This is running a little late this week. Not that the blog actually has deadlines or anything, but I try to keep a regular schedule on these things. Anyways, I’m tremendously sorry about that. I had a crazy fun weekend during Wartburg’s homecoming and was left with no time to really write a proper entry this weekend. Thus, I’ll keep this short. Mad Men Season Finale (Television)
While I would say that there was one subplot in the episode that rang slightly false (I won’t go into details, as I’m hoping any readers who didn’t catch this show will do so as soon as it hits DVD), the Carousel scene---watch it here, it’s worth the three-and-a-half minutes and will be a fine gauge as to whether this show is for you---makes me forgive any and all flaws this show had this season or may ever have. While the previous episode answered more questions and was, all and all, more ‘explosive’---the melancholy nature of the finale has my dying to know where this show is going to go. Too bad I have to wait until Summer 2008 for my next fix.
In Roger Ebert’s positive review for Across the Universe he mentioned that the Beatles’ songs were already movies in their own right. He couldn’t be more right---all the emotions and imagery you get from a classic film are right there. Actually putting a story and visuals to them, while unnecessary, in the right hands of the makers of ATU proved to be far from redundant. Director Julie Taymor is second only to Michel Gondry when it comes to stunning visuals and that alone would make the film worth seeing. The film is able to capture the manic energy of the Beatles in their youth as well as the psychedelia of their Sgt. Pepper days as it follows the lives of several young people (named after Beatles songs, of course) as they fall in love, go to war, and other typical 60s things.
The plot is secondary, of course, to the music and the visuals--so if you’re not a fan of Mummenschantz-style visual art or the music of the Fab Four, the film may be off-putting. While I adored most of it, some scenes are absolutely terrible (I’m thinking of Eddie Izzard’s rendition of For The Benefit of Mr. Kite) and the film could stand to lose about fifteen minutes. If you’re a Beatles fan, you need to check it out—but if you find the idea of people covering the Beatles blasphemous or are not a fan of musicals (especially meta-musicals that incorporate pop songs), leave it alone.
The fact that the film allowed me to mention the Mummenschantz in a review makes me like the film all the more.
My former roommates and I played a lot of this board-game turned Xbox Arcade video game this weekend. The goal of the game is to build cities and roads while placing your ‘followers’ on the tiles where you will most benefit from the completed structures. It’s quite a fun mix of luck, co-operation (turned to trickery far too often), and Sim/God role-playing. The Xbox version keeps the players from doing the unenviable job of scoring while perpetuating repeat play.
1 comment:
Hooray for Carcassonne!!!
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