Blu-Ray Review - Retreat, Hell!

Continuing it's cultural presence as "The Forgotten War", the Korean conflict remains under-covered in most western media.  Honestly, even with my military service there and my minor in Asian Studies (including Korean Politics) - I've got a stack of references still on my must-read list on the subject.  One reason I was really interested when I saw the excellent reviews posted for this Blu-Ray of a movie made during the war.

Frankly, although it largely plays out as a Marine recruiting film, this is a tight little number that does a really good job covering some of the first major marine actions involved in the war.  Starting from the very beginning, we find the USMC is barely able to muster a full division of men at the start of hostilities even after calling up all the reserves, embassy security forces and embarked detachments - a bare 6 years following the end of WWII.

E-Book Review - The Collected Works of William Hope Hodgson

A brief review of the Kindle E-book.

Surprisingly even when I was digging down into Lovecraft in college and Robert E. Howard starting in 2004 or so....I never heard of William Hope Hodgson.

DVD Review - Welcome to Irabu's Office (Complete Series)

Well, this anime series is very different from almost every other series I've watched before.

The eleven episode series is a very unique sort of proposition.  The psychiatrist Irabu Ichiro analyzes a variety of patients over the course of the series as they are drawn to his office.  These range from a man with a permanent erection to a yakuza underboss afraid of sharp objects and an investigative reporter with OCD.  One of the catches to the show though is that the entire show takes place over a 9 or 10 day period in December - and each episode covers roughly the same period of time...so starting from the first episode you also see some of the different characters crossing paths with one another - unaware of some of the issues being addressed or their interconnectedness.  There's no overarching plot or conflict, just a series of characters addressing their issues - although the final episode does close things out a little more clearly.

Blu-Ray Review - Moonrise Kingdom

My first *full*/complete viewing of Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom since I first had the opportunity to catch it in the theater in Portland when my ship was there for the Rose Festival in 2012.

Anderson is rightfully recognized as an auteur and his style in this film is instantly recognizable if you've had the chance to watch any of his previous films.  He also revisits very familiar themes - particularly familial issues and relationships - failed ones, new ones, renewing old ones.  While clearly hitting some potentially very painful edges - for the characters - or the viewers - he's able to bring his characters to address them appropriately (for the most part) - and without the use of too much deus ex machina (also for the most part).

Sam the orphan Khaki Scout goes AWOL from his troop to run away with Suzy, the lonely, misunderstood daughter of two bickering lawyers (Frances McDormand and Bill Murray).  Enlisted in the search to find the two of them are the mismatched remainder of Sam's troop, his scout leader (Edward Norton), the local police officer (Bruce Willis) and Social Services (Tilda Swinton) - right as a massive storm is about to break out - as narrated by Bob Balaban.