Written and directed by Minoru Kawasaki, "Executive Koala" is the tale of Japanese businessman Tamura who happens to be "a man-sized, suit-and-tie wearing, upright-walking koala bear," as Wikipedia so succinctly puts it. Tamura, despite being a koala, is a successful young go-getter, one of the top employees at the pickling corporation where he works. In addition to his hot (human) girlfriend, Tamura is about to close a big business deal with a South Korean pickling corporation which would allow both businesses to capture a larger market share. 

It seems like life can't be better. And then tragedy strikes: Tamura's girlfriend is found brutally murdered and the police have fingered the Executive Koala as their top suspect. Under close scrutiny, Tamura's idyllic life no longer appears so idyllic. Like real koalas, which appear cute and cuddly upon first glance but are in reality mean and vicious bush dwellers, Tamura's life has darker and more sinister aspects than one would suspect. There is the matter of Tamura's ex-wife, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances two years ago. Then there are Tamura's frequent, inexplicable memory lapses... could he have killed his ex-wife and his girlfriend or is he being framed? His psychiatrist and his boss, the Rabbit insist that Tamura is Okay, but then why is his grocery clerk, the Frog, passing him ominous secret messages? 

A taut, psychological thriller, "Executive Koala," keeps the viewer guessing, mainly because nothing makes any sense. Like a Monty Python Sketch, "Executive Koala," is premised on a single strange concept which is then expanded upon with many more equally strange and incongruous concepts. Most psychological thrillers take the form of a vortex- they shoot downwards and inwards as the plot weaves a tighter and tighter spiral towards a single, logical conclusion. 

"Executive Koala," on the other hand is more like a whirlwind- it shoots upwards into ever wider and more erratic circles, which, as circles, have no definable beginning or end. I found this approach to the story wildly successful. I was seldom, if ever, bored and my mind was always active, trying to (vainly) surmise the next direction the plot would careen towards. The inevitable courtroom scene was a particular joy for me, since instead of dry legal drama I was treated to a cheerful and ominous song and dance number by witnesses drawn from Tamura's village who described the koala's cruel and wicked ways. I never came close to guessing the ending, since it had no obvious or logical connection with anything that had previously occurred during the film, and in fact seemed to invalidate large sections of the established plot. 

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. The only previous work I had seen by Minoru Kawasaki was "The Calamari Wrestler," which was about a famous Japanese wrestler who was turned into a giant, talking, clothing wearing, squid. I've never been a very big fan of wrestling in general and I found it hard to maintain interest in the story as the calamari wrestler used his multiple tentacles and slippery skin to climb to the top of the wrestling circuit. I also felt that Minoru Kawasaki made a critical mistake when he tried to provide a semi-rational explanation for the human-to-squid transformation of the wrestler. If I had wanted a semi-rational explanation for the fact that the central character was a giant squid wrestler, I would not have rented a movie where the central character was a giant squid wrestler.

In "Executive Koala," Minoru Kawasaki handles the issue in a much more elegant manner, by simply refusing to explain why the protagonist and some of the supporting characters are animals. In the movie, characters treat the fact that Tamura is a koala with rather more sangfroid than one would expect. Think "Hmmm, that man is a giant, business suit-wearing, talking koala," instead of "Oh my God, its a giant, talking, business suit wearing koala!" Overall, this approach works much better and gives a sense that in the movie world of "Executive Koala," sentient animal people, while rare, are not unheard of. This is a smoother, more sophisticated approach than the initial, exaggerated disbelief with which the characters in "The Calamari Wrestler," greeted the appearance of the titular character.

I think that Minoru Kawasaki must have hit his stride directing "Executive Koala," and I for one am eager to view his two newest films, "World Sinks Except for Japan," which I assume is a foray into the natural disaster genre, and "Rug Cop," the story of a policeman who uses his toupee as a deadly weapon. 

I found the original Japanese movie poster.

You can see the American movie poster for "Executive Koala," here, in addition to the posters for "The World Sinks Except for Japan," and "Rug Cop.

 Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the villains always have the best lines?

Flight of Dragons- the main villain is voiced by James Earl Jones! Everything he says is awesome. It becomes 10x more awesome when he says it eeeeeevily!
My Dark Determination! 
DOOM!

Hook- an uneven movie, to say the least, but all of Dustin Hoffman's scenes were terrific. If only the rest of the movie could have been as good as We have his children!

Sleeping Beauty- in terms of plot, the movie isn't that special but the superb art design and the elegant menace of Maleficent make it worth while...
...and true love conquers all. 

Something Wicked This Way Comes- the scene speaks for itself.
We Are the Hungry Ones.

Bride of the Monster- call it overacting if you want, but to me this is one of the greatest speeches in movie history. One last hurrah for a great actor.
A race of atomic supermen!

Exorcist 3- In my opinion this movie is better than the original and its largely due to the acting of Brad Dourif.
Gemini Killer I
Gemini Killer II

 I am currently reading "And the Darkness Falls," a collection of short stories that feature tales (and poems!) of the supernatural, the unexplainable, the tragic, and the gruesome.

And guess who compiled the collection?

Boris Karloff! 

This book was published in 1946 and many of the stories were written many years earlier which means that several of them are in the public domain.

These stories are quite enjoyable so I thought I'd post links to stories in the collection that I've been able to find on the internet.



Frederick Stuart Greene - The Black Pool

L'amour apres la mort Lafcadio Hearn. OPn the left side of the webpage click or the PDF. The story in question can be found on page 223.

Rizpah by Alfred Tennyson

The Black Godmother John Galsworthy

The Garden of Proserpine by Algernon Charles Swinburne

I was watching Le Voyage dans la lune and I noticed how the astronomers were clothed. I was saddened to see that in the 106 years since the release of the film astronomers no longer take such pains to maintain the image of their lofty and mysterious profession and instead have reduced themselves, degree by tragic degree, to a class of barbaric slovens.

If I were given the power to simply declare, by fiat, that all astronomers everywhere should be forced to dress like wizards, I would not hesitate! Henceforth, all the Men of of Science! who had gazed at the starry heavens clad only in mundane and dreary clothes would be forced, upon pain of death, to don regal, high collared and flowing robes, lavishly embroidered with silver sickle moons, golden stars, and beringed planets. Instead of shoes, they would wear slippers, dripping with diamond patterns and clusters of pearls, and where the toes curled upwards and inwards in a spiral. Atop their heads they would wear tall pointed hats to express their stature and authority. The hats would be decorated with an intricate filigree of shooting stars and icy comet tails. Resplendent in all their gold and silver finery they would blaze like oriflammes.

Also, on a sidenote, I think the Justices of the Supreme Court should be forced to dress like the monstrous and decadent Skeksis in The Dark Crystal.

Note to self: buy this book.

"Ah, how many times, my God, have I not longed to be able to assail the sun, snatch it out of the Universe, make a general darkness, or use that star to burn the world!" -  The 120 Days of Sodom

"There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked... He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn't specify the point." - Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

"The World is held in perfect balance. When you give, you lose. When you take, you gain. There's nothing more to it." - Winter's Tale

Alice didn't think that proved it at all: however she went on. "And how do you know that you're mad?"

"To begin with," said the Cat, "a dog's not mad. You grant that?"

"I suppose so," said Alice

"Well, then, " the Cat went on, "you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad." - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

“Leave me alone! Why do you insult me?” In these moving words, other words resounded—“I am thy brother.” And the young man covered his face with his hand; and many a time afterwards, in the course of his life, shuddered at seeing how much inhumanity there is in man, how much savage coarseness is concealed beneath delicate, refined worldliness, and even, O God! in that man whom the world acknowledges as honourable and noble. - The Overcoat

Pushkin liked to throw stones. If he saw stones, then he would start throwing them. Sometimes he would fly into such a temper that he would stand there, red in the face, waving his arms and throwing stones. It really was rather awful!

Pushkin had four sons and they were all idiots. One of them couldn't even sit on his chair and kept falling off. Pushkin himself was not very good at sitting on his chair either, to speak of it. It used to be quite hilarious: they would be sitting at the table; at one end Pushkin would keep falling off his chair, and at the other end -- his son. One wouldn't know where to look. - Anecdotes from the Life of Pushkin

I just saw Diary of the Dead and it was a disappointment. Don't get me wrong- this film is simply bad when compared to Romero's other "Dead" films. Stacked against some of the cinematic detritus featuring the undead that's been released lately, "Diary of the Dead" is merely mediocre. Stacked against "Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave," this film might conceivably be a masterpiece.

So what is the film about? Its about a bunch of self absorbed film students who are filming a movie when the dead start coming back to life and eating people. The film students decide to document the ongoing zombie apocalypse. Think of "Cloverfield" or "The Blair Witch Project," except with zombies and with main characters that were exponentially more annoying than those that appeared in those two films.

What made Romero's previous "Dead" films compelling was not the zombies but how his characters dealt with the zombie menace. The films were gripping because you came to care for the characters. You didn't want to see them die and become ghouls.

The same cannot be said of the characters in this film. Toward the end, I was actively cheering for the ghouls to jump these people and tear them limb from limb. They're just a bunch of goodlooking twenty somethings who would probably feel right at home at Camp Crystal Lake. These characters consistently fail to demonstrate those small flashes of humanity that made Romero's previous characters redeeming.

At numerous points in the film the guy who's filming everything for his documentary fails to lend a helping hand when his compatriots are being threatened by the zombies. Instead of ditching this worthless moron at the first opportunity they let him tag along with them for the rest of the film. This caused me to hate all the characters with a white hot fire. I'll tell you what: if I managed to survive being attacked by a zombie while this dick just sat around and filmed me, I'd calmly dust myself off, get a tighter grip on the weapon I'd just used to dispatch the zombie, and I'd allow cameraboy to document man's inhumanity to man. I'd rather be stuck with Harry Cooper and Capt. Rhodes than cameraboy.

This movie did have one redeeming character: Samuel, the deaf, dynamite chucking, scythe wielding, Amish guy. Without hesitation, I can say that Sam is the best character not just in "Diary of the Dead" but in the entire "Dead" franchise. He's better than Ben in "Night". He's more no nonsense than Peter in "Dawn." He's even cooler than the sharpshooting savant in "Land" whose name escapes me at the moment.

Watch this clip. Try and tell me that Sam doesn't kick butt. You can't do it. The man is simply bad ass. Sam is in the movie for something like a grand total of 5 minutes but he owns every f*cking second of those five minutes. Sam has screen presence. He has charisma. He has gravitas.

Sam is the character they should have built this movie around. If this movie had been about Sam alternately dynamiting and scything through the ranks of the undead rather than watching a bunch of idiots drive around in a Winnebago for an hour and a half, this movie would have been awesome. Imagine, if you will, Samuel coming across a group of hundreds of ghouls. They sense Sam's presence and they start to shamble towards him.

Quickly, before they can close in on him, Sam scribbles something down on his trusty chalkboard and turns it towards the zombies: I'M SAMUEL. HELLO. TIME TO DIE. AGAIN. BASTARDS. Sam throws open his long black, Shaftesq trenchcoat, revealing bandoleers loaded with sticks of TNT. A steely glint is in Sam's eyes and he lights the sticks and starts lobbing them into the advancing hoard. Grinning like a maniac, Sam only stops when he sees that the only thing left are piles of twitching limbs scattered around smoking craters.

Man oh man, if I could have seen an old Amish dude driving a horse drawn buggy, leaning over the side and cutting off zombies' heads with a scythe on the big screen instead of in my mind's eye, I would be crying tears of joy.

I finally got around to watching Spider-Man 3.

I was unimpressed. It was a big step down from Spider-Man 2. The story was rather random with some rather silly or outright stupid plot contrivances.  There was almost no character development and the ending was ludicrous. The movie clocked over two hours, but it divided it between Peter Parker and and the one, two, three villains he was facing. Because of this, no single character or story line was given adequate time. The end product feels disjointed and overall, it was a very lackluster superhero movie.

To wash the bad taste of Spider-Man 3 away, I sat down and watched the horror-comedy "Fido". This charming little movies is like a cross between "Pleasantville" and "Lassie". But with zombies. The movie begins with a a very 1950ish vibe when a bombastic narrator explains how when the dead began to rise when Earth passed through a cloud of space dust. Catastrophe was only averted when humanity walled itself inside suburban fortress towns. A corporation called ZomCon develops an electronic collar that allows humans to control the zombies.

This creates a strong demand for zombie labor. With the advent of the ZomCon collar, anyone and everyone  wants a zombie servant. Everyone on the block has at least one zombie- except the Robinsons. During the zombie wars he was forced to kill his father when he turned into a zombie. Ever since, he's been a tad unenthusiastic about the whole undead servant trend. But in a morbid attempt to Keep Up With The Jonses, Mrs. Robinson purchases a zombie which her son, Timmy names "Fido."

...than the sight of a perfectly just city rejoicing in justice alone?

Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin is a story about....

...is about...

about...

... its actually rather  really hard to describe.

But I'll give it a shot.

Winter's Tale is about rainbows (the eternal and endless variety),  love and vengeance spanning across time (the first, perfect and timeless and the second, murderous and implacable), burglars, a great robbery gone wrong, newsmen, gangsters, engineers ( geniuses, the lot of 'em), magic, the white horse Athansor (whiter than alabaster, glowing argent), the new millenium, New York City. And winter, of course.

I suppose my description lacks coherence but I find it is impossible for me to do justice to the book through summarization . This  New York Times review does a far better job than I ever could of explaining the plot. This was one of the most beautifully written books that I have ever read. The, author, Helprin has a  felicity with language that I have not encountered since I read fantastic stories of Cordwainer Smith. I have never been the biggest fan of magical realism, but Helprin makes it work. I love the way he describes his characters- they feel almost Dickensian.

I'd give the book 10/10.