the good, the bad, and the (very) pretty
Nov. 17th, 2003 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotSpent much of this weekend, when I should have been NaNoing, watching stuff instead... ^^;;
Saturday I went to a matinee of The Matrix: Revolutions. At the risk of repeating everyone else who's reviewed it - ARGH.
What most annoys me is that this and Reloaded spoiled the first movie for me. I liked the first Matrix. I didn't fan over it, I didn't think it was that original or deep, but it kicked ass stylishly and I appreciated that. Also, at the risk of proving myself to be yes, really that shallow, I think Keanu Reeves is hot. I have since Speed. He's great as long as he stands there looking nice in black and doesn't open his pie hole. (Even when he does, at times his pure, slightly braindead earnestness can make you forget his inability to act his way out of a paper bag.)
He was not in Revolutions enough. "Acting" or not. Instead we get an hour of a scifi battle sequence determined to cover every major war cliche, starring chars you can't care about, or indeed tell apart.
Question: You are a highly advanced artificial intelligence, fighting a small group of humans who have trapped themselves in a giant rat burrow which you have finally excavated. Do you:
A) Drop a couple nukes down the hole.
B) Drop a few cans of nerve gas to take out all the soldiers running around in the open without any protective gear whatsoever.
C) Build, with your limited resources, a ginormous army of scary if cool flying octopus robots to engage the humans in single combat, while being fully aware that the humans possess a technology that can render your octobots inactive, because you have not had the foresight to equip them with any EMP protection.
It makes about as much sense as using humans as batteries. (And hooking them into an interactive VR system that replicates a society with a technology level sufficient to understand machines, as opposed to the Stone Age, when they couldn't even contemplate revolting because they wouldn't be able to comprehend their gods.) Well, at least the machines are consistent. But the first Matrix movie got away with it because it moved so fast that you just giggled at robots failing Bio101 and then were oohing at the kung fu.
One plus Revolutions had over Reloaded was the kung fu. In Reloaded every scene was twice as long as it needed to be, including the fights. In Revolutions, while it takes forever to get to it, the final fight is pretty damn cool. It's like Star Wars 2, in which the price of admission and sitting through the tick-pigs was almost worth it to see Yoda, Ping-Pong Ball of Doom. Neo vs Smith rocked. Sure, I've seen it all before - I've watched a lot of Dragonball Z, yo. But shounen fights are fun, impact craters, dramatic rain, flying take-downs, and all. And I'm glad Hugo Weaving didn't choke to death on all that scenery he was chewing. "Kamui, raise your kekkai!"
Revolutions also continued the sexism of Reloaded, in which women are supposedly equal but female characters exist to be love objects. And by love I mean lust. Neo and Trinity's relationship has all the depth of Romeo and Juliet, only without the excuse of teen hormones. I giggled at the first Matrix when Trinity declared her feelings. I giggled in Revolutions when she died. Well, I suppose you can't get your christ-metaphor on without a crucifixion.
Revolutions' last crime was to get the Song stuck back in my head. No, not the soundtrack - that was one thing I did enjoy. I am such a sucker for choral Orff rip-offs. But my sister and I left the theater chanting, "Link! Has come to town! Come to save! The Princess Zelda!"
So after the joy of Matrix, we decided to wash our minds out with a good dose of Japanese. The Cowboy Bebop movie is just spendidly animated, in that sort of jaw-dropping, gawk at the detail in every single shot way. And Matrix, eat your heart out - this is what action should be. The final fight betweenAkabane's first cousin Vincent and Spike is fantastic. No flying, either.
We also rented Taboo (Gohatto). Which should not be watched concurrently with Peacemaker Kurogane. One gets one's Okitas horribly confused. And my Shinsengumi are already mixed up enough with Kenshin - Saitou Hajime is my fave Kenshin char. You can imagine what the PMK Saitou is doing to me. Was Taboo any good as a movie? Can't really say. I'm dense as a brick when it comes to interpreting stuff; it left me going 'huh??' But damn, Okita was pretty. He's too girly for me in PMK, but in this...yeah. No pig, either.
I seem to be developing a taste for Japanese drama, thanks to the live-action GTO. Started out as lust for the h0t Sorimachi Takeshi but soon enough the show itself won me over, soap production values and all. Now I just need to find a place to download more of it...
In conclusion, you should all be watching Full Metal Alchemist. Because it r0x0rs. Though someone should start a Give-Ed-a-Hug Foundation, since Al can't manage it. If things continue this way he's going to be the most emotionally battered char since Vash the Stampede. And I need to figure out who his seiyuu is, so I can put her on myseiyuu to stalk favorite seiyuu list. The rage and the grief at the end of episode 7 were gut-wrenching.
Saturday I went to a matinee of The Matrix: Revolutions. At the risk of repeating everyone else who's reviewed it - ARGH.
What most annoys me is that this and Reloaded spoiled the first movie for me. I liked the first Matrix. I didn't fan over it, I didn't think it was that original or deep, but it kicked ass stylishly and I appreciated that. Also, at the risk of proving myself to be yes, really that shallow, I think Keanu Reeves is hot. I have since Speed. He's great as long as he stands there looking nice in black and doesn't open his pie hole. (Even when he does, at times his pure, slightly braindead earnestness can make you forget his inability to act his way out of a paper bag.)
He was not in Revolutions enough. "Acting" or not. Instead we get an hour of a scifi battle sequence determined to cover every major war cliche, starring chars you can't care about, or indeed tell apart.
Question: You are a highly advanced artificial intelligence, fighting a small group of humans who have trapped themselves in a giant rat burrow which you have finally excavated. Do you:
A) Drop a couple nukes down the hole.
B) Drop a few cans of nerve gas to take out all the soldiers running around in the open without any protective gear whatsoever.
C) Build, with your limited resources, a ginormous army of scary if cool flying octopus robots to engage the humans in single combat, while being fully aware that the humans possess a technology that can render your octobots inactive, because you have not had the foresight to equip them with any EMP protection.
It makes about as much sense as using humans as batteries. (And hooking them into an interactive VR system that replicates a society with a technology level sufficient to understand machines, as opposed to the Stone Age, when they couldn't even contemplate revolting because they wouldn't be able to comprehend their gods.) Well, at least the machines are consistent. But the first Matrix movie got away with it because it moved so fast that you just giggled at robots failing Bio101 and then were oohing at the kung fu.
One plus Revolutions had over Reloaded was the kung fu. In Reloaded every scene was twice as long as it needed to be, including the fights. In Revolutions, while it takes forever to get to it, the final fight is pretty damn cool. It's like Star Wars 2, in which the price of admission and sitting through the tick-pigs was almost worth it to see Yoda, Ping-Pong Ball of Doom. Neo vs Smith rocked. Sure, I've seen it all before - I've watched a lot of Dragonball Z, yo. But shounen fights are fun, impact craters, dramatic rain, flying take-downs, and all. And I'm glad Hugo Weaving didn't choke to death on all that scenery he was chewing. "Kamui, raise your kekkai!"
Revolutions also continued the sexism of Reloaded, in which women are supposedly equal but female characters exist to be love objects. And by love I mean lust. Neo and Trinity's relationship has all the depth of Romeo and Juliet, only without the excuse of teen hormones. I giggled at the first Matrix when Trinity declared her feelings. I giggled in Revolutions when she died. Well, I suppose you can't get your christ-metaphor on without a crucifixion.
Revolutions' last crime was to get the Song stuck back in my head. No, not the soundtrack - that was one thing I did enjoy. I am such a sucker for choral Orff rip-offs. But my sister and I left the theater chanting, "Link! Has come to town! Come to save! The Princess Zelda!"
So after the joy of Matrix, we decided to wash our minds out with a good dose of Japanese. The Cowboy Bebop movie is just spendidly animated, in that sort of jaw-dropping, gawk at the detail in every single shot way. And Matrix, eat your heart out - this is what action should be. The final fight between
We also rented Taboo (Gohatto). Which should not be watched concurrently with Peacemaker Kurogane. One gets one's Okitas horribly confused. And my Shinsengumi are already mixed up enough with Kenshin - Saitou Hajime is my fave Kenshin char. You can imagine what the PMK Saitou is doing to me. Was Taboo any good as a movie? Can't really say. I'm dense as a brick when it comes to interpreting stuff; it left me going 'huh??' But damn, Okita was pretty. He's too girly for me in PMK, but in this...yeah. No pig, either.
I seem to be developing a taste for Japanese drama, thanks to the live-action GTO. Started out as lust for the h0t Sorimachi Takeshi but soon enough the show itself won me over, soap production values and all. Now I just need to find a place to download more of it...
In conclusion, you should all be watching Full Metal Alchemist. Because it r0x0rs. Though someone should start a Give-Ed-a-Hug Foundation, since Al can't manage it. If things continue this way he's going to be the most emotionally battered char since Vash the Stampede. And I need to figure out who his seiyuu is, so I can put her on my
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TEH ELRIC BROTHERS LUV
Date: 2003-11-17 09:24 am (UTC)I heard that the manga has a lot more spazzy humor vs. the anime having a bit more drama... uu... Vash completely killed me (he still does, actually, even when I'm flipping through my Nigoshi Toshimi DJs cos she characterizes him pretty damn well >_>) and if Ed ends up doing that... AIGH.
BTW Ed's seiyuu is... uh, Paku Romi, IIRC. She also voiced Heimdall (!) from MaLoki. Bwahaha.
(I have yet to watch episode 7. Should I have a box of kleenex handy? >_>)
I gave up watching Kurogane, though. It simply failed to pique my interest. @_@; Maybe it was the I WANT TO BE TEH BEST OMG gaki!protagonist who just rubbed me the wrong way from the very get-go... or maybe it was the overly-onna!mincing!GAY!Okita that made me cry. (I still have that Okita <-> Soujirou? mentality and... yeah. Ow.)
Re: TEH ELRIC BROTHERS LUV
Date: 2003-11-17 09:51 am (UTC)Ep 7...uh. Yeah. A couple tissues wouldn't hurt. Yow.
Heimdall?? o_O ...okay, yah, I could hear that...
And PMK...eh. I've seen what's out, will probably keep watching for nice animation and the big brother's little brother complex. And to see how gay they can go in the shounen
ailimbo. But it's not more than mildly diverting for now. (and if you're a Soujirou fan...yah, I can see how that would hurt... ^^;)no subject
Date: 2003-11-17 01:58 pm (UTC)FMA. Yes. I'm loving it, and everyone I've shown it to loves it as well. And it does dark really, really well. Seriously - it's so sad at times, and so wrong and twisted others, and still I just want more, 'cause it's the *right* kind of sad and dark. (Does that make sense?) It has Ed and Al and they're so damn cute, and I'd definitely contribute Give-Ed-a-Hug Foundation! Really, really - with the angst over everything he's done and he's such a good niichan... and SO cute with his hair down! Most definitely reminds me of Vash. Same vulnerability and guilt, same cheerful facade and big heart... Except Ed's so *little*.
Ah, yah, and Paku Romi. EXCELLENT saiyuu. I can't believe she's a woman, and the emotion... wow.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-18 06:03 am (UTC)And Ed with his hair down is so teh cute. and he is so little, almost as portable as a hobbit! ^__^ Poor poor thing, he's much too young & too smart & too talented...(Vash the Stampede meets Ender. Ouchie...)
The benefits of lengthy fight scenes
Date: 2003-11-17 03:07 pm (UTC)I am a woman "of a certain age" (not quite 50, but staring at it on the horizon). I take diuretics for high blood pressure. I also drink a lot of caffeinated beverages. Which means....
During "Reloaded", I DESPERATELY had to get up to use the ladies' room. No problem! I just waited for a fight scene to start. ran out of the theatre, UP THE STAIRS, into the restroom, did my thing, ran back DOWN THE STAIRS, into the theatre, took my seat again.... AND THE FIGHT WAS STILL GOING ON. No need to ask my friend "So what did I miss?"
So those double-length scenes WERE good for something... as long as you're a middle-aged woman.
Re: The benefits of lengthy fight scenes
Date: 2003-11-18 06:05 am (UTC)...tho' really, what would you have missed if you left when they were talking?
no subject
Date: 2003-11-17 03:31 pm (UTC)Neo vs Smith fight pwnz me. It totally pwnz me. Aside from the fact that "HAHAHA IT'S LIVE ACTION DBZ OMGWTFBBQ", I had to remember to tuck my jaw back up and close my mouth because it was so pretty
AND OMG YES. COWBOY BEBOP MOVIE O.O I watched it n amoutn of times, because the animation is so visually stunning o____o
And everyone already said it now, but Ed's seiyuu is Paku Romi. I was SO HAPPY when I heard that. Paku Romi kicks *this* much ass. She does the perfect amount of emotion in her lines, and she does them well. She had other rolls of the Digimon Kaizer/Ken from Digimon (I think this was her first...?), Tao Ren from Shaman King, Heimdell from MaLoki. She's my favorite female seiyuu, I think o_o
I contribute to give Ed a hug fund. Because, see, I never *cared* about Vash the Stampede. He was traumatized, and damn that guy needed something to go *right* for a change, but in the end everything was too surreal to really relate to. But holy feck, Ed actually made me tear up. ;;;;; Ed, get better and be cute with your bro plzkthx ;;;;
no subject
Date: 2003-11-18 06:16 am (UTC)I think I need to see the CB movie again, because there were times I was missing the plot because I was too busy ogling the images. (the credits are funny, I think they contracted every animation studio in Japan...)
Paku Romi, yes, she's going on my list. Yow.
And Trigun's surreality didn't stop me from falling deeply and completely in love with Vash...was much painful. But I'm falling for Ed anyway. nooooo~ ow...and yes need Al & Ed being cute, but even that can be so sad!! (that bit in last week's ep with Ed watching Al pretend to eat... ;___;)
no subject
Date: 2003-11-17 05:43 pm (UTC)However, I absolutely adored the song they played during the credits. The choral-techno pwnz me. <3 Also, was very sparkly over the detail and design of the machine city, and yeah, of Zion itself. I'm not even an Architecture student, and I went *_* at it all.
Okita is the best, though! XD Uber girly boys like that, especially when they KNOW they're femmy and ham it up, always make me laugh. <3;;;;;
... I still need to see ANY of FMA, though all of you loves are watching it, and I want to share the love. u____u;; I haven't been able to download ANYTHING, recently, so I don't even know if I can catch up at this point. [paws]
no subject
Date: 2003-11-17 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-18 06:24 am (UTC)choral techno is awesome. I might have to get the last 15 min of soundtrack. Choruses in movies is a terrible weakness ("Oh, listen to them rip off Carmina again... ... ...I want this!!")
no FMA? tragic! but chira-chanchan will save you! ^^ (it's ALL HER FAULT anyway that I'm so terribly obsessed :P)
HAHAHAHAH!!!
Date: 2003-11-18 04:26 pm (UTC)yes, i do like sorimachi. also takenouchi. also kaneshiro, although he acts worse than either of the others. also, kimutaku, because honestly, who doesn't? gah i'd love to see that man in a shounen-ai series. i'll clone him now and then he'll be just the right age when i take over the world...*cackling*
and hey, no shame. i think keanu's hot too, in a slightly blank way. i wouldn't procreate with him, but i'd cover him with chocolate syrup and lick it off anyday.
Re: HAHAHAHAH!!!
Date: 2003-11-19 08:59 am (UTC)