Recently Viewed Movies Episode 2: The Vampire Bites Back

[Aeolus]

Speaking of Akira, I hope the live action version stays in development hell, and eventually dies a horrible, horrible death. It would suck balls, and be over-Americanized, just like the other pointless anime -> live action films out there. The original Anime is a pinnacle... an achievement. It's legacy should be left alone.

I actually think the Ghost in the Shell series could lend itself well to an adaption....  but the fact these sorts of things (animated source > real life) get so goddamn altered for whatever the hell reason makes me agree -- a lot of these should be put to death and let them be "rebooted" within their current media.  It's a shame because I'd LIKE to think it'd be a cool thing to see some awesome animated fiction done as live action (I guess for the same reason I love amazing looking cosplay).

Which reminds me, prequel episode for GitS ARISE was pretty damn good.  The Batou fight was quite exciting.

I'm more surprised that GitS hasn't received a live action adaptation already. The movie making tech is already good enough to do the setting and effects justice, there's already adaptions that exorcize a lot of the goofy animeness of the manga, and at the core, the basic premise and events of the core material practically read like a movie script already.

They just need a good director, at least one good writer or a collaboration to modify the material enough to make the movie more than just a live action version of the original movie, and some good actors who can at least come close to kinda looking like the cast (the advantage of a setting where most people have been synthetically altered/augmented is that gaudy wigs and overdone prosthesis would be completely appropriate.


Also this discussion about live action anime adaptations reminded me that James Cameron is STILL probably working on that live action Battle Angel Alita movie (if the conspiracy theories are to be believed).

[Dice]

Speaking of Akira, I hope the live action version stays in development hell, and eventually dies a horrible, horrible death. It would suck balls, and be over-Americanized, just like the other pointless anime -> live action films out there. The original Anime is a pinnacle... an achievement. It's legacy should be left alone.

I actually think the Ghost in the Shell series could lend itself well to an adaption....  but the fact these sorts of things (animated source > real life) get so goddamn altered for whatever the hell reason makes me agree -- a lot of these should be put to death and let them be "rebooted" within their current media.  It's a shame because I'd LIKE to think it'd be a cool thing to see some awesome animated fiction done as live action (I guess for the same reason I love amazing looking cosplay).

Which reminds me, prequel episode for GitS ARISE was pretty damn good.  The Batou fight was quite exciting.

I'm more surprised that GitS hasn't received a live action adaptation already. The movie making tech is already good enough to do the setting and effects justice, there's already adaptions that exorcize a lot of the goofy animeness of the manga, and at the core, the basic premise and events of the core material practically read like a movie script already.

They just need a good director, at least one good writer or a collaboration to modify the material enough to make the movie more than just a live action version of the original movie, and some good actors who can at least come close to kinda looking like the cast (the advantage of a setting where most people have been synthetically altered/augmented is that gaudy wigs and overdone prosthesis would be completely appropriate.


Also this discussion about live action anime adaptations reminded me that James Cameron is STILL probably working on that live action Battle Angel Alita movie (if the conspiracy theories are to be believed).

I was thinking the same when I said GitS lends itself to a live action.  The "internet 4.0" stuff and cybernetics really shouldn't be a stretch.

Rumors say Alita is gonna be done all in CG (with the rest live action).... hm, I guess have faith in J. Cam? 

Oh, shit that reminds me.  Trailer for the American-version of Old Boy is up.
http://youtu.be/A8gpi44y4TU
I'm sure it'll be easy to take a piss on this given the positive reactions to the Korean ver.  But I don't think this looks too bad.

[Yoda]

The last 2 days I've watched Akira, Thor, Cap'n America, and the Avengers (3rd time seeing that).

They were all fantastic but Akira rocked my world and left me rocked

[Jotacon]

I come out of Pacific Rim incredibly pleased. Not everyone is as big a fan of giant robots as I am, but my entire group LOVED the fight scenes. They were weighty, well-paced, awesome and terrifying at the same time. The Kaiju were almost straight out of a Japanese monster movie except it traded in realism for interesting camera action something which I was okay with. I liked it the most, one person says "It was good, but needed more fights" the other says "Holy, that was shit. It was only slightly better than Transformers 2. Oh, the fights were super awesome, but that doesn't excuse the rest of it."

The movie was about as close to an anime as you can get in live action. Hell the main tech guy on the bridge has a small pompadour and suspenders and is extremely cool. The characterization is simple and broad, easy to grasp and overall I'd say it was really good. I know not all anime is like that, but I mean it was very cartoony and simple. Unfortunately it comes attached to pretty lame characters. They are campy and fun and one or two of them are legitimately great, but the two lead characters are not only the most boring characters in the film the two leads don't have the personality to carry it. Hunnam is a good leading man and his character has a Cpt. America sense of good that I like, but his fake-american accent is really bad and he has no real arc other than falling in love. There is a flashback that is extremely awesome for the main characters co-pilot Mako Mori(and love interest), it is just too bad that the actress can't pull it off. Idris Elba as the Marshall was the star playing the experienced, self-sacrificing military leader really well. The smartest move they did was have his character as the center of the film and have all the other characters revolve around him. There are two fun goofy scientists that are maybe a little bit too much out of Godzilla (1998), but are easy to like especially because one of them is played by the always great Burn Gorman.

In many ways the film is like Star Wars. The characters don't have a lot of depth, but they embody their archetypes really well. There is a fun, real world that seems great to explore in it's history with all of the different robots and monsters that fought over a period of years. The story has a fun prologue although the story is very by the numbers. Depending on how much you can stand campiness (Ron Perlman is campy in any movie, but he is EXTREME in this movie) and a simple story depends on how much you can stand the wait until the second half of the movie which is ALL fights.

I will hum and haw about the score, but generally I think I can say 5/7. But when I was in the moment it was perfect.

[Lard]

I am pleased to hear that people are pleased with PR. Now I just have to avoid spoilers for a week until I see it.

[kyuusei]

I enjoyed the hell out of it myself. Liked the characters, even if they were mostly archetypes.. I didn't expect them to get too much indepth anyway, but at the same time, it'd have been nice to see more of the other pilots other than the Aussies. Even briefly other than them standing on the deck/in their Jaeger. Great fight scenes. If you even remotely like giant robots and/or giant monsters it's worth seeing.

[Yoda]

I'm bringing a chick to see it

[Dice]

I watched the Host with brother's ...friend's ...kid who they babysit *phew*.

What a waste of a lot of good potential; I was hooked till bad dialogue (despite the talent), an unlikeable lead (at least the bits you hear of her in her mind since the parasite is runnin' things), and a poorly played love triangle.  Also, becoming a parasite sounded like an OK deal, everything was for fuckin' free! 

I do think the rap for the movie is far worse than it needs to be, and while I like the tone of the flick, it sadly never escalates when it needs to.  The big question is do I like it better than Stephanie (eugh) Meyer's other "hit" Twilight?  Well, just about anything is better than that, so yes.

[Darilon]

I just saw the movie myself. If someone were to ask me was it a good movie or a bad movie, I would probably tell them it was a fun movie.
I really liked it and thought the Kaiju were awesome. I agree about your view on the main characters though. Also, I am glad the movie does not take itself seriously. It wouldn't have worked as well if they did.

Code:

Not a fan of the ending. I was fine with the female lead surviving but the main character surviving felt really lame. Also we need more movies where giant robots wield boats as if they were swords.

[GrimReality]

Pacific Rim -
An absolute note perfect homage to all those old Japanese monster movies. With amazing modern visuals and sound that really make for one hell of an experience. if you have any interest at all this MUST be seen in a theater. The scale is much too grand for any home TV to do it justice.
Most people would come to this for the giant robot vs. giant monster tangles, and they ARE amazing, but there's actually a decent story here. And shock of shocks: Characters we actually like and care about.
I was most impressed by Rinko Kikuchi as Mako, and Idris Elba, as Stacker. The two wacky scientists were fun, too, if a bit overdone. Ron Pearlman's Hannibal, the Kaiju parts dealer, is fascinating, and those scenes make you wonder about all the other things going on besides monster defense.
So we have monsters coming out of a rift in the ocean, and attacking cities all across the globe.Why are they doing this, and where did they come from? That was the question in my mind right from the get go. We do get there eventually, but it's really only partially answered. There is so much more that could be done with this world, that I am already hoping for a sequel. And I rarely ever do that. I just have a bad feeling that all the morons who flocked to those other, poorly reviewed and crappy, giant robot movies, for some reason won't be showing up to this in equal measure. I hope I'm proven wrong here. I'd love to see Guillermo del Toro finally get a huge hit. He totally deserves it after cranking out so many good movies over the years.
Now go see it. Go. Now.

[Yoda]

It was fun... I had a head cold when I saw it and the colors made my eyes water constantly.

probably not the best "1st date movie" as I found out lol

[Starmongoose]

Pacific Rim was a great movie. Went and saw it last night for my friends birthday. I thought the scale of the Kaiju's and the Jeagers was really well done, and I was probably most impressed by that. I loved the attention to detail and the fight scenes were excellent, I could really feel the impact of some of the punches. The kaiju designs were awesome too.

I have some complaints. But on the whole, I'd love to see it again.

[Yoda]

I loved the fact that Charlie Day was in it.

[(Tunnels)]

Pacific Rim was fantastic. You can really see the homages to the mecha and kaiju genres, as well as anime in general.

Code:

In fact, Raleigh and Mako being the pilots of the Danger is symbolic of the merger of Western big-budget blockbusters and Japanese mecha and kaiju media.

Also, this film is full of hot dudes. Idris Elba, Max Martini (the Australian DILF, mmm), plus the main boys. Very interesting how the only character that is sexualized is Raleigh.

Edit:

More spoilery impressions

Code:

I'm disappointed the Chinese dudes and the Russian couple got axed so quickly. My bf remarked that they had the most interesting mechs, and I mostly agree. Also, that Russian dude was smokin', woof.

In the sequel (hopefully), I hope the kaiju are more varied in design. They weren't all the same, but they had some similar design elements between them.

[Esper_Crusader]

Evil Dead 2013. Not as fun as the original. Quite the opposite actually but the sheer level of brutality was great. I liked it a lot:)