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Reviews
TMNT (2007)
Entertaining, But Flawed
TMNT was exactly what I expected it to be: entertaining and funny, with solid action sequences.
The film goes into a little depth as the brothers go through some family problems. Leonardo and Raph are fleshed out wonderfully in the film, but Mike is mostly there for comic relief and Don is an afterthought. Leo and Raph's fight scene was perhaps the best moment of the film, as I really did feel the intensity and gravity of the moment, despite the fact that it was two cartoon turtles battling one another.
The animation for the turtles was clean and crisp, but the human cast literally looked like they were plucked straight from The Incredibles and given different hairdos. The voice-acting was relatively solid, but I was disappointed by Zhang Ziyi and Mako's performances (in the roles of Karai and Splinter). First off, Zhang is a wonderful actress and I respect her greatly, voice-acting is about the voice, and they should have picked someone more proficient in English. I was also about to be outraged at how Splinter had a terribly mocking Asian accent, only to find out that he was voiced by Japanese actor Mako. *Shrug* However, all the turtles and Patrick Stewart in the role of Winters all gave fine performances.
A lot of people complained about the corny one-liners, but I for one loved them. They popped up here and there, and were definitely lame 90% of the time but never groan-worthy.
All in all, a film worth watching if you've known and loved ninja turtles as a child, and if you're my age how could you not?
Shooter (2007)
Starts off strong, but loses steam
I expected Shooter to be a worn and formulaic action movie, but I was actually quite surprised by the first thirty or so minutes. I had high hopes that it would turn out to be an entertaining and engaging film.
However, I started scratching my head once the action decreased and the conspiracy/intrigue/24-type-stuff was presented. The plot turned far-fetched and the dialogue turned silly. For all the government conspiracy that went on none of it reached a satisfactory conclusion.
For that matter, the characters themselves were one-dimensional and uninteresting. Mark Wahlberg showed a little depth at the beginning of the film, but once the shooting got good there wasn't much about him. The villains were nothing but villains (cackling, cruel, unapologetic, etc). Probably the most interesting guy for most of the movie was Michael Pena, who played an FBI agent. The whole time I thought he was Adam Beachm who played Ira Hayes in "Flags of Our Fathers."
Kimi ga nozomu eien (2003)
A powerful and mature drama
Make no mistake - this isn't a children's anime.
Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (The Eternity You Wish For) is a 14-episode anime based off of a popular Hentai game in Japan. Despite its origins, Kimi has no nudity, although there are several tastefully done sex scenes.
The story centers around four friends, Narumi Takayuki, Hayase Mitsuki, Shinji Taira, and Haruka Suzumiya. All the elements of your typical drama are present, and really the story introduces nothing new in the genre. However, the strengths of the anime are its characters - their problems are very profound on a fundamental level, and it is not difficult to associate oneself with the difficulties they are going through. Flashbacks, the passage of time, and chronological ordering of the plot is also masterfully manipulated.
Expect not only plenty of drama in the story, but in your own heart - the ending - which will leave you either pleasantly satisfied or heartbroken - has been the subject of raging debates.
I highly recommend this to anyone, as it has quickly become one of my favorite animes of all time. No anime I have ever watched, nor any live-action show has ever moved me like this one has - not even Grave of the Fireflies, which was tragic and beautiful in its own right. Watch it and enjoy it, but prepare to be depressed. And also - it's okay to cry once in a while.
10/10