A crystal bird?

 

Last week I talked about Deep Red (1975) by Italian director Dario Argento. This week I want to go over Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970).

This is a film that I thought I had seen before, but it turns out I had it mixed up with another movie. Thus, I could go into it with open eyes and an uncluttered mind. Now I have to take a look at a few other titles to see what is what. But on with this weeks topic.

What struck me very quickly and persisted throughout is that the plot is incredibly similar to Deep Red.

In Deep Red we have the English pianist Marcus Daly, here we have the American writer Sam Dalmas. Like Marcus, Sam witnesses an attack on a woman and becomes involved with the investigation. Also like Marcus, Sam is incredibly cavalier about his own safety, even more so than Marcus. In one scene Sam is being pursued by a hitman with a silenced gun and despite managing to escape decides to follow the hitman to get some answers... Yeah that's smart... Kind of like hunting tigers by grabbing their tails. Sure, you caught it but now what?

Anyway, I'm not going to spoil anything so bear with me. There are as many differences between the two movies as there are similarities, but the beautiful cinematography I mentioned in Deep Red is almost missing in Crystal Plumage. The embryo is there, you can clearly see Argento's vision, and sometimes it works but most scenes are just functional rather then art. He wasn't there yet, but a mere five years later he had it nailed.

The actors do a good job and it amused me to learn that Tony Musante who plays Sam also starred as a mafia boss in HBO's Oz. Its also really fun to see what would have been cutting edge police computers in 1970. We've come a long way...

The plot is actually really good. It made more sense than Deep Red, at least to me and it is more complelling. The killer's motivation was more believable than in Deep Red, and the puzzle pieces fit better as well. Like in Deep Red, Argento plays it completely straight. He doesn't cheat at all, it is all there for you to solve, even if some details are only explained in the end. I failed to figure out the identity of the killer in Deep Red but I got it in Crystal Plumage.

Bottom line is that this movie is said to have skyrocketed the popularity of the Giallo genre, but in my view it stands on the fence between pure thriller and Giallo. With this being Argento's first time directing solo, it makes sense that Crystal Plumage is quite a bit rougher around the edges than Deep Red, but not in a bad way. It can be seen as both and enjoyed by fans of both genres. It drags a bit at times, but never so much as to risk becoming boring. It's not a movies for gorehounds and I would have hated it in my youth. Luckily I have matured a bit because I recommend it without hesitation.

That as they say is that. Join me again next time and until then have a great week, stay safe and wash your hands!

Profoundly Red

 

In all my years of watching horror in all its forms I have seen more movies than I can realistically remember. I've seen great ones, interesting ones and so many bad ones.

However there exists a list of classics (good and bad) that I haven't seen. Or there would be a list if I could be bothered to write it down, which I can't.

Just the other night, I watched a video by Sandy Petersen, the man behind Call of Cthulhu and level designer in the original Doom, in which he discussed Giallo movies.

Giallo, meaning yellow in Italian is the name for thriller-horror movies from Italy (duh). The name comes from the fact that cheap paperbacks of the genre were usually yellow. Today the term is best know as a movie genre however.

Giallo movies are gorier and usually sexier than straight thrillers, but less supernatural and over the top than straight horror. These are rough generalizations and not to be taken as straight rules.

I've even written about some Giallo movies before: Tenebrae, The House with Laughing Windows and The Fifth Cord, but back to the video by Sandy Petersen. In it he mentioned one of the most famous Giallo movies and it was one I had never seen, so I decided to rectify that, even though I've been informed that it isn't very good.

One has to make up ones own mind in the end so I sat down and watched Deep Red (1975) by Dario Argento.

It's important to note that there exists multiple versions of this film, with various scenes removed or re-added. At least the one I saw was in wide-screen which is important but I can't tell you which version it was in any detail.

The story concerns a Pianist, Marcus Daly, who witnesses his neighbor being brutally killed in her window. He rushes to help but is too late to save her. He does become obsessed with the murder and tries to solve it. He is aided by a reporter, Gianna Brezzi and Professor Giordani.

People get brutally murdered, the plot thickens and in the end all is solved. That's all I can tell you about the plot without spoiling anything important.

So what's it like? Beautiful and bizarre is the best way I can put it. There are so many gorgeous shots in this movie it's nuts. Scene after scene of amazing cinematography cut with scenes of really odd humor.

The dialog goes from serviceable to jaw dropping. My favorite line is: “There's someone in the house... absolutely trying to kill me, ya'know?” 

The music is also pretty odd. Most of the track is by Goblin, who scored Suspiria incredibly well, but here the music is more funky, and at times really clashes against the tense atmosphere.

Perhaps the biggest gripe I have is the mentality of the main hero, Marcus. He knows the killer wants to murder him, and he repeatedly goes to isolated locations to find the truth, but does he ever bring a weapon with him? Of course he doesn't. He is incredibly cavalier about the fact that he is completely unarmed and trailing a vicious maniac.

There are a couple of plot holes as well, but it may be that the version I saw had some scenes removed that would have explained them, I can't say. Either way, it's not too bad, it didn't spoil the fun, but they were there non the less.

In the end I can say I really enjoyed Deep Red. It's tense, stylish and very enjoyable. Perhaps more of a thriller than a “real” Giallo, but that is a debate I won't get draw into. It has been said that Deep Red is a turning point in Dario Argento's career, and I can see where that comes from. If you are looking into Giallo movies, do not miss this, and if you just fancy a fun murder-romp, give it a shot. If you want something more generic in the way of a thriller, watch something else. Deep Red is a bit too hard to digest for that.

And here we are again. Join me next time and until then, have a great week and stay safe!

Hero or Hypocrite?

 

Epic Games has sued both Google and Apple.

In case you haven't heard about this, Epic wanted to put the mobile version of their popular battle royale game Fortnite on both the big stores, so they did.

Then Epic blatantly broke the Terms of Service (i.e. the contract) by bypassing the stores payment methods and installing a private way to buy in-game currency without giving Apple or Google their agreed upon share. To no ones surprise Epic got tossed out on their ass and now they are suing.

But wait! It gets better. With lightning speed, Epic filed lawsuits against both tech giants claiming that this is a breach against the anti trust law, and that (especially Apple) are abusing their monopoly. Epic even went so far as to release a machinima video that spoofs an old Apple ad that ends with the words:

“Epic Games has defied the App Store Monopoly. In retaliation, Apple is blocking Fortnite from a billion devices. Join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming “1984”.”

So, Epic intentionally breaks the TOS in order to get banned, files an already prepared lawsuit and releases a video trying to paint themselves as brave and selfless freedom fighters trying to tear down the evil Apple monopoly? Do they really think anyone will believe this nonsense?

Now, I'm no fan of Apple, and I have never been one. But if you essentially rent a space in a mall for your shop and then refuse to pay rent, what do you think is going to happen? How does this in any way make you a hero? Especially when you have your lawsuit and propaganda video ready to go? It's not taking a stand, it's intentional provocation and manipulation, which aren't very heroic in my opinion.

To make it even worse, we're talking about Epic Games here. The company who excels at buying up exclusives for themselves at the expense of others. I guess it is okay for them to do it but not for Apple or Google? Or maybe it is nothing but hypocrisy?

To make it even even worse, this is 2020. The year of Covid-19 kicking everything to pieces. The year when people all over the world are desperately fighting their corrupt governments to gain freedom for themselves and their children. The year of Black Lives Matter. This is the year that Epic Games wants to promote their FreeFortnite hashtag campaign as if it should be compared to these real life struggles? Please...

I'm not telling you do or not do anything. Make up your own mind. But to me this has really crystallized what kind of company Epic Games is, and I don't care what they do with their store, I'd rather not play games than be a customer of theirs.

Alright, this has been the angry rant part of Eccentric Spheres, join me again next time for hopefully something more lighthearted, and until then, have a great and safe week! Oh, and keep washing your hands.

Game News

 

Alright, it is time for some game news.

Blizzard has been in the news again, this time for financial reasons. It has been a know fact for over a decade that Blizzard pays low wages compared to other companies in the AAA industry. They have always pushed the passion line, i.e. people are such fans its a bit of a privilege to work there, so you don't need as much money.

Staff has now started comparing salaries and are furious at how little they are earning. Seeing how Blizz HQ is in Irvine, California, it's no wonder their workers are broke. Irvine is not the most expensive city in the US, but it is still pretty eye-wateringly expensive. Anyone who works for a living knows that landlords and grocery stores don't accept passion instead of money, but now it has hit a bit of a boiling point.

Stories have been shared about how staffers are forced to skip meals, how they have to do extra work as Uber drivers, how they even have to give up even talking about having kids as they know that can't afford it. At the same time, Activision-Blizzard keeps reporting record profits and their CEO Bobby Kotick has apparently earned about $40 million this year. Some shareholders have tried to stop Kotick from earning his obscene bonuses, but failed. Kotick has even been called the most over payed CEO in the world...

The bottom line is that Blizzard may well see an imminent brain-drain, if too many of their seasoned talent find better payed positions elsewhere. There seem to be a golden goose moral in here somewhere.

Bioware are still trying to get Anthem fixed. After a... lets call it lack-luster initial performance, they pulled the game in an attempt to fix it.

Back during the 6-8 years of development time Anthem had, the production leads refused to even look at what the competition was doing, and now it seems they are just copying their competition wholesale.

When you are designing something like a game you have to take in to account what the competition is doing. Otherwise you may end up creating cheap knock-off or even committing theft of intellectual property. You can't create in a vacuum. We'll see if their efforts pay off, but for my part I doubt it. The very name Anthem is now a poisoned pill and few gamers are going to want to swallow it to see if it tastes good.

Finally there have been talk of a new method of revenue generation in the AAA industry: In-game ads.

It's all in an early brainstorming stage, but there are elements who wants to integrate ads inside PC and console gaming much like in mobile gaming. Off the cuff I think it's a reprehensible idea, but to be fair there are a couple of minor ways I could possibly accept it. If it is an option you can turn off, if it does not handicap the player and you earn something extra for watching the ads, then maybe? If you could offset a subscription by seeing some ads in loadscreens, then maybe?

The problem is that the greed of these executives is beyond control and I have 0% trust in their abilities to rein themselves in. Look at the lootbox drama for an example.

Speaking of lootboxes, this may be a reaction to the increased ban on the addictive little boxes of doom. Either way, time will tell, but I don't think this will go over well at all.

That's that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week and stay safe and healthy!

A simpler history

I love history but it is not always easy to study. The history of the world and humanity in general can get incredibly complex and I find it helpful to get an overview of an issue before even trying to delve deeper.

Getting a simplified version of an event or a war also helps me understand how it all hangs together.

Example: If the Ottomans hadn't closed off Byzantium and blocked Europe from Asia, then there would have been no need for Columbus to cross the Atlantic in 1492. No Columbus means no European struggle for territory to colonize, which means Great Britain wouldn't have started their 13 colonies. This means no American war of Independence, which directly lead to the French Revolution which led to Napoleons rise to power etc.

One “small” act can have enormous repercussions centuries later but since it is such a humongous subject it is really helpful to get it in smaller pieces.

This bring me to our subject for the week:

OverSimplifed over on Youtube. It is an animated channel that does just this. It breaks down things like WWI & II, the French Revolution, the American Civil War, King Henry VIII etc and it is funny as well!

So if you like history or just want to get your learn on, head on over and enjoy yourself. I've lost... well learning is never a waste, so I'll say I've spent many a happy hour over there.

Here is the direct link: https://www.youtube.com/c/OverSimplified/featured

That's that. Until next time, have a safe and happy week! Oh and keep washing those hands, Covid is far from over.

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