Gus Van Sant has made some pretty good movies so far in his career, like Milk and Good Will Hunting, but I believe that this film about Columbine is his best. The film is not directly about Columbine, but it doesn't matter because the movie concerns many of the same events. It's a movie that is incredibly hard to watch for two reasons; it is incredibly slow movie and it depicts senseless murders that actually happened. The entire movie feels like it's all just one long take, the longest single shot being six minutes long without a cut. The movie depicts an average day for about ten or so high school students, every event taking place during the same fifteen minutes. This allows for the audience to connect with the characters as they roam through their lives like actual students, and when the killing begins to start the fact that these students feel like real people causes the murders to be much harder to watch.
The long steadicam shots are wonderful and make the viewer feel like an actual spectator at the school, walking through the halls following the students around. Although I love these shots, to many viewers this will make the film boring as nothing really happens during these scenes. The entire film is just showing the students' average day at school and is incredibly effective, especially when the viewer knows what tragedy will soon take place. When the shooting is about to occur I was wondering how these character's we've followed the entire movie will play into the event, yet everything happens incredibly fast, most of the characters killed in passing. The violence is not glorified and is actually terrifying to watch, incredibly suspenseful and intense.
I had a few problems with this film though, especially the ending. The movie ends with the killer Eric cornering two of the main character's in a freezer. The movie ends here and I stare at the screen wishing for a resolution or for one of the other supporting characters to enter the room and save the day. This movie left me unfulfilled and with a bad taste in my mouth, absolutely shocked by what I had witnessed. This film didn't need a happy ending, but it did need an ending. The other problem I had with this film is that Eric practices his shooting by playing an absolutely horrible videogame on his computer. It looks like crap, even by 90s standards, and is ridiculously over the top, the games only objective to stand in an open white area shooting pedestrians.
Despite its flaws I found Elephant to be an incredibly powerful film. The title refers to two possible meanings; one being that people can never notice an obvious problem, and the other is that an entire story will always be missing information when being told by certain characters. This somewhat makes the open ending reasonable, as the story can't continue passed the boundaries of our characters' perspectives. The movie is incredibly powerful and I thought of it as an incredibly powerful film that depicted school shootings without being stylized or glorified. Its an abruptly disturbing film and tells a powerful and gripping story, although it is very slow moving. Elephant is the best movie to ever try to depict a subject as terrifying and taboo as school shootings.
Rating: 8/10
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Warriors (1979) Review
Possibly one of the coolest movies ever, The Warriors combines great lighting, setting, and camerawork to create an amazing film. The movie takes place entirely at night which means that most of the lighting comes from neon signs in the sketchy neighborhoods that the movie takes place in. The grungy New York subway system and rugged apartment buildings work as a wonderful tapestry for the film's simple, yet amazing story. The film is about a gang called the Warriors that are accused of murdering a rival gang leader, which causes for a vendetta against their heads. The rest of the film is this small gangs struggle to get back home to Coney Island all the way from Central Park as every other gang in town and the police try to kill them. The movie utilizes some amazing camerawork and editing to show excellent fight scenes that are rugged and personal, featuring hand to hand combat and knife fights. One of the best battles of the film is between the unarmed Warriors and a rival gang armed with baseball bats, which quickly becomes a swordfight-like battle.
The movie also features some excellent themes that I could relate too, especially how the Warriors are judged by other people. One of the scenes involves the Warriors on a subway train when a group of kids coming from a prom show up on the same train. The prom kids look at the Warriors, worried they'll get stabbed, and quickly rush off of the train. The strong part of this scene is that when one of the Warriors fixes her hair to look better for the prom kids, she is quickly stopped by the gang leader, giving her a look signifying that she doesn't have to prove anything to them, they're proud of who they are. The movie is full of subtle events like this that show off complex emotions and relates to what is experienced as a teenager, everything's a struggle to survive.
The movie also has a gritty comicbook feel which I loved, integrating some slow motion and great transitions. The look of the movie is quite gritty and due to the lighting creates a surreal and vibrant atmosphere. New York constantly feels like a living city, lots of extras in the film are constantly going through their average lives. The first scene of the film probably had a few thousand people dressed up in the cool gang costumes. The costume design in the film is superb, each gang having their own look and style, featuring matching outfits, and sometimes facepaint.
The Warriors is one of the best films ever, incredibly underrated. It's one of my dad's favorite movies and thats the only reason I was lucky enough to see it, as well as another classically underrated film, Streets of Fire. There isn't a lot you can say about a movie this good beside urging others to see it, which is why I highly recommend this film. One of the best movies of all time.
Rating: 10/10
The movie also features some excellent themes that I could relate too, especially how the Warriors are judged by other people. One of the scenes involves the Warriors on a subway train when a group of kids coming from a prom show up on the same train. The prom kids look at the Warriors, worried they'll get stabbed, and quickly rush off of the train. The strong part of this scene is that when one of the Warriors fixes her hair to look better for the prom kids, she is quickly stopped by the gang leader, giving her a look signifying that she doesn't have to prove anything to them, they're proud of who they are. The movie is full of subtle events like this that show off complex emotions and relates to what is experienced as a teenager, everything's a struggle to survive.
The movie also has a gritty comicbook feel which I loved, integrating some slow motion and great transitions. The look of the movie is quite gritty and due to the lighting creates a surreal and vibrant atmosphere. New York constantly feels like a living city, lots of extras in the film are constantly going through their average lives. The first scene of the film probably had a few thousand people dressed up in the cool gang costumes. The costume design in the film is superb, each gang having their own look and style, featuring matching outfits, and sometimes facepaint.
The Warriors is one of the best films ever, incredibly underrated. It's one of my dad's favorite movies and thats the only reason I was lucky enough to see it, as well as another classically underrated film, Streets of Fire. There isn't a lot you can say about a movie this good beside urging others to see it, which is why I highly recommend this film. One of the best movies of all time.
Rating: 10/10
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Legion (2010) Review
I was't planning on seeing this film, yet after being surprised by The Book of Eli, I decided to give this film a chance. The trailer for this film was terrible and I have to admit that I had no plans to see this atrociously horrible film. My younger brother needed someone to get him into the movie, I had nothing to do, and I knew that my best friend was going to tell me to see it; so I went to Legion. What a mistake that was.
The movie uses the classic zombie movie formula by putting a bunch of strangers together in an enclosed building to fight off crazy people, and throughout the film I was reminded of the classic Romero movie, Night of the Living Dead, especially when the lumbering possessed people start showing up and the heroes board themselves up in a diner. At the start of the film our main hero Micheal, a fallen angel, shows up with a police cruiser full of automatic weapons, and by this point I was actually excited to see some action as the movie was almost an hour in. Too bad for me that they're were only two good action scenes, the rest of the film expecting to be taken seriously. During one of these serious stupid scenes Micheal is trying to convince his brother to spare him, during this however a girl wearing a paper bag over her head is hitting a car with a stick while speaking gibberish. How can this film be taken seriously when it is so damn silly? The whole film was full of stupid religious bullshit that has worked in some great films (Kevin Smith's Dogma used a similar premise amazingly), yet in Legion it tries so hard to make itself spiritual and religiously important that it becomes idiotic and silly when clashing with the action and horror elements.
It is never made clear why God wants to exterminate humanity, which I could deal with, but the movie leaves to much to the viewer to just assume, especially the importance of the baby. The movie even suggests that the end of the world can't be prevented and after the baby is born the fighting is still occurring and people are still getting killed. Why was this baby so important if nothing happens after it's born? I was expecting all sins forgiven and bright lights and a heavenly glow, yet instead we see more people die and an incredibly lame fight scene between Micheal and his brother Gabrielle. Gabrielle is also probably invincible, as he survives a car crash, explosion, falling fifty feet, and being cut incredibly deep, yet when Micheal returns again Gabreielle shits bricks because Micheal points a sword at him and then admits defeat. The movie basically ends there, but another scene shows the remaining survivors with a bunch of weapons loaded in the back of their car implying the possibility of a sequel. I really hope that there isn't one.
Legion had potential as an action movie, but it was so pretentious that it becomes stupid and hilarious. The action scenes are few and far between long scenes of religious babble and judgment day paranoia. It takes way too long for the movie to actually get going and by this point I was already bored to tears. It tries to be emotional and deep but cuts between these scenes show incredibly laughable moments that I suppose the producers thought were scary. Legion fails on everything it tries at; it is a bad action movie, a bad romance, a terrible drama, and I in no way recommend seeing it. For the love of God do not see this film as its bad and blasphemous enough to actually cause the apocalypse.
Rating: 2/10
The movie uses the classic zombie movie formula by putting a bunch of strangers together in an enclosed building to fight off crazy people, and throughout the film I was reminded of the classic Romero movie, Night of the Living Dead, especially when the lumbering possessed people start showing up and the heroes board themselves up in a diner. At the start of the film our main hero Micheal, a fallen angel, shows up with a police cruiser full of automatic weapons, and by this point I was actually excited to see some action as the movie was almost an hour in. Too bad for me that they're were only two good action scenes, the rest of the film expecting to be taken seriously. During one of these serious stupid scenes Micheal is trying to convince his brother to spare him, during this however a girl wearing a paper bag over her head is hitting a car with a stick while speaking gibberish. How can this film be taken seriously when it is so damn silly? The whole film was full of stupid religious bullshit that has worked in some great films (Kevin Smith's Dogma used a similar premise amazingly), yet in Legion it tries so hard to make itself spiritual and religiously important that it becomes idiotic and silly when clashing with the action and horror elements.
It is never made clear why God wants to exterminate humanity, which I could deal with, but the movie leaves to much to the viewer to just assume, especially the importance of the baby. The movie even suggests that the end of the world can't be prevented and after the baby is born the fighting is still occurring and people are still getting killed. Why was this baby so important if nothing happens after it's born? I was expecting all sins forgiven and bright lights and a heavenly glow, yet instead we see more people die and an incredibly lame fight scene between Micheal and his brother Gabrielle. Gabrielle is also probably invincible, as he survives a car crash, explosion, falling fifty feet, and being cut incredibly deep, yet when Micheal returns again Gabreielle shits bricks because Micheal points a sword at him and then admits defeat. The movie basically ends there, but another scene shows the remaining survivors with a bunch of weapons loaded in the back of their car implying the possibility of a sequel. I really hope that there isn't one.
Legion had potential as an action movie, but it was so pretentious that it becomes stupid and hilarious. The action scenes are few and far between long scenes of religious babble and judgment day paranoia. It takes way too long for the movie to actually get going and by this point I was already bored to tears. It tries to be emotional and deep but cuts between these scenes show incredibly laughable moments that I suppose the producers thought were scary. Legion fails on everything it tries at; it is a bad action movie, a bad romance, a terrible drama, and I in no way recommend seeing it. For the love of God do not see this film as its bad and blasphemous enough to actually cause the apocalypse.
Rating: 2/10
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Book of Eli (2010) Review
To take a short break from Cronenberg I decided that I would go to the theater to see a mindless action movie. I chose to see Book of Eli and was instead treated to a film with a much deeper meaning behind it. The plot is basically set in the Fallout universe, mostly due to how it takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States, and involves Eli (played by Denzel Washington), a man with the world's last Bible in his possession, as he makes his way across the US on a mission from God. Along the way Eli meets Gary Oldman's character, a man searching for a Bible so that he can fulfill his plans to control the world. This is an incredibly deep realization that without religion or beliefs humanity will live alone and living off of pure animalistic instinct. Most of the people living in this broad wasteland are cannibals and because of this the film is much more terrifying, especially during scenes in which characters realize that the person beside them is just waiting for the right moment to gnaw on their arm. The action scenes are also tremendously awesome, lots of gore being crammed in to a 14A movie, including severed heads and cat killing, as well as dealing with rape and other naughty stuff.
The setting of the film is amazing, creating a terrifying and believable world in which the film takes place. Its haunting atmosphere and foreboding dread evoke incredibly strong emotions due to the state of the world and the horrible events that have occurred. One of the strongest parts of this setting is that the cause of the apocalypse is only ever rarely hinted at, the suggestion provided being that a nuclear weapon ripped open the ozone layer and burned everyone and everything into ashes and dust. One problem I had with the setting however was that the audience can easily tell that the entire film was acted in front of a greenscreen, which detracts from a lot of the scenes in which Eli is just walking through the wasteland.
The major theme of the film is that the Bible that Eli is carrying is humanity's salvation from the horrible state of the world, in which people are cannibals and the world is controlled using shotgun diplomacy. A powerful image near the end of the film is after the fall of Gary Oldman's civilized little town, the final shot includes a man loading his shotgun, him being visibly in control of the town now that he is the fearsome controller of the shotgun. This scene stuck with me because of how its a sad fact that the countries with the most deadly and precise weapons control the world, especially when clashing with the divine powers of religion. The theme of religion being a lost and forgotten concept since every Bible was destroyed preceding the great world war, its a powerful thought that man's salvation relies on religion, despite how it may have caused this war in the first place. Oldman's character only wants the Bible to control people with hopes that he can scare his civilized population into his slaves using his teachings of Hell and Heaven. The biggest twist occurs at the end of the film (spoilers follow; see the movie before continuing), when after Oldman finally obtains the Bible he discovers that it is written in braille and that he cannot read it. I believe that this is symbolic of how he has become a monstrous person and has lost his faith during his quest to obtain the Bible, and thus is not able to understand or see its teachings. Eli himself at the end of the film is shown to be a blind prophet who has memorized the word of God and understands the Bible's teachings. He remembers everything in the Bible and ends his journey by coming across a printing press located at Alcatraz. If my Biblical mythology is correct then the symbolism of Alcatraz, also known as the rock, is thusly a place of refuge created by God (or something along those lines). Without a lot of knowledge about the Bible I don't believe I took everything I could away from this film, as everything has some kind of Biblical interpretation or meaning.
The Book of Eli was an incredibly powerful story that although based heavily upon religion still applies to modern audiences and shows the power of religion in the world. I could go on for a long time about the symbolism in the film, but I believe that this is a film that should be experienced in order for a viewer to interpret it in their own way. Any individual person can take whatever meaning they want from it, which is one reason I found it to be such a strong film. I was able to argue with my friend about the symbolic imagery in the film for a long time after we experienced it, so I heavily recommend for people to see it and take their own spiritual opinions from it. It also includes enough asskicking and decapitations to satisfy anyone in the mood for an action flick, but I do hope that everyone takes away a little something more.
Rating: 7/10
The setting of the film is amazing, creating a terrifying and believable world in which the film takes place. Its haunting atmosphere and foreboding dread evoke incredibly strong emotions due to the state of the world and the horrible events that have occurred. One of the strongest parts of this setting is that the cause of the apocalypse is only ever rarely hinted at, the suggestion provided being that a nuclear weapon ripped open the ozone layer and burned everyone and everything into ashes and dust. One problem I had with the setting however was that the audience can easily tell that the entire film was acted in front of a greenscreen, which detracts from a lot of the scenes in which Eli is just walking through the wasteland.
The major theme of the film is that the Bible that Eli is carrying is humanity's salvation from the horrible state of the world, in which people are cannibals and the world is controlled using shotgun diplomacy. A powerful image near the end of the film is after the fall of Gary Oldman's civilized little town, the final shot includes a man loading his shotgun, him being visibly in control of the town now that he is the fearsome controller of the shotgun. This scene stuck with me because of how its a sad fact that the countries with the most deadly and precise weapons control the world, especially when clashing with the divine powers of religion. The theme of religion being a lost and forgotten concept since every Bible was destroyed preceding the great world war, its a powerful thought that man's salvation relies on religion, despite how it may have caused this war in the first place. Oldman's character only wants the Bible to control people with hopes that he can scare his civilized population into his slaves using his teachings of Hell and Heaven. The biggest twist occurs at the end of the film (spoilers follow; see the movie before continuing), when after Oldman finally obtains the Bible he discovers that it is written in braille and that he cannot read it. I believe that this is symbolic of how he has become a monstrous person and has lost his faith during his quest to obtain the Bible, and thus is not able to understand or see its teachings. Eli himself at the end of the film is shown to be a blind prophet who has memorized the word of God and understands the Bible's teachings. He remembers everything in the Bible and ends his journey by coming across a printing press located at Alcatraz. If my Biblical mythology is correct then the symbolism of Alcatraz, also known as the rock, is thusly a place of refuge created by God (or something along those lines). Without a lot of knowledge about the Bible I don't believe I took everything I could away from this film, as everything has some kind of Biblical interpretation or meaning.
The Book of Eli was an incredibly powerful story that although based heavily upon religion still applies to modern audiences and shows the power of religion in the world. I could go on for a long time about the symbolism in the film, but I believe that this is a film that should be experienced in order for a viewer to interpret it in their own way. Any individual person can take whatever meaning they want from it, which is one reason I found it to be such a strong film. I was able to argue with my friend about the symbolic imagery in the film for a long time after we experienced it, so I heavily recommend for people to see it and take their own spiritual opinions from it. It also includes enough asskicking and decapitations to satisfy anyone in the mood for an action flick, but I do hope that everyone takes away a little something more.
Rating: 7/10
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
David Cronenberg Marathon: Naked Lunch (1991)
I honestly can say that this film is incredibly difficult to understand. I don't think I get it, but that isn't the point of this movie. It's almost a more powerful film when you don't understand what's going on, especially when considering that the film is about drug abuse. The movie is about the author William Burroughs and the basic plot is that an bug exterminator/writer murders his wife and goes to a place called the Interzone where he is instructed by talking bugs that operate as his typewriter that he is an agent trying to capture a doctor working for Interzone Incorporated. Its an incredibly bizarre movie if you couldn't tell by my synopsis above, which makes it an incredibly boring and hard to follow film. I didn't really like it very much because of this, and I usually understand these types of movies. I will try my best to judge this film as a reviewer without insulting my own intelligence.
The movie contains some amazing creature designs, especially with the talking bugs and alien-like things. They all look disgusting and a lot of bizarre stuff happens concerning them. The main character types on a typewriter that is part of a large bug and later in the film types within an alien's mouth. It sounds incredibly weird, and trust my that it is, yet it looks really cool and gross in that awesome Cronenberg style. There is also a sex scene in the movie that makes no sense at all, which involves one of these typewriter monsters, and ends with the typewriter jumping out of a window. I doubt I could name another film that the MPAA says contains 'Bizarre Eroticism' and I don't think that I would want to.
The setting of the movie is very well shot in a film noir type of camerawork and lighting. It looks very good and strengthened the strangeness of the film by making the events that occur much more bizarre. It may appear that I am using the words 'strange' and 'bizarre' a lot, but that is exactly what this movie was. It was incredibly hard to follow and unlike anything else I've ever seen. I am not sure that I could sit through the entirety of the film again, as it doesn't really go anywhere and the movie's boring.
I don't know if this film has some deeper symbolism to it or if I need to know more about Burroughs, but as a viewer I shouldn't need to know every detail about the actual life of the writer the film is about. I turn towards movies in the hope that they can teach me these things in less that two hours, which is why I'm disappointed that Naked Lunch left me feeling bored and uninterested. From the film I can decipher that the writer's life was full of CIA conspiracy and drug abuse, yet the film leaves the viewer with far too many questions left unanswered and unaddressed. Did the events in the film actually happen to the main character? It's so confusing and difficult to piece together what was real and what was fiction, which I suppose could have been the message behind the film. Too bad that everything was so goddamn hard to figure out.
Rating: 5/10
The movie contains some amazing creature designs, especially with the talking bugs and alien-like things. They all look disgusting and a lot of bizarre stuff happens concerning them. The main character types on a typewriter that is part of a large bug and later in the film types within an alien's mouth. It sounds incredibly weird, and trust my that it is, yet it looks really cool and gross in that awesome Cronenberg style. There is also a sex scene in the movie that makes no sense at all, which involves one of these typewriter monsters, and ends with the typewriter jumping out of a window. I doubt I could name another film that the MPAA says contains 'Bizarre Eroticism' and I don't think that I would want to.
The setting of the movie is very well shot in a film noir type of camerawork and lighting. It looks very good and strengthened the strangeness of the film by making the events that occur much more bizarre. It may appear that I am using the words 'strange' and 'bizarre' a lot, but that is exactly what this movie was. It was incredibly hard to follow and unlike anything else I've ever seen. I am not sure that I could sit through the entirety of the film again, as it doesn't really go anywhere and the movie's boring.
I don't know if this film has some deeper symbolism to it or if I need to know more about Burroughs, but as a viewer I shouldn't need to know every detail about the actual life of the writer the film is about. I turn towards movies in the hope that they can teach me these things in less that two hours, which is why I'm disappointed that Naked Lunch left me feeling bored and uninterested. From the film I can decipher that the writer's life was full of CIA conspiracy and drug abuse, yet the film leaves the viewer with far too many questions left unanswered and unaddressed. Did the events in the film actually happen to the main character? It's so confusing and difficult to piece together what was real and what was fiction, which I suppose could have been the message behind the film. Too bad that everything was so goddamn hard to figure out.
Rating: 5/10
Monday, January 18, 2010
David Cronenberg Marathon: eXistenZ (1999)
Today I have started a David Cronenberg Marathon that is including his horror films from the 1970's up to the 2000's. Cronenberg is one of my favorite director's and has made some of the greatest horror films of all time. His movies utilize body horror to grippingly disgust the viewer in ways that other directors can only attempt to do. Cronenberg has shaped the current horror genre with his movies, especially The Fly and Videodrome, and he uses amazingly grotesque effects to repulse the viewer, which I would compare to the effects in Carpenter's masterpiece The Thing. Cronenberg has forever influenced the horror genre and over the next week I will begin posting a movie a day review of his amazing films. The first movie is his 1999 film, eXistenZ.
eXistenZ is a very unapreciated horror film, especially when you consider that it perfectly criticizes videogames. Being an avid gamer I must admit that this film is spot on with its depiction of videogames and I admittedly felt disgusted at certain scenes in the film. The movie is about a game designer who is on the run after there is a murderous attempt against her life. With her body guard she goes on the run and eventually convinces him to play through her videogame eXistenZ. That is the basic interpretation of the plot, yet the film is so much more than that, especially when the characters lose their grip on reality and can't determine when they are or aren't in the game. The ending of the film must be addressed, as without spoiling it I can say that it is one of the largest mindfucks I have experienced since Total Recall. The entire film is a criticism on gamers, as to play these new games a person must get a 'biolink', which is basically a cord that is used to plug a player directly into the game world. This is a terrifying concept that gaming could go as far as to place the player into the game by having them physically plugging themselves into it, without any controller or DUI to separate the player from the experience.
The movie also uses some intense effects regarding the gaming 'pods' which are used to play the games, as the console itself is a living creature. The gun used in the attempt to kill the designer is rather laughable at first, yet disgusting when it is first assembled. The gamer connects to the game by placing a cord into a hole in their back, which is incredibly gross to watch. The gore is also quite outstanding, as a doctor does surgery on one of the game consoles.
The symbolism within the film is also quite extraordinary, as the characters connect to the game to escape their boring lives, which is a strong comparison to real world gamers that play videogames to escape their boring lives (especially MMO players). The film's title may seem stupid, yet 'isten' means 'God' in Hungarian, a connection which is simple to make after seeing the film and how characters treat the game designer as a deity and play the games religiously. The movie feels incredibly possible for the future of videogames, especially if virtual reality were created; would people be able to differentiate between the real and digital worlds?
This was a very good film, yet besides its criticism of gamers its a rather scattered and hard to follow plot, trying to tell two stories that don't lead anywhere. The ending falls along the lines of 'it was all just a dream', however is much more creative and sticks together with the overall film's plot. I greatly enjoyed it and it was a great start for my Cronenberg Marathon.
Rating: 7/10
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Paprika (2006) Review
After reading on a movie blog that someone chose this as their third favorite film of the decade, I was interested enough to go and find this japanime film on bluray. What I saw was a remarkably beautiful and compelling animated film, probably one of the best animated films I saw this whole decade. The animation in this film is absolutely gorgeous, and the plot is very original and intriguing.
The plot of the film is rather difficult to follow at first, but upon a second viewing becomes easier to understand. The basic story is that a company has created these devices that allow for therapists to enter their patients dreams, however after a small quantity of the devices are stolen the company has to find out who stole them and get them back. This simple plot quickly doubles over itself, as the characters never know whether they are in a dream or reality, which eventually leads to some mindfuckerry. This is not an issue however, as it leads to a lot of amazing dream sequences and animation which are truly stunning. The movie also has a subplot involving an aspiring director, which is a brilliant representation of what filmmaking truly means to the people that make our films.
One of the best aspects of the film is the soundtrack, possibly one of the most perfect ones I have ever heard in a film. I can't get the addictive soundtrack out of my head and I couldn't even understand it (the music being in Japanese). Every scene has a meaningful musical score, which greatly heightens the dreamscapes, as well as enhancing the mood and action sequences.
I love the art of animation, which is mostly because every technical aspect can be easily doctored to the director's perfection. The camerawork and lighting are genius in this film, the animation being utilized to its full potential. Scenes flow vibrantly with a perfect usage of color and style, especially during the beautiful dream scenes. The animation is overall perfect, filled with color and style that wonderfully enhance everything in the film.
I would call this film the modern equivalent to Akira, which is a massively important comparison when one is talking about anime. Everything about this film is very damn good, almost too good. I have never been the largest fan of Japanese animation, mostly because of the shit on our television, yet every little while I'm willing to put away the newest Pixar movie and try a different type of animated film. I'm incredibly grateful that I was able to choose Paprika as the once in a while anime movie I watch, especially because of how it has now opened me towards more Japanime films that I will watch in the future. This was one hell of an amazing film that I recommend that everyone watch (it looks spectacular on bluray).
Rating: 10/10
And another thing...
I hate the fact that I have spent a great deal of time trying to find foreign releases in North America. It is such a joke that for me to get my Miike (Ichi the Killer; Japan) or Park (Oldboy; Korea) fix I need to either pirate the films or find them online. When I got my copy of Battle Royale in the mail two weeks ago it wouldn't plat on my region one dvd player and I was forced to watch it on my small computer monitor. Movie currently produced in Hollywood are shit compared to some of these great Asian movies, which is why I question that I can't find these movies in North America. I know that Battle Royale has had a difficult time finding a distributor in North America, but why the hell doesn't anyone want to sell these amazing films? I have literally spent nearly two years trying to find a copy of Akira, which is a real shame considering that none of the movie retailers I shop at stock the film. All I want is for these video outlets to stock and provide these amazing foreign films, especially since I hate shopping online.
By the way, I am still working on my top animated films of the decade. The reason for this is that after completing it I discovered that it was almost entirely comprised of Pixar films, which is not the only producer of animated motion pictures. I found this a disgrace of my own intelligence, so I have spent the last few weeks attempting to watch other animated movies. You can count on the list still containing a couple of Pixar movies, but I also have a some Dreamworks films and others as well. You can look forward to this near the end of January or start of February.
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