Babylon 5: Season 4 (1997)

No Surrender, No Retreat (1997)

22 episodes, approx 44 mins each.

"It was the year of fire - the year of destruction - the year we took back what was ours. It was the year of rebirth - the year of great sadness - the year of pain - and the year of joy. It was a new age. It was the end of history. It was the year everything changed. The year is 2261."

The events of the Season 3 finale are carried over into the beginning of Season 4. It closes doors that were opened in Season 2 and opens some that won't be shut until the very last episode of Season 5.

I think of it as Babylon 5's Dune season; expect political intrigue, religious motifs, betrayals, power hungry Emperors, plans within plans, assassinations, and wars on a planetary scale.

Elsewhere it deals with love, loss, identity, the desire to change and the things we must sacrifice to gain the ability to carry out such change. The Man In-between is revealed. And there are some exciting space battles for those that like that sort of thing.

Candyman: Film Trilogy (1992-99)

Candyman (1992)

Dir. Bernard Rose

Some folks believe that if you look into a mirror and speak aloud the Candyman's name five times he'll come for you. But he won't bring you candy and a smile. He'll cut you from groin to gullet with a vicious and bloody metal hook where his hand used to be.

The beautiful and determined Helen (Virginia Madsen) is doing a thesis on urban myth and legend. For her, the Candyman story is impossible to ignore, offering a ticket to peer acceptance and wider recognition.

Helen doesn't believe the stories. She allows her rational mind to override the instinctual fears that keep us safe from things that exist in the dark. That's her first mistake.

Shadow of the Colossus: Video Game (2005)

Shadow of the Colossus (2005)

Genre: Action / Adventure  |  Players: 1  |  Developer: Team Ico

Team Ico's follow-up to ICO (2001) is a very different kind of game. Nevertheless, there's the feeling that they both exist within the same fictional universe, making Shadow of the Colossus a spiritual sequel.*

It's the story of a boy and his horse. There's also the matter of a dead girl to address. Wander (the boy) will do whatever's required to bring her back from beyond the veil, even kill at the behest of a mysterious voice.

Combat is essentially a series of boss battles. The Colossi are the kind of thing you'd face at the end of a Legend of Zelda dungeon. Many are so large that they need to be climbed so that you can attack their vulnerable spot, but just finding the Colossi can be a challenge in itself because the game world is vast.

The Fall (2006)

The Fall (2006)

Dir. Tarsem Singh

Tarsem often favours style over substance. I'm sure I've criticised him for it in the past, but never in regards to The Fall. Take the time to understand its tiered structure and you'll discover that substance is very much there, indivisible from style, reliant on an obvious contrast between its two different states.

On the surface, the more traditional story being told is a frame that holds within it an additional, fantastical, allegorical story narrated by one character to another, not unlike Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights. The imaginations of both teller and recipient are given life, acted out like an elaborate and ornate play. The full picture can only be appreciated when you consider the frame and what it holds as one product.

True Grit (1968)

True Grit (1968)

Author: Charles Portis  | Page Count: 227

“You go for a man hard enough and fast enough and he don’t have time to think about how many is with him, he thinks about himself and how he may get clear out of the wrath that is about to set down on him.”

Though it won't matter very much to anyone reading this, I've been a fan of the Western film genre for almost thirty years (thanks, mom ♥ ) but until picking up True Grit for the first time last week I'd never actually read a Western novel, unless you count Stephen King's Dark Tower series, but the magical realism aspects of it complicate any kind of straight-up classification.

The reason I mention that is to point out that an enjoyment of one isn't dependent on a love of the other. The book and its characters are so well-written that they'd stand head and shoulders above thousands of similar types regardless of year or setting.

Fearless: Director's Cut (2006)

Fearless: Director's Cut (2006) 

Dir. Ronny Yu

A biopic of Master Huo Yuanjia, founder of the world-renowned Jin Wu Sports Federation.

The disclaimer in the end credits states: while this motion picture is based on historical events, characters and incidents have been composited, invented and fictionalized.

It should really have been presented at the beginning to help viewers achieve the correct mindset needed to fully appreciate the film. I don't know about anyone else, but on my first viewing I was expecting the realism of a biopic. Having expectations thrown so far into the wind tainted the experience and it was many years before I gave it a second chance. I'm glad I did, though, because it's a film that deserves a place on a Jet Li fan's shelf.

NIN | JA: Tour Sampler (2009)

NIN | JA: Tour Sampler (2009)

An E.P that was given out free via direct download to promote the Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction Tour.

It features two tracks from NIN that were originally laid down during the With Teeth (2005) recording sessions. They didn't make it onto the final product. Don't assume they didn't make the cut because they're crap. They're certainly not. They're actually a must have for fans (well, fans of that particular album at least).

Wiki claims the two Jane's Addiction tracks were newly recorded studio versions of songs that had previously only existed as live versions.