And by ‘jetpacks’ I of course mean Scotish rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks. Listen carefully, and you can here a favorite here at Schrödinger’s Blog ‘Keep Warm’ playing over the first 25 seconds:

I’m not 100% positive, and the song isn’t on the soundtrack, but I’m fairly certain I recognize the song. Kick-Ass is in theaters April 16th, and the comic book was fantastic, so expect good things!

I told Ian when I walked in the door:
“My love affair with Spike Jonze continues.”

Which about sums up this film.

If my brief comments about the film ring of defense, it’s because they were cast after reading Robert Butler’s (of the KC Star) review, in which his only main complaint about the film was that the characters were ‘whiny’. While I can see how someone might take that away from this film, I really have to disagree with that being the overall final judgment of the work.

My main thesis, and what I tell everyone about ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, is that the film is about children, but not necessarily for them. That is to say, while the subject matter is kids, it’s not a kids movie. I think maybe people don’t like the film as much because the narrative is too wandering, or perhaps even absent at some parts. There is no clear purpose to a good deal of what happens on the island where Max finds the Wild Things. While this is somewhat true, I think it’s also the point of the work.

In the almost gut-wrenching opening of the movie, we see Max and his interactions with his mother and sister, as well as other children. He’s not a bad kid, just one that gets into a fair bit of trouble. Through a few select events, we learn a good deal about how alone Max feels, with his angst-ridden sister and her typically jerky friends, as well as with his mother who’s juggling work, her family, and trying to date Mark Ruffalo. With his orbit about these people being only every so loosely bound, it takes only a small push to send Max running from them as fast as he can, literally.

The remainder of the film takes place on the island of the creatures, and here is where it seems to ‘wander’. It feels this way because it seems to be the product of a type of thought experiment: What happens when Max is faced with beings as childish as himself? They act just like he does, responding to disagreement with tears, jealousy, and even rage. For the Wild Things though, all of these emotions are magnified, not just by the huge expressions on their enormous faces, but also by their outbursts which are so violent at times as to be almost terrifying.

On the island, Max is crowned king of the Wild Things after he bluffs them into believing he possesses terrible powers which they should fear. His reign consists of a small list of games and projects, none of which are seen through to fruition, and few of which do not end in an argument, tears, or a fist fight between the huge creatures. There seems to be mutiny stirring beneath the surface of Max’s happy-go-lucky little kingdom, and the more he tries to pull these creatures together, the harder they seem to push each other away.

In the end, after the goat outs Max for not being king, and instead “just a normal little guy,” Max comes to terms with the fact that these animals are really best left to their own devices, and the time’s come for him to go back to where he belongs. He speeds home on his boat, leaving Carol on the shore in tears, but understanding. I felt like that, more or less, at the end. The movie is really very sad: little is immediately resolved or fixed in the course of the film, leaving you feeling a little anxious and depressed about the whole thing, but you understand, and that helps. Everyone has felt like that at one point or another, and we all make it through.

With that in mind, I earnestly encourage anyone who doesn’t mind having their emotions knocked around a little bit in order to catch a glimpse of the human experience in the eyes of a Wild Thing to check this film out. It’s worth the time.

Additionally: ‘All Is Love is the song that’s played over the credits, and it’s really growing on me.

[ mp3 ♫ ]

Where The Wild Things Are – Karen O and the Kids

I made the mistake of mentioning at one point to Conor (in the REU program) how badly I miss playing Halo. He said he and his friends were actually going to play that evening, and I was welcome to join them! Terribly excited was I, for it has been a sad, lonely month since Master Chief, the Arbiter, and myself laid down some hurt on a whole manner of evil.

What I didn’t realize is there is a delicate balance between being good at the campaign mode (Ethan and I are currently somewhere in the Legendary campaign) and online play. In even the worst campaign battles, through clever use of teamwork, you can beat the system, and your enemies. I was thinking online play would be kinda fun; I remember when Hank had the old XBox Live, for the old XBox and the old Halo, and how we’d get on and I’d work the controls, just running around like a lunatic, and Hank would talk smack to evoke entertaining responses from all the 14-year-olds that inhabited the online-Halo-scape.

It’s a whole different ballgame now, folks.
These people are crazy.

Now, I know I accuse insanity in a lot of different subsets of human culture… and I suppose this really isn’t any different… I was just amazed/appalled how intense online Halo is. Maybe I feel like I need to make excuses (EG: these guys are too intense and have no life!) to compensate for my own gross shortcomings in online Halo play (EG: getting routinely wiped across the floor by people with ‘leet’ screen names). In fact, I know that’s what it is. Nonetheless, the intensity of those players surprised me. I think I might have to drop some coinage on a few months of Xbox Live just to hone my skills; I don’t like sucking that bad. A man would like to be able to hold his head up high when he gallivants around a digital landscape, assuming the guise of a fictitious super-soldier.

I’m bemoaning my lack of XBox during the summer months in which I have large amounts of unassigned time, but the XBox would certainly spell doom for my reading list, so in the end it’s probably a good thing.

Sadly, this review isn’t nearly as much fun as my Gundam Wing review… Gundam X is a much better program, and so it’s harder to mock. In the chronology of the Gundam Universe, this series aired directly following Wing, and somehow despite a noticable improvement in quality, suffered poor ratings, ultimately clocking in ten episodes short of the intended 49, totaling 39. Thus, I began my ‘halfway’ review at around episode 20.

(NOTE: I do intend to do a wrap-up review of Wing, but I still need to find the time to watch Endless Waltz on YouTube, which is a bit of a pain in the neck… But I haven’t forgotten!)

Backstory
The story of After War: Gundam X is not terribly complex, but it’s solid. It is an “alternate universe” in the more typical definition of the word; that is, you can actually trace the point at which the AW timeline of X diverges from that of the UC. In this world, the rebelling space-fairing forces actually managed to stage a world-wide colony drop, ravaging the face of the planet, and reducing the planet’s population to something like less than a percent, if I remember correctly. That event occurred 15 years prior to the opening of the series.

In this strange new world, by and large devoid of humans, the survivors cling to the surface, struggling to rebuild their world. Confusion reigns, and people are more or less self-sufficient, with no sense of any collective, global conscience, for the moment at least. The main characters are a class of adventurers called “Vultures.” I’m not sure if that word has such a negative connotation in the Japanese language as it does in English, but nonetheless, the protagonists all seem to be happy with the label. They scour the Earth, looking for left over and abandoned equipment from the war, selling it off for money to maintain repairs on their ship and to their weapons, as well as to feed their crews.

Jamil is captain of the Frieden (Germ: Joy), a Vulture craft. The first story arc focuses on how the headstrong young mobile suit pilot Garrod, and the Newtype Tiffa, come to join his crew. With them comes the GX-9900 Gundam, the ultimate weapon of the old federation which unleashed the attack that in turn triggered the colony drop. Jamil, guilt-ridden for his contribution to the war 15 years ago, now makes his living as a Vulture, all the while seeking out Newtypes in order to protect them.

Garrod Ran

Characters Garrod is the main focus of the series, but given that he eventually joins the crew of the Frieden, that becomes much less apparent later on, when the entire crew gets roughly equal screentime. Garrod is a 15 year old punk, hasty and too bold at times, but also quite resourceful. One of my favorite things about Garrod is he’s a pretty believable character. We know little about his past (or it escapes me/has not been revealed), but it’s easy enough to understand him: he’s a hot-shot out to prove that just because he’s a kid doesn’t mean he can be ignored.

Constantly rushing in without looking at what’s ahead, Garrod finds himself in countless tight spots. More often than not, Roybea and Witz, the “hired guns” on Jamil’s ship, arrive in their respective Gundams to back him up. These two guys are pretty interesting characters, because while it would be easy to write them as either “faux-twins” (basically the same person with different animations) or polar opposites, neither is actually the case. One entire episode is devoted to telling their respective backstories, and you slowly come to see the reasons why each fights. Most of the time, they get along like old buddies, kidding around, watching out for each other, and so on. However, the current arc I’m midway through actually sees them at odds with one another, which has been fun to watch. One of the most impressive points about X so far is that they’ve received development at all.

That supporting characters get this treatment is fantastic, and the principles are no exception. Both Tiffa and Garrod are noticeably changed by the events that transpire on board their ship. They both begin to understand what it means living with the rest of the crew, and it comes to define their interactions with the rest of their shipmates. Contrast this with the static and mysterious Capt. Jamil, the former Federation Soldier, and his first mate, Sarah. They don’t seem to change much, but they’re already, for the most part, responsible, empathetic characters that lend most of the support the rest of the crew needs from time to time. Even more minor characters, such as Kid, the ‘boy wonder’ chief mechanic, and the Doctor that takes care of the crew, step up to the plate and prove interesting and complex, in spite of their limited screentime.

Tiffa, most of all, I like. Her character, the strange shy girl with tremendous power (characteristic of a Newtype), is so easy to screw up from a writing standpoint. In order to maintain the “mystery” aspect, they usually would just mute this character (I’ve seen it done… Neon Genesis Evangelion, that was directed at you, in spite of our love affair). That way, if she never says anything, you never know what she’s thinking. I was very worried that Tiffa would be like this, and she was, a bit at first. But then she starts speaking, because the crew starts listening. Her feelings about many things (like helping Jamil, caring for the Frieden, etc.) are easily enough discerned from her actions. However, she’s still reserved (never is seen joking around or playing with her shipmates), and much to his chagrin, seems ambivalent to Garrod’s shy and timid romantic advances.

Once more, I can’t emphasize enough that the real joy of watching Gundam X has been seeing how these characters progress and develop. All of this only from the first half of the series! Contrast this with Wing, in which what pass for ‘characters’ in that program are more or less scripted archetype-automatons that respond the same way in the first episode as they do in the last (Quatre and Trowa being the exceptions, perhaps, and Duo getting points for not being half as irritating as the remaining cast). Remember Heero’s “I Fight Because There Is Fighting!” speech? None of that trash here; not even close.

Mecha Not to continue contrasting this to Wing, but I feel like I can do that because they were aired back-to-back, and I watched them in the corresponding order. Here is one spot where Gundam Wing proves the better. Gundam X is a really well-written show, but there are really only one or two interesting suits. Whatever model of the GX Garrod pilots is fantastic to watch. Witz’s Airmaster is cool too, transforming many times in a single battle from humanoid form to an airplane mode. Roybea’s Leopard is essentially an artillery platform, spending most of the battles shooting endless supplies of missiles into the fray. But that’s it. The enemy suits encountered are very generic, (even the OZ mobile dolls had a bit of character to them, or at the very least you knew their model types!) and given that their average screenlife is about 2 seconds, and then they explode, it’s hard to really give a damn about them. The two antagonists that recur have confusing and odd suits, cited by the crew as “Freaky Gundams” in the translation I’m watching. That about sums it up. They’re goofy looking, and have extendo-arms, and show up long enough to make a mess of things, and then they run away. So complex is their makeup though that it’s almost impossible to identify one from the other, and even then, understanding what you’re looking at is a bit of a chore with those guys. So yeah, only the two or maybe three really cool suits, but that’s OK. They’re cycled and upgraded often enough that you never really get bored of watching them get the crap beat from them every other episode. Plus the satellite cannon is a pretty sweet (and actually technologically feasible!) weapon.

The GX-9900-DV, Piloted by Garrod

Overall/General Comments
The best thing I can say about X is that it’s a well crafted story. It’s composed of about 8-9 arcs, each lasting about a handful of episodes, with it’s own set of new characters that join the regulars for that arc. The structure is almost reminiscent of a serial or comic book, as within the arc every episode ends on an air of tension. Unlike Wing, with the mega-generic recap that occurs at the start of each episode that contains ZERO useful information in it the 2nd-15th time seeing it, X updates you on exactly how the last episode ended.

The best part here is that this recap normally goes about 20-30 seconds PAST what you’ve already seen. You can’t ignore it, because there is a tiny scrap of new material, even in the recap, which is, in 4-out-of-5 instances, masterfully timed to recapture the suspense you felt at the conclusion of the previous episode, and then they throw you into the intro sequence! Once or twice this was done so well I even got goosebumps! Then, at the close of an arc, they lay off. That leg is over, and they’re not going to drag you along to the next one if you don’t fancy it. Thus, with nothing suspenseful to recap, the following arc-opening episode usually begins with a small prologue, giving you helpful information to understand what is about to unfold.

I don’t know how else to put it: it’s respectful, intelligent, professional story telling. The episodes seemed to be crafted with a purpose in mind, as opposed to a 30-episode story stretched to its limits to fill 50 episodes, and then haphazardly diced up indiscriminately where it was convenient (YES, GUNDAM WING, I AM GLARING AT YOU). It’s masterful, and I’ve enjoyed it greatly.

Not available in America, I’m getting pretty close to buying a crap-copy of this program, so enamored am I with it thus far! I’ll let you know how it winds down, but let’s just say I’ve got high hopes.

ADDENDUM: Sorry, I just thought of this; the episode titles! They’re always quotes from the show, which I thought was neat. At the very least, it’s a step up from Wing:

…so maybe that wasn’t quite as scathing of a commentary as I meant to level, but Wing’s titles are just plain terrible. Seriously, can you guess what happens in episode 18: Tallgeese Destroyed? THE TALLGEESE GETS DESTROYED. Come on. Maybe X’s sound a little fluffy, but at least they’re not spoilers. Actually done now.

[LIES! Final comment, is to take a look at this fantastic review of Gundam X. I was looking around for some images to stick in the post, and I came across this review. He says what I say far more concisely, I do admit, but it's more or less the exact sentiment I was getting at with my survey of the show! ]

Only just recently, I dropped a post about impressions concerning Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0, You Can (NOT) Advance. There’s a lot to speculate on, and I’ve been poking around the internet for some decent reviews with mixed results:

A spoiler-less review that is a tad cursory, but gives you a good idea what to expect left me wanting a little more. A far more detailed review gives a lot deeper analysis of the characters, new and old, how they’ve changed, and the difference in tone between Rebuild and the original source material. I actually had to stop reading that one though, because I don’t want the story ruined for me.

…It does, however, put me in pain for wanting to see the original, despite the fact that they’re still in Kirksville! Damn. I never quite forget how much I like Eva, but sometimes I do get a reminder that proves to be annoyingly painful. So anyways, that’s all I’ve really got to report about 2.0. The real meat today concerns 1.0, which you might have thought was old news!

Au contaire! I went looking for the above Evangelion news (mainly, reviews of 2.0 which was released in late June) and some how stumbled upon this trailer:

[NOTE: I actually found it at the Apple Trailer Site for Evangelion 1.0, where it is available in high quality]

Imagine my surprise! I had not heard so much as a peep about a North American release, and I was beginning to give up on one. Turns out that I found this on July 3rd, and the official press release was only published on the second. Go me for keeping up with the times, for once. Anyways, Funimation was just releasing the English Language cast and director, and noted at the bottom that it would be in theaters this summer.

It looks like the English language cast from the series has come back, for the principles at least. I’m really excited that we’re going to get the film, and that it’ll be here as soon as this summer. The DVD can’t be far off, which is the real goal, for me at least. I heard that they just released the film in Japan again, but this time as a BluRay. It’s funny that I could care less about regular films in that high of quality, but I’m pretty curious to see what Eva in super-monster HD looks like.

There are no additional points of speculation, as I’ve already talked 1.0 to death, but the last thing I’ll encourage you to check out Funimation’s Events Page to see if Evangelion is playing near you. By some fluke of time, space, and luck, Evangelion 1.0 is showing in Boston on August 14, the day before I get on a plane to leave! I’m very, very excited, and already have my ticket, because I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Granted, I’ve already seen it once, but that was a grainy torrent back in the Summer of 2007, and I can barely remember even watching it, so this is well in order.

Anyways, I’ll report back after I see it in August, and give you the full run-down of my thoughts on what will undoubtedly be a fantastic film experience!