Yesterday's movie reviews
May. 23rd, 2004 01:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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cashew did a great job of summarizing our day out yesterday. Lots of fun watching movies and discussing all sorts of things over food. ^_^ Anyways, I thought I'd give my thoughts on the movies we watched. Maybe later I'll go over the manga.
Ghost in the Shell - Wonderful movie. Way ahead of its time. This is the introspective view on technology and advancement that "The Matrix" only wished it could be. As cashew noted, the technology in this future is rather large and clunky; that's because GITS is a pretty old movie, and back then they had different expectations of what future tech would look like, based on their present. The movie had wonderful animation and art; it's not the stereotypical "big eyes" type anime art style that people associate with anime nowadays. The music was also wonderful, and strangely suits the visuals very well despite invoking some very opposing moods/themes. The characters and characterizations were natural and well done, with lots of chemistry going on in their interactions, despite the awkwardness of the dubbing. In fact, the dubbing is the only mediocre bit about the movie, and even that's rather forgettable/excusable in the face of the excellence of the rest of it.
The plot was coherent and the setting well knit. There was still a bit of confusion near the end, but the most obvious themes and ideas come across very clearly. This is a movie about identity - what is it? what makes it up? what gives it value? and how it changes. It's also a movie about the evolution of life and sentience, sci-fi style, without the Hollywood instinct to create Frankenstein's monsters. GITS has a very good reputation among anime out there. It's good to see that its rep is well deserved.
Ice Age - One word: Hilarious. It's got memorable one-liners in almost every scene, and keeps cracking the jokes until the viewer is a puddle of laughter on the floor. The animation is adorable, the voices superb, and the in-jokes just never stop. I loved Diego the sabertooth, and not just because he's an adorable big cat with big fangs and a total softy under that oh so standoffish exterior. I also loved Scratch the neurotic squirrel, much as cashew does, because... well... how can you not love a neurotic squirrel that has the world's worst luck and has a knack for being a total walking (skittering) disaster? *grin*
Monty Python's The Life of Brian - Well, it's not as funny as the Holy Grail, but it's got its moments. Loved the People's Republic of... er... the Republic of the Peoples... er... the group of seditionists that Brians joins and their total incompetence. Loved the Pontius Pilate and his lisp. Loved the scene where people were reporting to cruxifiction. Loved the cruxificition ending period. Very amusing movie.
cashew did a great job of summarizing our day out yesterday. Lots of fun watching movies and discussing all sorts of things over food. ^_^ Anyways, I thought I'd give my thoughts on the movies we watched. Maybe later I'll go over the manga.Ghost in the Shell - Wonderful movie. Way ahead of its time. This is the introspective view on technology and advancement that "The Matrix" only wished it could be. As cashew noted, the technology in this future is rather large and clunky; that's because GITS is a pretty old movie, and back then they had different expectations of what future tech would look like, based on their present. The movie had wonderful animation and art; it's not the stereotypical "big eyes" type anime art style that people associate with anime nowadays. The music was also wonderful, and strangely suits the visuals very well despite invoking some very opposing moods/themes. The characters and characterizations were natural and well done, with lots of chemistry going on in their interactions, despite the awkwardness of the dubbing. In fact, the dubbing is the only mediocre bit about the movie, and even that's rather forgettable/excusable in the face of the excellence of the rest of it.
The plot was coherent and the setting well knit. There was still a bit of confusion near the end, but the most obvious themes and ideas come across very clearly. This is a movie about identity - what is it? what makes it up? what gives it value? and how it changes. It's also a movie about the evolution of life and sentience, sci-fi style, without the Hollywood instinct to create Frankenstein's monsters. GITS has a very good reputation among anime out there. It's good to see that its rep is well deserved.
Ice Age - One word: Hilarious. It's got memorable one-liners in almost every scene, and keeps cracking the jokes until the viewer is a puddle of laughter on the floor. The animation is adorable, the voices superb, and the in-jokes just never stop. I loved Diego the sabertooth, and not just because he's an adorable big cat with big fangs and a total softy under that oh so standoffish exterior. I also loved Scratch the neurotic squirrel, much as cashew does, because... well... how can you not love a neurotic squirrel that has the world's worst luck and has a knack for being a total walking (skittering) disaster? *grin*
Monty Python's The Life of Brian - Well, it's not as funny as the Holy Grail, but it's got its moments. Loved the People's Republic of... er... the Republic of the Peoples... er... the group of seditionists that Brians joins and their total incompetence. Loved the Pontius Pilate and his lisp. Loved the scene where people were reporting to cruxifiction. Loved the cruxificition ending period. Very amusing movie.
