Tune up the Indies with Tune-Yards.

I can’t let 2011 slide without one final tribute to all things Indie. Here are my favorite choices for the year.

Top 3 Indie Movies:

1. Another Earth

2. Hanna

3. The Debt

Top 3 Indie Albums:

1. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

2. Cults – Cults

3. Tune-yards – Whokill

Indies are simply better. I’ve made the case frequently throughout the existence of this blog. For now, let me leave you with this simple suggestion: Enjoy an Indie techno-jam tonight if you’re having your own club-style party. Be sure to include this diddy from the Tune-Yards that reminds me of MJ’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”.

Tune-Yards – My Country

Sound effect for wren-t.

It’s as if ever since I pointed out this particular phenomenon, its use has exploded on the TV scene. It’s the ever-popular yet usually-misapplied TV sound effect of the cactus wren.

It’s a simple test. When you hear this sound, immediately scan your TV screen for a cactus. The wren itself is too small to be seen in any wide shot, however, you should be able to spot a cactus in the background. If you don’t, then you know you shouldn’t have heard the sound in the first place. It is usually misapplied in forests and jungles. This year there were two different ads in which it was misused even in desert-like. One was a mountainous desert region featured in a cavemen-discovering-milk ad. Another I just saw the other night. It was something Australian, perhaps Outback Steakhouse. I was half-asleep so I don’t know for sure.

Heck, even when it was perhaps properly applied, it was a stretch. CSI has been using it repeatedly, yet the Vegas desert isn’t exactly the Sonoran desert where cacti thrive. So even that usage is debatable.

We’ll see if anybody gets it right in 2012. 2011 was especially “gut-WRENching” in this regard.

18 is the funniest number.

I think it was about the time we had our first child that I fell behind on the MST 3K box sets. I had the first 12, plus several stand-alone MST DVDs, then I lost track. But while visiting Fry’s I noticed they’re into the 20s now, and volume 18 stood out to me the most because of its inclusion of one of my three favorite episodes: 621 – The Beast of Yucca Flats. So I got it for Christmas and immediately remembered why I liked it so much.

First of all, the film itself is only 53 minutes long. Many of the B-movies featured on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 show were rather short, and thus we were treated to the incorporation of various short films which greatly enhanced the show. (“Mr. B Natural” was perhaps the most noteworthy.)

Beast of Yucca Flats, because it was so short, featured two shorts: “Money Talks” featuring Ben Franklin haunting a teen concerned with saving money and one of my all-time favorites, “Progress Island, USA” – a marketing film for Puerto Rico.

I should also note that the season-and-a-half of MST 3K that was my particular favorite – in which all 3 of my top 3 episodes occurred – was the stretch immediately after Joel Hodgson left the show and Mike Nelson took his place. As much as I loved Joel, the quips were so much tighter and polished with Nelson at the helm and you still had Trace Bealieu as Dr. Forrestor and Crow T. Robot, as well as Frank Coniff (both eventually left the series).

Now, here was the best part about the Box Set edition of Beast of Yucca Flats: it featured a couple DVD extras on the making of the film, which included one of the cinematographers. It was truly fascinating to hear the stories on how low budget B-movies like those of Coleman Francis and Ed Wood were made. In fact, as bad as ‘Beast’ was – I actually found myself admiring its savvy use of its paltry budget – namely, its use of sound. The movie was shot without sound; the sound was added later. This was a 1961 movie using 1930s technology. But I appreciated how Francis, as Nelson put it in one of his acerbic quips: “solves the problem of sound-sync.”

He accomplished this in various ways. Three are noteworthy. In one method, he shoots two individuals talking to each other, but instead of seeing what we’d normally see in such an instance, we are always shown the person who isn’t talking.

In another example, two people are standing outside of a car while talking. The camera is placed inside the car shooting out. We see the two characters, but not their heads, as they are positioned above the car window and hence, our viewing window. Brilliant!

A third scene appears to be shot from a balcony or a crane, whereby the camera is close enough to the characters but just far enough away that you can’t see their mouths moving as they converse. Love it!

So if you’re like me and you are a MST 3K fan but you fell a few volumes behind for whatever reason, be sure to get Volume 18. It is a must-have! Heck I haven’t even watched the other three episodes featured in this volume, but the Beast of Yucca Flats substantiated the purchase on its own.

Here’s a Youtube of “Progress Island, USA” from that episode. My favorite quip is from Nelson, as most were during this era of the show, when he simply yet eloquently implores, “Look, just come here!”

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Episode 621 “Progress Island, USA” short.

Saldana is Columbiana, if not Columbian.

Remember the classic line from Jeanine Garafolo as the waitress in “Cable Guy” that went, “There were no utensils in Midieval Times, hence there are no utensils at Midieval Times.”?

Well, this version would go: “They speak Spanish in Columbia, hence they speak English in ‘Columbiana’.”

Doesn’t make sense, does it?

Or, applying Pulp Fiction dialogue, it would go: “Do they speak English in What? No, but they do in ‘Columbiana’.”

My second Vudu rental was “Columbiana” starring the alluring Zoe Saldana. Sidebar: I’m not sure if I can call her my second favorite Zoe, given that Zooey Deschanel spells her name differently. So if I’m writing it, then Saldana is my favorite Zoe. If I’m saying it aloud, then she’s my second favorite person of those with that name. (Welcome to my world of OCD-induced whimsy!)

I have to say that I wrote this film off in the first minute, when two Columbians, in Columbia, proceeded to have a conversation in English, complete with Spanish accents, of course. It occurred to me that of the many movie cliches I’d cited previously on this blog, I failed to omit this one, and that’s a huge omission given that this has to be the number one cliche of all. So many producers over the years of films that are American-made but are set in other countries, but star American actors, shy away from subtitles. They know it’s a box office killer. Instead, Americans learn to speak – not the actual language they are portraying – but English with the accent of the region of the film’s setting. Sigh.

This is especially disturbing in “Columbiana” – because maybe 10% of the movie takes place in Columbia. So why not just have the characters speak Spanish for that small portion of the film? We’re talking Spanish here. Our second-most spoken language in America. You could’ve probably eschewed the subtitles entirely and people would’ve gotten the gist of the conversations.

Instead, they speak English, but for some reason, they throw in the occasional Spanish word like “Vaminos” and “Hola!” – knowing that even the most Spanish-deficient viewers would understand those terms, provided their kids watch Dora and Diego on Nickelodeon.

So I wrote off the film for that reason. Then came the preposterous escapade of Columbiana weaving her way through the prison ventilation system, in Mission Impossible style with Cat Woman spandex attire with Catherine Zeta Jones Entrapment maneuvers.

But… I paid for the film so I was determined to get my money’s worth. And, by God, it got better. The sleek Saldana pushed the PG-13 envelope as far as it could be pushed in terms of her various states of undress and her obligatory 1 “F-bomb” (they allow a maximum of two in PG-13 films, and hers was well-timed and well-executed).

Given that Saldana was playing a Columbian, I had to look up her actual ethnicity. Call it the Selma Hayek test (given her non-Mexican name, you wonder where the heck she’s from). A quick Wikipedia search returned that she is Dominican and Puerto Rican. So playing a Columbian isn’t a stretch whatsoever. Good call.

Once again my MCC is Columbiana – her character is quite preposterous but there wasn’t any more compelling than hers, so she’s the defacto winner.

Brit hit.

Keeping with the theme of the high-tech Christmas, my first Vudu movie selection was “Another Earth” – one that I had been anticipating since I first saw the trailer on previous DVD rentals. Also, my fondness for “Melancholia” and it’s somewhat similar premise also intrigued me about seeing this movie. I’ve already noted ad infinitum my fondness for all things Indie, movies and music. So this one fits that bill as well. Indie movies are about stories, not effects and formulas. Enough said.

I was not disappointed. It is highly captivating and compelling. The performances of co-writer and star Brit Marling along with William Mapother are outstanding. You may even recognize Kumar Pallana of “Bigota” fame from Royal Tannenbaums.

The bottom line about this film is that it’s one of those whose ending is open to interpretation and hence sparks fascinating discussions among those who viewed it. Without adding anything more, I’ll give you two links, one that features such a discussion and another that presents the writers’ view, that the “other Earth” aspect of the film was merely a metaphor.

Youtube: Another Earth ending.

Film School Rejects interview with Another Earth director Mike Cahill.

Indeed, my wife and I engaged in a similar discussion about what the ending meant, and afterwards I found the Youtube thread and found that our theories were represented, along with a few others that hadn’t occurred to me.

Anyway, see the film and then concoct your own theories. And remember, this one, I believe, really is intended to spark this type of speculation. I say that because I recall the “What do you think was in the case?” discussions that followed “Pulp Fiction” – and I really didn’t think those were warranted, as we were given no hints whatsoever, thus there was really nothing to discuss. You were left to make up a wild theory with no basis whatsoever. “Another Earth” isn’t like that. You have an entire story which builds up to an ending that is certainly subject to your interpretation. So enjoy.

My own interpretation initially, which I’m sticking with even after I read other hypotheses, is that Rhoda 2 also committed the accident that killed John’s family. But something occurred differently on Earth 2 from Earth 1, because Rhoda 2 visits Earth 1, whereas Rhoda 1 passed up her opportunity to visit Earth 2 and deferred it to John so that he could see whether his family survived on Earth 2. People’s theory that Rhoda 2 got away with the accident seems implausible because her car was totaled, she wasn’t going to be able to flee the scene. Even if she fled on foot, her car would’ve been left behind and she’d have been easily identified. Anyway, you can see that the movie is worth while because it ignites thoughts like these. Again, enjoy! And keep in mind what Film School Rejects indicates about the film: it’s not Sci-Fi; it’s a drama.

Footnote: I just stumbled upon another connection of “Melancholia” and “Another Earth” – a star from each film, Alexander Skarsgard and Brit Marling, respectively, are making a film together called “The East”. Can’t wait.

Finally, the MCC award (Most Compelling Character) easily goes to Rhoda, played by the extraordinary Marling who clearly has a bright future ahead of her. I suppose you could argue that Earth 2 was also a compelling character. The way the film is shot, you indeed feel like the mirror Earth is a character. But Marling and Mapother were that good, so I can’t give the MCC to Earth 2. If I had, it should be noted, it would’ve marked consecutive MCC honors for non-human characters, albeit the first inanimate winner.