DVD Review - Voices of a Distant Star

Definitely a very different type of mecha piece - and sadly just a one-off 25 min OVA project.....But ohhhhhh, what a project it was!

With technology being what it is today, a solo anime project may not be quite the extreme oddity - but in 2003....That's right, I'm talking about Makoto Shinkai's "Voices of a Distant Star."

DVD Review - Patlabor: The Movie and Patlabor 2

I wouldn't normally do a review like this - but as I watched both Patlabor: The Movie and Patlabor 2 back to back again this weekend, it seemed to make sense.  This time around, I'm really interested in reviewing these more as police procedural movies that include mechs.  To be perfectly honest, as far as this month goes - I'm just too lazy busy to watch a whole season of a mecha show - so my selection of mecha feature films to choose from is a little more limited.

I'd heard references to these movies for quite a while before I finally got around to picking them up on DVD a number of years ago.  Of course, I don't believe the full series was available at that time on DVD, but might have been an out-of-print issue or something similar (see also the original Vampire Hunter D).  Sometimes I also hold out on picking something up if the reviews bring up issues like the lack of a Japanese audio track or very poor audio/video quality.

Blu-Ray Review - Pacific Rim

Time for the first review of the year.  And by request of Solios, it's Guillermo Del Toro's 2013 effects extravaganza "Pacific Rim".

Now, as Solios suggested, I'm going to try and approach this review with a slightly different perspective.  In my opinion, it's a very fun movie in general - giant robots fighting giant monsters - bright, colorful, generally smooth combat well presented.  The plotting isn't deep, the characterizations aren't wonderful - but it's not that type of movie necessarily.  This isn't exactly "The Devil's Backbone" or "Pan's Labyrinth" - and it's not an adaptation like "Blade 2" or "Hellboy" - it's just a straight up popcorn flick - done very well!

Blu-Ray Review - Sorcerer

Holy Crap!  Talk about your nailbiters.  William Friedkin's "Sorcerer" is one of the best cliffhangers (literally) that I've seen in a long time. 

An American remake of Henri Clouzot's excellent "Wages of Fear" - Friedkin pulled out all the stops putting together something that most definitely is not a horror flick or a cop flick - even if it has elements of both included.

Blu-Ray Review - Space Pirate Captain Harlock

Despite seeing owning a series and a couple of movies about the character, I still find myself feeling a little bit like a novice when it comes to a seemingly archetypal anime character like Space Pirate Captain Harlock.  I think I had seen the character in bits and pieces over the years (certainly recognized him visually), but my first real viewing was maybe an episode of the Nibelung series during anime clue in college, before picking up "The Endless Odyssey" series on DVD about 7 years later.  Since then I've also seen him in "Arcadia of my Youth" and the Galaxy Express movies - although sadly, not the original tv series yet (hope to change that soon). 

Blu-Ray Review - Retreat, Hell!

Continuing it's cultural presence as "The Forgotten War", the Korean conflict remains under-covered in most western media.  Honestly, even with my military service there and my minor in Asian Studies (including Korean Politics) - I've got a stack of references still on my must-read list on the subject.  One reason I was really interested when I saw the excellent reviews posted for this Blu-Ray of a movie made during the war.

Frankly, although it largely plays out as a Marine recruiting film, this is a tight little number that does a really good job covering some of the first major marine actions involved in the war.  Starting from the very beginning, we find the USMC is barely able to muster a full division of men at the start of hostilities even after calling up all the reserves, embassy security forces and embarked detachments - a bare 6 years following the end of WWII.

Blu-Ray Review - Streets of Fire

Just re-watched Streets of Fire last night.  I saw it a couple times back in college when I worked in a computer store (one of the other guys would leave it playing on the display monitor), but I didn't really catch onto it myself till a few years later.  It's the sort of thing you really need to be watching and listening to a the same time.

Local girl made good Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) from the group Ellen Aim and the Attackers is kidnapped by a biker gang led by Raven (Willem Dafoe) while giving a performance at a club in The Richmond district of the city.  One of the girls at the show sends a telegram to her brother Tom Cody (Michael Pare) who used to be Ellen's old boyfriend - asking him for help.  He turns up and accepts an offer from Ellen's manager/boyfriend Billy Fish (Rick Moranis) to rescue her - with a little help from ex-soldier McCoy (Amy Madigan).