Area 52 - Southland Tales Reviews: 22 of 52... Southland Tales III... The Mechanicals...

As I pointed out in my last review I'm currently working as a happy camper… well… happy now that I’m back home for a couple of days for our weekend… and by “weekend” I mean Wednesday and Thursday.

This week I read the third installment of the Southland Tales graphic novel. This issue is entitled The Mechanicals. I had to cram a lot of things during this brief break so at 6:30 in the pm I fired up the theatrical release of Southland Tales to play in the background as I read.

I have to say that reading this third installment of the graphic novel reignited my enthusiasm for the story.

Installments IV, V, and VI are the actual movie, and parts I and II are meant to set up the world of the story. Being that I have a familiarity with this world, parts I and II either answered some small questions that I had… or solidified theories that I've started to build.

Installment III begins to set up the blurred lines between how everything is connected.

I’m kind of bummed that I was rushed this week, but I must be a little clairvoyant myself. In both last week’s review and the review where I watched Donnie Darko… I mentioned that I had a feeling I would be revisiting these pieces of supplemental material.

Part III blends stories from The Power script, the Southland Tales storyline while hinting at connections to Donnie Darko. Though it can get confusing this is the story of a script that tells the future, the reality of this story and the fiction of The Power is supposed to blur together and I love the way that this is done with The Power being close to, but not a dead-on telling of the future.

Next week I’m going to take more time to sort through all this new info until then here are the thoughts that came to me as I was reading:

• I just started to read and am happy that it looks like they are going to go into Mandy Moore’s backstory.

• I’m not sure if I missed this in the movie, but I find it interesting that it’s rumored that the Baron is related to Karl Marx.

• Brandt? What kind of name is Brandt? I always thought that the Baron was saying, “you’re pregnant with Brad’s Baby.”

• Oh, the balls are the antennas that receive the wireless energy.

• Oh, oh, the balls are scattered about as a scavenger hunt meant for the Rock to find as some form of charity.

• Oh, oh, oh, that final ball that is shown in the ice cream truck must be the final one and Christopher Lambert was about to win a 2008 Treer truck.

• Yay Kenny!

• Again I love that the script for The Powers is prophetic while not being a dead-on telling of what happens in the stories reality.

• Hello, now I see the potential links to Donnie Darko. When I watched Donnie Darko a couple of weeks ago I thought the only connection between the two movies was style, themes, and certain events that Richard Kelly may be working out through writing, but now I am beginning to see that there’s probably a plan.

• I think I’m finally going to learn who this kid who buys the drugs from Justin Timberlake is.

• My eye’s also widened when it is mention in The Power script portion predicted that this kid would be the one who pulls the trigger to end it all.

• It’s interesting to get to read the side effects of Fluid Karma.

• Wow… We learn that Pilot (Justin Timberlake) acted with the Rock in a movie at one point. The interesting part is that Pilot’s character’s name was Donnie when he acted with the Rock.

• I had a nice little oh shit moment when it’s set up in The Power script that there was only one person who still had a memory after the mysterious plane crash (linked to Donnie Darko) then in the reality of the Southland Tales story it’s revealed that Krystal Now is that person.

That’s what I have for now.

I really can’t wait for next week when I can take a little more time to sort through all this new information to try and figure out what it all means.

See you then!