I Can Show You the Short Reviews, Shining, Shimmering, Splendid
But first… (teaser beneath the cut):
*ahem* A whole new blog entry… an unsurprising point of view… ’cause from way up here, it’s crystal-clear, that this week these are all I got for yooooooouuuu….
Up (2009) – This is the only family movie I’ve seen where the first ten minutes include a woman being devastated by the fact that she’s infertile, one half of a couple dying, and a man having to deal with the fact that he’s mediocre and will never achieve his dreams. Heck, I’m pretty sure it took both The X Files and House at least six seasons even to get that far. But Up is actually, well, uplifting in the end, if somewhat predictable.
The story of a geeky Boy Scout, a lovable dog, and a retired balloon salesman who fits out his house with — c’mon, you’ve seen the poster art — Up is gentle and funny. I was reluctant to see it at first, because the trailer made it seem like there wouldn’t be much emotional heart to the story, but I should have known you better, Pixar. The plot is outlandish, but no one would expect less of this sort of movie. There are some hilarious moments, and the characters ring true, with their hurt feelings and silly mistakes. Tons of fun, even with the downer start.
Moon (2009) – I was looking forward to this flick as one of the few “hard” sci-fi mysteries in the mainstream. You know, like the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation or Asimov Robot stories, where something weird is going on and the protagonists deduce what based on reasonable assumptions and logic. The story of Sam Bell, the solitary human worker on a moon mining base who’s gearing up to finish his three-year stint and go home to Earth, is intriguing, but I was disappointed at how predictable the real situation was.
It seemed like there was a part where we were supposed to be unsure whether Sam really had the right idea or was going paranoid/insane, but it was never that tense. It was more like — yes, there’s clearly something weird going on, why is he doubting himself??? Anyway, it was entertaining, but, as my parents pointed out, there are some pretty gaping plot holes if you really think about it. So, overall, an entertaining movie that satisfied my sci-fi cravings for a while, but I’m still hungry for more filling stuff…
The Mystery of the Blinking Eye (Kathryn Kenny, 1963) – This was probably the most unintentionally hilarious book I have ever read. It was wicked fun, and it reminded me of the way I used to write when I was ten. Which I don’t mean as an insult to the (pseudonymous) author. His/her writing is much better, technically and stylistically, than mine was — it’s just ten’s the last age I can remember during which my stories lacked even a hint of cynicism or irony.
Teenage Trixie Belden and her friends and siblings — *deep breath* HoneyDianaMartBrianJimDanNedBarbaraandBob — who have a club known as “the Bob-Whites of the Glen”, take a trip to New York City. Amid the travelogue, they solve a mystery about an idol Trixie buys at an antique shop, making reference to a long prophecy-poem written for Trixie by an elderly Mexican woman she happens to help out at the airport.
O. M. G. This book is amazing.
The Magicians (Lev Grossman, 2009) – I have never wanted to read a fictional work of fiction quite so much as I want to read the Fillory books described in Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. Well, maybe I wanted to check out the Magician’s book in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, too, but not as badly. Anyway, the fact that I enjoyed the idea of books more than this actual book about living the magic in one’s real life instead of waiting for the world to take you on a fantasy adventure tells you that I’m not the right reader for it.
Don’t get me wrong — I was engrossed by the life of Quentin, a teenage fantasy fan who gets accepted to a college of magic that bears more resemblance to real university experience than to Hogwarts, though he struck me as a kind of a dick, in the way that’s irritating because it doesn’t seem like the author wants you to think he’s kind of a dick. And the story itself is beautifully written, with mostly mundane moments interspersed with occasional (sort of annoyingly semi-gratuitous) interludes of sex and unbelievably horrifying violence. The final villain is surreal and mind-blowing, and the themes will stay with you to be mulled over for weeks. That said… I’m not sure how much I can enjoy stories that make you feel bad. Sometimes I even (gasp!) have to force myself to stay out of the House fandom for that reason.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS, 2007) — Yeah, so I just finished this one last month. Don’t judge me!
I was worried about whether I’d enjoy the game — I like the Zelda franchise, but I prefer button-mashing to drawing out paths with the stylus. In the end, I had a good time with it, but I found it a little too easy compared to other installments in the series. (I know — this from the person who completely sucks at video games!) Also, there’s a horrible central dungeon that you have to go back to again and again through the course of the game. This would be great if that just meant there were new puzzles each time, and there are, but the game also forces you to go back through the old puzzles on the floors you’ve already beaten to get to the new ones — oh, and did I mention there’s a time limit? Arg!
I’ll probably still pick up the sequel (The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks), eventually, since Zelda is Zelda, and they’ve purportedly fixed the whole repetitive central dungeon problem. And I did finish this game, also eventually. In fact, maybe the key word to how I feel about this installment is “eventually”. I liked this game enough to finish it, but not enough to feel compelled to pick it up when I had a few moments.
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (Nintendo DS, 2007) — This seemed like such a promising idea. A mystery novel in the form of a game. And the plot was intriguing — I did want to find out what happened to Kyle Hyde’s missing partner and what mysteries lay behind the seemingly innocent facade of the shady hotel. But, bottom line, I didn’t want to have to click through forests upon forests of dialogue trees to do so, nor did I care much for getting stuck because I hadn’t gone to another room for no reason to click upon some arbitrary object, despite the fact that I knew what Kyle had to do after that based on some simple deductions.
Admittedly, of the various games that work like this, Hotel Dusk is one of the best I’ve encountered. The story is fun, the presentation is beautiful, and the characters are interesting. But there is no way in heck I’m going back through all ten chapters of the darn thing just to find an alternate ending or finally get the prize from that stupid vending machine. Oy!
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (Nintendo DS, 2009) — Not a review, but do you hate Knight’s Tour puzzles? I do now.
(P.S. Aside from the Knight’s Tour stuff, I did love this game. If you like puzzles at all, get it!)
Young Frankenstein: The Musical (Toronto, 2010) — The amount of enjoyment an audience member will get out of this show is inversely proportional to his or her familiarity with the original Mel Brooks movie. The story of Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (that’s pronounced Fronken-shteen… And if you already knew that, you probably won’t have as good a time as if you didn’t), reluctant grandson of the famous Victor who inherits his grandfather’s creepy castle and sets himself up in the family monster-making trade, is pretty funny on film. The musical, however, takes a lot of the film’s best jokes and expands them into full-fledged dance numbers, killing much of the humour if you’re familiar with the more succinct original.
For instance, cinematic Frau Blucher, the aging German dowager, confesses dramatically, “Yes. Yes. Say it! He vas my… BOYFRIEND!” It’s funny — “boyfriend” is such a modern word, implying young people on college campuses or sitcoms set in Manhattan, which contrasts to Frau Blucher’s old-school Gothic appearance and dramatics. But in the musical, this one-off joke becomes an entire song, titled (you guessed it) “He Vas My Boyfriend”. Joanna Glushak as Frau Blucher handles it ably and gets laughs out of it, but the problem is the material itself: it’s just too long to be sustainably funny if you’re aware of the shorter throwaway gag.
Most of the cast is great — Roger Bart in particular as the titular character, which is pretty hard to pull off when you consider that the ghost he has to overcome is that of Gene Wilder — and the musical numbers are all lively. (You’ve never seen “Puttin’ on the Ritz” quite like this before.) But fans of the movie will be disappointed.