Just watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and I thought it was a great action flick. If I had known it was going to be that much fun, I would have watched it months ago.
Open Thread
This post is in: Movies, Open Threads
This post is in: Movies, Open Threads
Just watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and I thought it was a great action flick. If I had known it was going to be that much fun, I would have watched it months ago.
Comments are closed.
handy
There was a lot of complaining about Deadpool, but I for one felt Ryan Reynolds is much better actor when he doesn’t have a mouth.
SIA
I watched the last hour or so of The Fifth Element with Bruce Willis. Kind of silly in parts, but lots of action, color, personalities and creative futuristic effects. Love that stuff. Starting to see Bruce Willis’ appeal for the first time. :)
Hot as s**t here, I’m over it and it’s only mid-June. I now turn into a mole for 3 more months.
Yutsano
@SIA: The Fifth Element is perhaps the best depiction of an American anime. From the thin plot line to the stylized sets and costumes, it could have just as easily been animated in Japan and worked just as well. It does sort of stand on its own merits, but without the popularity of Japanese animation in the US and the world, I doubt it would have been as well-received as it was. Plus, as my brother noted, it’s just fun.
Ailuridae
I think most comic book dorks really hate comic book movies in general especially those involving characters with cult like following (Gambit and Deadpool, here). I’m more of a DC guy than a Marvel fan and I can say without exaggerating that I am positively dreading the Green Lantern movie that comes out in a year. I simply have no capacity to judge it as a stand alone vehicle and at this point and 20 years or more reading multiple Green Lantern titles there is just no way that it won’t miss/have to skip huge portions of the back story.
SIA
@Yutsano:
I am getting so smart reading this website. :) I work in design, and I was enjoying all the color, fabrics, interiors, and spacecraft in the film. Plus I just love science fiction – to see where the imagination of the writers takes us in 2259. As long it’s not a really grim dystopia.
Did I see in the last thread you have chickens? That is so adorable.
Incertus (Brian)
Really? I think I disliked that one almost as much as X-Men 3. Gambit seemed thrown in there for no reason, and the story was about enough to keep me interested for half an hour, as opposed to the 2 hours it actually was.
Then again, I actually like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie, so my taste isn’t what you would call high-faluting.
Sirkowski
Way too little Deadpool.
Incertus (Brian)
On a somewhat related note, I just discovered Archer on Netflix streaming. The animation is for shit, but the stories are freaking hilarious.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Yutsano: Back when large screen high definition TV’s were coming out, I would recommend that people run the car scenes from the Fifth Element to see how well the TV could handle it.
As for movies that I enjoy for no reason other than because they’re fun: Sahara is at the top of my list.
tkogrumpy
@SIA: chickens adorable? Not when you have to pluck and dress twenty five of them at a time.
Mark S.
@handy:
I completely forgot that Ryan Reynolds was in that movie. It’s funny, my girlfriend and I were talking about the very same movie just the other day. We both liked it but couldn’t remember a damn thing that happened in it.
demkat620
@Incertus (Brian)</The Hitchhiker's Guide movie made me mad. They blew it with the whole Arthur/Trillian love story. And Mos Def was miscast.
I thought Wolverine was okay. And I don't know what it is about The Fifth Element but if its on, I'm watching.
magurakurin
You know what’s the best part about USA/England draw in a World Cup match? It will be all the buzz in England and everyone will have an opinion about what went wrong, and meanwhile, in the States, there are like 11 people who even know what a draw in the World Cup means let alone care. bwahahahahaha.
I know this really isn’t true, but I wanted to say something dickish about football/soccer. But, hahahahaha, the English played to a draw against a country that doesn’t even know what the damn sport is called hahahahahah. FIFA? huh? where’s the “S”? hahahahaha.
KG
ah, maybe y’all can help me out… am I just imagining a scene in one of the X-Men movies where Wolverine liberates the concentration camp that Magneto was in? I seem to recall the scene, vaguely, and wanted to watch it again, because I seem to recall slight references to Captain America. Or am I just confusing the comics/cartoons with the movies?
SIA
@tkogrumpy:
Good thing I don’t have to do that. Anyway, it is the keeping of chickens I find adorable, not the chickens themselves.
demkat620
@Incertus (Brian): I wrote this paragraph about how I really was disappointedf with that movie and WP ate it.
FYWP!
Corner Stone
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
Good God. With Cruz and Matthew?
fasteddie9318
It’s really not as bad as all the carping about it would have led you to believe. Then again, I never liked Gambit and didn’t know much about Deadpool, so I guess I’m not in the geek-hater demo.
Corner Stone
@Incertus (Brian):
True for a couple characters there.
ETA -edited because I screwed up Will.I.Am’s character John Wraith.
Mark S.
How much does the MLS suck? Only three players on the national team play for it. I want to say at least half the national team in 2006 played in the MLS.
bago
The game is better than the movie. Seriously. If you need to be a beast and rip some shit apart, the fine folks at raven software have provided.
suzanne
I feel enormously guilty. My husband spent the day building Ikea furniture while I went and got a pedicure, then came home and took a nap. I figure that with being pregnant, I am actually working quite diligently on a cellular level. Not to mention, sometime on or around December 29th, I will pay in spades.
SIA
@suzanne: Just remember, you’re relaxing for two now.
Amir_Khalid
One thing that’s always bothered me about Wolverine in the movies is that Hugh Jackman is about a foot too tall for the character.
But what really bugged me about X-Men Origins: Wolverine is that at one point he gives it all up to become a lumberjack in Canada, and I never came across a review of the movie that made the obvious Monty Python reference.
Stroszek
@magurakurin: 17 million Americans watched the World Cup final in 2006. That’s 17 million Americans watching a game between Italy and France. That’s also 34% of the total population of England. That’s also comparable to the average audience of the 2006 NBA Finals and the 2006 World Series. Again, this was a final between Italy and France.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Corner Stone: I think Steve Zahn makes up for them, plus I just enjoy the story. I’m not claiming that there’s any logical reason for liking it. I do like the fact that the side-kick is not hapless.
Mr Furious
@Amir_Khalid:
I reacted the same way to Jackman’s initial casting. But in retrospect, I think he is one of the best comic castings ever. The mansion siege in “X-Men 2” is the film character’s high water mark.
I used to work at Wizard magazine, and we used to do these casting call articles all the time for comic movies (this was in the early 90s before any of these films were even close to being produced). One of the editors insisted that Danny DeVito play Logan/Wolverine—simply because he refused to cast anyone taller than 5′ 5″.
Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark is the only better casting I can think of.
daveNYC
You liked the Wolverine movie? Is the post missing a +10 at the end that would explain that?
Raznor
[note: spoilerific post ahead]
Two things I hated about Wolverine: first, Gambit was worthless. He wasn’t even Cajun? How the hell can you finally have Gambit in a movie and he’s not even Cajun? That’s bullshit. Second the love story. She was killed by Sabertooth, but then no wait, she was playing him all along and didn’t love him after all, but wait, no she actually did love him and now she’s dead again. All that stuff about her coming back could have been omitted and it wouldn’t have changed the story a bit.
Still, it’s a really enjoyable action flick. Sabertooth and Wolverine fighting back to back to fight Mutant X was just fantastic. And I just always enjoy watching Dominic Monaghan, so there’s also that.
Mr Furious
I never bothered with this Origins film because I hate the movie studio’s shoving a hundred extra story lines and characters into a film simply to sell action figures.
Same with Spider-Man 3.
Mr Furious
Job relocation has me separated from my wife and kids temporarily. One of the only pluses to that is that the library here in Ann Arbor kicks ass for DVDs (FREE!) and I have been catching up on comic and action films I’ve missed over the years since my wife has zero interest in them, and my kids are too young…
Watched “Watchmen” last week. “Hellboy” last night, and “Hellboy II” is next.
Steeplejack
Night shift reportin’ in. Just got off for the week and am looking forward to my time-shifted weekend (Sun-Mon). Yee-haw.
Steep + wait a minute I’ll be right back
Steeplejack
@SIA:
It’s surprising how well The Fifth Element holds up. It’s hokey, it has gigantic holes in it, and parts of it seem to have been ripped wholesale out of a Blade Runner knockoff, but yet I always seem to end up watching most of it when I happen upon it on cable. Bruce Willis is at his laconic best, and Gary Oldman doing H. Ross Perot as a supervillain is awesome.
Steeplejack
@SIA:
Check out Ghost in the Shell (the original movie; there is also a TV series). It is a well done sci-fi anime with particularly good visuals.
MBSS
i’m watching “hoosiers.”
they need to run the “picket fence” play.
Stefan
I want to know why, if Wolverine is Canadian, he was serving in the US Army in the Civil War, WWII, etc.
Steeplejack
@KG:
I will yield to serious fanboys, but the only thing I remember from the movies is a flashback in which we see Magneto as a child in a concentration camp, thus giving the back-story of why he became such an evil dude and hater of non-mutants.
ETA: Think it was in the first movie.
MBSS
@Steeplejack:
“ghost in the shell” was pretty good.
i really like “ninja scroll,” and “memories,” too.
Corner Stone
@MBSS: Oooo – ninja scroll.
That’s the balls.
Steeplejack
@MBSS:
Haven’t seen Ninja Scroll. Will have to check it out. Thanks for the tip.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Holy shit.
Must see. Now.
Jubei!!
Mr Furious
@Steeplejack: When is Gary Oldman NOT awesome?
Batman Begins/Dark Knight? Awesome.
Scumbag Senator in The Contender? Awesome.
Coked-out DEA agent in The Professional? Awesome.
Romeo is Bleeding? White rastafarian drug dealer in True Romance? Awesome.
Hell, he was even awesome in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
sunsin
Another good but neglected anime is the Witch Hunter Robin series, centering on a rather lost 15-year-old girl who has special powers she can’t properly control. It’s sad, though.
Kobie
Sometimes I think I’m the only person alive that actually hated The Fifth Element. I think it was Chris Tucker — he just ruined that movie for me.
Corner Stone
@Kobie: I don’t hate it. But Milla Jovovich….I’m done here
Ross Hershberger
We just watched Harry Potter & the1/2-Blood Prince tonight. It was long, slow and not nearly as serious as it acts. Okay for the kids I suppose, but there are better adventure franchises.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Vampire Hunter D?
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Okay! Will get on it stat.
Ross Hershberger
Gary Oldman & Alfred Molina in Prick up your Ears. Brilliant.
Kobie
@Steeplejack: That scene was at the very beginning of the first movie, yes.
handy
Quite possibly his finest performance. Of course I’m a little biased, I happen to think that whole movie works well on so many levels.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: There is so much goodness in Ninja Scroll…I don’t even know where to start.
Steeplejack
@Mr Furious:
Point taken. I just thought the Perot accent was a genius touch in The Fifth Element.
I do have to say that he was not awesome in The Scarlet Letter. But that movie was so awful that the negative should be burned and the ashes scattered on salted ground.
However, he was also awesome in Immortal Beloved. And Romeo Is Bleeding is a favorite of mine–an underappreciated gem.
FlipYrWhig
@Kobie: I was gonna say. I take it there are other movies featuring Chris Tucker where he doesn’t do whatever the hell he was doing in that movie. I don’t know if it’s the character or the actor or the combination or what, but it’s like a cross between Dennis Rodman and Buckwheat. Horrifying.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Yeah, I liked that. Also some military-themed one I saw around the same time . . . uh, Wolf something? That’s probably not it. It was about some double-secret military assassins who were getting tangled up with the police. Wish I could remember the name. Very noir.
SIA
@Steeplejack: @Steeplejack: Gary Oldman was fantastic. I loved that he had a southern accent. The costumes were gorgeous. Thanks for the tip re Ghost in the Shell. I’ll try it!
FlipYrWhig
@Ross Hershberger: Prick Up Your Ears is good. Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy is pretty cool too, IMHO.
MBSS
@Corner Stone:
seems like there are other movies where the main character is named jubei. i wonder if that’s a historical person or just a common name.
Kobie
@FlipYrWhig: He’s usually a little … intense. However, that performance was just WAY too over the top for me.
Ross Hershberger
Gary Oldman:
Dracula,
Sid Vicious,
Beethoven.
The case for Awesomeness is made.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Well, Vampire Hunter D can’t hold Ninja Scroll’s jockstrap.
Corner Stone
@MBSS: No idea, myself.
I just know I want to have his babies.
MBSS
@Steeplejack:
oh, you like “immortal beloved”, too. i love gary oldman and beethoven. that was great flick.
gary oldman was also epic in “the professional,” “true romance,” and even “bram stoker’s dracula.”
probably one of my fav actors of all time.
Steeplejack
@FlipYrWhig:
Chris Tucker is awesome in Dead Presidents–which is an underrated movie in general, I think. Tucker nails the “weird Vietnam vet adrift back in the ‘hood” thing. I’ll forgive a lot of crap for that job. Okay, maybe just Rush Hour–not Rush Hour 2 or 3.
And he didn’t bother me in The Fifth Element. I thought he was funny.
He was also pretty good as Beaumont Livingston in Jackie Brown. He seems to be a bit lazy, though, and he does better with a (presumably strong) director who gets the kung fu grip on him and makes him work.
Corner Stone
I’ve been playing with my Wii all night. It’s starting to chafe so I’m taking a little break.
MBSS
@Corner Stone:
ha ha. your babies would be bad ass ninjas.
i like the blind swordsman he fights though. and that lil old dude who magically appears everywhere.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: C’mon guys. The discussion of Chris Tucker starts and ends with him as Smokey in Friday.
Absolutely classic, can not be watched enough, great damn flick.
freelancer (itouch)
@Mr Furious:
This. Also Heath as the Joker, Michael Caine as Alfr- fuck it, everyone in the Nolan/Batman movies.
I think Inception is gonna be fucking awesome.
@handy:
I’ve got a tag for whenever I post about whining teabaggers/angry white guys: “It Aint White Boy Day”.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
What game? My brother and I are addicted to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.
Corner Stone
@MBSS: I like it when he runs into the sword stuck through the bamboo. Take that blindie!
Honestly, I could discuss pretty much every scene of Ninja Scroll.
But I won’t.
Yutsano
@SIA: I have ten hens and a rooster. Nothing in the world compares to having your own fresh egg supply. I can make everything from cookies to a soufflé at any point, and the eggs taste fresher and are healthier than factory farm eggs. Plus I’m spoiled on sun orange yolks, every time I see a yellow one I know I won’t like the taste as much. My girls eat grass every single day, it makes a HUGE difference. Plus I don’t slaughter them myself, but I had some spare roosters from my last clutch of chicks, and some friends offered to take them off my hands. They told me they ended up quite tasty! If you can have yard chickens in your municipality, I highly recommend getting a couple of hens (most places won’t allow roosters), the payoff is so worth it for not a huge amount of work.
Ghost in the Shell is an amazing work, both in story and in drawing. The movie stands on its own, however the TV series are also tremendous works as well (there are two seasons). I highly recommend that one.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: My son’s hooked on Wii Play, the Tank Game.
So that’s what we’ve been doing all night. Although caveat, I absolutely hate, hate, hate the cannon controls in that damn game.
We usually play Wii Resort where he kicks my ass in Dogfighting, Table Tennis and Swordfighting and I dust him in Basketball, Wakeboarding and Archery.
We haven’t played Mario Kart or Super Mario Bros in a while.
FlipYrWhig
@Steeplejack: The thing about Chris Tucker in The Fifth Element is that the character is, to my eyes, uncomfortably close to minstrel show stuff — and I don’t know if the director is trying to do irony, or if Tucker is trying to do irony, or if it’s not ironic at all.
Kobie
@Corner Stone: Smokey over here takin’ a shit!
I won’t tell nobody else, though.
AhabTRuler
Gary Oldman & Tim Roth in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, with Richard Dreyfus as The Player. Written and directed by Stoppard himself.
And Oldman doesn’t even use a funny accent.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Mr Furious: Gary Oldman is my favorite actor. In part because a lot of times, you don’t even know it’s him until you see the credits/check imdb.
Corner Stone
@Kobie: Smokey, you know I ain’t the smartest man in the world, but, from back here it look like you’re takin a shit.
MBSS
oh wheeeeeeeeeeee
heavy convo with the gf. i can’t wait till i’m married like you guys.
MBSS
@AhabTRuler:
one of my theater teacher recommended that movie to me, and i have actually rented it more than once, but for some reason i’ve never actually watched it. and i really like tim robbins, too.
Corner Stone
@Corner Stone: To be honest, that’s alot like how I feel sometimes when I see some obvious troll posts by the FP’ers here.
MBSS
@Yutsano:
i only eat cage free eggs. partly because i’m a bleeding heart, vegetarian, marxist, pinko, bastard, but mostly because they actually taste like eggs. you can really tell a difference between the color of the yolks and the thickness of the shells.
i used to have chickens when i was a boy.
Corner Stone
@MBSS:
For God’s sake. I’m a believer of the “everyone’s got to learn some time”, but please. Don’t do it.
MBSS
and i really like tim
robbinsroth, too.excuse
MBSS
@Corner Stone:
the only thing that’s keeping me going is the idea of training ninja babies that attack neocons on sight.
i’ll build a dummy with the head covered with a pic of joementum with his trademark shit eating grin.
Corner Stone
@MBSS: You’re about to have sex with the same person for a good long time.
The good news? You’re about to have a lot less of it.
SIA
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
That’s exactly it. He completely becomes the character. Like Kevin Spacey (I loved and KPAK and Shipping News. )
@Ross Hershberger: Immortal Beloved was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Beautiful and moving.
Yutsano
@MBSS: If you can go the next step and get grass fed eggs, I highly recommend that. The difference between what my girls lay vs what I can get in the store is amazing. Unfortunately most farmer’s markets don’t have eggs (damn USDA) so it takes a bit of hunting. I don’t sell mine (can’t legally) but I can give them away and I do often. I get a half dozen on average a day!
You can have a heavy convo with the GF and still blog on BJ? You iz talented!
MBSS
@Corner Stone:
it’s all good. that’s why i have a stash of megan mcardle and ann coulter photos in a secret file.
sidenote: i forgort coulter’s name so i googled “blonde republican lady” and it came up second.
i probably could have googled “sadistic nazi witch” and got it too, though. Also
MBSS
@Yutsano:
i told her to get a bite to eat and we could meet up later because “it’s impossible to have this discussion over the phone,” but the truth is that i really just missed corner stone.
sidenote: sometimes i get the cage free eggs from trader joes (do they have those out east?) and i’ve noticed the shells are pretty weak and the yolks are pale yellow. i think i’m on to a vicious scam.
also, my mom and stepdad have a dozen chickens and this particular type of chicken lays a greenish hued egg. i haven’t inquired about the taste yet.
Cathie from Canada
@Steeplejack:
And can you think of any other action movie which has an opera singer as a significant character?
—oops, actually, I can, The Running Man.
What made The Fifth Element watchable was that DJ character played by Chris Tucker.
Yutsano
@MBSS: It’s most likely an Araucana hen, the taste isn’t any different from a normal chicken egg.
Pale yellow means feed diet only, also they’re most likely cheating on the cage free requirements. I’d either complain to the manager or hunt them down somewhere else.
SIA
@SIA:
Should read:
OriGuy
@Stefan:
I don’t know the reason in the story line why Wolverine was in the US Civil War, but a lot of Canadians were:
I did not know that before.
Corner Stone
@MBSS:
I get that a lot.
I try to help where I can but nobody listens. I didn’t, my best friend didn’t and I’m sure you won’t either.
Life is so much better when they have to go home at some point.
MBSS
@OriGuy:
canadian confederate. that is so wrong. did they know they were fighting for slaves and not for states’ rights to carry maple syrup?
OriGuy
@MBSS:
Wikipedia says that French Canadians were somewhat pro-South. Perhaps they thought that if the Confederacy succeeded in seceding, their own secession would be successful. (Say that five times fast.)
Sheesh
@Incertus (Brian): Archer, like Frisky Dingo before it, is all about the writing. Archer is fantastic, and if you like it, definitely try to watch Frisky Dingo too.
As anime goes, I’d also recommend Ghost in the Shell, but the serials as well, Stand Alone Complex. Noein is on Netflix streaming now, and I recommend it. (The animation is pretty good, compares near Production I.G.)
@Steeplejack: I’m guessing you’re referring to Jin-Roh here, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin-Roh
KG
@Steeplejack: I was watching the first movie the other day, and I caught that scene. But for the fucking life of me, I could have sworn there was a liberation scene in one of the movies.
Oh well, booze must have me misremembering and confusing shit.
Sheesh
@Steeplejack: Oh, oh, or maybe you were referring to Wolf’s Rain which had an excellent score by Yoko Kanno (of Cowboy Bebop and others). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_rain
I can’t recommend Cowboy Bebop highly enough. A little dated now, but so great. One of my all-time favorites.
Ailuridae
@Yutsano:
I’m luck in terms of a city dweller’s life in that I have a “live chicken” place by me that also does eggs. They advertise as “Amish” and “organic” but I’m pretty sure neither of those words mean a whole lot in this context. I don’t eat much chicken but I go through about a gross of eggs a week. The difference in taste between these eggs and factory eggs is amazing and, for the week it runs me about 16 dollars. I probably haven’t had an egg older than 72 hours in five years – you get spoiled quickly though.
Yutsano
@Sheesh:
This. Fantastic story with a beautifully dystopian theme. And Einstein rules my universe, long live the super-genius corgis.
@Ailuridae: It is fasciating how we compromise so much for convenience. No one can possibly convince me that eggs that come from hens that are allowed to roam freely are any more expensive to raise than factory eggs. My hens do have feed but it’s a dietary supplement not the whole basis of their food. They’re fat and happy and just itching for the raspberries to get all ripe so they can steal their share.
ruemara
@sunsin:
That was great. saw the debut at anime expo. No one likes Hellsing? Also must see:
Serial Experiments Lain
FLCL
Habane Renmai
Valkry
Monster
Ghost in the Shell: Stand ALone Complex
Read Or Die—(totally, totally AWESOME-if you’re a book nerd)
Ailuridae
@KG:
There were a handful of flashbacks in the movies but if I had to guess I would think you are thinking of the prologue to X-Men: The Last Stand which definitely featured footage of a computer generated younger version of Ian McKellen in the concentration camp. Those movies are fantastically intertwined so it wouldn’t surprise me that if there were a scene of US/Allied soldiers freeing them that Logan/Wolverine (and Sabretooth) would have been innocuously put into the shots.
Steeplejack
@Sheesh:
Yeah, it was Jin-Ro. Soldier gets obsessed with the sister of a woman who died in front of him. Good graphics, noir vibe, plot not ridiculous (as in so many anime movies).
@Sheesh:
I like Cowboy Bebop as well, though I haven’t seen very many episodes. It sort of feels like Castle of Cagliostro–loose and light. But I am a total Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli slut. I think if everyone watched My Neighbor Totoro once or twice a year–possibly under duress, if necessary–we would live in a much better world.
Grave of the Fireflies is awesome too, but it is definitely not the feel-good movie of the year.
Yutsano
@ruemara:
You beat me to that recommendation. I love stories that turn your brain upside down,
Meh, my brother liked this one more than I did. I thought it was just too silly for my taste. Although the robot in it is cool.
This one is based on a novel but has so many deep layers. A very different tale of what happens after death.
I should know this one but I don’t. I’ll talk to my brother about it.
A beautiful cautionary tale about the effects of unintended consequences. Yes I’m being vague, but to give away much more would be spoiling.
Sheesh
@ruemara: Yes, yes, yes. FLCL and Read or Die are both superb, so a definite second from me. I liked Lain, but I’d say it’s maybe not universal recommendation, in the same way I wouldn’t recommend Perfect Blue to everyone.
Sheesh
@Steeplejack: Grave of the Fireflies is the saddest movie ever. Basically.
Anne Laurie
@MBSS:
As I understand it, Yagyu Jubei is kind of the Japanese equivalent of Robin Hood. Historical (sort of), romantic, and well enough known to be ripe for satires like Jubei-chan of the Lovely Eyepatch.
(The Spousal Unit and I usually prefer shojo anime. If we’re going to watch Japanese gore, it’s usually live-action stuff like Yojimbo or the Lone Wolf & Cub series. Well, okay, Tsukikigage Ran, but that’s kinda shojo for a wandering-samuri series… )
Martin
@Yutsano: I LOVE 5th Element. Yeah, the plot isn’t anything to write home about, but what really makes the film, which is something that never gets enough credit, is the score. It’s a great, and pleasantly different score.
Sheesh
@Martin: Based on this comment, you would probably love Cowboy Bebop, sorry to be so evangelical about it. Imo, the music is just wonderful. Lots of variety and contrast.
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie:
Well no one is perfect. :) Of course I happened to love Magic Knights Rayearth and if you want to venture to the edges of shojo I’d highly recommend The Vision of Escaflowne. A highly spirited cross-dimensional story with a strong female character lead. I’m guessing you’ve already seen Haibane Renmei then.
@Sheesh: Yoko Kanno is a fantastic and underrated composer. She also did the music for the Macross series, and easily transitions from classical to jazz to modern pop with ease. She’s also not very old.
MBSS
@Anne Laurie:
i was kinda thinking something along those lines.
and i really love “yojimbo.”
Anne Laurie
@Sheesh: Wolf’s Rain is worth watching just for the artwork — wonderful Art Nouveau/Deco design, and the way it handles the “wolves in human form” issue is fantastic in the original sense of the word. But the last episode falls apart badly, even when you make allowance for the whole “suicidally depressing is a much respected Japanese artistic tradition” issue.
Mr Furious
@Steeplejack: @Yutsano:
Well, then, in Nevada you have free health care for life.
Mr Furious
Just finished Hellboy II. A good time. Made me want to watch Pan’s Labyrinth again…
If you asked me fifteen years ago to name some comics I thought would never be movies, Hellboy would probably make the list. Mysterymen would top it.
Shows what I know.
MBSS
@Mr Furious:
i tried to give my doctor a chicken and he diagnosed me as a schizophrenic.
Sheesh
@Anne Laurie: Yes, the soundtracks for Wolf’s Rain and Macross Plus are both great. The latter is one of my favorites. She’s sort of the thread that ties a lot of my favorites movies/series together. I don’t think it’s a coincidence, she’s quite gifted.
Unrelated, but I meant to mention before when FLCL was mentioned. I can understand its detractors, but it spoke to me on a sort of primal boyhood level. The appeal for me was part nostalgic and part subliminal considering how otherwise ‘zany’ it is. Plus, it’s so punkrock: it’s the Wild Zero of coming of age anime.
edit: you can tell it’s late I guess. I’m writing pretty badly! Er, repetitively and repetitiously also.
Anne Laurie
@Yutsano: If you liked Magic Knights Rayearth, you might want to try Card Captor Sakura someday, believe it or not. It starts as a (very well done) version of the typical “magical girl romance”, but beyond the monster-of-the-week storyline, it develops into a true Hero Quest for the two lead characters. And even though it was produced for the pre-teen market, there are at least three different gay romance threads, with three very different outcomes.
CLAMP, the artist group responsible for both Rayearth and Card Captor, also did a series called Chobits which I think is one of the best introduction-to-anime series for the typical American science fiction fan. (It was aimed at the young-male demographic that most American blockbuster movies hope to enthrall.) Despite a rather slapstick start (the Panty episode is beyond pandering) the series explores the potential of human/artificial-intelligence interaction in a way that would impress Isaac Asimov (who, after all, was not above a Panty joke or 17 himself).
Yutsano
@Mr Furious:
WOOT! I’m moving to Vegas baby!
@Sheesh:
She’s also divorced and quite cute as well. :)
@Anne Laurie: CLAMP is a consortium of female anime and manga artists who have enjoyed quite a few successes. In fact there’s something called the CLAMP eyes, HUGE in proportion to the face. I loved Chobits.
Steeplejack
I believe I will retire for the evening. There’s not a lot going on here, and I am too punchy to follow the accumulated threads I am trying to catch up on. Tomorrow is another day.
Thanks to all for the anime suggestions, which I will follow up on. Wish I had Kiki’s Delivery Service to watch tomorrow. That would be a nice morning treat.
John O
After watching my beloved Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup soccer bores the snot out of me in this big huge way.
Sorry to all you football fans out there.
Anne Laurie
@Yutsano: Two other anime series that might interest you: Cooking Master Boy is not available in English except on fansubs, but that might not be a problem for you. The anime style is extremely dated — the outfits are straight out of the 1980s and that was not a fashion decade that has worn well. But the Romance-of-Ancient-China storyline uses cooking theories and techniques that actually seem to be useful and sensible, if wildly exaggerated.
And Figure 17 is a short series of long episodes that manages to combine a charming, simple, very Japanese coming-of-age storyline with a Men-in-Black monster-of-the-week subplot straight outa Marvel Comics. Hard to describe, but as beautiful & evanescent as an ikebana arrangement.
sherifffruitfly
I thought wolverine was a really good/fun flick as well. Don’t really understand why so many hate it. (shrug)
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie: I will do some scrounging around/bugging of my brother and see if I can’t look those up. There are a couple of anime watching sites out there as well, I’ll take a look and see if either are available there. Thanks!
Oh and rec back for you: Ai yori Aoshi. Very sweet love story involving a typical Japanese boy and a rich girl with a very unusual family.
srv
I catagorize 3 tiers on anime:
TIER 1:
Cowboy Bebop is just art, I don’t even think of it as anime. Ghost in the Shell, or GitS as they call it, is Politico-Hard SF-Cyberpunk. Series is great, something near 50 episodes. Yoko Kanno’s music ties it all together.
TIER 2:
Boondocks
Samurai Champloo
Death Note. Now, I was convinced I’d hate DN, sounded stupid, and all pop-Japanese teen vibe, but you get to about episode 8, and you think, WTF, how are they going to keep this going for 30+ episodes? And yet, it just keeps surprising.
TIER 3:
Everything else.
Joseph Nobles
My landlord had two movie passes, so we went to see Prince of Persia. What a fun little movie! It only did $30 million domestic opening weekend, but over $100 million internationally. I don’t know why it flopped in America. Perfectly fine popcorn movie.
P.S. The Karate Kid is stomping The A-Team into the ground. Two-to-one dollars opening day.
MBSS
you guys want to know about a funny japanese mockumentary that i saw last month?
it’s called “big man japan,” and it’s a hilarious look at a japanese superhero who fights off gigantic monsters, but is unable to profit from it, or win the hearts of the japanese public.
Yutsano
@srv:
Fascinating story, HORRIBLE ending.
How in the hell did I forget about this one?
@Joseph Nobles:
The real lesson here? Don’t mess with Will Smith or his progeny.
Sheesh
@srv: Boondocks, Samurai Champloo, Death Note. Sure, I’d recommend each of these as well.
Samurai Champloo has good direction and a great style, even dubbed; I liked the soundtracks enough to get them on CD. If you like the look and story of Champloo you’d also like Moribito – more traditional fantasy-fare, well choreographed, no hip-hop.
I haven’t seen the end of Death Note or any of the movies. I think I ran out of shows about 2/3 through (my wife really liked it). There’s some or all of it on Hulu (along with Bleach and others in that demographic).
Let me recommend again Noein, really no one else has watched this?
Kered (formerly Derek)
Cole what the fuck. Wolverine was pretty terrible.
fucen tarmal
its all about the tentacle porn.
Reggie Syriac
IDF-hired driver: ‘Why did they kill so few?’
Driver hired by IDF to transport soldiers posts sign on font of bus criticizing commandos who took part in Gaza flotilla takeover for small number of casualties
Batocchio
I was disappointed by Wolverine, but most of the action scenes were fairly well staged, and Jackman and Schreiber classed it up.
Martin
@Sheesh: Yeah, I’ve seen all of Cowboy Bebop – I enjoyed it rather a lot, wouldn’t mind giving it another run-through.
Anne Laurie
@Yutsano:
One of the Spousal Unit’s favorites. He’s much more of a romantic than I am, but that’s men for ya!
Last recommendation – Hikaro no Go, the gripping saga of a young boy’s indoctrination into “the cutthroat world of professional Go” at the hands of a centuries-old master teacher. Amazingly, this is not even close to the gay-est subtext of the anime… our young hero has a bitter multi-year rivalry with another teenage boy that is positively humectant, especially since Teh RLival wears a Prince Valiant haircut and a little-Lord-Fauntleroy short-pants suit in an otherwise modern mostly realistic setting. It’s actually a good series, apart from that, but watching Hikaru and Akira glare at each other with their chests heaving in suppressed emotion is a hoot!
John S.
Ninja Scroll is definitely a classic. I also enjoy the original Fist of the North Star and Wicked City. Another fun series is The Guyver, not to be confused with the dreadful live action version.
Count me in as another big fan of The Fifth Element. I can watch that movie just about any time. Between the excellent casting, the Gaultier costumes and the Eric Serra soundtrack, it holds up extremely well, effects and all.
And completely off the beaten path, I highly recommend the dark comedy The Young Poisoner’s Handbook, based on the real life story of Graham Young.
Ross Hershberger
Cowboy Beebop is highly recommendable.
We also enjoyed:
Perfect Blue
Spirited Away
Howl’s Moving Castle
My Neighbor Totoro
Millennium Actress
Paranoia Agent
water balloon
@Ailuridae
No, young Magneto in a concentration camp was the beginning of the first X-men movie. X-men 3 had computer enhanced younger versions of Magneto and Xavier meeting Jean Grey as a child.
Larkspur
Compared to all of y’all, I am culturally retarded. And yes, I understand the implications of the imprecation. I don’t know from anime, I don’t know from music. I liked the director’s cut of Bladerunner, hated the first theatrical release, and much preferred Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. That is all. Oh, wait. I like chickens. Even if I only harvested their eggs, I would still be very very sad upon their deaths. I do not know what a chicken’s life span is. Bless their little chicken hearts, and may they find wings (well, they already have ’em) to the summerlands.
Boney Baloney
I successfully convinced a younger gamer that, after you beat MGS 2: Substance, there was an underwater door marked in hiragana, “Dead Nigger Storage” the next time you played through.
That was some time ago and I admit I feel ashamed, but I maintain that it was kind of funny if you think about it, knowing the plot. Especially the stupid-ass plot twist that makes the end of the game make you want to set fire to somebody to watch them dance.