ManyGentleCuttlefish

This film was astounding, an utter tour de force. Remember the scene in Brazil where Jonathon Pryce's mother gets the plastic surgery that literally stretches her face out? Remember the scene in Invasion of the Body Snatchers where Kevin McCarthy tries desperately to warn humanity, before succeeding? Remember the scene in End of Evangelion where Shinji, completely in despair, masturbates over the comatose body of his fallen comrade? Remember the scene in Walt Disney's The Sword in the Stone where Merlin defeats Madame Mimm in the Wizard's Duel by turning into a germ, thus proving that knowledge and wisdom is the real power? This film will make you remember all of these things and more, bringing back these tender emotions while still making us laugh. This is an utter triumph of the human spirit. Ingar Bergman would be proud. Joss Whedon is green with envy.

The master who directed this beautiful film, Carl Rinsch, has recently been tapped to direct a new Alien film. Judging by this film, his understanding of subtle humor and brilliant musical numbers make him the perfect match for the material. Kudos to him.

Yu mo gwai gui fi di zow.

That would be my one sentence review of this movie and the TV show that it is based on, but I'll go more in depth. This movie is likely to weird out and drive away anyone who's not a fan or a casual viewer of the series. But if you haven't seen anything relating to Keroro Gunso, the plot is not very hard to figure out. The movie assumes that you already know who the characters are, so you may be left in the dark in that respect, but it's about a frog-like alien and his companions saving earth, so you shouldn't be in too much trouble. As a film version of Keroro Gunso, it probably delivers for fans, since it has all of the main characters in it and even a few minor ones. The humor during the film is a bizarre combination of cutesy little kids jokes, pop culture references to Anime and well known films, and occasional stream of dark, apocalyptic creepiness. The deadly serious tone that filled much of it confused me, sort of like if The Simpsons Movie was about Homer dying of cancer. But the grim tone of the x- marks as well as the many forms of the creature Kiruru (filling in the role of boring villain created solely for film version of TV show) inspire some "aw, cool" moments. The voice work is serviceable. Standouts are Takehito Koyasu, who manages to carry the same detached sleaziness that made his character Kururu stand out as the most interesting in the TV show, and Haruna Ikezawa as Momoka, which isn't really surprising for those who've seen the series. As for Gunso himself, Kumiko Watanabe screams and wildly acts, which promises to be a fun portrayal, but as in the TV series, there is some sort of passive blandness to our main character, probably due to his 3-note personality. So, the movie manages to translate the series to the silver screen fairly unchanged. Like the show it is diverting and fun, but goes by so fast and leaves such little impression it's hard to care. Watch it with beer and friends and it can pass the time (assuming you and your friends are alcoholic otakus).

EDIT(2008): Wow, this review is horrible. I did it when I was, like, up at 3:00 in the morning, but that doesn't make it any more tolerable. I still stand by most of these opinions, but JEEZE, my writing style was god-awful. Turn away, folks.

This is a great film. Don't be put off by the long running time. It flies by and is over before you know it. It really leaves you wanting more. Despite the fact that I often call him Decrapio, Leo really shows that he's a very capable, even (gasp) good actor. He really brings out Hughes' personality (whether this movie is an accurate portrayal of Hughes or not, I don't know nor do I care) from his start in the film business with hints of odd behavior to his aviation skills to his descent into paranoia and OCD. I daresay that this is Scorsese's best-looking film. The crash sequence is simultaneously beautiful and deeply disturbing. It gets a little artsy here and there but overall it's breathtaking. It loses points for two things. First, I never felt much sympathy for Hughes for most of the film, except for the end, where his disease overtakes him. I don't know if this is the fault of the character, the script, or the actor, but I felt an odd detachment throughout this film. The other is Cate Blanchett's role as Hepburn. It struck me as more of a parody of her than a portrayal. But this should not stop anyone from watching this film. It's not a classic, but it's still a great and memorable film.

Let me start by saying that I judge horror films not just by how much they scare me, but how good they are story and acting wise. This is a danged creepy film, full of creepy set-pieces and a brilliant concept that managed to scare me into not wanting to go to sleep for a few days (I managed, but I was afraid for my life). Story wise, it has some goofy bits and holes, but nothing too out there. Script and acting wise is where this movie fails. Except for an early performance by Johnny Depp that manages to be quite normal and human, and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, who manages to be evil and ruthless (instead of the clown he became in later films), the acting is rather ho-hum. This is not helped by some poor writing on the screenplay's part. Heather Langenkamp as Nancy stands out as quite bad, and the rest of them are sort of there (yes, that includes Saxon). But Wes Craven was at the top of his game scare- wise at this point, so many of these problems are excused. The ending is very chilling.

One thing that truly bothers me about "classic" horror is that since some movies are so well known, it is impossible to be surprised by many of them. Though movies like "Poltergeist" and "The Shining" gave me some shock and surprise, especially Kubrick's movie, the fact that so many of their scares are ground in popular culture made me feel as if I didn't get the full extent of their terror, because I knew most of what was coming. That is why I love horror movies that I know little about when I watch them, because everything comes as a surprise.

"The Innocents" is just such a movie for me. It may be one of the most eerie and atmospheric movies I have seen. Unlike many horror movies, "The Innocents" builds up tension fairly early and gives the audience no break from it, no scene where the weight lifts from the audience and they can calm down. In the films more powerful scenes, I was almost begging for the next scene to be a calmer moment, to stop what was going on.

The plot lets the audience know just as much of what is going on as the main character. I despise slasher films that let us know where the killer is at all times, so no death or attack comes as a surprise. In "The Innocents", we get only vague hints as to what is going on, learning more as the character knows more and more. The direction and sets are incredible, and the house truly looks menacing in both the dark AND the light. The acting is fine across the board, particularly with the children, who perfectly give the impression of being sinister while still managing to behave like children. My only complaint about the movie is that the main character gets a very sure idea of what is happening a tad too early, and how she talks about what is happening to the children with incredible certainty was a bit unbelievable for me.

I have noticed and been quite saddened by the lack of votes for this movie. It really needs to be seen by more people. I encourage you to check out this movie, and then tell other people about it. It is really an overlooked, tiny classic of horror and suspense.

Pixar. With only seven movies you've built yourself a reputation as the greatest current animation studio of them all. Dreamworks has made some good ones and 20th Century Fox's movies have made me chuckle a bit, and Disney has gone downhill in recent years. But you can consistently produce quality work with almost no stain on your track record (except A Bug's Life, the one Pixar movie I did not enjoy). But I've lost track of my thoughts.I'm here to talk about Monster's Inc., my personal favorite Pixar movie.

I'm a doodler myself, and wan't to be an animator someday. And I love drawing monsters. Weird looking, many armed, strange-eyed creatures. That may have been the 1st reason Monster's Inc. appealed to me. So many of these creatures looked like something I would draw, and I spent much of my movie time looking at the creatures in the background.

I also was captivated by the world that was created in Inc. A big problem for me in Pixar's newest movie Cars was lack of real explanation for their universe, like how they built their buildings. In Monster's Inc. the monster world is explained so much more in depth, and we really believe this world could exist. There's a beauty in watching the thousands of closet doors zoom around and I always get goosebumps from watching the "scare montage", because I now know the mechanics of the world these creatures live in.

The characters in the world are also incredibly well realized. Mike and Sully both are easily relatable to, and even small characters have feelings and motivations we can understand. "Boo" actually behaves like a young child would, and that helped me believe she had real emotions. But the creature Randall is what stole the show for me. With his many arms, chameleon-like ability and sheer voice presence, it was hard for me to keep my eyes off of him. But what really made me love this movie so was the characters. When it comes time for the "sad part" of this movie, I was sad. I was actually seeing an animated cartoon that managed to make me feel for these animated creatures without being emotionally manipulative. And I'm not afraid to admit that I cry 4 out of 5 times at the ending.

So, in the end, I can't recommend this film enough. I think this stands above all other Pixar productions and is definitely one of the best animated films I've had the pleasure of seeing.

Dark Water is a horror masterpiece. It has so many things going for it. It is incredible at building tension. The scares get more and more disturbing until it lets loose an amazing terror at the climax. It also is helped by the fact that the characters are fleshed out to the point where I forgot most of them were characters. The relationship between the mother and daughter is beautiful, and realistic beyond anything I've seen in most movies. But this is a horror movie, and it sets out and performs what it is supposed to do. And the fact that the characters are so well developed makes their situation that much more horrible. Mitsuko is a terrifying presence throughout the movie, and though she is made sympathetic, it doesn't take the horror that she is putting Yoshimi and her daughter through. I was cowering by the time the film reached its climax, and almost crying at the final scene, which is creepy, but mostly beautiful and touching on many levels. Why are you still reading this? Go and watch it(unless you already have)! I can't promise you'll love it, but I hope you do and recommend it greatly from my own personal experience.

This is a very good and suspenseful film who's reputation is slightly disturbed by the fact that it inspired several lesser efforts by creating the slasher genre. The minor problem that I could predict everything since the formula is so well known held this movie back from a perfect score. Not that this is the fault of the movie, but the other lesser slasher films. But just knowing that this movie pretty much invented a genre makes me admire it on its own. But "Halloween" still has many scenes that are original, different, and most importantly, SCARY. Carpenter slowly shows more and more of adult Michael Myers in each scene, first starting from a point of view shot, then a man seen from a distance, then a pair of hands, until he is completely revealed in all his terrifying glory. Carpenter also is a master of tension,where in some scenes I look around to make sure I am alone. "Halloween" is a very worthwhile picture to watch and definitely one of the scariest movies I have ever seen.