Rhapsodies

Wednesday Double Feature – California Wine

by wpmorse on April 17, 2019 at 9:00 am

This week I decided to watch movies about wine and wine appreciation.

Personally I like good wine, though I admit I have a lousy palette. Because of this, my snobbery rarely goes beyond trying to avoid any wine that is less than two years old. My wine purchase consists of occasionally buying a bottle of Three Buck Chuck‘s. Something that would have all of the characters in the movies I watch this week denouncing me as a complete poseur.

Wednesday Double Feature - California Wine - Bottle Shock

The first movie on my list Randall Miller’s Bottle Shock tells the mostly true story of the rise of California wine growing in the Napa Valley. We focus on Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) of Chateau Montelena. The business has been going badly and Jim has just taken out a third loan. To make matters worse he’s frustrated that his son Bo (Chris Pine) does not appear to be taking an interest in the business. Meanwhile, in France, English Wine Seller, Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) needs something to invigorate his business and decides to investigate California wines for a blind taste contest. In the process, Chateau Montelena attracts his attention as the best contestant. Can California wines compete with the French giant?.

I enjoyed this film a lot. It had quite a few good performances and it captured some thing that I always look for where a pure love and appreciation 0f the wine tops elitist snobbery.

Wednesday Double Feature - California Wine - Sideways

The next film on my list Alexander Payne’s Sideways tells the story of best friends, Miles and Jack. (Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church) Jack’s getting married in a week so Miles takes him on a trip to California wine country for a week of wine tasting, golf the perfect pinot. (Also Jack wants to get laid one last time before he gets married.) The week starts well with our duo hooking up with two amazing woman Mara and Stephanie (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh) but as the week continues things begin to slowly fall apart.

I have mixed feelings about this one. It certainly a good film with wonderful performances (Paul Giamatti is one of my favorite character actors for a reason) But I just couldn’t get into it. Perhaps it’s because several critics I respect liked it so much I was expecting something brilliant, or perhaps having lived it, I have trouble finding humor in depression and anxiety. Either way, it’s worth checking out just be aware you might not be its target audience.

└ Tags: Movie Review, Wine

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Rhapsodies Has a Patreon Account!

by wpmorse on April 12, 2019 at 1:31 pm

Posted In: Test

Good news everybody. After being indecisive for far too long I’ve finally set up a Patreon Account! It’s still a work in progress and I’ll be adding more benefits soon.

For now the big reward is that for a patron set of five dollars (referred to as “melody” for now you get a background (or frequently foreground) cameo in the strip.

So click that link to your left and check it out and become part of the Rhapsodies community!

└ Tags: Patreon

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Wednesday Double Feature – Fighting Yourself

by wpmorse on April 10, 2019 at 9:22 am

Posted In: Test

While randomly going through Scarecrow’s science fiction section I settled on the theme that I chose to refer to as “fighting oneself.” When I say this I mean this I mean it literally. I’m talking about the completely fanciful scenario where there is another version of you, and for whatever reason they have it in for you.

Wednesday Double Feature - Fighting Yourself - The One

In the first film on my list, James Wong’s The One, multiple dimensions exist. In this setting, if any version of you dies the rest of you get that version when Gabriel Yulaw (Jet Li) accidentally discovers this, he goes on an inter-dimensional killing spree to “become a god”. Now the last of his alternate selves must fight to survive.

When I first heard of this film I was fascinated. It had one of my favorite tropes in science fiction, and Jet Li kicking ass. So you can understand I was disappointed. This film was really bad. I’ve heard that it was originally intended to star Dwayne Johnson but that only excuses so much. Neither the script or the story are any good, the rules of the setting makes no sense, and the quality of the action scenes waste Jet Li’s talents completely. Frankly, it’s so bad I can’t even consider it entertaining fluff.

Wednesday Double Feature - Fighting Yourself - Fighting yourself

In the next film on my list, Rian Johnson’s Looper, time travel is discovered 55 years from now. It immediately becomes illegal, but that doesn’t stop shady criminals from using it. Now they appear to be using it almost exclusively to dispose of bodies. The victims are transported to the past where an assassin (well… the script calls them assassins, but really, that’s giving them way too much credit, they are barely executioners) is waiting to kill them and dispose of their body afterward. (After all, how can killing someone who doesn’t exist yet be illegal?) The executioners are paid in silver bars. The catch is that this technology is so illegal, the future mob needs to destroy ALL of the evidence. That includes the executioners if they are still alive in the future. They are captured and sent to the past where. This closes the “loop”. For this they are paid in gold bars. The assassins can can run if they want but in thirty years the future mob will catch them.

Joe ( Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of these executioners. He’s doing fairly well. On one job, his older self (Bruce Willis) is sent. The older Joe manages to escape. Now Joe has to hunt his older self in order to close the loop while being hunted by his superiors who are trying to do the same thing.

I liked this film. It’s smart, with a good script and a plot that kept me interested all the way through. Regrettably, when I put on my science fictions snob hat, I see too many unanswered questions. What are the rules of time travel? How was the arrangement with the future mob and the present mob created? How are the executions scheduled? Why is mob executions the only thing the mob use time travel for? And so on…

Because of this it was impossible to love this film.

└ Tags: Film Reviews, Science Fiction

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Wednesday Double Feature – Acid Westerns

by wpmorse on April 3, 2019 at 9:10 am

Posted In: Prose, Rhapsodies

This week for my film selection I picked up a sub-genre that I’d never heard of, the Acid Western. The Acid Western tries to grasp the symbolism and myth of the west in such films as Shane or The Searchers while embracing the cynicism of the spaghetti western and “conjure up a crazed version of autodestructive white America at its most solipsistic, hankering after its own lost origins”.

Wednesday Double Feature - Acid Westerns - Keoma

The first film on my list was Enzo G. Castellaria’s Keoma. Keoma Shannon (Franco Nero) is a half breed ex soldier who has been wandering the desert. He arrives in his home town that is being torn apart by fear of plague and death, controlled by a petty tyrant allied with Keomo’s hated half-brothers. Can Keoma save the town?

I was initially interested in this film because I heard it was a western version of Bergman’s Seventh Seal. And while for the most part the similarities are subtle enough that you’ll only notice if you are explicitly looking for them, this was still a very interesting film. I liked the visuals that are filmed in a sepia filter that reminded me of old colored prints. The editing was also fascinating. This is especially apparent how Castelleria handles flashbacks. This is especially apparent in the gripping opening scene. (which is awesome for other reasons) An old woman (who may or may not be Death) who is talking to Keoma turns away to look at what turns out to be a past. Such scenes have you committed to watching the entire film.

However much of this was dragged down by far too many talking head close-ups during dialogue and near obsession with slow-motion whenever a bad guy was shot.

Wednesday Double Feature - Acid Westerns - Blueberry

The next film on my list, Jan Kounen’s Blueberry (called Renegade in the States), an adaptation of the comic by the late great Jean Giraud, AKA Moebius, tells the story of John Blueberry (Vincent Cassel ). A man who was raised by Indians and is now the Marshall of a small western town. When a villain from his past returns it is his job to stop them while protecting both his town and the nearby Indian community.

Despite my love of Moebius’s work I’ve only ever seen a few pages of Blueberry so I have absolutely no idea how close to the original material this is. For the most part, this was a very… pretty film. However the longer it went the less sense it made. To the point that it ended with a twenty-minute long drug-fueled hallucination.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk6Fmmm45Jg

└ Tags: Movie Reviews

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Wednesday Double Feature – Alien Comedies

by wpmorse on March 27, 2019 at 9:12 am

Posted In: Test

It seems like a good idea at the time. Last week’s selection was kind of depressing. Therefore I decided to clear my palate I wanted some light, fluffy comedies. Regrettably, I did not plan ahead enough to go into the particulars. All I knew was I wanted to do some form of comedy I had not done before. So I was browsing in Scarecrow’s comedy room, hoping to get something resembiling inspiration and I stumbled over Paul on the shelves. So I decided to do comedies about Alien encounters.

The only problem with this plan was I had seen nearly every single movie that remotely fit that description. ( And not many of them are very good anyway)

Wednesday Double Feature - Alien Comedies - The Creature That Wasn't Nice

The film I finally I chose, Bruce Kimmel’s The Creature That Wasn’t Nice, more frequently marketed as Naked Space, because it stars Leslie Nielsen, despite being filmed about four years before any of the Naked Gun series came out. Since I like Leslie Nielsen’s films no matter how dumb they frequently are, I decided to take a chance. Like I said it seems like a good idea at the time.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A band of intrepid space explorers land on a planet, unintentionally bring back an Alien sample, sample grows into huge slavering monster, runs amok in the ship killing everybody. The monster is killed by the last remaining crew members.

There really isn’t anything I can say to defend this film. This isn’t direct to video bad, it’s watch on Mystery Science Theater 3000 bad. The performances are wooden, the script is nonexistent, and most of the time they’re not even trying with sets or anything to convince us of the setting. I’ve seen low budget fan films with bigger budgets.

There are a few scenes that save it from being pure torture. Most notably the monster singing “I want to eat your face“ and the clueless idealist of a ship scientist’s (as the son of a scientist, one of my least favorite clichés in science fiction) reaction to the song. Leading one of the others to ask him if he’d even listened to the lyrics.

Wednesday Double Feature - Alien Comedies - Paul

The next film on my list, and the film that inspired this double feature, Greg Mottola’s Paul written by and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost with Kristen Wiig and Seth Rogen, tells the stories about Graeme and Clive, a pair of British comics and alien enthusiasts (Peg and Frost) who have come to the states to attend Comic-Con. on the way home, they rent a motorhome and take a road trip through UFO country. On the way, they run into Paul, (Voiced by Rogen) the original gray alien who’s just busted out of Area 51. Paul is a bit of a jerk but a nice guy, and apparently all of the alien mythology of the twentieth century is based around him.

Now our heroes find themselves being chased by Government agents, hillbillies and religious fanatics to get Paul home before it’s too late.

My basic reaction to this film was Meh. I normally like just about anything that Simon Peg and Nick Frost are in. They don’t disappoint playing wide-eyed outsiders in the United States for the first time. Paul is quite convincing with good animation and texture and with Seth Rogen’s performance, you are almost fooled. ( Provided you believe in aliens) Beyond that, it’s just your standard by the numbers buddies on the road film. It’s good for something to watch on the background, but for the most part, there’s not much to recommend it.

└ Tags: Aliens, Film Reviews, Science Fiction

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Wednesday Double Feature – Graphic Novels and the Irish Mob

by wpmorse on March 20, 2019 at 9:13 am

Posted In: Test

Last week was the Emerald City Comic Con. So in its honor, I thought I’d do something comic related. However since I’ve seen all but the absolute worst of most of the genre, I went for some adaptations of some of the lesser known graphic novels. By sheer coincidence, this weekend was St. Patrick’s Day and both of these were graphic novels featuring the Irish Mob.

Wednesday Double Feature - Graphic Novels and the Irish Mob - History of Violence

The first film I watched, David Cronenberg’s History of Violence, based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, tells the story of Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) a well-liked member of the community in a small town in Indiana, where he owns a popular diner. One day the the diner is robbed us by two extremely brutal criminals. In self-defense Stall kills them with relative ease. This turns him into a reluctant hero of the community and puts him on the national news. Regrettably, the coverage is watched by members of the Irish Mob who recognize him as a gangster named Joey Cusack and come to investigate.

Being a fan of both Mortensen and Cronenberg I was relatively disappointed by this film. I was expecting something a bit more cerebral study of redemption but instead they went all Rambo at the end.

In the end what makes this film interesting is the effect of the revelation on Tom’s past on his family. For the most part Cronenberg fumbles. Though the final scene of the film nearly saves it.

The next film I on my list, Sam Mendes’s Road to Perdition, based on the graphic novel by Max Allan Collins. Tells the story of Michael SullivanJr. (Tyler Hoechlin) a young boy growing up in relatively idealistic life for a lower-class Irish family in the Depression. One day he sneaks into his fathers car and discovers what his father does for a living. Micheal Sr ( Tom Hanks). turns out to be the enforcer for the mob and Micheal Jr. Ends up witnessing a “conversation” that goes very wrong. The snowballs with his father’s employers trying to kill the to silence them but ends up killing Michael Jr. ’s mother and brother instead.

Now his father and he are on the run, with his father gunning (literally) for revenge.

This film lived up to its reputation it was very well done. The original graphic novel was intended to be a prohibition era version of the manga, Lone Wolf and Cub and for everyone familiar with Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima’s classic this is very apparent, (though Micheal Jr. Is far too old to be the prop the character he’s based on is.)

For the most part, this was a wonderfully intense and unsentimental adaptation of the source material with fantastic performances from Hanks as well as supporting cast that includes Paul Newman, Jude Law, and Daniel Craig. In fact, the only sticking point as an adaption is the relatively happier ending.