Posted by Skrud at Tuesday, August 2nd 2005 at 10:52am
Mind Game was a totally mind-blowing experience. The animation was a brilliant crossover between comic-booky, cartoonier-than-normal anime and live-action (kind of superimposed over the animation) that gave the movie a very unique look. Mind Game was original, inventive, clever and a lot of fun. The movie begins when a total-loser-type (Nishi) meets the girl he’s had a crush on for years (Myon), her new boyfriend, and they go to her family’s restaurant where gangsters come in and shoot Nishi in the ass. After a brief encounter with God (who changes form in every single shot - with hilarious results), Nishi gets a second chance from the moment before he was shot to do things over again. This time he seizes his opportunities and leads everyone on a wicked car chase until… well, it’s a surprise. But it’s awesome.
At its heart, Mind Game is about seizing opportunity when you have the chance and not letting life pass you by. It’s one incredible ride and I think all the awards it received from Fantasia were well deserved.
Tags: 2005, fantasia, japanese, movies | 2 comments
Posted by Skrud at Sunday, July 31st 2005 at 2:49am
The Place Promised in Our Early Days (雲のむこう、約束の場所) was a bit of a weird one. I can’t really tell you what I liked or didn’t like about it - and I can’t decide whether or not I liked the movie as a whole. The first half of the movie was entirely normal. As normal as I could possibly imagine. It was still interesting, but didn’t offer anything particularly special. This does have the effect of placing increased emphasis on the unusual things that are to follow.
The story takes place in an “alternate” history setting following WWII, where the island of Hokkaido is separated from Japan and is called “Ezo” (I think). There is a weird, impossibly tall tower that extends from Ezo and this piques the curiosity of two young boys who build a plane to try and reach it. Most of the movie follows their lives as they build the plane over their summer vacation, until the necessary female falls into a coma and then their paths diverge. Once the suspense had gained a critcial mass of momentum, as pieces of the story’s puzzle fall into place and the greater weirdness is revealed, The Place Promised in Our Early Days starts to feel triumphant and powerful.
So in the end I enjoyed it a lot, despite some mixed feelings I had initially.
Tags: 2005, anime, fantasia, japanese, movies | 3 comments
Posted by Skrud at Saturday, July 16th 2005 at 1:37am
Imagine … liquid hot awesomeness poured into a giant vat, mixed by shimmering giant robots, oozed and molded into film and placed on reel. Even then you’ll only have the slightest idea of what Godzilla: Final Wars is like. I walked out of that movie feeling an aura of awesomeness. Godzilla is to action what Manowar is to metal. And I don’t mean he stood around calling himself the King of Action… I mean Godzilla is the King. Bow before him!
Godzilla: Final Wars is a crazy, wild rush. This movie had everything. EVERYTHING. The sheer amount of things in this movie is enough to make sane directors run away screaming. Here’s a short of list of stuff I remember that was in the movie: Godzilla, mutant ninja commandos, aliens from outer space from the planet X (called Xiliens), Ghirdah (a three-headed dragon), Manda (a giant fire-breathing sea dragon), an air/sub battleship with a giant rotating drill head, an American Captain for the sub/air battleship, swords, a motorcycle chase, guns, Kamakirasu (a giant grasshopper or cricket or something), Ankirasu (a giant armadillo), Mothra, Mothra faeries, Kumonga (a giant spider that shoots webbing nets), Gaigan (a giant cybernetic monster), an upgraded Gaigan - with chainsaws, the American Godzilla from the crappy 1998 movie with Matthew Broderick, Radon, King Caesar, Monster X, Ebira, Hedorah, Minilla (that’s Mini-Godzilla - ain’t he cute?), also there was a giant meteor, spaceships, a sexy biologist and her reporter sister, a pit bull, a starship core that looks just like the one from the Death Star II, a very Matrix-like moment with a Japanese dude that looks a lot like Keanu Reeves, masers, awesome fight scenes, maser machine guns, and did I mention Captain Gordon just spoke English the whole time?
And finally, a quote from the movie (as best as I can remember it):
“So you’re saying your plan is to go to the South Pole, reawaken Godzilla, bring him back here to fight all the monsters, somehow annihilate all the Xiliens and their giant spaceship in the process, then take Godzilla back to the South Pole and lock him up again?”
“Yes”
I really want to see this movie again.
Tags: 2005, fantasia, japanese, movies | 4 comments
Posted by Skrud at Friday, July 8th 2005 at 2:34pm
Last night I saw Ashura (Ashurajo no Hitomi), a Japanese movie taking place in the Edo Period. Based on a play, Ashura was like a Kabuki theatre production. The special effects were purposefully cheesy and the melodramatic overacting and often absurd dialog really added to the whole feeling of watching live theatre. Ashura had a serious side, and a ridiculous side, not unlike Shakespeare. (I was reminded of the Romeo & Juliet production that I saw in Stratford during the IB trip). There were some times when I felt the movie was dragging on a bit too much (indeed, there are a couple of points where I think it could have ended and still been great), but as a whole Ashura was a great ride.
The story itself follows a demon-slayer turned Kabuki actor who falls in love with a demon-queen-to-be. Of course there are evil demons and demon-slayers in their way, and a playwright who can “only write what he sees” following everyone around. I would definitely recommend the movie to anyone with a penchant for absurdism.
(Fantasia info page for Ashura)
Tags: 2005, fantasia, japanese, movies | 2 comments
Posted by Skrud at Thursday, June 23rd 2005 at 8:48pm
I’ve got phpICalendar up and running, so now you can see my totally geeky Fantasia 2005 Schedule online. You can also subscribe to the calendar if you have iCal (it might work with Mozilla Sunbird, too). There’s also an RSS Feed in case you have a news aggregrator. In any case, feel free to join me to any of those movies! :D
Tags: 2005, fantasia, random | no comments
