Movie Sky Captain and the Manga 8 JANUARY 23, 2005 World of Tomorrow Paramount Pictures Director - Kerry Conran Br Stax Dopnin STAFF WRITER Once upon a time, films that tanta- lized your innocent sense of adventure were a common thing. Films that fcea- tured evil doers existing for little pur- pose other than to be vanquished by our favourite heroes: Films featuring outrageous yet attractive characters finding themselves in one ridiculous situation after another, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a film that returns to this tradition and res- onates as a modern old-school achicvement, at lcast in terms of its aesthetic qualitics. Unfortunately for Sky Captain, while it did bring along some outra- gcous characters, it forgot to instill many of them with attractive aspects to make us care that it was them being launched into such dangerous predica- ments. Set in a sort of alternate 1930s New York the title character Sky Captain, played by Jude Law, along with newspaper reporter Polly Perkins (could such a name really cxist for any- one other than a female journalist?; played by Gwyneth Paltrow, investi- gate the mystcrious disappearance of various scientists. They end up pursu- ing the culprit, a mad scientist, Dr. Totenkopf, all the while introducing the viewers to other adventurers at the convenient disposal of Sky Captain. If this all sounds rather dopey, well, I can’t sugar coat this, it is dopey. This is the kind of story material that comic books were relegated to in decades long since ‘past. But that is the way the film is supposed to be. Movies like this thrive on their visual appeal and their often hilarious characters. Unfortunately, the only characters that I actually came to care about were Sky Captain himself, and his gadget- creating buddy Dex (Giovanni Ribisi). Polly Perkins, on the other hand, was a personality that I couldn’t wait to rid fran my memory. The Word of ) Tomorrow, at best, only marginally succeeded with its characters, however it nearly made up for them through its remarkable visual presentation, Believe it or not, this entire film was shot in front of a bluc screen. That’s right, everything you sce aside from the actors and a few small props is computer generated. You might not even believe it if you saw it; the syn- thetic mixes with the real so well. All apparent edges in the imagery arc soft- ened with blurring and inventive uses of ambient light, giving a classical look. It’s almost like looking into a raw dream. This stylization works well with the action of Sky Captain’s numerous battles. The flying ace encounters no shortage of air-born or terrestrial robots to blow up. It all looks quite incredible, and of course is backed by a heavily brass score tri- umphant cnough to make Indiana Jones jealous. I can still only give this film a mar- ginal recommendation. The best way to enjoy it is to simply lay back and switch off the logical and interpretive portions of your brain. I give a ton of credit though to the film makers for their attempt at making movies fun again. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is not just old-school in how it looks, but in its fantastical sense of naive adventure. Your childhood imagination has been realized on film without being filtered through the bounds of reality. With better charac- ters it really could have becn some- thing. Sky Captain is now on DVD. Traditional Style Returns in Shirahime-syo Shirahime-syo CLAMP Tokyopop 2003 By DAMA SGIWVEMR STABY WRITER A lot of the manga-reading peo- ples out there might be wondering what is with a lot of the manga that is currently being published. They might wonder why there are so matty comics designed to be nothing more than advertising for some game that the corporate bigwigs are trying to push on today’s kids. They may even go so far as to wonder if there is any- thing with substance and storyline to be found out there at all. Well, it is pleasing to be able to say that yes there is: This week, we look at Shirahime-syo, a work by CLAMP, the team who brought us Chobits and Cardcaptor Sakura. This particular volume is a collection of four stories of sadness and snow, told in a more traditional Japancse manner. There is a Japanese legend that the snow is actually the tears of the Snow Princess, and that when her tears fall, tragedy is about to happen. This story is the inspiration for cach of the storics in this book. There is the tale of the girl who sought revenge on the black wolf who killed her father, and the story of the man who returncd to sec if his love still CD ! 23 fj if | i Py gly Hl waited for him after thirty years of hin, absencc. There is also the story of a young soldicr lost on a mountain in a snowstorm, and the final tale of a chance encounter between a mortal and the Snow Princess herself. The art style is a departure from what CLAMP usually produces. The character designs are more sparse and not as sickly cute as some of the others that CLAMP has produced over the years. The combination of traditional-style water colour art with CLAMP’s undeniable talent for the creation of manga makes this book a real visual treat. Flesh Field: Only Great At Faster Tempos Flesh Field , Strain Metropolis Records 2004 By Coty VANDERENDE STAFF WRITER Flesh Field is an intense rapid-fire rave group that really ignites their lis- teners. They have a great varicty of sound and technique and they bring a great rhythm. In addition, their lyrics are still rather creative. Their lead singer has a great voice for a rave beat, however some of their songs arc less of the rave genre, but nonctheless quite excellent. In addi- tion, the duct makes for a damn good time. In all good bands there are weak- nesses and, of course, this band is no exception. Some of their slower songs just sounded down-right lame. They also managed to put onc of the worst at the end which docs not eave a good impression. Overall, I still feel it was a good group. The disk did not involve much of anything about Flesh Field. The band consists of lead singer Ian Ross, and female vocals Wendy Yanho, bass guitar James Stepp, gui- tar Josh Creamer, female backing vocals Margarct Faye. I give Flesh Field a solid thumb and a half} that is like, a little more than one thumb. Deceased: We Killed Him By JONas GAGVON OPINION Eprror Qn February 11, we mourned the passing of We Killed Him and cele- brated its brief, but joyous life. We Killed Him, a now defunct local band, released their posthumous album “Long Dead Echo” to a not so huge crowd. The band consisted of local talent, Jeremy Stewart, along with bandmates Ryan, Andrew, and Cliris Batting. The music was a mixture of heavy metal and hard rock. The album release consisted of a small speech by Jeremy Stewart, and a listen to their CD. The music was good, especially if you prefer your music loud and hard. Despite this event sounding the death toll of the band, it was not well attended. In the end, We Killed Him went out with a rather small bang.