recommendations

film

From director Bong Joon-ho (Memories of Murder) comes a monster film that Hollywood is under the impression it has been making for the past thirty or so years.

The Host made cinema history in its home of South Korea in 2006 - a monster film, opening on a record number of screens, and breaking the box-office records throughout its domestic run. From July through November, the film sold over 13 million tickets, making it the highest grossing South Korean film of all time, beating the previous leader The King and the Clown, which had attracted 12.3 million people. Take that TMNT!

While a monster film, The Host has many genre elements of both comedy and drama. The movie follows the after-effects of a large dumping of chemicals from a United States Army base into the Han River. Years pass and the Han riverside is a favorite tourist spot and family picnic location. The focus of the film is a tightly knit family. Hee-Bong, the elder parent of the family, runs a snack bar on the riverside selling junk food and fried squid (I'm assuming it's the equivalent of my native fried dough). His son, middle brother and co-owner of the snack bar, is the often asleep and dim Park Gang-Du. Park's daughter, Hyun-Seo is a bright and innocent middle-school girl... things never look good for innocents in any horror film, no matter the language.

Using his limited resources, Hee-Bong has provided for his family as best he can, sending his other son Nam-Il to college and supporting daughter Nam-Joo in Olympic-class archery. Yet Nam-Il is an angry, antisocial drunk and Nam-Joo disappoints her family by bringing home not the gold, but the bronze archery medal.

In no time, the tranquility of the domestic drama is broken by the arrival of the mutated beast. About the size of a suburban vehicle, it lunges out of the water and attacks the holiday makers, finally taking Hyun-Seo with it back into the deeps. The family tries to greive and draw strength from themselves as the press and military make a botch of things, but due to their almost mutual dislike for each other, even that doesn't go well. After Park gets a call on his mobile from his daughter, they become motivated. With a single mindset holding them together, they decide to hunt down the monster themselves and rescue Hyun-Seo..

While most monster films I've seen (and let me tell you... as a Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan, I've seen a lot!) feature an intelligent scientist or a pragmatic military as its protagonist, this film has as its hero a quartet of dim-witted, angry people. With no real plan and limited resources, they're determined to find Hyun-Seo and kill the mutant. In addition to the odd mix of humor and horror, it's this quality that really makes the film shine for me. I'm a sucker for 'Sad Sack' characters and the movie is full of them. Rum notions and bad ideas permetate the story, with even the best of characters' intentions squashed by even bigger incompetents and a military-spawned solution (a gas dumped from a space-age looking sphere called Agent Yellow) that seems to hurt people far more than the monster.

The Host is probably the best monster film I've ever seen, but that's not why you should see it. The gore and horror are minimal and while the design and effects are top notch, it might bore a viewer looking to see a better Godzilla film. Clocking in at over 2 hours, you'd think I'd have needed that coffee I bought to keep conscious, but really I was wide awake in a way that I am only after seeing a really amazing film. I cannot recommend this highly enough. The Host is in a limited run, mostly hitting art cinemas, which is a shame since I bet it would shine on a big screen, but if you check here you can see a complete list of theaters where it is being shown.

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dvd

The Devil And Daniel Johnston

I had the opportunity to see Daniel live in Cambridge, MA before I moved. There were a lot of concerts I missed, but this one I made the effort for and while I'm still kicking myself for those Frames, Walkmen and Divine Comedy tickets I never bought, Daniel put on a very special show.

In 1991, on local radio station WZBC, I heard a very scratchy version of his song 'Running Water' and given my mindset at the time and the material ZBC played, thought little of it. As time passed, I collected a small batch of his music and started to hear what made him so special. I'm not going to argue with the person who hears his music, rolls his/her eyes and says it's terrible, but what you have to understand is that what you're hearing is one of hundreds of songs the man wrote and performed in his parents' basement. While most musicians have one or three good albums in them, Daniel is a never ending fountain of songs.

With this unique ability comes tragedy. A gifted teenager, his parents hoped for the best for Daniel. Art school, a career and one day he could provide for them, the way most children do for their parents. Yet he was 'troubled.'

This disjointed mental state led to more than his share of being looked after by siblings, minimum-wage work and the occasional road trip to join the circus. All along, he made up his own songs. In his music, you can hear not only his desparation but also that he is connected to something other, some definite place that you and I are not in touch with.

In his 20's, Daniel hit it big on MTV's coverage of Austin's South by Southwest festival. Seen and heard by millions, his songs echoed back to him by the audience, you can see in the film footage the facial expression reading "I finally made it."

Then things got worse. The film chronicles Daniel's mental illness and his pain from the many medications that worsen his condition. It also follows his music and the steady decline into insanity. I knew some of Daniel's story before watching the DVD, but afterwards I felt that I knew far more. I can't blame him for writing so many songs, for living so long in that other world. With the pain he was no doubt experiencing all that time, it must have been a relief to be anywhere else but where he really was.

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monthly youtube find

Barbapapas

Recently I was looking around on youtube... I'm between jobs so I'm allowed, and I found this nugget of joy from my hazey childhood. The Barbapapas was a French cartoon that I remembered mainly because my parents bought me one, an orange one (though I would have preferred the fuzzy black dude since he obviously has it goin' on and shares more in common with myself).

Though I had concrete evidence that the cartoon existed, it wasn't until I found this clip that my memory became real.

The Barbapapas is a sweet and innocent cartoon... about protoplasmic blobs that live in a post-apocalyptic world where amorphous blobs rule the planet that once belonged to Mankind. Oh sure, they never SAY that in the opening song, but that's just because it would freak out the kids.

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book

EC Comics Archives: Weird Science

In the late 40's, comics had no code or limitations. All that changed after the Comics Code Authority whitewashed all comics, removing horror, violence, gore... y'know, the good stuff.

Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham and Senator Estes Kefauver's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency attacked all comic books including Superman and Batman, but they saved the horror comics for last. They saw EC comics as the cause of the rise in juvenile delinquency and crimes by children. EC Comics (Entertaining Comics) were the center of the Dr. Wertham's bullseye. They represented anti-social tendencies, gore and revenge that usually involved axes. And those were the Romance stories. These comic books were said to have no redeeming value to society and were effectively banned by the actions of these groups in creating the Comics Code.

I always enjoyed EC's Weird Tales because they are always so incredibly doom-laden. The world explodes, men are monsters, aliens are everywehere... and there is no escape. Lovely. With some of the most talented artists of the time working on their comics, EC produced the most imaginative and startling tales ever put on paper. And they still stand up today. 24 stories are compiled in this volume, and I guarantee you'll enjoy every one of them!

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TV

Doctor Who (version two) Season Three

March 31st marks a truly important time... for a few guys who watched PBS in the 80's and Sci-Fi before Battlestar Galactica last year.

Doctor Who, the longest running science fiction series in the history of televison (1963-1989) returned two years ago thanks to an innovative producer named Russel T Davies (producer of Queer as Folk). With actor Christopher Eccleston as the lead, the new series launched the classic program into a new era with stories involving a faked alien invasion, Charles Dickens fighting zombies and reality TV that kills.

More important than the storylines, however, was the character of this Doctor. While pained by his past and grieving the aftermath of a war that killed his people, Eccleston's Doctor was full of a firey frenzy and enthusiasm if only to look away from his sadness. Rather than single handedly 'saving the day' as the Doctor had in previous incarnations, this Doctor urged those he encountered to take charge of their lives. Each story he not only defeated the enemy, but he also made a hero out of a stranger.

After only one year, big changes were afoot. Eccleston left the program and relative unknown David Tennant took over as Doctor #10. The stories were far lighter and full of colorful action and adventure. This Doctor was more of a return to the hero of old. A wizard of sorts, Tennant's Doctor solved every problem he encountered with his magic wand-like sonic screwdriver and uncanny mcguffin skills. The second series delivered a return of fan favorite companion of Tom Baker's era, Sarah Jane Smith, another redesign of the Cybermen and unfortunately the robot dog from the 70's, K-9.

With so many 'blockbuster' moments, I'm suspicious of the production team's belief in Tennant. The finale featured not just the mainstay villains of the series the Daleks fighting the Cybermen for the first time, but also the departure of the new series' first companion, Rose Tyler. Despite whatever misgivings anyone may have had about Tennant in the role, he has become a huge success in the part, and is now one of, if not the most, handsomely paid actors in Britain.

That brings us to season three. In its third year everything is all new. New companion (the glamorous Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones), with no ties to season one at all.

The trailer released by BBCi showcases the explosive highlights including amazing guest stars such as John Simm (of 'Life on Mars') and Sir Derek Jacobi (of I, Claudius). Storylines will involve the Daleks in Manhattan, the Doctor living a fully human life including a surprise marriage plus several rumored baddies returning from the classic series.

While you may have missed out on the original series, this might be more your speed. With both Hugo and BAFTA awards on its virtual shelf, Doctor Who is finally getting the recoignition it has deserved for so long.

I'll make a notice when the new series will air on Sci-Fi for those of you who, like myself, live stateside.