3 more things I'm dying to have on Blu-ray even though I have no time to watch anything

Did you really think I was only going to do 5 picks for a list like this? I hope not because otherwise I have no clue what I'd be doing in order to silence the seething madness which takes over whenever I'm not working myself to death.


Justify my grief by viewing the first part of this list!

Anyway, here's some more stuff I want to see because it's the best way for me to focus all of that vicious self-persecution into something vaguely positive

6.) The Rocketeer (1991) Walt Disney Pictures

I'm still not prepared to confront how this movie is 20 years old

I'm just amazed that this hasn't been announced by now as all the timing is right for a great media tie-in with Captain America: you've got the same director, similar subject matter and Disney even owns the Marvel characters (along with part of the distribution for Cap). It's practically a license to print money and an easier fit than a lot of other promotions I've seen in recent memory.

So what's great about this movie that isn't an amazing promotional opportunity? I probably don't have to tell you guys that! Joe Johnston's adaptation of the late Dave Steven's character stands out as a superlative early example of comic books as film. The whole movie is like a checklist of every pop culture thing the internet loves, excusing zombies and goofy cat pictures. Plus it's not terrible for both society and your mental state the way Sucker Punch is!

Oh wait. Not liking Sucker Punch is my fault. Guess I'll have to remember that when someone puts together a hodgepodge of things I'm supposed to enjoy, my subjective opinion of an artistic work is irrelevant; it was designed from the ground up to mechanically embody every aspect of entertainment that's supposed to appeal to me and for that reason I should adore it, ignoring all the uncomfortable aspects it may be stereotyping me with.

Tangential rant over.

This movie, along with Terminator 2, is one of the movies from when I was really young that I remember extremely well because of how I saw it. My Mom actually took me and my Brother to see this during a weekday matinee while my Dad was at work; this probably wasn't the first time I'd been to a matinee, but I was thrilled to notice that the theater was not swamped the way it would often be on weekends when we normally came. Also, my Mom going out of her way to take us to a movie was pretty rare so the memories stick in my mind years later. In fact, I'm still not entirely positive my Dad ever ended up seeing it though its doubtless he heard about since me and my Brother must have rented the NES game 30 times that summer. Such great music in that game despite it being even harder than Kemco's Batman, one of the two NES cartridges we actually owned.

So Rocketeer never really got a great DVD release, having special features limited to a trailer. As nice as it was to be able to see it in widescreen again that's pretty lacking for a movie that had a 'making of' TV special I remember pretty clearly. This wasn't the monster hit that Disney wanted it to be back in the day but that doesn't mean they can't make crazy bank off of it now with all the anticipation for Cap's movie. They go hand in hand and this already has a pretty big cult following. Awareness of this character is so high and talk isn't cheap Disney; pull together a spectacular blu-ray for any release of Captain America and you'll be looking at some nice profit. There's a reason that the releases from IDW of Dave Stevens' work have been pretty popular with fans and the press; that complete deluxe edition hardcover is absolutely to die for. Cliff's even got some new adventures coming your way with Rocketeer Adventures, an anthology series with work by top tier talent like Kurt Busiek and Mike Allred. It's out now for those interested...

People know what's up

7.) UHF (1989) Released by Orion Pictures, Rights held by MGM with home video releases being distributed by 20th Century Fox or possibly Sony

We miss you Orion pictures

Isn't it fun looking at the whirlwind of distribution deals that have made up MGM and their catalog over the years? Its like legal hopscotch because I still can't properly figure out who has the rights to make a Blu-ray of the only film which can claim the illustrious quality of starring Weird Al.


Back in the time before Comedy Central reran nothing but those goofy direct-to-video National Lampoon movies, they used to show this classic with a frequency to rival that of USA and their adoration of Tremors. As you can imagine, with so much of the early 1990's spent by me waiting in the Doctor's Lounge for my Dad to come back and help with my math homework, I saw this movie hundreds of times. The tale of George fighting against the corrupt R.J. Fletcher is the pinnacle of 80's comedy nostalgia even if people are unaware the movie exists (for now). Aren't the 80's always a big thing with the internet? Of course they are, otherwise custom T-shirt stores would have nothing to mash-up for an easy sell!

Is it for everyone? I have no clue. But I do know it's for me. I remember when the original MGM DVD came out, me and Jaysun went specially down to Best Buy on our day off to get it. I think they only had 3 copies and we had to get help to find them but it was worth it. Of all the discs put out by MGM at a budget, this was one of the best; it had commentary, deleted scenes, live menus, the works. Were they 'film school in a box' the way David Fincher releases are? No, but they gave you pretty much everything you could hope for from a movie that went head to head with Batman back in 1989. The test screening of UHF is well known to be one of the most well-received ever so that faith was justified and now we have a chance to see it repeated. Al's going to be game for any fun new thing you want to try so you know you'll have something new to put on there. Heck, why not go all legal like and make it a double pack with a collection of all his music videos?

There's a demand for this title out there and I don't doubt that whoever holds the rights could make a pretty penny off of it. Especially if they found some more of the deleted scenes or had a printable script option... C'mon Fox/Sony, don't make us drink from the firehose!


8.) Princess Mononoke (1997) Toho Co., Ltd and domestically licensed by Disney/Miramax

Maybe they can finally do some decent localized boxart for it too; the DVD looked ok...

Princess Mononoke has an interesting history in the US. Initially brought over by Miramax, it ended up being one of the first movies released as part of the Disney Tokuma deal made in 1996. After a theatrical release, it almost came to DVD with just English audio; fan protest convinced Miramax to put subtitles and original Japanese audio on the disc but not much else.

The way the deal has evolved over time has stipulated that Disney can't put anything out in the US that isn't already on Blu-ray in Japan so the release of this is likely going to be glacial. Japan is going in pseudo-chronological order and we're behind even that since Castle in the Sky has yet to be announced. I'm hoping Disney takes advantage of the whole library even though really only people like me are going to be buying stuff like Whisper of the Heart.

Why yes, I am still frustrated that we don't have anything resembling a release of Only Yesterday.

Anyway, that's a tangent.

I picked Mononoke because Miramax's original DVD was really lackluster as far as features go; all Ghibli DVD's had 2nd discs with the entire film in storyboard form, something I greatly enjoyed back in the age of real free time (namely the summer between graduating high school and entering college). The domestic release lacked even that, but in light of it being really early in the DVD life cycle, we understood. Besides, they can make up for it now by putting the storyboard version on the Blu-ray as well as the 6 hour and 20 minute long making of documentary that's out there. I think that would make up for it pretty nicely.

Also, this is arguably my favorite Ghibli movie. It's a dead heat with Castle in the Sky but it's easier to get people to scream at me over this one for some reason and we all know I love getting into arguments about stuff I care about. Don't you want to fuel the fires of my passion?

I really hope that Ghibli gets to Mononoke sooner than later, despite their seeming adherence to releases based on chronological order; the only joy I get out of that is seeing all the people have to wait for the over appreciated Howl's Moving Castle to come out last since Ponyo already made it. Do me a solid guys and get to working on the domestic released this film has always deserved as I'm sick of waiting for it.







There you have it guys. Because my thoughts always seem to be a work in progress, I'll probably be adding to this list in the future. In the meantime, feel free to tell me how awesome (or dumb) I am for liking UHF (or disliking Howl's Moving Castle) on Twitter, leave a comment here or even buy some fancy stuff from one of our sponsors!

Reel Madness super special extra deluxe bonus round: Speed Racer

Alright guys, I'll cop to it: this isn't what I was originally going to post today. Time got ahead of me this weekend with all the hoopla over Thor and the nightmare that the midnight shows presented to me. You may or may not hear about it in the episode we record tonight, but I'm sure it's a story you'll get at some point. Anyway, the other day, I was looking for a new little notebook and happened upon an old one where I used to record my hours at my old theater where we had a crooked manager that would adjust everyone's clock-ins and outs so she could make labor without sacrificing manpower. A folded up page with what follows fell out, written in the bright green ink from the pen I always used at podium there; I spent LOT of time on podium there since all the ushers I was in charge of hated it. What I was going for with this, I'm not sure. I was probably trying to convince people that the movie isn't the anti-capitalism conspiracy theory brought to life that some reviews claimed it was; either way, you've heard us talk about it before but some of the stuff here hugely amused me where I was looking back over it. It's not as casual as I normally sound when writing for here so it may sound a little high falutin'. I hope you enjoy, because if I'm going to get overwhelmed by work, I'd prefer my dodging responsibility turn out like this more often.

I gave all of our Speed Racer posters away; I still feel like a schmuck all this time later

Speed Racer presents us a world so visually vibrant that it becomes almost overwhelming during the course of the initial viewing. Speed’s world is literally a cartoon brought to life, with garish electric colors and surreal decorations, the visual onslaught helping the audience step into the world of its characters. Almost every scene has an intense visual aspect from the scenes of Speed in kindergarten, imagining himself as a race car driver all the way to the ‘ghost’ of the Mach 4 our hero sees when trying to break his brother’s race record. Not everything is totally realistic looking but that’s appropriate for a movie that conveys such a distinctly heightened reality. Everything in this world is hyperbole, an idea sold by practically everything in the movie; the intense camerawork in racing the Mach 5, the broad color pallette,the performances, all of them sell us on a world so incredibly apart from our own reality we can't help but be entranced by it. When Pops Racer is revealed to have been a Greco-Roman wrestling Champ just in time to mete out punishment on a group of attacking ninjas, we don’t feel cheated for the coincidence; we’re delighted that the foil to the villains is such a great punch line, revealed by the close-up of Pops’ championship ring. 

The characters are embodied as archetypes by the actors from the distilled sweetness of Speed’s girlfriend Trixie, to the stoic resourcefulness of his father Pops. Speed is purely heroic and good, a shining counterpart to the mysterious Racer X, who is secretly his lost brother Rex. The accident that Rex faked in order to join an international spy agency tore the Racer family apart, a choice he made after the corrupt Royalton targeted his family for their clean adherence to sportsmanship. As Racer X, he gets a second chance to bond with his lost brother as well as protect him from the vile plots of Royalton. Their trials in defying the evil conglomerate show them to be not just champions of their sport but champions of the goodness the movie’s villains so deeply despise. By the time of the final race, rigged with traps by the evil Royalton, the films visual signatures have been locked into place for over an hour and a half. Yet, the Wachowski Bros. have more cards to deal with a breathtaking finish that threatens sheer visual overload, symbolic of how Speed himself must go beyond all limits he has known in the past to claim a victory not just for himself, his family or his sport, but for all the good known to humanity.

WHERE ARE THE TRACKS COMING FROM?

So there you go guys. Mostly unchanged from when it was originally written 3 years ago, which seems like an eternity now I hate to say. I did italicize the end where it had not been before, just to emphasize the tone of the article. Bein' all fancy while still trying to embody a goofy thematic concept is a double edged sword to be sure. Yeah it's short but that may be to it's advantage; Speed Racer really is a bizarre juxtaposition of ADD imagery spread out over a pretty big run time, a pair of conflicting elements that can make it a tough sell. I wasn't expecting to convert anyone that hated the movie (in fact, I still hesitate to recommend it to people) but was hoping to push anyone forward that had been on the fence about it.


Anyway, I'll be back with something more substantial in the near future. In the meantime, check out the Dominion: Dinosaurs Vs. Aliens bit Jaysun did yesterday. It's longer and filled with what's likely an equal amount of hyperbolic intensity.

Favorite Robot Masters: Mega Man 2

Mega Man's "You got 'X' weapon" sprite is on the loose!

Well, like Arnold before me, I said I'd be back with more of these; to make up for the delay (and because it was hard to pick just 2 from what really amounts to my favorite Mega Man game) this edition is going to be an over sized 2 parts long!



Oh Mega Man 2, how we all love you. A franchise watermark almost a quarter of a century later, this is still the one to beat in my mind. Sure there's no Rush or Proto Man. You can't use the Mega Buster charge shot or the slide move. But you can thrill to 8 of the best Robot Masters made for a Mega Man game and some of the best music of the 8-bit era.

Is he throwing the Metal Blade or trying to catch it before it destroys him?

Metal Man

Apparently Metal Man is Keiji Inafune's least favorite Robot Master because he's so easily beaten with his own weapon. Sure that only comes up during your rematch in Dr. Wily's castle but I suppose he has a valid point. Still, poor Metal Man here is at a disadvantage in general: he's themed pretty obviously for a robot, he's usually the first Master in the game you take on (unless you prefer the Air Man route), his level is not extremely difficult etc...

So why is he so great? Because of those reasons! His level is fun with catchy music, he draws you into the game with a quick victory (something lacking in the original games frequently difficult first steps) and the Metal Blade is a totally sweet weapon! Just in light of the weapon being cribbed for other future Robot Masters is a sign that ol' MB here deserves the love.

Are they gears? Or are they lids having gone through a can opener?

When you get down to it the Metal Blade is a pretty good weapon against most of the Robot Masters; makes sense because they're all at least partially metal right? So you can hardly blame MM here for being doubly vulnerable as a result of having that weakness squared. Don't hate him for being a victim of cruel logic!

There's enough challenge to be found to make him interesting and it's not like there aren't other Robot Masters that can't be one-shot kills.

Which brings me to...

He's kind of like that episode of Futurama where Bender goes organic. Except Wood Man aged better.

Wood Man
Fun fact: in the normal difficulty of Mega Man 2 in the US, you can OHKO Woodman with a fully charged shot from the Atomic Fire. Obviously that's not quite as goofy as being so easily defeated with your own weapon but I'm not here to split hairs; the Metal Blade works decently well on everyone but the Atomic Fire just seems obvious to anyone fighting a robot with a delicious bark coating.

So why Wood Man? Well for one, the idea behind him is outrageous. But he also plays into a fun theme of some of the robot masters being based on the four elements along with cohorts Heat Man, Bubble Man and Air Man. Sure we already got Guts Man, who was technically 'earth', in the first game but the age of the truly bizarre Robot Masters was away and there only seemed like a certain number of sane choices for themes (don't get me started on Fire Man). Plus they really went crazy with Wood Man's level: it's got some of the best themed enemies in the game, great (as always) music and nothing annoying like those floating heads in Air Man's level that I hate so very much.

I really love those goofy rabbits with their carrot missiles though. Plus the gorilla bots and those crazy road runner things at the end

I digress.

It'd have been great if the Dragon in Wily's Castle was super vulnerable to the Leaf Shield; you'd never be able to stand still long enough to use it accurately so it would have been an extra special bastard kind of move to have in there.

The Wood Shield is a very special weapon because it's got a ton of unique qualities. The first shield type in the franchise, it was followed by skills like the Plant Barrier or Jewel Satellite; however, it stands out from them by being useless against all other Masters in the game excusing Air Man.

You heard right: the Wood Shield is useful against one boss in the game and chances are you've already beaten him before going after Wood Man. All the others, even the bosses in Wily's Castle, are immune to the thing. That leaves only the eventual rematch as your opportunity to get some boss related mileage out of this thing.

Admittedly I never thought of the leaves having rockets in them. It's the ultimate fusion of organics and technology!

Oh Wood Man: you are utterly preposterous as a concept for a robot and yet I love you. The fact that such a crazy choice for a themed robot showed up this early in the franchise is a testament to Capcom's ability to have fun with the game. The bizarre greatness of Wood Man continues in his appearances in other games like his use in Mega Man: the Power Battles. There, he's resistant to the Rolling Cutter and the Leaf Shield is actually the best weapon to use against Cut Man. Crazy.

So, that's all for now. Tune in sometime soon when I break down 2 more of the Masters from MM2 in the way that best selfishly reflects how I champion the game over its brethren!

5 things I want on Blu-ray already... dammit

So we're in an exciting age of frightening high-def picture quality that risks uncovering all the hideous flaws long hidden by past formats. Still, it's a little surprising to me how reluctant studios have been to release a lot of catalog titles on the new format. That's especially in light of how DVD let them make some major bank on a lot of them. Blu-ray has been badly afflicted with slow catalog releases as well as a lack of special features on a lot of them. Sometimes I wonder when the studios saw Blu-ray won the format war they didn't understand; just because BR is Sony technology doesn't mean all releases have to be like Superbit.

So here are 5 of 10 titles that frankly, I'm sick of waiting to see on Blu-ray. Some of them are big gaps and others are chances to make up for a botched prior release. Some are just me wishing for something that may never come out since nobody else cares.

1.) The Iron Giant (1999) Warner Bros. Feature Animation

I've got this poster and it's an original. But it's single sided and has a tiny, tiny little rip that drives me insane

In the age of the internet you'd pretty much have to have lived on the moon by this point not to have heard about this. So it begs the question: Warner, why not plug the one marketable animation you have with a connection to Pixar? 'The Incredibles' just came out on Blu-ray, and pretentious haters suggesting it's the only good super hero movie aside, it'd be some slick synergy to just coincidentally have released this on the same day. 

I remember waiting the whole of summer to go watch this movie. The trailers were terrible and the other marketing was pretty soft; I still don't know who dropped the ball on that. Still, the internet buzz on it was huge and I was a true believer despite the agonizing marketing campaign. It came out in August, on the same weekend as 'The Sixth Sense' and there was absolutely no question as to which one I was more interested in seeing. I dragged my Dad and my sister to the theater at the far end of where we lived (picked because I called ahead to check which places had it in the largest house). I was 14 at the time and my Dad thought I was way too old to be excited about something like this, no matter what I'd told him I heard.

The "Ultimate" Iron Giant. He's 18 inches tall which may still be the largest figure I own. I've never put him and Fin Fang Foom next to each other to check.

 3 months later we went to Canada and he bought this for me in the Silver Snail the moment he saw it. Big deal in light of how much he hated buying stuff in there. Yes, I know it's over a decade old now but it's still the best thing Trendmasters ever made.

Anyway, I'll quit showing off.

'The Iron Giant' was one of the first movies I had on both DVD and VHS as well as being one of the first movies I gladly payed for when they went back and bothered to give it special features. Admittedly Warner made it a little easy by releasing the special edition with a really low MSRP but I never hesitated either way.

Ah, justice is served

I wish more studios had followed suit with the cheap double dips but it seems that was next to impossible for most of them. That's neither here nor there though: I know Warner's aware of the popularity of this film (they helped to create it by running it on Cartoon Network non-stop Thanksgiving during one year) so I'm not entirely sure why they're hesitating. There's no time like the present guys and while Brad Bird fans will probably all be checking out 'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol' I don't know if slinging this out then will be quite the cross-marketing dream you could have already had.

BTW, everyone should check out The Ultimate Iron Giant site as it's truly staggering! This piece in particular is a special kind of mind-blowing.

2.) The Blues Brothers (1980) Universal Studios

Never has a movie featured as many different posters that are all basically the same image

As much as people love 'An American Werewolf in London' I'd still try and make a convincing argument that this is John Landis' best movie; either way, it's definitely my favorite. I can't help it as I'm pretty biased. 4 non-animated movies made up the majority of my first 5 years: 'Amadeus', 'Ghostbusters', 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', and this. That's partly because they were the only movies my family owned on VHS and partly because my Dad had excellent taste in an era where VHS tapes could set you back some major cash. I've got a lot of memories with this movie, from my Mom pointing out Steven Spielberg and Frank Oz (despite me being 4 and having no clue who they were) or my Dad telling me the context of the music playing as the Nazis' car plummeted down and through the street.

It was often a point of debate as to who this belonged to in my family. I maintain I paid for it.

I'm bamboozled by Universal's seeming lack of interest in their library catalog, especially in light of how they were a lot more reliable than other studios with their DVD releases right out of the gate. Fox was basically terrible until they released 'Fight Club', Warner refused to give up on the snapper case, Sony was glacial in their releases and Paramount was the most expensive despite a lack of features. Yes, most of the features on the Universal discs were just laserdisc ports and they were among the higher end price wise, but you got what you paid for. I was always confident in buying one of their movies with the 'collector's edition' gold band on the top and bottom even if 'Tremors' and 'The Thing' weren't anamorphic! The extended footage on the original DVD release was a treat even if it spoiled some gags and this is something begging to be a demo disc for people's sound systems. You could even try and license all the SNL performances of the characters as a lazy new special feature!

This is a huge movie and it just seems goofy for it not to be on Blu-ray; they already have a gimmick ready with the name of the format! While I'm making demands, Universal why don't you spruce up 'Tremors' 'The Thing' and 'Darkman' for me?




3.) Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (2006-2008) Produced by Sunrise Inc. and domestically licensed by Bandai Entertainment

Japan got a sweet season 1 box with original art by CLAMP.

It's a tragedy that it never created the foothold here that it did in it's native territory. Why do I love this show? Because it's insane. No twist isn't thrown at you, no emotion undisplayed and no character defect left buried. The show goes from an episode that's essentially a zany Scooby-Doo style huge chase scene to another that's solely about someone's desire to kill themselves in the most spectacular fashion imaginable. Crazy politics are thrown at you like a homeless person given a liquor store gift card and the justifications the characters make for their actions are a thrill unto themselves. It does have a terrifyingly large Slash fiction fanbase. It may veer into some bizarre and goofy territory. It might take some time to really get the motor running. It could even be interpreted as a little naive philosophically. But there's no question that when it finds its place, it is enormously entertaining.

Sure the pictures were at all different angles but the construction was really nice... and all the extra stuff didn't hurt

It's also a chance for Bandai to make up for sort of hosing those of us who stuck with the US releases and their multiple SKUs. Why? In America we got that pretty nice looking box above for Season 1. Below is what we got for Season 2.

The only picture in this article presented at scale.

That's right. Nothing.

Wow, Japan also got a season 2 box with sweet CLAMP original art. Here? We got jack. Thanks fans for buying the cheap SKUs

That would probably be a little less irksome if they hadn't also changed the number of volumes for the second season release. Season 1 had 6 volumes that would end up being released as either 3 sets of 2 discs each or a trio of limited editions that would include a CD, little art books and a volume of the (somewhat superfluous) manga. Season 2 had 4 individual volumes available as standard or limited editions. So if you were like me and planned to just buy two of the season 1 boxes, you'd be left with a big two DVD sized gap in there. Irksome. Also, the LE's this time around only had the manga which were not only available seperately anyway, but also not as interesting as the translated drama CDs or art books.

So Bandai, why not fix this with a complete series Blu-ray with a nice box akin to the R2 releases? I wouldn't even mind if you split them into 2 seasons as long as you included all the season 2 drama episodes you left off!

4.) The Devil's Backbone (2001) Canal + and Sony Pictures Classics (Domestic Distributor)

Guillermo Del Toro's surprisingly underseen ghost story (even next to something like Cronos but I blame Netflix Instant for that) does not seem to have a lot of street cred. I haven't met a ton of people who've seen it (in fact most of the ones I have were people that I lent my copy to) so if that's a reflection of people not liking it, I have no clue.

Review typos always make me laugh. What's an allergory?

Either way, this film exists in a kind of sticky wicket; it's from a director that's well known but not a proven seller and this is one of his least popular films. That didn't stop Sony from releasing a special edition when 'Hellboy' came out but since 'Pacific Rim' is a few years off, there aren't many chances for synergy anytime soon.

This is probably as good as it gets for cover art here

The movie itself deserves a much wider audience; it's not typically scary the way a lot of stuff is but it plays like Del Toro doing an episode of 'The Twilight Zone' (and we all know how much I'm a fan of that). All the characters stay with you and the setting is pretty unique; even Federico Luppi is in it, so there's already a treat here for Del Toro fans. It's on Netflix streaming so dig it up; hopefully it won't need to refresh or find the server too much...

If you're interested in buying, you'll probably have better luck finding this version

As for the movie's legacy, Jacinto is still one of the most vile characters I've ever seen in a movie despite never showing up in any lists of great cinema villains. I blame that on how no one's watched it. Still, there is an audience out there for it judging by all the mockup Criterion Collection cover arts I see for it. I hope these guys know something I don't, because it'd be nice for the movie to finally get some decent looking cover art.

This is an adaptation of the original spanish poster. I like that Jacinto's there but it's still kind of busy

Like a lot of things on this list (at least #'s 3 and 5) this is actually ON Blu-ray in one region. Check out this sweet box they have in the UK.

Yes, that is Mike Mignola art. Cuz they're pals.

Beflustering. Don't leave us hanging Criterion or whoever!

Look it has a pop-up thing in it! Get jealous already!

5.) Planetes (2003) Produced by Sunrise Inc. and domestically licensed by Bandai Entertainment

Alright, this is basically me being extremely selfish.

It's like Cowboy Bebop but minus all the things that you love about Cowboy Bebop. Or maybe like Robot Chicken without the pop culture glad handing of cartoon characters raping each other. I'm bitter.

This is far and away the least renowned thing on the list so I'll give some background.

Planetes is an anime from the early 2000's about debris disposal in space, adapted from Makoto Yukimura's titular Seinen Manga. It primarily concerns the trials of Hachirota 'Hachimaki' Hoshino of the Technora Debris Collecting section, referred to by it's other members as "half section". From the get-go this show departed in some subtle ways from the source material but they're both great and I think the anime actually trumps the manga for tonal consistency. They're both great though, so don't let that discourage you from trying to find either; it's just some things work well as stills and others as motion. I'll leave it at that.

The show was directed by Taniguchi and written by Okouchi but obviously preceded the huge success they'd have with Code Geass. I don't know how popular the property is in Japan (not for a lack of looking while I was there though) but it never made much of a splash here; the combination of a realistic style, lack of overt action and a relaxed pace probably didn't help its case with some viewers out there.

There's not a lot of hard sci-fi to enjoy outside of novels now and most of those are getting older or get too diluted with high concept cyberpunk aspects. The idea of what motivates people to explore the reaches of outer space is drifting away into the cracks between the next great futurist attempting to outdo Dick or Gibson.

I'm drifting off on a tangent, aren't I? Sorry.

Telling someone a show is "a drama about space junk collectors" doesn't really sound like a goldmine of riveting thrills. To each their own I guess.

So how indifferent are people to this series? So indifferent it's practically impossible to find some decent quality pictures of the Complete Collection DVD release you see up there. So much that whenever I meet someone else who's watched it (or read the manga) there's an immediate bond. So much that I have two copies of the Complete Collection, just so I can have a lender if people ask. That even extends to the Manga which is going out of print as we speak.

Buying this and syncing the english audio may be my only option someday. *shudder*

Yeah, I'm pretty crazy about this series. It's more comical than the manga but that doesn't mean you shouldn't check either out as they each have their respective powerful moments. Plus I'm dying to hear from someone who experienced a key moment in the anime first.


This is my big sell on the list as you're probably never going to be called cool for seeing this unless you run into me or Jas in person sometime. So since I'm trying to lay out the feel for this to anyone, watch the intro here on Youtube! You can even turn the volume off if you're more comfortable without the inaccessible theme music as long as you note how cool it is to have the keynote visual history of space travel compressed into about a minute and a half!

Show me the love somebody

Favorite Robot Masters: Mega Man 3

20 years later and my Ire for those Porcupines burns just as bright

I've been playing 'Mega Man Zero Collection' for the past few days (after getting it from the TRU buy 2 get 1 free sale) and before I do a real review of that corner of the Mega Man franchise I'd like to talk about what got us all loving the Blue Bomber in the first place: the original games. More specifically, about the Robot Masters in those games









Shadow Man

Shadow Man deserves your love because he's a ninja and we all know ninja's are the greatest thing ever because they wield real ultimate power. So what else makes him great? Well he's got one of my favorite levels in 'Mega Man 3' which was unique because of all the vertical drops at the very start. There are those cool bubbles that turn off the lights and the breaking platforms that I prefer infinitely to the ubiquitous disappearing blocks we usually see (see Magnet Man's level). There's also one of those crazy jumping helmets with the hydraulic pumps on his legs. You know, the ones that you slide to get underneath Capcom.

Sorry, a little Mega Man 9 and 10 frustration slipping in there. Because when a move's in 6 out of 8 previous games, it's not a standard or anything.

Anyway, the music in Shadow Man's level is crazy; it sounds like it should take place in a railroad station or something. I love the Shadow Blade; sure it's just the Metal Blade with fewer directions and shorter range but the fact that you have to beat a robot ninja to get it has to count for something.

Fight Mega Man! Fight for everlasting peace!

Also, as I'm sure everyone realizes, the Mega Man universe is all about Balance. Dr. Light parallels Dr. Wily, Fire Man counters Ice Man, Rush is equaled by Treble. So if there's a Robot Master that's a Ninja you have to wonder: is there one that's a pirate?

Arr! I be a fan of ancient Internet jokes! You best be turning over all your LOLcats if you expect safe passage!

Damn straight there is!

Magnet Man

I can't even decide which reason to best love Magnet Man.  He's got a giant magnet on his forehead, which is presumably where his hard drive/memory bank is, so he must suffer terrible memory loss. Or at least be in a state of constant delirium. Who knows, maybe Magnet man here thinks he's the Queen of Namibia or something...

What is he? The result of a drunken bet between Dr. Wily and Dr. Light that was followed up on years later? A giant 'eff you' to all the people who said it couldn't or shouldn't be done? Then of course, there's the old standard of Dr. Wily just being a total dick with an obscenely cruel sense of humor.

Though, I guess you could also make the argument that it's quite genius for him to be built that way: Wily could just as easily have done that because it'd make him totally jealous of Mega Man! Or maybe he's taunting Mags here with the promise of rebuilding him so that magnet sits in a place that won't make him infrequently believe he's a prize winning Greyhound.

For that matter, the Robot Masters of 'Mega Man 3' were originally built with a non-rampage purpose in mind though I find Magnet Man's somewhat suspect. Bomb Man? Demolitions. Ice Man? A relentless worker in sub-zero conditions. Cut Man? The ultimate Lumberjack. I know that Magnet Man was apparently built to destroy garbage and scrap metal with his powers but I have to wonder how a Magnet helps that. I guess his amnesia makes it so that all he's suited for is to pick things up and smash them together.

The Magnet Missile is great because it changes direction to home in on enemies like some kind of tech-geek nightmare smart bomb. Wily must hate bringing in Magnet Man for repairs because he'd probably come to think he's in the enemy base or something, firing missiles that would eliminate the Doc's cake recipes and prized research.

Magnet Man: Bad idea or Baddest idea?

So in the end, Magnet Man has a ton of potential: Tragic Amnesiac or comical Spaz? Powerful threat or dangerous loose cannon? Only the player knows for sure...


As you can probably tell I'm only getting started here; I picked Mega Man 3 because it was the first Mega Man game I ever really got to play for more than 5 minutes at a friend's house. It was brand new around the time I finally owned an NES and Mega Man 2 was a pain to rent as they only had it on the opposite side of town. That still didn't stop me though as it’s still my favorite (along with most other fans). You'll see that for sure next time when I discuss some choice Masters from it.

Yeah I don't know why he waggles his eyebrows so much either.

Reel Madness: 'Inglourious Basterds' and 'Precious'

When I started jotting down my thoughts for these I knew I'd be getting some shit for what I'd be saying about 'Inglourious Basterds'. I'm sure I'll be getting shit about it for years to come. The truth, really, is that Tarantino's latest was hard to quantify because while I found it to be very entertaining the first time, I wasn't quite as engaged in my subsequent viewing.

We never got this poster.

 The first time I watched 'IB' I enjoyed it a lot and found that it clipped along despite my relative disinterest in the Basterds themselves. The second time, I found it interminable. I do realize emotional state can play a lot into enjoyment of a movie (for an example of that, look no further then my Brother. He's pissy all the time and therefore hates any movie that isn't a retro-kitsch pastiche fest or has no muskets being loaded) so I do need to see it again; in the meantime, all I can go on is the fact that the first time was the peak, the second the valley.

Maybe the minor flaws from the first time had become more glaring with hindsight. I never really cared for the titular Basterds as they seem very much like throwaway badasses with little to set them apart excusing their differing degrees of supposed badassery. I hadn't realized how much of the movie's tension is diffused by the fact that they ultimately don't really matter. The Basterds apparently really annoy Hitler but we never see why they'd happen to be more irksome then say, the German defeat at Stalingrad. These guys are a public relations nightmare, that's clear and we definitely see that the German soldiers live in absolute terror of the guys. But I don't know how that's a worse threat then being sent to the Eastern front where you could be eaten by a bear (this is a Tarantino movie so I'm not ruling it out). The possibility that the entire Russian campaign never happened in this universe is there though, since we never see or hear anything about it. But the fact that the Eastern Front was home to most aspects of the Holocaust would seem to give context to the Basterds remorseless torture of the Nazi's they meet, right?

I'm reading into this too deeply aren't I?

Anyway I'm going to say that the Basterds just hate Nazi's arbitrarily in reflection of the fact that they kind of don't matter so much to the movie. More than half of them are dispatched off-screen so I think around the time Tarantino was watching the dailies he realized the movie really only needed to be about one thing anyway: Christoph Waltz as Colonel Hans Landa.

Make no mistake; the movie wouldn't be half as interesting without Waltz. The first time I saw it, he was all I could talk about; the second, all I still liked. The performance is so strong and engaging I think that's the problem I had with the next viewing: I didn't care about anyone but him. There's an immense amount of time spent on the Basterds not really mattering. Sure they shoot up Hitler and the boys but that's ultimately pointless since Shoshanna blows up the theater anyway. Since it's obvious that Landa recognizes Shoshanna, it's apparent that he was going to have Hitler killed anyway. The fact that we never get any real insight into why is a testament to how entertaining the performance is: we find out very little about Landa other then he enjoys the nicknames he's earned. Maybe he wanted to be "The man who between two simultaneous plans, indirectly killed Hitler"?

We never got this one either. I liked Eli Roth in the movie; he should stick to stuff like this and not make any more 'Hostel' movies. I wonder if that funky gun got a big scene the way that bat did.

I don't know what was cut from the film as it was originally planned to be a lot longer. Maybe there was more about Landa's different motivations and how he became such an insidious puppet master. Perhaps there was more to make Private Zoller less sympathetic and therefore more deserving of his fate. I do know that a big deal in made out of introducing Hugo Stiglitz who ultimately doesn't end up doing much outside of the stylish montage that introduces him. I'm not sure if that's a function of German film star Til Schweiger needing face time for international appeal or if Tarantino just really liked the name 'Hugo Stiglitz'.

On that note, I have to say Shoshanna's story was less interesting during the second go-round. Her part of the movie has the most dramatic moments and it's sad because I think on its own, the events would be even more effective. As it is, a lot of their impact is softened by the fact that she doesn't realize the fact that she's in a comedy. I think Tarantino's a great filmmaker, but I also think he's trapped because at this point everyone expects him to make a 'Tarantino' movie and if he goes away from that he ends up with something like 'Jackie Brown'. The fact that 'JB' made over quadruple its budget doesn't seem to conceal the fact that it's the least liked of his movies by audiences (edging out 'Death Proof' by a hair, apparently). The moments we spend with Shoshanna are among the most realistic Tarantino's committed to film but those damn Basterds get in the way of it being taken too seriously. Then again, that could be the point: Quentin doesn't want to be taken seriously and he's secretly laughing at all the reviews claiming that 'IB' is about the destructive power of art.

Still, a lot more has to be said about how the movie makes it fictional Nazi characters more interesting and sympathetic than the American battalion after which the movies named. I've not really looked into it yet, but I imagine that Aldo Raine's crew of roughnecks end up having less screen time in comparison as well.

I think this is the one that best reflects the movie's concept. As you can imagine, we never got it. I think part of why the Weinstein Co. is on the verge of bankruptcy is because they made about 20 different posters for this.

Maybe with the next viewing of 'Inglourious Basterds' everything will distill for me properly. The expectations I had for it going in the second time could have caused it to curdle in my mind prematurely or I might have just been in the wrong kind of mood for that kind of movie. Either way, I know Tarantino's capable of more precise films than this and I'd hate to see him descend into grotesque self-parody the way Sam Raimi is quickly doing. I think the fact that he's kept the tones of his movie's very consistent will help as there won't be quite as much of that 'sad old man trying to relive his past' feeling. 'Drag Me to Hell' was a master class in that, and I don't think QT could make a movie that bad if he tried.

I'll say that my Dad loves Tarantino to the point where anything that he worked on outside of a producing capacity was a theater-going must for us when I was younger; he really disliked 'Basterds' and it's the only thing Quentin's worked on that he didn't care for.

Then again he said Zach Snyder had officially become the Brian DePalma to Tarantino's Hitchcock when he saw the 'Sucker Punch' trailer so maybe we're both crazy.


So...

This is a lot like 'Anatomy of a Murder'. We did get this poster and as far as I know it's the first one.

'Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire' was a surprising experience for me. I'd heard a lot of things about it beforehand but until I watched it, it just seemed to be this year's well-marketed tragedy of choice with only the fact that it was being distributed from Lionsgate, as opposed to Miramax in past years, setting it apart. They somehow pushed 'Crash' into the best picture slot and an eventual win so I was more than a little wary going in.

However, I was glad to see that Lee Daniels' took material that easily could have been given a pass for its dramatic power and turned out a truly engrossing film. True, the movie is relentless in heaping miseries upon its main character but none of it ever feels artificial. It's the complete opposite of 'A Serious Man' as the tragic elements bring us closer to the main character rather than pushing us away with their tonal inconsistency. Precious' reality is a cruel place, with little kindness or humor to be found so it's fitting that the movie doesn't have any one performance you can place above the others. A lot's been made of Mo'Nique's role as Precious' mother and I suppose that's the easiest one to reflect on since it's shocking how ugly they allow the character to be. Still, the comparisons to Lady Macbeth in reviews I've read seem truly bizarre in light of manipulation taking a backseat to abuse.

Either way, the film really is about the ensemble and how they all support the character of Precious, since her insights into them is what guides her towards a better life. The movie doesn't need to stand on any one performance to reach us and that is one of its greatest strengths. Really it only falters during one point: a strange scene that adopts a music video editing style that temporarily takes you out of what was happening around it. Everything around it is enough for that to be easily overlooked and I highly recommend 'Precious' as a whole. The fact that there's apparently a sequel in the works in disheartening as that seems very artificial; you want things to get better for Precious and by the end of the movie you're left with the hope that's what will eventually happen. Coming back for more seems less about being poignant and more about having arbitrary scenes of Precious’ Mother scream and throw appliances.

Of all the best picture nominees, this is the one that is the most arresting as far as drama goes. That may sound strange in a year when one of the nominees has a Robot fighting a Tiger, another lionizes a Nazi for his unsung manipulations towards killing his superiors and another is about a teenage girl finding out her older Beau is a total cad. It’s easy for something like ‘Precious’ to be ignored in light of it being a harsh experience and seeming like another drama generated to win awards (I’m looking at you ‘The Reader’, ‘Crash’, and ‘Babel’) but that works to its advantage. What it lacks in ‘nominee’ identity it makes up for with the excellence of its content. In the future, that will insure its impact rather than being forgotten the way something like 'Secrets and Lies' has been.

Reel Madness: 'The Blind Side' and 'Up in the Air'

Before I start this second installment about the 2009 best picture nominations I want to point out that these aren't ranked in any order; I just did 'A Serious Man' and 'An Education' first because I wanted to get them out of the way. So today I've got two movies that surprised me in different ways that are linked by how I intend to watch them in the future.

A lot of hoopla has surrounded Sandra Bullock’s performance in ‘The Blind Side’ and as a result the movie got a huge push when nominations were being announced; the fact that it held its own against the onslaught of ‘New Moon’ definitely didn’t tarnish its reputation. I really didn’t want to like this movie but it’s far too well-made for its own good and therefore owns up to the hype. The only previous movie I’ve seen by director John Lee Hancock was the troubled through production but excellent in final execution ‘The Alamo’ and that was enough to make me want him to have a hit. Here, he’s made a very engaging film here to the point where essentially any question or issue you could have with its premise is firmly answered with no sleight-of-hand at all. The story of Michael Oher and Leigh Anne Tuohy is touching and intelligent in a way that even got good word from my crab-ass of a brother. Everyone does a fine job and none of the drama is oversold so it’s a lot more quaint then you would expect. The thought that it’s very easy for a wealthy white family to change a poor black kid’s life is directly acknowledged in the film and that’s a degree of self-awareness I’ve never seen in a family drama. Every challenge you could put forth in criticizing the nature of the movie is acknowledged and it’s intelligent enough to make those reasons work. 

In that way, it’s a little sad because I don’t think it would have managed a nomination if not for the 10 slots. Without the praise for Bullock’s performance, the movie’s reviews mostly relegate it to average marks while accusing it of embodying a lot of the qualities that it was smart enough to avoid. Yes it can be a little syrupy but this is the kind of material that is going to seem that way at least slightly no matter how well made it is. Besides that, it’s not like that kind of content is foreign to the Oscars; ‘The Hurricane’ while excellent, falls into it and let’s not forget ‘Ordinary People’ no matter how much we want to. Still, no matter how much I liked it, I don’t know if it was worth a best picture nomination. Without the extra slots this year, this probably wouldn’t have rated, which makes it one of the “audience favorite” choices. It’s definitely worth seeing and is better than this kind of movie normally is, so everyone should reward its quality. I don’t know how often I may see it in the future but it’s not something I would mind watching again. Good for Hancock and company for making an interesting, uplifting film that’s smart enough to not fall into the laziness that so many others of its type always do. It’s a difficult movie to write about because it’s good qualities are so rare and fragile you don’t want to spoil them by crushing them under a microscope slide; still it’s worth your time and earned it’s praise no matter how half-hearted it seems outside of Bullock’s performance.

I was looking forward to ‘Up in the Air’ a lot, perhaps the most of any of the acclaimed pictures from 2009. It’s been sometime since then and I’m still not entirely sure what it is I think of the movie. The hook is great: A man who’s never had to hold onto anything in his life learns to appreciate the connections you can make with other people while defending the nature of his job. Clooney’s character is Ryan Bingham a man who fires people for a living as a professional corporate downsizer. His unique philosophies, both about how his job needs to be as well as about how he thinks of personal relationships, are both put to the test by him being assigned to travel with Natalie Keener. Played by Anna Kendrick, she’s attempting to change Clooney’s job forever by making it a process done over the internet rather than in person. This opposes Bingham’s love of flying as part of his job as well as challenging how he interprets his unpopular occupation. 

In order to make the sequences of characters being fired feel more realistic, Jason Reitman sought out people who had gone through the experience; as a result the movie gets a little detached from the main character. After we see the major players for the last time, there’s an extended sequence of real men and women describe how they managed to move on from being “let go”. It’s wonderful that Reitman was so moved by these people’s stories but it seems to cheat the actual film of much its emotional heavy lifting. After all, this is about Bingham and not the people he’s fired, no matter how much they factor into the change in his feelings. These interviews bookend a similar set of scenes where the same people discuss their reactions to having been fired, talking of how their family and friends helped them endure through the troubled times. We see Clooney reach out to both and by the end of the film he’s developed one meaningful friendship after meeting his family for the first time in years. That we only see the beginning of these relationships seems a little strange in light of the character keeping his job; as a result I felt a little more distant from him then where I was at the midway point of the film. Seeing all the documentary footage of the downsized is strange because we see their closure but not Ryan Bingham’s. Perhaps that is the point; without spoiling a major plot point, maybe the thought that we see Bingham start on that journey is meant as a counterpoint to all the trips we’ve seen him go on and discuss beforehand. It’s a weird juxtaposition but it may congeal better for me in future viewings. The initial viewing, those interviews took me a bit out of the movie which was hardly their intent to be sure. 

Despite all that, it’s still an emotionally gratifying experience that encourages us to not blindly hate an occupation that many interpret to exist solely for the suffering of others. That’s definitely something I can get behind and it makes me want to see this again soon so I can better sort out my thoughts on it. There are a lot of them there and I’m not sure how well they’re coming across even now. I can definitely get behind one thing: the person who designed the Cover Art for the DVD/Blu-Ray release should have just used the theatrical poster seen above. Instead they went with an uninspiring shot of Clooney and Vera Farmiga’s character that looks like generic 90’s Indie Romcom #27C.  

Blech.

That and I'm not sure how good "The Movie of the Year, the Movie of the Moment" is for praise as it makes the movie sound forgettable whereas I’m sure they were aiming at timeliness when they put it on there.

While 'The Blind Side' is hard for me to write about and 'Up in the Air' still needs some internal processing on my part, they're both definitely worth watching. There's no "Oscar shame" in these two being nominated, as when we look back years from now we won't be wondering just what the hell AMPAS was thinking at the time.