Month: December 2006

You’re the Best of the Class this Year…

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For the past year or so I have been keeping a log of all the movies, books and media I have consumed throughout the year and giving personal ratings for everything. I can now present you with my top ranked items for the year of our Lord, 2006!

My only rule for adding things to the list are that I have to have not seen/read/played that item previously. This means my lists are filled with items that weren’t released in 2006, so don’t consider this a Best of 2006 list like you would see on other, so-called “web sites.” So without further ado, here is Robert Gomez’s favorite media of 2006:

Best of 2006

Movies

  • Deep Red (a.k.a. Profundo Rosso) (9/10)
    • Beautiful horror mystery with one of the best, and fair reveals at the end of the movie. It’s like a live action romantic painting.
  • Wallace and Grommit and the Curse of the Were Rabbit (9/10)
    • Very amusing animation that doesn’t rely on American animation formulas of anthropomorphism. Lot’s of humor for adults too.
  • Frenzy (9/10)
    • Hitchcock does giallo!
  • Rear Window (9/10)
    • What can I say, it’s a classic.

Books

  • And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (10/10)
    • A great puzzle that keeps up its pace all the way to the last page
  • The Fortune of War by Patrick O’Brian (9/10)
  • Desolation Island by Patrick O’Brian (9/10)
    • Both of the above books are part of the Aubry/Maturin naval warfare books. These are (so far) my favorites in the series with strong, over-arching plot lines or espionage and survival and a slightly reduced emphasis on naval tactics and such.

Games

  • Day of Defeat: Source (10/10)
    • My first real foray into online FPS gaming. Fast paced and forgiving for n00bs.
  • Half-Life 2 (9/10)
    • A great game with some nice game play twists. I get a bit boring about 2/3 into it, but picks up again by the end.

Music

  • Hello Young Lovers by Sparks (10/10)
    • A masterpiece of epic, symphonic goofiness and left-of-center pop structuring. Sparks best since Kimono my House.
  • Fear Box Set by Ennio Morricone (10/10)

For Your Height Only

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After waiting for weeks, the planets aligned (I got access to my parents huge screen TV), I was able to watch For Your Height Only. This movie is the “A-side” of a DVD double feature including the previously reviewed Challenge of the Tiger that was released by Mondo Macabro ealier this year.

For Your Height Only (or as it appears in the title screen, For Y’ur Height Only) is another Dick Randall (Pieces) exploitation production. This film was made in the Philippines on a near-zero budget and features Philippino little-person Weng Weng as its secret agent protagonist.

The movie is essentially a Bond parody in which Weng Weng’s height is the basis for all the intended humor. The movie is, however, filled with loads of unintential laughs as well. The main source being the awful, over-the-top voice dubbing–all the baddies have James Cagney gangster voices. There are even self-aware moments in which the dialog serves as Mystery Science Theater-like comments on the action taking place. For example, during the ultra boring gadget sequence, Double-O’s boss says, “You got a bug in your hair?” only because Weng Weng happens to scratch his head during the scene.

The plot is horrible and loses track of itself about ten minutes into the film. It’s not until the climax that we remember that Double-O is trying to save a scientist or something. Most of the plot is simply an excuse to get Weng Weng to kill hordes of baddies (often the same guys multiple times). The kung-fu is a bit lacking but some of Weng Weng’s acrobatics are pretty amazing. Especially, since, I swear, Weng Weng has to be wearing leg braces under his stylish disco suits. On top of all the fighting there is also a bit of disco dancing and the obligatory, cringe-worthy Bond “love scene.”

At first I was also pretty amazed at the quality of the score, an almost note-for-note variation on For Your Eyes Only and other Bond motiffs. It’s at about the 14th time that they play the same song that I realize that the music is a bit repetitive.

This movie just oozes cheesy bad taste. It has all the markings of your typical so-bad-it’s-good movie. Take heed though, this also means there are plenty of boring moments between the insanity, but, all-in-all, a great movie to watch with your drunk friends. Taken in tandem with Challenge of the Tiger it’s a very worthwhile DVD purchase… yes, I bought this piece of crap cinema history.