Oldies but goodies

Watched a couple of old favorites today. One was mentioned pretty recently as they've just put out a special edition on DVD. The Fifth Element is a movie that I didn't really care for at first. This has more to do with the circumstances under which I watched it though. It was the second feature at a drive-in and the sound was screwed up so I had to try and make sense of the movie relying solely on visual cues. While extremely tired. Yeah, not an easy task. So for a while it was just some weird, frenetic sci-fi movie with Bruce Willis. But when it came out on DVD I was talked into giving it another chance by the guys at work. Oddly enough when you can hear the movie and you're awake, it makes much more sense.

And that time I fell in love. The Fifth Element is still an odd little movie. While overall a sci-fi movie it defies easy genre classification. But there are so many wonderful little moments that it's just great. The hopped up mugger, the window service oriental food, Leeloo's fascination with the multipass - gems all. Despite a very fast visual style, the little things add up to a world. It's a much brighter dystopia than your typical Blade Runner inspired retread. This future, while still dysfunctional, is colorful and vibrant. And it's got Chris Tucker hamming it up. What more could you ask for? And it gets better each time you watch it. A fact that has convinced my wife that it is indeed a good show (it took her an additional couple viewings before she started to see the brilliance that is The Fifth Element). There are so many little things going on that you can find a new nugget of joy each time you watch it. I suspect my favorite aspect of the movie that stands out every time I watch it is the cross cut nature of the conversations that happen in the film. I think this may be why it failed for me at the drive-in. It's hard to make a visual narrative out of something that's jumping around what appears to be aimlessly. But when the sound is added in, you realize what's going on and the visual disparity gives way to understanding through the continuous dialog. Plus it's wonderfully quotable. All things that add up to instant classic in my book. Green? Super green.

The other show is one that proves that good things can indeed come in small packages. Voices of a Distant Star was created by one guy on his Mac. And you would never know from looking at it. The only real indication that this is the case is the show's length - a mere 30 minutes. But you get a lot in that 30 minutes. At heart a love story, Voices of a Distant Star deals with two teenagers separated by vast distances. Their only means of communication is the text messages they send that take longer and longer to reach one another as Mikako travels further away in a war that she might not come back from. And as she is travelling at light speed she remains young while Noboru ages normally on Earth. It's a powerful piece that looks at love and the strength that two people can get from each other. Plus it has an amazing soundtrack and a series of stunning visuals. I am impatiently looking forward to the next movie by Makoto Shinkai.

So there you go, brief looks at a couple sci-fi movies that are in some ways not really sci-fi movies. They certainly involve other things and the sci-fi aspect in a lot of ways is just window dressing. My wife is going to put me through The Village and The Forgotten this weekend so look forward to a writeup on them soon.

And if you've managed to run across the video of the dog beating the guy at Soul Calibur 2 be a pal and send me a link that works. I really need to see that video.