A Trip to the Moon in Color

The 1902 classic short by George Melies, A Trip to the Moon, known in the French as Le Voyage Dans Le Lune, is the stuff of film legend. Only fifteen minutes long, even if you're not a film buff, you've seen parts of, if not all of it. I'm showing my age, but it was most notoriously used as inspiration for the Smashing Pumpkins music video of "Tonight, Tonight" as well as in the film Hugo. And those are only recent memory.

At well over a hundred years old and one of the earliest films, it was itself inspired by the Jules Verne works From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon. At the time this was a huge production with lavish special effects and the best theatrical actors France could offer. It even stars writer/director and film pioneer Melies. For its time, it was a big deal, and quite an international sensation, showing audiences what film could do, and ushering in, long before the age of the blockbuster, the special effects film.

The short is of course the stuff of madness, the word surreal does not quite cover the insanity. A group of scientists, looking more like wizards or heretics at first, get on a bullet-shaped rocket - shot from a gigantic cannon - and visit the Moon, where they meet its explosive inhabitants. It's madness, but visually stunning, and one of the earliest achievements in special effects and science fiction cinema.

As if that wasn't enough, the black and white silent short A Trip to the Moon was originally proposed - and made - in color. In fact, the hand-colored print was for almost a century considered one of the great lost films. In 1993 a badly damaged copy of that print was found and restored, using newly colored segments of other versions in 2011. As if the film was not already fifteen-odd minutes of madness, the bright colors bring it to an acid trip level of surreality.

Add in a weird progressive art rock score by Air, that would make even early Genesis and Pink Floyd fans blush and cringe, and we are clearly in pot smoke filled midnight movie/planetarium rock territory. This new soundtrack however do what it should, give the already stunning visuals a new spin, a different take, and for that I applaud Air.

Besides the insanity of sight and sound, and the short's stature in film history, there is also the underlying theme of imperialism, and the eternal imagery of the rocket stuck in the moon's face. Also of interest are the real life parallels to the actual trips to the moon that the film predicts, like the earth rise and the splashdown.

In black and white or in color, with or without sound, George Melies' A Trip to the Moon is a must see film classic.

Snowpiercer

Snowpiercer ~ As far as word of mouth, and 2014's must see film, this was it. Everyone was talking about Snowpiercer. A future dystopic tale, where the world has been frozen over by an attempt to halt global warming and what's left of Earth's population has been loaded onto a constantly globe circling train divided by class into cars, just sounds insane, or at the least, very Terry Gilliam. In fact, and homage, John Hurt's character is even named Gilliam. Yes, it's a mental idea, but once you wrap your mind around it, it gets rather predictable, sadly.

Director Bong Joon-ho, probably best known for the wonderful new age kaiju eiga The Host, really wants to be Terry Gilliam here, and for the most part he succeeds. The amazing cast is caked in Gilliam grime, except for those who are clean and just plain odd. Captain America Chris Evans, The Help's Octavia Spencer, Alison Pill from "The Newsroom," Jamie Bell, Song Kang-ho, Ed Harris, and supremely odd Tilda Swinton are among the all star cast that make this flick.

The film is based on a French graphic novel called Le Transperceneige, and was Bong Joon-ho's first English language work. The class struggle turned into a rolling revolution is peppered with enough bizarro futurism and dystopian madness to keep things interesting. It's a science fiction ride that crosses The Poseidon Adventure with Les Miserables that has to be seen to be believed, and well worth watching.

La Jetee

La Jetee ~ This is an interesting little film, and by little, I mean it. It's just under a half-hour long. Written and directed by Chris Marker, it was apparently the inspiration for 1995's 12 Monkeys. This is how I first encountered it. When 12 Monkeys was in theaters, I was working in a video rental store and everyone wanted to see the inspiration for the flick. Needless to say, there were not a lot of customers who were happy with this award-winning twenty-eight minute black and white art film from 1962. That's not to say its not good, let's just say it's different, and not what they expected.

La Jetee is almost exactly the stereotype we mainstream American movie goers think of when we think of a French film. It's arty, subtitled or dubbed (from two different languages), avant garde, hard to understand, and makes 1980s jeans commercials seem to have more depth. And then there's the weirdness of it not actually being a 'motion picture' at all - it's composed of all still shots with voiceover.

Want to give an unsophisticated American Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis fan a headache? Here you go, all in one half-hour package. I remember I had several customers raise a stink not wanting to pay for the rentals for reasons ranging from 'it's not a real movie' to the more direct 'it sucks.' Sorry, no refunds, even for this.

Not being what one would expect is not necessarily bad. La Jetee is just different, very different from 12 Monkeys, but thematically so however. We're still dealing with time travel, just not traditionally so, like its American cousin. In post-nuclear World War III Paris, scientists are trying to send people to the past and to the future in order to save their present, prevent the war, and save civilization. Paradoxes occur and our hero is on the run, haunted by a childhood memory, but eventually things come full circle in an ending that would make O. Henry smile.

If you remove 12 Monkeys from the equation and from your head, La Jetee can be quite compelling and you'll forget all the obstacles that may at first seem hard to get over. The twenty-eight minutes fly by as you're pulled into this world and this man's journey. Marker blends striking imagery with an intriguing storytelling style to create a startling vision. Worth seeing, those long ago video store customers didn't know what they were talking about.

The Eurovision 2014 Finalists

This is the week, Eurovision happens this week. The First Semi-Final is tomorrow, with the Second Semi-Final on Thursday and then the big event, the Final on Saturday.

And on Saturday, the winners of the First and Second Finals will compete with last year's winning country, Denmark, and the original five countries. Here are those entries:

Denmark - "Cliché Love Song" by Basim



Spain - "Dancing in the Rain" by Ruth Lorenzo



Italy - "La Mia Citta" by Emma Marrone



Germany - "Is It Right" by Elaiza



France - "Moustache" by TWIN TWIN



United Kingdom - "Children of the Universe" by Molly

The New Mouse

The Final Entries of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden - "You" by Robin Stjernberg


It's a nice pop tune, but I guess Sweden doesn't really want to win two years in a row.

Spain - "Contigo Hasta El Final (With You All The Way)" by ESDM


At first it seems like Spain has gone traditional. I just wonder if the audience will still be with them by the time the song really kicks in.

Italy - "L'Essenziale" by Marco Mengoni


Wow, that's some hair.

Germany - "Glorious" by Cascada


Germany is usually a strong competitor, despite most of Europe still hating them for that World War II business, and this year is no exception. It's a great dance tune that would have won if it were from the Ukraine, but not Germany.

France - "L'enfer Et Moi (Hell and Me)" by Amandine Bourgeois


This is a great song, and per usual, it's in French, but it's much better than most years' entries. It seems the French are in it to win it this year. I can't wait to see what this looks like on stage. That will make or break it.

Along with the UK entry, "Believe in Me" by 1980s songstress Bonnie Tyler, the above finalists join Semi-Final winners Lithuania, Moldova, Finland, Belgium, Estonia, Belarus, Malta, Russia, Armenia, The Netherlands, Romania, Hungary, Denmark, Iceland, Azerbaijan, Greece, Ukraine, Norway, Georgia, and Ireland in the Grand Final tomorrow afternoon. Those of you in the States can watch it live here.

The Final Six Entries in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest

These are the five nations who are always in the Finals, plus last year's winner and this year's host, Azerbaijan.

United Kingdom: "Love Will Set You Free" by Engelbert Humperdinck



The UK always tries to make an effort, like trying to get Morrissey, or getting Andrew Lloyd Webber to write the song. This year they got decades past pop idol Humperdinck. It's just not enough, UK…

France: "Echo (You and I)" by Anggun



Speaking of trying to win, every once in a while France decides they'd like to win and actually enters something catchy and modern. This is one of those years. Another one that's growing on me.

Italy: "L'Amore È Femmina (Out Of Love)" by Nina Zilli



I think this one has a real chance of winning. Dancey, jazzy and fun.

Azerbaijan: "When the Music Dies" by Sabina Babayeva



Another power ballad, but a strong one and a real contender for the win.

Spain: "Quédate Conmigo (Stay With Me)" by Pastora Soler

You'll have to click the link above to see the Spain video, embedding forbidden by YouTube. It has no chance to win though in my opinion, but then again, just my opinion...

Germany: "Standing Still" by Roman Lob



Europe aside, I think this could be a hit here. I like it a lot, one of my favorites, and another strong contender for the win.

The Grand Final for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest takes place on May 26th in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Moebius 1938-2012

French art legend Moebius passed away today.

He was born Jean Henri Gaston Giraud. His illustrations revolutionized French, Japanese and American comics and influenced art around the world.

He was created Blueberry, The Airtight Garage, Azrach, and co-created the magazine Metal Hulant, which was published in America as Heavy Metal.

We have truly lost one of the world's greatest artists, comic or otherwise. Moebius will be missed.

Eurovision 2009 - France

The cultural concentration by the French to keep everything French has had a backlash for this year's entry into the Eurovision Song Contest. The above, "Et S'il Fallait Le Faire (If It Had To Be Done)" by Patricia Kaas, is completely in French. Apparently many French folks were angry last year when Sebastian Tellier's "Divine" was sung in English.

It seems the French want everything French, even it isn't, like French fries for instance. They're Belgian. For the record, I liked last year's entry better than this one's. We'll see.


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