Not that I pay much attention to any awards show, but it was good to not only have something thay I watched and enjoyed nominated, but to actually win some awards.
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
@JohnnyShoulder@Ralizah Brendan winning wasn't a shock but I'm disappointed that "The Banshees of Inisherin" got shut out - especially in the acting categories - even though I had "EEAAO" as my favourite for last year.
Caught the last hour & a half of the Oscars last night. Good for Everything, Everywhere, all at Once, I haven't seen it, but it's been very buzzy. Glad to see both Avatar: tWoW & Top Gun Maverick each pick up an award as well, in the technical categories anyways. Too bad All Quiet on the Western Front didn't win anything, as I thought that was quite good as well.
Anyhow, these are all the movies I watched this weekend.
City Hunter: Death of the Vicious Criminal Ryo Saeba (Blu-Ray)
The last of the original City Hunter movies/specials.
I don't think it's particularly worse than what came before (if you liked the earlier stuff, it's worth a watch), however I can't help but think something feels a bit off about this one, IMO.
Starting things off, the opening song has a grungy feel to it that doesn't gel at all with the series vibe (feels like it would be more at home in something like Death Note). Otherwise it has the same kinda more muted color palette as Goodbye My Sweetheart, but while that fit that film's tone, this one leaned much harder on the comedy side of things which felt at odds (and even then, I felt the comedy wasn't the series at it's strongest).
That said it's not bad by any means. It still looks absolutely wonderful like the last couple of films, and despite feeling off in spots it's still largely the same City Hunter we've come to love.
Female Yakuza Tale (Blu-Ray)
This is absolutely wild.
Over the top with exploitative sex/nudity, violence (which often comes off as hilarious in this day & age, such as a scene where a guy flicks a bullet up another man's nose), it's absolutely not for everyone, but it's a fun time if you can get into it. Has a very grungy feel to it too.
It follows Ocho, a woman who is violated by the local Yakuza when they accidentally mistake her for one of their drug mules, and then she sets out for revenge. Can definitely tell it's the type of film that partially influenced the Kill Bill movies (though again, this is much more out there).
Project A-Ko 2 (Blu-Ray)
If you liked the first one this is pretty much more of the same.
The aliens have refurbished their ship as an entertainment center but are plotting to take off with C-ko, the Earth Defense Forces, sour after their defeat in the first film, plan to steal the ship, with an ever bickering A-ko & B-ko caught in-between. It's a bit more truncated as a 50 minute OVA as opposed to the full length original, but that keeps it moving at a nice clip & it still manages to have it's fair share of both laughs & action.
Shogun's Samurai (Blu-Ray)
Historical fiction film that centers around the sons of the second Tokugawa Shogun, and the conflict between them over who will inherit the position.
It's actually a really solid drama. A bit slow in spots, but it's interesting to follow, with some nice environmental & action shots. A handful of the action scenes come across as weirdly superhuman for how grounded the rest of the film feels (like a scene near the end where a guy cuts through some sort of after image of his opponent, where he really cut clean through a statue), but it's kinda weird in a way that's charming IMO.
Project A-Ko 3 (Blu-Ray)
More A-Ko goodness. This time C-ko is feeling left out as A-ko & B-ko are squabbling over a guy instead of her, but unluckily for them he only has eyes for C-ko (who couldn't care less about him).
Looks great aesthetically, and it's full of fun vibes & gags, though it's a bit anticlimactic. I was wondering when the big action set piece was going to happen, and it never does. A-ko & B-ko finally get ready to throw down, the town's volunteer defense forces get ready to roll out (hilariously everyone from fast food employees, to teachers, & even the mayor have personalized Mecha), but the action has already been settled (off screen) by the time they mobilize. Of course, maybe playing with expectations was the gag in and of itself, but I can't deny I was a little disappointed. Still a very fun time overall though.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
@JohnnyShoulder Agreed. This is the first time in a long time that I've felt like the Oscars got it right, at least in terms of the big categories (as I only glanced at the headlines).
***
Sad news about Chaim Topol. I'd planned on watching For Your Eyes Only quite recently, but kept finding other things to do. I'm gonna make some time for it this weekend, I reckon. He was always one of my favourite elements of the film, and of the Roger Moore era in general.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Went to see Creed III at the cinema last night. Decent movie, had a few nice moments but it had some brilliant acting in it. Shame they couldn't get Rocky back but I think there are a few unspoken moments where Adonis remembers some lessons that Rocky taught him like "it's not about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and get back up again". The line isn't mentioned but the moment is in the film.
It's good, I enjoyed it. I also like that there's a new original character for it and Adonis seems to have built up his own rogues gallery of frenemies.
You know, there's a lot about this I could probably criticize, whether it's Piccolo & Gohan's contrived new transformations (at this point it's like they're not even hiding the fact that they're just trying to move toys), the fact that they sorta blew a possible return of a past villain, or the fact that they sidelined Buu due to a nap, AGAIN. However, I ultimately don't watch Dragon Ball for nuanced stories, and when all is said & done this was pure fun.
I was a little unsure of the 3DCG going in, and while there were a few things that looked a tad wonky, it worked a lot better in practice than I'd have imagined and the CG environments gave a sense of scale to the battles that was enjoyable to see. The action was fun, had some funny comedic bits, and it was nice getting a story that was a bit smaller in scope, allowing a few characters that have been more or less on the sidelines get a chance to shine.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
Little Mermaid live action movie official trailer.
The movie will be released on 26 May 2023.
I cannot wait to watch the movie to see the difference between cartoon version and live action version. 😊
@JohnnyShoulder was really avoiding Smile because everything about it seemed dumb but watched it the other night with a free trial of... something (who can keep track) and came away appreciating it more than I thought I would. And yeah, watched alone with headphones and the soundtrack definitely helped sell the scares.
Also impressed by both whoever played the lead and the Laura character from the beginning.
PSN: frownonfun
Switch: SW-5109-6573-1900 (Pops)
"One of the unloveliest and least enlightening aspects of contemporary discourse is the tendency to presume that whatever one disagrees with must be very simple—not only simple, but also simply wrong." - Elizabeth Bruenig
@zupertramp Yeah I thought it would be one of those films that would be slightly over hyped, but turned out to live up to it. I also liked the weird cinematography, which made me feel as uneasy I imagine the lead character was feeling.
Can't imagine watching it with headphones though! Think I would a wreck afterwards!
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
After assassinating the son of a powerful US oil tycoon, the world's best hitman (the titular Golgo 13) finds himself in the crosshairs of the CIA, FBI, & Pentagon.
Narratively it plays things entirely straight, without even the slightest quip to lighten the mood. The action is instead broken up by frequently occurring sex scenes (of which at least one is an on screen rape, so be aware of that). It manages to stay interesting throughout though, as he still chooses to take on other jobs while being tailed, and there are one or two interesting twists & developments.
Animation is a bit of a mixed bag. It generally looks good (and there are a few standout shots, like a psychedelic shot where his speeding car is reflecting the neon lit environment), though it also looks rough in spots, and there's this hilariously bad looking shot where these ancient CG helicopters are after him (there is absolutely no effort to blend it into the art direction, in fact they probably didn't even have the tech to try & do that). At first I thought a character was looking at a computer screen "battle plan" or something (the helicopters were first shown flying through an equally CG cityscape), until I realized it was all supposed to be "real life" (I assume it was a big deal at time of release though, as the Japanese theatrical trailer included in the Blu-Ray put a lot of emphasis on the handful of CG elements, calling it the first "computer anime"). Back to the good though, it absolutely nails the vileness of it's villains (especially an assassin called snake who'll make your skin crawl), and is a bloodthirsty 80's anime film in the best way.
Kunoichi Lady Ninja (Blu-Ray)
Evil feudal lord sends his evil magical henchmen to kill a bunch of nuns, the survivors are actually a bunch of ninja, and with the help of historical samurai Jyubei Yagyu they seek out their revenge. In all honesty I found it hard to follow (and hard to care about following) the more specific narrative threads though.
Very much a low budget b-movie through and through, with laughibly bad special effects & cheesy costuming, and while this isn't inherently a bad thing (sprinkler system blood sprays being a good time & who wouldn't love the "Nipple Shockwave", an actual attack), here things often times seem very hard to follow. This isn't at all helped by the fact that while it's billed as being presented in 1080p, it seems like they tried to directly upscale it from a freakin' VHS and it often just doesn't look good on a large modern HD TV (I normally wouldn't blame the movie itself for resolution woes, but there is a note at the start of the film, as well as on the back of the box, that says "due to limitations of the original source this is the best upscale available", which I assume means it was filmed on tape originally and thus can't be any better than this, making it an inherent part of watching it).
Robot Carnival (4K UHD Blu-Ray)
Anthology film of robotic themed animations.
Like any anthology project there are one or two weak link segments (I'd say "Deprive" fits that bill here), but even those I'd say are still enjoyable. Otherwise it's absolutely fantastic, with vibes that range from fun & wonderous ("Star Light Angel", "the Mechanized Culture of the Meiji Era: Western Invasion") to the artful & deep ("the Cloud" & "Presence", the latter of which is absolutely stunning in terms of animation quality which is high praise indeed given the high bar the whole project in general achieves).
Really something you have to see for yourself.
Zeiram (Blu-Ray)
After watching the anime and then hearing that this live action adaptation centers around two electricians from real world Tokyo who go into a "virtual world where they meet Iria fighting Zeiram" I was convinced it was going to suck (like the world of the anime only exists as a video game or some such nonsense).
However the setup actually makes a lot more sense in practice. The world(s) of the anime is real, it's just that the "humans" from the anime (like Iria) aren't actually from Earth, and are in fact aliens themselves. With reports that Zeiram is headed to Earth, Iria arrives in advance and sets up a trap (a pocket dimension containing an exact copy of the area of Tokyo it's going to land in, sans populace, that way she can battle it uninhibited). Of course, her abandoned warehouse hideout is using up more electricity than it normally would thanks to all her high tech gizmos, and in checking out the discrepancy, the two electricians (Kamiya & Teppei?) accidentally follow her into the pocket dimension battle zone.
The movie itself is very fun too. There are a handful of wonky special effects, but by and large Zeiram itself is a wonder of practical effects making, believably recreating many of it's anime abilities (such as the creepy snake like tiny face that extends from the top of it's head), and exhibiting a number of effective transformations that'll completely gross you out. All in all it's a great sci-fi themed horror flick as our protagonists struggle to survive against a nearly indestructible monster.
Earth Girls Are Easy (Blu-Ray)
I see Jim Carrey & Jeff Goldblum (+ Damon Wayans) starring in an alien comedy I've never heard of before, so I decided to give it a chance. The general premise is that the trio of horny aliens crash lands in recently heartbroken Valerie's (Geena Davis) pool while watching her sunbathe from space, and she tries to teach them about life on Earth (and love, once Goldblum's character gets a hot human makeover) while they wait to repair their ship.
It perhaps spends a bit too much time at the start setting up that Valerie's doctor fiance is a bit of a horse's rear, but the entire segment detailing the trio's crash landing & exploring Valerie's home learning the basics of life on Earth is absolutely hilarious (also the wet bikini top she's wearing the entire time that clearly doesn't cover anything is a plus). Once they take on their more human appearances and it becomes a quirky romcom between Davis & Goldblum it doesn't hit those highs again, but it has it's moments.
Also a musical in spots. These segments can be fun, but aren't always relevant to the core plot (like the random song about how great it is to be a blonde, when they go to the beach).
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
For reasons that I can't fully fathom, Matt Reeves' director's commentary for "The Batman" has been made available online instead of it being on the physical home releases as is the norm - it might have been a technical oversight of some kind, I suppose. I wonder if it's just three hours of him talking about why David Fincher is so great?
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