Topic: RossRoy's Random Viewings

[RossRoy]

Cyberteam in Akihabra: Complete Collection

Original Title: Akihabara Dennou Gumi Year: 1998 Country: Japan Director: Rating: NR Length: 623 Min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: Subtitles:

What they say
Like all girls her age, Hibari Hanakoganei covets the latest fashion in mechanical pets - a Pata-Pi to call her own! But when a strange White Prince provides one, she becomes the target of an equally mysterious Black Prince who plots to steal the prized pet. It's Pata-Pi Densuke to the rescue, however, transforming into a powerful Diva who bears a striking resemblance to Hibari herself!

With astonishing battle agility, Densuke proves to be no ordinary child's toy! But Hibari is not the only one with a Pata-Pi of extraordinary powers, and despite an unlikely friendship, she joins forces with others to form the Cyber Team! Together will they solve the riddle of the Black Prince - or will his flock of nefarious cohorts put an end to the dynamic divas of Akihabara?

My Thoughts
Well, what can I say, that I haven't said in the two previous posts?

The show did get better, especially the last 6 episodes. I still think they took way too much time to develop the story. I mean, there's a single episode that explains it all. Everything they've been hinting at for the previous 21 episodes, is fully explained in the course of ~23 minutes in episode 22. Then, episode 23 to 26 conclude the story. Thing is, the creators of the show assume too much. There's so much someone can take of vague references, and thin threads before losing interest in the show. There's a lot a innuendos in the episodes, that you have to sort of create the relationships between everyone as you go, since it is not really explained. Most of the creatures and ennemies the girls had to fight, we actually learn their names only 22 episodes in. In retrospect, you realise you did hear the names of the beasts mentioned, but how is the viewer supposed to know what they are referring to? There's sometimes many different nomenclatures used to refer to the same person. And then you get all messed up with the talks of Primum Mobile, Apostolus, Avatars,  Homunculus, Anima Mundi, Divas.. How am I supposed to guess which refers to which?

All that being said, I do think the pay off is worthwhile. It takes way to long to get there, and they extend it a bit past due, but it's still satisfying. I wouldn't say it is a prime example of Anime, but it does have elements going for it. Just don't use Cyberteam to introduce someone to anime, you might be disappointed and get turned right off after the first 5 episodes. But if you stick in there, there is something to like about this. I'm thinking I may even enjoy it more as a second viewing in the future, since I'll be able to link all those little connecting dots along the way.

Rating:

[RossRoy]

Robotech Protoculture Collection: Macross Saga: Disc 01

Original Title: Robotech Protoculture Collection: Macross Saga: Disc 01 Year: 1982 Country: United States Director: Carl Macek Rating: NR Length: 144 Min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles:

What they say
The Zentraedi Are Coming!

Strap into your Veritech and get ready for the ride of your life! When a mysterious space battleship crashes onto Macross Island in the South Pacific, the future of mankind is changed forever!

Realizing that there are hostile forces in the universe, the people of Earth race to rebuild the SDF-1 as their first line of defense against a possible alien attack! But even as they struggle to master the science of Robotechnology, the vengeful Zentraedi armada is approaching the earth!

My Thoughts
Well, as odd as it may seem, this is my first contact with Robotech. I'd heard of it of course, but never actually saw an episode, and being such a fan of Mecha anime, I'm actually puzzled as to why I never sought it out before.

Robotech has an odd origin. Basically, Robotech was put together using three completely unrelated japanese anime series, which were edited and spliced together to create Robotech. This in itself is actually, IMO, quite a feat. Especially since, so far, Robotech is turning out to be very good.

I've only watched the first generation so far, Macross Saga, and I loved it. It had a few filler episodes though. For example, right at episode 14 "Gloval's Report, they already have a full episode which is basically a summary of all that happened so far. And then, 3 episodes later, in ep.17 "Phantasm", they have Rick Hunter in a dreamy state, hallucinating about past events. These two episodes were unfortunate, but rest assured, they are in no way an indication of what's actually going on.

The story is actually quite far reaching, with a massive war, treachery, defections, love triangle, etc. In a sense, it's got it all. No wonder this built up such a following, and is probably largely responsible for the rising popularity of anime in America.

If you have the chance, give the show a shot. It's an interesting study in how far Anime has come since then (the animation can be rather crude at times by today's standards), but there is a great story behind it all, that is well told and very enjoyable.

Rating:

[RossRoy]

The Golden Compass

Original Title: The Golden Compass Year: 2007 Country: United Kingdom Director: Chris Weitz Rating: PG Length: 113 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround EX, English: Dolby Digital Stereo, French: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English, French

What they say
In a marvelous parallel world where witches soar the skies and Ice Bears rule teh frozen North, one special girl is destined to hold the fate of the universe in her hands.When Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) becomes the keeper of the Golden Compass, only she has the ability to read its portent messages and prevent her world - and all others - from slipping into an evil darkness.

My Thoughts
That was an underwhelming experience if there ever was one. Underused stars, overused child actor who obviously can't carry a movie alone, overused CGI, bland and routine direction, etc.

My main gripe about the movie though, is the lead child actress. Not that she's a bad actress or anything, but who the hell decided to greenlight a project where a child actor has to carry a whole movie with only 2 CGI animals as support? I've yet to see a single child actor who could pull that off.

And the animals.. Well, they are well animated and very well done. But the thing is, it is at times painfully obvious that there's nothing there. You'll see someone petting the animal, but not even touching it. Or, holding it in their arms, and it just becomes way too obvious.

The stars? Oh sure, you can put Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, even Kathy Bates on the promo material and posters! But, each one of them is on screen for about, oh, 5 minutes each? And two of them are only doing voices anyway (Ian and Kathy)!

But it's a shame really. Because the story itself could have been so much more. It really feels like an introduction of this world, with little regards to an actual coherent story, in the hopes it'll prove "good enough" to warrant sequels that will actually tell the story. Thing is, they leave so much open, and so little actually happens here, I'm not even sure people would want to see a sequel.

Rating:

[RossRoy]

Over the next few days, I'll be having a themed mini-marathon (but the theme is rather large! hehe) and said theme is:

The Oldie-but-Goodie (IMO) mini-marathon!


Thing is, it may not be all "goodie" though, as I will probably slip in some movies I've never seen before hehehe
And also, "oldie" is not necessarily all that old. I'm thinking about pre-1990 or so

[RossRoy]

Entry #1 from The Oldie-but-Goodie (IMO) mini-marathon!
Short Circuit

Original Title: Short Circuit Year: 1986 Country: United States Director: John Badham Rating: PG Length: 99 Min. Video: Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Stereo Subtitles:

What they say
Steve Guttenberg and Ally Sheedy co-star in this high-tech comedy adventure about Number Five, a robot who escapes into the real world after he short-circuits in an electrical storm and decides that he's human. Because he's carrying destructive weapons, the Defense Department and his designer (Guttenberg) are desperate to find him. But Number Five is being protected by a young woman (Sheedy) who is teaching him a gentler way of life.

My Thoughts
I remember seeing a Short Circuit movie when I was younger. And after seeing this, I can say that I saw Part 2, but I don't think I had ever seen this one. Well, nevertheless, I loved it just as much as I remember loving Part 2 back then! It's hard to imagine this movie was as some point a dark high tech action movie with Numebr-5 as the villain. It works so well as a comedy. Of course, the idea of a robot become sentient because of being struck by lightning is ludicrous at best, still, they needed some catalyst to instill life into Number-5, so I can get over it. But after that. The evolution of Number-5 as a sentient robot. His discovery of life, death, love, music, conflict, fear is great. I also think this movie is yet another good example that puppetry and animatronics are better than CGI. I love the jerkyness of movement of Number-5, it gives him personality and an actual sense of weight. His physical presence on set also shows in the actor's play.

This is a nice, light comedy. I love it.

rating:

[RossRoy]

Entry #2 from The Oldie-but-Goodie (IMO) mini-marathon!
Short Circuit 2

Original Title: Short Circuit 2 Year: 1988 Country: United States Director: Kenneth Johnson Rating: PG Length: 111 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1, Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround, French: Dolby Digital Stereo, Spanish: Dolby Digital Stereo, Portuguese: Dolby Digital Stereo Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai

What they say
Number Five, aka Johnny Five, that incredible, lovable robot from the smash hit 'Short Circuit,' is back and taking the big city by storm in this action-packed comedy adventure. Upbeat Johnny's out for some "urban input," but some street hoods, a greedy banker and a gang of crooks see his naiveté as their high-tech ticket to easy street. Will Johnny survive the big bad city and its big, bad city slickers? Keep your wires crossed when you switch on this high voltage film.

My Opinion
I find it hard to explain why, but this movie is one of my favorite. I remember seeing it as a child, and thinking how cool it would be to have a robot like Johnny-5. And now that I'm older, I find it a marvelous story about how an innocent newcomer to a big city can easily be manipulated into doing questionable things. There's also a sequence that brought a tear to my eye back then, and does every single time I watch this movie.

(click to show/hide)

The scene is the beating Johnny-5 takes after the heist

There's a magic to this story that completely engulfs me when I watch this. And you know, I think Johnny-5 might be one of my favorite movie character of all time.

rating:

[Achim]

They just released a sequel to this!

(click to show/hide)

It's computer generated, plays 700 onwards in the future and is called Wall.E. But seriously, isn't it amazing how they look alike? If Number-5 was compacting trash.....

[RossRoy]

They just released a sequel to this!

(click to show/hide)

It's computer generated, plays 700 onwards in the future and is called Wall.E. But seriously, isn't it amazing how they look alike? If Number-5 was compacting trash.....

 
Yeah. I can't wait to see that! One DVD I'll actually be in-line waiting for it!

But actually, it looks like they are working on a sequel/reimagining

[Najemikon]

The Short Circuit films were amongst my favourites too. They seemed to on all the time when I was growing up! It's in vogue to say how bad they were now, especially the supposed "racism" of the Indian character. What bollocks. They were great fun and the sight of the injured Johnny 5 leaking oil is still engrained in my memory. I always desperately wanted to see a third now that he was pimped out in gold! You're right that they can't get that sort of empathy from CGI.

In fact, Johnny 5 is responsible for one of my all time favourite lines (2:23 in the video):

Holding Out for a Hero

[Achim]

Yeah. I can't wait to see that! One DVD I'll actually be in-line waiting for it!

I saw it at the cinema yesterday and thought it was really awesome. Sure, it has it's moments of utter cheese and clichés, but that goes with the territory.

But actually, it looks like they are working on a sequel/reimagining

I'll file that under sequel/remake no one needs...

You're right that they can't get that sort of empathy from CGI.

After seeing Wall.E I'd say this statement is wrong.

Please forgive, but I never enjoyed the way they treated the Number 5 character in part 2; making him just too human. In fact, I never was able to watch the second one all the way through.

[RossRoy]

You're right that they can't get that sort of empathy from CGI.

After seeing Wall.E I'd say this statement is wrong.

Not the same thing IMO. In Wall.E it's a CGI robot in an animated movie.

In a live action movie, you wouldn't get the same reactions by the human characters from a CGI robot, as opposed to a real physical robot, even if it's basically puppet and not servos.

[Achim]

Not the same thing IMO. In Wall.E it's a CGI robot in an animated movie.

In a live action movie, you wouldn't get the same reactions by the human characters from a CGI robot, as opposed to a real physical robot, even if it's basically puppet and not servos.

I agree on this.

(Should have known what you meant in the first place )

[Najemikon]

Not the same thing IMO. In Wall.E it's a CGI robot in an animated movie.

In a live action movie, you wouldn't get the same reactions by the human characters from a CGI robot, as opposed to a real physical robot, even if it's basically puppet and not servos.

I agree on this.

(Should have known what you meant in the first place )

That's what I thought he meant when I meant what I said! 

[Achim]

That's what I thought he meant when I meant what I said! 

I hadn't even noticed that my second reply was to a different person

[DJ Doena]

You're right that they can't get that sort of empathy from CGI.

After seeing Wall.E I'd say this statement is wrong.

Not the same thing IMO. In Wall.E it's a CGI robot in an animated movie.

In a live action movie, you wouldn't get the same reactions by the human characters from a CGI robot, as opposed to a real physical robot, even if it's basically puppet and not servos.

It's related to the "uncanny valley": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_Valley