that eventually affects not only them, but also their descendents.

Plot summaries for this book aren't particularly satisfying, as the bulk of the book is in its structure. We begin with the descendents finding out more about their magician ancestors via diaries, and Alfred Borden's begins by telling you he is performaing a magic trick with his very narrative. Angier's diaries, not written for potential publication, don't have quite the same sense of illusion and mystery about them until the final bits.

I read this after I had seen the movie, so I already knew the major revelations. While I liked the additional details in the book, particularly about stagecraft and magic, the movie version of the characters and motivations resonated more with me. As such, I'm not sure how much of my dissatisfaction from the book stems from the book itself, and how much stems from comparison to the movie.

I was particularly irritated by the framing device of the descendents, given how Priest developed it. Due to mentions of the Borden-Angier feud lasting for generations, I wanted to see more of how both men affected their families. Instead, the bulk of the novel is still about Borden and Angier's personal lives, so much so that the single feud-like event from later on read as completely random to me. There is no sense of why the feud extends beyond Borden and Angier, save the fact that Priest needs to wrap up his story thematically.

The other bit that bothered me was how pointless the feud felt. Obviously, I know it should feel pointless to anyone but the two men involved, but the sense of urgency and obsession and rising stakes from the movie is completely missing. Instead, my impression was that either man could have walked away at any time, not out of better judgment, but out of simple ennui, which doesn't seem to be the best end to a multi-generation feud. I'm fine with the feud itself feeling petty and stupid, but it seemed that both Borden and Angier thought so as well at quite a few points in the narrative, which made me just want to shake them and ask them why they kept it going outside of "needed to further the plot." I was also intrigued by the bits of internal conflict hinted at in Borden's narrative, and I actually think I would have rather read a book about that than about the Borden-Angier conflict.

Finally, I have no idea what happened in the last two pages or so.

( Spoilers for book AND movie )

Overall, Priest's puzzle box is intriguing and satisfying as a puzzle, but it didn't work that well for me as a story, at least in comparison with the movie. I probably would have been much more impressed had I read it first.

I am going to assume that there are spoilers for both book AND movie in the comments, since it's pretty difficult to discuss either without spoilers.

Links (assume spoilers!):
- coffeeandink on book and film
- Gary Westfahl's review of the film, with comparisons to the book, most of which I disagree with
- instant_fanzine discussion of the book
- kate_nepveu's thoughts

Any other links? I think I read them when the movie came out in 2006 (it was that long ago?!), but it'd be interesting to reread now that I've read the novel.

(Original title: 刀馬旦)

This is a Tsui Hark movie from 1986 starring Brigitte Lin. There are other people in it too, but really, most of my memories involve Brigitte Lin dressing in a tuxedo, a uniform that is later adopted by many Japanese schools to be their boys' uniform, a military uniform, a foppish Regency-esque outfit, and a wet bloody shirt. The plot somehow involves Yuan Shikai and guerilla fighters attempting to overthrow something, but the subtitles weren't the best, so it was a bit difficult to tell. Also, as you may have noticed, I was a bit distracted by Brigitte Lin.

I watched this because rachelmanija has told me it is one of her favorite HK movies, that it involves the Peking Opera, that it stars Brigitte Lin, and that Brigitte Lin crossdresses throughout the movie. Sadly, it is also extremely hard to find, and after a few years, I managed to dig up the VCD in a random store in Hong Kong last winter. We just watched it today, and Rachel was a bit afraid that it wouldn't live up to her memories and that I would find it not worth my very long search.

I have to say, the beginning is a bit lackluster, with the exception of Tsao Wan (Brigitte Lin) in various awesome outfits. And then there is Sheung Hung, a singing girl who steals jewels and ends up embroiled in assorted rebel schemes, along with Pat Neil (worst transliteration ever! It doesn't remotely sound like this in Cantonese), a girl who longs to perform but isn't allowed to because only men are allowed on stage.

(Rachel is telling me to add that Brigitte Lin is really hot in this.)

I tend to do badly with plot synopsis anyway; Tsui Hark's movies are frequently incomprehensible; and although this one makes waaaaay more sense than Ashes of Time, I don't remember how the movie even starts, except with a guy in Peking opera make up going "BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Instead, you should all watch this movie because Brigitte Lin is really, really hot, but also because it has three awesome heroines who are allowed to have awesome action sequences. Occasionally the men do something, but I do not really remember what. Tsui Hark seems to have the same priorities I do, as the men randomly drop out of the story every so often, whereas there are many, many shots of Brigitte Lin looking awesome in uniforms, tuxedos, suits, and wet shirts.

Also! There are many scenes in which Tsao Wan tenderly comforts Sheung Hung and Pat Neil. She goes outside to drape her cloak over Pat Neil, who is heartbroken because her father has forbidden her to act! Romantic music swells! Romantic snow begins to picturesquely drift down! Rachel and I clutched each other and yelled, "Subtext! Text!" But little were we to know that it was just beginning. After the comfort scene with the cloak, we then move on to the three women.... in a pajama party! They drink and peer at a globe, with their faces so close that they were only fingerspans away from kissing! There was frolicking in white pajamas!

And there was a great scene with the three women and two of the rebel men all under a single blanket. The movie, by the way, had some great action sequences, in which everything happens in a nearly Rube Goldberg-esque manner. The death of the main villain in particular is AWESOMESAUCE.

And! There was the scene which I had been eagerly anticipating, as it was the only thing about the movie that Rachel really remembered aside from the Peking opera: Tsao Wan gets whipped! As we watched the movie and Tsao Wan avoided being whipped, Rachel thought she had made this up, although I said, "Yeah, but I also thought I made up the flying whale in Angel Sanctuary and the finger-eating villain and claymation skeleton in Heroic Trio!"

Lo and behold, Tsao Wan was captured by the villains, hung from two chains, and whipped. Normally I'm not that into the fetishizing of violence inflicted on the female body, but the scene didn't so much reduce her to a screaming girl, but rather made her seem heroic and awesome and stoic. It actually reminded me a lot of the torture scene of Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. The movie also plays dramatic music during it and shows the villains pouring salt water over her... in slow motion!

After, as Sheung Hung and Pat Neil go in to rescue her, Tsao Wan is TIED TO A BED. In her bloody wet shirt! Sheung Hung and Pat Neil were awesome as they rescued her, then the two girls are in bed again with a corpse to distract the villains, and then Sheung Hung and Pat Neil fawn over Tsao Wan and her bloody wounds and comfort her through all the dreadful hurts she has suffered. I could not be making this up if I tried!

Anyway, this movie completely lived up to expectation, and it joins Heroic Trio and So Close in my category of awesome action movies with not one, not two, but THREE awesome female action heroes. Except this one has really excellent action, Brigitte Lin (AWESOME), some very well-choreographed fight scenes, and great fan fodder. I think I am going to request this for Yuletide next year...