HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE and THE NOMI SONG
After a 3 week absence, I'm back, but probably not better than ever. I come bearing a couple new reviews. One just hit the video shelves, and the other is making its way through art house theaters as we speak. And don't worry, I'll be reviewing more regularly.
Howl’s Moving Castle
Review by Jon Waterman
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Sophie is a young hat maker who keeps to herself and does what she’s told. Or, at least she was. That all changes when she runs into a suave magician, and later, a witch. The witch curses Sophie by turning her into a stocky, ugly old woman overnight. Forced to give up the life she knew and to hopefully find a cure, she goes in search of the wizard Howl. After stumbling on his roaming palace, she befriends the residents of his castle and quickly becomes a vital part of a team determined to defeat the forces of evil and stop a burgeoning war.
This is the latest effort from Japanese animation master writer/director Hayao Miyazaki. Like his other films, this one deals with a largely fantasy based scenario. There’s usually a lot of creativity and freshness to be found in the plots and storylines, however this film doesn’t exhibit the same behavior. Based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones, the film just exudes this feeling of “seen it all before.”
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The Nomi Song
Review by Jon Waterman
***
Those that have heard of Klaus Nomi don’t need to be told that he epitomized New Wave. He came to the United States from Germany and found himself immersed with the budding new sub culture that was developing in New York during the late 1970s/early 1980s. After a fateful performance as part of a vaudevillian variety show, he quickly gained popularity and ego. Klaus went on to release two albums that showcased his flawlessly operatic falsetto singing voice, burning most of his bridges along the way. This is his story, told by the people who knew him best.
Unlike Nomi himself, this documentary is actually quite ordinary. Mixed in with the talking heads is a lot of archival footage and taped performances; all of it presented in an extremely standard, straightforward manner. Each interviewee is given their own representative background, which is a nice touch. These backgrounds tell you a little bit about their personal history with Klaus as the people in front of them relate their stories and flesh out all the intricate details. Everyone does a great collective job of describing the life style and what it meant to be around NYC and Klaus at that time, but not every little piece of the puzzle is filled in.
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Howl’s Moving Castle
Review by Jon Waterman
***
Sophie is a young hat maker who keeps to herself and does what she’s told. Or, at least she was. That all changes when she runs into a suave magician, and later, a witch. The witch curses Sophie by turning her into a stocky, ugly old woman overnight. Forced to give up the life she knew and to hopefully find a cure, she goes in search of the wizard Howl. After stumbling on his roaming palace, she befriends the residents of his castle and quickly becomes a vital part of a team determined to defeat the forces of evil and stop a burgeoning war.This is the latest effort from Japanese animation master writer/director Hayao Miyazaki. Like his other films, this one deals with a largely fantasy based scenario. There’s usually a lot of creativity and freshness to be found in the plots and storylines, however this film doesn’t exhibit the same behavior. Based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones, the film just exudes this feeling of “seen it all before.”
(more...)
++++++++++
The Nomi Song
Review by Jon Waterman
***
Those that have heard of Klaus Nomi don’t need to be told that he epitomized New Wave. He came to the United States from Germany and found himself immersed with the budding new sub culture that was developing in New York during the late 1970s/early 1980s. After a fateful performance as part of a vaudevillian variety show, he quickly gained popularity and ego. Klaus went on to release two albums that showcased his flawlessly operatic falsetto singing voice, burning most of his bridges along the way. This is his story, told by the people who knew him best.Unlike Nomi himself, this documentary is actually quite ordinary. Mixed in with the talking heads is a lot of archival footage and taped performances; all of it presented in an extremely standard, straightforward manner. Each interviewee is given their own representative background, which is a nice touch. These backgrounds tell you a little bit about their personal history with Klaus as the people in front of them relate their stories and flesh out all the intricate details. Everyone does a great collective job of describing the life style and what it meant to be around NYC and Klaus at that time, but not every little piece of the puzzle is filled in.
(more...)
It’s Marty the Zebra’s tenth birthday. All his life he’s been cooped up in Central Park Zoo with his animal pals. He’s starting to wonder what it might be like to live out in the wild. So, because of this midlife crisis, he ventures out into the city to find his way to the closest thing to the wild he can find: Connecticut. His friends, a sassy hippo, a hypochondriac giraffe and a superstar lion, wake up to see that he’s left them and thus search after him. Will any of them ever really find what they’re looking for?
Alfredo is a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman – a dying breed. In fact, his job is actually being removed from the organization, because television based mail-in and newsstand offers are bringing in the majority of revenue. The only way he can stay with the company is to take a job as a filmmaker for a brand new series starting up in Scandinavia. The catch is that he has to film his wife and himself making love. They reluctantly accept and inadvertently find that his wife has become a sex symbol in a foreign land, while he has immersed himself in filmmaking. Alfredo now dreams of making his narrative feature debut thus transitioning himself into a serious artist. Will anyone buy into it?
San Diego’s most popular nightly news anchor, Ron Burgundy, has a lot to deal with lately. To start, a woman – previously thought to be incapable of reading the news on television – has been hired as a reporter/co-anchor for the broadcast. So, to compete he has to learn to be an investigative reporter, which isn’t easy, considering his intelligence level (let’s just say he’s coasting on charm). But the kicker is that there’s a terrorist organization called The Alarm Clock, which keeps robbing banks and appears to have plans to do much worse.
A few friends get together at a restaurant and discuss the nature of life and how it translates into art. Since a couple of them are writers, one tragic, the other comedic, they verbally spar. To sort of help settle the question of the night of which genre more accurately portrays reality, one of their dinner companions offers up a story. He tells them of Melinda, a struggling young woman, and her plights and misadventures when dealing with people she doesn’t know so well. Each storyteller takes turns interpreting and riffing off the tale, twisting it to better suit their means.
This is a simple story of love. Alvy Singer meets and falls for Annie Hall. The two get together and progress through a normal relationship. However, something goes astray when they begin sharing the same apartment. They both start to realize that their future doesn’t seem quite so bright anymore. Alvy searches for meaning and answers everywhere he can possibly find them. And oh yeah…it’s a comedy.