The clip above comes from the strange, but logical Spaghetti Western and chanbara combination flick, Red Sun.
Directed by Terence Young of England, shot in Spain, and starring a cast made up of stars from the U.S., Japan, and every corner of Europe, Red Sun stands as one of the single most culturally diverse films of it’s time.
I don’t think I have to tell you, it was a product of the bizarre cultural climate of the era known as “The 70’s.”
I have no fucking clue why Sonny Chiba is wearing a velcro suit. Don't bother asking, it was the 70's.
That being said, while the film is hardly one of the best of Charles Bronson or Toshiro Mifune’s career, any movie that feature such legends of MANLY badassery deserves a watch or 2.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for The Challenge, AKA that one movie with a badass Scott Glenn at the height of his powers, and Mifune wearing a ridiculous fucking wig:
Yup, that's exactly the kind of face I'd make if I had a shitty ass wig glued to my head.
In any case, it’s worth noting that the clip above has obviously been edited, in my opinion for the better.
Sadly, Mifune did not in fact toss Charles Bronson around for 2-3 minutes in the actual film, rather he only did so for about 20-30 seconds.
As much as I like Bronson, I think I prefer the “extended” version…
I still like it, but I could totally see it being not everyone’s cup of tea.
Following in the footsteps of Eddie Murphy’s make-up FX infused “multiple character performance” in Coming To America, Harry Crumb’s character incarnations and jokes were largely inconsistent, with a plot that was a little more involved than was necessary.
Oh yeah, and did I mention John Candy’s hair was fuckin’ ridiculous?
It's like they stapled Conan O'Brien's scalp to John Candy's skull...
That being said, the clip above, as well as the one below, demonstrate Candy’s character of Harry Crumb demonstrating his proficiency in the martial art of “Akido.”
As any Steven Seagal fan should already know, the correct spelling and pronunciation is “Aikido,” and no, it’s not a fighting style that involves backflips or shoe flinging ala Random Task.
Oh well, Hollywood’s proven time and again that racially insensitive/oafish white people are both hilarious and bankable in the eyes of the average movie-goer, and if any movie is guilty of both of these things, it’s Harry Crumb.
By the way, in case you’re wondering, I’m not being critical of the movie, or it’s politics, I’m just an Azn guy that really misses John Candy.
To this day though, I can’t quite decipher all of the subtleties/sense involved in his performance as Deszu…:
It’s funny, when it comes to movies, I’m actually not that hard to impress.
While I consider myself well-versed in the world of film, at the end of the day all it really takes to peak my interest, is:
A): A decent cast.
B): A decent concept.
and C): The promise of people punching one another at some point in the movie.
In some cases that last one, if represented well enough, is the only excuse I need to see a movie, regardless of how dumb or crappy it is.
I rented the shit-fest that was Unknown purely in the hopes of seeing a handful of Liam Neeson related beat downs.
I saw Fast Fivesolely for the purpose of seeing Vin Diesel and The Rock (not Dwayne) bro-out and put each other through particle board walls.
Pictured: Either The Rock is about to get suplexed, or Vin Diesel's in the process of getting Speared. I honestly can't tell...
And when it comes to The Dark Knight Rises, as utterly incalculable as the build-up has, and will continue to be for the next 6 months or so, at the end of the day I will see it because it, unlike any other movie in film history; will deliver the long anticipated spectacle of Batman and Bane duking it out on the big screen.
That these 2 titans of comics are to be portrayed by capable actors such as Christian Bale and Tom Hardy respectively, is merely the icing on the cake.
I find this funny. Does that make me less of a man?
Christopher Nolan’s track record when it comes to cinematography and fight choreography suggests that the ensuing bout will be clumsy and edited through a meat grinder, but even so, I’ve been waiting to see this fight brought to life on the silver screen since I was 6 years old; and crappy or not, I will not be denied.
That being said, Batman and Bane grudge match aside, what did I think of the new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises?
Well, to answer your question, I felt it was quite good by most standards, but much too enigmatic and fractured in it’s presentation to pack the same visceral punch that the later trailers for The Dark Knight did.
Here’s a refresher in case you need it:
I’d prefer not to compare the 2, as it’s obvious the people cutting the trailers for these movies came at it from very different tonal and thematic standpoints; but I feel it needs to be said that, to me, The Dark Knight really did have some of the best trailers of all time.
Everything, from the shot selection, to the music cues, to the overall pacing of the trailers for The Dark Knight was absolutely spot on.
What’s more, thanks to the dialogue-heavy nature of the trailers, as well as his untimely death, an absurd amount of buzz was generated for Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker, (*Sigh* “Why So Serious?”) not to mention the overall plot of the film was made crystal clear.
Though it sounds silly in this cynical age of ours, in many ways I feel the catchphrases and buzzwords of The Dark Knight actually served to make it’s advertising campaign both effective and memorable on the whole.
The trailer for The Dark Knight Rises has a lot of neat shots in it, promising quite a few interesting set piece moments, however, perhaps due to the lack of dialogue, many of these shots are difficult to interpret from a purely visual standpoint.
Early on we see the reflection of a man with a cane approaching a shiny dinner platter while Alfred drones on about the Wayne dynasty:
Pictured: I have no fucking clue. Maybe a Ra's Al Ghul flashback?
Seriously, if you take into account the fact that maybe, just maybe, the people viewing this trailer haven’t been blogging about every step of the script writing process, or staring at leaked production photos for the past several months, (oddly enough, not me!) then this trailer basically offers no hint as to her role being that of Selina Kyle.
Oh wait excuse me, she’s wearing a mask at a masquerade ball that, if you look really hard, has cat ears:
Direct quote: "WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
Sarcasm deployed, mystery solved.
Much like Aaron Eckhart’sTwo-Face, unless you’ve been following the production or are familiar with the Batman universe, chances are you’d never know Anne Hathaway was supposed to be Catwoman in this trailer.
Indeed, I’m curious to know what this trailer meant to people who aren’t familiar with Batman outside of the movies.
In many ways, when I watch this trailer, I feel my perception is skewed by the fact that I already have an attachment to and understanding of many of the characters based on their comic book equivalent.
When I think “Bane,” I already have an image in mind of what I expect from him.
When I hear Tom Hardy speaking through his mask I say to myself:
"I can see how people could find that hard to understand, but goddamnit that sounds like Bane!"
When I see scenes from the trailer like the prison break, I think to myself:
"Nice. That looks straight out of Knightfall!"
To the average Batman virgin however, I’d imagine imagery such as this would be provocative, but purely in a “oh, so that’s gonna’ happen at some point” kind of way.
Hell, I’m willing to bet the average Bat Virgin doesn’t have the slightest clue as to who or what Bane even is.
What I think I’m trying to say, is that the style of editing and presentation of this trailer is enticing, as anything with a budget and pretty pictures can manage to be, but at the same time I feel frustrated by the numerous vagaries it throws in my lap.
As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan of the J.J. Abrams-style marketing.
It’s not that I prefer my trailers to spell their plots and structure out to me, I simply value coherence and context over sound cues and pretty pictures.
Much like all of Christopher Nolan’s blockbusters, The Dark Knight Rises appears to be an audio-visual powerhouse, though in some ways it appears a little less so at this point.
The set pieces looks suitably big, but the color palette appears more gray-ish and natural than The Dark Knight and Batman Begins, and curiously enough, despite it being an almost comical trademark of his, there’s not a single (gorgeous) overhead shot of a cityscape.
Instead he decided to pull a 180 and do an INVERTED overhead shot for the poster!
That last part troubles me, as I’m a big fan of Nolan’s wide open establishing shots, particularly in outdoor scenes, and though it may just be the editor’s doing; there are none to be found in this trailer.
Perhaps the strangest thing though, at least to me, is the fact that they re-used the mood building drone AKA The Joker’s theme from The Dark Knight in this trailer.
I always thought of that particular piece of music as “belonging” to The Joker, which made it somewhat puzzling to hear played over a trailer for a film that, almost certainly; won’t feature him.
Despite everything I’ve said about this trailer, both good and bad, at the end of the day it’s a very good piece of advertising for a sequel that, unfortunately, benefitted from some of the best advertising and pre-release buzz in recent memory.
Not only that, it’s only the first trailer, for a huge movie that isn’t dropping until late in the summer.
As good as the advertising for The Dark Knight was from the get go, the 2nd trailers for it, Iron Man, and Inception were all MONUMENTALLY better than the first, which leads me to believe the same will likely be the case with The Dark Knight Rises.
In addition to this, one also has to consider the fact that virtually all of Christopher Nolan’s blockbusters up to this point, while heavily advertised, also did well to avoid showing a great deal of the major story beats and action set pieces.
I mean hell, neither the teaser nor the trailer saw any mention of Morgan Freeman’sLucius Fox, nor any of stuff from the prologue sequence that made the rounds through theaters last week.
I don’t know about you, but up until it’s release I really thought the “truck flip” from The Dark Knight trailer was going to be the climax of the movie.
Instead, the entire skyscraper based finale of the movie ended up playing that role, while never once being hinted at in the trailers.
I guess what I’m trying to say, is that though I may seem overly critical, in truth I’m just a fanboy hoping for the best.
In the meantime though, as weird as it seems, I think I actually liked the almost universally panned teaser for The Dark Knight Rises somewhat better than the trailer.
True, most of the footage was borrowed from Batman Begins.
True, virtually nothing Commissioner Gordon had to say was even worth hearing in the first place.
BUT, at the very end of the teaser, there is a single, barely 2 second shot that made it all worth it:
Pictured: All I needed to see.
Batman in the rain, taking a deep breath, while Bane slowly approaches from the foreground.
The whole thing was crap up until then, but that last shot instantly sold me.
The trailer, while bigger and much more coherent, didn’t have this shot or even a suitable equivalent.
True, it featured a few shots of Batman and Bane throwing down in the snow, however I felt the subtlety and dramatic implication of the teaser shot did more to appease the fanboy in me than the entirety of the full trailer.
That’s just me though.
Do I ever need a reason to post this? Didn't think so...
My friend and I… We have a special kind of affinity for Batman, such that random quote-fragments such as this rarely go unnoticed, if ever.
That being said, seeing that quote on Urban Dictionary put the idea in my head that maybe I should start plugging some of my random isms and in-jokes into their database.
Being as I used the phrase just 2 days ago, I figured I should start things off by throwing “Bionic Mexican” up over there.
And if you’re genuinely too lazy to click the link, (it happens) here’s the definition:
“Bionic Mexican”:
A Mexican fighter capable of absorbing an inordinate amount of punishment, much like The Terminator.
Example:
John: “Hey Brian, are you rooting for Cotto or Margarito?” Brian: “I want to root for Cotto, but Margarito’s got that whole Bionic Mexican thing going, so I don’t know…”
Anyway, just wanted to toot my own horn, (for once) have a nice evening!
It’s funny, amidst all the bitching I’ve been doing lately about my lack of inspiration for writing new posts, it dawned on me recently that I’ve neglected to cover one of the most obvious topics available to me:
My music library.
Most of the music I collect and listen to comes from movie and videogame soundtracks.
I think my interest in soundtrack music spawned from my having spent my childhood watching lots of movies with heavily thematic scores from an early age.
In particular, I think the iconic, and almost overbearing style of background music found in all the Godzilla movies I used to watch was largely responsible for me having grown up a “hummer.”
Wrong kind of Hummer, dumbass.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always taken good care to open my ears when watching movies; taking stock not just of the movie itself, but of the music that accompanies each scene within it.
That being said, in comparing my music library to that of some of my friends, it dawned on me that; like seemingly everyone in the digital age, the music in my collection differed extensively from most of the people I knew.
Because of this, I figured it might be fun if every now and again I took a moment to root through my collection and do a post on a particular composer you might like to know about.
I don’t intend for these posts to be biographies, as I honestly don’t know even know what most of the composers in my collection even look like, let alone what they’ve done in their personal lives, but I do hope to at least highlight the works of theirs that I am familiar with.
On that note, for absolutely no reason other than the fact that I mentioned Godzilla earlier in this post, today we’ll be kicking off this new series of posts with a look at prolific Japanese composer: Rejiro Koroku.
It’s funny, the earliest instance I can recall hearing the works of Reijiro Koroku, was one that I honestly wasn’t aware of until just now.
All I remember about the show was the theme song, and the fact that it involved painfully cute stuffed animal koalas that would come to life if you rubbed your nose against theirs.
Well, for what it’s worth, a quick IMDb reveals that the composer of Noozles was Reijiro Koroku.
I don’t remember a single note of the show’s soundtrack outside of the catchy-ass English theme song; but according to history, Noozles was the first composition of his I ever heard, even if I didn’t know he did it until just now.
Cosmic…
Fun facts aside, the first, and easily most impactful instance in which I ever truly experienced Reijiro Koroku’s music, was in Godzilla 1984.
The Heisei Godzilla movies had some of the most badass poster art ever. Seriously, look 'em up.
Many look upon Godzilla 1984 as a plodding and largely unimpressive entry in the series, however my appreciation for it has grown over the years.
That’s not to say I always looked upon it in a positive light.
In my youth I can recall feeling Godzilla 1985 (that’s the version we got in the U.S.) was a little bit boring, however that was also back when I was young enough to have felt it was also kind of scary.
What can I say, I grew up with Godzilla as my hero, so my tiny 6 year old brain had some trouble wrapping itself around the concept of Godzilla being a nasty bad guy that maliciously stepped on security guards.
Looking at Godzilla 1984 as and adult though, it’s much easier for me to appreciate the unrivaled scale of the miniatures, the atypically topical/political nature of the story, and the oddly designed, but mechanically impressive Godzilla suit.
As you might have guessed, on top of all of this, Godzilla 1984 has an absolutely beautiful soundtrack.
In stark contrast to virtually every other Godzilla soundtrack in history, Godzilla 1984 has a hauntingly brooding and melancholy sound to it that is downright chilling at times.
Just give a listen to the opening theme/Godzilla’s theme:
As the first film in the Heisei series of Godzilla films, as well as the first Godzilla film produced following a near 10 year hiatus, Godzilla 1984 was a big-budget (by Japanese standards) film meant to formally usher the character into the modern era of sci-fi.
Like many other tokusatsu compositions, Koroku’s use of brasses is bold and almost outlandish by Western standards, however at the same time his music has an elegance to it that goes a long way towards legitimizing the inherent melodrama of it’s sound.
While rarely pulse-pounding, the music in Godzilla 1984 covers a great deal of the emotional spectrum, with many of the more peaceful tracks embodying an almost Gershwin-like romantic quality:
The military themes embodying a boldly triumphant quality of strength:
And Godzilla’s cues coming across as malevolent and downright demonic at times:
Curiously enough, though one of the highlights of the soundtrack is one track in particular that is actually quite successful in it’s capacity to tug at your heartstrings:
One of my favorite aspects of the soundtrack, and one that I can’t quite explain, is it’s “clarity.”
I don’t know if it was a result of a special recording process, but for whatever reason, Godzilla 1984’s orchestra comes across as bigger, louder, and “clearer” than what I’m used to hearing in films.
I have no idea how this incredible effect was achieved, but one thing’s for sure, I wholeheartedly approve.
That being said, I figure I should finish today’s post with a nod to my favorite tracks from Godzilla 1984.
Truth be told, the “Main Title” and “Self-Defense Force” tracks embedded above are actually some of my favorite tracks, however my all time favorite has to be the theme of Super X:
Like I’d imagine was the case with most kids, Super X’s scenes were easily my favorite part of the whole movie, and as such; I feel it’s only fitting that it was bestowed with one of the better compositions as it’s theme music.
Godzilla 1984 was the first Godzilla movie in 30 years to feature no other monsters besides the Big G, and as a result, I’m guessing the Super X was inserted into the film, not just because it was fucking awesome, but because Toho likely felt the movie needed something for Godzilla to fight that was plausible, yet wouldn’t crumble in a single blow.
Unfortunately, the Super X, as resilient as it was withstanding a whopping 2 doses of blue nuclear death breath, displayed a severe weakness in the form of being vulnerable to having skyscrapers dropped on it’s hull:
Thank you South Park for summing up my feelings as of last night ever so succinctly.
For those that might be unaware, I’ve been trying on and off to beat Isaac Frost (the final boss of Fight Night Champion) for a good long while now.
As detailed here and maybe not for very much longer here, fighting the guy is a complex affair involving straight up boxing simulation gameplay, and a hokey round to round array of pre-arranged objectives.
That is to say, as much as you’d like to just go out and fight Frost like you would any other fighter in the game, the dramatic nature of the story mode forces you to accomplish certain tasks from round to round, thereby robbing the fight of the organic nature that makes Fight Night Champion such a satisfying experience.
Despite the awkward nature of the gameplay aspect of the fight, from a presentation standpoint, it’s actually quite absorbing at times.
Unlike normal exhibition or vs. matches in the game, the story mode fights make use of ambient music and contextual music cues, resulting in the fight with Frost feeling genuinely cinematic at times.
As frustrated as I was at times, every time the heavy percussion of Isaac Frost’s theme would kick in as he landed a big punch on me, I really felt the tension bearing down on me.
That being said, as annoying as it was to be unable to beat Frost for so long, easily the most annoying part of the whole thing stems from how I actually went about defeating him for the first time.
When you finally beat a tough challenge, especially in a videogame, you expect to feel a sense of accomplishment, of pride for your achievement.
I didn’t get that.
Instead, I learned that all these months I’d been defeated, not by Frost; but by the programmers over at EA Canada’s poor choice of wording.
Before the 3rd round, your trainer tells you to land “power shots” to the body.
At the beginning of said round, the objective listed on-screen reads “Land power shots to the body.”
Just in case you're one of those mentally deficient folks that needs a Powerpoint to understand things.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
In Fight Night Champion, there is a substantial difference between power shots, and regular punches.
Power shots are slower, cannot be thrown in combination, and make use of a modifier button to execute.
That is to say, they are a specialized tool to be used with moderation and caution.
From the 3rd to the 5th round of the fight, I was under the impression that I was being told to land 75 power shots to Isaac Frost’s midsection.
Just to clarify, that’s a fuck ton of power shots, making for a fuck ton of opportunities for Frost to capitalize on the slow speed and recovery time of said punches.
Staying on your feet trying to land 75 power shots inside of 9 minutes against Isaac Frost is like trying to ice skate uphill when there ain’t no ice.
In short, it just doesn’t work.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered, by accident, that despite the specific use of the term “power shot” being utilized both in the dialogue of a cutscene and by the in-game text objective; I was not in fact required to use them.
Truth be told, I wasn’t really that mad per se, really I was just kind of surprised at how easy Frost was once I learned that.
For awhile now I’ve thought of him as one of the harder bosses I’ve fought in gaming, but now that I know how he’s supposed to be fought, he’s almost disappointingly wimpy.
Sure, he’s still got the power to put you down at any time in the fight, but I’m pretty fuckin’ good at Fight Night, so once you’re “allowed” to go on the offensive against him, I put him away just like any other bum.
I just think it’s so funny that, like seemingly everything in life, I made Isaac Frost so much harder than he actually was.
I struggled for days trying to find ways to slip in and out using nothing but power shots, but to no avail.
Believe it or not, I actually got good enough at fighting him that way that I routinely came within a few punches and seconds of being able to land the 75 punches required to advance in the fight.
In a way, I kind of wish my interpretation of the Isaac Frost gameplan was real, as it made for one helluva’ challenge, but one that I likely could’ve achieved with enough practice.
So there you have it:
Isaac Frost < The Shitty Writers Over at EA Canada.
It’s funny, as the release date for The Avengers slowly draws nearer, I’m starting to realize more and more the fact that there’s very little chance of it being shitty.
I have a great deal of love for Marvel comics, so just getting a chance to see the characters of that universe being brought to life in 200 million dollar budgeted films is enough to make me happy.
It doesn’t matter so much if the acting is great, or the plot deeply layered, as long I get to see the spirit and energy of the characters brought to life, there’s very little chance I’ll walk away from an Avengers movie wanting my money back.
Then again, I would’ve said the same about Transformers, that is, until Michael Bay dumped ass all over my childhood and raped my wallet…
TWICE.
"I swear I will not kill anyone... But I WILL shit on all of your childhood heroes."
That being said, while it’s a bit difficult to determine exactly what the plot of the movie is based on the trailer, (as should be the case, given that it’s only the first theatrical trailer) in many ways I applaud the marketing folks over at Marvel/Disney for cramming in screen time for virtually all of the heavy hitters that have been confirmed to be appearing in the film.
Tom Hiddleston’sLoki appears to be the central villain of the film, though based on the uncertain events at the conclusion of Captain America, in my mind it’s entirely possible that Red Skull could have a hand in things as well.
My bet is, he does.
Given the Hulk’s unstable nature, as well as the plot of the first Avengers comic, I’m guessing he’s going to end up being manipulated by Loki at some point; resulting in a heel/face turn at some point in the film.
I don't think I'm alone in saying I'd like to see a bit of THIS somewhere in there though.
Speaking of the Hulk, his reveal at the end of the trailer was well utilized, as he’s the one confirmed Avenger we really haven’t seen up to this point.
Despite no shortage of explosions and FX shots though, I can’t help but feel that this first trailer was cut from footage of a yet unfinished product.
At least I hope that’s the case.
There are numerous shots that feel very “static,” lacking in energy and purpose to a degree that they feel almost amateurish.
Seriously man, count how many shots there are of single characters, standing in boring and vacant locations.
"DURRR!!! I'M THE BLACK WIDOW AND I JUST FARTED A BUS EXPLOSION! DURRR!!!"
Chances are you’ll run out of fingers and toes on that one.
At the same time, many of the FX shots, particularly some of the exploding cars, look to me as if they are meant to be templates for CGI compositing.
It’s rare to see explosions in Hollywood films these days where the detonation source and materials seem plainly visible, and as such; I wouldn’t be surprised if the aforementioned exploding car shots are awaiting some sort of energy beam effects to cover all that up.
It’s funny, as I write this nitpicky article, I can’t help but be reminded of the early trailers for Iron Man.
I remember seeing the early TV spots for Iron Man, and being largely unimpressed.
I don’t know if you recall, but the pacing of these commercials was very weak, and some of the effects shots were not quite finished, resulting in advertisements that didn’t at all reflect the awesomeness of the final product.
Compare this early TV spot:
To the later released full trailer here:
Not only is the composition better, the special effects, particularly in the “tank shot” sequence, are rendered with more detail and smoother animation.
When you’re dealing with effects heavy films like this, it’s entirely possible that the computer effects crew will end up working on the project up until the release date.
While I could be wrong, I’m really hoping this is the case with The Avengers, as while it looks totally acceptable at this point, it doesn’t look at all exceptional.
What else can I say about this?:
Captain America’s costume looks a little bit too stretchy and “pajama-y” for me to give it a thumbs up.
Am I wrong in thinking it looks kind of like the live-action Kick-Ass costume?
Hank Pym should get a nod or a cameo, as I’d love to see The Vision or Ultron show up in a movie someday.
Kudos to the marketing department for excluding any and all shots of the Avengers working together or “assembling,” as that’s one of those oh-so-important fanboy moments that’s probably best left for the theaters.
Here’s hoping Agent Coulson gets an action beat somewhere in there, ’cause he’s been consistently fun over the years.
I’ve got my fingers crossed that the always solid Jeremy Renner won’t suck as Hawkeye… ‘Cause let’s face it: he’s Hawkeye.
"Who? Me?"
For once I’m actually hoping Joss Whedon decides to “George Lucas” his movie with distracting lights and colors in every shot.
Seriously man, this is the fuckin’ Avengers movie.
It’s only gonna’ premiere once, and you’ve been hyping it for like 4-5 years now.
Go balls out, or don’t waste my motherfuckin’ time.
No Avengers film, or any film for that matter, should have boring-ass shots of The Black Widow standing ever so casually in front of pitiful exploding buses, or for that matter; Nick Fury firing rocket launchers while standing in front of my dad’s garage.
BOH-RRRRRIIIIING.
Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got to say on this one, hopefully it turns out fun for everyone, ’cause at this point if any one film this coming year could hope make good on that promise, it’d have to be The Avengers.
If it does in fact start to suck when I’m in the theater though, I know exactly the phrase that’s going to come to mind:
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