Blog Archives

The Chasing World (2008)

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Posted on May 24, 2011 by Justin

The Chasing World was a surprise. I was expecting something more predictable, a day-glo world of gory creature effects and shouting, perhaps something like Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl. What I got was an efficiently-constructed, fun little film which runs somewhat like a mashup of modern Doctor Who, Fukasaku’s Battle Royale and that nightmare where you’re somewhere familiar, running from hundreds of identical masked assailants, and you don’t know why. You know the one.

Our lead character … (read more)

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Black Butler (2008)

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Posted on May 22, 2011 by Deni

Genre is a funny thing. On the one hand, it gives you a ballpark for your expectations. Science fiction? Space ships and aliens. Horror? Dark scary places and the liberal splashing about of blood. Gundam? Bloody big robots. But on the other hand, genre can also confine and confuse in the face of reality, and looking at genre definitions across cultures can make things even harder. Black Butler (known to the early uptakers as Kuroshitsuji) originally ran in a … (read more)

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Paradise Kiss (2005)

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Posted on May 18, 2011 by Tom

It’s a less then well-known fact that reviewers sometimes don’t get to choose what they are to review. More often than not it’s a curse, having to watch such terrible fare as Space Adventure Cobra. But every so often there is a surprise like Air Gear, Elemental Gelade or in this case Paradise Kiss.

Paradise Kiss follows Yukari Hayasaka, a young high school student who is floating through high school and life; not striving to be the … (read more)

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Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers (2009)

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Posted on May 15, 2011 by Tom

There is a history in anime of the adaptation of TV series to movies. Often these films are new stories in the same world, like the Cowboy Bebop movie. Other films closely adapt the plot of the original, taking out a lot of the filler that sometimes creeps in during a series like the Evangelion movies. And then there is Eureka Seven.

Renton is the pilot of a mecha called Nirvash, named after a childhood pet, aboard … (read more)

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A Million (2009)

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Posted on May 9, 2011 by Alison

What would you do for a million dollars? Among the things I wouldn’t do is take part in a reality show – I think I’d rather eat my own toenails, or anyone else’s toenails for that matter. But unlike cranky folk like me, there’s a lot of people who’d like nothing better than to spend several weeks exposing their every breath to millions of viewers. Even when the ‘reality’ involves spending 7 days in the Australian outback, in an arduous … (read more)

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The Lost Bladesman (2011)

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Posted on April 28, 2011 by Tom

The Lost Bladesman is a film adaptation of a portion of the Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which has been the basis of many popular adaptations, most recently Red Cliff, the anime series Ikki Tousen and the popular Dynasty Warriors series of video games.

This particular film follows Guan Yu, here played by Donnie Yen (SPL, Ip Man, and Shanghai Knights), a great warrior and general who is more or less … (read more)

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FLCL (2000)

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Posted on April 22, 2011 by Eugene

Certainly a sign of advancing years when one starts reminiscing of times past.  It’s hard not to be nostalgic when revisiting a series that first began and ended almost 10 years ago but that’s certainly the case when the new Blu-ray disc of FLCL arrived in the mail.

I have fond memories of the show though the exact details as to why eluded me up until the point I pressed play for the entire series.  The Pillows soundtrack came on … (read more)

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Punished (2011)

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Posted on April 18, 2011 by Elizabeth Kerr

Have you noticed how the last few years have seen South Korean cinema fall under the influence of the great Hong Kong crime thrillers of the 1980s and early-’90s? Whether it’s in a stylistic and/or thematic shout-out or a straight-up remake of a classic — like Son Hae-sung’s A Better Tomorrow or the upcoming 3D remake of The Killer (nooooooo!) starring Jung Woo-sung — the Korean industry owes a lot to the trail blazed by John Woo, Ringo Lam and … (read more)

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