A Goth’s Month in Review: January 2013

What did I say about January last year? Let me see …oh, yes, “January is a cruel, miserable month.”

Yes, I stand by that remark.

There’s my least favourite holiday of the year in January – New Year’s Eve, the most vomit-speckled evening of the year. We opt out of the spirituous liquoury lameness, and hide indoors.

There’s the holiday hangover in general. I kept the Christmas tree up longer than ever trying to keep the festive feeling alive. But eventually you have to let go.

There’s also the grim weather, weirder than ever here in Ottawa, with Class-3 Kill Storms every third day.

So, we tried to forget it was January by journeying beyond the moon, through time and into alternate dimensions with our celebration of sci-fi.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, January…

Here is my five, a favourite, surprise, disappointment, least-liked, and one from Dr. Renders’ mad science experiments this month.

Favourite
Fetching Cody (2005) on 2013/01/27

* * * *

“This independent film is proof you can make magic with clever ideas, lovely words, a pile of discarded junk, an old chair, a string of Christmas lights and a mattress on the floor. And this kind of beautiful alchemy can make you ache.

Thanks to Fetching Cody I realize don’t hate time travel. I think it just breaks my heart.”

Surprise
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) on 2013/01/13

* * *

Now that I’m a responsible and only occasionally overwrought adult myself, I felt the need to introduce this sci-fi classic to my favourite teenager Miss_Tree. ‘This,’ I said, brandishing a copy of the Steven Spielberg film above my head, “is a part of my childhood.”

I challenged her to tell me truthfully if the film held up, these many years later. The 137-minute director’s cut, we agreed, did indeed hold up.

Disappointment
Heavy Metal (1981) on 2013/01/14/27

* * *

“For the uninitiated among you, it is all rather like the sketches you’d find on the English binder of a sociopathic high school boy made into a moving picture. Zombie soldiers, super villains with long fingernails, nude mudflap lady-shaped women, giant bats, elephant-nosed aliens, warrior women in thongs holding great swords aloft.”

Least-Liked
Krull (1983) on 2013/01/06

* *

“I have a proposal. Anyone who complains about The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey should be immediately locked in an oak-panelled rec room and forced to watch Krull. Over and over.

And over.”

Show Me
Xchange (2000) on 2013/01/21

* * *

“So in keeping with the dichotomy of dissociative minds and bodies, I recognize the critical flaws, but still had a lot of fun. Xchange’s sci-fi concepts intrigued me, the writing was good, and the acting as well, sex and other issues notwithstanding. Add in a solid production overall, and you’re left with a decent flick. Just don’t go in expecting a hero to root for.

Or modesty.”