Thoughts on a Golden Compass

NOTE: My apologies for the extreme lateness of this post, but I did want to get it out there before I resume my inevitable Obama posting (I’ve got a couple floating around in my brain, so be warned!). Enjoy!

I love the universe (multiverse, really) that Philip Pullman created in the His Dark Materials trilogy of books. I first read The Golden Compass back during my second year of college and ever since then, I’ve dreamed of how a movie of it might be crafted. From what I’ve read of Chris Weitz, the director of the recently released rendition, this was very much his same experience with then novels. From the deamons, to the witches, to Scoresby’s balloon, Pullman’s worlds scream out for life! And in that way, at least, The Golden Compass movie succeeds in spades!

Here’s the problem. Unlike recent fantasy-novels-turned-movies, The Golden Compass‘ rich world was practically wasted. In the spectacular Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson realized Tolkein’s Middle Earth in copious detail, and almost as importantly, he let us spend the time to absorb its wonder. The first couple Harry Potter movies did likewise, though it robbed them somewhat of the excitement and dramatic pacing in which the later movies in the series excelled. Even the first Chronicles of Narnia movie let us get comfortable a bit while still propelling us through the plot. The Golden Compass didn’t afford what seems to me to be a necessity - let the viewer have occasional moments to stop and smell the roses.

Other characteristics of the film bothered me too. I did not care for the way the director decided to visualize Lyra’s use of the titular compass. It seemed to be as lacking in process as just showing Lyra closing her eyes and treating it like a Ouija board. It was very super-model - pretty, but lacking in substance.

The soundtrack was so completely underwhelming that I felt it detracted from the emotional impact of the film instead of augmenting it, as a proper fantasy soundtrack should do (eg. the movies listed above). Without this, many moments didn’t have quite the same emotional punch that it should have had. I didn’t recognize the composer’s name, but given the film’s budget and high hopes of success, they really should have paid extra for a Howard Shore, Harry Gregson-Williams, or even the totally underrated Brian Tyler (eg. his Children of Dune score is A-MAZ-ING!).

All of this said, please pick it up on DVD, HD-DVD, or BluRay. I’m hoping that those sales, combined with its successes overseas, will convince NewLine to finish the trilogy, though perhaps with a few changes in the production team.

Aliens!

While I have enjoyed a number of “Tom Cruise movies”, I’m usually attracted more to the directors that utilize Cruise than Cruise himself. Still, Tom Cruise is absolutely bat-sh1t crazy…about Scientology! Need proof, then check out this video.

And speaking of aliens, it seems that our new overlords are searching “our leader” at his ranch in Texas.

5 days to go

Random Musings - Digest Edition

Politics
Larry Craig - so gay/bi-curious it hurts me just to type it. I’m sorry that he’s so repressed/horny that he feels the need to cruise airport restrooms. It’s bad enough coming out when you’re young and still learning life, so I can only imagine what it must be like dealing with these issues when your life is mostly behind you. Still, to stake your political career shingle in the anti-gay GOP these days and somehow try to be gay, albeit in a very secretive, sneaky way, is just hypocritical at the very best.

Come out of the closet, Larry. Take a cue from former NJ governor McGreevey (or even CO minister Ted Haggard) and just admit what happened. You’ve already plead guilty, so it will only help your conscience catch up with the law.

TV, Comedy, and Movies
Seriously, the writers of Showtime’s Weeds have just completely gone off the deep-end. Things are either abjectly depressing or batshit insane! I miss the first season’s funny, mostly formulaic stories, though the religious community storyline might just save everything for me.

Loving The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT. Why can’t networks make more solid drama’s like these? Ugh, sounds like I’m writing TNT’s ad copy now! Seriously, thees shows are well-crafted police procedurals with interesting characters! Take that CSI: Everywhere and Law & Order! Now, if only we could keep Holly Hunter from taking off any more clothes!

Speaking of Holly Hunter, thanks to The Sound of Young America podcast, I’m now officially a fan of the comedian Patton Oswalt. I had, of course, seen him on the Comedy Central roasts, and heard him as the voice of Remy in Pixar’s gorgeous Ratatouille. If you haven’t had the opportunity yet to experience his stand-up, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Two great, recent summer movies - Stardust and Bourne Ultimatum. I also saw Hairspray, but I think I still prefer the original movie and the non-movie musical more. It was decent, but it didn’t really transcend the originals as Chicago ,The Producers, and even possibly Rent did. Next up, Elizabeth: the Golden Age!!

Video Games (and other geeky stuff)
String of great games - Bioshock (360), Puzzle Fighter HD (360), Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii), all absolutely amazing. What little time I have left at the end of my longer days, I now sacrifice to them gladly. While Bioshock and Metroid are at least finite games that I’ll probably play through only once or twice, Puzzle Fighter is the game that will probably steal away most of my life. With its various incarnations to date, I’ve probably spent about 1/8th of my life so far clearing its gems and dropping devastating drops on my opponents.

Now with the new version on the XBox Live Arcade, I can waste ever increasing hours of my life defeating random opponents around the world. Yeah…<sarcasm>my life is exciting!</sarcasm> I guess its either that, reading my weekly (yeah, I’m an addict again) batch of comics, listening/watching the latest TWIT or Rev3 podcast, or updating my stupid Facebook page.

Lastly, I just want to send a huge THANK YOU to the BBC for doing whatever they could to hang on to David Tennant and Russell T. Davies (et al) for the next two series of Doctor Who. Yeah, 2009 will be kinda sucky with only the occasional special, but I’d gladly have that than potentially losing the creative team that has made it so awesome. With Battlestar Galactica now approaching its end, it will be a small comfort to know that, as it has for over 40 years, the Doctor remains.

Two Reasons to Smile

Both items above represent two important groups that I followed late in high school and throughout my time in college - Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the Squirrel Nut Zippers. The former of the two, MST3K, was a show on television that showcased different terrible movies each week, on top of which the show’s cast would add their own commentary. It ran for 11 years, starting out on a small, Minnesota public-access cable channel, quickly making its way to a then very young Comedy Central, and finally retiring on the SciFi channel.

The show ended its run in 1999, and its production team went off to make their ways. Mike Nelson, the show’s head writer and second main character (the show’s co-creator Joel Hodgson was its first) wrote a few mildly successful books, but eventually found his way back to movie commentaries with a little start-up called Rifftrax. Recently, a couple of his MST3K alumni joined him on that project, which provides mp3 audio commentary tracks for more well-known film and television projects (eg. 300, Lost, etc.).

Returning to their obscure (and usually terrible) cinematic roots, The Film Crew series will again unite their funny commentary with these gems of bad cinema. There first of a thus-far planned 4 DVD series is out now, and its a fantastic film from the 60’s called Hollywood After Dark starring…you’ll love this bit…a young Rue Mcclanahan as a starlet stripper!! The commentary is just as enjoyable as I remember it being with MST3K, and the movie is just as awful as many they showcased. If you enjoy making fun of bad movies, or just want to see what Blanch du Bois looked like back in the day, go check it out!

While you know what I was constantly watching back in my dorm days, you’re probably wondering what I listened to on my portable CD player whilst biking around UCF. The Squirrel Nut Zippers were one of my favorite swing/folk bands back in the 90’s when swing dancing was making a major comeback. They didn’t quite rise to the popularity level of say a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy or a Brian Setzer, but I loved them even more.

There music ranged from soulful, Billy Holiday-esque jazz to frenetic swing to unusual, experimental instrumental. There only pop-chart experience was with Hell, a song that I’ve now had the privilege to sing and play with my band on at least 3 occasions! I also was fortunate enough to catch one of their rare appearances in Orlando at the Social (then called the Sapphire Supper Club). They’re excellent musicians all around, both recording and performing, and now after a 7 year hiatus, they’re back touring again! Though they don’t yet have any new tracks being released, I’d gladly recommend any of the 5 albums currently out now (though my favorite is definitely Perennial Favorites pictured above).

So yeah, two great reasons to smile!

Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End

I saw Pirates last night, and instead of the usually wordy review, below are some other movies/cartoons that, mixed together with a dash of salt, would produce the same results. Additional cinema allusions, both intended and unintended, are welcome!

Top Ten SciFi Movies

The British SciFi magazine SFX reports the top three SciFi movies as follows: Serenity, Star Wars, and Blade Runner. While I certainly treasure each of those and also feel that Serenity was woefully under appreciated at the box-office, I would never dream of putting such a recent release at the top. Given that Firefly and Serenity have a rather rapid and internet-centric fanbase, I’m not really surprised to see this kind of achievement in what was likely an on-line poll. Anyway, in the interest of balance, below is my top 10 list. Every SciFi-loving blogger reading these words would be shirking his blogger-duties by passing up this meme. You have been put on notice!

McCain vs. Gore

If this is what the 2008 election comes down to, I and many others are going to be in a serious pickle. Both men value the protection of the environment above the interests of corporations. Both men feel strongly about America’s role as a leader in world affairs but also have talked about how reluctantly our nation should be before it engages in armed conflict. Both are men of faith, but neither showcase it or politicize it for their own political ends. Both have spoken knowledgeably about technology, and both have demonstrated a cultural savy that our current administration noticeably lacks (see Gore on SNL recently and McCain on the Daily Show).

Still, the choice between Gore and McCain is a vast improvement over the choice we had back in 2004. Their debates would be civil and intellectually gratifying. Their campaign rhetoric would likewise be a more adult and tactful interchange of differing approaches to common problems. I would have a tough time choosing between them, but either winner would be victory for our country.

Brokeback Budgets and Victorious Vendettas

Brokeback Mountain is now the 8th largest grossing movie of its genre (romantic drama) , beating out movies like The Notebook and The English Patient (among others). That’s no small feat, but likely due at least in part to the fact that it only had a budget of $14 million (contrast that with Failure to Launch’s still-somewhat-modest $50 million budget). Other recent Oscar-award winning movies have also had smaller budgets (eg. Capote $7 million and Crash $6.5 million), which definitely backs-up what George Lucas recently said, that “big pics are doomed”. While I don’t believe we’ll never see the likes of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or Titanic again, it is encouraging to see Hollywood work more frugally and yet still turn out movies with high critical and popular acclaim.

Speaking of which, you should more certainly spend a few hours with V for Vendetta, a movie that tries hard to appeal to all the various heights of brow currently in existence. Its got violence, tender moments, political theory, satire, hijinks, and a bit of terrorism thrown in to spice it up. Even if people take great offense to its subversive (circa our founding fathers) message, it above all else demonstrates that we live in a country where freedom is respected and lifestyle choice is still exactly that - a choice.

Unlike some places that we’ve supposedly liberated, cough, Afghanistan. Check this great bit about an aid-worker who has been condemned to death for converting from Islam to Christianity. So glad that spreading freedom thing is working out for us.

A Constant Lemony Cake

Earlier this week, I finished the 12th Lemony Snicket book The Penultimate Peril. Its always a pleasure reading another Lemony Snicket, with his cheeky definitions and subversive morals. What’s sad is that there’s only one left, and that it doesn’t come out until the fall of this year. Oh well, here’s a great quote from the latest.

“Scalia,” Sunny said. She meant something like “It doesn’t seem like the literal interpretation makes any sense,” but her siblings did not think it was wise to translate.

There are two movies that I have been patiently waiting to see for a while now - Layer Cake and A Constant Gardner. Both revolve around British men whose lives change drastically over the course of the story, one because of the schemes and mistakes of people around him, the other because of his intense desire to discover the mysteries behind his wife’s murder. The directors of these two films are relative newcomers to directing film, but as such bring a novel and refreshing voice to their adapted works (both are novels). Neither movie is at all predictable, with A Constant Gardener quickly spiraling from a love story to a thriller and with the characters in Layer Cake switching loyalties only slightly quicker than the audience can keep up. Both movies are highly recommended.

Well, now that I’ve wasted yet another hour on a Saturday morning (listening to Car Talk, of course), I’m out to run some errands before my gig tonight at Cypress Cove. Remember, don’t drive like my brother!

State of the Disunion p4

Human/animal hybrids? George has been watching too many late-night horror flicks on SciFi, that or those man/sheep selling Skittles before movies. Big words about helping disaster victims, but is FEMA doing their best to administer that help? God bless America indeed!

For a really articulate and intelligent response to the State of the Union, be sure to visit Andrew Sullivan’s blog. I know I’ll be heading over there to read up.

A Multi-flavored Geek

It can be rough being a geek sometimes, particularly when you’re simultaneously geeky about very different things. For example, last night I took great pleasure in celebrating the premiere of the last Star Wars by constructing a recently purchased LEGO ARC-170 starship (the X-wing looking ship from Revenge of the Sith). It could have been much worse as I was intending to watch one or more of the movies on DVD to prepare for my Star Wars Friday (watching the movie at 10:30am with coworker friends and 7:30pm with non-work-related friends). As it turned out, however, I managed only to catch up on 24 (I really don’t know why I keep watching that incredulous show) and bake an apple pie for Pie Week at work.

So there’s the sci-fi geek aspect to my personality, then (obviously enough) there’s the compuer geek aspect. These two so often go hand-in-hand that its only worth briefly mentioning, so lets proceed to some other flavors du geek. Earlier today, I discovered the websites www.dogster.com and www.catster.com. So, as a proper animal geek with three dogs and two cats, I of course posted profiles up for each of them. And to complete the proof, below you shall find their weblinks. Qed.

• Uma
• Unagii
• Utopia
• Uno
• Ulyssia

Finally some might say that I’m a music geek, particularly obsessed with soundtracks and electronic music. While I certainly could make such claims, I know musicians far geekier musically than myself and should really defer the title to them. Which I guess begs the questions “What is a geek?” and “How much do you have to know/care to be a geek?”. This of course begs the questions “Who cares?” and “Why am I wasting my time on this entry?”. And so on and so forth.

The world may never know.

Dahl and Burton

Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing choclateer,
Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, everybody give a cheer!

Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, he’s a genius who just can’t be beat.
The magician and the chocolate place, Willy Wonka here he is!

Award Shows and Apocalypse

This week was almost bookended by two award shows of vastly different quality. The first was the Tonys and aired this past Sunday, capping of our Gay Days BBQ. I haven’t watched too many Tony Award shows in the past, but from what I’ve seen this had to be the best in many years. Host Hugh Jackman was spectacular as a host and even more fantastic portryaing Paul Allen in The Boy from Oz. In addition to that, there were two other fantastic performances - one by the cast of Wicked and the other by the cast of Avenue Q. Ah, if only I had money to burn. We’d be up in New York seeing any of these in a heartbeat.

Bill, Clark, Heather, et al.

I saw Kill Bill v2 last night at the Loews Cineplex at Universal’s CityWalk. Several of us went as a kind-of continuation of the graduation celebration for Tony. The movie was, of course, fantastic, but I mean that quite literally. Tarantino’s movies all seem to have that fantastic quality about them, like they’re fantasies about violence and the people that create violence in the world. I say this having seen all of his movies but Jackie Brown, something I hope to soon rectify.

What I loved the most about Kill Bill was not the extensive Asian influence, nor was it the throwbacks to the revenge and various exploitation genres. What I loved the most was the tender way he handled the characters, allowing them to have moments of purely fantastic dialogue that coexist alongside the carnage. He’s tried to do this in his previous work, but never to such a successful extent as in these films.

Now from one medium to another. Today I went to see consumer advocate Clark Howard do a live show at the Orlando Science Center. If you haven’t had the chance to catch Clark live, I highly recommend it. Mostly because he’s the nicest radio personality I’ve ever had the priveledge of hearing speak. On top of that, he’s also brilliant when it comes to advice on saving money. Its scary when you realize you’re starting to enjoy grown-up things like listening to advice on saving money. AARP here I come!

Tonight, after celebrating with our friend Heather a bit, I came home and watched the finale of “Mad Mad House” with Erik. That show didn’t really evolve much as it went, but stayed true to its intent. I was satisfied, as were the Alts, that the person who won was transformed and deserved the $100,000. Now, before I fall alseep, I’m capping off my night with Battle Royale, the Japanese parable about highschool/realityTV/Lord of the Flies from which Quentin Tarantino derived the Japanese schoolgirl with a mace character found in Kill Bill v1. Oyasumi nasai.

Well, the great experiment failed. I learned from it that

• Diet Coke tastes terrible
• I will always be addicted to Coke

Having said that, I can now drink Diet Coke if there’s absolutely nothing else to drink. Ultimately, though I’d rather drink water, which has 0 calories and 0 nasty aftertaste (well, maybe not UCF water).

I have, however, started working out at the gym at work. This in conjunction with some DDR for cardio, I think I’ll start to shed the pounds in no time.

On a completely unrelated note, I am so frustrated these days with our nation’s unhealthy relationship with sex. How can we be so at ease with wanton death and violence, but freak out with something as natural as a naken man on film?

Bernardo Bertolucci’s most recent film The Dreamer will be released later this year with an NC-17 rating. Because of graphic violence? No. Because of realistic depictions of death and destruction? No. The Dreamers will be released with the taboo NC-17 because of nudity and sexual content. We’d rather show movies in this country about the end of the world, complete with blood, guts, and gore before we dare present nudity on the big screen.

The Great Experiment

Well, the great experiment failed. I learned from it that

• Diet Coke tastes terrible
• I will always be addicted to Coke

Having said that, I can now drink Diet Coke if there’s absolutely nothing else to drink. Ultimately, though I’d rather drink water, which has 0 calories and 0 nasty aftertaste (well, maybe not UCF water).

I have, however, started working out at the gym at work. This in conjunction with some DDR for cardio, I think I’ll start to shed the pounds in no time.
On a completely unrelated note, I am so frustrated these days with our nation’s unhealthy relationship with sex. How can we be so at ease with wanton death and violence, but freak out with something as natural as a naken man on film?

Bernardo Bertolucci’s most recent film The Dreamer will be released later this year with an NC-17 rating. Because of graphic violence? No. Because of realistic depictions of death and destruction? No. The Dreamers will be released with the taboo NC-17 because of nudity and sexual content. We’d rather show movies in this country about the end of the world, complete with blood, guts, and gore before we dare present nudity on the big screen.

Top 10 Movies of 2001

1) The Lord of the Rings

Several years back just after the release of Star Wars: Episode I, I remember hearing of a somewhat obscure director from New Zealand who wanted to make a fantasy trilogy that would demonstrate to George Lucas exactly how epic fantasy filmmaking should be done. With the release of Fellowship of the Ring, Peter Jackson has elevated the definition of excellence in fantasy/sci-fi cinema to a new height against which Lucas must struggle to reach.

But I liked Phantom Menace, didn’t I? After reflecting back on that film, I now realize that it failed in a lot of important ways that the Fellowship of the Ring succeeded in. While Phantom Menace drops us headfirst into conflict without much introduction, Fellowship succeeds in drawing us into the lives of Hobbits, Elves, Wizards, and Humans. Where Phantom washes us over with plasticky landscapes and just-out-of-the-box droids, Fellowship immerses us with vibrant country sides and well-worn battle armor. And when a major character falls in Phantom, I felt only a bit of sadness that one of the cooler characters wouldn’t be around in the next two films, where in Fellowship I was shedding tears for the loss of a friend.

What else did I like about Fellowship? All of the actors were fantastic! The score to the film was breathtaking! The visual effects were gorgeous and seamless with the naturally beautiful landscapes and sets behind them. Unlike Harry Potter & The Sorcerer?s Stone, the troll in Fellowship actually looked realistic and scary! The costumes and buildings were absolutely convincing. At no time during the film was I even slightly distracted by disbelief in the fact that I was watching Middle Earth.

To me, Fellowship was a movie made out of love and respect by skillful people who honestly care about their product. Peter Jackson skillfully directed these people into making a film that sets new technical standards, honors the legacy of Tolkein, and can stand up on its own as a work of art. Very few filmmakers have accomplished that much in their entire careers! Eleven months is going to be a quite a wait, but what a great event to look forward to!!

2) Amelie

Amelie is a beautiful and highly idiosyncratic film about the joys of anonymous acts of compassion. Amelie finds both delight and emptiness in these acts as she attempts to fill an emotional void in her life. Her struggle is at times comical, cynical, and always magical. Written and directed by the French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of the bizarre Delicatessen and delightful City of Lost Children, Amelie succeeds in being both idyllic and ironic, boastful and bashful, saccharine and sarcastic. It’s an uplifting work of cinema without the shmaltz and fluff that Hollywood routinely cranks out as “feel-good” films. Unfortunately, until it wins some Oscar nominations for best foreign-language film, you probably won’t find it at your local multiplex. But dig hard for a good theater, and you might just find yourself blessed.

3) Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge is a musical unlike any you’ve ever seen - a fantastic journey through bohemian 19th-century Paris as retold with the pop songs of the 20th century. Sounds confusing? It can be, both visually and aurally unsettling at times, but only as a vehicle to guide the audience along a classic tale of star-crossed lovers. Don’t watch it expecting historical accuracy. Don’t be surprised if you’re laughing and crying at the same time. And don’t be surprised if you find yourself singing along!

4) the Others

Never has so innocent a force as light been so terrifying! The Others, the first American film by Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar, is a classical horror film set in an old mansion off the coast of Great Britain during the end of the second World War. From the beginning of the film, Amenabar suggests hidden horrors lurk right around the corner…or perhaps in the next room, which because of the children’s unexplained aversion to light, is always unseen behind a locked door or drawn curtain.

If this were all there were to the film, I’d still probably be raving about it. But the true genius of the Others lies in its two layers of perception. To say any more would be sacrilege and would ruin whatever chance you have of experiencing both layers, but this is a film that you simply must see more than once. And for added entertainment, make your second trip to the theater with someone who hasn’t seen it yet.

5) Monsters, Inc.

6) Memento

A remarkable concept film that succeeds in depicting the protagonist’s affliction by unravelling the story from the end to the beginning. Starring Guy Pierce (who I LOVED in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), Memento suceeds in keeping the audience guessing until the very end, or rather beginning. I’ve heard that when starting a story, you should grab the audience with something outlandish. Memento uses this technique quite effectively with the protagonist killing someone in the first few minutes of the movie. But that’s only the destination…the journey is what keeps us involved and intrigued.

7) Vanilla Sky

the Man Who Wasn’t There

9) AI

I have a special place on my shelf for my three favorite Kubrick films - Dr. Strangelove, 2001, and a Clockwork Orange - which, for me, represent the best work of an amazing film-maker. When A.I. is released, it will sit proudly next to those movies as both an epilogue to Kubrick’s career and an homage from one auteur to another. A.I. is an attempt to blend the idiosyncratic and sometimes anaseptic film-making of Kubrick with the epic and emotional film-making of Speilburg. This attempt, however, is not always successful. The opening story of the young robot trying to fit into a family seems at times too cold to make us care about the future of these characters. Later, when the young robot reacts to finding out that he isn’t as unique as he thought, we lose yet another layer of empathy for him.

Many people have said that they felt the film should have ended twenty minutes early without the final epilogue. I can’t agree on the basis that Kubrick was quite fond of having a coda at the end of his work, and he did in fact approve of the ending before he put the project away. Speilburg’s handling of the coda, likewise, was brilliant. Not giving too much away, but finding a resolution to the film that was both poignant and fulfilling, scientific and fantastic.

Overall, Speilburg did an overall good job at brining one final Kubrick film out to the world. He absolutely nailed Kubrick’s style in the clinic, Rouge City, and frozen city scenes. Perhaps if more of Speilburg had involved, this film would have been a perfect blend of genius. Instead, we’re left with an highly above-average work that can’t quite figure out its identity.

10) Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

Gladiator: Original Soundtrack

If you know even a small variety of unusual artists, you’ll probably flip like I did when you read you wrote the soundtrack to Ridley Scott’s upcoming epic movie Gladiator. Hans Zimmer is a usual enough choice for an epic, action film, but what about sharing the byline with a former member of the eclectic, folk group Dead Can Dance??? Well, it’s not without precedence.

Recently, Lisa Gerrard and her new musical partner Pieter Bourke have contributed significantly to the critically acclaimed hit the Insider. In both movies, Gerrard’s haunting and beautiful voice temper the other components of the film with an elegant, ancient, and exotic texture. But while in the Insider her music consisted entirely of previously released songs mixed well with the traditional score, in this film she is allowed to compose new and original music that flows seamlessly with Hans Zimmer’s score.

Beyond Gerrard’s contributions lies the traditional textures of Hans Zimmer. Known for his own blend of exotic textures and bombastic, adrenaline-pumping orchestral power chords, Zimmer performs up to expectations in Gladiator. Especially cool, though, is his quoting of a theme from Gustav Holst’s Mars. This is especially appropriate in the context of the film, as it appears when Maximus, the Gladiator goes into battle (Mars - Roman god of war).

For those purists out there who normally wait until AFTER seeing the movie to buy the soundtrack, the list of events on the back of this CD don’t give away too much (unlike NUMEROUS other scores…Phantom Menace, for example). But, if you insist on waiting, then run out to see the film on Friday and proceed immediately afterward to buy this wonderful soundtrack.

Fight Club

Fight Club is one of those movies that you either love or hate. This is, though, usually the sign of a great and thought-provoking movie, which Fight Club is several times over! But here are a few things you should know before viewing Fight Club.

1. Do NOT take a female with you to this movie…this is a movie that should be viewed first by a group of men who have just consumed moderate to massive quantities of meat and caffeine. After your first viewing, you could then take a close female friend as long as she’s open to original movies (not a fan of say Three to Tango or Blue Streak).

2. Don’t leave the theater during the movie…no matter what the circumstances. To fully enjoy this work, it must be viewed in a linear fashion from beginning to end without interruption.

3. Immediately after the movie has finished, strike up a discussion about the themes, scenes, and deeper meanings that this movie contains. This might hurt a little at first if you aren’t used to doing it, but this pain should subside with time and some additional meat and caffeine.

In all seriousness, Fight Club forces us to ask some serious questions about our society and what it means to be alive. Some of these ideas are also found in last month’s movie American Beauty, but Fight Club discusses them with a dark satire and awesome visual style that puts it in a class by itself. Check it out…and don’t forget the meat!