Continuing Reviews

Just got back from The Bottled Fool (Gusher No Binds Me) ... That was fucked up, man... But I'll have to get to that at a later date. ;) I was browsing the McGill Classifieds and I noticed that people were actually trying to SELL invitations to join Gmail! Aside from the fact that this is illegal, I respect the guys from Google too much to let this happen. So I decided to go on a crusade. I put an ad on the website to ignore the people who are charging for invites, and that I would try to accumulate all that I could and give them away free. Only time will tell. Back to the movies... July 10th, 5:00 PM: Godzilla This is a classic. The original Godzilla (Gojira) from 1954. The movie had not been seen in its present form in North America until now - It had come along but it was cut apart, scenes involving white people were thrown in, and it really disrupted the flow of the original. But now, in its pure, untarnished form Gojira has resurfaced - and it blew me away. The interestingly expressed anti-war sentiments as well as the powerful score are among the most obvious positive attributes of the film, and far outweigh the surprisingly scarce cheesiness that one would expect from this genuinely groundbreaking (and to date, excessively clichéd) film. It deserves much more respect than it has gotten over the last half-decade in North America. July 10th, 7:00 PM: Azumi Movies based on Manga rule! The action, the fighting, the characters, the gore, while all exaggerated, very much add to, and do not detract in the least from director Kitamura Ryuhei's film. The characters really looked like they were straight out of the manga, which they really were. The swordplay, while no match for Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi, was rather impressive coming from people who most likely had little or no previous sword-fighting experience. Overall, it was extremly enjoyable, and most entertaining - especially Bijomaru Mogami, the white-clad, rose-toting swordsman... July 14th, 7:10 PM: Sword In The Moon Now this was an interesting one. The movie was basically a Korean Samurai film (with soldiers that wear really cool hats). The movie was a real blend of stories, and I found that it really did not do some aspects of these stories enough justice. It was really stylised and filled with really incredible camera-work and landscapes, which were just incredible to observe, but like its Korean counterpart (Wonderful Days) it was much more a thing to view than to hear... Though to a much lesser extent - the story made sense (most of the time) and it had some great threads to follow, but it simply didn't follow them enough for my tastes... Alright. I'll pick this up tomorrow. I'm really tired... :) Now Reading : Cryptonomicon - Neil Stephenson (This is gonna be a long one...) Now Playing : Animetal - Sailor Moon Theme (Hee hee hee... This rocks!)

Been a while...

Well, I was encouraged to get back to the blogging, so here I go... Not too much has happened since my April 25th post. I just noticed that the second comment from my last post was actually some guy spamming my blog. I've never seen that, and it REALLY PISSES ME OFF! ARGH! So yeah, I've been seeing a lot of movies at Fantasia and it's been pretty cool so far. I submit to you a brief commentary on the movies I've seen (this is going to be done over the course of several days due to the volume of movies to consider): July 8th, 7:15 PM: Wonderful Days Most anime, while it comes from Japan, is animated by Korean animators. Wonderful Days was basically the Koreans trying to show that they can create their own animation without the Japanese. Now this is at the same time both a blessing and a bane. The film was aesthetically incredible - the animation was superb in every respect, mixing cel animation, live action components and CG animation mostly seamlessly. The only problem was that the storyline suffered somewhat as a result. It was confusing and somewhat disjointed. Some things were just inexplicable, and others seemed to have been there for no reason. But don't get me wrong, it was a great movie, visually... It just needed a bit of work in the story department. July 8th, 9:30 PM: Ju-on: The Grudge This is, without a doubt, the scariest movie I have ever seen. I have spent my entire life watching horror movies, trying to find something that would at least disturb me in the slightest. I have seen so many, yet none had ever affected me in the slightest way. Hell, I laughed my way through The Ring (though now I do have to see Ringu). However, this movie really freaked me out. This is because, for the first time, a movie tried to scare you through imagery, rather than "it's quiet... I know something's gonna spring out... It's going to appear out of nowhere... BAM!!!!" Some of the visuals were just so disturbing that one could barely help at least cringing a little. Naked big-eyed white-painted Japanese boys are scary, man! July 9th, 7:30 PM: 8th Diagram Pole Fighter Quentin Tarantino's big inspiration for Kill Bill: Vol. I, was very much based on the films of the Shaw Brothers, who created some of the most classic kung fu movies of all time. This one starred Gordon Liu, who played Johnny Mo (one of the masked men) in Vol. I, and, more memorably, Pai Mei in Vol. II. It had of the most incredible pole fighting ever. It was right up there with Jet Li's Fong Sai Yuk and Jackie Chan's Drunken Master. I was totally impressed by all aspects of the movie, right down to that cheesiness that makes all old kung fu movies so much fun to watch. July 9th, 11:55 PM: Battlefield Baseball This movie just totally wowed me. Allow me to give you a short description of the opening scene:

It's a peaceful day in Japan. The young high-schoolers are playing a nice game of Baseball. The weather is great, the players are all happy and ready to have a great game. The pitcher readies himself, and throws the ball. The batter swings, and the ball flies waaaaay out. The left-fielder runs after the ball........................ He runs more............. He jumps....... He's trying to catch the ball.... It lands in his mitt............................................ AND HE EXPLODES!!!

Now that's an awesome movie... It was just so unexpectedly funny that I just couldn't stop laughing the whole time. It just entertained me to no end with its non-stop gags and ridiculousness. I loved it! OK, I think that's enough for now. I'll try and get some done tomorrow if I have time... Now Reading : Cryptonomicon - Neil Stephenson Now Playing : Koda Kumi - Cutie Honey