1/8/23-1/14/23
Strange Days
It’s fucked up how much Ralph Fiennes’s American accent sounds almost exactly like James Woods. I know that’s not really the point of the movie, but I couldn’t shake it. Maybe it’s just me.
Despite the prevalence of the MiniDisc format and Hi-Vision televisions, Kathryn Bigelow's movie remains timeless in some unfortunate ways. A story involving a militarized police force and the extrajudicial killing of an unarmed black man? Yeah, that’s pretty much right on the money. Honestly, the part that seemed the most out of touch with reality is the idea that if you gave evidence that implicated some cops in a murder to a deputy commissioner, they would do anything other than cover it up. It’s hard not to be cynical about this stuff, this is the world that we live in. Google LASD gangs while you’re at it.
Anyway, the central sci-fi conceit of a device that can record people’s experiences is pretty cool and the POV sequences range from exciting to extremely disturbing. If you’ve seen the film, you can probably guess the exact scene I’m talking about. Again, aside from some egregious technological inclusions in the film, Bigelow succeeds in making the viewer buy into her vision of the future. It’s grounded in a way that other science fiction films are not; there are no flying cars, there are no laser beams, the only, truly futuristic device is the SQUID that records people’s entire experiences. It’s the only thing futuristic thing you have to buy into, and it makes it easier to accept that this could happen 4 years in the future.
Ralph Fiennes is great as James Woods as Lenny Nero (James Cameron-ass name, if I ever heard one) and is likely my favorite Fiennes performance. That may not be saying much, as the only other Ralph Fiennes film I’ve seen is Quiz Show. He’s a sleazy, greasy scumbag, but the kind that you like. Of course, he is constantly upstaged by Angela Bassett as Mace. Mace is the best character in the movie. Every time Mac isn’t on-screen, the other characters should be asking where Mace is. She’s a much more active protagonist and despite playing second-fiddle to Fiennes, takes control of the movie. Mace is also usually right, and when she brings up the idea of giving a tape to the media that would lead to the people rioting and fighting against the cops, you can’t help but be on her side.
Michael Wincott is kind of hit and miss, Juliette Lewis is fine, for the role she’s in, and for some reason William Fichtner, despite being a central character in the film’s story, doesn’t have e a single line. Weird choice, Kath.
It’s not perfect. Like I said, that ending is not believable to me, especially given the decades of police misconduct at every level to be made public in the decades that followed this movie. Also, the idea that Jeriko One could actually unite all the gangs and focus all of them on the real problem seem a little, uh,… naive, honestly. He’s not Cyrus from The Warriors, he’s more like Speech from Arrested Development. There’s a moment where Angela Bassett says that Jeriko One was the “most important black man in America,” but there really isn’t anything to back that up.
It’s still a great watch and the meat of the story is as solid and rlevant as it ever was. It’s probably also the best New Year’s Eve movie there is (do we count Until the End of the World having a NYE 1999 scene in the middle of a five-hour movie? Perhaps).
Wild 7, Vol. 4: "Motorcycle Knights Part 2" by Mikiya Mochizuki
Okay, so I’ve been speculating about the political motivations behind this series since reading the first volume. There are moments in the first two volumes that allude to how left-leaning student protests are secretly astro-turfed puppets for the Yakuza, but in the last volume the big villian’s sinister plan was to destryo the Japanese Communist party, so it feels kind of all over the place. Luckily, in this volume, Hiba lets us know that “In theory, there’s no left or right!” as part of speech about getting rid of the “evildoers.” It’s some hot nonsense. It feels like Mochizuki was hellbent on including overtly political elements into the series but just didn’t bother to say anything out them. It’s strange. I think what he’s getting at is that the politicians are mostly standing in thew ay of any progress that’s possible, but it’s hard to say one way or the other.
The rest of the book is still a lot of tun, with some stupid motorcycle action centered on motorcyclists who dress like medieval knights and have retractable lances on the end of them. At one point, the titular motorcycle knights escape by driving off a cliff towards a boat, and driving their lances through the back of it and hanging off. Physics do not apply to the world of the Wild 7, which is something I should’ve known when a character on a motorcycle deploys two tires going perpendicular to the other ones to climb vertically up a small chasm. It’s better off without the physics weighing it down.
Also, this volume includes the background of one of the Wild 7 that is completely preposterous. He was a profesional pitcher in Japanese baseball, but fixed the games by “programming” the balls by hypnotizing the batters. I’m not sure literally any of that makes sense, but I don’t know that much about baseball.
Wild 7, Vol. 6: "Rule of Kidnapping Part 2" by Mikiya Mochizuki
This was a little difficult to follow. I don’t know if anyone’s been keeping track, but I got the volumes of this series of from Mile High Comics and these were the only ones they had, no fifth volume. Considering the series is long out of print and the publisher went defunct in about 20005, I’m not gonna be picking up Volume 5 anytime soon. But, it’s okay, this was the last volume Comicsone ever published.
Anyway, the Wild 7 are deployed to Hong Kong where a hijacked plane has landed. Also there’s an ambassador and something called the N.I.N. that I assume is expanded on in the first part of this storyline. Why you would need outlaw bikers to handle a hostage situation and a hijacking is beyond me, but Mochizuki uses them in a way that’s at least pretty fun. I can’t help but love the car chase involving the villain posting up on a stair car and firing away at his pursuants.
So now that I’m at the end of the (American run of the) series, what are my thoughts? Mochizuki clearly has something to say. What that is, I’m not sure. The series is at its best when it’s about motorcycle action including characters regularly doing thingsthat are totally impossible. It wouldn’t suprise me if you told me Katsuhiro Otomo took at least some inspiration from this series. However, I would classify everything else about the series as deeply stupid, and mostly an excuse to get from one action set piece to the other. I’m sure I’ll pick up volume 5 at some point in the future, but it isn’t a high priority
Neon Genesis Evangelion 3-in-1 Edition Volume 2. original concept by khara, story and art by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
I’ve been enjoying this a surprising amount. I’m surprised, because I don’t remember enjoying the TV series that much (it has been about 14 years since I watched it, to be fair). I think a big part of this is that while Shinji is still introspective and depressed, Sadamoto doesn’t write him to be quite as whiny as the TV series portrays the character. Shinji gets more time to just hang out with Toji and Kensuke and gets some more characterization outside of what you would find in a LinkinPark AMV (I'm cheating some of these results include other anime series and movies in them).
In fact, I think the way Sadamoto has portrayed all the characters is a much more interesting to me than their TV counterparts. I don’t remember Hikari from the TV series at all, and here she has a much more prominent role. It makes the horrible thing that happens at the end of this collection hit much harder than it would’ve otherwise.
Speaking of that. If you’re familiar with the story of Evangelion, you’ll know that at some point Toji gets chosen as the next Eva pilot, but it happens much earlier here. There’s a lot of time spent with Toji going through his emotions and his fears when piloting the Eva, which is a nice change of pace. He’s a nervous wreck and at some point breaks down, shaking and crying in front of Shinji, begging for just a little bit of comfort for him. However, the story is structured in a way that it almost seems like Toji is about to confess his love to Shinji. Maybe that’s just me being a gay dude, but come the fuck on. Don’t tease me like this! That being said, it’s an effective way to endear the reader to Toji, and it makes his fate at the end of this collection hit so much harder, even if you can see it coming a mile away. When all the characters are talking about all the things they’re gonna do with Toji in the future, you know that man is going to die horribly. He was only day from retirement!
Mooncop by Tom Gauld
This is a nice short comic. It’s about the one cop on the moon, doing basically nothing all day while the rest of the people on the moon slowly abandon it. The citizens of the moon are all pretty down on the idea of living there; it seemed so novel and interesting at first, but it didn’t impact their lives as meaningfully as they thought and they’re slowly abandoning it. It reminds me of a city making a huge shopping center with the idea that they would revitilize the area, only for everything to go slowly out of business and the only thing left being a weird restaruant in the foodcourt that only serves fries with mayonnaise.
Gauld does a great job making a the moon into a very lonely, desolate landscape. He is nearly completely alone, and each panel of our main chararcter crusing the surface makes that clear. I could feel the nothingness. The Mooncop himself is dealing with little support and outdated technology; he’s clearly not needed on the moon, but the higher ups insist on keeping him up there. Their big solution at one point is to send up a robot therapist that is both too advanced to function properly and not rugged enough to survive long enough to actually give a therapy session. A pretty solid joke, all told.
It’s short, it’s funny, and relatable. Recommend it.
Modular Synths Spotify playlist
So, I’ve been spending January going through different playlists to try and load up on some different albums and whatnot to listen to during my soul-sucking job. It’s hit and miss to say the lease, but out of all of them, this is the best one.
The vibes are immaculate here, I recommend this playlist without reservation.