Ocean Waves (1993)

Ocean Waves (1993)

aka I Can Hear the Sea

Dir. Tomomi Mochizuki

Originally, I considered writing something for each of the Studio Ghibli feature films and presenting them in chronological order, but I'm not a completist and I don't like all of the films, so I'm skipping the ones that I don't want to watch again. Of the selection that remains, the next is the lesser-known Ocean Waves.

Produced by Studio Ghibli but made-for-television, it's a story about youth and maturity, set in a competitive Japanese high school environment and in the wider world.

The three main characters are friends Tako and Yutaka and the girl who turns both their heads, a transfer student named Rikako. She's self-centred and takes advantage of Tako's good nature, but that doesn't stop him pursuing her.

Idaho Transfer (1973)

Idaho Transfer (1973)

Dir. Peter Fonda

Because it's my favourite genre, I've watched hundreds of science fiction films and TV Series in my lifetime — everything from Méliès to modern trash; from love songs to the genre made on a shoestring budget to Hollywood excesses that cost stupid amounts of money — but never one quite like Idaho Transfer before, which makes it even more interesting to me than it might be otherwise.

It's an arty, minimalist production that's both peaceful and oddly unsettling. Even though they're in very different genres, it's reminiscent of Easy Rider (1969) at times in its editing and in how it presents an important worldview in an understated but engaging manner. It even has something that reminds of the former's cemetery scene.

The plot involves an unnamed future cataclysm that destroys life on earth; all life or just some of it, we don't know. A chosen group of under-twenties travel fifty-six years into their own future to avoid the end. Free of government and societal pressures they have an opportunity to start civilisation over again, hopefully for the better.

As far as I know, at time of writing it isn't available to purchase or stream in any kind of HD format. The market for it is probably just too small. But it was shot on 35 mm, so there's hope.

Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast: Volume 1 (2018)

Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast: Volume 1 (2018)

Authors: Llexi Leon (story) / Ian Edginton (script) | Artist: Kevin J West | Page Count: 128

'Eddie is an embodiment of free will, a chaotic spirit, the unseen catalyst during crucial turning points in history. The spark that lights the flame.'

LotB's story is based on a 'free to play' mobile phone game that I've not played. The structure of the first collected volume feels very much like a series of game levels stitched together, with little care put into smoothing over the level changes. It also lacks a decent introduction, as if we're missing a crucial cut-scene.

In the story, Eddie is freed from bondage by a floating lady in a flowing dress, the Clairvoyant, a self-proclaimed 'sightless seer in the realm of the senses'. It seems that sometime before that, however, Eddie's soul was ripped from his body by The Beast, looking like he did on Iron Maiden's classic Number of the Beast (1982) album.

The mascot's stolen soul somehow became a glowing red crystalline substance that was shattered into shards and distributed to a group of nefarious individuals. Eddie's quest, therefore, is to retrieve his lost soul by defeating the holders of the fragments.

The Incredible Hulk: Original Movie Collection (2018)

The Incredible Hulk:
Original Movie Collection (2018)

Dirs. Nicholas Corea / Bill Bixby | 3 Films, approx 272 mins (total)

The 2018 date given above refers to the three-disc DVD box-set released by Fabulous Films in that year, but the three films themselves are from much earlier (1988-90). They're set after The Incredible Hulk TV series (1977-82) that starred Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno as scientist David Banner and his alter-ego, respectively.

The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988)

Dir. Nicholas Corea

It's been two years since David Banner burst his shirt and trousers in a green rage. He's in a stable relationship and working on a gamma transponder that could potentially rid him of his alter ego forever, but a face from his past upsets the apple cart, and pesky reporter Jack McGee (Jack Colvin) is back on Banner's trail again.

ICO: Melody in the Mist (2002)

ICO: Melody in the Mist (2002)

Composed by Michiru Ōshima and Pentagon

The ICO score is just over twenty-five minutes in length, but during that time it encapsulates almost as many different emotional states as the game itself gives rise to while playing.

Some of the incidental music is so brief that it seems as if the lingering aspect you'd normally expect to have actually becomes the whole, but it's never cursory or perfunctory.

Other parts of it are so perfect, so refined, that making them longer couldn't increase their beauty, it would merely increase the duration.

As a whole, it's a gathering of musical moments ranging from serene, ethereal, forebodingly eerie and haunting to ultimately peaceful, filled with hope. That's a lot of ground for something that's only as long as my bus journey into town.

Infernal Affairs Trilogy (2002-03)

Infernal Affairs (2002)

Dirs. Andrew Lau / Alan Mak

An excellent Hong Kong crime thriller in which a dedicated police officer (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) risks life and limb to go deep undercover in Triad society.

Similarly, a member of the Triad group (Andy Lau) enrols in the HK police service.

Both men eventually become aware of the other's existence, but neither one knows what his counterpart actually looks like.

The nerve-racking race for one mole to expose the other first is often tense as hell, as if walking a knife edge, with a feeling that even during quiet times there may be someone watching, waiting for the mole to slip up and expose himself.

ICO: Castle in the Mist (2008)

ICO: Castle in the Mist (2008)

Author:  Miyuki Miyabe  |  Translator:  Alexander O. Smith  |  Page Count: 370

'Whatever it was that dripped from the cage, it was blacker than pitch, the colour of melted shadow.'

The story as presented in the ICO video game (2001) was purposefully vague. It encouraged players to speculate about the backstory of the characters.

The act of filling in the blanks gave rise to a more personal experience for the player, making us not just the protagonist but also the teller, the narrator of the story as it was being lived/directed in real time.

Reading someone else's version of those same events, comparing and contrasting them with your own, can be an interesting or even rewarding undertaking for some folks. But when put into context, isn't a published version of such simply fan-fiction being sold at RRP?

Regardless of whether or not that's a fair assessment, I made sure while reading to judge the work for what it did well (or otherwise) with regards world-building, characterisation, etc, and not for being different to my own interpretation of the game's story; to have did otherwise would be a disservice to everyone involved.

The Illustrated Man (1951)

The Illustrated Man (1951)

Author: Ray Bradbury  |  Page Count: 294

'...[P]erhaps ten minutes elapsed while the first terror died and a metallic calm took its place. Space began to weave its strange voices in and out, in a great dark loom, crossing, recrossing, making a final pattern.'

Perhaps because of the 1969 filmed version of the same name — or perhaps in spite of it, if like me you don't consider it to be a very good adaptation — the book is one of Ray Bradbury's more well-known anthologies.

The sixteen stories that are included weren't written specifically for the collection, but were gathered together with a newly penned bridge narrative that explains how each individual tale is represented as an inking on the human canvas that is the illustrated man.*

While they take place across many different times and locales, thematically most of them have a connecting cynical edge, something that the master fantasist is more proficient at than people often give him credit for. It's a theme that complements the temperament of the titular man, a drifter who feels that the pictures on his skin have a weight that burdens his soul.

I Am Legend: Filmed Versions (1964-2007)

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

Dirs: Sidney Salkow / Ubaldo Ragona

The first filmed adaptation of Richard Matheson's celebrated I Am Legend (1954) novel is more faithful to the book in comparison to what followed. It even has the pit.

Vincent plays the titular man. He walks as if the weight of what's left of the world is on his shoulders, a visible sign that he's a man for whom routine has become a kind of prison.

There's a lengthy flashback to a happier time that could've and should've been emotionally powerful, but some painfully bad dubbing issues leave the scenes feeling cheap and insincere.

Had they been rectified it would've been a better film, because the sense of isolation the story requires is captured well-enough.

Into The Labyrinth (1981-82)

Into The Labyrinth (1981-82)

Dir. Peter Graham Scott

21 episodes (07 Eps x 03 Series), approx 26 mins each.

Regrettably, I lost the torn out notepad page that I'd taken notes on while watching, so I'm going to have to work solely from memory as best I can. I feel bad about that because my memory is often unreliable and the show deserves a proper, detailed write up.

Three youths, Phil, Helen and Terry (in order pictured) shelter in a nearby cave when a freak storm breaks out. It's there that they find Rothgo, a formidable but weakened soul with the kind of powers we'd normally associate with sorcerers of bygone eras. Rothgo enlists the children's help to retrieve an ancient and powerful artefact.

To attain the Nidas, as it's known, the kids must venture into the Labyrinth, a gateway to other times. It's a perilous journey and like all good children's TV shows it has an antagonist that's truly memorable, but I'll get to her eventually.

ICO: Video Game (2001)

ICO (2001)

Genre: Adventure / Puzzle / 3D Platformer  |  Players: 1  |  Developer: Team Ico

An adventure game unlike any that the PS2 had seen before. You play as the titular character (pronounced Eee-co), a young lad with horns on his head. His adventure begins in a large room inside a larger castle. You'll have a fair idea why he's there, but you won't know why he was chosen. Was it because of the horns or some other reason?

We also don't know why there's a second individual, a caged female, taller and perhaps a little older than Ico, who doesn't speak the same language as the boy.

If the two strangers are to escape before whatever it is they've been offered up to comes for them, they must somehow overcome barriers and work together.