Sunday, September 03, 2006
feast for crows
My apologies for the long absence. For various reasons beyond my control, posting has had to take a back seat to a number of other things lately. Hopefully the situation will settle down in the next few weeks, but in the meanwhile I'll post whenever I have a chance (and anything interesting to say).
So, that mea culpa out of the way, I did finish my novella "Box, A Nightmare" and received some great feedback on it from my usual reading circle of friends (thanks, everyone). I'll do some revising and then start seeing about getting it placed; given the somewhat odd "fairy tale meets horror story" tone and the novella length, I'm guessing my best bet will be online, but we'll see what happens. It's very much its own thing -- and everyone has had a somewhat different response to it -- but that makes me perversely happy given the story I set out to tell.
According to my agent, the novel is also getting some positive response. Nothing anywhere even in the galactic neighborhood of a done deal, but positivie all the same.
Myself and Gray will be flying out to LA in October for the 5th Annual Screenwriting Expo. Cool deal. We'll be taking classes and seminars led by people like Ron Shusett, Leigh Whannell, Brad Bird, and a whole bunch of other industry types. One of the highlights looks to be an all day class taught by Tim Minear where the class collaborates on an "original" script for "Angel" or "Firefly." Even better, my friend Christa will be flying in from Austria a few days early so we can spend some time together -- given the transatlantic distance, we only get to see each other every few years.
For the record, I saw Snakes On A Plane opening weekend -- well, Sunday of opening weekend. I couldn't decide if it was stupidly entertaining or entertainingly stupid, but I had a good time. Still, I really wished they'd pushed the envelope some more. Why specifically introduce a character who is a kickboxer, and not have him kickbox snakes? Heck, why not cast Tony Jaa in the role? That alone would have made the movie a must-see. It's too bad Ronnie Yu left the project (supposedly in a disagreement over the fate of Samuel Jackson's character) as I think he might have really pushed the film into gonzo classic territory.
Meanwhile, Labor Day weekend has been an excellent opportunity to distract myself by getting caught up on a number of other movies:
I liked The Eye, thought Bangkok Dangerous was fun if somewhat forgettable, but the Pang Brothers' newest film -- Re-Cycle -- is an absolute must see. It's difficult to go into any detail about the plot without giving away most of the fun, but suffice to say that what starts as a standard J-Horror take on an idea that Stephen King couldn't help but admire then descends into the realm of nightmares, turns on a dime into a twisted sort-of take on "Neverending Story" and "Labyrinth," then manages a few more tonal and plot twists past that. It's a movie with some great direction and music, but it's also an uncommonly thought-provoking film in a number of respects. The only...well, I guess "catch," is that there's a certain aspect of the plot that could prove unsettling to some people. I think if you approach it with an open mind -- and an appreciation of the underlying engine that drives horror films -- then it's fine, but it's definitely an interesting choice on the part of the Pangs.
Between Re-Cycle, Shutter, and Tom Yum Goong, the Thai film industry is really starting to look promising.
Zhest, aka Junk or Scrap, is an odd beast. A glossy Russian film that starts off with echoes of Empire of Wolves or Crimson Rivers but then never really -- exactly -- delivers, and yet is a rather fun watch all the same. A veteran crime reporter is assigned to interview a psychopath who manages to escape right before she shows up. She tags along with the police and pursues the man into an abandonded dacha, an enormous village built during the height of the Communist era and now scheduled for demolition. It's of course one of those Temporary Autonomous Zones sung of in story and legend, peopled by a bizarre tribe of largely malevolent freaks. What follows is some really gorgeous techno-rock imagery suffused throughout with a druggy, psychedelic vibe; what doesn't follow is a plot, so much as a series of unrelated encounters. Still, entertaining flick.
Also watched the sequel to Anatomy (called, natch, Anatomy 2). From what I read, it wasn't exactly popular with afficianados of the first movie -- which I thought was a nifty German variation on Scream -- but I felt they did a really nice job of evolving the mythology from the original while adding some interesting situations and character shadings to what could have otherwise been a rote sequel. Sure, Franka Potente only shows up for maybe ten minutes total, but they gave her a cool role and I'll take whatever Franka I can get.
(I also recommend Creep, an urban variation on Descent starring Franka. It's much more in the slasher tradition, but it's nicely put together and there's an interesting thread of social commentary.)
Anyways, that's it for the moment. I'll check in when I have another chance.