Last movie watched...

[Mabs]

Metropolis

It's been three days since I watched this stunning film, and I  cannot get it out of my head!  The imagery, the music, my god - what music! And the themes which run through it - have seared themselves on my mind.

The film is not the Fritz Lang version, but an anime film directed by Rintaro , and written by Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) and is based on the original works of the late Osamu Tezuku, who is regarded as the godfather of Japanese Anime.

The story is set in a futuristic city, where tall towers overlook a city which is very similar to Fritz Lang's vision melded with Blade Runner. There are several layers to the city called 'Zones', with the lowest being populated by robots who do the works which humans do not want. And there's a robot human divide with the humans very critical towards their artificial counterparts who they blame for taking their jobs. In this vast dystopia, a private detective Shansaku Ban, and his nephew Kenichi, arrive to investigate the works of a scientist Dr. Laughton,  who is on the eve of creating a super robot; Tima - a girl modelled on the dead daughter of the city's unofficial leader, Duke Red. He wants the robot to be a replacement for the daughter he lost (and ultimately become ruler of Metropolis), but his son Rock (who we learn early is adopted) does not take to the idea lightly and goes about trying to stop the scientist finishing his creation. But Tima, along with the detective's nephew, escape into the underbelly of the city. They come across human insurgents who want to overthrow the rule of Duke Red but at the same time Rock is hot on their trail.

The animation is truly exquisite, a blend of CGI and traditional cel animation. It may seem a little dated by today's standards, but it is still mesmerising stuff. The film has a really immersive, almost hypnotic feel to it. And the story has a lot of themes running through it, such as father and son relationship. Rock yearns to be appreciated by his father, but he is too preoccupied with retrieving his daughter and oblivious to his plight. It mirrors the the father son theme in Blade Runner where Roy Batty also longs to be accepted. There's also the clash of two different races, and the fear of 'the other', in this case robots. There's some really touching interractions between the two, first when we see a gentle waste disposal robot who brings food to Tima and Kenichi, and the robot detective who accompanies the main detective and his nephew;  [spoiler]his last moments juxtaposed with the flight of a bird and a look of fear on his face says so many things[/spoiler]. And the towering skyscrapers are shown as a parable on the Towers of Babel, with the famous biblical incident getting a name check in the film. But at heart, the film is about innocence, the wonder of childhood, love and acceptance.

The visual details of the film is a masterclass by the creative team, from the cluttered almost claustrophobic settings of the lower levels to the sprawling cityscapes above. Not only does it call to mind Blade Runner, but also the world of Mega City 1 in the Judge Dredd comic strip, both of whom must pay inspirational debt to Fritz Lang's Metropolis. The influence of Lang's film on science fiction cinema as a whole, is immense.

And of course the music for the film is so powerful. An influence of Jazz, and by the end, "I can't stop loving you" by Ray Charles, as destruction rains down upon the Tower of babel and Kenichi tries to rescue Tima. It is a potent coming together of music and imagery, and the result is unforgettable.

Metropolis is a beautiful masterpiece, It is a fitting love letter to the godfather of Anime Osamu Tezuku, and I'm certain it is a film he would've been proud of.

5/5

[Professor Bear]

I hated the first Kick Ass movie, loathed the first two comic runs and no amount of persuasion can convinae me to give anything bearing the name a try.

Kick Ass 2 is far and away one of the absolute worst films I have ever seen in my entire life.

[pictsy]

I watched the anime Metropolis a few months ago for the first time.  It was good but I was expecting something a lot better.  If I saw this in the 90's (which would have obviously been impossible) when I saw things like Cyber City Oedo 808, A.D Police, Wicked City, and Dominion Tank Police then I think I would have appreciated it more.

Anyway, seeing as there is talk of anime I'm going to take the opportunity to name some anime films I have seen in more recent years that have left an impression on me. 

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
The Sky Chasers
Tekkonkinkreet (I was so impressed by this one that I got the manga)
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade.

[Mabs]

I watched the anime Metropolis a few months ago for the first time.  It was good but I was expecting something a lot better.  If I saw this in the 90's (which would have obviously been impossible) when I saw things like Cyber City Oedo 808, A.D Police, Wicked City, and Dominion Tank Police then I think I would have appreciated it more.

Anyway, seeing as there is talk of anime I'm going to take the opportunity to name some anime films I have seen in more recent years that have left an impression on me. 

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
The Sky Chasers
Tekkonkinkreet (I was so impressed by this one that I got the manga)
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade.

I would class Metropolis more closer to the Studio Ghibli output than the more adult orientated films such as Cyber City, speaking of which, I remember going apeshit when I watched Cyber City OEDO for the first time all those years ago! I don't know why it's so difficult to find on DVD (although there might be one or two episodes on youtube). AD Police was also a blast, but those static shots were a bit too frequent for my liking.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

Cyber City OEDO. Class particularly the first episode. Adults only though.Link to an English version below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwBXPsetOHM&feature=share&list=FLtPfm3PpsAqsxDbWbE1d25w&index=22

[HdE]

The Sky Chasers

You mean 'The Sky CRAWLERS', surely?

That's a brilliant movie, any which way you slice it. A great piece of mature, contemplative sci-fi. It also looks the business!

The final scenes literally felt like a punch in the gut.

[pictsy]

You mean 'The Sky CRAWLERS', surely?

That's a brilliant movie, any which way you slice it. A great piece of mature, contemplative sci-fi. It also looks the business!

The final scenes literally felt like a punch in the gut.

Yes, I did mean that. 
It's what I get for writing posts just before going to bed

[Tiplodocus]

The most egregious IMMORTALS. 

The only good thing about it was Henry Cavill in a loincloth (very nice) and the campness of Gods made me think of FLASH GORDON so I dug out that and watched it. It was fabulous as ever. 

*I'd love a special edition where somebody cleaned up the matte lines around every special effect but otherwise left it untouched (because they are brilliantly imaginitive). Until then, I just have to imagine it was filmed by Carols Ezquerra.

[Theblazeuk]

Just watched Fargo again cos its on Netflix.

Surprisingly good material for breakfast-to-lunch viewing.

[Mardroid]

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Unfortunately I caught it in 2D as we would have had to wait an hour later to catch the 3D version and we got home late enough as it was.

Bloated. But not as bad as many seem to make out. Actually it wasn't bad at all. In fact it was pretty good. But it could have been better.

[Spikes]

Last night - The Legend of Hell House. Grand stuff, and a bit of a fave.

This afternoon - Behind the Candelabra, been hoping to catch this for a while, and I thought it was decent enough.
Good performances from both Douglas and Damon.

[JamesC]

Just watched the Disney CGI 'A Christmas Carol' with Jim Carrey.

I thought it was surprisingly good. It was very dark in places but Scrooge was very characterful and well acted. We all know the story but this definitely a worthy version.

[radiator]

Inglorious Basterds.

I'd put this off for ages, perhaps unfairly I'd mentally written Tarantino off as a spent force following the dismal/mixed reviews for both Death Proof and this. But I adored Django when I saw it in the cinema (admittedly I only went to see it because my girlfriend wanted to go... ), so asked for the Tarantino XX box set for my birthday, and when I finally sat down to watch IB the other week I was pretty much blown away by it. Not at all what I was expecting - it's basically a series of conversations after all - but easily the best movie I've seen in ages - so beautifully shot and crafted. Was on the edge of my seat throughout. Absolutely loved it, and can't wait to watch it all over again.

I also rewatched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey last night, this time the Extended Edition*. Now, I've been on the record in the past as being really down on this film (and the new one) and saying I wouldn't be interested in watching it again, but due to coincidentally being on a four-hour train journey last night and for reasons too boring to explain having an HD copy of the movie on my iPad I decided to give it another go.

And I'll say perhaps I've been a little harsh on it. I still think it's hugely self-indulgent, tonally-uneven, and a fundamentally flawed enterprise - I really think it was a mistake to make a 'LotR prequel' rather than a 'Hobbit movie' and someone really needs to keep Peter Jackson's more extravagant impulses in check - but seeing it again I will concede that there is quite a lot in there to like. The Riddles in the Dark section is fine and Gollum looks incredible (though they play him a bit hammy and 'playing to the crowd' for my liking - all that telling himself to 'shut up' etc is too on-the-nose and seems a bit out of character from how he is in Fellowship imo).

But I still think the last hour is otherwise pretty godawful. And I think exactly the same of Desolation of Smaug. And I think that's the reason I came away from each film feeling so negative on them - I hated the endings so much that it soured the rest of the films for me. I quite enjoyed each film up until the point that they collapsed in a mess of really rushed-looking cgi and wildly over the top action scenes. The Goblin Town and 'Out of the Frying Pan' sections are painfully bad - so utterly fake looking and visually overcooked (and the whole film has a pretty brutal blue/orange grade that makes it look really unappealing to me). And in both films, the stakes feel really contrived and artificial (like Thorin's overdone 'death scene' at the end of UJ). And those crappy-looking eagles! And I hate how they've made Bilbo such a Warg-slaying badass.

Anyway, I came away thinking a little more fondly of the whole thing, and that there's definitely a decent chance that someone will be able to one day whittle the whole thing down into a solid two-hour movie. For instance I would instantly jettison the entire Gandalf/Radagast subplot (literally no one cares, we already know where that's heading), reduce the Misty Mountains bit to a part of a montage and completely strip out the sillier, platform game-looking elements of the aforementioned action scenes.

*The EE, as you might imagine, is massively superfluous and adds nothing. I didn't even notice most of the extra material, so incidental it is, and all it does it further bloat an already overlong film.

[Mabs]

Just watched the Disney CGI 'A Christmas Carol' with Jim Carrey.

I thought it was surprisingly good. It was very dark in places but Scrooge was very characterful and well acted. We all know the story but this definitely a worthy version.

I watched that too! I thought it was a great fun. I'm also quite fond of Zemeckis' other CGI efforts Polar Express and Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol was also another fun showing. Ever since that awesome opening pan back in Contact, I've been a fan of Zemeckis' cool technical wizardry in films.

[Theblazeuk]

I started watching that. But then I realised I could be watching the Muppets...