Movies
No big political thoughts here. Just 4 movies that I have seen recently on DVD. The New Appleseed, The Returner, The Vampire Effect, and last and least, Sleepless Nights.
Appleseed is a remake of a great anime classic. It is done in CGI and is visually amazing. Unfortunetly I don't think it holds up story wise to the original. My biggest unhappiness with it is in the "bad guys". In the original Appleseed the bad guy really isn't a bad guy. He is just an idealist with a different ideal than the rulers of his society. The protagonist is a cop who has a job to do. I at least was torn watching the original Appleseed becasue I frankly sympathized alot with the bad guy. In the New Appleseed the bad guys are BAD GUYS. To the point of delivering extemporaneous speeches on their villanry and why the protagonist is going to lose. Yawn. The film is well worth watching but if you had to choose, I would go with the old one. Appleseed (the new one) is distributed in the US by Geneon. www.geneonanimation.com
The Returner is a sci-fi adventure/lovestory. Earth is invaded by aliens and we are getting our butts kicked. In desperation a girl is sent back in time to when the first alien showed up on earth to try and kill it before it can summon the mothership and start the war. Needless to say, things do not go as planned. The triads, a freelance hitman, and such mess everything up. the bad guy in this film is Awesome. He is the epitome of "pyscho bad guy" Gary Oldman in Leon, or the Professional as it was known in the US, has nothing on this guy. I would give you his name but the credits and the website seem to be in chinese. www.returner.net This is a very good film and I strongly recomend it.
The Vampire Effect is a Chinese vampire story. Actually it is a European vampire story done by Chinese. Jackie Chan appears in the film as a minor character. The film also features two girls who according to some web sites I have seen are a pop music duo out of Hong Kong. I haven't researched this so I know no more about it. It is a comedy involving a vampire prince that refuses to drink blood from a person. (His father sends him blood bottled like wine to survive on) A vampire hunter, his partner, and his sister, said sister of course starts dating the vampire prince. The action scenes are fun, the plot is enjoyable if not thrilling, the acting is ok for the genre. A fun movie to rent off the cheap shelves and throughly enjoyable. No websitre for the film but a google search will bring reviews and such up.
Last and least we have Sleepless Nights... www.sleeplessnights-themovie.com Sigh.If you enjoy cheesy c grade horror flicks, (I do) than this will be fun to watch. Once. The acting is stilted, the dialoge is cheesy, the effects are cheap, the plot is.. well there is a plot of sorts. There is an evil vampire lord named Malgaard who was once a knight Templar, he is being hunted by an unexplained vampire hunter named Sloane and his young assistant. The assistant's wife is turned into a vampire and she bites her husband turning him. Jump to the future where Sloane is the head of some nebulous federal vampire (necromorph) hunting agency. The young assistant (Grey) is a vampire but he is pure of heart or something so he can resist becoming evil like all other vampires and he is still stalking Malgaard who is taking over the Worldwide Church of the Future to create an army of undead to rule the earth. Toss in a few more vampire hunters including one with a brain tumor who decides going undead is better than going dead and the mess is on.
I really cannot in good conscience recomend this film unless you have stupid movie nights with your friends. Then this is a prime candidate.
Appleseed is a remake of a great anime classic. It is done in CGI and is visually amazing. Unfortunetly I don't think it holds up story wise to the original. My biggest unhappiness with it is in the "bad guys". In the original Appleseed the bad guy really isn't a bad guy. He is just an idealist with a different ideal than the rulers of his society. The protagonist is a cop who has a job to do. I at least was torn watching the original Appleseed becasue I frankly sympathized alot with the bad guy. In the New Appleseed the bad guys are BAD GUYS. To the point of delivering extemporaneous speeches on their villanry and why the protagonist is going to lose. Yawn. The film is well worth watching but if you had to choose, I would go with the old one. Appleseed (the new one) is distributed in the US by Geneon. www.geneonanimation.com
The Returner is a sci-fi adventure/lovestory. Earth is invaded by aliens and we are getting our butts kicked. In desperation a girl is sent back in time to when the first alien showed up on earth to try and kill it before it can summon the mothership and start the war. Needless to say, things do not go as planned. The triads, a freelance hitman, and such mess everything up. the bad guy in this film is Awesome. He is the epitome of "pyscho bad guy" Gary Oldman in Leon, or the Professional as it was known in the US, has nothing on this guy. I would give you his name but the credits and the website seem to be in chinese. www.returner.net This is a very good film and I strongly recomend it.
The Vampire Effect is a Chinese vampire story. Actually it is a European vampire story done by Chinese. Jackie Chan appears in the film as a minor character. The film also features two girls who according to some web sites I have seen are a pop music duo out of Hong Kong. I haven't researched this so I know no more about it. It is a comedy involving a vampire prince that refuses to drink blood from a person. (His father sends him blood bottled like wine to survive on) A vampire hunter, his partner, and his sister, said sister of course starts dating the vampire prince. The action scenes are fun, the plot is enjoyable if not thrilling, the acting is ok for the genre. A fun movie to rent off the cheap shelves and throughly enjoyable. No websitre for the film but a google search will bring reviews and such up.
Last and least we have Sleepless Nights... www.sleeplessnights-themovie.com Sigh.If you enjoy cheesy c grade horror flicks, (I do) than this will be fun to watch. Once. The acting is stilted, the dialoge is cheesy, the effects are cheap, the plot is.. well there is a plot of sorts. There is an evil vampire lord named Malgaard who was once a knight Templar, he is being hunted by an unexplained vampire hunter named Sloane and his young assistant. The assistant's wife is turned into a vampire and she bites her husband turning him. Jump to the future where Sloane is the head of some nebulous federal vampire (necromorph) hunting agency. The young assistant (Grey) is a vampire but he is pure of heart or something so he can resist becoming evil like all other vampires and he is still stalking Malgaard who is taking over the Worldwide Church of the Future to create an army of undead to rule the earth. Toss in a few more vampire hunters including one with a brain tumor who decides going undead is better than going dead and the mess is on.
I really cannot in good conscience recomend this film unless you have stupid movie nights with your friends. Then this is a prime candidate.
posted by exMI | 20:31
2 Comments:
It terrifies me to say this but I have already seen most of these. I did not recognize the names but the write ups triggered my faulty memory & I am now prepared to run screaming in terror,
Greetings&Felecitations:
Need to see Appleseed after hearing so much about it. Add to the anime list Perfect Blue and the second Vampire Hunter D movie. The first Animatrix episode was outstanding, the rest merely ok, can't wait for Ring World to make it onto the big screen. Sin City was good, if a bit bloody if you liked Sky Captain and took both with a grain of salt and knew the type of movie you were going to be watching.
Angmar
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