Several years ago I stumbled upon a trailer on YouTube. After I watched the whole five minutes of it (it’s not a trailer in the normal sense of the word) I knew one thing: I definitely need to see that movie as soon it gets released!!! The name of that movie is Redline, a science fiction anime movie about a crazy race without rules. And it took almost two to three years that my wish will finally be fulfilled! And you will be sitting in the first row of that happening…

But before I continue here’s the trailer/clip in question:

This movie was in production for five years and it presumably cost a fortune for the anime production juggernaut Madhouse. Judging by that clip alone I knew this was crazy as hell – and therefore perfect for my tastes. Redline is directed by Takeshi Koike. You probably never heard of him but I’m quite sure you’ve already seen his work as he’s the guy who directed the Animatrix clip World Record. I think when you know this detail the similarities in terms of the visual style are obvious. He’s also responsible for some other stuff, mainly a short series/OAV (original animation video) called Trava.

So how is that connected to me and this blog? After waiting for so many years (and watching that trailer dozens of times) I am finally able to see Redline at the Fantasy Filmfest that takes place in my city right now. And I believe that I am one of the few guys on this planet who has the chance to see it that far ahead of almost everybody else. Heck, Redline’s even that fresh that there isn’t a lemma about it on Wikipedia (as of this writing). Of course, I plan to write an exhaustive review about it, so this will probably be the first and last time that madmind will be that far ahead of so many. This blog won’t be outside the mainstram, hell yeah, it will define the mainstream (next step: world domination).

Although I couldn’t get my hands on a copy of Trava I at least obtained another movie he took a part in: Dead Leaves. It’s a crazy science fiction action movie in which Takeshi Koike was the key animator but not the director. But since this is the closest thing I could get related to that man I plan to watch and review it before I’ll see Redline.

So stay tuned. the next days will be exciting. And I can’t wait to finally see Redline. I really hope it lives up to my personal hype.

Spoiler Threat Level: Medium

You might find it funny coming from the guy who actually runs this blog here, but I think, assume and believe I’ve never reviewed a true 80s movie before. So when I stumbled across the good old Running Man starring now good old Arnold Schwarzenegger I thought “Hell yeah, let’s rock back to the 80s and review it for the sake of online content”.

But before I continue with the movie review there’s a little question I have to ask you: how the heck can you endure the horrible German-Austrian accent of Schwarzenegger? My ears were constantly bleeding; I even passed out for a second and smashed into my beloved keyboard (the keys “Oh.my,God!” are still impressed on my forehead). You know, up to now I’ve always watched the dubbed versions which wonderfully straightened up the horror by using perfect German. But this? You have my utmost sincere condolences.

Thanks to that revelation I now have a new conspiracy theory in my sleeves regarding the crazy success of Arnold S.: you all only watched his movies for a good laugh. You can be frank…admit it! NOW!! Okay, back to the movie…

After watching Running Man there was one thing I knew for sure: it’s a science fiction movie that’s so 80s it’s beyond “not funny anymore” and right back to “funny”. The technology depicted here made my day.

See, now that’s the true Internet: white text on black canvas and simple drawings that take ages to load on a TV screen. Although it would’ve been immensely cool to use this stuff I am still kind of glad we are a little bit further than that…Wait. Now that I think about it our net can’t even come close to the artificial intelligence of the Running Man version. When I hammer at the keyboard the only thing I get is a black screen of silence (trust me, I tried it several times). So the Running Net® can truly anticipate what the user wants. I’d love to see that one in two years, so Steve and Bill, can you do something about it?

For a movie that’s set in 2019, a time in which they can copy a moving head onto a moving body perfectly, the other special effects departments seem to have been wiped from Earth by an unnamed disaster. Just look at the image above and you know what I mean. Got all SFX guys some work on the latest Avatar 3 which was that awful everyone got sent to Running Man? Or was it a Star Wars sequel-sequel (not a prequel-sequel)? In any case, if we hurry up, we could still reach that kind of dystopian future and I’m always in for an experiment.

If I had to pick one thing Running Man suffers horrendously from I’d pick “cheap lock” over everything else. It’s not only the costumes and lightning. It’s also basically everything else. Heck, even the main studio from the biggest show in the US looks as if it’s been made by the guys with no sense of epicness. Where are the laser beams? Where are 3D moving images? Where are the enormous flatscreens? Where are the high quality materials? And where the heck are some T-1000s dancing in the background? A total letdown. This is supposed to be a world in which TV governs everything – panem et circenses. Bread and Circus. The equipment doesn’t show this at all.

Oh yeah: If I had to pick the Top 10 Most Embarrassing Villains Ever, Dynamo would be one of the best on the list. Seriously, I can’t take him seriously even if I try to. A guy trying to imitate some light bulbs? He is a running joke wearing even awful underwear (oh why did they have to show that?!). At least he’s consistent with his awful tastes. Or the production team couldn’t find anything better in his size. In any case even I wouldn’t wear something that embarrassing even if my life would depend upon it. He alone would be worth a remake.

By the way: the thing about Running Man suffering from cheap looks was a joke. In fact, the movie suffers from two things: cheap looks and absence of logic.

Who would place an important high-security uplink to a satellite in the middle of a battle zone, for example? Including a terminal to work on it? I certainly wouldn’t. This is just a stupid idea. Only moments later there was another big question mark in my mind: what about the three men that supposedly won? Why did nobody remove their corpses because of…you know… all the damn cameras?  As far as I understood, everyone in the audience could see the dead of Fireball, so there had to be a camera. I also didn’t get the thing regarding the fake death of Arnold’s character. Isn’t that stunt kind of risky? You know, after witnessing a guy killing three of my best men I wouldn’t dare to fake his death because the chance of him getting out, proving that everything was indeed faked would be massively high. On the other hand: they seem to be able to track him, so why didn’t they do this? And why did those resistance guys never try to work on that satellite uplink themselves, as they presumably live in the battle zone (which is crazy as well)? And how the heck did the resistance guys even get into the studio building? Aren’t there supposed to be many dangerous criminals and therefore a shitload of security guys? Or are they all rallied in the main studio?

This also reminds me of the final fight in the studio. It was a total letdown and didn’t feel dramatic at all. Some guys do some static shooting? Here the production crew blew one big chance to impress. I think “anticlimactic” is the correct word for that kind of ending.

The most disappointing thing about all this is that even the action scenes which came before didn’t impress me. There was no speed, no tension, no thrill. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I guess it’s a combination of slow editing, bad lightning and bad action choreography. Moreover, without at least some shakey hand camera or some bullet time effects you can count me out. I know it’s a problem of our modern times but it only proves that Running Man hasn’t aged very well. It’s more like time did some good chewing on this movie and spit out its bones.

Wait a minute…this means I joked again because in the end Running Man suffers not from two but from three fatal flaws: cheap looks, absence of logic and unspectacular action. That’s really not good for a movie that’s supposed to be a cool as hell sci fi movie set in a dystopian future starring Schwarzenegger.

At least there are some crazy and funny dialogues present, so Running Man isn’t a total letdown (“I am your court appointed theatrical agent”…eh…what? I know it’s meant to be serious but I almost spit my coke onto my screen when hearing this. “See the camera up there? I can strangle you for the home audience” is even better). The presentation of a dystopian future is nothing new but served its purpose well enough to make other guys on the net praise it to the dark heavens – which I cannot really understand to be frank.

So, if you want to dive into the good old times of the 80s disguised as a science fiction movie, you can certainly give Running Man a rerun. Everybody else: I warned you so don’t blame me if you hate everything.

I certainly am in the middle ground. To me, when thinking about, the movie is more or less shitty b-movie material not worth my time. But the nostalgia is so present here thanks to a low budget that it saves this movie from being completely bad. Therefore my advice is this: watch it once and then forget it forever.

Spoiler Threat Level: Medium

Where did reality end and where did the dream(s) begin?

Trust me on that one if you haven’t seen Inception up to now. That question popped into my head right after the credits started to roll. Even more I began to ask myself if there were more dreams than I noticed. And if the answer is yes, on what occasion did they start? When I looked to my buddy in search for an answer (he watched Inception a second time), he only had a big evil smirk on his face: „It’s your guess…think about it…“ I knew it! Evil bastard.

When walking out of the theater at least one thing was a given to me: Inception will be discussed for weeks, perhaps months, perhaps even for years. I also think that it might become another (almost instant) classic as Memento. Christopher Nolan really did it again and compared to M. Night Shyamalan for example (who more or less screwed up with his second movie already) his chain of work up to now is more impressive than ever before. Can this guy screw up? I really hope not and I can’t wait to see his third movie (the Batman franchise not included).

If you haven’t seen or read anything about Inception, here’s a short outline of the plot: in a world in which you can enter dreams via technology, the movie tells the story of a team of specialists who have to implant a certain idea into the mind of the future successor of a multi-billion corporation. The only problem? It’s almost impossible to achieve such a task, so they devise an almost crazy plan to get the job done.

Inception not only impressed me with its ideas, concepts and multi-layered realities. It also impressed me with its pitch perfect execution. The action sequence was one of the very best I’ve seen in a very long time. The time was flying when I watched it and I couldn’t tell you how long it was even if my life would depend on it. My guess would be at least one hour, so if my assumption is correct, this has to be one of the longest action sequences ever.

As you can see, our hotel is that pricey, that even the ceiling is perfect. By the way, sir, don't wonder about the constantly changing direction - it's part of the service

Before the movie started my buddy told me that after the exposition is over and I know the basic rules of the game, the action would start and never stop. I didn’t really believe him to be honest because too often action movies never fulfilled their promises (see Transformers 2). Therefore, when they entered the mind of the successor-to-be, I expected some lengthy exposition and set-up only to witness a big “BAM” thirty seconds later. So my buddy was absolutely right on that one and you have to see it to believe it. (Yep, sounds cheesy)

I also liked the small mystery surrounding the main character Cobb (DiCaprio) and his past. It was nothing immensely epic or word destroying when everything got revealed but it fitted perfectly for this kind of movie and its focus on “ideas”. It also kept my tension high as it added an element of uncertainty to everything. Oh yeah, and my buddy again was right on that one: DiCaprio’s getting better and better at acting.

The only very small gripe I have about Inception is that some characters of the team remain a little bit flat und underdeveloped. But that’s to be expected of a movie of that kind. Basically Inception is an inverted heist flick: instead of stealing something, it’s about the task of adding something. It’s a team effort. And the character themselves aren’t the focus of Inception. Think of Mission:Impossible (the old series) which is the exact same pattern. So to me it’s a very, very minor gripe and it didn’t diminish the fun I had at all. (Andbyohtheway: if someone hammers you with his opinion that the characters are flat you can counter that he probably hates Picasso because he painted with such broad strokes).

Aaah...what a nice sky....wait a minute...wrong direction. Ok, you call that Origami? To me it only looks like making a donut...Whew, I saved the scene

If you still haven’t seen Inception here’s a small warning, though: don’t expect too much on the side of “manipulating a dream”. You know, stuff like bending a world, flying and other crazy stuff. Although the movie takes place in dreams for eternity it feels grounded and you’ll only see crazy visual stuff during the exposition. This is also the moment Nolan adds a nice twist to everything and which explains why in the later part of the movie you won’t see that crazy stuff: if the dream is too weird, the dreamer knows he’s dreaming and the whole operation gets blown to dust. It’s a simple idea yet I think it’s remarkably simple and it fits perfectly to everything else established in that universe. Thinking about it I am even glad that Nolan went this way of “grounding” Inception because anything visually crazy wouldn’t have fit and finally dragged IMHO.

Now that you’ve come that far in reading this overlong post/review I think you’ll know what will come as a verdict: if you (still) haven’t seen Inception, DO IT NOW. You won’t regret it. I’ll even wait with my next post, so grab your stuff and go to you theater of choice. Inception is feat of a movie, marrying great ideas and concepts with one of the longest and best action sequences of recent memory.

And now it’s up to you guys, who have already seen the movie: what did you think of Inception and do you have a theory regarding The Truth©®?

Spoiler Threat Level: Medium

God fucking dammit!!!!

Why couldn’t Michael “Hero Shot” Bay for once stop with his usual craptastic shit and go for quality, heh? It’s not that this installment of the Transformers franchise is godawful as some reviewers think. In the end it’s the usual action packed stuff you love or hate, so there’s nothing wrong with it… basically, somehow.

But I have a massive problem with movies that waste their big potentials for nothing. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is such a case. This movie has a story lurking in it with such epic quality that it’s not funny anymore.

Everything in this movie basically resolves around the fact that the Transformers were on Earth aeons ago…and never really left since then. They came to harvest the sun of this solar system for reasons I didn’t really understand. But as the prime of the past ruled, no inhabited planet should ever be sacrificed for this. The Fallen tried it and therefore ended up as The Fallen. A big fight ensued and the rulers of then sacrificed themselves to lock away the key of the harvester/weapon. That’s the story as it is.

You know, I am such a sucker for mysteries. Especially mysteries surrounding our history. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Transformers 2) basically tries to add another “legend” to our history. It incorporates the Transformers into our history…well it tries, basically. But come on, Michael, why did you stop halfway? With only a slight twist, Transformers 2 could have established that the civil war between the robots could have started at that point, on Earth because of Earth.

The former prime called The Fallen could have been gone mad from the fact that his own world died because of some dirty rock in space. Optimus Prime could also have revealed that he knew the truth all along and that he sometimes also feels the rage. There could have been real drama, tension and a massively epic story.

Hi, my name is "The Doctor". I wear glasses because I learned that it's a habit on this planet. They look awesome, don't they? Hey, why do you scream so much? No, I won't stop showing off. I love my glasses I don't need. By the way: I.Will.Look.Into.Your.Eyes.Forever. You know why? Because I am so cute and moe.

Instead of this Michael Bay again went for the hero shots, slow motion shots, advertisings for the military, plot parts that lead to nothing and stupid stuff all around (stoned mother, mini robot humping Megan Fox’s leg, balls of steel (literally), ripping off Terminator, racist robots, robots coming from nowhere (Devastator), an old robot using a cane and so much more).

At least I can thank Transformers 2 because I once and for all learned one thing about Michael Bay. And that is that this guy is great when it’s about slow motion shots of beautiful people against beautiful vistas without any content whatsoever. (Although even there he got on my (visual) nerves because there is not one single shot in which the camera doesn’t roll, rotate, pan or doll). But when it comes to action scenes Bay is completely lost.

There was not one single action sequence where I got the feeling I knew what was going on and who was where. Everything’s a single visual trainwreck that never created any tension whatsoever. For one part the reason can be traced back to the design of the Transformers which might look cool as a still frame but causes massive problems when moving fast. The crazy thing is that I know the other, secret reason for that mess: Bay constantly changes the visual direction between shots. In one shot they go left, in the shot right after that it goes to the right, for example. Check it out!

That's a new one for me: Temporarily Invisible Action

Andbyohtheway: the final fight between Optimus Prime and The Fallen (what happened to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?) was a single letdown to me. After so much buildup and so many big action moments this was definitely not the way to end that movie. That fight was pathetic.

But you know what’s my biggest problem with this movie and franchise? The Transformers behave and fight like Sissies humans. You know, they’re aliens. And god dammit they’re big fucking robots. Why don’t they act and fight like big alien fucking robots? I waited since the first second of the first movie that they’re starting to transform during their fights. From robot to an automobile to a fighter to something completely alien. But that never happened. Instead we got humans faking as robots. They stand like humans, fight like humans, shoot like humans. Even worse, they behave like humans. The “old” robot with his cane is a pitch perfect example of that shit. Since when would a robot being able to transform and reuse other robots need a damn cane? God dammit. There’s nothing alien about them at all. Not for a second. Seriously, let some Japanese or Asian guys do the job because they really know better.

Phew, now I feel better.  The funny thing is that this post reads less than a review than a rant from a frustrated Michael Bay fan. The most amazing thing about this review/rant is this: I am not hating Transformers 2 a.k.a Revenge of the Fallen. It’s just that Michael Bay wasted way too many opportunities in the story department. Moreover Bay added too much shit into the story department. And he wasn’t able to work well in the action department.

…

Why the heck do I not hate Transformers 2?

Spoiler Threat Level: Medium

Sorry when I start this review with a rant but when in the history of movies did someone decide that anything and everything even only slightly animated is being considered stuff for kids and families?

Just look at the reviews here, here and here: in every piece there’s a warning that Mary and Max is not for kids. Well, thank you very much for this warning. Please wake me up, if you started to watch some anime series and movies. Then we can talk. Seriously, this is embarrassing, especially when such assumptions come from reviewers. They should know better.  (Or do they know better but write this because of some narrow-minded audience? Come one, nobody is that narrow-minded…)

In one point they are all correct, though: this is a truly adult story, heartwarming, poignant and bittersweet. The claymation Mary and Max is one of the best animated movies in recent memory and to me it beats Pixar’s Up by a landslide.

The story of Mary and Max starts in good old 1976, when Mary Daisys Dinkel lives a somehow depressing life in an Australian suburbia. She get’s constantly picked on for her looks. Her father is working on a pathetic tea factory job and compensating it solely with his hobby (not the family). And her mother is an alcoholic shoplifter who can’t stand straight even if her life would depend on it. So one day Mary has the idea to pick a random name from a New York telephone book and open a pen-pal friendship. The lucky guy on the receiving end is no other than Max Horrowitz, a 44 year old man who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome and is as lonely as Mary.

Awww. Mary is just too cute!!!!1!

I won’t go too much into details here. Not only would this ruin the fun for you, no it would also probably take ten pages to describe everything in detail and I am too lazy of reviewer J…that notwithstanding the way both characters are brought to life is simply impressive. I think it’s safe to presume we all have our moments of loneliness. And now think of someone who constantly lives like that. Mary and Max really feel like social outcasts. Not because the world is unfair or there’s a cheerleader around but because they and their situations are “different” and “unique”. It’s slightly depressing but almost every time funnily cruel.

Despite their faults (or perhaps because of their faults) it’s almost impossible to not like those characters. Adam Elliott – who won an Oscar for his short movie Harvey Krumpet in 2003 – really knows how to pull that one off. Besides their small and bigger faults that get’s described in detail it’s simply the look of them that makes especially little Mary so damn adorable. Everything about her is unsymmetrical and doesn’t really fit. But when you see those combined elements animated in an eerily cute way you cannot do anything else than wishing to hug her. Max is the complete opposite with his slow way but that doesn’t make him any less likeable with his spot on description of humans and his own strange habits.

Max in his black and white colored set. And no, this is not simply desaturated.

What makes Mary and Max even more impressive to me is the fact that you can say that about almost every minor character. Everyone has their unique designs which combined with the awesome animation made everything a blast to watch. I couldn’t get enough of this stuff.

The background sets have the same visual quality of detail to them than the characters. To me this movie proves why 3D animation still cannot beat real life animation: in 3D it’s not possible to put that level of detail to screen. The computers couldn’t render it or only ass slow. I especially like the look of New York Adam Elliot realized. The black and white colors accompanied by stark contrasts almost give those scenes a film noir look. And boy you gotta have to see this. It’s amazing. Andbyohtheway: it’s always good to check out the small funny details Elliott added here and there (“Amazing Mono”). I especially started to love the bummer in front of Max’s apartment complex whose signboards go from “Hug for money” to “Financial advice” in the 80s to “Spare your money, I want change” at the end. Besides those subtle jokes this movie’s also full of cruder and cruel ones but which are funny for most of us nonetheless…with the exception for animal lovers perhaps, but it’s a claymation so no animal was really harmed.

Fantastic level of detail wherever you look...

Of course, even a creative movie as this follows the laid out formula of Hollywood scriptwriting that at one point the plot has to reach the bottom before the characters can climb back to the light, so to speak. And that’s the only thing I am not totally convinced about. You know, the plot reaches the pit because Mary Daisy Dinkel became a student and later wrote a psychological book about Max in order to help him. Max, of course, isn’t too happy about it and breaks off any connections with her. She on her side falls into a deep depression.

You know, although this part is executed really well, I’m wondering why she never told him about her plans. Perhaps Elliott knew about this problem but this is most definitely a mistake if not even an error. Both Max and Mary are big pen pals. They write each other regularly and tell their secrets, dreams and so on. So why did she never ask him? That would’ve been the first thing I’d have done before even thinking about writing that book. Especially when knowing that it’s my pen pal and my only real friend. I am also quite sure that her doctoral father would’ve told her to ask the patient in question if it’s okay to publish the case. It’s normal and mandatory.

But that’s only a minor criticism I have regarding the plot and one you probably can forgive regarding its other qualities. Using any chance to piss off Pixar I dare to say that this error of the plot pales in comparison to the blunder of trying to knit together two completely different movies as happened with Pixar’s Up.

This time I won’t write about the ending. I only reveal this much: the ending totally disregards the happy-flappy ending we know to love and hate from Hollywood, while also managing to end up on a high bittersweet note nonetheless. Well done, Adam, well done.

All in all Mary and Max is a wonderful little movie which I recommend to anyone who is searching for something just a little bit different. If you’re even as fed up with 3D animated movies as I am sometimes, this is an even better chance to enjoy something “old style” that does almost everything perfectly.

I seriously hope that Adam Elliot won’t need another five years to finish his next movie.

Spoiler Threat Level: Low

You see a face of a man in close-up, hard, rough, and roughly lit. Music stemming from a Spaghetti Western plays its dramatic tunes. The atmosphere is heavy. Then, the guy begins to eat a carrot. He’s sitting on a bench, nothing happens.

Seconds later a pregnant woman runs past him, pain shows in her face, she’s screaming…and a mobster is on her trails, screaming “You’re dead, bitch”. She runs into a building, the mobster’s right behind her, getting ready to shoot her. Our unnamed guy watches the whole scene in front of him. After both are out of sight he mumbles “Fuck it all” and goes after them.

Just before the mobster can kill the damsel in distress our unnamed guy closes in. He turns the bad guy around, puts his carrot into the open mouth of the mobster and smashes it right through the neck. His last advice? “Eat your vegetables”.

This, ladies and gentlemen, are the very first two minutes of Shoot ‘Em Up.

One minute later the death toll already reaches eight.

Man, it’s been some time since I’ve had so much fun with an action movie that stays true to its purpose. The last time I was constantly smiling during action scenes was Kick-Ass and Shoot ‘Em Up is no disappointment in that department either. What am I talking writing about…Shoot ‘Em Up basically is one single fucked up action sequence so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that after roughly 80 minutes my face hurt from that much smiling.

Shoot ‘Em Up doesn’t pretend to have a decent thought out plot, this movie doesn’t even try to introduce us to the main character. This movie operates under one single formula: “Hey, let’s have some fun and see in which crazy, ridiculous, implausible, over the top action situations we can put our hero! Muhahahaha.”

Seriously, that’s all about it.

Clive Owen eats a carrot...and that's only the beginning!!!!

…Well, okay, you got me, there is some plot involved in all of this, but I let you decide what to think of it: Clive Owen plays the unnamed Mr. Smith who delivers a baby and as a consequence constantly has to safe the little guy from getting killed by unlimited numbers of gangsters. The reason they are after it is a presidency candidate who desperately needs the bone marrow of that baby (which is the result of volunteers being impregnated by that candidate’s little swimmers so the DNA fits). Later on he gets some help from a hooker with a heart of gold, so Owen at least sometimes has the chance to use both hands as he doesn’t need to hold the baby.

As you can see, a plot does exist but there’s no real reason to think about it for a second. The only things that are important are the action sequences that get more and more absurd with each passing second. Shoot ‘Em Up possibly contains any and every action sequence cliché you can think of – while pushing everything to the extremes. Heck, this movie even has a James Bond style action moment in mid air, and as you can guess, puts the original one to shame in terms of speed, violence and ridiculousness.

I fully agree with Roger Ebert when he’s writing that even he has a sneaky regard for movies that go much, much further than too far. I am exactly the same, perhaps even more extreme than Roger Ebert. As a result I not only like Shoot ‘Em Up, I love it for this very reason.

Shoot ‘Em Up a fun brainless wild ride that tops almost everything in the action department you can think of with the exception of Crank perhaps and some other handpicked extreme action movies. So if you liked Crank and are in need of another shot of ridiculous action I highly recommend you to give this movie a chance. You won’t be disappointed.

Spoiler Threat Level: High

Gage recently added a comment to my review of Akira (the one anime that made anime famous as anime in the West) and this one made me think. He mainly writes about Kaori who is the girlfriend of Tetsuo i.e. the Guy Who Goes Horribly Nuts. Gage not only correctly points out that Kaori is only on screen in two scenes in Akira but also that in each segment Kaori is in a living hell and no one seems to care. I addressed his second point in a comment of mine in the original post, so I will use this space to address the first point: the role of Kaori in Akira since her two moments seem to be not that important at all.

Before I start please note that you need to have watched Akira at least once to understand what I’m writing about. If you didn’t, you can gladly skip this blog post if you like.

Originally I planned to address all of Gage’s points in a short comment and be done with it, yet I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the whole matter. Why is Kaori in Akira? What’s her purpose? What I certainly know is that her role in the manga is much more important than in the movie. I know this because I bought two volumes of the manga years ago in which she was part of the plot. Yet, in the movie?

Her role at first doesn’t feel important at all in the animated version. I was constantly thinking and wondering why Kaori was in the movie. Certainly you could’ve reached the same plot points with a different character. The only thing I knew from the start was that another character was necessary so that Tetsuo has someone to interact with.

Yet the more I thought about it the more I got lost because I couldn’t really find an answer. Well, until I started remembering one of the scenes in which Kaori was in. This was the moment when it made ‘click’ and for the first time ever I grasped the purpose of her character in Akira completely.

So, what am I talking about? To emphasize this point, let me start with some of the other girls that appear in the movie. There are two scenes in particular I want to talk about. The first scene takes place after Kaneda’s gang is sent back to school and get a good beating from a teacher:

As you can see, the three gang’s chicks on the right can be fully described as biker’s girls. Colorful dresses, makeup and an almost slutty way of talking. If I’d be an asshole, I’d describe them as the pitch perfect bitches of the gang.

Then there’s another scene which is even more important:

The appearance of the other girl on the telephone is not that outrageous but you can see that she has a good tan and wears tight clothes which reveal her figure in any way possible. Moreover she’s some kind of gossip girl who seemingly talks all day on the phone. In a way I got the feeling she’s just the same as the biker’s gang girls.

Now compare everything I mentioned with Kaori:

Kaori’s appearance is the opposite most of the minor girls shown in Akira up to that point. She doesn’t wear makeup; she doesn’t have dyed hair. And she wears rather bland if not slightly colorful yet totally mismatching clothes. She might show some skin, but that’s on a normal level (arms and legs), moreover her clothes are not tight at all as it’s the case with every other girl.

I almost feel like a stupid idiot because both girls appear in the same scene. I never spotted this fact or thought much about it. And I feel massively stupid because of this since the whole purpose of the scene is just to show the contrast between both girls, especially on the level of behavior. One is flashy, the other not. One behaves outrageous, the other one timid and shy. It’s as if two worlds clash.

And this is the moment I understood Kaori and her purpose in Akira. Because when I shifted the outer appearance of the girl onto the symbolic level, everything became crystal clear: Kaori is the symbol of normality, of a normal life. So her role in terms of movie minutes might be minor but that doesn’t mean that her role isn’t truly significant.

The following scene in which she meets Tetsuo drives this point already home: Tetsuo didn’t run to his gang, but to her. Why? Because he wants to run away with her. On the symbolic level this means that he wants to leave his current life behind and start living normally. Remember that he comes straight from the hospital, so he doesn’t have any belongings with him. He even doesn’t want to. He wants to start over.

Minutes later this takes a turn for the tragic in which Kaori plays an extremely important role. She is the trigger of the madness that breaks out in Tetsuo and his lust for power and domination. The reason is the fact, that he wasn’t able to save or protect Kaori, his normal life, from the clowns. He didn’t have the power. But Kaneda did. Kaneda saved the day. This leads to some extreme frustrations inside him. So he not only beats the clown almost to death but also starts to get aggressive towards Kaneda. In a way, Kaneda took Tetsuo’s pride and his face, which is also why he hides his face when Kaori comes close to him and tells her to stay away. He’s ashamed of himself. Seconds later his awakening fully starts and we know that there’s no turning back anymore.

Tetsuo was extremely close to start over living normally, but his old life destroyed everything. The normal life symbolized by Kaori is further away than ever. And the same happens with Kaori as a character: she’s not a part of the following fights and conflicts in Akira.

In terms of structure this scene is the first major turning point of Akira, the moment everything really starts and Tetsuo begins to fully awaken. And Kaori’s a part of it. The exact same thing happens again, this time almost at the end of Akira, at the second major turning point in terms of Testuo’s awakening. And again, Kaori, the normal life, is part of it.

If you remember, Kaori appears out of the blue in the stadium after the big fights are over and Tetsuo more or less found Akira:

In this scene the character interactions are important as again is the role of Kaori, the symbol of normality. Minutes after the reunion of Tetsuo and Kaori the Colonel offers him help by giving him the medicine that’s necessary to control this power. Tetsuo refuses. But then the marvelous thing happens: he walks towards Kaori and seeks her help. He wants the medicine from her, not the Colonel:

Remember: this is the guy who killed hundreds of people, even his old gang members. He should’ve killed her or attacked her in an instant but he didn’t (he even let Kaori help him walking as the screenshot above shows). Again, on the symbolic level, he was reminded of the normal life he could have lived after finally seeing Kaori again.  This triggered again his wish for just that. A normal life. He still wants to reach and find it accompanied by all the normality we live in. This time, though, his wish is utterly tragic because there is no way he can turn back anymore. Kaori, the normal life, is out of reach and stays out of reach – Kaori backs off. Seconds later his final transformation begins.

In the course of this transformation he still clings to his wish to return to normality. He frantically grabs Kaori not thinking about her safety at all. He swallows her in his body and moments later she’s killed by it. Tetsuo doesn’t want this to happen but his body – his power – is out of control. He’ll never be able to reach normality because his own body “killed” it. In a way those events in Akira are absolutely logic on the symbolic level. Imagine what would have happened if the kids didn’t awake Akira and Testuo somehow would’ve controlled his body. Do you think he’d still be able to live a normal life? Of course not, simply because his grotesque form would’ve prevailed in one way or another. There’s no way he would’ve gained any form of normality. But even if he would’ve manage to regain his body, he’d still be having those massive psychokinetic powers. Nobody would ever dare to get close to him. He would have been shut out from society. After his powers awakened he lost his path to normality forever.

But back to Kaori as the symbol of normality. As Gage mentions in this comment, everyone seems to treat her coldly or doesn’t care about her death at all. I think that her symbolic role in a way explains, why almost everyone in the movie act the way they do. She – the symbol of normality – is the outsider in Akira simply because everyone else long time ago left this path and nobody wants to return. They don’t want normality, they don’t seek it. Hence nobody interacts with her. In other words: she’s too normal for them.

I am not sure if I overlooked some important scene or moment in Akira but even if I did I for the first time ever get the feeling I fully grasped Kaori and her role in this post-apocalyptic movie. It took some time but I think it was worth it.

What do you think of my interpretation? Let us know!

Spoiler Threat Level: High

Don’t let the awesomely bad excuse of a movie poster fool you (see image above – the borders are part of the poster *ugh*). The French movie industry actually did it. They produced The Concert, a movie that’s heartwarming and funny at the same time. And yeah, I am as surprised as you by that fact as I totally know the European movie industry normally cannot tell a good plot/story even if their life depends on it.

The plot revolves around Andrei Simoniovich Filipov (had to use IMDB to get the name right). He’s a former conductor of the Russian Bolshoi orchestra who’s now working as a cleaning man. This guy accidentally learns that a Paris theatre needs an orchestra. Without wasting a second he gathers his old musicians and sets off to France.

And as Filipov doesn’t waste a second The Concert doesn’t either. Basically all the stuff above happens in a mere five minutes with the exception of the back story. It’s almost a miracle to me that a European movie finally manages to get the actual plot start rolling without shoving the miserable life of the protagonist down my throat for hours. It starts with the opening montage, which is quite a clever feast by the way. We get introduced to the protagonist in a way which made us all in the audience believe he’s a conductor. It’s just at the end of the credits we learn he’s in fact not. But before we can even start to think he’s an amateur the plot reveals that Filipov not is but was a conductor. And only seconds after we are at the first plot point which starts the main plot of the movie. It’s one of the rare European movies I’ve seen which is told that fast. The director really doesn’t waste a single frame of film.

The rest of the plot mainly is about getting Filipov’s old musical comrades and preparing for the concert. Well, the preparation doesn’t really happen at all as all the musicians use their chance to start a life in France. Yep, somehow they get a job in some mere hours, but that’s not really important here. The thing is that Filipov’s more or less without an orchestra trying to fulfill his dream and trying to finish what he’s begun thirty years ago. Of course that leads to a lot of emo and angst. It’s exactly those scenes that dragged most to me.

Somehow I get the feeling her neck is photoshopped

It’s not that those scenes are bad. But watching some people sit on a table in a sitcom like fashion and reminiscing about their lives is not that thrilling after I’ve witnessed scenes of almost total absurdity and fun. Well, at least we have those sad moments, too, and I am sure there are enough people out there who’ll love them.

If you’ve wondered why I didn’t mentioned any kind of musical preparations which is quite usual for an orchestra: there’s isn’t. The Concert manages to be about a concert all the time while avoiding this topic on an epic level. At first I thought this would end up as a disaster (hell, it’s like an action flick without action). But to my utter surprise it worked exceptionally well. The whole movie is about The One Concert. Nothing more nothing less. So it’s almost logical that The One And Only Concert has to be the first and final moment in which they actually play classical music. After all hardship and problems they faced in those slightly dragging drama moments, the second the misfits finally start playing felt  almost magical (I’m so sorry for not finding a better word) and satisfying. There was nothing I wished the writer should’ve added after this and that’s quite an accomplishment I think.

The Concert even goes full circle on a meta level: as at the beginning the director doesn’t waste a single frame or second at the end. When the performance is over and they’ve bowed to the audience, the movie is over as well.

And byohtheway: when checking out IMDB I found a review which smashed The Concert for being racist. Well, I cannot say the movie wasn’t full of racial stereotypes but I wouldn’t go that far to call that racist. In many ways it’s a comedy, after all, so it’s normal to reduce characters and nations to clichés. But I never felt those stereotypes where negative or bad because every character was written in a way you cannot do anything else t than liking them. So, in my eyes there’s no real problem. Hell, the Simpsons are full of clichés of Germany and Germans whenever you spot one on the screen. But you know what? I love those moments to death because they are so extremely funny. (For those who cannot differentiate a domain name extension even if their live depends on it: I am German)

Conclusion

If you feel the urge to watch a European movie, give The Concert a chance. The movie’s surprisingly well written and well directed movie, containing just the right doses of quirky fun, humor and a little bit of dragging drama.

Spoiler Threat Level: High

Damn it! I love it when that happens…

Again this blog is living up to its one liner I’ve chosen: “movie blogging outside the frame”. Why? Because I again don’t agree with anyone else in the world. The first time this obviously happened was Avatar. And Toy Story 3 is the second time.

You know, while leaving the cinema I knew that Pixar made another very good movie. Compared to Avatar, it hits more nails and evokes way more emotions. And it’s truly better than Pixar’s Up. So, Toy Story 3 really is worth a watch. But I think you already knew that. This movie’s definitely better than most of the mediocre shit called 3D animated movies that get chewed out by Hollywood once in a while. You know, the usual shit circling around family values and other boring family oriented stuff.

But let me get one thing straight: this movie in no way ever is so good it deserves a whopping 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes or a 9.1 on IMDB. Those ratings are beyond ridiculous.

Perhaps it’s only me (so you can challenge me in the comments) but to me it feels like the whole world went insane just because a 3D animated movie manages to present you a different plot theme accompanied by deeper and richer characters. Having this stuff is great and wonderful in those “lets-do-the-same-shit-again”-times. But does it make Toy Story 3 automatically one of the best movies ever? Sorry, but I don’t think so. (Sorry, I lost count of the…Sorries(?!?)).

Sure, Toy Story 3 has some good stuff in it, that’s a given. I love the incinerator scene and I so love Spanish Buzz womanizing everything with less plastic on it than him. Ken and Barbie were a blast, especially when she all got in serious mode and showed him who the master is. The crazy ape and the baby doll looked wonderfully creepy and the little girl at the end was so cute I could’ve cuddled her for hours. (By the way: if you’re get the feeling there are a lot of toys in this movie….well, there are! Hundreds, if not dozens!!).

Is it only me or does the wall in the background really scream CHEAP TEXTURE? By the way: that's one of their many escapes...

But for anything great there seems to be something subpar in this movie, too. My biggest complaint regarding Toy Story 3 is the plot full of escapes – which got repetitive to me after the second variation already. Sometimes I even got the feeling the movie’s about nothing else to be true.

First the toys get thrown out and have to escape from the garbage bag. Then Woody escapes from Sunnyville. Then he escapes from the little girl. Later in the movie the whole gang’s escaping from Sunnyville. Almost at the end they again have to escape, this time from the garbage “plant”. That’s five escapes! It really surprises me that seemingly nobody out there noticed this big flaw of the plot.

Another thing that nags me a little bit is the fact that I smelled the dark secret of Sunnyville miles ahead. I never believed the “we are all so lovey-dovey stuff”. Not for one second. The same has been done to death in other movies already. I didn’t know what exactly would be going wrong but I knew that there’d be a small surprise for the gang.

This thing is nothing major here, I presume the producers knew it already but went ahead to use this plot device. It works well enough to introduce us to the movies antagonists, but a different way of doing this would’ve been great, too. At the very least, Pixar’s Cars was way worse in that department. On the other hand, Wall-E was way better.

Welcome to Sunnyville which is so sunny you get suspicious.

The incinerator scene with all characters accepting their fate was very well done. Kudos to them for pulling this scene of. On the other hand, they missed an epic opportunity to create not only a good but pitch perfect plot. You know, the longer I watched Toy Story 3, the more I knew they should’ve focused on the similarities between Sir Lots-A-Hug Lotso and Woody. Both toys held the same feeling, the only difference being that Lotso is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Pixar should’ve let Woody and the gang help Lotso on his journey to his old owner. Upon reaching their destination they should’ve learned that his old owner died many years ago. In other words: Lotso’s backstory took place many decades ago. Boy, that would’ve been a revelation. And it would’ve carried a heavy truth: no matter how much you don’t want to things are changing.

But yeah, they went for the incinerator. Which is not a bad thing, I might add. I only think the plot above would’ve been more interesting. And it would’ve had not a single escape…

Nevertheless, compared to the other stuff released by Hollywood this movie definitely worth a watch. But no matter how I look at it, it’s not one of the best movies ever.

Is someone out there who agrees with me?

I always knew that Klingons have a softer side to them – but not that soft. I pity the red shirt for being too stupid to not knock at the door of a Klingon. Hello? You never enter the room of a Klingon without knocking first and running second.

Stupid red shirts…*grumble*

Andbyohtheway: I love the the animation here which is superb in my eyes. From start to finish. I especially love the moment when the Klingon (Worf??) goes into high pitch mode and starts to “wiggle” his whole body. Comedy gold.