I really didn’t know much about this movie other than it was set in a space station, with astronauts dealing with some sort of dangerous life form, but that was pretty much enough to get me to watch it (and I like Jake Gyllenhaal). Having watched it, I can’t say that it was really that great a film, but I did find myself getting into it at times, especially during the second half. And I like how they ended the film. I guess I’d just recommend this if you tend to like sci-fi Alien-type stuff.
I have mixed feelings for this film. I went in not caring that much about it — not many expectations, but hoping for a fun adventure movie. I liked that it wasn’t a modern setting (first the 40s, then the 70s), and so things started pretty good, but then I kept getting annoyed by a lot of the editing (music video type sequences, slo-mo cut in a staccato manner) as well as extreme color-correction, which I don’t necessarily mind if it fits a mood (especially for night sequences), but I hate it when it makes a day sky look too yellow-y. It did get pretty fun during the action sequences, especially the monster-on-monster stuff. It looks like they’re planning on bringing in more monsters for the sequels (Godzilla, Mothra, etc.) which could end up being pretty fun, especially if they get a different director.
I didn’t have great memories about this movie — in fact, I remember thinking it was pretty lousy. Watching it again now, it’s just as ridiculous as I remembered it being, but there was a bit of fun to be had re-watching all of this ridiculousness. Yeardley Smith is pretty entertaining. And the AC/DC soundtrack is good, and I love the riff-heavy sound effect they use a few times when a machine is about to kill someone.
I’ve mentioned the Tokyoiter project before, and was happy to see that they’ve launched an exhibition to celebrate the project, and to launch a few new “covers.” This Facebook post includes a few photos taken by Julie Skogoreva from the opening. The show is held at the Kaisu Hostel, and runs until July 7.
The moment I saw Shigeru Miyamoto walk out on stage at Ubisoft’s E3 press conference, I was ecstatic. It’s no secret that I have quite a bit of fondness for Nintendo, and so to not only see the company I work for collaborate with them, but then to also see Miyamoto himself help with the promotion, it was awesome. The game itself, Mario + Rabbids Battle Kingdom, looks super fun and I can’t wait to play it. Here’s a Eurogamer interview with both Miyamoto and Yves Guillemot talking about the collaboration.
Yesterday was Ubisoft Montréal’s annual assembly, and not only did Yves show up to talk at the assembly, but I also had a chance to take a photo with him (below), and at the same time tell him how happy I was that we were collaborating with Nintendo like that, and how excited I was when I saw Miyamoto on stage at our press conference.
Bond fanatic that I am, seeing this article in the Japan Times about the making of You Only Live Twice sure put a big smile on my face — it coincides with the 50th anniversary of the film’s release in Japan. Makes me want to watch it yet again (even though I re-watched it last year).
Couldn’t help myself, ordered this tee the other day.
Polygon recently posted a big feature on legendary video game composer Yuzo Koshiro, and it’s a great read.
If I was in Kyoto, I’d definitely drop by this new Starbucks (opening at the end of the month) that looks more like a traditional tea house than the cafe chain we know. More in this Spoon & Tamago post.
The second part of my Lynch double bill was Mulholland Drive, a movie I’ve grown to love over the years. I remember not hugely liking it when it first came out. Knowing the story that it was a failed TV pilot that was later reworked and turned into a feature film, I disliked the way it suddenly shifted towards the end, at a point that made it obvious what was done when the decision was made to make it a film. But over time, I’ve come to appreciate not only what I imagine the original pilot “episode” was like, but also how Lynch decided to play around with it, and basically completely fuck with what he had, and just turn it on its head. I truly love it now, although when I rewatch it I alway feel sad at the thought that we were robbed of the chance of seeing another Lynch TV series. And like Lost Highway, immediately after watching it I was online, reading theories about the narrative and its meaning.