KarePax

The big gift craze this past holiday season seemed to be the infamous mystery box of stuff. Various companies were offering these mystery boxes and depending on genre, that was the kind of swag you got. This year I ordered from KarePax for a few friends, and for my trouble, they sent me one too.

KarePax specializes in mystery boxes containing candy, snacks, and comics from all over the globe. At first, when it arrived, it seemed a rather small box, but let me assure you, it was stuffed full, and the bounty seemed to never end.

The swag in my box came from the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, the United States, Poland, Thailand, Croatia, Indonesia, and Serbia. Among the comics were issues of Star Trek, Bill and Ted, Fatima, an IDW catalog, and something called Security Guild that featured reprints of some very cool but obscure public domain Golden Age superheroes. Who remembers Ghost Woman? How about Nightmare and Sleepy?

On the snack end, there were items that were familiar and some I didn't know what they were. Among them were Swoffle, Ellse, Smoki, Walkers Smoky Bacon potato crisps (a variety of which I reviewed over at French Fry Diary right here, Delicje orange biscuits, and Churrotos.

Some of the candy was even more baffling. The Mallo Cup I knew, just as I did the Kit Kat logo but not the mystery Japanese flavors of Kit Kat. There was a Bueno bar, Nut Goodies, Bocadin, and Hi-Chew. And amongst the other unmarked candies was a Curly Wurly bar, a clone of the old Marathon bars from the 1970s. I can see much hesitant taste testing in my future...

Thumbs up for KarePax.

Edible Artistry

Recently we vacationed for a week in Walt Disney World. For those that know me and The Bride, you know this isn't unusual, but this was a special trip, one to celebrate a landmark birthday for The Bride. One of the things she had planned was dinner at Teppan Edo. This is the rather expensive and fancy Japanese restaurant located in the Japan section of the World Showcase in EPCOT. We had been before, and always had a great time and great food.

We love Benihana, but to be clear, Teppan Edo is Benihana amped up to a thousand. The food, the show, the service, all make Benihana, a place we love, look like amateurs. All that and a bag of chips, plus that wonderful Disney touch - that's why we love Teppan Edo.

Now a trick for visitors to Walt Disney World (and if you want more tips, why aren’t you listening to The Make Mine Magic Podcast?) is when it's your birthday, your anniversary, or any special occasion, ask customer service if you can have a button that says so. Everyone will know if you're wearing it, and wish you good tidings. And if you're at the restaurants, sometimes you get bonuses, like a treat, a dessert, or what The Bride got on this adventure.

Our chef, using the makings on the hot grill for our appetizer, created art. Over the course of several minutes, he painstakingly sculpted this Minnie Mouse for her out of onions, carrots, and noodles - and then we all ate it. The chef even let The Bride get up and cook a little as well, and she even got a chef's hat. It was a wonderful time for all.

You can hear more about the dinner on this episode of The Make Mine Magic Podcast, and more on the trip as a whole in later episodes.

The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises ~ Also known as Kaze Tachinu, written and directed by the great Hayao Miyazaki, is a masterpiece of phenomenal artisanship and brilliance, but it's also a pretty hard film to like.

While I recall hearing of Miyazaki's love of aircraft and flight, it had never occurred to me that he'd make not just a film about it, but also a fairly historical film about it - and specifically about the creation of the Japanese Zero, a plane that destroyed Pearl Harbor and plunged the United States into World War II with only the skeleton of a functional navy. As an American whose father served in the Pacific theater in WWII, I found it both hard and frightening to sit still during this movie, beautifully animated, and wonderfully presented - or not.

Released by Toho in Japan, and Disney in the United States, The Wind Rises is a fictionalized biography of Jiro Horikoshi, an aviation and engineering genius, who eventually designed what would become the dreaded Japanese Zero. This award winning film was based on Miyazaki's manga, which in turn was based on the 1937 short story by Tatsuo Hori.

While slow in places, it is a compelling tale of love, passion, dedication, and dreams, all wrapped up in a love of aviation and engineering. It's really quite brilliant and well done. I cannot decry the quality and achievement of this piece, but I am still left of two minds on it. This is a wonderfully realized film, definitely worth seeing.

The Godzilla 2014 Teaser Trailer

Every time I see the American version of Godzilla on TV (FX seems to run it relentlessly), I feel so sad that Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were unable to capture the essence of the legendary monster, or one of film's longest running franchises for that matter.

They certainly made a movie called Godzilla, but there was no Godzilla in it, any more than the Big G was in Gorgo or Cloverfield, they made a movie about a giant monster on the rampage, but it wasn't Godzilla.

The American Godzilla was and is much maligned in fan and genre circles. I don't know about you, but I know that I, and every other fan, cheer loudly whenever we see Godzilla obliterate the American doppelganger (whom Toho dubbed Zilla) in Godzilla: Final Wars.

It's at times like those above that I hope that the new American version of Godzilla from Legendary Pictures might get it right. Here's the first official teaser trailer:



At least the monster looks like Godzilla. It has promise. I will wait and see. Godzilla opens on May 16th, 2014.

Quickies 2-19-2013

Steel Against the Sky ~ A classic Warner Bros. two-reeler from 1941, this has stock characters and a predictable end, but all in all is great fun. Two brothers, Lloyd Nolan and Craig Stevens, high rise construction workers, compete for the same girl, sexy dame Alexis Smith. Thrills abound in the climax high above a bridge construction in a raging ice storm. Classic forties Hollywood melodrama at its best - snappy banter, comedy, romance, and adventure. And watch out for the young Jackie Gleason. Worth watching.

Spaceship Yamato ~ This 2010 live action version of the animated TV series "Star Blazers" is everything you would expect it to be. I liken it to seeing my comic book heroes, the Avengers, on the big screen. It's something I never thought I would see in a million years, and yet here it is. Fabulous special effects bring the animation to life. So worth seeing, even if you just look at it with no subtitles on YouTube. Absolutely must see for any "Star Blazers" fans.

21 Jump Street ~ I really only watched the first season of this show when it was originally on, so I'm not a fan by any real stretch, but I do hate the idea of remaking old TV series into comedy movies, especially when the source material was not a comedy. I can forgive "Bewitched," but this one doesn't quite fit. About the only thing I liked about this was the Johnny Depp reveal at the end. The rest of this mess is really like Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum just got stoned and improv-ed what they thought "21 Jump Street" might be about. Hill is so not funny here, and I equally don't get what all the fuss over Tatum is. Avoid this like a salad bar without a sneeze guard.

The Cabin in the Woods ~ Joss Whedon strikes again. There's really not much I can say about this one, other than it is always more than you expect, and always goes one better. Unpredictability at its best, a modern horror classic. If I told you anything else, I'd spoil it. You're on your own.

Double or Nothing ~ This great one-reeler from 1936 stars Phil Harris as a stunt double in Hollywood who while under gas dreams he goes to 'Doubles Heaven,' home to lookalikes of the stars. An amusing musical romp, and lots of fun for fans of classic Hollywood, starring many doubles of the day.

Red Sun

Red Sun ~ I got turned on to this one eavesdropping on Twitter. I follow comic book writer Andy Diggle on Twitter and someone had hipped him to it. Just imagine it, a movie with Charles Bronson as a gunslinger and Toshiro Mifune as a samurai in the old west. Add in Ursula Andress, Alain Delon, music by Maurice Jarre, and direction by Terence Young - and you have Red Sun. I had to see this. How could I lose?

Also known as Soleil Rouge, the flick has Mifune as a Japanese samurai in the old West, carrying an ancient sword for the US President, which is stolen during a train robbery. Mifune teams with Bronson, one of the robbers betrayed during the heist, to get the sword back. A samurai, a cowboy, a western and a buddy movie, all with a brilliant cast and spellbinding music. I'm sold.

The film turns out to be everything I could have wished for. All the actors are perfect in this international amalgam. I don't think I could have had more fun watching this. For once, a film that achieves everything it promises to be - a gritty western with amazing actors from all parts of the world. Great flick.

Funky Forest

Funky Forest - The First Contact ~ I love Japanese television, film, and comics, but admittedly, a lot of what I like is genre specific. Superhero, giant monster, etc. That might be part of the reason I just didn't get this.

Even with subtitles I don't believe I could even tell you what it's about. Imagine an extra long episode of "Kids in the Hall" in a language you didn't understand and you'll begin to get a vibe of what this movie is like.

It looks very much like something I might like but it is indescribable and I don't get it. There are some very neat make-up, animation and CGI effects in it though. Just don't ask me what it's about.

The best explanation I can offer is it's a sort of Amazon Women on the Moon... on crack. Watch at your own risk.

Battleship The Movie

Battleship ~ There been a lot of bad press and even worse word of mouth on this flick, and let's be honest here, this is a movie based on a board game. And not a game that lends itself well to a plot, mind you, this is not Clue we're talking about here. All that said, and bear in mind, this is by no means a brilliant movie (it's no Doctor Zhivago) but it is pretty good flick for one made based on a board game.

The acting is pretty bad by most here, I would say below soap opera level, no offense meant to soap opera actors, but it doesn't bode well for folks like Liam Neeson and Alexander Skarsgard. The special effects of the completely indecipherable alien ships are the draw here, as it should be for a summer blockbuster. They are kinda like rejects from the Transformers movies, only not, but they are impressive. Also impressive is how they actually tie aspects of the film to the specifics of the game "Battleship," that, I thought was clever. Spoilers, if there are such a thing here, but it was really sweet that the old guys who fought in World War II and their antique battleship are the guys who save the world, especially nice in lieu of Memorial Day this past weekend.

As far as the rest of the cast goes, Rihanna steals the movie, she is a delight. Taylor Kitsch, who I have loved as both Gambit and John Carter, is almost a cipher here. He's terrible in this role, paper not even cardboard. Liam Neeson… well, if you have seen the preview, you have seen almost all of his scenes. Talk about calling it in, taking the cash and running. I did however also like John Tui and Tadanobu Asano, the latter of which is being called the Johnny Depp of Japan - they were both quite good.

The rest of the movie? It gets not only monotonous and predictable but it actually manages to make those big impressive alien ships get boring after a while. And the jumping from ship to ship to ship when they get sunk got a bit ridiculous after a while. We all knew we would beat the aliens, but it got so I wanted to yell "Get on with it already!" more than a few times.

All in all, it was an enjoyable two hours of mindless popcorn movie fluff. It wasn't bad enough to want my money back, but as I said, this wasn't a great film either. I don't think it deserves the bad word of mouth it has been getting either. Come on folks, it's not like this was Moulin Rouge! or The Dark Knight.

The Secret World of Arrietty

The Secret World of Arrietty ~ Probably one of the most wonderful things Disney has done in recent years, outside of their Cruise Line and keeping Marvel Comics from going under is obtaining distribution rights for Studio Ghibli. Those of us in the genre audience who have loved the breathtaking work of Hayao Miyazaki can now share it with the rest of the world.

The newest import from the Land of the Rising Sun, via Disney distribution is The Secret World of Arrietty, also known as Kari-gurashi no Arietti, is based on "The Borrowers" novels by Mary Norton, which have provided inspiration for many television and film projects. The Borrowers are tiny folks who live in the floorboards of your house and only take what they need.

Here they live in a house soon occupied by a sickly boy who sees them right away, especially a high-spirited young Borrower girl named Arrietty. A tentative friendship blooms in this smaller than usual (pun unintended) Ghibli film. It is wondrously animated and tells a touching story with a surprising voice cast. Amy Pohler didn't annoy me and Carol Burnett slips easily into a villain role.

Like all the Miyazaki and Ghibli films, this is a joy to watch, a wonderful adventure and character story, highly recommended.

Lost Hits of the New Wave #7

"Stop This Game" by Cheap Trick



The above video is from an old Italian music TV show. The song, from the 1980 album All Shook Up. Like with Alice Cooper and "Clones (We're All)," this represented a marked change in the traditional Cheap Trick sound, aping the now more popular New Wave sound.

The song and the album were enough to put off the fans who had made Cheap Trick rock gods with their Live at Budokan album. Personnel changes kept the band from putting out a complete album for too long, and the Budokan heat had cooled. The fans were divided, rockers thought they were pop, and poppers thought they were rock, and in the end, they were screwed.

That wasn't all that led to Cheap Trick's downfall. Some say it was the Beatles curse, after Budokan they were dubbed the new Beatles, especially in Japan. That usually kills a band. It didn't help that Cheap Trick themselves were huge Beatles fans, doing various covers like "Daytripper," "Magical Mystery Tour" and even a mash-up with John Lennon of his "I'm Losing You."

And then there were the plagiarism claims. Listen to their early 1980s pop ballad "The Flame" next to Spirit's "Nature's Way" if you don't believe me. Even the above tune, "Stop This Game," borrows a few rifts from KISS' foray into disco and new wave, "I Was Born for Lovin' You."

Now, I don't mean to bag on Cheap Trick. I still have a place in my heart for them. This song, as well as "Reach Out" from the Heavy Metal soundtrack, and "On Top of the World" from the classic 1978 album Heaven Tonight are among my favorite guilty pleasures.

Bunraku

Bunraku ~ I saw this a few days back and I'm still not sure what I thought of it. It's hard to describe. The word that is the title is Japanese and refers to a 400 year old type of theater that makes use of puppets, shadows and origami. It does in fact describe the way this movie is filmed. If I had to give it a shot, I would call Bunraku a samurai gangster western musical morality play. It is shot mostly on a soundstage and many of the sets and miniatures are paper. If nothing else, it's impressive.

The story of a cowboy without a gun and a samurai without a sword who face off against an evil warlord and his gang of assassins takes place in a future where there are no guns, and the world has returned to the way of the sword. Josh Hartnett does his best Tim Olyphant impression from "Deadwood" as the cowboy, with Demi Moore making brief appearances as a madam, and Woody Harrelson plays a wounded hero turned bartender with a penchant for making pop-up books with forgotten (or perhaps stolen) comic book themes. Ron Perlman is the evil warlord, and Kevin McKidd (from two of my favorite shows that never should have been canceled - "Rome" and "Journeyman") deftly dances through and steals the entire movie from the rest of the cast as the lead assassin, Killer Number Two.

In closing, Bunraku is at its core a morality play, and a samurai film in the old tradition. It's also very stylish and has to be seen to be believed. I recommend it with a precaution. Be prepared to be weirded out, and blown away.

Astro Boy

Astro Boy ~ I guess I should have known better with this 2009 updating of the 1960s black and white cartoon beloved from my youth. And it’s a long way past the evolution of the animation too. The story seems wrong. The origin of Astro Boy is fairly intact, but it has the feel and the stench of both A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and Wall-E when neither is really appropriate. It even has stronger ties to Pinocchio. Astro Boy is Astro Boy, let it be what it is, ya know?

The voice of Nicholas Cage as Dr. Tenma screams first and foremost as wrong. Wrong not just because it’s obvious that it’s him and his voice is inappropriate for the part, but because he displays little emotion in a role fraught with tragedy. It’s like he is reading words, not filling an image with his live personality. His ‘performance’ is a travesty.

The film also suffers from what most superhero movies of the past four decades do – the mandatory origin. Why can’t we just accept that this character exists, and then tell a good story? Did Indiana Jones have an origin? Did Jack Ryan? And even though I looove the recent film, did the crew of the Starship Enterprise? The movie is always half over, sometimes more, by the time we see our hero in his final hero form. It annoys me.

And speaking of hero form – why does Astro Boy have to be so politically correct and wear a shirt? Sorry, folks, but product recognition, in this case, character recognition, dictates that the product is recognizable to its fans. Astro Boy is topless. Deal with it. What’s next? A leisure suit for Tarzan? A mask and cape for Jason Bourne? Again, let Astro Boy be Astro Boy.

I waited for the DVD, even though I was very excited when I first heard they were making this. The first preview I saw had Nicholas Cage’s toneless deadpan voice, the shirted Astro Boy and a tender moment with a teenage girl, and it just turned me off. Now don’t get me wrong. This movie is not bad, it’s really quite good, great for the kids, and recommended so - but what it isn’t is a satisfying version of Astro Boy. Rent the DVDs of the original series – even higher recommendation.

Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue ~ This is quite possibly the best anime I have ever seen. Not only is it that good but it deftly illustrates the difference between Japanese and American animation. America makes cartoons of what isn’t possible, while Japan creates things like Perfect Blue - a straight thriller with almost zero fantasy elements.

This tale of pop idol Mima trying to make the jump from teeny bopper superstar to a grown up serious and sensual actress while being stalked by a deranged fan – is not the usual fare for anime. No swords, giant robots or magic schoolgirls – no martial arts or even tentacle sex – just solid drama, story and characters. This is don’t miss, but be warned, even though it’s animated – this is not for kids. Sex and violence abound. Perfect Blue is very Hitchcock with just a touch of Gaslight, recommended.

Marvel Anime

Marvel Comics is expanding their characters to Japanese animation in 2010. Madhouse will be producing four animated features next year with Iron Man, Wolverine, Spider-Man and the Hulk.

Honestly I’m surprised this hasn’t been done before. Wolverine’s origins and best stories have always involved Japan - and Iron Man, come on, Iron Man just screams anime with all that tech. He's practically a mecha. Looks good, can’t wait.

Ponyo

Ponyo ~ The first thing that strikes me about Ponyo (also known as Gake no ue no Ponyo) is how terrific it is now that in America, not only are Hiyao Miyazaki’s films distributed mainstream by Disney, but that Hiyao Miyazaki films are now an event. This is just how it should be. He’s a genius, and it’s about time he’s treated this way.

I think a lot of that may be due to TCM. A year or so back they did an entire week of Miyazaki films that brought his work into the mainstream consciousness. I knew about him but then again I have a comics and anime background. I know this was when my wife’s eyes were opened to his brilliance, a probably many others as well.

Ponyo is a simple yet bizarre tale of a goldfish who falls in love with a little boy and then wants to become human. From there it gets complicated. And the complications are what I love about Miyazaki. He always follows the game plan of the Hero’s Journey, yet he takes the roundabout way, the twisted mountain road, so that he is never predictable – and that’s refreshing. When was the last time you could not guess the ending or even the next scene of a film?

This is an enjoyable flick for both adults and children, and highly recommended. I really enjoyed it. And if you like what you see, check out the rest of Miyazaki’s films. You’ll be glad you did.