8 Balls & 8 Reelers #4: May Catch-Up
8 Balls & 8 Reelers #4: May Catch-Up
Things I did last month!
Asides punching myself for being late on this week’s newsletter, I’ve been ravenously busy this month, day job asides. This month was quite the romp, having started this newsletter, returning to work, scavenging the wasteland for new recovery things.
I have finally made the torturous effort to not only start going to the gym for the first time in god-knows how long, but actually do something while I’m there. Blaring TV screens consumed by Fox News and CNN asides, waking up at the crack of dawn and getting in a 50-60 minute workout, along side improving my diet, has improved my mental health and general motivation by astonishing levels. It’s all about caring for yourself and consistency.
Now on to more fun things…
Two Kings
I regret to say that, as a devout member of Team Godzilla over Team Kong, I only had the chance to watch Godzilla Minus One this week with its release on Netflix. The latest installment produced by it’s native Toho Studios, Minus One marvels at what American attempts to translate everyone’s favorite kaiju fail to live up to: weight.
This is, above all else, a movie about weight. Not the size of Godzilla’s dump truck thighs, but of the mental toll we carry. Minus One is a simple story, but is expertly told through its colorful cast of tired veterans, it’s precise script, and calamity unleashed by the great scaled tyrant.
I hold particular fondness for protagonist Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a former kamikaze pilot who fled his duties during World War II, and carries his own weight of who he lost; remaining trapped in his own private war, and unable to move on with his adopted family.
The action of Minus One masters all the simple tools of high-octane storytelling. Fist-bumming merged with devastating destruction, and basic promise-reversal-payoff storytelling. While heartfelt and melodramatic, Minus One is FUN. A wonderful balance of melodrama and a giant ocean lizard absolutely wrecking a city - just plain pulverizing after it’s dead.
I also watched Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in its theatrical run’s final stretch. Now, I will admit to my shortcomings for my viewing experience. The theater itself and its attendees were nice and pleasant, but I unfortunately decided to hitch a show just after work, in a miserably sunburnt state.
I was not in a good mood. Nor was I in the state to enjoy a lovely romp through a monkey-populated apocalypse.
Regardless, I give Kingdom a gentleman’s 6 out of 10. While mostly positive, there were many aspects that rather annoyed me. The big two problems were pacing and stakes.
Kingdom’s story is all over the place, and doesn’t offer time to give us deep insight into characters and proper motive. The lead character, Noa (Owen Teague), might as well be a blank slate. It’s a paradox. I want more time to be with these well-acted characters, but the movie is already way to long. It’s enormous scale doesn’t match at all with its speed.
And there’s stakes. I love good old edge-of-your-seat hijinks and set pieces. The problem with the monkey movie is that there is no investment to worry about. Don’t mistake this for shaming its action. The set pieces are quite fun, well choreographed, and at times impressive (especially the opening act’s raid scene), but there is no reason to enjoy when undeveloped characters don’t have any clear thing to lose. So many interesting conflicts are set asides in order to chug the movie along.
We also lose so much time with Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), the self-made Emperor of a rising kingdom, and by far the best part of the movie for me. This dude rocks. I want a whole movie about this guy. Makes me root for the apes. I want a monkey friend who digs Roman history. Durand brings the peppery sauce with the amount of fun he brings to the role. But we sacrifice time with this great character due to the story. Many things were clearly taken out of the final edit.
But no more complaining. As said, the action and Proximus Caesar had me smiling like the Joker, and the movie looks great. Though not as diverse as an epic deserves, the overarching jungles overtaking skyscrapers and rusted cargo vessels repurposed for a makeshift castle are great. The minimal costume design is diverse and feral, mimicking both Roman imperial garb and unique takes of tribal facepaint and priestly feathers and cloaks. The colorful landscapes and lighting heighten the diversity of culture within ape civilization.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to see this again, but if you are looking for a simple, lighthearted way to kill time, this isn’t the worst way to spend a weekend night.
Other Things I Checked Out in May
I happened to accompany my roommate down the Entourage rabbit hole/hellscape. Fun, written well, but if you ever want to be a creative in the movie and TV industry (like I do), DON’T WATCH THIS. That is unless you enjoy sadism and numerous existential and depressive crises.
My favorite podcast, Black Check with Griffin and David, a movie podcast review and analyzing the careers of our many great filmmakers, recently did a deep dive on the sadly short-lived career of animator Satoshi Kon. One of animations greats, who should be in the same discussion as Walt Disney and Hayao Miyazaki, tragically passed from cancer at age 46, left behind a short yet seismic career that is given all the praise and love it deserves from my favorite two friends: Griffin Newman and David Sims. For an easy entry into his 4-movie filmography, I would start with his more digestible Millennium Actress.
This past week I also finished Pierce Brown’s Red Rising, which I started last week, and have started reading its sequel Golden Sun. My veins are hooked to this series. What begins as a take on Hunger Games - type environment explodes into a galaxy wide epic opera full to the brim with chaos, lovably flawed characters, and change. I am in love and stressed and don’t know what is going on and I can’t get enough.
Also drank Celsius and ate supermarket sushi for the first time this month. Why? I was hungry and tired. Perhaps I enjoy self-inflicted torture and intestinal failure, or the feeling of simultaneously having a heart attack and feeling I can Kool-Aid Man my way through a brick wall. I don’t know why I do the things I do.