Whatta Fiasco

If you’re at all apt to weep in movies, bring your hankie, but don’t expect a big tear fest. True to its name, this is an upbeat story and enjoyable. Boo on the continued limited presence of female characters. One strong female character, but she dies before the story gets started, and then gets her homemaker status converted into being embodied as a flying house. The other female character is given a masculine name in story as a “natural” default, and then is regendered when it’s discovered that there are immature progeny involved. Because fathers can’t parent, even in an essentially unknown species? Double bah humbug!

On the other hand, the little boy is clearly not caucasian and it’s never even mentioned. And even though the kid is overweight, there’s only one minor bit of fat humor when he’s unable to climb up a rope. But later in the movie he’s able to accomplish that same task. Still, Pixar needs to work a little harder. Maybe a lot harder.

And is it just me, or were those talking dogs inspired by Olaf Stapledon?

[imdb]

Elizabeth Bear recently wrote that she considered The Stratford Man (Ink and Steel plus Hell and Earth) her best work to date. Double thumbs up on that one. And since the mass market paperbacks are out, you can get both for about the price of a single trade paperback. Good stuff.

[powells]

Corporate accountants in space? How could I not? And, yes, our accountant ends up using her financial skills in a meaningful during the course of the story. Fun twist with the aliens, but the ending was too predictable and a bit disappointing. (Please resist the gratuitous and unnecessary wedding. Please.)

[powells]

Light and breezy writing (pun alert) with cute illustrations and an adorably gorey book design. This one is less nightmare inducing than “Parasite Rex”, but it also has a great chapter on vampire bats. Interesting creatures they are with upside down digestive systems. And you just never know when you’re going to learn how to construct a barometer with leeches and a bottle. It’s quick and fun (if your tastes run that way) and makes very few demands in terms of prior knowledge while happily pointing you toward multi-volume tomes to slake any incited thirst.

[powells]

Given a central metaphor of the maze, the plot twists gather appropriate velocity and angular momentum as the book proceeds. I picked this one up soley based on posted recommendations from his friend, Jay Lake. I don’t regret it at all. I just wish that the text had lingered and played in the rich world a little more than it did, but I suspect there will be more books to come.

[powells]

A hacker/assassin chick (Shu Qi) and her sister (Zhao Wei) wreak havoc, pursued by a fierce female police investigator (Karen Mok), all in very high heels. The whole thing is silly, complete with a Carpenter’s song as plot device (aiyee!) and athletic looking wire work. I’m pretty sure this one got in my rental queue because of the stylish Shu Qi, but Karen Mok is the one I really like. You may have already seen Karen Mok in Shaolin Soccer, but she’s also in the harder to find Steven Chow film, God of Cookery.

I’m not a huge consumer of short story collections, but I like finding sff by women and Nisi Shawl’s name has been popping up in my various readings lately. I was also gobsmacked to realize my local library has been purchasing some volumes from Aqueduct Press. (Go go, librarians!)

[powells]

I thought this was an excellent film, but if you want to see it in the theater, I recommend you get to it quickly as it’s not a blockbuster. The problem is not the violence as there are plenty of ultra violent movies that make huge amounts of money. The problem is that it doesn’t give you violence you can unambiguously empathize with, and therein lies both the power of this film and why it isn’t wildly popular. I think of this film as an essay on the negative effects of violence (regardless of intent), with a side dish of identity and a heaping helping of nostalgia to provide a grounding context. I don’t enjoy gratuitous violence in films, but when the violence has a purpose and forces you to think, I admire it even when it’s so brutal and direct that I have to look away. (More than once.) It also captures the tone and feel and story of the comic book as well. And when we walked out of the theater, it didn’t feel as though we’d just sat through nearly three hours of film.

[imdb]

Giancarlo Giannini plays a farmer who sets out to kill Mussolini. The farmer is naive, his quest is hopeless, and the ending is predictably horrible. But it has some wonderfully quirky unconventional faces. And somewhere in the middle is a memorable piece set as the opening of the brothel.

Artsy-fartsy visuals and utterly gorgeous.