Millennium Actress
This anime by Satoshi Kon tells the life story of a Japanese movie star, once a household name but now a recluse for 30 years. It's a reflection on memory, Japanese cinema and twentieth century Japanese history, framed around an interview being conducted with her at her home, which is further framed around a love story.
We dive in and out of the events in her real life as she relays them, and in and out of the films she starred in. The whole thing is woven together beautifully. It could've been a complete mess, but it works amazingly well.
There are laughs, too, and heroes and villains and a sort of Greek chorus in the form of the cameraman who's capturing the interview. A really great, moving story. Pure fun to watch.
Special mention to the new 4K disc from All The Anime which I watched on it. This disc unfortunately SUCKS. You have not seen DNR on anime until you have seen this disc. DNR'd and oversharpened into oblivion. People complained about this issue with the new Akira, and honestly I thought the DNR there was overstated as an issue. This is far, far worse, and doesn't even have HDR as a benefit. A real shame.
Red River
Rollicking, rip roaring Western from the late 40s. I'd never seen this one properly. It's a road movie in many ways, about a journey to take 9000 cattle from Texas to Missouri for sale, and the events and encounters along the way. Stirring escapism, and impressively realistic. They sure did use a hell of a lot of cattle as extras.
Quite long at over two hours, but fills its runtime. A perfect Sunday afternoon watch. The disc from Eureka is excellent.
Operation Condor
Jackie Chan does Indiana Jones - he's a bounty hunter type character here, on the trail of some lost Nazi gold buried in a secret base deep in the Sahara.
Tons of fun, this. Plenty of slapstick laughs (somewhat over-dependent on the gag of a towel being ripped off a woman who's just out of the shower, but still), and excellent action and stunts as you would expect. There is a chase sequence with Jackie on a dirtbike which is absolutely brilliant.
Upper tier Chan action, recommended to anyone who enjoys a light hearted kung fu romp. The disc from 88 is absolutely superb, somewhat oversaturated but I think it actually fits the cartoony vibe of the film really well. It looks gorgeous.
This anime by Satoshi Kon tells the life story of a Japanese movie star, once a household name but now a recluse for 30 years. It's a reflection on memory, Japanese cinema and twentieth century Japanese history, framed around an interview being conducted with her at her home, which is further framed around a love story.
We dive in and out of the events in her real life as she relays them, and in and out of the films she starred in. The whole thing is woven together beautifully. It could've been a complete mess, but it works amazingly well.
There are laughs, too, and heroes and villains and a sort of Greek chorus in the form of the cameraman who's capturing the interview. A really great, moving story. Pure fun to watch.
Special mention to the new 4K disc from All The Anime which I watched on it. This disc unfortunately SUCKS. You have not seen DNR on anime until you have seen this disc. DNR'd and oversharpened into oblivion. People complained about this issue with the new Akira, and honestly I thought the DNR there was overstated as an issue. This is far, far worse, and doesn't even have HDR as a benefit. A real shame.
Red River
Rollicking, rip roaring Western from the late 40s. I'd never seen this one properly. It's a road movie in many ways, about a journey to take 9000 cattle from Texas to Missouri for sale, and the events and encounters along the way. Stirring escapism, and impressively realistic. They sure did use a hell of a lot of cattle as extras.
Quite long at over two hours, but fills its runtime. A perfect Sunday afternoon watch. The disc from Eureka is excellent.
Operation Condor
Jackie Chan does Indiana Jones - he's a bounty hunter type character here, on the trail of some lost Nazi gold buried in a secret base deep in the Sahara.
Tons of fun, this. Plenty of slapstick laughs (somewhat over-dependent on the gag of a towel being ripped off a woman who's just out of the shower, but still), and excellent action and stunts as you would expect. There is a chase sequence with Jackie on a dirtbike which is absolutely brilliant.
Upper tier Chan action, recommended to anyone who enjoys a light hearted kung fu romp. The disc from 88 is absolutely superb, somewhat oversaturated but I think it actually fits the cartoony vibe of the film really well. It looks gorgeous.
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