So I finally got around to seeing Akira for the first time. I want opinions on the flick from seasoned film board critics like Atomic Toss and so forth.
I thought it was a somewhat nonsensical plot with mediocre character design coupled with astounding animation and music/atmosphere. I don't really know how to feel about it!
Man, I hope that's a typo.
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KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
So I finally got around to seeing Akira for the first time. I want opinions on the flick from seasoned film board critics like Atomic Toss and so forth.
I thought it was a somewhat nonsensical plot with mediocre character design coupled with astounding animation and music/atmosphere. I don't really know how to feel about it!
Man, I hope that's a typo.
It's a deadly reunion-type game; essentially Egg Toss but with fragilely-shielded chunks of radioactive material.
So I finally got around to seeing Akira for the first time. I want opinions on the flick from seasoned film board critics like Atomic Toss and so forth.
I thought it was a somewhat nonsensical plot with mediocre character design coupled with astounding animation and music/atmosphere. I don't really know how to feel about it!
Man, I hope that's a typo.
It's a deadly reunion-type game; essentially Egg Toss but with fragilely-shielded chunks of radioactive material.
"Sorry, you lose. And you now have bowel cancer. But hey, try Aunt Tootie's casserole! While you can."
Maybe, but at least Burton knows how to work with actors.
To a degree. I'd argue that their work is just as good without him directing and they're used so often by him that they have a comfort level with each other that smooths out major humps.
Otherwise Burton comes off as a glorified production designer with annoying daddy issues.
My favorite film of his, and coincidentally the only one to be nominated or win an Oscar regarding the acting, is Ed Wood, and it's the only one where you can see his directing aesthetic emphasized above striped dresses and kabuki faces. It's a shame he didn't continue in that vein instead of becoming a Hot Topic T-shirt making machine.
So I finally got around to seeing Akira for the first time. I want opinions on the flick from seasoned film board critics like Atomic Toss and so forth.
I thought it was a somewhat nonsensical plot with mediocre character design coupled with astounding animation and music/atmosphere. I don't really know how to feel about it!
You mean he knows how to work with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, right?
IMO Del Toro did great work with actors in The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth; in fact, I don't think his work with actors is bad in his other films. It's just that some of his movies are unapologetic cheese, and either you like it or you don't. I enjoyed Blade 2 a lot, but I wouldn't say it's a good film - just like I usually enjoy watching Ron Perlman's performances, but he's not in my list of great actors. Enjoyable, though? Definitely.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
So I finally got around to seeing Akira for the first time. I want opinions on the flick from seasoned film board critics like Atomic Toss and so forth.
I thought it was a somewhat nonsensical plot with mediocre character design coupled with astounding animation and music/atmosphere. I don't really know how to feel about it!
Man, I hope that's a typo.
No, not really!
Please enlighten me on your opinion!
Atomic Toss?
And I'm probably not the guy to go to on opinions on anime. Haven't met one I liked yet.
Dammit! This is what happens when you type on a phone!
EDIT: also it's not anime it's a movie, what the goof
There are anime movies.
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AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
I just started watching some anime show (a friend dragged me into it) and we had an interesting discussion on why I generally dislike anime--the conventions and iconography of the style are so formalist (exaggerated and unrealistic) and at the same time so expected/common that it ends up feeling drowned in cliche. My friend suggested it was no different than the grammar of Looney Tunes cartoons, and I actually thought that was a really apt comparison. And that if I watched a serious movie/TV show in that style (and if there were hundreds and thousands of movies and shows in that style) I'd probably be turned off from them, as well.
In general anime feels so full of symbols and signposts that it feels like there's no content there, like those movies which consist of nothing but references to other movies (like Rango). Even if the symbols are arranged in a new and interesting way, the expression of the narrative is still made of the exact same building blocks as all the other narratives, and it becomes very hard to see the substance you find in other animation. I suppose one of the reasons I like Miyazaki is that his movies are relatively free of these shorthand expressions.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited April 2012
I think I've seen two anime movies I liked (don't usually watch them), Wings of the Heonneamise and Summer Wars. Summer Wars was really good, Honneamise was a nice movie with lovely animation until the
As a person who is sick to fucking death of super hero films, that Black Widow scene actually looked really fun and unique, it stood out, I think itll play well with audiences as well.
As a person who is sick to fucking death of super hero films, that Black Widow scene actually looked really fun and unique, it stood out, I think itll play well with audiences as well.
As a person who is sick to fucking death of super hero films, that Black Widow scene actually looked really fun and unique, it stood out, I think itll play well with audiences as well.
Audiences that can't get enough Waif-Fu maybe.
As someone who has spent untold hours complaining about her scene in IM2 I don't understand what you could hate in that scene.
just sat through godfathers 1 to 3 for the first time.
first two were great but i dont think they are the greatest things ever made which people seem to suggest they are, i liked de niro's parts in 2 a lot though rather than the other stuff.
3 is just ruined by shitty acting, a meh story and characters you don't give a shit about, and sophia coppola's shittie fucking acting jesus christ that was bad.
Deaderinred on
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
I just started watching some anime show (a friend dragged me into it) and we had an interesting discussion on why I generally dislike anime--the conventions and iconography of the style are so formalist (exaggerated and unrealistic) and at the same time so expected/common that it ends up feeling drowned in cliche. My friend suggested it was no different than the grammar of Looney Tunes cartoons, and I actually thought that was a really apt comparison. And that if I watched a serious movie/TV show in that style (and if there were hundreds and thousands of movies and shows in that style) I'd probably be turned off from them, as well.
I guess that's the biggest distinction between anime and traditional western animation: tone.
There isn't a lot of po-faced/grimdark western animation, period, and what little there is is either pretty weird shit (Heavy Metal, Ralph Bakshi) or just plain trippy (Yellow Submarine, Fritz the Cat), and there's always this element of hyperbolic immaturity woven into its threads. While they have their role in the history of animation, you won't find a lot of people defending those works as quality. Even then, the forms they take are quite differentiated.
So then you look at the rest of the Western animation tradition for more mature tastes, and while that group is mostly a collection of family and workplace comedies, and it's a group almost entirely dominated by extremely aesthetically remarkable styles and extremely clever writing. Also, they're almost, to a show, comedies, and generally comedies laden with social commentary and/or pop culture references. The dynamics of these shows are focused on characters and comedy that springs from those dynamics, and conflict is generally treated as just the vehicle that gets you from A to B.
Basically, the short story is that so much of anime takes itself very seriously despite being about ridiculous subject matter, and that's just not what the Western tradition is about. Anime strikes a strange imbalance that pits grimdark po-facery against repetitious, childish aesthetics, and for me it fails just about every time.
Basically, the short story is that so much of anime takes itself very seriously despite being about ridiculous subject matter, and that's just not what the Western tradition is about. Anime strikes a strange imbalance that pits grimdark po-facery against repetitious, childish aesthetics, and for me it fails just about every time.
I know approximately as much about anime as you do, so I might not be the right person to reply, but movies like Grave of Fireflies or Only Yesterday don't strike me as being about "ridiculous subject matter" and plenty of anime doesn't seem to take itself very seriously, but whatever.
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AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
I guess what bothers me is the uniformity of the aesthetic (which I suppose is what bothers me about other uniform aesthetics, too) across works. The differentiation you talk about with American animation is, to me, how all animation should be--the style should fit the subject matter (and the artist's interests, intentions, etc). But almost all Japanese animation falls into very proscribed stylistic guidelines, regardless of genre, tone, or artistic mindset.
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Linespider5ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGERRegistered Userregular
If you don't come back saying how it's the best documentary ever, then.......then........something something Formula Done.
Can't really give a concise statement on Senna, other than that is is really fucking good, but also pretty sobering.
Plus the uncomfortable experience of watching the fastest cars in the world become not-cars as they jackknife a barrier and shear in fucking half before you the viewer has a single clue anything is going wrong.
I guess what bothers me is the uniformity of the aesthetic (which I suppose is what bothers me about other uniform aesthetics, too) across works. The differentiation you talk about with American animation is, to me, how all animation should be--the style should fit the subject matter (and the artist's interests, intentions, etc). But almost all Japanese animation falls into very proscribed stylistic guidelines, regardless of genre, tone, or artistic mindset.
Anime styles can be different from each other. Sure, sometimes they'll keep specific humor symbols but that's a cultural thing. I'm sure Western animation has many issues they notice which they don't use. It all depends on property and what their goal is for the project. Ignore most of the shit on regular America tv channels (excluding Adult Swim, Toonami and the late night anime Syfy previously transmitted), that's not the best they can offer with the medium.
Grave of the Fireflies is the worst kind of pointless emotional porn. I hate that movie so. It's grim darkness without a soul and I only felt empty and used after watching it. If that was the point then it did a good job, but I don't think that was the point and I never recommend it to anyone, especially if they want anime.
A lot of anime knows that it's dumb and plays with that. They're usually the most enjoyable ones to watch.
Grave of the Fireflies is the worst kind of pointless emotional porn. I hate that movie so. It's grim darkness without a soul and I only felt empty and used after watching it. If that was the point then it did a good job, but I don't think that was the point and I never recommend it to anyone, especially if they want anime.
A lot of anime knows that it's dumb and plays with that. They're usually the most enjoyable ones to watch.
I recommend you not watching Evangelion then. Possibly Ghost in a Shell (films & series), as well.
The Ghost in the Shell movies are alright. The show is all kinds of bleh.
If you want me to take your endless philosophical ramblings at all seriously then you'd better not be basing them on fucking quotes from The Catcher in the Rye. I mean, really.
Akira... is a difficult movie to like. The quality of animation is fuckawsome and anybody that says different is lying, but its story.... Its a sincere attempt to condends 2000 page manga into a two hour movie. Forgetting that you can't actually do that. It also did the mistake of making the movie before the manga was actually finished.
It also has the Japanese sensibility of "war is awful, here are some cool explosions", of having the characters decry violence while showing graphic depictions of the same.
The sky was full of stars, every star an exploding ship. One of ours.
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
On a completely unrelated note: what are the opinions of you guys on Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ?
Love it.
Also, I love how many people find it blasphemous, considering it might be the most soulful and biblically-inspired version of the Passion Play that's ever been put to film.
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Apothe0sisHave you ever questioned the nature of your reality?Registered Userregular
Robert Price has the exact same things to say as you regarding the theological and Christological implications. So you're in good company Ross.
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
Robert Price has the exact same things to say as you regarding the theological and Christological implications. So you're in good company Ross.
That's nice to hear.
I think what really gets fundamentalists in a rile about the film is that way that Jesus is presented as being a very human individual, complete with all the desires and insecurities that implies. Which I feel is a strange and myopic criticism, but so many people wish to ascribe to a version of Christ that is an absolutely perfect individual, and will passionately and even angrily defend this idea, yet the Bible itself does little to establish such a notion. The scriptures make many clear references to Jesus' divine origins and the veracity of his word, but it never argues that he is a literal "perfect" human being, whatever that even means. For some Christians, it's not good enough that Jesus is awesome and divine and full of magic; he has to be omnipotent and infallible and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Scorsese's Christ isn't perfect. But he is righteous, and he is unquestionably divine, and Scorsese rightly brings up the point that Jesus' martyrdom would be fairly meaningless without any sense of sacrifice on his part, which is what the Bible would imply (likely by accident). A martyr who knows he is going to die and has no other purpose and feels no loss in his own death is a poor martyr. An the titular "Last Temptation?" Wow. What a mindfuck.
Atomika on
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
edited April 2012
In other news, Fox has apparently fast-tracked X-Men: Second Class to go into production at the start of next year in order to lock in Jennifer Lawrence to reprise the role of Mystique.
Matt Vaughn has already signed on to direct again, and while McAvoy and Fassbender haven't made any public announcements, both are contractually obligated to return.
This grabs Lawrence pretty much the day she steps off the set for the Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire.
No release date is announced for either project, but the January '13 start would imply a late Summer or early holiday release, my money being on the former.
The first half of First Class was excellent and the second half didn't drag it down too far.
But can we please not name the sequel "Second Class"? I ask the same company that named the first X-Men sequel "X-Men United".
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DeadfallI don't think you realize just how rich he is.In fact, I should put on a monocle.Registered Userregular
.....I liked First Class.
xbl - HowYouGetAnts
steam - WeAreAllGeth
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
I liked the first half of First Class.
Everything involving Erik's Inglourious Basterd murder-sweep through former Nazi torturers was aces. Much of Raven and Charles' relationship was solid. Even the subplot with Moira McTaggart wasn't awful.
And then the rest of the movie happened.
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
Posts
Man, I hope that's a typo.
It's a deadly reunion-type game; essentially Egg Toss but with fragilely-shielded chunks of radioactive material.
"Sorry, you lose. And you now have bowel cancer. But hey, try Aunt Tootie's casserole! While you can."
To a degree. I'd argue that their work is just as good without him directing and they're used so often by him that they have a comfort level with each other that smooths out major humps.
Otherwise Burton comes off as a glorified production designer with annoying daddy issues.
My favorite film of his, and coincidentally the only one to be nominated or win an Oscar regarding the acting, is Ed Wood, and it's the only one where you can see his directing aesthetic emphasized above striped dresses and kabuki faces. It's a shame he didn't continue in that vein instead of becoming a Hot Topic T-shirt making machine.
No, not really!
Please enlighten me on your opinion!
IMO Del Toro did great work with actors in The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth; in fact, I don't think his work with actors is bad in his other films. It's just that some of his movies are unapologetic cheese, and either you like it or you don't. I enjoyed Blade 2 a lot, but I wouldn't say it's a good film - just like I usually enjoy watching Ron Perlman's performances, but he's not in my list of great actors. Enjoyable, though? Definitely.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Atomic Toss?
And I'm probably not the guy to go to on opinions on anime. Haven't met one I liked yet.
EDIT: also it's not anime it's a movie, what the goof
There are anime movies.
In general anime feels so full of symbols and signposts that it feels like there's no content there, like those movies which consist of nothing but references to other movies (like Rango). Even if the symbols are arranged in a new and interesting way, the expression of the narrative is still made of the exact same building blocks as all the other narratives, and it becomes very hard to see the substance you find in other animation. I suppose one of the reasons I like Miyazaki is that his movies are relatively free of these shorthand expressions.
Audiences that can't get enough Waif-Fu maybe.
They're both anime movies.
first two were great but i dont think they are the greatest things ever made which people seem to suggest they are, i liked de niro's parts in 2 a lot though rather than the other stuff.
3 is just ruined by shitty acting, a meh story and characters you don't give a shit about, and sophia coppola's shittie fucking acting jesus christ that was bad.
I guess that's the biggest distinction between anime and traditional western animation: tone.
There isn't a lot of po-faced/grimdark western animation, period, and what little there is is either pretty weird shit (Heavy Metal, Ralph Bakshi) or just plain trippy (Yellow Submarine, Fritz the Cat), and there's always this element of hyperbolic immaturity woven into its threads. While they have their role in the history of animation, you won't find a lot of people defending those works as quality. Even then, the forms they take are quite differentiated.
So then you look at the rest of the Western animation tradition for more mature tastes, and while that group is mostly a collection of family and workplace comedies, and it's a group almost entirely dominated by extremely aesthetically remarkable styles and extremely clever writing. Also, they're almost, to a show, comedies, and generally comedies laden with social commentary and/or pop culture references. The dynamics of these shows are focused on characters and comedy that springs from those dynamics, and conflict is generally treated as just the vehicle that gets you from A to B.
Basically, the short story is that so much of anime takes itself very seriously despite being about ridiculous subject matter, and that's just not what the Western tradition is about. Anime strikes a strange imbalance that pits grimdark po-facery against repetitious, childish aesthetics, and for me it fails just about every time.
Can't really give a concise statement on Senna, other than that is is really fucking good, but also pretty sobering.
Plus the uncomfortable experience of watching the fastest cars in the world become not-cars as they jackknife a barrier and shear in fucking half before you the viewer has a single clue anything is going wrong.
Great film.
Anime styles can be different from each other. Sure, sometimes they'll keep specific humor symbols but that's a cultural thing. I'm sure Western animation has many issues they notice which they don't use. It all depends on property and what their goal is for the project. Ignore most of the shit on regular America tv channels (excluding Adult Swim, Toonami and the late night anime Syfy previously transmitted), that's not the best they can offer with the medium.
A lot of anime knows that it's dumb and plays with that. They're usually the most enjoyable ones to watch.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
I recommend you not watching Evangelion then. Possibly Ghost in a Shell (films & series), as well.
If you want me to take your endless philosophical ramblings at all seriously then you'd better not be basing them on fucking quotes from The Catcher in the Rye. I mean, really.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
A name badge saying "HI MY NAME IS: FUCK YOU" was the high and only good point in the movie.
The iPod product placement was all sorts of terrible. Really, amazingly bad.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
It also has the Japanese sensibility of "war is awful, here are some cool explosions", of having the characters decry violence while showing graphic depictions of the same.
Love it.
Also, I love how many people find it blasphemous, considering it might be the most soulful and biblically-inspired version of the Passion Play that's ever been put to film.
That's nice to hear.
I think what really gets fundamentalists in a rile about the film is that way that Jesus is presented as being a very human individual, complete with all the desires and insecurities that implies. Which I feel is a strange and myopic criticism, but so many people wish to ascribe to a version of Christ that is an absolutely perfect individual, and will passionately and even angrily defend this idea, yet the Bible itself does little to establish such a notion. The scriptures make many clear references to Jesus' divine origins and the veracity of his word, but it never argues that he is a literal "perfect" human being, whatever that even means. For some Christians, it's not good enough that Jesus is awesome and divine and full of magic; he has to be omnipotent and infallible and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Scorsese's Christ isn't perfect. But he is righteous, and he is unquestionably divine, and Scorsese rightly brings up the point that Jesus' martyrdom would be fairly meaningless without any sense of sacrifice on his part, which is what the Bible would imply (likely by accident). A martyr who knows he is going to die and has no other purpose and feels no loss in his own death is a poor martyr. An the titular "Last Temptation?" Wow. What a mindfuck.
Matt Vaughn has already signed on to direct again, and while McAvoy and Fassbender haven't made any public announcements, both are contractually obligated to return.
This grabs Lawrence pretty much the day she steps off the set for the Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire.
No release date is announced for either project, but the January '13 start would imply a late Summer or early holiday release, my money being on the former.
*tips hat*
There was a lot of failed potential there, but it helped me up my Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game to a new level.
The first half of First Class was excellent and the second half didn't drag it down too far.
But can we please not name the sequel "Second Class"? I ask the same company that named the first X-Men sequel "X-Men United".
xbl - HowYouGetAnts
steam - WeAreAllGeth
Everything involving Erik's Inglourious Basterd murder-sweep through former Nazi torturers was aces. Much of Raven and Charles' relationship was solid. Even the subplot with Moira McTaggart wasn't awful.
And then the rest of the movie happened.
I guess they were trying to make sure no one confused the film with "X-Men City" or "FC X-Men."
I can't tell you how disappointed I was to go in expecting a film that was more "X-Men Hotspur."