Movies in February

Not much movie watching in February. This is largely because 1) I really was too sick to bother and 2) getting a new furnace, AC and water heater all at a blow took quite a bite out of my cash flow. (Wait, is that a mixed metaphor? Blow, bite, flow... maybe). So I'm relying on rewatching all faves plus perusing what's available at the library. But February was when I polished off my Christmas/birthday haul. So...

First up: Vicky Cristina Barcelona. My husband is a big fan of both Woody Allen and Scarlett Johansson, so he thoroughly enjoyed this. I suspect it was a movie only made because Woody wanted to see Scarlett and Penelope Cruz kissing... As with most of Woody's work, I wished he'd spent more time on it. It's an intriguing idea that feels only half thought through. And it shares a complaint I have with a lot of his work; in the end, his characters have changed not a whit due to everything that's been going on over the last 90 minutes. Which gets frustrating. But he writes such good scenes, particularly here the scenes where Penelope is ranting in mile-a-minute Spanish while Javier Bardem tries to simultaneously calm her down and apologise to the non-Spanish-speaking Scarlett (at one point messing it all up and apologising to Scarlett in Spanish). I'd say Penelope earned her Oscar, it really was a great part, but the movie as a whole felt rather slight.

My only other English (mostly) language film was Mississippi Masala, one of Mira Nair's earlier films. It's about an Indian family from Uganda who is living in a hotel in Mississippi, and more specifically about the daughter who breaks away from her family to be with Denzel Washington (who wouldn't?). I loved the look of the film; it felt like a sweltering hot Southern summer, which is nice when it's actually the last dregs of a Minnesota winter.

I watched the last two movies in my Bollywood stash as well: Aryan and The Jewel Thief. Aryan I was a bit nervous about; the cover with Sohail Khan as a boxer made me expect lots of bloody fist fighting a la I Proud to be Indian, but it's actually the story of two young people who both have to adjust when they get pregnant and then married. The songs weren't great, but the movie was heartfelt and I enjoyed it. The Jewel Thief is old school Bollywood (it's from 1967). I like these old films, and this one is very early Bond, very 60s. I don't believe this is a Bollywood retelling of any Hollywood film; certainly the plot twists all came as a complete surprise. Great story, but really fun for the look of the thing. (Honestly, there are enough of these sorts of films I'm surprised there isn't a Bollywood Austin Powers to really revel in it.)

TV on DVD: I watched seaons 1 and 2 of Torchwood, which I also enjoyed immensely, although Quin not so much. I don't think it was the rampant bisexuality that bothered him; it was the "Dr. Whooey quality" that he kept griping about. I found some of the plots a bit Buffyesque (or Angelesque), but when they actually put James Marters on the show, I can totally forgive that. Cause he's awesome.

Lastly is Full Metal Alchemist. I actually only watched Season 1 in February, but having since watched Season 2 plus the film The Conqueror of Shamballa I'll deal with them all together. I loved this show. I loved the worldbuilding, the rules of alchemy and how they were used or how they were worked around; I loved the vast cast of characters (this show has surely spawned mountains of fanfic and slashfic). The animation has that lovely attention to detail that good anime always has. My only disappointment is that it was just a bit too intense, too violent to share this with my boys. Which is a pity; the show focuses on two brothers who squabble and fight like real brothers but still really rely on each other. The bond between them is the bedrock of the show. But alas, there were too many things that would be upsetting for a few years yet. And it's not something that can be edited around; the things that happen are integral to the plot, or are disturbing for psychological more than gory reasons. So it's violent, but not gratuitously violent. I would highly, highly recommend checking it out for teens and up, though.

I understand that like with Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop, the associated manga tells an entirely different story with the same cast of characters (although unlike those two the FMA manga came first). I'll have to check that out when I have the cash. Also like those two, the music featured in the show is wonderful. Cowboy Bebop is far and away the best of the three for music (and it would be impossible to summarize just what that music is, it's so all over the map). Samurai Champloo was very hiphop inspired. FMA goes more for pure Jap pop, which I love, particularly this track, which sounds like a Japanese Go-Gos doing disco (love that bass line...)