more movie mini-reviews
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is just as fun as I remembered it. The suspense plotline doesn't suffer from a second viewing, the characters are pretty clear given that it's a collection of music videos and nobody has any dialogue, and all five of the main characters plus the villain get stuff to do. There are also all sorts of Matsumoto tropes quietly here and there.
One of them, however, still being "If it looks cool, it works." Seriously. Don't think too hard about this.
The DVD had a bunch of extras. However, the "special features" menu items were, literally, a series of blue boxes. You have to select one to see what it is; sometimes this starts a music video or other track playing. This is just bad design.
You do find out from the extras that the heroic fan's name is apparently "Shep."
Despite all its problems, I do still really like this; where else will you have alien rock bands and the day saved by your Capitalist Boss turning out to be a good guy after all?
O ye gods, I LOVE YELLOW SUBMARINE.
I first saw it when my mother taped it off of Channel Eleven, back when we lived in Seattle. I then proceeded to wear out the tape with multiple viewings. I saw this remastered version with the added "Bull Dog" scene in the theater, and eagerly bought the disc.
To be fair, this is not a movie you watch for its stunning sense. It runs on Dream Logic. Within that context, it sort of feels right for hard-to-articulate reasons; the plot, thin as it is, has resonated with me for years, and there's something very funny about an extended ending sequence beyond the actual "story end" to "It's All Too Much."
The film also includes the original theatrical bonus video of the Beatles in person reprising "All Together Now," which I still find it hard not to sing along to.
In short, this is an excellent movie for children with expanding vocabularies, and it remains entertaining (and often funny on a different level) for adults.
One of them, however, still being "If it looks cool, it works." Seriously. Don't think too hard about this.
The DVD had a bunch of extras. However, the "special features" menu items were, literally, a series of blue boxes. You have to select one to see what it is; sometimes this starts a music video or other track playing. This is just bad design.
You do find out from the extras that the heroic fan's name is apparently "Shep."
Despite all its problems, I do still really like this; where else will you have alien rock bands and the day saved by your Capitalist Boss turning out to be a good guy after all?
O ye gods, I LOVE YELLOW SUBMARINE.
I first saw it when my mother taped it off of Channel Eleven, back when we lived in Seattle. I then proceeded to wear out the tape with multiple viewings. I saw this remastered version with the added "Bull Dog" scene in the theater, and eagerly bought the disc.
To be fair, this is not a movie you watch for its stunning sense. It runs on Dream Logic. Within that context, it sort of feels right for hard-to-articulate reasons; the plot, thin as it is, has resonated with me for years, and there's something very funny about an extended ending sequence beyond the actual "story end" to "It's All Too Much."
The film also includes the original theatrical bonus video of the Beatles in person reprising "All Together Now," which I still find it hard not to sing along to.
In short, this is an excellent movie for children with expanding vocabularies, and it remains entertaining (and often funny on a different level) for adults.