"And day breaks, and the night bird calls out."

"Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" (feature)
Dir: Mamoru Oshii
Produced: Toshio Suzuki (Studio Ghibli)
Premier: 2004
Viewed: 4/3/09
Comment: The film was finally given a decent DVD release since Dreamworks' gaffe back in 2005. A lot of this blog is a reference to "GitS" in one form or another. It happens to be one of my all-time favorite animated franchises. It's heavily influenced by films like "Blade Runner". I saw this dubbed, and was glad I did. During the theatrical release, I was too busy reading the heavy and layered script at the bottom to notice the famous visuals. I didn't even recognize half of the shots... The English voice cast was the same from the rest of the franchise, which I consider a personal favor.

And now for some name-dropping! As it turns out, Steven Speilberg aquired the rights to the franchise for live-action. I should've known from the Dreamworks release, but I'm glad things worked out that way. Especially after seeing "Minority report" and "A.I.".

War of the Worlds

"Breathless" (feature)
Dir: Jean-Luc Goddard
Premier: 1961
Viewed: 3/23 & 3/26/09
Review: “Breathless” was hard to follow because I couldn’t really identify with any of the characters. I thought the dark haired girl in the beginning at the film, whom he stole money from was exponentially better looking than the girl who occupied the remainder of the film. Funny enough, this nearly took me out of the film. What also interfered with my experience was the sudden bursts of English in an otherwise French-language film. I can’t say why this worked for “The Celebration” and not for this film, for me. Maybe it was the strong sense of character that film established early on.

The acting seemed almost forced, but maybe it was the language. This film puts a lot of thought on old-fashioned French flirting. This was starting to make me ill when I had to listen to some of the character’s lines. The cinematic layout of this film definitely gets the point across as to the new wave of film techniques, we have French new-wave to thank for a lot of new film conventions moviegoers are used to today. The jump cuts were refreshing, as I assume they were meant to be. The only thing is when the two leads were in bed together, and the jump cuts started helping the film drag on.

Ben 10 Alien Force: "War of the Worlds" (tv series)
Dir: Dan Riba
Premier: 3/27/09
Viewed: 3/27/09



30 Rock: "Apollo, Apollo" (tv series)
Dir: Millicent Shelton
Premier: 3/26/09
Viewed: 3/28/09
Comment: I was pleasantly surprised by this show in that it proves just how far the upper crust of TV animation has gone. This show and Amy Poehler's "The Mighty B!" essentially share the same sense of humor (give or take a difference in target demo and subject matter)!

Foresight

Wolverine and the X-men: "Foresight, pt. 1-3"
Dir: Steve Gordon (1), Nick Filippi (2), Boyd Kirkland (3)
Writer: Greg Johnson
Premier: 3/10-12/09
Viewed: 3/17/09
Comment: Probably the most complex and layered childrens show plotline since "Avatar: The Last Airbender". This is the final story arc in the 26 episode season. While still dazzling the young viewers (primary demo), it blatantly appeals to the secondary 18-34 demographic. Overall it's everything I'd ever need in an X-Men series.

Return of the Fearsome Fangs!

"Rashomon" (feature clip)
Dir: Akira Kurosawa
Premiered: 12/26/1951
Viewed: 2/23/09
Compare/Contrast Comment: Rashomon and Ugetsu seem to both portray women not just as victims, but as victims of their mates. Also they both portray other women as seductresses, not unlike in American Film Noir. Both films deal in death, in that characters are kbnown to act beyond the grave. Truth and pain seems to be at the forefront of great tragedy as well as comedy. The two are studied in depth in these films.



Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!" (tv series)
Dir: Michael Chang
Premiered: 2/20/09
Viewed: 2/23/09

Sci-fi/ Clip Show, featuring Stanislavsky's "Method Acting"!

"Destination Moon" (feature clip)
Dir: Irving Pichel
Premier: 1950
Viewed: 2/16/09



"The Day The Earth Stood Still" (feature clip)
Dir: Robert Wise
Premier: 9/28/1951
Viewed: 2/16/09
Comment: First use of the "Theremin" in sci-fi music (high pitched wail), by Bernard Herman.



"War of the Worlds" (feature clip)
Dir: Byron Haskin
Premier: 8/26/1953
Viewed: 2/16/09


"When Worlds Collide" (feature clip)
Dir: Rudolph Mate'
Premier: Aug/ 1951
Viewed: 2/16/09



"Creature from the Black Lagoon" (feature clip)
Dir: Jack Arnold
Premier: 3/5/1954
Viewed: 2/16/09



"It Came From Beneath the Sea" (feature clip)
Dir: Robert Gordon
Animation: Ray Harryhausen
Premier: Jul/ 1955
Viewed: 2/16/09



"Forbidden Planet" (feature clip)
Dir: Fred Wilcox
Premier: 1956
Viewed: 2/16/09
Comment: Influenced by Shakespeare's "The Tempest". Influenced productions like "Star Wars" and "Star Trek"


"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (feature clip)
Dir: Don Siegel
Premier: 2/5/1956
Viewed: 2/16/09

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"Rebel Without a Cause" (feature clip)
Dir: Nicolas Ray
Method Actor: James Dean
Premier: 1955
Viewed: 2/16/09



"A Streetcar Named Desire" (feature clip)
Dir: Elia Kazan
Method Actor: Marlon Brando
Premier: 1959
Viewed: 2/16/09


"Suddenly Last Summer" (feature clip)
Dir: David Mankiewicz
Premier: 1959
Viewed: 2/16/09


"Some Like It Hot" (feature clip)
Dir: Billy Wilder
Premier: 1959
Viewed: 2/16/09

Badlands

Wolverine and the X-Men: "Badlands" (tv series)
Dir: Doug Murphy
Written: Kevin Hoops
Premier: 1/31/09
Viewed: 2/15/09

The Eyes of Despero

"Out of the Past" (feature)
Dir: Jaques Tourneur
Premier: 11/14/1947
Viewed: 2/09/09
Review: Based on the novel "Build My Gallows High", "Out of the Past" is an influential plot outline where the stranger's mysterious past comes back to haunt him. It was a great study in the typical noir story. The double-crossing, the femme fatale, the $40,000 stakes, this was definitely by the book. I saw a lot of "Batman: The Animated Series" in many of these shots. It was interesting to see the story expand to Mexico without losing the shady tones.

The viewer beins to root for the male lead when he figures out how his old boss and lover plans to cross him and makes plans to rid himself of them. In contrast to Mildred Pierce, "Past" had a far more bittersweet ending, as no one really makes it out alive, with the exception of the few decent characters in the story. One female character was narrowly spared in the end, from the harsh life led by her love interest. She's left with the practically nameless and omnipresent "nice guy". Lucky her...



"The Third Man" (feature)
Dir: Carol Reed
Premier: 9/3/1949
Viewed: 2/09/09
Review: This film was a great exercise in murder-mystery fare. If you wanted a solid example of plots and sub-plots inter-weaving, and characters who’s significance to the film falls and spiked from scene to scene, you’d want to see this film. I do take issue with one thing, and have been thinking about it a lot. Why do so many stories take the party to the sewers!? It’s as if they had no idea, or concern as to what vile misadventures await them at the crossroad of all toilets. Ironically, one of my favorite stories, involving four pizza-eating mutant turtles takes place entirely in a sewer.

There was a very dramatic use of black and white, particularly in the more pressing moments. It’s nice to see Orson Welles at a young age. I’m noticing that his overall look changes dramatically from film to film. The acting was standard noir-style acting, if I remember. Noir movies seem to have a certain line-delivery style that isn’t boring, but isn’t too excitable.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "The Eyes of Despero" (tv series)
Dir: Ben Jones
Premier: 2/06/09
Viewed: 2/09/09
Comment: Interesting plot choice, placing the now yellow Sinestro in a sort of "villain-in-the-making" situation. Reminds me of Anakin Skywalker.

Journey to the center of the Bat!

Chowder: "pt 1: The Arborians" (tv series)
Dir: Kris Sherwood
Premier: 10/02/08
Viewed: 2/3/09
- "pt 2: The Garage Sale"
Dir: Majella Milne
Premier: 11/20/08
Viewed: 2/3/09



The Daily Show: "Feb 2, 2009"
Dir: ?
Premier: 2/2/09
Viewed: 2/03/ 09



The Colbert Report: "Feb 2, 2009"
Dir: ?
Premier: 2/2/09
Viewed: 2/3/09



Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "Journey to the Center of the Bat!"
Dir: Michael Chiang
Premier: 1/30/09
Viewed: 2/3/09

Reinforcements

Spectacular Spider-Man: "Reinforcements" (tv series)
Dir: Michael Goguen
Premiere: 1/25/09
Viewed: 1/30/09
Comment: Some of the best action story artists in television are working for Marvel right now.

Fall of the Blue Beetle!

"Singin' in the Rain" (feature)
Dir: Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly
Premier: 1952
Viewed: 1/28/09
Comment: One of a few films from Film Hist. 1 that I wanted to watch in it's entirety.




Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "Fall of the Blue Beetle!" (tv series)
Dir: Brandon Vietti
Premier: 1/23/09
Viewed: 1/28/09




"A Wild Night in El Reno"
Dir: George Kuchar
Premier: 1977
Viewed: 1/26/ 09
Comment:..............eh?