It is readily apparent I'm not cool

As I dig deeper into Ulysses I realize that fuck all I'm not that good at what I do. Oh, sure, I love to write, but when I examine and pull away the complexities of James Joyce it just reminds me how pale I compare. Of course, that is a idiotic thing to compare to, it's Joyce, it would be like comparing a line doodle to Rembrandt.

This comparison hammers home the point that I'm not cool. The cool kids don't think about how they stand up to Joyce. Maybe I should compare myself to Dean Koontz...I'm fairly sure I can trash his work in my sleep.

Silent HIll, Appaloosa, REVIEW!

On this weeks…well, wait, I’m not doing this weekly so, shit…this month’s first and maybe only post will be discussing a few things, and I’ll be relatively short in my rambling to myself via a digital medium.

Silent Hill 5

Well, here it is, the long awaited return of a classic franchise that hopped to put to rest the horrible, shameful memories of Silent Hill: The Room. Yes ladies and things, there was a Silent Hill game that had portions in 1st POV…for walking around your crappy, dirty, evil apartment, that periodically had heads that floated down your window. Silent Hill 5: Homecoming has you fill the angst and guilt-ridden shoes of one Alex Sheppard, on his way home by way of military hospital discharge. After a horrible nightmare straight from Jacob’s Ladder filled with faceless nurses with dynamite bodies that game me strange feelings in my Levi’s, you wake up on your way home to Sheppard’s Glen, which must be a suburb or prefecture of Silent Hill cause its chock full of bat shit craziness and skinless dogs. A return to the family hacienda has your asshole dad missing, your ineffectual mother near catatonic, and your little bro running around monster infested streets and buildings with not a worry. It seems monsters do not have an interest in little boys, they prefer to get their deformed mitts on Alex’s post-traumatic stress disorder frame.

Sounds good right? Well, for the most part it is. I will say this with unwavering conviction: this game is much better that The Room, about as good as Silent Hill 3, and a pale comparison to Silent Hill 2. Double Helix games, taking the reins from Konami’s in house studio, turns out a solid game that nails the visual element of Silent Hill, and great game interface. What is missing is something of the soul of Silent Hill, that little dark energy so prevalent in the second game. The puzzles are few, the enemies plentiful, the ammunition scarce, and the melee combat entertaining. One on one it turns into a game of dodge and counter, something Silent Hill natives might find annoying but I think they remember the first 3 game’s combat systems with a Kincaid like nostalgia, forgetting the cursing and swearing that occurred when Harry or James whiffed one past a freaky little monster only to eat knife attacks for their troubles. I liked it, something different for the kids. In groups it become problematic with the camera limiting your field of vision, but most enemies are nice enough to take a long time to swing at you when they aren’t your main target. Gone, and most lamented, is some of the small extra craziness that made Silent Hill so disturbing. I searched high and low for an equivalent to “There was a hole here, but now it is gone”, and I cried anguish when I found none. There wasn’t enough ambiance to the game; instead it is more like a dungeon crawl. You go to a place, get a giant hint where to go, go there, kill shit, boss fight, crazy transition, walk to the next place, rinse repeat ad nausea. Door, shit yeah we got doors, but 98% of em are locked or broken or fucked up. They give you the veneer of exploration, the matte painting of a vivid landscape, but when you get close you see it’s really a prop tree and cardboard cutouts.

Should you play it? Yeah, if you played the others play this one. Half way through the story picks up nicely and you get a good mindfucking that is the hallmark of Silent Hill. Just remember this is now an action game, not a horror game. You want horror? Go get Dead Space.
Appaloosa

Ed Harris directs this tight, atmospheric tale of two men: a stiff, unimaginative but earnest and true law man with his equally succinct and learned partner who come to the titular town to replace the recently assassinated marshal. Harris and Viggo “For Fordo” Mortensen meet swarmy but instantly enjoyable Randall Bragg, portrayed by Jeremy “Simon Gruber” Irons. The two men, experts in the “peacekeeping” business, are give carte blanche on the town and are charged with bringing rancher and territorial king Bragg to justice. Into this is mixed Renée Zellweger, newly arrived non-prostitute that gains Harris’ attention. She actually turns out to be a complete whore, just not a prostitute. The real gold here is between Harris and Viggo, as their banter invokes a sense of deep friendship. The language between the two is stripped of clutter and noise, and honed down to the true, essential truth of the statement. Yes means yes, and no is no. A running humorous note is Harris grasping at a specific word, turning to Viggo to supply it. The dialogue may unnerve people, not with what is said, but the speed in which it is said. The pace of life is slower in this time, and it is reflected in the tempo. There are slightly pregnant pauses in discussions, which I found genuine and engaging. Here, in this place, people are representations of absolutes. Harris and Viggo are not law men, they are the law. It is a world of personal importance, and far from urban society they are masters of their own kingdoms, be it the cattle ranch or the main street.

Jeremy Iron captures “villain” better than most actors, a man that you can’t truly hate because goddamn he is likeable. Not some black hat wearing cliché, Irons is an embodiment of men possessing authority instead of acquiescing to it. He is lord of his domain, and will dispense justice in his own fashion, and clashing with Harris, they embody the immovable object and the unstoppable force. There is a great sense of alienation and isolation in this film, evoking a sense of immensity in the natural world that one could only experience with films of deep space, as Harris makes the New Mexico territory as vast and absolute as a distant galaxy. So far removed from urban society what evolves in this place is a drastic sense of unity and community, where the individual becomes increasingly important to the overall good, and the need to have harmonious conduct requires the strictest and harshest sense of law and order.

Oh, and then Lance Henriksen shows up…if you know anything about Lance Henriksen you know what he’s going to do.

A great modern western, this and 3:10 to Yuma have become my modern classics.