Castle in the Sky

Castle in the Sky ~ When I first saw this movie way back in the late 1980s at Philadelphia's Roxy Screening Room, It was called Laputa: Castle in the Sky. As it's been passed around from different distribution companies with vaious translations and dubs, it's also been known as Island in the Sky, City in the Sky, and Laputa: The Flying Island. I know that I searched for a copy for decades, and was thrilled when Disney finally released it as part of their Studio Ghibli line in 1998. It is my favorite of those films, and my favorite by Hayao Miyazaki, who wrote, directed, and produced it.

The film focuses on a young girl and her new friend running from fascist government spies and military, as well as air pirates, as all pursue a mythical city in the sky called Laputa. As it turns out, she is the long lost princess of Laputa and only her pendant can find the city and release its secrets, which include, not only a treasure, but also a weapon of mass destruction. The legends are pulled from not only Jonathan Swift's book "Gulliver's Travels" but also the Hindu epic "The Ramayana" as well with its Indra's arrow.

The characters are wonderfully Miyazaki originals, coming across like a weird hybrid of both Max Fleisher and "Speed Racer." There is some terrific design work that both conjures a Welsh mining town that Miyazaki once visited, his love of airplanes (as evidenced in The Wind Rises), and a firm foundation in all things steampink. The Goliath and Tiger Moth airships, and the amazing flaptors of Dola's air pirates are excellent examples of that.

I love the chase sequences, and the battling airships. This is a steampunk pulp fan's wet dream, high adventure at its finest. The characters are fun, you can love them, you can hate them, and most of all root for them and fear for them. There are characters in live action 'real' movies that are not as three dimensional as these folks. The Disney dub boasts a voice cast that includes Anna Paquin, James Van Der Beek, Mandy Patinkin, Andy Dick, and absolutely stellar performances by Cloris Leachman as Dola and Mark Hamill as the evil Muska.

I love this film, and it's easily in my top ten or twenty favorite films of all time. If you like anime, or adventure, or steampunk - this is absolutely must see, but really I think everyone will enjoy Castle in the Sky.

Penny Dreadful

Taking its name from the early pulps of Victorian times that chronicled the serial adventures of such monsters and horrors as Sweeney Todd, Spring-Heeled Jack, Black Bess, Varney the Vampire and countless fictional accounts of Jack the Ripper, Showtime's "Penny Dreadful" is amazing television.

Literally, the penny dreadfuls were internet rumors like the Slender Man gone mad, but in cheap paper form. If Snopes were around then, charging per click, they'd be rich. The penny dreadfuls were the soaps, the internet, and the bedtime boogieman cautionary tales of the Victorian age, and the precursors of the American dime novels and pulps.

The spirit of the original penny dreadfuls is alive and well in the Showtime series as it tries to blend various Gothic tales of horror into one web of continuity a la Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Among those in for weaving are Shelley's "Frankenstein," Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and the one that ties them together, Stoker's "Dracula." All are public domain, and easily manipulated into a new tapestry. I was a bit surprised that Stevenson's "Hyde" was not pulled into the mix, but perhaps that's a tidbit for the second season coming in 2015.

"Penny Dreadful" is the creation of screenwriter John Logan, who has penned as many of my favorite recent films as well as some I'm not so fond of. A select few include The Last Samurai, Gladiator, Skyfall (as well as the next two James Bond films), the ill-conceived Tim Burton nightmare version of Sweeney Todd, and the absolutely wonderful RKO 281. He is definitely a get for Showtime, as is executive producer Sam Mendes, who Logan met on Skyfall.

The story focuses on Sir Malcolm Murray (played by Timothy Dalton, speaking of Bond, but he's a much better heavy than hero in my opinion), a Victorian adventurer and explorer very much in the vein of Allan Quatermain, who is searching for his lost daughter Mina. We know from the start, simply from her name, where she's gone, and what Sir Malcolm will be up against, but sadly he does not. Dalton plays Murray as determined, obsessed, and someone who will "burn the world" to get his daughter back.

His servant and confidant is sadly the stereotypical 'magical Negro,' but I like him. Sembene, played by Danny Sapani of UK's "Misfits," possesses a certain second sight and reminds me of a cross between Mandrake's Lothar and Nonso Anozie's Renfield from NBC's failed TV steampunk version of "Dracula."

Along for the ride is also friend of the family (just barely, more like scarred outsider as we learn from flashbacks) Vanessa Ives. A free spirit of the time, she's played by Eva Green, never one of my favorite actresses, as I felt she was not right for her roles in Casino Royale of Starz' "Camelot," she is well cast here. A medium, a vessel for possession, possibly friend and foe, Miss Ives is the crux of the show. Through her the others characters are connected.

Ives brings in American gunslinger Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett, one of my favorite actors, especially in Bunraku) as firepower in Malcolm quest. Fleeing the US and riding with a Wild West show, he seems to have his share of secrets as well, the least of which are his drunken blackouts, and viewers' suspicion that he may be the Ripper menacing London behind the scenes of the show's main monsters.

Speaking of monsters, there is no shortage here. From singer/songwriter Harry Treadaway's creepy nerdpunk Victor Frankenstein to his two creations Proteus and Caliban to the sexy Reeve Carney, throwing off his Broadway Spider-Man typecasting to play the egomaniacal danger junkie Dorian Gray. He's still in the adrenaline business, but we get to see his face, and much much more of his body as well as his real accent.

Gray is after any new experience he can find, including bedding half the cast, including Brona Croft, the prostitute dying of consumption who has hooked up with Ethan. It seems as though she may also be the target for the Frankenstein monster's mate sooner or later. Just as Carney is trying to break genre typecasting, Brona is played by Billie Piper, everyone's favorite "Doctor Who" companion, Rose Tyler. I find her forced accent here annoying, but I guess she's still trying to shake off that whole Defender of the Universe thing.

The whole bunch of them are headed toward a confrontation with Dracula sooner or later, who himself seems to be more in the Nosferatu visual department, which when you go by the book is actually on mark. There are some wonderful homages and nods to the Stoker book, like the plague ship, and the way the flashback episode was done in an epistle, but by no means think this goes strictly by the book. The sudden and surprising death of David Warner's Van Helsing should cure you of that right quick.

There are two more episodes of the first season on Showtime, and you can read my good friend Marie Gilbert's weekly impressions of the show over at Biff Bam Pop! for another view. You should check it out, "Penny Dreadful" is not for the squeamish or the prudish (lots of sex, violence, and gore), but it is some of the best television going on right now.

The Man with the Iron Fists

The Man with the Iron Fists ~ This film is a mad alternate universe martial arts adventure written by RZA and Eli Roth, an insane love letter to the Shaw Brothers movies of the 1970s. With the backing and support of Quentin Tarantino, a decent budget, an awesome cast, and even cooler soundtrack, the film succeeds on all points of professing its love, providing proper homage, and entertaining the hell out of viewers.

The flick is high camp adventure at its best, and great actors like Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu roll with it with skill. RZA plays the title role, an American emancipated blacksmith who becomes embroiled in this bloody cartoonish tale of greed, revenge, and warring clans, all set to frenetic hip hop soundtrack.

This is pure Shaw Brothers with a big budget and better music, imagine Crouching Tiger without the grace and slow parts but mixed with a bizarre steampunk UFC sensibility and you've got the vibe. It even turns almost superhero-ish toward the end.

The red band trailer below is NOT family or work safe. You've been warned.



I dug this flick a lot, but found myself a bit bored waiting for the next fight with outrageous opponents to occur. It suffers in these places, but the battles more than make up for it. Recommended for those who grew up with Saturday afternoon martial arts flicks, and loved them despite the silliness and the effects, The Man with the Iron Fists is for you.

Cloud Atlas Preview

Based on the wonderful groundbreaking steampunk novel by David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas opens on October 26th, 2012.

Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch ~ At first glance, and from previews, this appears to be an explosion of imagination. Writer/director Zack Snyder makes it seem as if he has constructed a film around the concept that with motion capture, green screen and CGI nothing is impossible. I mean, come on, you can't get any more genre chill than hot chick samurais and steampunk Nazi zombies. And at first glance, you might be right.

The problem is that only about twenty minutes of the film's one hundred and ten minutes takes place in the hyper-reality of the story's fantasy world. The rest happens in a dreary, depressing and relentlessly violent mental hospital reality that makes the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest seem like a house party. Nothing good happens in the hospital. It is painful to sit through, even worse if you watch. In the theater, I hated this majority of the flick, and at home, fast forward was my friend.

The fantasy scenes are amazing, truly stunning - I could watch them over and over again - and alone well worth the price of admission/rental. The sexy actresses and killer soundtrack are also formidable as well. I fully recommend the movie just for those reasons, but there's a lot more going on.

On further viewings and discussions with other film fans I have discovered a whole different level to this flick. Pay close attention to the dialogue and the visuals as well, as everything is a metaphor. If you don't want to get that deep, there is also the Pink Floyd factor. Much like The Wizard of Oz, if you play Dark Side of the Moon parallel to watching Sucker Punch, it lines up much the same way.

So no matter how you watch Sucker Punch, I recommend you give it a second chance, finger on the fast forward button or not.

Avatar and the Legend of Korra

Those who know me well know that I struggle with insomnia. Last year when I purchased an iPhone, coupled with the insomnia, I started to develop a bad habit - watching entire runs of TV shows while I sat awake in bed. After I had finished up "Nip/Tuck," I asked on Twitter what folks thought I should watch next.

Other than things I had already seen, I got all the usual stuff thrown at me like "Buffy," "House" and "Babylon 5." Sigh. Friend and Vidcast partner Allison made a suggestion that at first I thought was odd - "Avatar The Last Airbender." I'm not much of an anime guy. Other than the old old school stuff like "Speed Racer" and "Kimba," the only anime I've ever been into was "One Piece." But I respect Allison's opinion a lot, despite appearances on the Vidcast, so I gave it a try.

I was more than surprised, I was blown away. I was introduced to a fantasy world in which some people have the ability to 'bend' the elements, in other words, to control the earth, the air, the water, and the fire. One being, the Avatar, has the ability to bend all four, and is basically proclaimed the savior and leader of people by example. In this world, the Avatar has been absent for over a hundred years and is released from an icy tomb. Once free, he must finish his training and grow up. The young boy Avatar and his friends together defeat the Fire Empire that has ruled much of the world with a fascist regime.

Along the way, I fell in love with the characters, the story, both episodic and overarching, and the beautiful backgrounds and animation. It is an amazing series that I can not heap enough praise upon. I was mesmerized and devoured well over fifty episodes in just under two weeks. Yeah, it was that good. But then it was over.

Imagine my surprise recently when I learned that Nickolodeon, the network who made "Avatar," was working on a sequel by the same folks. I was thrilled. Several weeks ago "The Legend of Korra" began airing. The story picks up almost a century later. The Avatar has brought a new age to the world, one of prosperity and enlightenment. Republic City is the capital of much of the world, a world in the midst of a cultural and industrial revolution. Into this turn of the century steampunk world of Republic City comes Korra the spunky new Avatar in training.

The creators could have gone the easy route, a rehash of the original series, a proven formula that worked, but they went different. This is a whole new spectrum of the concept. Korra is in a cityscape, she's a bending athlete, and the world is in upheaval between the benders and the non-benders. Much like "Avatar" before it, I love this show, and can't recommend it enough. This is an amazing show. Watch it.