Alan-40 Reviews

Ah! My Goddess: The Movie (2000)

So after three years they're not sleeping together?

[10/10 · 14 January 2007]

After three years from when the story starts Keiichi seems to have gained some self-confidence. He no longer acts like the fully put-upon good-natured doofus who first dialed a wrong number while ordering a pizza and ended up with the "goddess help line." He seems to have found his place at school and at the Auto Club where he is a featured driver and respected member, but his progress with Belldandy has gotten to a remarkable partnership but no more. Megumi, Keiichi's sister, remarks that "when those two are clicking they are unbeatable." No matter. Even Skuld, Belldandy's kid sister who was passionately jealous whenever the idea that Keiichi might actually consummate the relationship and take her big sister away, is reconciled to them being together. Urd, the next sister who also lives with them, has put in abeyance her schemes to get Keiichi to make moves on Belldandy. Everyone seems to feel that it is just a matter of time.

The movie wisely picks up where the series left off. Instead of focusing its energy on silly romance issues, it introduces a rebellious god assisted by an disillusioned fairy princess to set up a literal apocalypse which Keiichi and the three goddesses he lives with must battle not only to save the world, but each other and their relationship. For what started out as a silly story gets pretty serious.

There is almost nothing not to like about Ah My Goddess but what deserves special mention is the artwork and the soundtrack. The pictures are just beautiful to look at, and the characters so faithful to their personalities it almost seems like the DVD would be watchable without a story in it at all. At one point the goddesses sing an aria (with the help of their angels) that really sounds like it could have come from angels, and works in the story.

A must-see for any age.

Gunslinger Girl (2003–2004)

The Care and Operation of the Lethal 10-year-old

[9/10 · 6 January 2007]

This outstandingly well drawn and beautifully set anime is centered on very peculiar fetish (or fantasy if you prefer) in the spirit of La Femme Nikita only ten years younger. In this variation, martially dominant men literally own very attractive young girls who have been altered with cyborg technology to be selfless, efficient fighting machines. They undergo "conditioning" that makes them totally dedicated and obedient to their handler, willing to defend them at any cost, and they will never grow old because their life spans are shortened to a few years. But they're working on that.

Although the title style has the phrase "… still an adolescent child" in fact it seems none of the girl-cyborgs except Triela has reached puberty. The rest of them seem to be 10 or less, and when Henrietta first sees that Triela is suffering from menstrual cramps, she un-resentfully explains that her own uterus had been removed during conditioning. Oy.

Disregarding any cases out there of full-blown misogyny, I suppose any male who has ever been even slightly frustrated by the female of the species should find something to like here in an ambivalent way.

Anyway, the point of all this is to create an urban combat force (you didn't think there was a peaceful reason did you) comprised of "fratellos" (or handler/girl-cyborg pair) to fight terrorism. To further shore up the shaky moral basis, supposedly all the altered girls were otherwise terminal patients if not fully willing participants in the process. It seems many of the missions they go on could have been carried out by the handlers themselves, and it would not be hard to argue that the "good guys" are a bigger societal problem than the bad guys are, but that doesn't matter because the fighting scenes are not the story.

What are interesting to watch is the differences between the handlers, the cyborg-girls, and the effect on their fratello relationships. In spite of the official line that the girls are now altered to the point where they are no longer human, and need no more human consideration than any other piece of combat equipment (well cared for, valuable, but expendable), some handlers subscribe to this and some do not. There is Jose, who dotes on his Henrietta and rewards her when she is not on mission, and at the other end there is Helsa's handler who is all business and is brutally dismissive of his charge. And there are steps in between.

Even more beguiling is how the girls act when they are together, which is usually hanging out around their dorm room. Aside from the weapons-maintenance tasks they do, they do normal things like laundry and hobbies and chat. Although they are supposed to be conditioned against having any emotions, they clearly do. Further, they discuss themselves and their conditioning in dispassionate but fully self-aware terms. They may suffer, but they do not resent. They may disagree, but they don't disobey. It is hard to describe.

One of the reasons to watch anime is that it can illustrate certain points of drama in ways that no other form of performance can. Gunslinger Girl manages to do this, and that makes it worth adding to any collection, and I hope there is interest in continuing the series.

Noir (2001–2002)

Very good, the biggest flaw is its length

[8/10 · 24 December 2006]

Although the artwork in Noir is not a style I prefer with its triangle chin and noses, and over-sized eyes, the strengths of this anime are its story and its ability to leverage emotional impact. Without difficulty this could have been fit into less than half the number of episodes that are on the seven DVD volume set since each episode reveals only a small part of the mystery, with frequent near-term and long-term flashbacks.

Mireille Bouquet is an assassin for hire that works alone, at least until a mysterious Japanese girl who has lost her memory shows up. She knows herself only as Kirika Yuumura, which she assumes to be a fake name. However it is obvious from the start that she is even more lethal than Mireille, who reluctantly takes her as a roommate because an artifact that Kirika possesses, a music-box watch with an iconic emblem on its cover that looks like a state seal more than anything else. The watch once belonged to Mirelle's father, who was killed with the rest of Mireille's family for reasons she has never learned.

To make her position clear, Mireille promises Kirika, "when all of this is made clear, I will kill you." Kirika accepts this without protest and even something akin to what appears to be relief. "I'll be ready," she says.

So the girls are in the business together, with the leggy, blonde Mireille in the lead and Kirika doing most of what she is told. Although I am no expert, but it would seem to me that if you are an assassin and you continually get into pitched gun battles with dozens of better-armed foes it might be a sign to question whether you are doing it right. Even if you always win. Mireille's favorite working outfit is a scarlet blouse and black miniskirt with a slit up to the waist, which looks good but is hardly practical. Kirika dresses less flamboyantly but you have to wonder just where do those girls carry all those extra ammo clips? Further, if your life depends on your anonymity why would you go about your work dressed so conspicuously? The music track is slick and sophisticated, but it gets ruined by repetition. The first few times you see action scenes with the themed aria, a Latin verse or two that feels like it has religious overtones to it, it works. After the 20th action scene with the same track playing you want to shut it off. The bad guys are almost always virtually lining up to get shot, being such bad shots themselves I suppose they want to get it over with. For all of that the fight choreography well done and fun to watch.

None of this ruins what is the real point of Noir, and that is the relationship between Mireille and Kirika and their mystery, with the introduction of several other strong women characters along the way. There is no sex or even simple nudity anywhere in the plot, which is a shame because although the writers obviously thought it would either cheapen the production or perhaps distract the story, it would have given more opportunities to break up the repetition that drags on too long.

Steamboy (2004)

Steam Boy? Steam Hammer is more like it.

[8/10 · 16 December 2006]

Who knew you could do all that stuff with steam? Watching this movie is an intense celebration of exuberant mechanical invention backed by obscure if not forgotten and perhaps irrelevant physics. So much so that the story about Dr. Lloyd Steam, his son Eddie Steam, and grandson Ray gets almost lost.

The drawings for the sets and the mechanical devices are so detailed that it would be easy to mistake some of them for photographs. It seems likely that many of them are tracings of actual photographs; if they are all actual organic drawings I would have a hard time deciding whether to laud the artists' dedication or to question their sanity. Apparently this animation took the better part of ten years to produce and it is easy to see why. Much of the ingenious machinery is shown in actual operation and a lot of it looks like it could actually work, assuming that steam carried as much energy as the imagination says it does. The main invention in the movie gives up all pretense of a connection with reality, which may mar the movie for some, but it does provide the central metaphor which is the only real engine of meaning in the story.

The setting of a pseudo-Victorian England is no accident. Steamboy makes much of the historical conflict between the industrialists/capitalists versus the traditionalists/royalists that happened about that time. The capitalists pretty much won then as they do here, and much of the story is the grappling between the Grandfather, Father, and Son. Grandfather and Father have staked out their positions pretty clearly, and it is up to Ray Steam, the grandson, to arbitrate the conflict and carry the resolution. Where Steamboy succeeds is that Ray comes up with no clear and simple answer, but still manages to go forward in his own unique way.

Maybe the most interesting character that didn't develop as much as she should have is the Scarlett girl, scion of the O'Hara (wink) foundation. She is introduced as a little brat-bitch, and the way she treats her dog doesn't help. She does go through something of a growth and awakening as the story goes on, but in the middle of all the action/danger/rescue there just isn't much time to see if she becomes something much more than what she was. She is of course used for some comic relief which is badly needed.

Professional reviewers have pretty much given Steamboy low marks, but I don't think that is deserved. Yes there is perhaps too much action in it, but then again it is following the formula of a summer blockbuster. It does what it intends to, and does it as well as if not better than most live-action and animated movies that have been considered a success. A must for any animation collection.

Elfen Lied (2004)

So is there a point?

[7/10 · 13 December 2006]

The story: The "Diclonius" – a mutated form of human with extra powers, is dangerous to humans but growing in number. Can they, should they, be contained and eradicated? Elfen Lied flinches at absolutely nothing. Some have written on IMDb that it is entirely predictable, but I disagree. One thing that cannot be predicted is what character lives and which dies. In most movies in general (not just anime) you can tell right from the start who will finish the movie.

For example, right in the opening minutes the play develops typical clumsy and cute secretary, who always spills the tea and takes pratfalls. Most often in anime a character that has that much attention paid to her would bumble her way through the whole story, often in danger but never getting hurt. Not so here. She has her head torn off right after a typical pratfall as quickly as you got to know her.

This happens often. To innocents, good guys and bad guys. One young girl – a central character no less -- has all four arms and legs torn off.

So what else gets served up? It just gets started with the decapitation and dismemberment of anonymous soldiers and office workers. Once the storyline gets going you get to watch child torture, child rape, child murder, an innocent puppy bludgeoned to death, and many additional casual abuses of both humans and non-humans. One of the more disturbing scenes is a young nude Diclonius (to appearances a 9 year old girl) is chained to a wall where shells are fired at her head. It is up to her to deflect them with her powers, but she is scared and pleads for them to stop. They don't, and instead increase the power until one gets through and kills her. "270 joules," says one of the scientists. "I guess that's the limit." So back to the original question, is there a point to all this? The answer is a tentative yes, although the point could have and perhaps should have been made less forcefully and you really have to question whether it was worth it.

All the gore, violence, and cruelty is jarringly contrasted against all the elements of a typical anime romance/comedy. Yuka, a pretty and inoffensive cousin of Khota, has a thing for him and inclined to jealousy and hurt from the fact that he can't remember a childhood promise he had made to her. She doesn't know the whole backstory, and her romance with Khota is sidetracked with his penchant for taking in young stray girls in need of refuge.

The first such is Lucy, who unbeknownst to Khota and Yuki is a dangerous (but not the most dangerous) Diclonius creature who had escaped from the shop of horrors described above. She has reverted to an intermittently infantile state, and they take her in and care for her. However the shop of horrors wants her back and shows no restraint in what they will do in pursuit of that, including using other Diclonius as weapons. Much mayhem abounds.

The messages are all pretty blunt if not clear: There are no good guys, or they are worse than the bad guys. Innocence is surrounded by evil. Evil is often beautiful (this last point is most vividly seen in the truly interesting artwork in the opening credits and the music score) but is still evil. It will be up to the viewer to say whether it is all worth it.

Lunar Legend Tsukihime (2003)

A Gothic keeper

[7/10 · 23 November 2006]

It would be easy to overlook this because the characters are based on a video game, yet here is a remarkably good Gothic novel successfully set in an urban Japanese backdrop. Shiki is a member of the Tohno family, which has more than one dark secret to conceal on the grounds of the imposing family mansion. Shiki and his younger sister are the only family members left, and at the beginning of the story he is moving back into the mansion after being gone for years (a classic Gothic plot device that serves well here).

In spite of being younger, the sister Akiha is a severe authority figure, having been named the heir due to Shiki's infirmity. Although she lays down draconian house rules and coldly upbraids Shiki when he doesn't exactly toe the line, she is also remarkably and obviously caring, and warms considerably as the story goes on. Of course, she has her own secret to keep, and she is made even more interesting in that she still puts on a schoolgirl uniform (ubiquitous in anime) and shepherds herself off to school.

Shiki gets off to a slow start, confused and passive, but as with the best anime characters he gets more self assured as the story unfolds. The events at the start of the story seem clumsy and confusing rather than mysterious, but eventually enough is explained, and enough is left unexplained to sustain the mystery. He meets a mysterious and beautiful woman named Arcueid Brunestud (great name), who really is an 800-year-old vampire on a quest. She draws him into the danger, and although he is reluctant he ultimately finds a plausible moral justification for continuing as an active player.

The other major player is Ciel – more secrets there as well, who was at one point a mortal enemy of Arcueid but now has a wary coincidence of interests with her former foe. The interaction between these two is worth watching.

What makes a good Gothic work so well are the secondary characters offered as part of the story. There are the two servant girls, twins that are eerily loyal and discreet and who, of course, know far more about what is going on than anyone else. Then there is Shiki's classmate and only male friend, Inui, who is both self-assured surprisingly insightful when needed. There is also Satsuki, another classmate who wants to be Shiki's girlfriend.

So Shiki finds himself at the center of attention of four women who each have a different interest in him. It could be a setup for a comedy, but Shiki is not a comical character and treats each with consideration and seriousness.

Although a somber story from start to finish, TLL does provide some humorous moments, mostly around the ill-fated day at the amusement park where all of Shiki's women are gathered in one place for the first time and all their conflicts come to the surface. For me this is where the story starts to turn really interesting, where we see Achimed and Ciel talking over their situation rather than threatening each other.

The artwork in this anime may lack some detail, but it is pleasingly well crafted. Arcueid is presented as a head-turning femme fatale and her general features are consistent with that, she looks almost dowdy with her short haircut, mid-calf skirt and loose turtleneck blouse. Thankfully, there are no cartoonish distortions to depict sudden emotions. Much of the story's violence happens in shadow or off camera, making the most of the power of suggestion. The production doesn't need or indulge in fan service; none of the women are exposed immodestly even during the gratuitous bath scene. There is sexual tension, but it is handled adeptly. This could have been shot as a live-action movie with relatively few special effects, but it is quite effective as it is.

There are a lot of unanswered questions by the end of the last episode, which I believe to be by design rather than by neglect. The fact that the viewer cares to even ponder the questions is a sign that the storytelling has done its work. This is an excellent example of how anime is being used to create interesting drama.

R.O.D the TV (2003–2004)

Exciting, slick, complex and go see it already!

[10/10 · 12 August 2006]

We all like action-adventure with a strong-minded, quirky heroine at the center of it. R.O.D. the TV serves up three. Make that four, maybe six. Start with the three who are the "Paper Sisters," (Michelle, Maggie, and Anita) who make their living taking odd jobs that sometimes utilize their odd powers as "Paper Masters." They have the ability to use ordinary paper to do extra-ordinary things, apparently defying physics and bad guys with the same sweep of the hand.

The story goes on for 7 DVDs and I would be perfectly happy for 7 more. It gets started with the Paper Sisters being hired to be first a tour guide and then a body-guard for Nenene, an acclaimed author who has not published anything for four years. The ditzy girls start out making a complete hash of everything, infuriating Nenene and being more of a burden than a help. It turns out that this was part of the plan of Nenene's long-suffering editor, who thought that the activity might yank his barren author out of her funk. It works, but not in a way anyone could have predicted. Saying any more of the story would just be a spoiler.

Michelle and Maggie worship Nenene. Not so Anita, who doesn't like books or authors, and Nenene refers to Anita most of the time as "brat." The sisters follow Nenene back to Japan and end up imposing themselves on her, living with her in spite of the fact that she doesn't want a bodyguard. Nenene is fairly ungracious given the fact that the sisters save her life on more than one occasion.

Some have mentioned that the pacing of the plot has been a problem. I could not disagree more. If the expectation was nonstop explosions and martial arts, then look elsewhere. If you want balanced action and realistically developed characters, this is where you should be. Every episode is entertaining, but not just the same thing over and over again. The story arc works, even if it seems to take obscure turns now and then.

It is worth remarking on that the characters and story is strong enough that none of the women in it seem to have any need for male love interests. Instead, they form intense bonds with each other. Only the youngest, Anita, cultivates a boyfriend (to the premature delight of Michelle) and she considers herself too young for anything serious. Still, it isn't too hard to imagine any of them to ultimately be romantically involved. The story just simply doesn't need it and the message is that the women simply don't need men to complete them. That's something young girls who might watch this need to see more of.

The result generates memorable characters that work together. Anita is the spirit, Nenene is the intellect, Maggie is the backbone, Yokimo is the conscience, and Michelle is the heart (in the Western sense). All need each other, and lend each other what they have.

This aspect is so pronounced that someone must have noticed; at one point the story takes time out to let Nenene explain that no, she is not a lesbian. Still, it is curious as to why she seems to have emotionally collapsed with the disappearance of Yokimo Readman, the character from the OAV ROD, an event that happens four years before this story starts.

The animation is first rate, clean edged and smooth. Viewers of action have long been used to choppy action scenes which are a series of stills that are panned across with a rushing background. There is none of that in ROD. The Paper Sisters don't leap into action so much as flow into it. The marquee action shot where Michelle, skirts and hair waving in the sudden storm kicked up by her sisters, draws her bow and makes her shot with a serene look on her face is a scene you can rewind and play over again just because it is so fun to watch. That is only one of many scenes like that.

Also on the subject of artwork is the very astute use of color, which takes a while to recognize. The very complex colors used never seem to be picked by accident, for both the characters and the background. Anita is gem-colored (her hair is nominally "pink" but appears ruddy orange when the lighting is suited to it), Maggie is solid earth-toned, and Michelle is usually an ethereal blond and white. Nenene and Yokimo look like the books they represent. Much of the high-tech or low-tech backgrounds (office buildings, secret laboratories, school) also get tone treatments that deserves credit. As with most high quality anime these days, they get a lot of mileage with shadows and indirect light, setting the mood and leveraging suggestion rather than forcing depiction.

This is the first 10-star anime I have seen from somewhere other than Studio Ghibli. I hope there will be many more. Buy it, rent it, borrow it. Just don't cheat yourself out of seeing it.

R.O.D Read or Die (2001)

Breaking the Formula

[9/10 · 24 July 2006]

Yokimo Readman just loves her books, and she has thousands. She coos over them, cuddles them, and absorbs herself so fully in in reading them she can literally let a five car pileup crash by her without noticing.

And she has a curious superpower. She's a "paper master" that can make paper do all sorts of incredible things, like form barriers or bind things or cut through steel. So it is fitting that her spy code name is "paper." So she is a secret agent. Unlike the usual anime super-heroine, Ms. Readman doesn't ever shed her long skirt, vest, and glasses when doing battle with the bad guys. She stays her same cute-but-dorky self throughout, saying things like "give me back my book, please" from the super-villain that stole it from her even while he is trying to kill her. She leaves it to her colleague to wear the form-fitting spandex costume (which is, after all, obligatory).

The storytellers in this movie have an excellent sense of subtlety, even while they indulge in the usual action-adventure excesses. There are a few worthwhile reflections on the nature of the historical figures that are cloned and brought back to life as part of the Evil Plot, but most of what is worth watching is Yokimo herself. Her first use of her power is so casually done that you would miss it if you blinked, but that fits with the character. Perhaps her most endearing moment is when she admits that as much as she treasures her books, she knows that real life is more important.

You have to see for yourself how believable it is when she takes on a homicidal samurai with a light saber on his side with nothing but a morphed dollar-bill for herself. For me, it worked.

I am amazed I can give this DVD 9 stars while still finding what should be a fatal flaw. The passion of the character is for books, but never once does the story depend on something that she read in all the thousands of books she is supposed to have read. Leaving this out reduces Yokimo's driving characteristic from a powerful plot device to a simply amusing fetish, which is a shame. And there is something to be said for being a role model for the kids that can and should watch this. However, the story is fun enough that this can be overlooked and 9 stars is appropriate.

The artwork is slick, smooth, and convincing. The voice acting in both English and Japanese is superior. Sometimes the background details get washed over, usually in the machines of battle hardware, which is actually not unwelcome.

A note about the series: I found this DVD because I rented the first volume of "R.O.D. the TV" from Netflix, and liked it so much that I found this story was the prequel. So I canceled the entire series at Netflix and bought this DVD and the whole series of "R.O.D. the TV" just from that one sample. They are that good.

Strange Love (1997)

Lost its way early on and never found its way back

[3/10 · 24 July 2006]

Probably the most interesting thing about this hard-to-recommend DVD is speculating about how it came about. I think the project started out more ambitious, albeit on a formula, but the creative impetus just wasn't there, or someone changed their mind halfway through.

There are two episodes, both featuring the same central character Chizuru Yoshida but other than that having nothing to do with each other. In the first story, she is a cold, hard manipulator of a teacher who unwisely lusts after her. In the second, she is inexplicably altered, diffident in outlook and somehow becoming totally confused by her own passing attraction to a new female classmate. The climax to the story (not the other climaxes which she has) is when she strives to rescue her newfound love interest from her jealous boyfriend bent on seduction.

So there's not much there there; it never develops and the character never convincingly develops. The artwork is so-so and the style caters to the type of male audience that equates boobs that are 1/3 the body mass of the owner with sexiness. (Bouncy bouncy.) I didn't bother to watch it in the Japanese version so I can't say if any of it was better there. Watch something else.

8MM 2 (2005 Video)

Really weak ending

[6/10 · 16 May 2006]

This thriller's formula has been done so many times that you really have to be asleep to not see how it will turn out very soon in the movie. The story is so weak that the script resorts to having the manipulator in the story act "in character" even in scenes with no other characters in them. In other words, when there is nobody to manipulate except the audience. You can't write any more about it without writing a spoiler.

The visuals are pretty and sexy, and one would like to know more about Lori Heuring's character Tish. She does a good job balancing her conflicting emotions the story puts her through -- fear and curiosity and unwanted desires. Hers is the only thing that makes the movie interesting.

Najica: Blitz Tactics (2001– )

I feel strange

[25 March 2006]

The biggest problem with this series is not the wildly overdone and seemingly endless series of money shots of female nether-parts. That part is weird to watch at first, perhaps titillating perhaps not, but eventually it hardly even registers any more. Almost all the action figures in the story are female, without exception all nude from the crotch down and wearing oft-exposed flimsy hiked up panties. If this happens to be your fetish you are reading about the mother lode here.

Once you get used to -- if "used to" is the word for it -- the heroines and all the other female characters falling or getting knocked to the ground in sexually suggestive positions, with the camera positioned at knee level looking upwards of course, there is a story hidden back there. The biggest problem is that story always has potential but never develops very well. It has to do with artificial humans coming out of a secret lab causing trouble. It has to do with Najica, the heroine secret agent, and her forced relationship with one of the artificial humans, Lila, who becomes her slave and partner.

A bigger problem is the cheap and trite dialog. When Najica enters her office building all the girls watching her pass coo "she's so cool" and other fawning statements. The dialog with her superior, with whom she is inexplicably submissive, is also too heavily clichéd. Never is there a conversation that gives any clue as to what moves Najica, and why she does what she does.

So Najica herself is oddly aloof throughout the whole series. She has no personal interest in anyone, least of all the irredeemably cheesy Gento who is always hitting on her. The exception is with Lila, and the only storyline worth mentioning in the series is how Najica's feelings for Lila move from indifference and annoyance to true affection -- strictly maternal in nature. No "fan service" there.

I almost turned it off halfway through the first episode. There was just barely enough plot to keep me going to the the next episode to the last one. It was sort of like having one last quarter that you put into the slot machine on impulse, then winning a few each time to keep you going. The artwork at least is first rate, the action is above par, and that makes up for a lot.

I Am David (2003)

Enjoyable in spite of problems

[7/10 · 24 January 2006]

A story like this should not have problems with suspension of disbelief. The idea that, in spite of a 12-year-old boy "living all his life" in a Soviet forced labor camp being able to escape, even with help, into Mediterranean Europe where he is able to interact in no less than four languages, walk hundreds of miles for days without food, escape police multiple times, et cetera, is a little hard to take. Particularly when most of the time he remains looking in better condition than the average mall rat. Further, most everyone he meets is living an upper-middle-class affluent lifestyle in dwellings that look up to date by 2006 standards.

The thing is they made a good enough movie of it that a lot of this doesn't matter. You do end up getting drawn in enough to care about David, and what happens to him, even though he is implausible. The actors are good and put in an honest days work, and that saves it. It is more up to you as to whether you feel let down at the end.

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Lighthearted flying

[7/10 · 10 January 2006]

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Miyazaki's movies is their ability to effortlessly mix cultures and time in order to create a setting for a story that feels right no matter how unlikely it is. Here we have a mythical country that has airplanes, cars, and television, but still accepts magic in the form of girls flying around on brooms with their cats, and out-houses over indoor plumbing.

Reportedly, this is a un-named town in a Europe where the first World War never happened. Although the town hasn't seen a witch in a long time, they know what she is.

It seems to be a very gentle place. I can't imagine many families that would allow their thirteen year old daughters to suddenly leave home to make it on their own in the big city. Although she can fly and converse with her familiar, her only other power seems to be an unquenchable naivete. Yet even though she is obviously unprepared, she makes it without too much trouble with the help of a friendly bakery owner and her husband.

So Kiki comes of age, and we have fun watching. What's wrong with that?

The Island (2005)

Aims High and Misses – But Only a Little

[7/10 · 2 January 2006]

They bend lots of sheet metal, shatter lots of glass, and generally blow crap up in this one. However the writers were clearly trying for more than just an action flick. The action they got; the moral dilemma and the scientific speculation fall short in several areas.

If you have to struggle at all with the right-or-wrongness of the idea that cloned humans have no rights and can be chopped up for spare body parts at the will of their "sponsors," then you have to be considered beyond this discussion. Go ahead and enjoy the movie; it will look to you like a futuristic "Die Hard." The bad guy does his best to present the devil's case here – that cloned humans are cattle because they wouldn't exist otherwise. But the arguments are so weak even his hired guns don't buy it. What should have been explored was the moral culpability of the huge number of people who were in on it, but without time in the screenplay it is boiled down to the single line "humans will do anything to survive." The creamy Scarlett Johansson is heartbreakingly attractive, only slightly less pretty than her leading man Ewan McGregor. Although their characters they look like adults they are actually 4 and 3 years old, respectively, and educated to "the level of a 15 year old." As a mere footnote to the story, somehow Lincoln Six Echo (McGregor's character) not only starts behaving beyond his environmental programming, but somehow acquiring the memories of the man he was cloned from. This could be built into a profound theological and legal question, but instead it is merely used to help Lincoln Six Echo operate in the outside world.

What is left is still quite elaborate and interesting; just don't expect too much.

Spirited Away (2001)

The story and the art are in the detail

[10/10 · 27 December 2005]

There are numerous and inevitable comparisons of Spirited Away and Alice in Wonderland but I think they all miss the mark. The vision that Hayho Miyazaki conjures up is so unique and quirky that many critics seem to reach for a comparison just to attempt to get their minds around what they have just seen. My view is such comparisons do disservice to both works.

Chihiro is something of a tiresome brat at the beginning of the story, an easy place to start that everyone can recognize. (Already we have diverged from the story of Alice) It seems that only her diminutive size renders her appealing. She needs rescuing, but not from the forced relocation she deplores as you might think, but from her own ennui and, possibly, the unintentional neglect of her own parents. This is a situation that most children can recognize or relate to, even ones who were children decades ago as well as those too young to recognize what is going on.

This is where much of the true art comes in, and what makes so worth watching. Chihiro becomes more real in each frame. Her story of growth is pieced together meticulously but with nearly unbreakable mortar. She starts out passive and rightfully afraid of nearly everything that is happening to her, but with believable resilience, some luck, and some help from odd strangers she graduates from simply enduring to actively engaging her challenges in a way that is truly inspiring.

One of the most important aspects to the story is that once Chihiro is in the spirit world, she is treated like an adult. She may not be cherished at first (actually actively despised due to no fault of her own), but she wins the chance to sign an employment contract, an act not common to 10 year olds. Once she does, she has made her own place and is accepted. She still must deal with derision from most of the creatures who populate the world ("not for a human") and the unwelcome regard of her employer (sorceress Yu-Babba) but at least she finds a low rung on the social ladder. She must give up even her own name and take the name Sen, becoming someone else that must win Chihiro back, as well as the restoration of her parents.

A key insight of the artwork lies in the fact that Kamajii, the spider-like boiler room attendant, Yu-Baaba and Zeniiba the twin sorceresses with way over-sized heads, and Bou, Yu-Baaba's gigantic baby, appear the way they do not because that is the the way an adult would see them, but the way a 10 year old girl might. Miyazaki-san has managed to reach back in his mind to see this, helped with his observations of a daughter of a friend who was about that age. An overbearing old woman's face would dominate the field of view of a girl as small as Chihiro, and the busy workman's arms would seem numerous and far reaching.

One thread that I would have like to see played out more is the story of Lin, the hardworking and seemingly human girl who takes risks on Chihiro's behalf before she secures a contract, and then is delighted to take her as an apprentice, although she publicly hides it. ("Don't dump her on me!"). She is kind to Chihiro when she doesn't have to be, and looks after her. Rin has her own story that hasn't been told, in a respite moment she tells Chihiro that she wants to leave the bath-house where they work. Following Rin's lead most of the rest of the bath-house workers, who once despised all humans, are cheering for her to succeed. But Rin and Chihiro don't even get to say goodbye.

Much has and will be written about the fantastic paintings come to life, and the incredible attention to detail that makes the movie more lifelike in many ways than a conventional reel would be. This is probably better experienced than discussed, but there is no flaw or fault in any frame that you can find. I am completely floored by critiques of this film that have anything bad to say about the animation – don't listen to them. You will only be cheating yourself; it does not get any better than this.

Update: I got around to watching this again with the Japanese soundtrack, and as others have mentioned there are some fairly significant deviations between the Japanese and English versions of dialog. Further, the English subtitles to the Japanese track are not always perfect translations -- mostly pretty good. (When Chihiro says "Hai!" it can mean, "Yes," "Yes 'm," or "right.") Unlike some other reviewers I think the English version is in many ways superior. In many cases dialog is not dependent on lip-sync, and the American writers took advantage of this to interject some things that would otherwise be unclear. I would recommend everyone watch both versions.

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Good Looking

[9/10 · 18 December 2005]

Well if you absolutely must rent a chick-flick for your girl this reel has all the answers. Men are alternately objects of affliction and affection for the heroine. Just like any good Lifetime movie it starts out with our gal Frances getting outrageously screwed in a nasty divorce, and goes on from there. Thank goodness for the indispensable women friends, in this case conveniently lesbian.

Whatever. There's nothing here that isn't hugely predictable, but the characters -- including the Tuscan villa that Frances buys on impulse -- are so intricately drawn and played with such good humor that it doesn't matter. It is also easy to forget to ask how a recent divorcée that just lost her house and got whacked with an alimony buy-out can afford to speculate on real-estate and employ a renovation crew for months. So what when you have what is probably the most picturesque community in the world as a backdrop.

Diane Lane looks about half her age, congratulations to her. She acts like it too, which turns out to be her affirmation and the whole point of the story. Nice life if you can get it.

Fantastic Four (I) (2005)

Fantastic Snore

[4/10 · 17 December 2005]

If you are looking for anything beyond a bucketful of expensive-yet-unconvincing special effects, it certainly doesn't appear in this movie. The main actors are all good and hard working, but there is no reason to care about the characters they play. The ones that come closest to being meaningful are the bad guy Victor and the "good" guy Ben, but in general each of the five (f4 and bad guy) have such trite, myopic, and annoyingly self-absorbed world views that any sympathy you can have for them is atrophied long before the first big boom in the movie.

And just in case you are interested, don't go looking for any beguiling views of Jessica Alba in her form-fitting costume. The entire movie doesn't have even one. The "romance" between her and her two suitors is so flat you would think Sue Storm has no sex appeal whatsoever.

Overall, a waste of time and talent.

Thunderbirds (2004)

A balance between annoying and entertaining

[5/10 · 19 November 2005]

"The boys love their toys" remarks Lady Penelope, herself the possessor of a rather odd assortment of fetishes including the mechanical. (One could easily develop the urge to rummage through her closets and drawers if given the chance.) The movie gets the styling right, creating a super slick world in a universe that not only never existed, but couldn't possibly exist. The bizarrely well-written puppet show off of which this production is based survives quite well, even if the individual characters don't fare quite so well. It is a fantasy of generations of schoolboys prone to sketching spacecraft and warplanes in class rather than paying attention.

In order to buy into fantasy you have to overlook some of the personality quirks of the Tracy family (the heroes) who are narcissistic even by super-hero standards. What can you say about a father and five males who isolate themselves on an island with no outsiders except for servants and Lady Penelope, and whose idea for decor are twice life-sized back-illuminated pictures of themselves? The story of the youngest of this brood, Alan, is predictable and uninteresting because the kid has no concept of helping people. Instead he wants the glory and the hardware his older brothers have and that's it.

Keep an eye out for Vanessa Anne Hudgens, who plays the just-pubescent love interest/sidekick. She is nowhere with this movie but she has potential to break out as a big star.

My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure (2004)

Unexpectedly good

[7/10 · 6 August 2005]

Unfortunately many consumers who write reviews for IMDb equate low budget with not good. Whatever else this movie might need, more budget really isn't part of it. Big sets and lots of special effects would have turned it into another Lara Croft movie. What we have here is a step or two better than that.

The nearly unknown Alexandra Staden is captivating as the enigmatic Modesty, and this is crucial for this movie to work. Her wise little smiles and knowing looks are formidable, and you find yourself wishing that the camera won't leaver her face. It makes it workable that the bad guy Nikolai, played by also little known (in the U.S. at least) Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau might take an unusually cerebral interest in her, something Modesty can exploit. She is able to divert his raping her with just a shove and spitting out "stop wasting my time!" then storming off between his heavily armed yet suddenly diffident henchmen. Making a scene like that plausible doesn't happen by accident.

Probably the biggest problem I have with the rail-thin Staden playing Modesty is it just isn't very believable for her to go hand to hand with an athletic and muscled looking guy like Coaster-Waldau and beat him. She just ain't a Peta Wilson or a pumped-up Hilary Swank type actress who can throw a convincing punch. Coaster-Waldau letting himself be overpowered by Staden looks like he's just roughhousing with his little sister.

Since this is not really an action film, this isn't a big flaw. I just hope they do better on that if and when they make sequels.

Avalon (2001)

There was no real there there

[6/10 · 28 July 2005]

A note to the wise: a depiction of the future where "high tech" exists but most people live a dank, dreary, boring existence surrounded by urban decay and litter is not "vision." It is repetition. We've seen it in Blade Runner, the Matrix, Max Headroom, and too many others.

Of course the story in Avalon relies on this setting, and it at least is reasonably well done in a limited way. The overused the shot of the poorly constructed trolley car that loses its lights as it bumps over the intersection. Most of the movie is shot in a sepia tone coloring which really reinforces the depressive nature of the world.

In full swing with the joylessness is the "Ash" character, exceptionally well played by Malgorzata Foremniak, who is no action figure but is a face worth looking at to figure out what she is thinking. It is a shame we will probably never more of her in the U.S. The only time she softens in the slightest is when she lets herself in to her dank little apartment to be greeted by her dog, a nice fellow of some bloodhound breed. He mysteriously disappears at one point in the movie, and Ash is oddly detached from that given that she had just cooked a meal for him.

Anyway, the "game" that everyone is supposed to be so illegally addicted to seems like a pretty unimaginative virtual reality combat game. They have names for different type of players such as "bishop" and "thief". Ash of course is a "warrior" and a somewhat renowned solo player with a past.

None of this develops very well. Ash is motivated to win the ultimate level of the game and that's about it. There is an attempt to fill in a backstory about Ash's ex team-mates and the elusive nature of the people who programmed and run the game but it really has no more depth than "Mortal Kombat." So go ahead and watch it, but just don't expect too much.

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Ambitious

[8/10 · 21 July 2005]

This movie is ambitious to the point of being pretentious, which in this case in an odd way is a good thing. I wish there were more movies like this that weren't afraid to attempt serious art with characters that do more than athletic violence.

Of course the central character Motoko Kusanagi is a perfectly formed super-female. It isn't made clear (is it ever?) why a "cyborg" like this needs to be female, and have a desirable shape with breasts and nipples but no genitalia. (Yes the footage is there to show this, but not as much as some reviewers are making it out to be.) Her sidekick/subordinate Batô makes much more sense, he's a competent buff post-human with most of his original parts replaced with hi-tech and swimming-goggle type devices where his eyes should be. He follows her orders but also has clearly developed a deeper attachment to her -- perhaps that's what the designed-in pulchritude is all about. He goes the extra kilometer to save her, even from herself if necessary.

The plot is a bit threadbare, but that doesn't matter, really. It is just a backdrop for Motoko's journey.

One recommendation I would make is if you rent the DVD, try watching the Japanese audio with English subtitles (assuming you don't understand Japanese already). The voices are much more believable in that version. The English version often sounds like high-school students reading out loud in class.

Session 9 (2001)

Tense

[7/10 · 17 July 2005]

With tension thick enough to carve through, this movie builds up so that you just know something bad is going to happen, and you keep imagining it will be something supernatural. As Hank explains, everybody has an exit strategy, except Gordon. That's worth remembering as you watch.

There's not a lot to explain without giving it away. This is a movie for a more thoughtful viewer, far beyond the typical slasher reel. The relationships between the men only highlight their isolation from each other. The brief flashes of camaraderie are strained at best.

Favorite quote: "Who's Yanni?"

Elektra (2005)

A lot of potential -- mostly disappointing

[4/10 · 14 July 2005]

I get the feeling from some reviewers here that they could watch 90 minutes of Jennifer Garner reciting ABC and pounding nails and they would give here 8 out of 10 stars for that. There were a lot of elements here that could make for a good movie, but unfortunately nothing ever develops.

You have the mysterious secret Japanese Ninja society. Check. (They're the enemy, right?) You got the tortured super-heroine who exists in robotic monotone. Check. You have the estranged blind sensei. Check. (He hustles pool on the side) You got the cute rebellious kid who is More than She Seems. Check. Super-weapons. Check. The "I always knew your heart was pure" line. Check. Endless shots of Garner in skin-tight costumes from every angle. Oops missed that one. Oh well.

The problem is there is no cohesive back-story to tie all this together. By the time the big battle scene comes, it's hard to understand why anyone would care. Then of course the bad guys have to misuse their super-powers so egregiously that it becomes possible for the heroine to win. Suggestion: just let the bad guys have "The Treasure" and then just go out for pizza, would you?

From Hell (2001)

Haunting and Moody

[7/10 · 8 July 2005]

Exploring the almost mythic story of Jack the Ripper, this movie gets your right down in the slums with the victims of the story. Depp's character is a bit hard to relate to because he spends a lot of time in a drug-induced haze, even though he is lucid enough while on the job. He'd be nowhere without the friendship of his sidekick played by Coltrane Perhaps the biggest problem with this movie is it is hard to see Inspector Abberline's (Depp) motivation to solve the murders, at least until he develops some interest in one of the potential victims, Mary Kelly (Heather Graham). Even then he seems so lightweight that he could just be blown away. An atypical hero.

A very good choice for a weekend rental.

The Forgotten (2004)

Good mood painting -- nothing more

[8/10 · 23 January 2005]

Here is one of the few cases I don't track with Roger Ebert. It doesn't matter if you are dealing with ghosts (Sixth Sense) or Alieans (Close Encounters) or any assorted paranormals (X-Files). The suspension of disbelief in such movies has nothing to do with science or coherence with our mundane reality. They have to do with the reaction of the characters within them.

This movie has only one character. Very few times the camera leaves Telly, but the whole story is about her and how she proves the connection to her son that nobody else remembers. They could have done more with it, but the question is at least posed if not answered: what do you believe when all physical evidence is stripped? In the end we see what Telly believes, but not how she believes it and what makes her special.