#filmathon2011

[filmathon2011-blog]

Funny People - Not So Funny Situations

This is a movie about a struggling comedian, Ira, who lives with other comedians and becomes friends with an old dried up comedian, George. George has just been diagnosed with a very rare and deadly version of leukemia and has become rather depressed as of late. Ira makes his mission to cheer George up and help him get his life on track. This movie wasn't nearly as funny as I was lead to believe. The plot of it is really rather dark. There really isn't much going on other than that. There are a few moments that are really funny but you would think a movie filled with comedians would have you laughing the whole time. -Sean

[filmathon2011-blog]

Dragon Ball

ドラゴンボール: 神龍の伝説

Doragon Booru: Shenron no Densetsu

Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenlong

Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies

Let me get this out of the way first, I’m a big Dragon Ball fan! Perhaps even more important I have very fond memories of Dragon Ball Movie 1. It was 1998 I was in 2nd grade and I had discovered Dragon Ball Z on Toonami on Cartoon Network. My dad and I went to Blockbuster to see if they had any DBZ on VHS. I found two tapes (mis)labeled Dragon Ball Episode 1-2 and Dragon Ball Episode 3-4. Later I found out that the first one was Dragon Ball Movie 1 and the second one was Dragon Ball Episodes 1-3. Back to the story I got home and was shocked to see Goku was a kid, but I loved it!

  So, what is this? This is not Z. The fate of the world is not at stake, it’s not all about fighting, and no one’s power level is over 9000!!!!! It is a fun mystical adventure. Here’s a brief overview. The evil King Gurumes has been turned into a monster that is constantly hungry due to his greed for rare blood rubies. No, that doesn’t make any more since if you watch the movie. But, there are seven magical Dragon Balls that can grant (almost) any wish if all of them are brought together. So, the king sends two lackeys, Pasta and Bongo, to collect them to solve his hunger problem. Even worse, while collecting the blood rubies the King all but destroyed a village. A resident of said village, a little girl named Pansy, decided to find the great warrior, Master Roshi (also known as 亀仙人/Kame-sen'nin/Turtle Sage or Hermit or 武天老師/Muten Roushi). At the same time a 16 year old girl named Bulma (ブルマ/Buruma), who is also looking for the Dragon Balls runs into a 12 year old boy with a tail, Son Goku (孫 悟空). When Goku’s Dragon Ball, a keepsake from his dead grandfather Gohan, is stolen by Pasta and Bongo, Goku and Bulma go on an adventure to get it back. They run into a shapshifting pig, Oolong (ウーロン/Uuron), the bandit Yamcha (ヤムチャ/Yamucha) and his shapeshifting cat Puar (プーアル/Puuaru/Pu’ar), and later Master Roshi and Pansy. I don’t want to give anything else away, so I’m going to stop there and let you watch the movie.

  I’m sure your next question is, “Is the movie any good?” The short answer is yes, but let me expand on that a little. If you are familiar with the Dragon Ball series you may notice that this movie is quite similar to the first story arc, chapters 1-23, or the first 13 episodes. Basically they switched out Pilaf for Gurumes and condensed everything down to 50 min. Ultimately the new villains fall short of those in the main series and are pretty forgettable, but they get the job done. I would have to say I feel the series tells the story a little better, but this movie is a great way to expose someone to the series to the first time or to re-experience the series quickly. Plus, the series is over 25 years old and the movie is nearly as old so the animation isn’t the best, but the movie holds up much better. I actually watched this movie three times; the old edited English version from 1996, the uncut redub from last year, and the original Japanese version. I would steer clear from the edited release for just that reason, it’s edited. The new dub is a big step up and pretty faithful to the original Japanese. But I think I would have to recommend watching it in Japanese with the subtitles on. It is hard to top Masako Nozawa’s amazing performance as Goku especially if you have any knowledge of the Japanese language. Overall it is a great movie and I would highly recommend it anyone with 50 min. of time on their hands. You won’t be disappointed.

  -Jordan

[filmathon2011-blog]

Hobo With A Shotgun - Exactly What It Sounds Like

So one day this Hobo (that's all they ever call him I dunno if he has a name or not) literally roles into town on a train car looking to start over. It doesn't take long for this Hobo to realize that the new home he has chosen is infested with the worst lot of people. One family known as the Drakes own the town and are the lead suppliers of its death and crimes but almost no one is innocent. After a young woman shows the Hobo kindness he decides that he's going to clean up the streets with the shotgun he bought from the pawn shop.

So first and foremost, this film is extremely gory. I mean this is a grind house kind of movie so you should expect it but my friend didn't realize so I had to finish watching this later.

There isn't really much to say as far as viewing the film's camera work or editing. It was made to be like all those old grind house flicks and that's what it does. It's all gore porn but you know what it's an instant cult classic for a reason.

-Sean

[filmathon2011-blog]

The Seeker's Guide to Harry Potter - they can't all be winners

This is a documentary about Harry Potter... Kind of. The narrator is this lady who was brought up as in a Shamanistic household. She uses her upbringing to explain the Harry Potter series... well really only some of what she says is insightful, most of it is either obvious or a bit over the top. The documentary is a little over an hour long but if you cut out all the parts where they filmed her sitting somewhere looking to the left, or playing with a sword then you could probably shorten this to about half that time.

I'm not saying that this movie was all bad. On a few occasions she made some great points, it's just that I didn't need to watch an entire documentary to learn a few new things.

-Sean

[filmathon2011-blog]

Captain America : Was this MOSTLY just set up for the Avengers?

Captain America...was certainly American...they did a really good job of casting. The mise-en scene was really dark and noir, but at the same time the film did a great job of framing a tragic super hero story. I get that he's the "first avenger". But I don't get that he dosn't have a seperate/ resolved/ developed character arch.

I guess what I was most disappointed in was that the main purpose of this film was very clearly to set up The Avengers and not to establish Captain America as a real human character. I feel like The Hulk, Iron Man and Thor all had their own films that just happened to end in an invite to the avengers, but Captain America was embedded in the Avengers world from the beginning. They tried to start the story arch of the Avengers in Captain America's movie!! 

Already there were elements of Iron Man and Thor wrapped up in Captain America's world. Maybe this is part of the comics...but I think either way that Captain America just deserved better than that. I mean they skipped his whole power struggle bit, and just focused on him being the "little guy" for a while. His personality never went through any changes or anything! 

Pre-quels are fine, in fact I love Star Wars Episode I, I think it did a great job of building things up and having it's own story line. This didn't it was all build up and the climax was wimpy. 

Can't wait till the Avengers though!! Joss Whedon is a boss!

-Ellie

[filmathon2011-blog]

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell is set in a futuristic environment right at the brink of a technological singularity--cybernetically modified humans exist alongside androids, with the only differentiating factor being the soul, or ghost. The movie deals with issues of the creation and modification of a ghost of an individual and the implications of a digitized existence. The plot follows a shadowy government agency that works behind the scenes to stop these incidents of ghost hacking and other forms of cyber-crime/terrorism--specifically working to catch a ghost hacker known as "The Puppet Master".  Eventually after following some leads, the team ends up going through the proverbial rabbit hole and faces all sorts of opposition from unexpected sources.  While highly existentialist--dealing with the essence of humanity, the ethical implications of artificial intelligence, and what a body or body parts that can be bought and sold implies--the movie is full of action. The pacing is fairly passive but occasionally punctured by an ultra violent scene with a climax that oozes tension. Visually and aurally this movie is spectacular. Animated in 1995, Ghost in the Shell lacks the high quality CG that most animated films these days boast but has a relatively seamless mixture of CG and cell shading. Its visuals are timeless, and does avoid the awful CG that 90's sci-fi movies like Jurrassic Park ("This is Unix, I know this!") were rife with. The montages help to build on the setting and are reminiscent of Koyanisqaatsi. The version I watched was dubbed, and most of the voice acting is spot on--though I do have a problem with some of the character Batou's delivery as it seems short and stinted.  Outside of the film, Ghost in the Shell is credited as one of the first anime movies to reach those not in the typical demographic in the US, and was a large inspiration for what much of the Matrix was, both stylistically and thematically. This movie is absolutely a classic, and certainly worth the watch. -Paul

[filmathon2011-blog]

Horrible Bosses (2011)

A few blogs ago I saw Jennifer Aniston was acting well...and again she really surprised me in this role. Hybird together the hangover and every silly workplace movie ever made. You get this movie....

Three guys decide to kill their horrible bosses because they can. They end up not doing it..but still, the concept is a bit sick. 

Jennifer Aniston played a nymphomaniac that sexually harasses her employee...and she is soo funny. (She should seriously think about pulling an Alec Baldwin and permanently turning to comedic roles)  This film was genuinely funny and crude and it certainly made me laugh a lot. 

Worth watching on netflix in a few months. 

-Ellie

[filmathon2011-blog]

For the Bible Tells me so: Seeing hate as a cultural pattern

This documentary was nothing I didn't know, but some of the specifics were really interesting. I really liked how this film showed ornate details as opposed to a general concencus and attitude. The point of it was to show how Americans across the country all deal and see homosexuals in a differrent way. The did this by showing the storys of multiple and diverse people that realized they were homosexual or their children were homosexual and had to find a way to deal with that and their faith.

Literal interpretations of the bible have in the past enhanced the perceived legitamacy of sterotypes and have been manipulated to enhance their own causes. The latest minoroty victims have been homosexuals. I think that the personal stories of church loving people that all found their own jouney through finding out their children were gay or finding out they were gay and dealing with it differently.

They had legitimate bible scholars talking about the meaning through the culture of the time. In the end it was more of an excuse that has been used to make homophobia legitimate. This film uniquly argues that this is not just hate but it is a natural cultural response.

-Ellie