Tron: Legacy Review

Watch the trailer here:

Released a while ago. If that doesn't sell you on the movie, nothing will.

I was incredibly exited for this movie. I was there at the recreation of Flynn’s arcade back in Comic Con 2009, and was exited ever since I saw the stuff there. I even dug up the shirt that I got from the arcade, proudly displaying the slogan “FLYNN LIVES.”

To whet my appetite even more, this movie combines just about everything I love into one nice package. This movie has motorcycles, people dressed up like ravers, video games, flashy lights, techno, and this:

I believe this counts as fan service

I hope this becomes a new fashion statement at this year’s Comic Con ANYWAY…

The original Tron came out back in the year 1982, and apparently making a sequel was entirely necessary. This is not to say that this is a bad thing, since it gives Disney a chance to take one of the pioneers of modern CGI and update it using the fancy techniques we’ve developed to make films look shiny. The overall imagery was like taking Ecstasy through your eyesockets.

THE PLOT: About 7 years after the original Tron, we see Kevin Flynn telling his son Sam about his adventures in the digital world known as “The Grid,” and tells us a bit of exposition about what happened between the previous Tron and this movie. A few days later, Flynn vanishes and is never seen again, with the video game company he founded left in chaos due to his disappearance.

Twenty years later, we see Sam pulling a prank on the now corrupt, thinly veiled Microsoft that old man Flynn’s company has become. This goes on to establish that Sam has become a 177t haxor in the time without his father, and that this company is totally against open source software. Thank god that this movie did not become a drama about digital rights. After this we get to see Sam’s place, where he learns that his father may be alive, and there is a clue hidden in his arcade.

Finally, this leads to Sam getting sucked into The Grid, where the real movie begins. He finds that this world inside of the computer in his dad’s arcade has been turned into a digital dystopia, run by a rogue program known as Clu, a clone of Sam’s dad. This causes him to be placed in “The game” where we are treated to the greatest sport ever invented, LIGHTCYCLE BATTLING!

After breaking out of the world of EXTREME combat motorcycling, Sam goes on a journey where he meets, Quarra (pictured above) and where he meets his old man, leading him on spiritual and physical journey transcending the digital world. With lots of fights and pretty explosions.

The story is acceptable for the type of movie, although there are a few nitpicks that I found that I’m not going to dabble in here. While there is nothing particularly deep about the plot, the trip through the digital world is quite the feast for the senses. I did not find this lack of plot to be a fault for the movie, since the scenery is so lovingly crafted that I cannot convince myself to not love it.

PREREQUISITES: I don’t really think you need to have seen the Tron movie from the 80’s to understand this movie. It will help you swallow the entire concept of The Grid, but even then, the titular character, Tron only makes a minor appearance in this movie. Almost no plot elements make a comeback in this movie, aside from people wearing glowing red suits being pure evil.

SHOULD YOU WATCH IT? I would definitely recommend this movie to anybody who is not a total technophobe. The plot may not be the best, but I certainly was not bored with the movie at any point. Not the best movie of the year, but definitely quality entertainment. 

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Comic Con 2009

Batman: Under the Red Hood REVIEW

I decided to watch this title because it was at my local Red Box and because I happened to have read this story arc in the comics. Due to reading the story arc, I was piqued at how they could make a story that relied on reading so many books and required such a great deal of knowledge of continuity to understand.

Thankfully, they decided to take out most of the convoluted stuff that plagues comics these days and kept it to the batman universe. While knowledge of the comics is helpful, it is not nearly as important as it was while reading the book.

While the details in the story are drastically different from those shown in the comics, the major twists are mostly the same. Unfortunately, while I knew the identity of the Red Hood from the get go, it is very obvious who he is throughout the movie, so I’d know about it 10 minutes in. This wouldn’t be an issue if the commercials didn’t make it look like it was a big mystery.

For the uninitiated, what is the plot of this movie? Batman, 5 years after the trauma of having the second Robin (Jason Todd, not Dick Grayson, who grew up and got his own spin off series) beaten to death by the Joker. This side plot is told mostly in flashbacks, where we see Batman’s relationship to Jason. The main plot revolves around the new vigilante in town, The Red Hood, who is trying to stop organized crime by both regulating it and blowing the heads off of people who disagree with him. This pisses off the current head of crime in town, “The Black Mask” who seems to serve the purpose of having a comic relief villain that isn’t nearly as awesome as the Joker. As seen in the nearby picture, The Joker wasn’t amused by his antics.

I'm sorry, this bag of chips is more interesting than you

I can’t really decide whether my favorite part of the movie was the fight scenes or the scenes of the Joker being a jerkwad. While during the first half of the movie Mistah Jay doesn’t do much exiting stuff, in the second half he really shines. I love it when the Black Mask tries to deal with him. Plus, the way he likes to remind Bats about what he did to Jason reminds just how much of a sadistic bastard he is. On the other side of things, the fight scenes are fast paced, and manage to recreate a lot of the parts shown in the comics. We get lots of awesome bro fights, including a fight where Batman and Nightwing team up and a fight where bats and the Red Hood fight some of the Black Mask’s thugs. The presence of Nightwing in this movie amuses me, seeing how he’s my second favorite DC character outside of Hal Jordan.

One thing that miffed me was that during this movie, I had a lot of trouble believing that the characters were not super powered. During one fight scene, bats and the red hood are slamming each other into walls hard enough to smash the ceramic tiles or to bust through a sink and neither of them gets a scratch. During this I was going “wait, WHAT?” since I know that any person would at LEAST have their face smashed up, but these guys actually shrug it off and keep going. It separated me from the movie a bit, since Batman is taking hits like Superman.

Voice acting is good in the movie, although Nightwing has some cringeworthy moments and gets a bit annoying. Mark Hamil is still the Joker, despite how much the current cast tries, but the guy who plays him does a solid job delivering lines.

The movie is worth a rent, but not nearly as great as other Batman animated movies such as “Return of the Joker” While the plot lacks mystery like the commercials say it has, it makes up for it with nice fight scenes and the Joker providing some twisted jokes to keep the mood dark. While it works for the PG-13 rating, I really wish it upped the gore factor, especially in scenes where a person is BEING BEAT TO DEATH WITH A CROWBAR, or when somebody is being slammed through the kitchen sink. Although nitpicks like this exist, it is a fun ride, and that easily makes it worth a rent, especially if you’re a fan of the Bat.

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The Dark Knight Review
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Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns review

Dissappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya hits LA. Preview and info

Well, although I have already seen and reviewed the Haruhi movie, it seems like I haven’t reminded enough people to see it yet. Hence, it is imperative that everybody know that the movie will be showing in a theater in LA on June 24^th (One week before anime expo) with tickets on sale now, here

The Laemmle theater is located on

450 West 2nd Street

Claremont, CA 91711-4664

And will have some of the voice actors from the series making appearances, such as Stephanie Sheh, the voice of Mikuru Asahina. Will she be wearing the bunny girl outfit? Who knows?

Furthermore, goodies will be given away, such as free books and manga, if you don’t have all the Haruhi stuff already. Furthermore, there will be incentives for Haruhi cosplayers to show up, meaning even if you don’t have a Haruhi costume or are male, there will be hot Haruhi cosplayers there. Awesome.

Not enough incentive to go? There will be a live performance by singer Christina Vee, along with a raffle by Crunchyroll to give away free subscriptions to their anime streaming site.

This event is going to be awesome, free stuff will be available to people who show up on time, and maybe I forgot the most important part! The movie is awesome. It’s like the Haruhi equivalent to Trust and Betrayal, and contains all the awesomeness that the second season lacked. There’s a trailer here….

So, if you happen to be in Southern California, I highly suggest that you make your way to LA on Thursday, June 24^th in order to see this. Not to mention

Although the trailer does not really do the movie justice. No, the only real way to do this movie justice is to actually sit down and watch the thing. Not to mention, the trailer leaves out most of the plot, which is a delicious alternate universe where Kyon goes on a journey of self-realization, and realizes why he puts up with Haruhi's crap. We get to see what the world would look like if Haruhi wasn't screwing around with the nature of reality every two seconds. Furthermore, we find out what everybody would do if Haruhi had no superpowers.The overall movie winds up being as good s the better episodes, but stretched to three hours, without dragging. Furthermore, it acually feels like a movie, rather than an extended episode.  It’s three hours of Haruhi goodness, you got nothing better to do, why not go see it?

We must make this movie sell more than Avatar! I don’t care if its impossible, we have to try!

Furthermore, if you don't go, you'll make Yuki cry. Does anybody want that? No? I didn't think so.

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Related Articles:
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Review 
 My resignation from the Church of Haruhi
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2 episode 1

Resources:

ASOS brigades's website

The Games Blog's post

Anime News Network's post

Kick-Ass review

To get a general idea on the quality of this film, see the title.

This is a movie about a high schooler who decides that in the face of all of the injustice in society, he is going to become a super hero to stop it. This leads to him going to the internet purchasing a costume, and going out to fight injustice in the world….

This leads to a scene that appealed to the sadist in me, when he tries to stop a car jacking. Now then, this kid in a suit has had no combat experience and is taking on some thugs in New York. They beat the stuffing out of him and stab him, then run off when the cops come. Finally, somebody realizes that your average thug DOES know how to fight! Well, after that whole stabbing incident our hero still decides to keep getting himself in trouble.

This leads him to do something to impress a girl at his school. For some reason he decides that going to her heroin addicted boyfriend’s house to tell him to leave her alone. This goes about as well as his first super hero attempt, this time; however, he gets saved by a psychotic 13 year old and her daddy. At first you’d think a 13 year old girl being a super hero would be weird, but when you get to know here and you’re father, you start wondering whether or not child services should be called.

Strangely, this movie is like Watchmen, but it doesn’t take itself nearly as seriously. It’s quite interesting. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, as the violence levels are deliciously high. Also contains a lot of swearing. But mostly violence. Lots of delicious violence. The movie is lots of fun too. Although a lot of ridiculous stuff happens, the characters manage to be believable. Acting is good, as I never had any trouble believing the characters. The plot is ok, but the characters manage to move it forward nicely. There’s scenes that make you cringe, scenes that make you laugh, and scenes that’ll make you go “AWESOME.”

Definitely appeals to the person who loves watching wanton violence

You should see the movie, since it’s very exiting.

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The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoshitsu) REVIEW

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is to awesome as Endless eight is to ****ing stupid

 

Well, upon realizing that this movie might be the anime equivalent to sliced bread, I decided not posting a review for it on my site would just be silly.

I realize that a couple days ago, I said I was resigning from the Eastern Orthodox Church of Haruhi Suzumiya, but after seeing this movie, my faith hath been restored!

Let’s see, where do I even start talking about this?

Plot Synopsis: Kyon is going through another day in his mundane and boring life in the SOS brigade, where he does the bidding of the local overdiety, Haruhi Suzumiya. Haruhi has dictated that the SOS brigade will be holding a Christmas party and blah blah blah, the first 20 minutes or so of the movie are kinda slow. But, to offer a counter statement, the first 20 minutes or so of 2009’s Star Trek were boring, so we can live with that. Beginning part just hammers in how everything is normal.

Until 3 days later, when Kyon is walking to school, and realizes that something is off…

He goes to school, and realizes that Huruhi has gone missing, and that nobody even knows who she is. He wonders about her empty seat in the classroom, until the person who belongs there shows up, who is none other than…. Ryoko Asakura

 DUN DUN DUN!

Strangely, none of the supernatural occurrences that normally occur in this series seem to be happening, He asks some of the other Brigade members, and learns that they have no idea what he is talking about, and that he sounds like he’s gone crazy.

Throughout the move, Kyon must go on a journey to find out what has happened to the universe, and attempt to bring it back, but this time he can’t go off and rely on Yuki or Koizumi for help…

MY OPINIONS: This movie manages to break a lot of conventions that most movie adaptations of an anime series go through. Most movies just make a 2 hour long monster of the week plot. Other movies decide to just cram the whole series into two hours. Not this one. This one decides to make a 3 hour epic (okay, 2 and a half) about Kyon’s journey through several universes where he learns more about himself, realizes why he does what he does, and what would happen if he finally got his wish and was allowed to live a normal life. It has twists, turns, and keeps you guessing. Characters come out feeling more fleshed out.

BUT NO, Kyoto animation couldn’t just let it end there. They have to give Yuki’s fans a boatload of stuff too. We get to see what she would act like if she wasn’t some messenger from the universal data being… thingy. Amazingly, Yuki manages to provide more moe than freaking MIKURU in this movie! Mind blowing, I know. Some fans might complain about the lack of Haruhi in this movie, but I find that her lacking presence forced us to see what Kyon would do if Haruhi stopped messing up his normal life. He most certainly loses the things he complains about, which is why we love him.

ASSUMPTIONS: Well, if you want to watch this, you need to have seen the first season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and the first episode of the second season (endless 8 is mentioned, but you really shouldn’t watch that) Oh yeah, if you didn’t like the first season, you probably won’t like this.

Afterthoughts: You should definitely see this, if you’re a fan of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. No exceptions. I was exited from the moment Bouken Desho Desho started playing. Yuki x Kyon shippers NEED to see this, otherwise they are betraying their ship. I’m now confused about whether to ship Kyon with Mikuru or Yuki. Kyon looks sooo cute with Yuki in this movie though, and there’s that one scene. People who only like the series for Haruhi might be disappointed in her lack of presence, but they should look at the title. Definitely the best movie spinoff of an anime I’ve ever seen.

HOW TO SEE IT: Well, as this blog mentions  there’s going to be a screening in San Fransisco on May 21^st. Let’s see, DVD should be coming soon. There will be screenings in a few other states. Almost garunteed to be shown at Anime Expo.

Update: well, it's past May 21, so the new showing will be in LA. More info here
No info about an anime expo showing

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Related Posts:
Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Review and info
My resignation from the church of Haruhi
Haruhi season 2 episode 1

Ryan and Sean’s not so Excellent adventure Review

Oh. Em. Gee. go see this movie!

Ah, one of my favorite Youtube celeberties made a big time movie. If you aren’t familiar with them, go watch their channel now, and if make sure you watch How to be Ninja.

Ryan and Sean is about the character in the title’s adventures. It’s like a two hour long version of their youtube channel, except with an ongoing plot that sort of ties it together. More importantly, they parody popular ideas, and act like ninjas. They manage to make a gay joke that’s actually funny. Half the female cast is actually men in drag. They break into song repeatedly, and dance provocatively. All in a classic Nigahija fashion.

Is it worth your time? Definitely, assuming you like their youtube channel. It’s full of quick cuts and WTF moments. The cast is excellent, although it contains a lot of jokes about Asians and midgets. Most of the gags revolve around visual humor and the characters acting really dumb. I loved the insane fan guy with his shrine where he worships Ryan and Sean. The special effects are terrible, in a home video fashion. Sometimes they are so freaking bad it’s good. It’s definitely hilarious if you’re into internet humor. That is a bit of a problem though. For those of you who don’t get internet humor, this movie will appear flat-out dumb. It’s nothing if not niche. If you like these guys’s Youtube channel go see it. I was exited as soon as I heard a remix of The Ninja Glare.

Twilight Review

(Yeah, I know, not anime or manga)

Twilight. If I didn’t want to see this movie, my sister would have tied me up and made me watch it anyway. So I went quietly, and actually found it to be a pretty entertaining film. It definitely was not the best vampire story I’ve ever seen, and it wasn’t exactly perfect, but it was a fun watch.

Characters: Main character, Bella Swan, is blah. I don’t really have any reason to understand her actions…. She just doesn’t make sense. She’s way too trusting of people… like right after a vampire admits he’s the perfect hunter, with every tool to bring down a human from super seduction to super speed, she COMPLETELY trusts the guy. What the hell? Other than that, she’s the standard teenager. Kinda boring. Then we have Edward, Mr. Sexy guy who’s in every movie. He’s handsome, strong, smells nice, so dreamy he makes me wanna vomit. Also, he’s a vampire…. Which is AWESOME… but he doesn’t suck human’s blood, which makes him a bit less awesome. He has some funny moments. Then we have Bella’s dad, who is pretty cool, thanks to the shotgun scene. Other than that, he’s a police sheriff and a single father, in a small town. Other characters are mainly minor, like the vampire family. There’s the really hawt girl with the short hair, the awkward guy, the incredibly handsome fatherly figure, and the mother.

The movie has an okay cast, aside from the main character. They have nice chemistry, and they make the scenes flow very nicely. Vampires in this universe aren’t really like the vampires in other universes. They don’t sleep at all, (no coffins) they don’t get killed by daylight (something happens to make them avoid daylight, but it’s facepalm-worthy at best) The only way to kill them is to tear them to shreds and burn the pieces. Also, they have super speed and strength, giving them enough super powers to make superman blush. On top of all that, their all total sex magnets, with perfect bodies, and hair that looks like they’re getting ready for an anime convention (seriously, it’s always spiked just right, in ways that defy gravity.) At least they suck blood…. But none of the main characters suck human blood, and the evil vampires don’t do it onscreen. I only saw one neck get bitten during this entire movie, and it was a minor flash. GAH! Definitely not my favorite vampire mythology.

Plot: Eh, I’ve seen this done in SO many anime it’s ridiculous. It’s a love story about Bella Swan falling in love with the irresistible Edward, who’s eyes glow and has sparkles coming off his skin. Edward, as a vampire, thinks she’s really hot and wants to suck her blood. But he can’t, because he’ll lose control, and won’t be able to stop sucking until it’s too late. Also, he’s a creepy stalker who follows her around. However, he’s so fabulously uber sexy that she finds it charming. It had some extremely funny moments (I’m not sure if they were intentional) and it was fun to watch. I guess it’s like the mindless action movie of chick flicks. You’re exited by it. But when you really analyze it, it looks a little dumb.

Conclusion: Go ahead and watch it (Actually, most people already have) Don’t take it as seriously as the fangirls are taking it and you may enjoy yourself. Also, it’s a GREAT movie for a date. Seriously, what else are you doing right now that’s so important?