Reviews Galore
Jan. 9th, 2008 03:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
talkingsoupWell firstoff, I managed to recover my iPod. The stuff that had disappeared before...well, there's nothing I can do about that, though I did figure out that a lot of it was anime music. The rest I guess I'll just have to make do without. What can you do?
In other news, I have a bunch of reviews. Movies and anime.
I finally got around to watching Ergo Proxy, and now I'm sorry I put it off. I liked it so much I ended up watching the whole show in about three days. I remember we watched the first two episodes of this...I dunno, a year or two ago in ASIC. I liked it enough then that I downloaded the whole show, but didn't find the time to watch it--till now.
Anyway, it's sort of like...Eva, Paranoia Agent and Ghost in the Shell all mixed together. It's dark, psychological, mysterious and awesome. I'm still not entirely sure what the hell all happened in that show. There are several episodes that seem completely out of line with the rest of the show until you get to the end of the episode and realize how significant it was.
The show is a future post-apocalyptic show about a domed city, in which police officer-type Real Mayar and her android (called an Autorave) partner are investigating an infection among Autoraves that seems to give them emotions. It's called the Cogito virus. Along the way she encounters a monster that is neither human nor Autorave, and in the course of her investigation she meets an immigrant named Vincent Law who seems to be connected to the monster. The mystery of the monster, called a Proxy, draws Real, Vincent, and a childlike infected Autorave called Pino outside the domed city into the post-apocalyptic wasteland beyond.
For one thing, the animation is quite brilliant, and the character designs are unique and awesome. The characters themselves are pretty cool--Vincent is adorable and genuinely nice, Real is a selfish bitch who kicks ass and turns out to be awesome too, and Pino is just plain cute--and not in the annoying way that the typical child sidekick is. Also the storyline is pretty unique, and provides an interesting new spin on the post-apocalyptic genre.
The show is brilliant if only for all the allusions. Every episode has some sort of cultural reference in it--everything from art to philosophy to mythology to linguistics. Even the title is an allusion, in more ways than one. "Ergo" means "therefore" in Latin, and a proxy is a representative or emissary of something else. So, Ergo Proxy="therefore emissary." Which doesn't make much sense until the end of the show. But also, if you think of the title in conjunction with the virus infecting the Autoraves, Cogito, then you get "Cogito ergo sum," the famous saying by Descartes meaning "I think, therefore I am."
Heh, it all makes sense eventually.
It's confusing as hell, like I said, which only gets minorly annoying, but then I suppose that depends on your comfort level with that type of thing. It's definitely not the kind of anime you can just jump into in the middle, and it probably needs to be watched twice. But overall it's really, really good, and I'm a bit confused as to why it's not talked about much in the places you'd expect it to be.
The other night I decided to go see Juno, and when that was over I decided to be bad--Sweeney Todd was playing two theaters down, so I managed to slip in just as it was starting. Lol, I figure my eleven bucks for a movie might as well go all the way.
Anyway, Juno turns out to be as wonderful as everyone is saying it is. Juno herself is probably the most believable teenager to ever grace the big screen--ever--and I've fallen completely in love with the actress, Ellen Page. The other people in the movie were just as awesome, especially the couple that Juno is going to give her baby to, Mark and Vanessa. Every character in the movie is completely human and three dimensional, and your opinion of each character changes a little over the course of the movie. It reminded me a lot of Garden State--quirky suburban people caught up in the odd sort of real situations that crop up in real life. Plus a totally weird and awesome soundtrack.
I was also really impressed with the way they handled the issue of teenage pregnancy. It can get so damn melodramatic or boring or preachy or gimmicky or lame. But they did it absolutely perfectly. Juno doesn't freak out when she finds out she's pregnant, nor does she act like she's going to be one of those people who will leave her baby in a dumpster. But at the same time, it's not treated like this is just a plot point--you can tell through body language and through brilliant acting that this is a big deal, but that Juno's just not the kind of girl who will freak out about it. The movie isn't preachy or melodramatic in the least. They handle the issue exactly as the issue should be handled--honestly and realistically.
I love the parents reaction, too. Wonderful. And the movie itself is hilarious with lines like, "You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events." And the one about the fountain and the Kraken, though I can't find that one.
Loved it. Deserves Oscars. Will buy it.
Score: 9.5 out of 10
The Sweeney Todd I snuck into turned out to be for the hearing impaired which kind of put a damper on the whole thing, but it was worth the $0 I spent on it. I did like it a lot--I was a bit worried because people have been screaming and yelling about this movie and not usually in a good way, plus I haven't read the book or seen the play. Though I intend to see the play next chance I get. I guess people are saying that it wasn't at all like the play and that the play was better, which is usually the case when you have plays get adapted for the big screen. But, oh well. I suppose that left me free to judge it as a movie and not to compare it to anything.
Anyway, it was hilarious. Probably the best dark comedy I've seen in, well, forever. Absolutely pitch black humor, as can be expected of Tim Burton, and of the original material (I have seen clips of the plays so I have a sense). The only reason I didn't laugh more is because there were two other people in the theater and I felt like a bit of a freak for laughing every time someone had their throat slit. Not that it's something to laugh at, but they seriously went out of their way to make the blood look totally fake. Hooray for red corn syrup! The song "A Little Priest" almost made me wet myself, especially the line about poets.
The movie had Tim Burton's classic "foggy dark overcast death doom destruction" feel to it, which I always like, and the characters were pretty brilliant, as was the acting. Johnny can actually sing, though as Molly pointed out, he's certainly not a baritone. I loved Mrs. Lovett's cavalier attitude with things like murder, cannibalism, and child abuse.
And Alan Rickman? Oh my god. You could not have found a more perfect actor. He was the most pervy, creepy guy I've seen on screen in awhile who wasn't in a super-serious role. Absolutely brilliant. "You gandered at my ward, did you not?" Fuck yeah.
The only real problem I had with the movie was that Johnny Depp seems to think that all Londoners sound like Jack Sparrow. Though fortunately he managed to keep the Sparrow voice to a minimum, but still. Come on now. There are more accents in Britain than just the London one, and even London has multiple accents (though don't ask me to try and differentiate).
A totally awesome, hilarious and campy dark comedy, and brilliant as the movie itself, though I couldn't say how it rates next to the play. Still, taken on its own, I thought it was great and loved it.
Nice to not pay for it, too.
Score: 8 out of 10
Last but not least, I finally managed to see Hot Fuzz. I never did see Shaun of the Dead so I can't compare it, but I loved it. The editing was abso-fucking-lutely perfect. Not in that awesome way you see in the really wonderful movies, but the editing was perfect for the movie it was for, which was a parody. The editing consisted entirely of quick cuts and dramatic shots which is pretty much the equivalent of shooting you in the face with "I am an action movie!"
Have I ever mentioned that I love British humor? And this movie was no exception. It was hilarious. The gore was totally over-the-top, as were the fight scenes (though funnily enough the acting wasn't, lol). You can tell the actors had fun with this. Especially with the gay subtext they had going on, hahaha.
The climax is too awesome for words. Nicholas Angel (main character) comes riding through the village with more weapons than it is humanly possible to character...riding a white horse. Yes. Too brilliant.
Not much else to say, really, except to reiterate that I loved it. To bits.
Score: 8 out of 10
Denno Coil--that anime I mentioned the other day--continues to be awesome. Also, I downloaded the first two episodes of Gundam 00 to find out what the fangirls are barking about, and I still can't figure it out. It's exactly the same as all the other Gundam shows. I wanted to laugh when one of the characters is watching one of the Gundams attack and looks at it through binoculars to find the name "Gundam" on it and is like "Gundam? What's that?" I'm pretty sure I yelled "haven't you ever watched anime?" at my computer. Puh-leeze. Anyway, my patience with the show was already thin at the end of the first episode, but when they revealed pretty much the exact same plot as the first series in this one, I was just bored. And I totally lost my patience when the Gundam boys went into "former Sri-Lanka" to stop the Tamil-Sinhalese ethnic war that had been "going on there for hundreds of years." As someone who actually knows a little bit about the struggle, seeing the anime treat the conflict like nothing more than a plot point was bad enough, but when they sent in the Gundams and had them slaughter both sides in one of the skirmishes, I lost my patience with the show (the whole point of the Gundams this time is to "end war." With more war. So you know that before long the characters are gonna be all "this is wrong!", end up thinking for themselves, leave the fray, find true love, yadda yadda).
Also, the fangirls are all melting over the characters, but I frankly don't see the appeal. They're completely lame and generic. You have the "angsty guy with the tortured past" the "maverick gunslinger" the "true-believer" and the "nerves-of-steel, silent killer." CLEE-SHAY. The women are completely superfluous, never mind that I find it hard to believe that one of those guys (the nerves of steel one) is male. There's simply no way. And they're really not that hot either.
In other news, Cloverfield is coming out soon, and a lot more info has cropped up. Y'alls need to check this out liek woah. Five videos of fake news footage about a oil rig belonging to a company called Tagruato, which is connected with Slusho!, being sucked under the water. All the evidence at this point is pointing to an underwater monster. Check it--it's badass:
French news
Spanish news
Italian news
German news
English news
The "on-site footage" used is the same for each, but each newscast gives a few tidbits of info that the others don't. And the footage is awesome enough. If you want to see some of the translations, check![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
011808. They have some extra info too.
My writing has come to a standstill, which usually happens during breaks, but what can you do? *sigh*
Nothing else to report, really.
In other news, I have a bunch of reviews. Movies and anime.
I finally got around to watching Ergo Proxy, and now I'm sorry I put it off. I liked it so much I ended up watching the whole show in about three days. I remember we watched the first two episodes of this...I dunno, a year or two ago in ASIC. I liked it enough then that I downloaded the whole show, but didn't find the time to watch it--till now.
Anyway, it's sort of like...Eva, Paranoia Agent and Ghost in the Shell all mixed together. It's dark, psychological, mysterious and awesome. I'm still not entirely sure what the hell all happened in that show. There are several episodes that seem completely out of line with the rest of the show until you get to the end of the episode and realize how significant it was.
The show is a future post-apocalyptic show about a domed city, in which police officer-type Real Mayar and her android (called an Autorave) partner are investigating an infection among Autoraves that seems to give them emotions. It's called the Cogito virus. Along the way she encounters a monster that is neither human nor Autorave, and in the course of her investigation she meets an immigrant named Vincent Law who seems to be connected to the monster. The mystery of the monster, called a Proxy, draws Real, Vincent, and a childlike infected Autorave called Pino outside the domed city into the post-apocalyptic wasteland beyond.
For one thing, the animation is quite brilliant, and the character designs are unique and awesome. The characters themselves are pretty cool--Vincent is adorable and genuinely nice, Real is a selfish bitch who kicks ass and turns out to be awesome too, and Pino is just plain cute--and not in the annoying way that the typical child sidekick is. Also the storyline is pretty unique, and provides an interesting new spin on the post-apocalyptic genre.
The show is brilliant if only for all the allusions. Every episode has some sort of cultural reference in it--everything from art to philosophy to mythology to linguistics. Even the title is an allusion, in more ways than one. "Ergo" means "therefore" in Latin, and a proxy is a representative or emissary of something else. So, Ergo Proxy="therefore emissary." Which doesn't make much sense until the end of the show. But also, if you think of the title in conjunction with the virus infecting the Autoraves, Cogito, then you get "Cogito ergo sum," the famous saying by Descartes meaning "I think, therefore I am."
Heh, it all makes sense eventually.
It's confusing as hell, like I said, which only gets minorly annoying, but then I suppose that depends on your comfort level with that type of thing. It's definitely not the kind of anime you can just jump into in the middle, and it probably needs to be watched twice. But overall it's really, really good, and I'm a bit confused as to why it's not talked about much in the places you'd expect it to be.
The other night I decided to go see Juno, and when that was over I decided to be bad--Sweeney Todd was playing two theaters down, so I managed to slip in just as it was starting. Lol, I figure my eleven bucks for a movie might as well go all the way.
Anyway, Juno turns out to be as wonderful as everyone is saying it is. Juno herself is probably the most believable teenager to ever grace the big screen--ever--and I've fallen completely in love with the actress, Ellen Page. The other people in the movie were just as awesome, especially the couple that Juno is going to give her baby to, Mark and Vanessa. Every character in the movie is completely human and three dimensional, and your opinion of each character changes a little over the course of the movie. It reminded me a lot of Garden State--quirky suburban people caught up in the odd sort of real situations that crop up in real life. Plus a totally weird and awesome soundtrack.
I was also really impressed with the way they handled the issue of teenage pregnancy. It can get so damn melodramatic or boring or preachy or gimmicky or lame. But they did it absolutely perfectly. Juno doesn't freak out when she finds out she's pregnant, nor does she act like she's going to be one of those people who will leave her baby in a dumpster. But at the same time, it's not treated like this is just a plot point--you can tell through body language and through brilliant acting that this is a big deal, but that Juno's just not the kind of girl who will freak out about it. The movie isn't preachy or melodramatic in the least. They handle the issue exactly as the issue should be handled--honestly and realistically.
I love the parents reaction, too. Wonderful. And the movie itself is hilarious with lines like, "You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events." And the one about the fountain and the Kraken, though I can't find that one.
Loved it. Deserves Oscars. Will buy it.
Score: 9.5 out of 10
The Sweeney Todd I snuck into turned out to be for the hearing impaired which kind of put a damper on the whole thing, but it was worth the $0 I spent on it. I did like it a lot--I was a bit worried because people have been screaming and yelling about this movie and not usually in a good way, plus I haven't read the book or seen the play. Though I intend to see the play next chance I get. I guess people are saying that it wasn't at all like the play and that the play was better, which is usually the case when you have plays get adapted for the big screen. But, oh well. I suppose that left me free to judge it as a movie and not to compare it to anything.
Anyway, it was hilarious. Probably the best dark comedy I've seen in, well, forever. Absolutely pitch black humor, as can be expected of Tim Burton, and of the original material (I have seen clips of the plays so I have a sense). The only reason I didn't laugh more is because there were two other people in the theater and I felt like a bit of a freak for laughing every time someone had their throat slit. Not that it's something to laugh at, but they seriously went out of their way to make the blood look totally fake. Hooray for red corn syrup! The song "A Little Priest" almost made me wet myself, especially the line about poets.
The movie had Tim Burton's classic "foggy dark overcast death doom destruction" feel to it, which I always like, and the characters were pretty brilliant, as was the acting. Johnny can actually sing, though as Molly pointed out, he's certainly not a baritone. I loved Mrs. Lovett's cavalier attitude with things like murder, cannibalism, and child abuse.
And Alan Rickman? Oh my god. You could not have found a more perfect actor. He was the most pervy, creepy guy I've seen on screen in awhile who wasn't in a super-serious role. Absolutely brilliant. "You gandered at my ward, did you not?" Fuck yeah.
The only real problem I had with the movie was that Johnny Depp seems to think that all Londoners sound like Jack Sparrow. Though fortunately he managed to keep the Sparrow voice to a minimum, but still. Come on now. There are more accents in Britain than just the London one, and even London has multiple accents (though don't ask me to try and differentiate).
A totally awesome, hilarious and campy dark comedy, and brilliant as the movie itself, though I couldn't say how it rates next to the play. Still, taken on its own, I thought it was great and loved it.
Nice to not pay for it, too.
Score: 8 out of 10
Last but not least, I finally managed to see Hot Fuzz. I never did see Shaun of the Dead so I can't compare it, but I loved it. The editing was abso-fucking-lutely perfect. Not in that awesome way you see in the really wonderful movies, but the editing was perfect for the movie it was for, which was a parody. The editing consisted entirely of quick cuts and dramatic shots which is pretty much the equivalent of shooting you in the face with "I am an action movie!"
Have I ever mentioned that I love British humor? And this movie was no exception. It was hilarious. The gore was totally over-the-top, as were the fight scenes (though funnily enough the acting wasn't, lol). You can tell the actors had fun with this. Especially with the gay subtext they had going on, hahaha.
The climax is too awesome for words. Nicholas Angel (main character) comes riding through the village with more weapons than it is humanly possible to character...riding a white horse. Yes. Too brilliant.
Not much else to say, really, except to reiterate that I loved it. To bits.
Score: 8 out of 10
Denno Coil--that anime I mentioned the other day--continues to be awesome. Also, I downloaded the first two episodes of Gundam 00 to find out what the fangirls are barking about, and I still can't figure it out. It's exactly the same as all the other Gundam shows. I wanted to laugh when one of the characters is watching one of the Gundams attack and looks at it through binoculars to find the name "Gundam" on it and is like "Gundam? What's that?" I'm pretty sure I yelled "haven't you ever watched anime?" at my computer. Puh-leeze. Anyway, my patience with the show was already thin at the end of the first episode, but when they revealed pretty much the exact same plot as the first series in this one, I was just bored. And I totally lost my patience when the Gundam boys went into "former Sri-Lanka" to stop the Tamil-Sinhalese ethnic war that had been "going on there for hundreds of years." As someone who actually knows a little bit about the struggle, seeing the anime treat the conflict like nothing more than a plot point was bad enough, but when they sent in the Gundams and had them slaughter both sides in one of the skirmishes, I lost my patience with the show (the whole point of the Gundams this time is to "end war." With more war. So you know that before long the characters are gonna be all "this is wrong!", end up thinking for themselves, leave the fray, find true love, yadda yadda).
Also, the fangirls are all melting over the characters, but I frankly don't see the appeal. They're completely lame and generic. You have the "angsty guy with the tortured past" the "maverick gunslinger" the "true-believer" and the "nerves-of-steel, silent killer." CLEE-SHAY. The women are completely superfluous, never mind that I find it hard to believe that one of those guys (the nerves of steel one) is male. There's simply no way. And they're really not that hot either.
In other news, Cloverfield is coming out soon, and a lot more info has cropped up. Y'alls need to check this out liek woah. Five videos of fake news footage about a oil rig belonging to a company called Tagruato, which is connected with Slusho!, being sucked under the water. All the evidence at this point is pointing to an underwater monster. Check it--it's badass:
French news
Spanish news
Italian news
German news
English news
The "on-site footage" used is the same for each, but each newscast gives a few tidbits of info that the others don't. And the footage is awesome enough. If you want to see some of the translations, check
011808. They have some extra info too.My writing has come to a standstill, which usually happens during breaks, but what can you do? *sigh*
Nothing else to report, really.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 03:46 pm (UTC)Glad you liked Juno and Sweeney Todd. I know I did. For pretty much all of the same reasons you listed too.
Oh, and I have an orchestral version of the Sweeney Todd musical if you'd like to borrow it (I can lend it to you at the same time I lend you Phoenix Wright, lol).
You really should watch Shaun of the Dead, especially if you liked Hot Fuzz so much. You also might want to check out the TV show Spaced.'
And yes, Gundam sucks ass.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-11 08:05 am (UTC)Haha yeah, and actually I downloaded the original CD. The music was good in the movie, but I'd rather have the original--professionals and all. Plus I love Len Cariou and his baritone. :3
I do want to see Shaun of the Dead one of these days. And I've heard of Spaced...might have to check it out.
The original was decent for its time, I suppose...we can probably hold it responsible for anime's love of mecha, to some degree. I just found it hilarious because Heero was constantly trying to commit suicide, and he just couldn't do it. Seriously, it's not that hard. Gun. Bullet. Head. Done.
I liked Shinji a lot more.