There and back again.
Well, days have certainly gone by quickly enough. I haven't had time to update until now, because I've been quite busy these past months. I'll try to summarize what I can about what has happened to me lately.
Nic contacted me some time ago and thought about reviving the RP at tGA forums. She made some new character portraits and managed to get a couple of people interested, and they posted in the forums. I managed to finish some portraits as well, and I also posted there. If you're wondering, it's easy for both veterans and newbies to join the RP because the story's in a good spot.
So, if any veteran RPer or anyone else is interested in trying the RP or if any of you knows someone who might want to try out an intelligent, character-driven fantasy text RP, let me know or go to the site to find out whether you or your friends would like to be a part of it. If you want more information, please contact me or visit the site. =)
Now that that traditional declaration is out of the way, it's time to move on to other things:
Things have been ok, and I've been talking to a lot of people. My summer job ended up being alright, and the pay was quite nice too. Too bad I was so busy at summer that I didn't quite have time to finish some of my essays, but luckily I could extend the time to do them, and I've been writing them every since (got a few out of the way, and now I'm moving onto the rest). The work days had been very hectic, but at least I got compensated for working overtime (as well as working on weekends; gotta love the triple Sunday extra money if one works overtime then!).
Sephiroth1999AD and I went to see The Dark Knight at one point (I'll review the film properly in another entry), and we managed to see a few familiar faces in the cinema. I also managed to meet Niklas and Esa for a while, but sadly I couldn't see Jarkko (he and his girlfriend had just moved to a new apartment). Niklas and I watched Spider-Man 3, and he seemed to like it and wondered why so many people hated it because he thought it was an emotional film (and he wasn't bothered by some of the emo Peter scenes at all, and he told me that he quite enjoyed the three villains in the film and didn't think it was too cluttered at all). He also returned Pan's Labyrinth to me (he had borrowed it earlier) and said that he'd enjoyed watching that film too and that he had appreciated its dark atmosphere. I'm glad he liked the two films, and I hope we can watch some movies together at some point in the future, because it's always funny hearing his hilarious commentary during movies. xD
At the end of summer I went to a local POP bank and asked how much interest they'd give me if I were to invest my money on a high-interest bank account. I wanted to know, because I'd learned that many banks were going for 5% interest or even more, which is quite high over here. The woman offered me 4,7% interest but then I mentioned that I might have to take my money elsewhere because other banks paid better. She kept her calm appearance but seemed to panic, and offered me 4,8% just because I'd been a good customer. However, I kept pointing out that it was still too little and other banks such as Nordea had a lot bigger interest rate. She went to see the manager, and later on came back and told me she'd raise my interest up to 5%. I thought it was a good enough deal (particularly because that bank has been reliable in the past), and I accepted it. The funny thing was that the manager herself came to see who the heck had managed to make such a bargain, and apparently she was surprised to see a young guy like me there. As I've later on thought about it, I've found it surprising that I managed to get my interest rate from 4,7% to 5%, but I guess I'll have to thank my fascination with Uncle Scrooge comics which have taught me how to negotiate with people. Yay for Disney being useful in everyday life. ;)
A sad thing happened at the end of August. I heard that my uncle Jorma had passed away. Although we were expecting it to happen at some point (he was getting old, after all), it was still a shock, because he was in a somewhat good shape and hadn't shown any symptoms of illness. The only consolation for us was that he seemed to have passed away peacefully, because the nurses had found him sitting on his chair, and there had been a sports show on TV. Some time later we went to his funeral and then buried him to the graveyard. I hope he'll be fine wherever he ended up; he was a good uncle, and I'm glad I got to know him as long as I did. Rest in peace.
I went to see the members of our choir at the end of September. It was nice to see them again, and we talked about lots of stuff. We also decided to have a sauna evening at a local club house, and it went well too (although most people got very drunk). We played Trivial Pursuit and sang all kinds of different songs. Juha was quite disappointed that the girls didn't decide to go to the sauna with guys, because apparently he'd been looking forward to it. Poor him. However, the mood wasn't as cheerful this time because I had to deal with both my uncle's passing away as well as the sudden Kauhajoki school shooting. Despite all this we tried to stay cheerful even if it was hard at times.
Anyways, Juha, Mika and I went to sauna together first (because some of the girls hadn't yet arrived), and we talked about various kinds of things (school, work, girls, music...) and also sang some funny versions of various national anthems (and we agreed that Swedes had the worst anthem out of the ones we sang). We also got a few new members, some of which were quite cute girls (too bad all of them were taken). It was also sad when I found out that one of the cute girls, Jenna, already had a boyfriend. Oh well. All in all it was an ok evening and things went smoothly enough. =P
University's been okay too. I didn't manage to get to all courses because they'd canceled some of them and because some groups were already full, but I've been taking what courses I can, and I've also been finishing some of the essays from last spring which I didn't have time to write. So far the stylistics course has been hard but rewarding. I don't expect to do well in the recent stylistic essay about W.H. Auden's poem, but at the very least the course so far has taught me how to appreciate the finer nuances of writing (and I'm sure to utilize these in my writing as well now that I've become aware of various foregrounding things like deviation and repetition which emphasize certain aspects of one's writing).
I noticed that the Finnish animation about the young reindeer Niko has come to the cinemas over here. I'd like to go and see it because it's the actual first large-scale Finnish animation (whereas Röllin sydän - The Quest for a Heart had been largely done abroad although it had a Finnish concept), and the trailer looked promising. I'm not expecting it to be something mind-numbingly awesome like Sinbad, but I hope it'll at least be decent enough. I also need to see the Rölli film at some point once I can be arsed to check it out.
I got interested in the recent promotional spots about the upcoming Disney film Bolt. The score seems quite funky in a good way, and the animation looks fluid enough with cute characters and funny action. The only thing that didn't convince me was Miley Cyrus's heavy promotion. First of all, by all accounts it seems she doesn't have that big a role in the story and yet she's promoted as if she was one of the protagonists. Second, her voice just doesn't suit the young girl Penny; her voice is better for some sultry seductress. I seriously hope that the clips I saw only showcased the worst of Cyrus's acting and that the she'll give us a wonderful performance in the other parts of the film. I guess only time will tell, but in any case I look forward to seeing Bolt in cinema.
I'm glad that LJ has managed to improve some of its stuff. Among the things I noticed was the last.fm addon stuff, and it's been of great use to me. As for other sites, I was quite as happy about the new layouts of Facebook and last.fm because they became a bit more laggy and look uglier than the old layouts. Still, I suppose I'll get used to them eventually, so I'll just have to survive for now.
Angel (aka The Real Life of Angel Deverell). After listening to the awesome soundtrack, I decided to check this film out. It turned out to be a period drama with a big, tragic love story as its centerpiece. It tells the story of a young woman, Angel Deverell, who lives in England and who wishes to become a famous writer. She eventually gets her chance to shine when she gets to publish a groundbreaking novel, and she gets thrown into a new, luxurious life, a complex relationship with a guy named Esme while also having to deal with an impending war on the horizon.
The cast does a phenomenal performance as a whole. Romola Garai is stunning as Angel and really delivers a wonderful performance as the likably unlikable heroine (I'll explain this soon). Sam Neill, one of my all-time favourite actors, also delivers a surprisingly touching and heartbreaking role as the publisher Théo, and his scenes are among the most powerful in the film (he really does carry portions of this film on his own, and his chemistry with Garai is wonderful). The rest of the cast is good, too, and Michael Fassbender really becomes the troubled yet brilliant Esme. Cinematography is stunning as well because it deliberately looks both expensive and cheap at the same time, bringing in a faux-golden age romance drama feel to the film, and it works wonders. The melodramatic portions really blow your mind, particularly the über-epic first love's kiss scene with rainbows and slow-motions and underscore that becomes as interesting as the similarly epic kiss scene in At World's End.
The true star of the film, however, is Philippe Rombi's magnificently lush score. It brings forth the foregone golden age of Hollywood with its complex writing which sounds beautiful and tragic at the same time. The three main themes (for fate, Angel herself and the Paradise mansion) are memorable and absolutely magnificent and truly transcend the film above many romance films. Rombi keeps rotating the themes throughout the film, and many of these themes actually develop and grow mature as Angel herself does. This sadly also means that the romantic Angel's theme gets less screentime because of the plot, but whenever it does appear, it really steals the show with its beauty. "The Real Life of Angel Deverell" (which presents the fate theme at its most glorious fashion) is a standout track with its darkly gothic and bittersweet feel with intense tragedy to back it up, and I can't help but adore the lush orchestration mixed with a wet choir in the background. Other great moments include "Crowning Moment" and "Marry Me" which offer the most explosive romantic statements I've heard recently, and these tracks really do get their spotlight in the film.
The film, however, does have a glaring flaw (if you can call it a flaw...) and that is the way how Angel herself is portrayed. I've no reason to doubt that this is what Garai and the director wanted, but it's really odd how Angel is shown to be quite a bitch (yes, you heard me) in the film. She's an ungrateful, egoistic and oblivious character who tends to annoy everyone in the story at some point or another. She does have her sweet moments, but these are too few, and I'm afraid that this will likely alienate the audience's sympathy as things take a worse turn in Angel's life. I understand that the plot requires her to have such a hubris so that she can fall down hard in the third act, but was it really necessary to make her so unlikable? Still, she does have some redeeming qualities that I sympathized with (her belief in dreams and that she's willing to pursue those no matter what), so I can't hate her all the time even if the script tries to make it so. If anything, this characterization actually makes me feel pity for her, because she could've avoided many of the tragedies if she'd been a kinder character. In any case the film is definitely worth watching, because it shows a strong love story with interesting actors, a complex script and beautiful music. I'll give it 4- stars out of 5.
Batman: Gotham Knight. It's a compilation of various animated shorts (all of which are animated differently), and most of them are set between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (although there are some flashbacks to Bruce Wayne's youth). First of all I'll say that it's quite jarring to see so many different animation styles. Some of these look quite neat but others look downright annoying, but I guess it all goes to taste. The score is quite synthetic at times, but I was glad that they do refer to Danny Elfman's Batman theme at times (it's odd that I couldn't find Zimmer's Batman theme at all; was it royalty issues or did they think Elfman's theme was more suitable...?).
At first it seems that the six segments are just standalone stories, but as one looks deeper into the narrative, one notices that all of them are actually connected to one another in some way by referencing the events of Batman Begins, the other animated segments or foreshadowing some stuff from The Dark Knight. The shorts do give a clearer picture of what's been going on between the two Batman films, although it also makes the Scarecrow into a badass villain (who in TDK turns out to be quite a pushover) and makes Deadshot rather lame. Although the shorts are not necessary to watch, they do explain certain things about the Batman mythos and helped me understand why certain things happened in TDK. I did wonder why Maroni looked so different in this anthology as opposed to TDK (did he get a haircut between this short collection and the film, or did they originally think Maroni would look different?). Anyway, the shorts are worth a watch if you're a Batman fan, but in my opinion they aren't as great as the episodes from Batman: The Animated Series. I'll give this anthology 3 stars out of 5.
Kung Fu Panda became a prime example and victim (?) of a misleading trailer. While the trailer showcases the film as an idiotic comedy, the film itself is actually surprisingly touching, tragic, epic, kickass and funny in a good way. The story itself seems ordinary enough with an ordinary panda Po (voiced by Jack Black) dreaming of becoming a kung-fu fighter. At the same time one of the old sages explains a prophecy according to which an imprisoned villain Tai Lung (voiced by the godly Ian McShane) will escape and try to destroy everything unless the sages can find the prophetic dragon warrior, the only one who can stop Tai Lung. As you've probably guessed by now, Tai Lung does manage to escape from the high security prison (thanks to a self-fulfilling prophecy; Bleys's Leon from tGA would've liked the twist xD), and Po is seemingly the dragon warrior despite the protest of many of the kung-fu fighters and masters, and eventually things escalate to a final showdown between the unlikely hero and the villain.
Although the story itself seems ordinary enough, it's actually quite entertaining. The touching twist of the tragic backstory of Tai Lung elevates him to another level of villainy altogether up to the point that I actually felt sorry for him throughout most of the film. The characters themselves are different from one another and interesting, and although Po has his annoying moments, Jack Black does his best to show him as a sincere person who just happens to be clumsy and dreamy type of panda. The other cast members do a good job, too, and it was a delight to discover Dustin Hoffman voicing the mentor character Shifu. The animation is simply mind-blowing. Many of the battle scenes are a visual treat, and the effects coupled with well-thought-out choreography look amazing. Particularly the penultimate battle between Tai Lung and a certain other person looks absolutely marvellous with a storm in the background (not to forget the flame fists!).
To my amazement the score by Hans Zimmer and John Powell actually works quite well in the context of the film. They offer multiple themes, although for me the most memorable theme was the one used for Tai Lung. Its menacing chords are very catchy and show the badass attitude during Tai Lung's crowning moments of awesome (yes, he has many such moments in the film, starting from the seemingly impossible and yet epic escape from a prison). The score balances comedy and action with surprisingly tragic and dark turns, and it works very well and helps to make the action scenes and moments of contemplation more touching and hair-raising than if they had lesser score. Some will probably still hate the somewhat Remote Control-ey sound, but I think the balance between synthesizers, orchestra, ethnic instruments and choir is mixed better than in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
The film is a delightful surprise after Dreamworks has produced so many awful films. I'd rank it close to Sinbad in sheer enjoyability, and I'll be sure to add it to my collection. The story, characters etc. are nothing new, but the way the story is told and the way it is portrayed on screen is something not to miss. Whether you enjoy the touching story, beautiful animation or kickass fight scenes or memorable music, there are things for everyone to enjoy (unless you despise animations and kung fu stories in general). I'll give it 4- stars out of 5.
The Birds. I finally managed to see this famous Hitchcock film about the birds who decide to attack mankind, and it turned out to be alright. The story actually has two phases: the first and half of second act dealing with the love story with an annoying diva and a down-to-earth guy who she has a crush on as she tracks him to a remote coastal town. Although I could sympathize with the characters, the girl just keeps getting very annoying and only shows signs of redemption at the end only to become annoying again. The latter half of the second act and the third act, though, finally introduce the titual birds who at first harrass people (this is foreshadowed quite well at the beginning) and later on turn downright murderous during an intense and brutal attack at the town centre with catastrophic consequences. The story itself takes a time to get cooking, but then it gets frightfully intense as panic strikes the town. The finale is downright chilling in its apocalyptic symbolism, although I really wonder why it ended that way. It left a lot of questions to be answered, but I suppose the director wanted the audience to figure out themselves why that happened.
The actors do a good enough job in their roles, but they aren't the best out there but at least passable enough. Cinematography is quite nice with some interesting camera angles and some dramatic close-up and wide shots when appropriate. The sound design is also interesting: the film doesn't really have score in the traditional sense of the word: instead if consists of modified bird noises which become utterly diabolic and frightening as the birds begin attacking people. The effect is so nasty that whenever you hear those bird noises in the third act, you're beginning to panic because you know something nasty will happen soon. The special effects look quite alright for such an old film, and some of the bigger bird attack sequences (particularly that shocking fireplace one and the explosive town centre massacre) look quite impressive by today's standards. It must've taken a lot of hard work for the crew to make it work, and I salute them for their worthy effort which makes the film as chilling as it must've been back in the days. All in all the film is worth a watch, and it's still quite scary at times. I'll give it 3½ stars out of 5.
I finished Darker than BLACK, and I'll say that it was refreshingly cool. Yoko Kanno's funky music worked quite well, and the animation was as good as I expected it to be. The storyline worked quite well too with its future Tokyo setting and with the police fighting against the mob and the mysterious Contractors. The characters were interesting and memorable, and it was nice to see the different abilities of the contractors as well as their freaky contracts that were quite unique. I also liked seeing a Finnish character, although the pronunciation of Finnish names was hilariously wrong. Hei was an interesting antihero, being both ruthless and yet somewhat compassionate, and the stories of the different contractors were touching too. The ending was quite WTF-worthy, but it made sense after thinking things through. It was an enjoyable series, and I hope we'll be seeing a continuation of the story (assuming they can make a worthwhile story, of course).
I began watching Eureka Seven. So far it's been alright, and I dig the animation and the music. The "Gekko-Go" theme in particular is very melodramatic in a good way, and I hope there'll be some epic scenes of war and love later on (the story seems to indicate so, but we'll see). Renton is an okay character for his age, and the rest of the cast is slowly growing on me as we get to know more about their tragic backstories. So far the villains are left rather anonymous, but maybe they'll notch up later on. Time will tell, but I have my hopes up.
I've been reading the Vinland Saga manga, and I was surprised how good it was. It tells the story of a band of vikings who get thrown into a complex power struggle within the Danish royalty in the late 1000s. The character arcs seem to mirror those found in Claymore (especially the origin of the main character's angst), but nevertheless the story gives some interesting twists and delivers lots of crowning moments of awesome. The art is detailed, and it strives for realism unless it needs to make things 'cool'. The historical accuracy is quite good for the most part (there are some glaring errors but I assume these were made to make the story more interesting), and the battle scenes kick ass even if they rely on the rule of cool often. So far I've had a good time reading the manga, and I wonder if it'll end up in my top list. Time will tell, but I hope the story manages to keep character development going. It'd be a shame if such a promising start with epic battles, intense strategies, touching character arcs and complex philosophical ponderings were only reserved for the beginning.
I managed to listen to the new El Cid Complete Re-recordings, and I'm convinced that I need to buy that CD if I get enough money. The score sounds absolutely stunning in full surround and in its reorchestration, and the choral finale is stunning (although I wish the choir would've been mixed into the forefront). There are lots of memorable themes, but the two best ones are the El Cid march and the love theme (and it's awesome that the love theme gets a choral version in the very finale). It's definitely one of Miklós Rózsa's most epic compositions, and I really want to watch the film in its entirety to truly appreciate the score in its context. I hope there'll be more rerecordings like this Tadlow one, because it's a quality effort and deserves all the praise it can get.
Hideyuki Fukasawa's score for the Chaos Legion game soundtrack was surprisingly catchy in the way it mixes techno to hard beat and synthesized orchestra and choir. The tunes are catchy and pounding, and they really pump up excitement especially during the riffy battle tunes. "Feel No Fear Stage" and "Massive Strokes" tracks among others are downright intense and menacing in their sheer weight and epicness. I can only wonder how it feels to play the game while listening to this kind of music in the background. In some ways it makes me think of the early 90s with Chris Hülsbeck's Turrican music.
Some other notable scores that I discovered among other things were Basil Poledouris's emotionally draining score for "Les Miserables", Hans Zimmer & John Powell's epic "Kung Fu Panda", Miklós Rózsa's immense "Sodom and Gomorrah", Ennio Morricone's menacing "Once Upon a Time in the West", Andrew Lockington's heroic "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and Joe Hisaishi's lyrical "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea". All of them are worthy efforts and enjoyable to listen to (whenever they aren't sinking too much into tragic depths of human emotion).
That's it for the time being.
Yours,
Mikko
Nic contacted me some time ago and thought about reviving the RP at tGA forums. She made some new character portraits and managed to get a couple of people interested, and they posted in the forums. I managed to finish some portraits as well, and I also posted there. If you're wondering, it's easy for both veterans and newbies to join the RP because the story's in a good spot.
So, if any veteran RPer or anyone else is interested in trying the RP or if any of you knows someone who might want to try out an intelligent, character-driven fantasy text RP, let me know or go to the site to find out whether you or your friends would like to be a part of it. If you want more information, please contact me or visit the site. =)
Now that that traditional declaration is out of the way, it's time to move on to other things:
Things have been ok, and I've been talking to a lot of people. My summer job ended up being alright, and the pay was quite nice too. Too bad I was so busy at summer that I didn't quite have time to finish some of my essays, but luckily I could extend the time to do them, and I've been writing them every since (got a few out of the way, and now I'm moving onto the rest). The work days had been very hectic, but at least I got compensated for working overtime (as well as working on weekends; gotta love the triple Sunday extra money if one works overtime then!).
Sephiroth1999AD and I went to see The Dark Knight at one point (I'll review the film properly in another entry), and we managed to see a few familiar faces in the cinema. I also managed to meet Niklas and Esa for a while, but sadly I couldn't see Jarkko (he and his girlfriend had just moved to a new apartment). Niklas and I watched Spider-Man 3, and he seemed to like it and wondered why so many people hated it because he thought it was an emotional film (and he wasn't bothered by some of the emo Peter scenes at all, and he told me that he quite enjoyed the three villains in the film and didn't think it was too cluttered at all). He also returned Pan's Labyrinth to me (he had borrowed it earlier) and said that he'd enjoyed watching that film too and that he had appreciated its dark atmosphere. I'm glad he liked the two films, and I hope we can watch some movies together at some point in the future, because it's always funny hearing his hilarious commentary during movies. xD
At the end of summer I went to a local POP bank and asked how much interest they'd give me if I were to invest my money on a high-interest bank account. I wanted to know, because I'd learned that many banks were going for 5% interest or even more, which is quite high over here. The woman offered me 4,7% interest but then I mentioned that I might have to take my money elsewhere because other banks paid better. She kept her calm appearance but seemed to panic, and offered me 4,8% just because I'd been a good customer. However, I kept pointing out that it was still too little and other banks such as Nordea had a lot bigger interest rate. She went to see the manager, and later on came back and told me she'd raise my interest up to 5%. I thought it was a good enough deal (particularly because that bank has been reliable in the past), and I accepted it. The funny thing was that the manager herself came to see who the heck had managed to make such a bargain, and apparently she was surprised to see a young guy like me there. As I've later on thought about it, I've found it surprising that I managed to get my interest rate from 4,7% to 5%, but I guess I'll have to thank my fascination with Uncle Scrooge comics which have taught me how to negotiate with people. Yay for Disney being useful in everyday life. ;)
A sad thing happened at the end of August. I heard that my uncle Jorma had passed away. Although we were expecting it to happen at some point (he was getting old, after all), it was still a shock, because he was in a somewhat good shape and hadn't shown any symptoms of illness. The only consolation for us was that he seemed to have passed away peacefully, because the nurses had found him sitting on his chair, and there had been a sports show on TV. Some time later we went to his funeral and then buried him to the graveyard. I hope he'll be fine wherever he ended up; he was a good uncle, and I'm glad I got to know him as long as I did. Rest in peace.
I went to see the members of our choir at the end of September. It was nice to see them again, and we talked about lots of stuff. We also decided to have a sauna evening at a local club house, and it went well too (although most people got very drunk). We played Trivial Pursuit and sang all kinds of different songs. Juha was quite disappointed that the girls didn't decide to go to the sauna with guys, because apparently he'd been looking forward to it. Poor him. However, the mood wasn't as cheerful this time because I had to deal with both my uncle's passing away as well as the sudden Kauhajoki school shooting. Despite all this we tried to stay cheerful even if it was hard at times.
Anyways, Juha, Mika and I went to sauna together first (because some of the girls hadn't yet arrived), and we talked about various kinds of things (school, work, girls, music...) and also sang some funny versions of various national anthems (and we agreed that Swedes had the worst anthem out of the ones we sang). We also got a few new members, some of which were quite cute girls (too bad all of them were taken). It was also sad when I found out that one of the cute girls, Jenna, already had a boyfriend. Oh well. All in all it was an ok evening and things went smoothly enough. =P
University's been okay too. I didn't manage to get to all courses because they'd canceled some of them and because some groups were already full, but I've been taking what courses I can, and I've also been finishing some of the essays from last spring which I didn't have time to write. So far the stylistics course has been hard but rewarding. I don't expect to do well in the recent stylistic essay about W.H. Auden's poem, but at the very least the course so far has taught me how to appreciate the finer nuances of writing (and I'm sure to utilize these in my writing as well now that I've become aware of various foregrounding things like deviation and repetition which emphasize certain aspects of one's writing).
I noticed that the Finnish animation about the young reindeer Niko has come to the cinemas over here. I'd like to go and see it because it's the actual first large-scale Finnish animation (whereas Röllin sydän - The Quest for a Heart had been largely done abroad although it had a Finnish concept), and the trailer looked promising. I'm not expecting it to be something mind-numbingly awesome like Sinbad, but I hope it'll at least be decent enough. I also need to see the Rölli film at some point once I can be arsed to check it out.
I got interested in the recent promotional spots about the upcoming Disney film Bolt. The score seems quite funky in a good way, and the animation looks fluid enough with cute characters and funny action. The only thing that didn't convince me was Miley Cyrus's heavy promotion. First of all, by all accounts it seems she doesn't have that big a role in the story and yet she's promoted as if she was one of the protagonists. Second, her voice just doesn't suit the young girl Penny; her voice is better for some sultry seductress. I seriously hope that the clips I saw only showcased the worst of Cyrus's acting and that the she'll give us a wonderful performance in the other parts of the film. I guess only time will tell, but in any case I look forward to seeing Bolt in cinema.
I'm glad that LJ has managed to improve some of its stuff. Among the things I noticed was the last.fm addon stuff, and it's been of great use to me. As for other sites, I was quite as happy about the new layouts of Facebook and last.fm because they became a bit more laggy and look uglier than the old layouts. Still, I suppose I'll get used to them eventually, so I'll just have to survive for now.
Angel (aka The Real Life of Angel Deverell). After listening to the awesome soundtrack, I decided to check this film out. It turned out to be a period drama with a big, tragic love story as its centerpiece. It tells the story of a young woman, Angel Deverell, who lives in England and who wishes to become a famous writer. She eventually gets her chance to shine when she gets to publish a groundbreaking novel, and she gets thrown into a new, luxurious life, a complex relationship with a guy named Esme while also having to deal with an impending war on the horizon.
The cast does a phenomenal performance as a whole. Romola Garai is stunning as Angel and really delivers a wonderful performance as the likably unlikable heroine (I'll explain this soon). Sam Neill, one of my all-time favourite actors, also delivers a surprisingly touching and heartbreaking role as the publisher Théo, and his scenes are among the most powerful in the film (he really does carry portions of this film on his own, and his chemistry with Garai is wonderful). The rest of the cast is good, too, and Michael Fassbender really becomes the troubled yet brilliant Esme. Cinematography is stunning as well because it deliberately looks both expensive and cheap at the same time, bringing in a faux-golden age romance drama feel to the film, and it works wonders. The melodramatic portions really blow your mind, particularly the über-epic first love's kiss scene with rainbows and slow-motions and underscore that becomes as interesting as the similarly epic kiss scene in At World's End.
The true star of the film, however, is Philippe Rombi's magnificently lush score. It brings forth the foregone golden age of Hollywood with its complex writing which sounds beautiful and tragic at the same time. The three main themes (for fate, Angel herself and the Paradise mansion) are memorable and absolutely magnificent and truly transcend the film above many romance films. Rombi keeps rotating the themes throughout the film, and many of these themes actually develop and grow mature as Angel herself does. This sadly also means that the romantic Angel's theme gets less screentime because of the plot, but whenever it does appear, it really steals the show with its beauty. "The Real Life of Angel Deverell" (which presents the fate theme at its most glorious fashion) is a standout track with its darkly gothic and bittersweet feel with intense tragedy to back it up, and I can't help but adore the lush orchestration mixed with a wet choir in the background. Other great moments include "Crowning Moment" and "Marry Me" which offer the most explosive romantic statements I've heard recently, and these tracks really do get their spotlight in the film.
The film, however, does have a glaring flaw (if you can call it a flaw...) and that is the way how Angel herself is portrayed. I've no reason to doubt that this is what Garai and the director wanted, but it's really odd how Angel is shown to be quite a bitch (yes, you heard me) in the film. She's an ungrateful, egoistic and oblivious character who tends to annoy everyone in the story at some point or another. She does have her sweet moments, but these are too few, and I'm afraid that this will likely alienate the audience's sympathy as things take a worse turn in Angel's life. I understand that the plot requires her to have such a hubris so that she can fall down hard in the third act, but was it really necessary to make her so unlikable? Still, she does have some redeeming qualities that I sympathized with (her belief in dreams and that she's willing to pursue those no matter what), so I can't hate her all the time even if the script tries to make it so. If anything, this characterization actually makes me feel pity for her, because she could've avoided many of the tragedies if she'd been a kinder character. In any case the film is definitely worth watching, because it shows a strong love story with interesting actors, a complex script and beautiful music. I'll give it 4- stars out of 5.
Batman: Gotham Knight. It's a compilation of various animated shorts (all of which are animated differently), and most of them are set between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (although there are some flashbacks to Bruce Wayne's youth). First of all I'll say that it's quite jarring to see so many different animation styles. Some of these look quite neat but others look downright annoying, but I guess it all goes to taste. The score is quite synthetic at times, but I was glad that they do refer to Danny Elfman's Batman theme at times (it's odd that I couldn't find Zimmer's Batman theme at all; was it royalty issues or did they think Elfman's theme was more suitable...?).
At first it seems that the six segments are just standalone stories, but as one looks deeper into the narrative, one notices that all of them are actually connected to one another in some way by referencing the events of Batman Begins, the other animated segments or foreshadowing some stuff from The Dark Knight. The shorts do give a clearer picture of what's been going on between the two Batman films, although it also makes the Scarecrow into a badass villain (who in TDK turns out to be quite a pushover) and makes Deadshot rather lame. Although the shorts are not necessary to watch, they do explain certain things about the Batman mythos and helped me understand why certain things happened in TDK. I did wonder why Maroni looked so different in this anthology as opposed to TDK (did he get a haircut between this short collection and the film, or did they originally think Maroni would look different?). Anyway, the shorts are worth a watch if you're a Batman fan, but in my opinion they aren't as great as the episodes from Batman: The Animated Series. I'll give this anthology 3 stars out of 5.
Kung Fu Panda became a prime example and victim (?) of a misleading trailer. While the trailer showcases the film as an idiotic comedy, the film itself is actually surprisingly touching, tragic, epic, kickass and funny in a good way. The story itself seems ordinary enough with an ordinary panda Po (voiced by Jack Black) dreaming of becoming a kung-fu fighter. At the same time one of the old sages explains a prophecy according to which an imprisoned villain Tai Lung (voiced by the godly Ian McShane) will escape and try to destroy everything unless the sages can find the prophetic dragon warrior, the only one who can stop Tai Lung. As you've probably guessed by now, Tai Lung does manage to escape from the high security prison (thanks to a self-fulfilling prophecy; Bleys's Leon from tGA would've liked the twist xD), and Po is seemingly the dragon warrior despite the protest of many of the kung-fu fighters and masters, and eventually things escalate to a final showdown between the unlikely hero and the villain.
Although the story itself seems ordinary enough, it's actually quite entertaining. The touching twist of the tragic backstory of Tai Lung elevates him to another level of villainy altogether up to the point that I actually felt sorry for him throughout most of the film. The characters themselves are different from one another and interesting, and although Po has his annoying moments, Jack Black does his best to show him as a sincere person who just happens to be clumsy and dreamy type of panda. The other cast members do a good job, too, and it was a delight to discover Dustin Hoffman voicing the mentor character Shifu. The animation is simply mind-blowing. Many of the battle scenes are a visual treat, and the effects coupled with well-thought-out choreography look amazing. Particularly the penultimate battle between Tai Lung and a certain other person looks absolutely marvellous with a storm in the background (not to forget the flame fists!).
To my amazement the score by Hans Zimmer and John Powell actually works quite well in the context of the film. They offer multiple themes, although for me the most memorable theme was the one used for Tai Lung. Its menacing chords are very catchy and show the badass attitude during Tai Lung's crowning moments of awesome (yes, he has many such moments in the film, starting from the seemingly impossible and yet epic escape from a prison). The score balances comedy and action with surprisingly tragic and dark turns, and it works very well and helps to make the action scenes and moments of contemplation more touching and hair-raising than if they had lesser score. Some will probably still hate the somewhat Remote Control-ey sound, but I think the balance between synthesizers, orchestra, ethnic instruments and choir is mixed better than in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
The film is a delightful surprise after Dreamworks has produced so many awful films. I'd rank it close to Sinbad in sheer enjoyability, and I'll be sure to add it to my collection. The story, characters etc. are nothing new, but the way the story is told and the way it is portrayed on screen is something not to miss. Whether you enjoy the touching story, beautiful animation or kickass fight scenes or memorable music, there are things for everyone to enjoy (unless you despise animations and kung fu stories in general). I'll give it 4- stars out of 5.
The Birds. I finally managed to see this famous Hitchcock film about the birds who decide to attack mankind, and it turned out to be alright. The story actually has two phases: the first and half of second act dealing with the love story with an annoying diva and a down-to-earth guy who she has a crush on as she tracks him to a remote coastal town. Although I could sympathize with the characters, the girl just keeps getting very annoying and only shows signs of redemption at the end only to become annoying again. The latter half of the second act and the third act, though, finally introduce the titual birds who at first harrass people (this is foreshadowed quite well at the beginning) and later on turn downright murderous during an intense and brutal attack at the town centre with catastrophic consequences. The story itself takes a time to get cooking, but then it gets frightfully intense as panic strikes the town. The finale is downright chilling in its apocalyptic symbolism, although I really wonder why it ended that way. It left a lot of questions to be answered, but I suppose the director wanted the audience to figure out themselves why that happened.
The actors do a good enough job in their roles, but they aren't the best out there but at least passable enough. Cinematography is quite nice with some interesting camera angles and some dramatic close-up and wide shots when appropriate. The sound design is also interesting: the film doesn't really have score in the traditional sense of the word: instead if consists of modified bird noises which become utterly diabolic and frightening as the birds begin attacking people. The effect is so nasty that whenever you hear those bird noises in the third act, you're beginning to panic because you know something nasty will happen soon. The special effects look quite alright for such an old film, and some of the bigger bird attack sequences (particularly that shocking fireplace one and the explosive town centre massacre) look quite impressive by today's standards. It must've taken a lot of hard work for the crew to make it work, and I salute them for their worthy effort which makes the film as chilling as it must've been back in the days. All in all the film is worth a watch, and it's still quite scary at times. I'll give it 3½ stars out of 5.
I finished Darker than BLACK, and I'll say that it was refreshingly cool. Yoko Kanno's funky music worked quite well, and the animation was as good as I expected it to be. The storyline worked quite well too with its future Tokyo setting and with the police fighting against the mob and the mysterious Contractors. The characters were interesting and memorable, and it was nice to see the different abilities of the contractors as well as their freaky contracts that were quite unique. I also liked seeing a Finnish character, although the pronunciation of Finnish names was hilariously wrong. Hei was an interesting antihero, being both ruthless and yet somewhat compassionate, and the stories of the different contractors were touching too. The ending was quite WTF-worthy, but it made sense after thinking things through. It was an enjoyable series, and I hope we'll be seeing a continuation of the story (assuming they can make a worthwhile story, of course).
I began watching Eureka Seven. So far it's been alright, and I dig the animation and the music. The "Gekko-Go" theme in particular is very melodramatic in a good way, and I hope there'll be some epic scenes of war and love later on (the story seems to indicate so, but we'll see). Renton is an okay character for his age, and the rest of the cast is slowly growing on me as we get to know more about their tragic backstories. So far the villains are left rather anonymous, but maybe they'll notch up later on. Time will tell, but I have my hopes up.
I've been reading the Vinland Saga manga, and I was surprised how good it was. It tells the story of a band of vikings who get thrown into a complex power struggle within the Danish royalty in the late 1000s. The character arcs seem to mirror those found in Claymore (especially the origin of the main character's angst), but nevertheless the story gives some interesting twists and delivers lots of crowning moments of awesome. The art is detailed, and it strives for realism unless it needs to make things 'cool'. The historical accuracy is quite good for the most part (there are some glaring errors but I assume these were made to make the story more interesting), and the battle scenes kick ass even if they rely on the rule of cool often. So far I've had a good time reading the manga, and I wonder if it'll end up in my top list. Time will tell, but I hope the story manages to keep character development going. It'd be a shame if such a promising start with epic battles, intense strategies, touching character arcs and complex philosophical ponderings were only reserved for the beginning.
I managed to listen to the new El Cid Complete Re-recordings, and I'm convinced that I need to buy that CD if I get enough money. The score sounds absolutely stunning in full surround and in its reorchestration, and the choral finale is stunning (although I wish the choir would've been mixed into the forefront). There are lots of memorable themes, but the two best ones are the El Cid march and the love theme (and it's awesome that the love theme gets a choral version in the very finale). It's definitely one of Miklós Rózsa's most epic compositions, and I really want to watch the film in its entirety to truly appreciate the score in its context. I hope there'll be more rerecordings like this Tadlow one, because it's a quality effort and deserves all the praise it can get.
Hideyuki Fukasawa's score for the Chaos Legion game soundtrack was surprisingly catchy in the way it mixes techno to hard beat and synthesized orchestra and choir. The tunes are catchy and pounding, and they really pump up excitement especially during the riffy battle tunes. "Feel No Fear Stage" and "Massive Strokes" tracks among others are downright intense and menacing in their sheer weight and epicness. I can only wonder how it feels to play the game while listening to this kind of music in the background. In some ways it makes me think of the early 90s with Chris Hülsbeck's Turrican music.
Some other notable scores that I discovered among other things were Basil Poledouris's emotionally draining score for "Les Miserables", Hans Zimmer & John Powell's epic "Kung Fu Panda", Miklós Rózsa's immense "Sodom and Gomorrah", Ennio Morricone's menacing "Once Upon a Time in the West", Andrew Lockington's heroic "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and Joe Hisaishi's lyrical "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea". All of them are worthy efforts and enjoyable to listen to (whenever they aren't sinking too much into tragic depths of human emotion).
That's it for the time being.
Yours,
Mikko