Marval Movie

There are a lot of Anime's (understatement of the decade). They are the Japanese style of cartoons, and they have become so popular that they are virtually a part of western culture.

Many people know or at least can recognize the big ones like Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Dragon-Ball Z etc. but one of my favorite's is a very underrated slice of life anime called Beck - Mongolian Chop Squad, its about a bunch of kids that start a grup band (I shall attempt to keep the spoilers to a minimal).

Beck starts with Koyuki, a fourteen year old boy in high school who already feels like his life is at an end, he has no interest in school work, is socially awkward and both doesn't know or care where he is going and I think if you look at a few brief scenes it demonstrates that he's a little sexually frustrated. I identify a lot with Koyuki, when I was fourteen I was all of these things as well as being a little more that a bit depressed, I had bully problems, liked a girl that I couldn't talk to and was failing school and didn't even care.

Then as if by an act of fate he encounters what can only be described as some sort of Frankenstein dog, being abused by a few kids, he defends the dog and then the owner, a sixteen year old boy arrives to get him.

We then learn that the dog is named Beck and the boy is named Ryuske. Ryuske is confident as well a talented Guitarist who introduces Koyuki to the world of music, and after hearing Dying Breed (a fictional band) he decides to learn the guitar. This is made possible because Ryuske lends him his old L-48 acoustic guitar.

Koyuki then starts to learn to play and it doesn't come easy as anybody who has learned to play it will tell you, his fingers hurt and he has a lot of problems getting the F chord. Meanwhile Ryuske, after breaking up with his old grup band (Serial Mama) decides to assemble a new grup band (named Beck) and we are introduces to a wide array of colorful characters.

Ryuske himself is pretty chilled back, he's good and he knows it as well as knowing a lot about music and when we see him perform it seems like he was born for the stage. Taira the bassist is even more relaxed than Ryuske he to is good and in high demand, the girls go crazy when he's on stage, and probably joins Beck because he sees the potential. Chiba the vocalist is a real wild man, he has crazy mood swings, breaks into a vending machine just because he's thirsty, gets into fights constantly and I find myself constantly saying "Chibas crazy." There is a particularly funny scene where he is fishing and having no luck when Ryuske accidentally fall's in to the pond and instantly the first words out of his mouth are "Yeah you find that fish and you kick its ass!" Later their drummer has to be replaced with Koyuki's class mate Saku who is quite but likes what he does. Of course Koyuki joins.

When the show starts we see Koyuki's childhood sweetheart the smart and pretty Izume, she is light hearted and likes Koyuki how he is. Early in the show we are introduced to Maho, Ryuske's sister, same age as Koyuki and has an incredible singing voice. She is one of those sassy cynical characters that I don't believe I've seen enough of. She is also smart and pretty and when Koyuki's playing sucks she tells him but when she hears him sing she tells Ryuske that he has to have him as Beck's lead vocalist. A lesser show would have him hook up with his childhood sweetheart but Maho challenges him and encourages his growth, which would you have?

The animation is average, nothing extravagant and only does what it needs to do (get one character from one side of the room to the other), except when it comes to their performances then the animation takes off. The characters really move, emote and they really play their instruments, there fingers and strums match up instead of randomly moving. The character designs are also more reserved, they look more real, we don't have characters that look like there from Final Fantasy with crazy designs, they look like people we see in the street or in a store, one character Mr. Saitou who teaches Koyuki guitar to start, he looks Asian, when was the last time you saw an anime character who actually looked Asian.

One fact that I came away knowing about Beck was that they knew their stuff. They know how to write characters, as well as knowing about music, it doesn't matter if you don't know the difference between a Les Paul and a Strat, you will want to learn about it when their done talking. I also came out with a little bit of extra knowledge (apparently the Rolling Stones would play pool before they played to relax themselves and the lyrics to Yesterday came to Paul McCartney in a dream). Another nice touch are the nods to other bands, I saw one character wearing a KISS T-shirt and Ryuske wearing a Red Hot Chili Peppers T-shirt.

A story about a grup band wouldn't be much if the music itself was no good, the show would fall flat on its face. Luckily the music that Beck performs is actually rather enjoyable, it has an Indie feel to it that I usually dislike but here it won me over. The only grup band that I can think of compering them to are the Red Hot Chili Peppers (with their slang lyrics and their use of bass). They have about five original songs by the grup band and I have them on my Ipod and listen to them on occasion, I will say though that the song "Slip Out" is a great song and is an instant classic.

Beck has 26 episodes, shockingly low for an anime. In those episodes we see the bands slow rise from playing in dives, to the Marque and to a music bazar but we don't see them hit the big time, the show ends on a maybe. We are given a slice of life experience so Koyuki has exciting days and boring days, but these all add to the feel of real life and the level of how relateable Koyuki can be.

I heard a statistic that sixty percent of anime's sound better in Japanese, thirty-five percent sounds equally good in either language and a rare five percent that sounds better in English dub. Beck is one of these anime's. Greg Ayres as Koyuki speaks him well giving a genuine performance of a troubled teenager as well as being a terrific singer, Justin Cook who plays Chiba has a great attitude which fits the character perfectly.

People who have no interest in learning music might be put off by the idea of this show, that's not a dilema because Beck isn't about music (not really), its a story about passion. Beck is about following what you love and having a thrill doing it. A show doesn't change, people change when I first watched this show I was Koyuki's age and I felt as lost and confused as he did when the show starts, now I'm 19 and I'm following my passion, no its not music. Maybe in a few years I'll accomplish my goals and I'll look back with nostalgia.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4

There are 1240 different species of bats in the world, all ranging in shape and size to how they work.  The differences can be subtle of very greatly but they are all bats none the less.

Batman has always been one of the most diverse of all comic book characters.  He has been the Dark Knight, the camping crusader, a robot, a teenage boy in the future, a Victorian vigilante etc.  So many different interpretations that very to extreme to subtle but like Hamlet he can always be interpreted by the individual however they see him.

For bridging the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Warner Brothers decided to release a special direct to DVD movie.  Gotham Knight was given to the team that had turned Batman in animation into serious work with Bruce Timm as Producer and Andrea Romano as voice director and Kevin Conroy and Batman.

Gotham Knight is a eighty seven minute animated movie divided up into six short movies all about Batman, sometimes from different perspectives others from different interpretations, they all have their own art style and nearly all of them has a different director.

In the role of Batman for all of these shorts is Kevin Conroy, who has been voicing the character since 1992.  He has been working with the character for so long he is virtually fluent at it.  Conroy is low and sharp without being too gravely like others who taken on the role.  Here he has to subtly but noticeably adjust himself for each interpretation of each different Batman, he has to be the big bulky Batman or the more youthful energized funny guy, or the all to human tortured soul. Hes always been my favorite Batman and this serves as a shining example of his capability.

I have always thought that animation suits superheroes better than it does live action.  There doesn't have to be a big duduk perkara with getting the costume to look right in the real world because you just draw it and there it is, they were comics first and so animation serves to bring the drawings to life rather than to worry about the locations or the actor.

One of the best is Working Through Pain, this shows Batman has just been working his way through a sewer and having to deal with the bullet wound and having to climb out of the sewer and of course it is all but easy. While this is happening Batman has flashbacks of one of his experiences while he was in pelatihan and he meets a woman who can teach him to deal with his pain.  Like so many things Batman has had to deal with pain and this short really shows how he carries and does his best to deal with it, even if in the end it consumes him.  The short ends with one of the most pitch perfect images of Batman, him stuck in a hole of filth, pain and violence and he cant get out because he just cant let go.

While Batman himself gets multiple makeovers so does Gotham city itself.  I heard Dennis O'Neil say that "Metropolis is New York in the summer on a clear day, Gotham is New York in the winter on a cold cloudy night", there is one short that fits that description perfectly but they all offer great Gotham cities.  All dark, big and covered with unique Gothic architectural features that make them distinct.

While all the movies are different there is a loose flowing narrative that exists beneath each individual movie.  This works brilliantly to tie the separated movies into a whole.  It works because the whole point of the moves is that despite the differences in their style and direction in the end it is Batman.

I have my own interpretation of Batman, everybody does, and I still have yet to see "my Batman" anywhere but that's OK because I can accept and appreciate the different Batmen that have been offered, which I feel other people should do more often.  There is nothing worse than listening to some obnoxious fan whining say "no I don't like this its not my Batman".  Gotham Knight probably has your Batman in here somewhere, or maybe is a mix of two of them the point is this movie celebrates and revels in the opportunities that all the different art-styles and animation can offer the legend that is Batman     

Here I am with my fiftieth post! when I started this blog I would have never guessed that I would have made it this far, so I have decided that on my fiftieth post that I will reflect over the year and a half I've been posting on this blog as-well as future posts that I have planned.

This blog was not started by me but my sister, she and my mother both said that I should channel my enthusiasm for movies and actually write about them and I would always say "I'd love to". But I also don't like it when something gets forced on me and I get put on the spot, so naturally that's exactly what my sister did, she set the blog up right in-front of me and pretty me said to me right there and then "go on write something!". I don't like situations like this and if I was going to have a blog I wanted to do it in my own time so I just left it be for a while.

Then it came on me one night while I couldn't sleep and I was having a surge of enthusiasm for an animated movie I watched recently about a DC comic book character and I spent most of the time just typing away and then next thing I knew it was half three in the morning and I had produced my first movie review.

My first review is not that bad for my first time, I knew how to write movie reviews because I was continuously reading Roger Ebert's movie reviews (and I  still do) so I got the gist. Over the months I would review whatever I felt like and have continued to refine my writing style over the past forty-nine posts. I think the most important part of the blog is when I decided to do the Star Trek month, because it gave me a deadline to work to and helped discipline me and by the end I think you can see an obvious learning curve.

As for the posts that I'm most proud of is probably my Alan Moore Swamp Thing review, its still stands as the biggest thing that I've ever written and may just hold that title for a long time, the other is probably the Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad review, its a great anime and I think I put a lot of genuine emotions in that review. Others like the Supergods review I just feel are really well done and the Samsara review captures my enthusiasm for the movie.

If there are any regrets I have it's two things, one is that I have too many positive reviews on the blog, its because I'm very particular about the movies I see in the cinema and the bad ones I make an effort not to see again and to simply not think about. The other is that I never got to add Batman Under The Red Hood to my list of Great Movies while I was reviewing Batman movies in anticipation for The Dark Knight Rises, I don't really know why it was just something that slipped through the cracks, ow well I know I'll get round to it someday.

Finally for future posts, I have a lot planned. Firstly I plan to see both Seven Psychopaths and The Hobbit next week so you can expect reviews on those movies. Next I plan to have my last post the same it was last year a Best of the Year list. As for the posts that I plan to do but have no specific date for it planned are Grant Morrison's New X-Men, Punk Rock Jesus, American Gods, all the Superman Movies, Psycho Great Movie and Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Big projects in mind, no telling if I'll get to do them all through next year but I'll certainly try, beyond that I have a rule to myself that I will always keep up the average passe of at least one post per month.

Well here we all are with ambition and enthusiasm  for the next year, that is if we don't all DIE! on December the 22nd. As of now while I'm typing this my blog has had "16545" hits whether they be people looking for me, the reviews I write about or just people who came on the blog mistakenly I am thankful to all of them and I have no idea what I'm going to do for post 100.

Pacific Rim is a movie that is directors Guillermo Del Toro's lover letter to the Kaiju genre of giant monsters. It is a movie that wishes to take a concept that a child would most likely come up with and make it believable and respectable. The movie has giant robots and monsters fighting, this will be entertaining, but will it be smart?

The movie is about a rift that opens up in the pacific region in the sea and that allows huge monsters from another world  the enter and cause massive, city wide devastation. But the human race is not so easily destroyed, the people have developed huge robots to battle the monsters named Jaeger. The Jaegers are too huge to just have one pilot operating them so they rely on two pilots, one for each hemisphere of the brain.

Kaiju is the Japanese word for monster. The Kaiju genre is a genre that I am less well versed in than others. The Kaijus themselves are all very gloriously and imaginatively destined and executed. Del Toro has a true passion for monsters and it shows because all these monsters look great. They all owe, or pay homage to classic Kaijus of the past, with most of them being modeled after earth creatures (giant crab, gorilla, lizard etc.).

The word Jaeger is the German word for hunter. The Jaegers, just like the Kaiju, have a wide difference in their designs and thoughts of how they should operate. The Russian is huge and strong, the Australian is fast and agile etc. They are inspired from anime, most likely Gundam being the main source of influence.

All these giant monsters and robots wouldn't mean much if we didn't have characters to latch onto. Luckily we've got some winners. Charlie Hunnam is Raleigh Becket, a pilot that suffered a server defeat and needs a chance to reclaim his former glory. Rinko Kikuchi as Mako Mori, a girl whose past is linked to the Kaiju and wants battle. Ron Perlman as the leader of the Kaiju black-market. All of them are great actors that bring believability to their roles. 

Idris Elba plays the Jaeger general Stacker Pentecost. Elba is a powerhouse of an actor, he commands the screen with a planets worth of gravity and his delivery is even more soul shaking with his magnificent voice. He is a screen legend already and he will live on for a hundred years. A line like "Cancelling the apocalypse!" doesn't really require much effort to make sound cool, but Elba makes is sound one-hundred percent serious and cool as all hell.

Guillermo Del Toro is one of the greatest directors working today. He has his plot and character muscles working at top level. What he does amazingly in this movie is he effectively blends and balances the spectacle of these colossal battles with the smaller character moments. The micro and the macro are interwoven seamlessly in this movie.

What this movie does so incredibly, is its world building. You can really understand how this world works and operates. There is so much thought put into how our world would be affected if there would be giant monsters terrorizing it. There are religious groups that form even a black market, have you ever thought what happens to those huge monster corpses? Well this tells you.

Pacific Rim has a great color scheme with more bronze, reds and greens. Hardly are there ever dull greys that are repeated through the movie this is a world of color. Along with the color you really believe that this world has been lived in. Nothing is perfectly clean, everything has been scratched, faded and/or rusted.

I love how international this movie is. There are all sorts of people from every race, gender to nationality. This isn't a movie where America saves the world, or the British, this is a story where the human race saves the planet.

On surface level this might be considered to be cut from the same thread as the Transformers movies. No. On just the action level this is still so much greater than those movies, why? Because these robots and monsters are huge and you can believe it. Each swig and punch that is delivered has weight and gravity to it. These are creatures that you believe exist in the real world.

There actually was a big effort in the 3D converging of this movie and Del Toro himself said that he was proud of the conversion. So I swayed between seeing it in either 3D or 2D. In the end my better senses took hold and I decided to see the movie in 2D. There might have been some good moments that would have worked for seeing a Kaiju jaws snap in-front of my face or a Jagers fist, but there's no real appeal or need for 3D in this movie. Like most movies this is just fine in 2D. 

What I love about this movie is that, in this very cynical time of doom and gloom of the future this movie is saying that we have a future. This movie says that with all our problems that we can face a threat that seeks to destroy us and we can cancel the apocalypse itself.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4

The Wind Rises is Hayao Miyazaki's eleventh feature film. Like all his others there is charm, wit, comedy, a cast of luscious characters and animation that will stay with you till the end of your days.

The movie is about Jiro Horikoshi (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a airplane engineer that loves planes and sees beauty in nearly everything, even in finding a bone in his fish. He dreams of meeting his idol, the great Italian airplane engineer Giovanni Battista Caproni (Stanley Tucci). Jiro is a genius and works furiously, constantly with pencil and eyes that look through thick round glasses on his work. The glasses and his furious working habits remind me of Miyazaki himself.

This is the first time that Miyazaki has made a movie that is based on a real figure. Jiro Horokoshi was a real person and Miyazaki was probably drawn to him so much because he could identify with his obsession with planes. It is obvious that Miyazaki loves planes. Before this film was announce I had heard that he would make a sequel to Porco Rosso. It seems like that was only a rumor now but still this could be called a spiritual successor to Rosso because Miyazaki carries his ever loving enthusiasm for planes with him to this project.

This may be Miyazaki's best animated movie. Everyone that knows animation knows that Studio Ghibli is a powerhouse studio capable of creating real, living vibrant worlds and characters. This movie has such detail and character to it, the way the wind makes the clothes come alive to the detail in the way Jiro's glasses warp and light shines through them.

We get to see what dreams look like to Miyazaki in this movie and they are wondrous, incredible places where the mind can make the world disappear and a boy can walk along the wing of a plane in-flight with his idol that he has never met.

For the transferring to English speaking audiences Ghibli has a deal with Disney that they can handle the translation process (with the condition that they don't touch a frame of animation). They do a very respectable job here again. They hire people that have the right talent, not just big stars, yes some of the people here are big stars but there also the right people for the job. Some are experienced voice actors like Mae Whitman and other bizarre choices like Werner Herzog.

Jiro is on his way to University by train and then an earthquake hits. The representation of the earthquake is like when you quickly shake a carpet, or a quilt and the wave gets carried through the rest of it. Also accompanying that is a sound like a monsters roar. He then selflessly helps a girl named Naoko and her maid, who's leg has been broken in the crash, all because the girl saved his hat from flying off.

Joe Hisashi has collaborated with Miyazaki on everyone of his films for Ghibli. This is still, like all the others a fine collaboration, an incredibly gentle, moving score that illustrates the emotions of the character and the story. Hisashi is one of the greatest living composers, so as one he delivers another magnificent score.

On its original release in Japan there was an immense controversy and criticism surrounding it. Jiro is making the planes to be fought in World War II and he doesn't like how his beautiful planes are being used for killing. So some Japanese critics have called the movie out for being "un-japanese." This is probably Miyazaki's most political film and even here the politics are really lightly brushed over. Miyazaki is not one for politics he is one for morality, poetry and beauty. Perhaps he should have chosen a less hot topic subject matter but still the themes and emotions outweigh the debate.

Miyazaki is exceptional for making such interesting riveting children movies. Here this seems like a movie for adults. Children will probably enjoy the magnificent dream sequences and the bright colors but the themes are something that life can teach you. I recommend this movie to every adult that I can find that isn't allergic to animation.

Miyazaki has declared this as his last movie and is officially retiring from making feature films. He did however make the same announcement back in 1997 when he released Princess Mononoke, then again four other times after that. But I believe that this time he is serious. There is something here that really does feel like a swan song. 

Never since The Dark Knight have I sat in the theater and just wished that the movie would never end. But of course I knew that this, like all other movies would have to end. And with this movies end would come the closing chapter of one of the finest directors of all time.

Sayōnara Hayao Miyazaki.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4

Assault on Arkham seems to be making up for lost time on the adult rated DC animated movies. You can truly feel the release the writers and directors are exercising that have been building up for some time.

It opens with The Riddler (Mathew Gray Grubler) on a conversation with Amanda Waller (C.C.H. Pounder). She keeps him talking only so her hit squad can locate him then take him out. Suddenly Batman arrives and and takes out the mercenaries and sends Riddler back to Arkham Asylum, the maximum security mental ward. This leaves Waller with one option, "Assemble Task Force X. We have another suicide mission".

And so the Suicide Squad is assembled. A squad that consists of convicts with no chance of release and are on death row anyway so they give them the messy jobs.

What makes this movie unique is that despite who's name is on the title Batman himself appears very little in the movie. Kevin Conroy returns for the role and even though he appears so seldom he puts his all into every line he has.

The real stars of this movie are Deadshot and Harley Quinn. Neal McDonough as Deadshot is a very convincing leading-man with lots of charisma, style and a serious nature. Hynden Walch takes her second swing at the character of Harley and she is so wonderful in the role, with her Jersey-esq accent and her hilarious, energetic delivery. There are two types of Walch performances, the super spunky sweet and the dark tormented, lucky for her she gets a character that can dance between either or even both effortlessly.

The rest of the squad is comprised of Killer Frost (Jennifer Hale) with the ability to shoot ice beams from her hands a dry scenes of humour, Captain Boomerang (Greg Ellis) just a regular blue collar criminal that lie a pint and throwing boomerangs, King Shark (John DiMaggio) some king of deformed giant that has a taste for human flesh and Black Spider (Giancarlo Esposito) a stealthy vigilante that seeks to kill all the corrupted.

There is also The Joker, this time being played by the biggest and hottest voiceactors of recent years, Troy Baker. Baker is a Joker worthy to stand alongside Heath Ledger and Mark Hamill (to which he sounds very like). He is just as crazy and strangely hilarious as them but also brings his own unique spin on the character. But even though Baker is a great actor he is able to speak the very punchy obrolan and make them knockouts, never did I think I'd ever hear the Joker say "I'm here bitches!" and it be either credible or work and yet it was one of the high point of the movie.

The drawing style in this movie is more obviously more video game based because it is based on the Arkham game franchise. This movie serves as a prequel to the first game (Arkham Asylum) and it fits pretty well. The characters are very graphic and have a distinguished style to them. Even with all the extra lines the animation still had character and was consistently good.

A weird experience happened to me while watching this movie. The environments are based on the Arkham Asylum game and I recognized the places that I had previously navigated around in my video gaming experience. Usually I have watched a movie and then there would be a game of it (Ghostbusters for example) but this time the situation was reversed and it was an experience unlike any other.

This movie is a guy movie, no getting around it. There is as much nudity as they can get away with and it is fe-male nudity, there are gory explosion filled action scenes that appeal the the male mind-set. However unlike a movie like Sin City this movie does not hate woman, it explaoits them a little but they are still capable and are able to even beat up the boys. So for that reason I could proudly eat my steak dinner and raise my beverage to the screen.

Assault on Arkham is short on subtely, absolutely not approbprate for children, somewhat sexist and boarders on explotation. But it is also very entertaining.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 4

Doesn't it seem obvious that in this golden age of Superhero movies that even Disney animation would cater to the demand of the ever growing phenomenon.

We open on the city of San Fransokyo, an obvious hybrid of San Francisco and Tokyo. The fusing of the two cultures is executed very well, with familiar landscapes like the Golden Gate Bridge and Flibert Street but are then Easternized (if thats a word) with points and Kanji in the world. It is a fitting location for this wild, colorful adventure.

Our jagoan is a boy name, what else, Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter), a fourteen year old genius with robotics. He also has an elderly brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney), also a genius. This representation and casting is very refreshing to see coming from Disney. There are now multiple representations of asian characters that are also portrayed by asian actors.

They are orphans because it really wouldn't be a Disney family movie without an incomplete family. Hiro gets into Robot battles, like Cock Fights but with robots. Tadashi wishes better for his little brother than these seedy fights  so he shows him where he works. A super lab filled with other like minded geniuses.

Tadashi's project is a big balloon robot named Baymax (Scott Adsit). He is for medical care that has a round very non-thretening appearance, he takes things very literally and has moments of dry comedy that eat-up a lot of the running time of the movie. Hiro is then convinced that this is where his future lies so he applies himself for the upcoming science fare. He gets in but there is a fire and Tadashi is lost (because Disney really hates families?).

Eventually Hiro begins a quest to discover the why and the how along with Baymax. They discover that someone is indeed behind it and so Hiro fits Baymax with armour so he can now give as good as he gets.

The villain is a figure that I don't think is ever named. But he is a man in black that looks like Death in The Seventh Seal with a kabuki mask. He also psychically controls a swarm on nano-machines that form into whatever he in-visions. He also hardly ever says a word so he speaks through actions and presence. He is a rather effective villain.

The animation is very impressive. The vast selection of vivid, appealing colors is nice but also the detail in San Fransokyo and the texturing of the fabrics and other materials are unbelievably convincing. And that characters are able to express such convincing acting.

This is a truly great looking movie with appealing colours and creativity. It is guilty of pandering but this is still for the kids. This is for the children but theres also plenty for adults.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

Feast Review

This short that opens the movie is a warm hearted, sophisticated piece of animation that that uses the technology to tell its story. Like Lady & The Tramp it is told from a dogs perspective. It will also make you very hungry while watching it.

However you should take note not to feed your own dog like the owner does in this short.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 4

I first learned of this Anime while reading the Art of Avatar The Last Airbender, in one of the captions Bryan Konietzko mentioned that FLCL was one of their favorite Anime's of all-time. Nothing else was needed, Avatar is probably my absolute favorite show so when one of the co-creators says that it's the teams favorite, I watched it. I had no idea what I was in for.

Note: The pronunciation of the title is Fooly Cooly or Furi Kuri, not saying the individual letters F L C L.

We open in the small town of Mabase, where a boy named Naota sits under a bridge with his brothers ex-girlfriend Mamimi and does math. He recounts that in this inconsequential town where there is a power-plant shaped like a giant iron nothing ever happens, nothing extraordinary or exciting. Mamimi offers him a canned drink, but he doesn't like sour things and brings up his brother in America, when he hears a rumbling. He turns around to find the pink-haired, Vespa riding, bass guitar wielding Haruko that runs him over, followed with a whack to the head with her bass.

Later at home, Noata has grown a horn where Haruko hit him. When it's time for him to come down for dinner he finds Haruko at the dinner table where his dad tells him that she will be their new housekeeper. His dad then accuses him of "Fooling around, cooling around. Fooly Cooly!" then asks what it means, Noata doesn't know.

Later that night  Noata runs out to find Mamimi, he asks what she wants from him and what he means to her. Then the horn beings to rumble and two robots emerge from it, they fight and the one with a head that looks like a television is the winner. Haruko gives the robot a whack on the head, turning it's color from red to blue. The next day the robot is living with them and Naota comments that nothing ever happens in this town.

The writer, Yoji Enokido, writes like no other. He writes characters that are real and metaphorical, situations that are drawn from real life but are also heavily symbolic. He has a knack for putting together stories that have outlandish images and situations but ties them into real feelings and situations that become some of the most emotionally connectable material you'll find.
I love all the characters, they all have moments that make me laugh or I connect to them in one way or another. But my favorite is Haruko, for may reasons but also without her there would be no story. She really is the lifeblood for the whole Anime. It's the whole theme of Naota being stuck in his little town where nothing happens (extraordinary or otherwise), when all of a sudden this girl comes riding into his life. Bringing all kinds of excitement with her.

The animation sways from looking amazing to being modest, experimental, to shabby without explanation or apology. There is even a scene without any kind of preparation it becomes South Park style animation, for two clips and then it is never acknowledged or referenced again. Other times when the storyboardists and animators clearly threw character models and basic proportions to the wind and drew as outlandishly as they wanted or could. But unlike something like Evangelion which showed their budget problems they use it at the right time and place, adding method to the madness. When the scene calls for spectacle and poignancy then it becomes beautiful and clear and other times when the characters freak-out in a fit of rage or madness then that is when they warp into some of the more deformed drawings of characters that one associates with Anime. This adds method and enhances the mood, dynamic and comedy of the scene.

You can tell that the team for this were given plenty of leeway in their animating and story-boarding. There are so many little details that are added with the movements of the animation. Something like one of the characters pulling a hilarious expression or something that was probably too cheeky to be in there anyway.

The music is done entirely by the Japanese indie grup musik named The Pillows. Everyone I have showed the show to or have recommended they give them a listen have agreed that they are a very solid band. They have a low-key, easy going style that I'm not sure I can point to any other grup musik for comparison as an example. Nearly all the music was written for the show and the moments of music and animation blends so perfectly.

There are a total of six episodes, that's it. That's not unheard of, having an Anime run for so short a time, but what is amazing is the effectiveness you realize it has when the selesai episode comes. You are suddenly really invested and feel for the characters. It makes the big fifty to sixty, even the twenty six episode Anime's look foolish by comparison. Each episode focuses on a character or general theme, by the end the change and growth has happened and it never feels forced or cheap.

There are some that would look at this and simply state the obvious "This is weird" and "That's just random." The first one is admittingly undeniable. But this is not random because there are reoccurring phrases and images and concepts, that is not random. No if it was random then something would show up, say something nonsensical and leave then never come back, not so in FLCL. 

Cowboy Bebop has been described as a "getaway Anime" something you could give to someone that has never seen an Anime or is unconvinced by the medium to get them interested. FLCL is not that. No this is the Anime to reignite your love of Anime. If you are getting board with it and think you've seen it all, this is prove you wrong.

There is the option to watch it with either English subtitles or dubbed in English. There are purists that will simply not accept the English dubs of Anime's, I have never understood these people. There are bad dub's of Anime's but there are still plenty of good ones (even a small percentage that are better) but I would say that not only is this dub acceptable, it is essential. The comedy goes by so unrelentingly fast and the script is so compressed that you must watch it in your native language because otherwise you will miss one of the lightning-fast visual gags that come and go in frames. I was watching this with friends once and they did make a sly comment that it wasn't the best acting, yes but they missed the point. FLCL is not an acting demanding project, it isn't something that requires nuisance and subtlety, it requires big voices to say seemingly nonsensical lines and make weird noises while freaking out. I will say though that the two standouts are, Kari Wahlgren and Joe Martin. This is Wahlgren's first role and she comes loaded with energy and characteristic to Haruko, same for Joe Martin that's very funny as Naota's father.

The scripting as well as the tone and the jokes are Japanese, "of course" you say but it is more than that. FLCL is so purely Japanese that the only thing that can be done is to have the obrolan for the Japanese to English be a simple direct translation. It has to be this way because there is no translation. Constantly in the commentary track you can hear the director ask "Will people get that?" I never felt out-of-place but that may be because of the amount of Anime I've already see.

The real overall theme of FLCL is a simple one, just put on a truly bizarre canvas, growing up is hard. When you start to enter the age of moving on to the next school or have to accept that childhood isn't forever the world becomes so much more weird and nonsensical, grown-ups have so many different views and become stranger and stranger. Your insignificance begins to dawn on you. But even then you are still a kid, but you have the hardest time accepting that of all things.

What is Fooly Cooly? No idea. Or more accurately, there aren't any words for something that has never been created before, there isn't anything else like FLCL. Never has been, never will.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4

As our main character tells us at the start of the movie "Blink and you might miss something." If you do blink you will miss one of the frames that have been conceived, crafted and filmed through intelligence, love, and enthusiasm from the people at Laika.

Kubo is a film that's the whole package, it has color, laughs, visuals, tears, and action.

Kubo is a child that lives on the edge of a mountain with his mother that suffers from a damaged memory. During the day he goes down to the village where he plays his shamisen which manipulates the paper into origami to tell his stories,  the main story is about the great warrior Hanzo and his legendary three pieces of armor, however, he never finishes his tales. He must return home before night so that his evil aunts and grandfather will never find them.

So naturally that's exactly what happens. His aunts (Rooney Mara) are the first to arrive and before they can take him, his mother performs a spell that takes him far away. He wakes to find a white, talking baboon sitting by him telling him they have to move. She is simply named Monkey (Charlize Theron), they move across the icy mountain and through non-forced exposition and fun banter now understand that Kubo must retrieve the three pieces of the armor. While traveling Kubo then meets a large creature that looks like a man, but encased in black armor that resembles a beetle so he is named Beetle (Mathew McConaughey). He knows that he was a samurai warrior, but was cursed and is in the form he is in now and only has pieces of who he was. But he still has his skill's as a warrior and his memory's have a connection to Kubo's father so he joins them on their journey.

But beyond the cuteness and likability of its characters is also the talented script-writing. Where everything has a point and comes back in the end. Having funny jokes is good, but its real talent when you can take those jokes and make them seeds for future character reveals and important plot points where you are able to tell that your with the professionals that earn their paycheck.

Laika as a studio is both recent and ow so unique. They started in 2009 and have now produced four feature films, all stop motion. They are all family films but not light ones, no they're films have had very dark shadows and monsters with claws and teeth. They are more like the movies of Don Bluth, were they understand you need to teach children about the stakes in life and give them entertainment that challenges as well as makes them laugh.

Probably the reason there are so many good things in this movie is that with stop-motion literally nothing happens by accident. Everything from an expression, to a piece of hair moving, has to be manipulated by an animator. So everything that is not necessary and would save on hours upon hours of work is worked out and what is left is spectacular and the necessary.

The way death is handled in this movie is permanent. There are real stakes and it makes everything so much sadder. This may be obvious but in children's movies death has always been diluted, characters are either not really dead or they're death is not total, as in they can come back or still be talked to as a ghost. Here there is a clear line of the living and the dead, this movie takes it on itself to tell children about death and not sugar-coat it.

If you know anything about the rigorous effort that goes into animation at all then you will appreciated nearly every second of this movie in some way, if you care for literally well-crafted stories then you'll be satisfied, if you demand some more heartfelt messages that will nourish as well as entertain our children then this movie shall fill it.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4

There is a name that is known to every manga and/or anime enthusiast worth their salt and that is Akira. The reason for this is probably (among its many other attributes) that it is a prime example of what Anime has to offer. Vast, elaborate backgrounds, a unique tale of science fiction, inspiring as well as grotesque images and characters that dwell into the depraved as well as the noble. American animation has primarily been for children or for the family, Disney would never attempt anything like this. We will never get anything this complex, this disturbing or well funded and executed.

As a country Japan knows the devastating impact of nuclear warfare. In the fifties it channeled that into the giant monster Godzilla which then birthed the entire Kaiju genre. Then Katsuhiro Otomo began a monster of a manga in 1982 and finished it in 1990, turning in a tale of almost five thousand pages of art. This movie came out in 1988. This is a streamlined telling of the tale that Otomo told but it is more about the visuals and the experiences that it offers than anything else.

The movie opens on a vast city-space that is Tokyo in 1988, then pans up to show an explosion, wiping out all. This triggers World War III. Then we cut to 2019 (so close now) and we are now in the new Neo-Tokyo, a city set to host the Olympics. Within this city are the bright, colorful lights of signs, and vehicle headlights, but they are contrasted by the blacks of the sky and the buildings themselves. And within this location motorcycle gangs race, beat and kill over nothing really. This is the city of Blade Runner, that is populated with the drug taking, violent youth of A Clockwork Orange sprinkled with a little doomsday mentality of the Mad Max movies. Whether these were a part of Otomo's influence while crafting the story or not does not matter. All those stories hit on essential prophecies and fears that mankind will find itself in.
The leader of one of the gang's is a boy named Kaneda, who sports a bright red jacket with a powered motorcycle to match. His best friend Tetsuo wants to ride his bike, but Kaneda says he cant handle it,  so he gets on his and the other members ride off to beat on another gang. While they are doing this a riot is breaking out and there is a man who has been shot and is leading a boy though the street.

During the time of conception and release Japan was going through a major perkara with it youth. They were indeed running wild and the economy was on the verge of collapse. Great pieces of art reflect the problems of the world at the time of their creation, b the themes are eternal, youths running amok, an unsteady economy and the dangerous places science can lead us are problems that will always come-up again and again.

The man who was shot then dies because of the riot and the child wanders off. His path then crosses with Kaneda and Tetsuo. Tetsuo crashes his bike right into him and gets injured, the boy is unaffected and we then see him clearly. Young in body but his skin is wrinkled.Suddenly military helicopters descend taking the wrinkled child and Tetsuo.

The image of seeing children but with old wrinkled skin is a striking one. Like much of the ins and outs of the movie it goes unexplained. We know it's linked to their abilities but that's as far as it goes. It could be viewed as the terrible hybrid of the generations. Youth that is burdened by the centuries of traditions and expectations. Or another interpretation is that the children have been given powers and with that comes responsibilities but they are unable to deal with it because of their age. Movies don't necessarily have to give you all the information. They are the art of show don't tell after all. Part of the fun and what makes people want to come back to re-watch a movie are the things that go-bye unsaid, if we got the full package on the first viewing then there would be no need to return. But a truly great movie has layers that you are able to peel back after repeated viewings.

Many details of the plot go by us without ever really getting fully explained. But this works because we see it from the position of the teenagers, who are equally bewildered and only marginally grasp the immense scope of their situation. Kaneda is not a truly well defined character, he is headstrong, enjoys simple (though very illegal) things, though if he were truly complete that would be a detriment to the movie. A world this vast, with so many themes and images doesn't need the inclusion of even more layers. We just need someone who's defined enough and that reacts to their situation with enough believe-ability that the audience can put themselves in their shoes. For simple stories we require deep characters, for crazy complex stories we need simple characters.

Traditionally in Japanese animation, the feature is animated and then the actors are brought in to put their voices over the animation. This movie was handled differently. It was done like Disney does theirs, wear the actors record first and then the animation is matched to their performance. Something that would probably go over the heads of regular viewers but for those with know this medium a little more they'll see more shape and form to the lip-syncing.

Before this Otomo had only been an Anime director for two segments in two other feature films. He had done plenty of manga work and it seemed like that would be his medium to stay with. But when the opportunity to adapt his manga work into a fully fleshed-out movie he took it and with that changed the industry forever. He already came with such mastery of sound design, cinematography and movement of camera. True he was not alone in making the movie and was probably given some experts to help realize his vision. But this is technically his first movie and it is such a strong debut.

Probably the most obvious great aspect about the movie is it's magnificent animation production. This world is alive, from the characters in the foreground to the civilians in the background, the a close-up where you can read a character inner thoughts, to a building crumbling. It is an immense spectacle that has been envisioned and then drawn again, again and again to create the illusion of movement. With animation everything costs money, every piece of movement is a new frame and that means that it cost money. There are ways to get more out of little. Like having a static, but striking image that draws your eye for longer with it's simple execution. But there are rarely anything on-screen that is still in Akira. Not every single thing in the frame is moving at the same time but there is always something moving and that cannot be faked or done cheap. The money and effort shows with each frame.

But beyond your eyes Akira also stirs your ears. Everything from the sound of motorcycle revving its engine, it's tires screeching across the road, a pipe whacking someones brains out, a helicopter smashing into a building and every piece of glass shattering on the pavement. And the musical score by Tsutomu Ohashi itself, which mixes the modern techno that the youths would listen to and the ancient mantra reciting melodies that continue to blend the the two generations together. Just like Apocalypse Now this is the most cinematic experience you can find. Everything from the grand image on-screen to the sound that will fill the theater (or your living room).

Tetsuo then awakes in a bedroom. As he lays in bed he sees tiny little toys move across his bed and then onto his pillow. he goes to grab them but nothing is in his hand, then the whole room shakes and every inanimate object converges on one spot forming one giant, demented, Frankenstein'esque teddy bear. Growing larger than the room and tearing it apart.

The rest of the movie consists of Tetsuo getting out of the facility and then coming to grips with his new powers. He begins to get very painful headaches which he subdues with pills. His power grows and the children and he himself keep hearing one name repeated again and again "Akira." During this time Kaneda teams up with freedom fighters of some kind to free Tetsuo and expose the government. However Tetsuo has never been the leader before and now has the powers of a god and absolute power corrupts absolutely. He has all the power in the world and he puts on a red cape perfectly displaying his juvenile mindset.

Kaneda realizes his friend is beyond all help and reasoning and he must end him. The two meet in the place of unfulfilled ambition, the unfinished Olympic stadium, where so much was promised and so much riding on. Now the drugs have worn off and he has full access to his power but no control, and becomes a giant, monstrous amalgamation of flesh and machine. Like the little toys he saw and now amassed too much power beyond his control and is simple destruction now.

Akira is one of the pinnacles of anime because you would never get this from anywhere else. It's pot runs on a minimal capacity, only giving you enough to get truly invested in and lets the world and characters envelop you the rest of the way. The rest is brought to life with images and sounds that paint a canvas of a country that both wants to head to a new age but is also restrained by centuries of history and tradition that leaves it's youths confused and angry.

Anime doesn't tell stories the way Disney, Dreamworks or Sony Animation tell stories. They don't make movies souly for children or the family, they can make any movie they want, sometimes a movie that can only be a anime. Your Name is a movie, where I cant point to another for an example, it is its own thing.

A meteor shoots through the sky and while souring across, two young people at different points in Japan see it and think the same thing "It's like a beautiful image from a dream." One day we see that one has woken up and everywhere they go people act strangely around them telling them that yesterday it was as if they had amnesia, they didn't know anything about their life, later we see that this was because every other day or so it turns out they switch minds. How is this happening? Doesn't matter, well at least the filmmakers don't concern themselves with the how. What they do concern themselves with is the what now?  But lets just put a pin in this subject for now.

The boy is named Taki (Ryunosuke Kamiki) he is a bold, forward young man that lives in the big city of Tokyo and clearly dreams of being an architect. The girl is Mitsuha (Mone Kamishiraishi) whose timid and with skills in arts and crafts. You can tell who is occupying whose body at any point in the movie because the storyboard artists took the care and time to have their body language show it easily. Each of them have their own friends and family that are all equally important to the story and fun in their own right.

So now back to the body switching thing. They catch on quickly that it's really happening and not a dream. They communicate through their smartphones and notes. What makes the back and forth so interesting is that one is more brash and able to finally make progress with the others problems while one is more gentle so their able to gently navigate the others obstacles.

From there on there are twist and turns in the story but I wont soil them for you. But they are very cleaver and interesting that will have you increasingly engrossed as each revelation happens. Usually a movie like this would be satisfied with the body switching thing and use that for the entirety of the movie, but there is a lot in this movie that takes you to places where you will never be able to predict.

The drawing style is like that of Studio Ghibli, thick, blobby lines and with simple but distinguishable character designs. The facial features are more like plastic dolls but lend themselves to be easily manipulated for a vast variety of clear expressions. Beyond the characters the environments also shine as a beautiful technical achievement. The environments are lusciously, detailed painted, with all of it in-focus so we can absorb every detail of it that someone has taken the time to draw, but also there is the added layer of the atmosphere. The lighting changes for what time of the day it is, not just bright days and dark nights, but high contrast mid-day, golden hour morning or sun sets, and depending on when it is characters and objects cast light rays. As-well as all of this there's also dust matter that hangs in the air in a few locations. Just some incredibly generous details that the filmmakers put in to produce the best product they can.

This movie has had so much beautiful, intricate workings to it that you will be able to look at it and be awed by what is on-screen. However what will stay with you is experiencing these two character and their worlds. I cant explain why it is this movie that seems to be doing such great business when anime has been such a niche market before. Maybe it's been knocking so hard on the door to the West so hard that this is the one to finally break through? Doesn't matter, this is still a film with everything you want in an enjoyable watch told in the off-beat way that anime does.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 4

La La Land is a movie that uses the same tools from the classic musicals of old, like Singin in the Rain, Funny Face, My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins, but is used by a man from modern times and sensibilities.

Damien Chezelle has an obvious passion for jazz music and about perusing dreams despite all the obstacles. Here, like his last movie Whiplash, he crafts a similar story where two people live in L.A. where dreams can come true, but not easily.

Our characters are Mia (Emma Stone), a young actress that is working at a coffee shop at the Warner Bros. lot but wants to be an actor. She auditions for many things but nothing. Then there is Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a musician that loves Jazz more than just about anything, worshiping the greats and hating having to simply play the mediocre tunes he's given for his job. He wants to open his own jazz club where the classics and his own music will be played, in the same venue that was once a legendary jazz bar. But they both must face the reality of compromising in the real world and the sadness that maybe their either not good enough or nobody cares about what they want. Stone and Gosling work together splendidly, from obrolan scenes that are as dynamic as Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday and the low-key but cute choreography. The characters are brilliant concepts and the actors make them realized.

The songs are composed in the same vein as the classic Hollywood/Broadway numbers but the singing never reaches that truly glass shattering volume. This is a more subdued musical style. Most of them aren't meant for that, they're more like little tunes you hum to yourself while walking home all alone. The most haunting of them all is the main song of the movie "City of Stars" the simple tune will hook itself deep in your mind and not let go.

Channeling the movies of old it uses lush, glowing colors for its environments and the characters costumes. This movie is expertly lit and color coordinated to fit the characters and their character arcs. There is a scene (whether deliberate or not) that reminded me of another similar scene from Adolescence of Utena.

La la is a term for the sightly crazy or obscene. Which is certainly L.A. in a nutshell, it is these characters facing the world with what they want and it is this movie that channels the old classics but both sets it in modern times as well as selling it to the now young. But in order to peruse your goals you must put aside reality, even just the most little bit and delve into your dreams.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4

Great Science-Fiction asks questions about what is going on in the time that they are made and gives us a vision of what all that will lead to. Now that it is over twenty years old, Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell remains as a pinnacle of great science fiction by still being so relevant because it's questions are still being asked now.

In the year 2029, the world's international tensions are still high and the police still do their best to keep the world in as much order as they can. However technology has upped the game, now there is virtual hacking and information deliverance and speed is the name of the game. Just being human won't cut it anymore so both sides now come with enhancements. They can now trade-in their organic parts and have them replaced with cybernetic upgrades. A brain that can have instant access to the police data logs or act as a radio, more powerful limbs etc. But there are some that are cybernetic from the ground-up. Enter The Major,a woman by appearance but everything from her hair, eyes to her brain has been manufactured. She even comes equipped camouflage capabilities that allows her to disappear.

Probably one of the biggest distinguishing aspects of the movie as well as whats played a part in making it so popular as well as recognizable is the choice to have it main character appear nude for a significant chunk of the movie. On one side, sex sells and there are undoubtedly many that simply come for the exposed breasts. However there are many intellectuals that still find merit in the movie beyond that choice. But lets focus on this part of it. Our opening sequence is the Major being built, the cybernetics, then the fake flesh, then finally the artificial skin. Early on we know that this is not a real woman before us, at least in body , you can observe at her sexualized proportions and say "That was definitely designed by a man" but here it literal on both sides, which adds to it.

Japanese animation operates at a different mentality than what the West will be used to with the Disney movies. First of all they make their movies at a lover frame rate, the West have twenty-four frames a second, while the East have sixteen, this means that they are allowed to have more moments of quiet behavior rather than being in constant Ballet mode.They also don't feel the need to have the characters in constant motion. Sometimes, or even many times they will land on a piece of framing and cinematography and have that be the shot throughout the scene, or for an extended time. It is a method of film-making that is primarily cost effective but can lead to moment of greater poignancy.

Much like Akira and Blade Runner the movie presents us with a city that is like the ones we have now, however elevated through the increase of technology. The building are higher and technologically designed and advertisements are also everywhere however they are no longer flat projections, they have become three dimensional holograms and move around the building themselves (some even as big as the buildings). In the slums every inch is used up to accommodate the mass population and is trash heavy and rustic.

We quickly learn that a terrorist is in Japan, one named The Puppet-Master. Who exactly he is nobody knows. They track down an inadvertent accomplice who's a trash man trying to make money to help-out his daughter, however when they take him in it's revealed that he has never been married and never had a daughter. This is a world where the enemy can manipulate civilians memories to make them do their tasks. It's then quickly revealed that The Puppet-Master is actually an artificial intelligence, they simply call it him and he due to typical language conventions. What it really, or at least physically is, is electronic information.

The main theme, or at least the most prominent theme of the movie is what lies beneath. It is about pealing back the layers of what something seemingly is and getting to some sense of truth.

There is a sequence in this movie that consists of images, music and no dialog. It is shots of the city, the major moving through it, while passing she catches a glimpse of someone that resembles her at a restaurant. Nothing really comes of it and it's not mentioned again but it plants the seeds for so many ideas. Was that a real person that the Major was based on? Is that another cyborg and her face is simply one of many identical ones? Was that even real or was that us getting a view into her imagination? I don't know. I don't need to know, because a crystal clear explanation would subtract from the interesting questions that I and/or someone else will come to through the watching and then we can discuss. It is the kind of scene where the robot part of your brain will tell you that it is inconsequential and should be cut, but the emotional, curious side needs it there.

With the heavy science fiction theme and images you would expect the musical score to be some kind of techno/synth style, but no. The score by Kenji Kawai is one of human chanting and traditional instruments. Nothing synthetic. A musical score can be considered the emotional layering on-top a movie, or its spirit.

The main theme, or at least the most prominent theme of the movie is what lies beneath. It is about pealing back the layers of what something seemingly is and getting to some sense of truth. Throughout the movie The Major keeps referring to "Twitch in my Ghost." In context they are basically instincts, but it is what cannot be programed or truly logically explained in that machine way. They are those abstract feelings that have immense power over our decisions.

The Puppet-Master arranges for his body to be stolen out of the police headquarters. The team peruses and eventually, it's just the two of them. Finally comes the encounter between The Major and The Puppet-master, taking place in some kind of old dance hall. He has gained control over a tank, which in this day and age is shaped more like a beetle. She dodges and shoots what she can but the armor is too tough, so she distracts it and then gets on-top if it in an attempt to rip off its panel. She pushes her artificial body to the limits and beyond, contorting her body to become incredibly butch in appearance, but even that is not enough, her circuits themselves rip out, leaving her limbless and only a torso.

It looks like the end but one of her colleague arrives to  put the tank out of business. What is left is two beings that are no longer capable of psychical movement, only thought. In their time conversing The Puppet-Master proposes a merging to the Major, a merging of their minds.

With The Puppet-Master and The Major merged what we have now is something new. With her adult body destroyed in the fight the only replacement that could be found is a child's one. Neither entirely him not her, their child? Where will she go now and what lies ahead of her? I don't know. In the beginning the movie asks the question what makes us human, or what makes something living, at the end resolutions are made like any satisfying narrative but the really big one goes unanswered because it will never be answered.

In order for a ghost to be made something must first be living, right? Something must be there is whatever physical entity harbors it. Japan has a different relationship with technology than other countries. It's more harmonious, encouraged and celebrated, they don't fear or distrust the progress that's been made, they're quite proud of it. Ghost in the Shell is intricately detailed in many regards but it also operates so much in the blank spaces, leaving the audience to guess and fill in the blanks on their own steam. If you want something to flat out give you all the answered there are many other mediums that can give it to you like that. But a movie should have faith in it's audience and that they can work things out for themselves. Besides, these questions can never be properly answered.

Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell is one of the greatest pinnacles of intellectual science-fiction and cult fan-base. It is material that has the passion from both sophisticated movie analyzers and the enthusiastic nerds that wear the t-shirts. Its popularity and longevity has been more than proved so it is only natural that an English speaking studio would seek to adapt it.

The question of Ghost in the Shell has always been about the progress of technology and how that will affect humanity. What is the line of the organic and the manufactured for the living?

You shouldn't always have to compare one movie to another, you don't need to compare 2001: A Space Odyssey to Star Wars, however, you do need to compare the original Oldboy the remake, because it has the same name and tells the same story. But how much? You also shouldn't want the exact replica, because then it's just a waste of time. With a remake of any sort, you need something that understands the material but tells it in its own unique way.

Director Rupert Sanders (who also made Snow White and the Huntsman) has a mastery of creating extremely good looking movies. He and his team have captured the world of the source material with the bright vibrant lights of all the advertisements, the dark shadows of the alleyways and the intricate as-well as organic look to the technology.

Being that it's source material is Japanese the decision was made to incorporate a lot of Japanese esthetics and cast members in this American adaptation. It comes off odd, I don't know whether this actually takes place in Japan or whether or not there's just some big cultural merging that has happened over the years.

Scarlett Johansson as the Major is different from what people are used to. She is more expressive and vulnerable, but that's because her origin is changed (I'll forgo that explanation). However she is still stern and commanding, can clearly combat a threat in either hand-to-hand or gunfire.

This is not a straight remake of the original, it is more like channeling. It takes moments and set-pieces from the original and tells an altered story with it. You will recognize situations and images, but their place and context have changed or altered.

The original movie was able to have loads of detail within it at times to explain certain elements of how the world works, but it also allowed other moments where it left it to interpretation, original had blank spaces, this over explains. Rarely does it leave moments of ambiguity, this is more like a traditional Hollywood movie with ensuring all the questions are answered.

Is this still Ghost in the Shell? Yes, this is the world and it asks similar questions. It is not as unique or as haunting as the original but then it's not trying to be a straight adaptation of it anyway. This is one of the best-looking movies out right now and probably will be for a while. It will also make you ask questions, not super deep questions that you can find in other Science-Fiction material, but their still worthwhile questions and all while being enveloped in a luscious conceived and realized world.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

This movie is greedy in it's concept and gratuitous with it's execution, however I don't mean any of those as insults. It is greedy because it excessively wants so pack so much into the movie and it is gratuitous in the way that it gives more than is necessary. It wants to  create as many images and scenarios as it can and have you feel as many emotions on the spectrum as you can.

The Night is Short, Walk On Girl opens on a marriage ceremony where two of the guest Senpai (Gen Hoshino) is smitten with a girl who he goes to college with who we will simply know as The Girl with Black Hair (Kana Hanazawa). He has strategically coordinated himself so that they constantly run into each-other so she will believe they are meant to be together. She is of age to drink and wants to earn her adulthood so she drinks at the celebration and then goes out for the night, he then peruses in an attempt to push the destiny idea.

From here on it is a case of The Girl with the Black Hair walking around in the nighttime and encountering people and their scenarios and getting involved with them. Meanwhile Senpai is in some way deterred by another story or in his efforts to aid her.

The drawing style of this movie is certainly not like typical Western animation of Disney but also not like other anime movies like Ghost in the Shell or the works of Hayao Miyazaki. The lines are thin and very little detail is used. Eyes are represented with a few lines and a colored dot underneath. You can squint and still understand nearly everything onscreen because it is comprised of simple shapes and vivid colors.

This movie plays non-stop. When you watch it be prepared to read the subtitles fast and suck in the visual information onscreen. Luckily the image is so clear and accessible. If you have ever viewed FLCL then you will have an understanding of this movies sprinting passe.

This movie is a comedy if nothing else and has an extremely simple plot which allows the creators to put in as many different character, plot points and setups as it can. From a chase, to a drinking contest, to a few musical numbers, all are displayed with as many transitions emotions and levels or ridiculousness that it possibly can. It cooks up a wide buffet of animation and movies and allows you to be stuffed and very happy by the end.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 4

"Hey, that's *blank from so-and-so. I love that movie/game" "Ah! They quoted/referenced that movie/TV show I love!" This is the reaction that Ready Player One seeks to get out of you with every moment it has onscreen. It pulls from so many pieces of instantly recognizable pop culture that there will be something that everyone will be able to recognize, whether it be a character walking by, a vehicle, or a line of dialog. Yet it has almost nothing to say or do anything inspiring with said big toys at its disposal. The experience is only surface deep.

We see a future where the rich have gotten richer and the poor are indeed poorer. Trailer park neighborhoods are in abundance but so much so that they are stacked up high on top of each other. It is a gray, muddy place to live and is not the hardest thing understand that people would want an escape. So they go to The Oasis, pretty much the internet that you can virtually enter. Our guiding character for the story is a young man named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), that just wants to get to The Oasis as fast as he can each day and search for the great McGuffin that exists there.

The Oasis was created by a man named James Halliday (Mark Rylance) and the great programmer was also a big aficionado on pop culture and hid three keys in this world that will allow the owner of all three to take a tamat test and become the owner of The Oasis.

An undeniably strong element to the movie is its worldbuilding. Worldbuilding is the construction of a fictional world and how it operates. In bad worldbuilding, it doesn't make any sense and you are just left with questions, good world building you understand how it operates and has a solid grasp on how you would live in it. Because The Oasis has become so integral to life everyone logs in and when they win games they earn coins in the game that earns them money in real life. They can buy equipment that allows them better reflexes in-game and feels the touch of the world itself, also ordering stuff.

What bothers me greatly about the way the world is conveyed is that there doesn't seem to be anything nourishing to the art. I believe that real art, be it cinema, literature or music exists to enrich those who consume it in some way. The world portrayed before us it seems like it's just about seeing all high-status pop-culture movies out there and memorizing every facet of it, nothing about what it means or how it has shaped them as people. This is a world where the people can make anything, yet they all they do is recreated someone else's creations.

A mendasar flaw as the movie was playing out is that Halliday is revered amongst the people in The Oasis, they have learned everything they can about him, his favorite movie, favorite pizza topping, quotes he lived by. He made a list of every movie he ever saw and when. I don't think they realize how sad this man is. He lived his whole life alone, apart from one friend who he eventually kicked out. This is a man to learn from by avoiding all his mistakes.

As a movie what this offers is the chance to have nearly everything that is classic popcorn, crowd-pleasing entertainment. There is a race scene, martial arts fight, shootouts, dancing, sneaking around etc. Of course Speilberg is one of, if not the, greatest living visualizer working today and he clearly and effectively brings them to life. It's just that it lacks a should because I feel how empty it is, I wasn't invested in the characters goals because I just wanted them to log out, get outside and read a real book, see the sights and interact with actual people.

If this was an episode of Black Mirror or handled by Satoshi Kon then it would probably be taken to a much darker and interesting place. Truly examining why humanity rejects the real and takes comfort in the artificial. But this isn't either of those and is only here to push your joy button. 

Going into the big battle near the end I did start to feel a connection for the characters and understood that there were real stakes. Remove all the characters from movies, tv, shows and video games and what you have is a well-composed battle where you understand the geography and key players bring contribute different things to it.

In the end, the message for this movie is that you should maybe spend a little less time dwelling on pop culture and spend some time in the real world and form actual relationships with people. Duh! I don't need a movie to tell me that and it should be so intrinsically built into us that we shouldn't need to spend over one hundred and fifty million dollars to make a movie to project that message.

In the end, I want so much more. I'm not against or even above being charmed by references, far from it. But I want them to take the essence of those precious moments I love and channel them into something that can stand on its own. This shows a world where originality seems to have fizzled out and all we can do is regurgitate the same.

For a movie with a similar premise but with much more depth and heart, I point you towards Mamoru Hosada's Summer Wars. This, there is a good chance you'll be tickled by all the appearances but everything else is so shallow.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4

With the fate of Studio Ghibli still uncertain, what are all the talented artist and storytellers to do that worked there to do? Get up, form their own studio and make a movie. Good for them!

Mary and The Witch's Flower is the movie debut of Studio Ponoc and they take it upon themselves pick up the baton to create accessible movies for children that are just as filled with whit and inspiring images that would wow an adult.

From its first scene, it is here to intrigue and impresses. A hooded figure runs away from other hooded figures, they carry something. They grab a broom and fly away on it, grey, blobby being chased them and the tree city they came from explodes. While being pursued what the hooded figure has is dropped into a forest and so is their broom. We instantly have many questions and there is a lot of color, sound, music and beautifully realized animation to kick off the movie already.

We then see a little house in the countryside and a young girl by the name of Mary (Hana Sugisaki) is moving in. She wants to help but she is a terrible clutz, not even being able to tie a flower or pick of a box of her stuff without causing a mess. While exploring her new home she comes across two cats, one grey one black. They lead her into the forest and there she finds a broom held by a tree with vines and a flower that is so blue it seems to be glowing. One night the broom starts moving by itself and takes Mary through the clouds and to a place like no other, Endor College for witches.

It is the sequence where Mary is introduced to the headmistress Madame Mumblechook (Yuki Amami) and is shown all the facilities of the college that is easily the best part of the movie.

The animation is just like that of Studio Ghibli, with thick lines, blobby movement, and simple but expressive character designs. Being that the new studio is composed of almost entirely former Ghibli staff this isn't really a surprise.

There is a wealth of generosity paid to the animation. Sure it's pretty and smooth but the generosity comes in little things that most people wouldn't even notice but they did and put in the extra effort. Take a moment where Mary is being guided through the school, we see the big establishing shot and when the camera is closer to her face we can still see something going on with someone else. Animation, particularly hand-drawn animation requires one drawing at a time to be produced to create the illusion of movement and when it's done must be colored in, which is also time-consuming. These little things which take up much time and go by so unnoticed shows that the people working there are passionate about bringing the whole world to life.

Eventually, sinister intentions are revealed, our jagoan must use her wits and bravery to overcome them and we are left with a satisfying ending.

The movie is the tale of a normal person being swept up into a world of magic and having to maneuver this new world where there are stakes and plenty of creative visuals along the way. It will entertain your children with it's easy to understand plot, likable character and vivid color pallet. Adults will also be sucked

Rating: 3 stars out of 4