FunBlog

Has anyone noticed that Bill Murray is starting to look just like Karl Malden? I don’t know about you, but I find that rather disturbing. Fortunately he has only a small walk-on role in this movie, but I thought I’d mention it anyway.

The Darjeeling Limited is actually a comedy about three brothers who are idiots eccentric. The oldest brother (Owen Wilson) has just suffered a near-death experience, so he decides to round up his younger brothers (Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman) and take them on a spiritual journey centered around a train trip through India. His ultimate goal, which he doesn’t mention, is to arrange a reunion with their estranged mother (Anjelica Huston) who is also eccentric.

Naturally things don’t work out according to plan.

It’s an amusing comedy, at times semi-heartwarming. If you like the sort of movies Owen Wilson has done in the past, you will probably like this one too. It was written by Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, Bottle Rocket.)

In 1990 Christopher McCandless graduated with top grades from Emory University. A few days later he gave his life savings of $24,000 to charity and vanished for parts unknown. By April 1992 he had made his way to central Alaska, where he hiked into the wilderness to live by himself. 113 days later he was dead. This outcome is hardly surprising. Alaska is a tough place and has killed many men who were better equipped and prepared than he was.

This movie (by Sean Penn, based on the book by Jon Krakauer) is obviously not going to be to everyone’s taste, but I’m still glad that I saw it. It’s a fascinating, disturbing and puzzling story. McCandless (Emile Hirsch) was obviously pretty smart, yet he did something extremely foolish and died as a result–a graphic illustration of the difference between intelligence and wisdom.
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I have posted my notes on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya on a separate page here. The notes are full of spoilers, so don’t read them if you haven’t seen the series.

(Broadcast order)

(DVD order)

A strong-willed girl wants to meet aliens, time-travelers or espers…but she never does…or does she?

Of the hundred or so anime series broadcast in 2006, this was by far the biggest hit. The quirky story, clever writing, hilarious characters and first-rate animation caught the attention of millions of viewers. It catapulted the small animation studio to the front ranks, and made a cult idol out of Aya Hirano.

Now it is available on DVD, but unfortunately in a degraded form.
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Since I really enjoyed the Shakugan no Shana television series I was eager to see the movie. Unfortunately it was a bit of a letdown.

The movie turns out to be a retelling of the first story arc of the TV series (the Friagne arc.) I’m OK with that in principle. That arc is a powerful story; some people consider it the best part of the series. I’m willing to judge the movie on its own terms without comparing it to the series–if they’ll let me.
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In recent years there have been several movies that tried to relate Jane Austen to the modern world. Sometimes Austen stories have been retold in a modern setting. Examples include Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion. Of course there are alternate approaches such as “Mansfield Park as Jane Austen would have written it if she had had the advantage of my enlightened modern perspective”.

The Jane Austen Book Club, takes a different approach. It doesn’t attempt to retell a Jane Austen story (thus depriving me of the opportunity to make invidious comparisons between the movie and the original.) Instead it tries to show the effects of Jane Austen on the modern world, or at least on six people who decide to read all of her novels in the space of six months.

The result is reasonable light entertainment, often funny and sometimes charming. The movie’s greatest weakness it that it depends a lot on the audience being familiar with Austen’s work. If you are a Jane Austen fan you will probably like the movie. If you are not, it may not make much sense to you.

(This is in contrast to the movies I mentioned in the first paragraph, all of which can be enjoyed by people who have never heard of Jane Austen, and for one of which that might be an advantage.)