"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.".

The 1970's: A Decade Under The Influence

"Persona" (feature)
Dir: Ingmar Bergman
Premier:
Viewed: 3/30/09
Review: I thought "Persona" was a great learning tool. Using practical editing techniques to get across concepts of insanity was really interesting. The burning film effect was unexpected, each time it was played. Some might be put off by the liberal use of film-handling techniques, and find it difficult to take the film seriously. I managed to suspend those feelings in favor of enjoying the performances. Also it’s not always a good idea to build tension for a full feature’s length, but in experimental times. These concepts must be explored to make mainstream films more dynamic in their shot choices.

The scene at the end, where the mute woman is being told a story from woman is being told a story from her past is repeated almost 3 times. I thought it would reveal a "multiple-personality", kind of plot-twist, but when it didn't, I became completely confused as to what was going on. The acting was really amazing. Liv Ullman was a very strong actor and seemed to be working for two.

"A Decade Under The Influence" (documentary)
Dir: Ted Demme & Richard LaGravenese
Premier: 2003
Viewed: 3/30/09
Review: At a certain point between the 60’s and today, films became a LOT more dynamic in their style and subject matters. Even the most formulaic of modern films show evidence of several movements in cinema. One of those revolutions was French New Wave. Another was 1970’s American cinema. In IFC’s documentary, these years are explored in relative depth. There’s a point in the film where all the film makers cite their favorite film makers. The point of interest is that even influences have influences. Names like Ozu, Kurasawa and De Sica some up several times. Films like Easy Rider are brought up as examples of alternative film styles from the big studio norms.

There was a very long list of filmmakers interviewed in this documentary. Dennis Hopper and Jon Voight are names my generation knows mainly from their acting resume. It was interesting to see that they had also directed some serious hard-hitters of film history.


Family Guy: "Not All Dogs go to Heaven" (tv series)
Dir: Greg Colon
Premier: 3/29/09
Viewed: 3/30/09

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.

The Doomsday Clock

"Watchmen" (feature)
Dir: Zach Snyder
Premier: 3/6/09
Viewed: 3/15/09



Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "Mystery in Space!" (tv series)
Dir: Brandon Vietti
Premier: 3/13/09
Viewed: 3/16/09

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

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.

AAU's DVD Lounge

"Kung Fu Panda" (feature)
Dir: Mark Osborne & John Stevenson
Dir. Animation (dream sequence): James Baxter
Head of Character Animation: Dan Wagner
Head of Character Design: Nico Martlet
Premier: 6/6/08
Viewed: 2/4/09
Comment: FINALLY managed to see it. This was more of a belly-laugh movie than an emotional cinematic journey. The acting and animation was awesome, as was the novelty-style editing, though I'll have to see it again in private. The ANM-3d dept. chose THAT day to host a free pizza party in the lounge. Good pizza, horrible audio experience.