Neurotech - the weblog of Luke Reeves

Well, we watched this tonight. It was good. Not as good as Appleseed, but the action in Advent Children was so over-the-top awesome that it has to be seen. It’s pretty much a huge shout out to the fans of the series (specifically FF7 of course) so whether or not you enjoyed the game may be a good indicator of whether you’ll enjoy this.

And it’s good to see the people behind the first Final Fantasy movie still doing incredible animation. Sure, the first was awful (I still liked it) - but quitters never win! Or something.

Chie and I picked up Appleseed the other day from HMV (only twenty bucks) and managed to watch it last night. It was superb - definitely the most technically stunning anime I’ve seen. At first I thought it used a hybrid cell and 3D model technique like Ghost in the Shell: Innocence or Beautiful Days, but it actually uses models for the characters as well. I didn’t even notice that until well into the movie. The story is decent too and really picks up the pace near the end.

James, Jessica, Chie and I all went out for supper and then to watch War of the Worlds. It was pretty fucking awesome. I had flashbacks of playing Half Life 2 when the tripod/striders were stomping around though :-)

A couple nights ago we went to see The Last Samurai (which was awesome). Here’s something funny though; a while back I mentioned that people here sit until the end of the credits, regardless of the movie. So once the movie was over, Chie and I both desparately needed to use the bathroom. 15 seconds into the credits we were like “Screw it,” and stood up. As soon as we stand up and start leaving, the entire theatre follows suit. I guess we’re trendsetters or something.

Chie and I finally caught Kill Bill at a theater in Ginza today. Just as good as the other times I’ve seen it (excepting of course the long dialogues in Japanese that have no English subtitles). And there were more differences than I thought there would be. Like:

• The animation sequence had a few extra scenes - most notably when she kills Matsumoto on the bed, you get a really disgusting prolonged shot of his chest cut apart with all the entrails visible.
• When Gogo kills the dude in the bar it’s a lot more gruesome - again, the entrails are a lot more visible. Are we seeing a pattern here yet?
• During the House of Blue Leaves there was no cut to black and white.
• Also, the House of Blue Leaves scene was probably 5 to 10 minutes longer - lots more killing and action. And a few extra scenes with the kid that she spanks with her katana.
• At the end (spoilers?) when The Bridge is going to interrogate Sophie Fatale, she gives the speech about cutting off body parts that she’ll miss. And then she proceeds to cut off her other arm after screaming, and reasonably so, “Give me your other arm.”
• After the credits there was a “Bootleg Trailer” that had a ton of scenes from Volume 2. Not too much in the way of plot, but some weird scenes of The Bridge with a bunch of creepy hick friends at the wedding chapel.

Yeah, so it was cool. Two things that are weird about movies here. Everybody insists on staying until the credits are over - in the case of this movie, that makes sense since we got treated to like a sneak peak. But they do it for every single movie. This and The Matrix I can understand; but things like the Pianist? I don’t give a fuck who Best Boy was.

And they’re totally deadpan quiet through the whole thing. No laughing, sighing, no bodily noises whatsoever. I don’t get that. Chie and I were laughing and stuff, but when I listened to the theater it sounded like a funeral or something. Strange.

Apparently the Japanese version of Kill Bill is more violent.

This movie rocked my world, I loved the shit out of it. It’s so overblown with every cliche and cheesy thing you can imagine, yet somehow it pulls together into an awesome package. Limbs being hacked off, ultraviolence, blood gushing out in literal fountains, Uma in a yellow banana suit, Lucy Liu with a decent explanation as to why she’s surrounded by Japanese people, awesome swords, wicked surreal swordfights, Kuriyama playing the exact same role as a crazy schoolgirl from Battle Royale, tons of Tarantino-isms that you’ll half love and half hate, freaky anime that fits right in, and on and on. Really, I could write forever about this thing and I’ll probably end up seeing it again.

So go see it. And man it’s refreshing to finally pay for a movie at the theater that I enjoy.