Hey everyone! I will be attending and staffing this year's roundup of AnimeNEXT, the convention held in Somerset, NJ celebrating Japanese anime/pop culture from June 7-9.
I'll be participating in the following panels, along with Dr. Bill Ellis, professor emeritus of Penn State University and owner of Sensei's Anime Gallery, and my colleagues Dylan Ferrara and Casey Schoenberger. Panel descriptions are courtesy of Dr. Ellis.
10 a.m. on Saturday:
Anime Under the Radar
What's the greatest anime you've never heard of? Maeterlinck's Blue Bird? Alps no Shojo Heidi? Ai to Yuki no Pig Girl Tonde Burin? Gegege no Kitaro? This panel will survey out-of-the-way anime series, some of which are thus far unknown to most fans.
11:30 p.m. on Saturday:
Bronies Uncensored!
This panel will look at some of the controversial issues raised by the recent emergence of "bronies," or adult fans of the Hasbro "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" series, and how such issues relate also to certain Japanese anime magical girl series.
11 a.m. on Sunday:
Collecting Japanese Animation Art
Original animation art from many Japanese anime series, classic and new, is easy to collect at affordable prices. This panel will survey the kinds of art that is available, including cels (painted plastic sheets used in the making of the anime), original production backgrounds, and key animators' sketches. Strategies for acquiring and conserving these artifacts will be covered.
I hope to see you there! Be sure to grab a program guide; I edited and wrote for it and my friend Sarah Moulder of Studio Kitsu designed it.
ALSO: I'll also be taking photos of creative cosplayers and posting the images in a slideshow on my blog here after the con. If you run into me, you'll also get the opportunity for some Insatiable Critic swag; this bangin' bookmark designed for me my Tina Pratt, the creative mind behind the webcomic Paul Reveres.
In the world of American comic book superheroes, most fall into one of two camps: those who were born or acquired superpowers and those without conventional superpowers who make themselves into a hero anyway.
Pixar's 2004 feature The Incrediblesdrew this distinction clearly; although the Tony Stark-esque character of Syndrome proved to have malicious intentions built on a platform of poor self-esteem. In fact, one could make the argument that Syndrome and Tony Stark have much in common - Tony, of course, choosing to take the moral high ground.
Iron Man 3 revolves around striving to answer this question both the villain and the hero have: Is there any way to build yourself into the super that you've
always wanted to be, and still love yourself at the end of the day?
Third films are tricky territory for most filmmakers. Audiences are already well-acquainted with base characters so after a requisite catchup a decently paced plot has to carry it through. Robert Downey Jr. has all but adopted Tony Stark as a second skin; a near-absorption shaped equally by the character and by Downey himself. Iron Man 3 had quite large super boots to fill being the first individual Avenger film after the sweeping success Joss Whedon's The Avengers was and is. Also, let's face it, Iron Man 2 sucked. With the exception of a humorous performance by Mickey Rourke, a combination of a fast-talking obnoxious and dopey villain combined with Tony's whining and sniping with Rhodey - it was a weak follow-up to a near-flawless debut.
Another potential concern was switching directors from Jon Favreau, an everyman in every sense (if you've never seen Swingers, which he wrote and starred in, stop reading this post, get it on your Netflix list, and come back to the program) to Shane Black, best known for his Lethal Weapon films. But the switch proved to be a much-needed breath of fresh air, and keeping Favreau as a producer and actor as Tony's overprotective bodyguard was a smart move, since it's clear the Favreau wit of the first two films remains intact.
The Insatiable Critic flashing her arc reactor after viewing Iron Man 3
In this roundup, Tony suffers from a loss of personal identity. His work and home life clearly aren't meshing, taking a toll on long-suffering Pepper and on top of it all, there's a terrorist threatening America through creative means. Then enters the ever drool-worthy Guy Pearce as a possible contender for Pepper's heart. Quips, bullets, bombs and plot points whiz by and hit their intended targets with blazing accuracy. The two-plus hour film keeps up its pace without being breakneck and sticks to its essential plot points. There's too much to show and explain to waste time on the extraneous; thankfully there's no "scene fillers" like the totally unnecessary machismo fight between Rhodey and Stark in the second film. We even get to see Pepper suit up, albeit all too briefly, but it gave me nice Metroid flashbacks all the same.
To almost an extreme effect, Iron Man 3 goes to great lengths to distinguish the man from the suit, to the point of where Tony and the suit are sitting next to one other on a couch and Tony is talking to it as he would an old friend via Jarvis, his eloquent A.I. we've become increasingly familiar with as Tony's voice of reason (and voiced brilliantly by the ever-talented Paul Bettany.) But towards the end of the film, that envelope gets pushed a tad too hard, and I start getting the sense of the Syndrome character effect mentioned earlier- he has to prove to Pepper and the world that he doesn't need the suits in such an over-the-top way that it smacks of massive insecurity. The ending has such a sense of finality, and yet at the end of the credits we get a note, done in a Bond-like fashion; "Tony Stark Will Return."
WARNING- after this, there be potential spoilers, matey.
Yes, it's true we love Tony Stark and we love the man that he is. But come on, we all know that we want him to suit back up again. He mutters gravely at the end that it was "just a cocoon." Will he build another one? In essence, he seems to throw that chapter of his life away at the end and me, as a devoted fan, am left unsatisfied (although the bonus scene at the very end of the credits is fantastic.)
It's a great kickoff the summer season, to be sure, and an exhilarating ride - no need to see in 3D; the non gives you a clearer picture and you can save yourself a couple of bucks - but it left me wishing for more of a happy medium between being Tony Stark and being Iron Man. Tony Stark owns unlimited assets, the love of his life, and his sanity again -we know he doesn't NEED the suit, but considering his own creation has saved his life so many times, shouldn't it deserve better?
I’m not the biggest fan of zombie/cannibalstories. In fact, I actually have a phobia
when it comes to zombies. But a recent anime out of Japan with overtones of that horror genre has captivated my interest nonetheless.
Attack On Titan (the literal translation of the Japanese title, Shingeki no Kyojin, should be closer to "Attack of the Titans"), based off the manga of the same name by Hajime Isayama, is currently airing in Japan and is quickly becoming one of the hottest series out now.
There have been four episodes so far that have aired on
CrunchyRoll.com, the online streaming repository for all things anime. It is amazing to me that with a few clicks (and, if you don’t want
ads, a couple bucks per month to have your own personal all-anime equivalent of
Netflix) you can have your fill of subtitled fresh-from-Japan goodness. I
remember in the 90s when anime was starting to have a surge of popularity in
the U.S. that the only access you had to even older anime series (forget the
most current) was through fansubs ordered off eBay and other more obscure, dark
recesses of the World Wide Web.
But here we are, getting to watch humans get eaten to our
heart’s content, and I could not be happier. The premise is you have a medieval-esque town that has lived in peace for about 100 years inside three 164-foot walls (named Maria, Rose, and Sina) to
protect them from the Titans - giants that are semi-human in appearance whose only goal in
life seems to be consuming humans. Anything other than that, thus far, is off
the menu.The interesting part is that the majority of them seem to be fairly
mild-mannered; and worst of all, it appears they don’t actually need to eat
humans to survive, and appears to be a side effect of not having anything else worthwhile
to do. (Social commentary, anyone?) What’s left of humanity, which resides in a
country similar to Holland with rolling green hills, Tudor-style
homes, and windmills, goes along generally contented behind their strongholds. It is clear the idyllic nature of the town is not all it appears to be, as there are several troops of brave souls
that head out as “survey groups” to try to find out more about the Titans
(thereby destroying the typical Western plot point of “it’s different and
dangerous, therefore we should just kill it instead of learning anything") and
sadly, end up just losing more people in their efforts.
Check out the killer opening!
Here's a pretty epic piano cover of it as well. Great stuff.
But the walls are keeping them back, so hey, why worry?
Right? You can see what’s coming. All hell breaks loose when a different Titan
appears and peeks his skinless face up over the outermost wall, Maria, to say
hello before proceeding to knock the first stronghold down with relative ease.
Our main character, Eren, and his sister Mikasa, have the unfortunate
experience of watching their mother get eaten by one of the more timid-looking
creatures.It's like Where the Wild Things Are gone terribly, terribly wrong. DEFINITELY NOT a series for the little ones.
So the townspeople (whoever’s left that is) suit up to try
to do what they can to learn about and fight the Titans. Here’s what makes the
series totally intriguing to me – I really want to know what the Titans ARE; they look downright disturbing and yet, I can't look away. Some are
appropriately scary monster-fierce-looking, their skinless forms reminding one
of an Iron Man suit in the flesh. Others resemble schlubby humans with semi-amiable
expressions (aside from giant, grinning jaws that is). Which brings me to the great art style - I enjoy that the characters (human and Titan alike) have distinctive individual looks, and don't fall prey to the problem of other anime series, where everyone looks basically the same aside from varying eye color and spiky hair styles. The people look realistic and the world they inhabit is as gritty as the plot.
Back to the Titans: Are they machines? Are they organic? Where are they from? Who knows, but I'm sticking around to watch because this is the first series in a long, long time that has so thoroughly hooked me right from the start.
In honor of a fellow critic: the Chicago Tribune did a wonderful writeup this morning about the funeral of Roger Ebert, held this morning. I thought I'd share the link to that news article, as well as a feature I read in 2010 in Esquire magazine entitled Roger Ebert: The Essential Man. This article really captures the man from all angles, and one of the best journal features I've read, period.
Finally, I also wanted to include a fitting tribute Geeks of New England, a podcast group I've been involved with over the last couple months, had done.
This blog may not exist if it weren't for Mr. Ebert. The best thing about being a writer? Your work gets to live on long after you do and thus, you are never really gone from this world.
I'll be honest - the main reason I went to see Life of Pi wasn't because it was a Best Picture contender, or that the director is the famed Ang Lee - it was for the tiger.
There's something about tigers - their strength and fire, and yet their uncanny ability to look like the bigger cousin of the harmless tabby sleeping on a windowsill. You know one could gobble you up in moments - or at least maim you for life - and yet, there's something soft and vulnerable beyond those eyes burning bright, in the forests of the night, as William Blake once wrote.
The opener doesn't quite take you where you think the movie will go. There's lots of cute animals, picturesque scenes of Pondicherry, India, fun jokes about how the main character, Pi, gets his nickname. Then - this is not a spoiler if you've seen the trailers at all - a monumental tragedy strikes, and Pi finds himself on a small boat on the ocean with a strange cast of characters, and soon, only him and a tiger named Richard Parker, left to fight the elements.
A strangely accurate breakdown of the film, courtesy of Film.com.
The visuals are eye candy to feed the soul. I tend to see 3D as being gimmicky and usually not worth the extra $3 or sometimes $5 theatres tack onto the already expensive movie ticket, but Lee uses the effects to their utmost advantage, particularly during the shipwreck scene. It is a sweeping moment, when you are drawn in to the heart of the storm, utterly swept away from reality and you realize that the movie really and truly HAS you in its clutches. Of course, there are many beautiful movies where the plot is forgettable at best and deplorable at worst (I'm looking at you, Tree of Life.) The story purports to be one that "will make you believe in God." Of
course WHICH god you decide to believe in, the movie cleverly sidesteps;
but given how much crap Pi has to deal with, that message seems a bit
skeptical. So what DOES director Ang Lee want us to take away from this
story? And is the tiger real, or just the delusions of a boy suffering from sunstroke after six months adrift on an unforgiving sea?
During my time as a staff writer for Soundings, a nationwide boating magazine, I spoke to people who survived for days at sea after wrecks, so perhaps the movie had more personal weight for me than others. Most of the time, the one sentiment I heard over and over again was - "I'm just glad to be alive." I believe the Richard Parker is real in this film; I also believe that he represents the fire and strength in the human soul, the tenacity of our will to live. Pi says Richard Parker is what kept him alive.There is that tiger in all of us that somehow allows us to live another day, to seek another sunset, and to help us be brave enough to imagine a different reality for ourselves; that even when we have nothing; and so much is taken from us - there is still that tiger in our soul, that will to live, to see what's around the next horizon.
Perhaps if one cannot believe in god (or a god) by the end of this film, we moviegoers, jaded as we are at times, can find some will to believe in ourselves. Perhaps that's the first step towards the existence of a higher being. Life of Pi is a movie that moves me and will continue to do so for a long time to come.
Once upon a time there was a film called Mirror, Mirror that didn't get the credit it was due and after spending a criminally short period of time in theatres, was dismissed as a mere visual bauble, lacking "enough depth or originality to set it apart from the countless other adaptations of the tale," according to RottenTomatoes.com.
As Julia Roberts would say in the film, lightly daubing her mouth with an ornate lace napkin, "agree to disagree."
Though there was a number of patriotic films I could've chosen to review, I decided on the Fourth of July to blow $20 on the recently released DVD of Twentieth Century Fox's Mirror, Mirror, the Bollywood reimagining of a German fairy tale that sadly did not get the publicity or the attention it deserved. I believe this film, directed by Tarsem Singh, was a victim of poor marketing and cultural divides.What we essentially have here is an incredibly well-cast and lushly displayed Bollywood film, and being a fan of that genre, of course I adored it. For those of you not in the know, Bollywood (formally referred to as Hindi Cinema) is a genre of Indian film that incorporates energetic dance sequences, over-the-top costumes and self-referential humor with whimsical plots that generally revolve around love stories.
If I needed any more support for my case, just take a gander at the ending sequence (No spoilers here, unless you've grown up under a rock and don't realize that Snow White and the Prince live happily ever after....if that's the case, well, OOOPS!) and then take a look at a dance sequence from Saawariya, a Bollywood film released in 2007:
So yeah, you get the idea. But the truth is, Bollywood doesn't tend to go over terribly well in this country, and it's a damn shame, because it's a whole lot of fun. And without having that background, I imagine several moviegoers saw Mirror, Mirror and found it a singularly perplexing giddy experience wrapped up in a sumptuous orange bow. But at least they had plenty of jaw-droppingly beautiful costumes and sets to gawk at.
The other thing that I find incredibly appealing personally about Mirror, Mirror is I strongly dislike Julia Roberts. She tends to be cast as the sweet "girl next door" when I always saw evil and treachery lurking beneath that mile-wide smile. As the Evil Queen, I feel she was finally given the role she was born to play - a cruel, self-possessed downright witchy woman. And there's a certain amount of self-reflected irony in Roberts taking on the role, as she herself isn't quite as "fair" as she used to be as the actress creeps toward middle age.
In fact, I can't think of a single person who wasn't suited to their roles.The delicately lovely Lily Collins does a fine turn at Snow White, creating the difficult balance between sweet and innocent and also profoundly human - and it's the humanness that makes her so darn likeable. She gets irritated and says inappropriate things, and doesn't let the Evil Queen boss her around, all of which makes her a step above the standard oh-so-goody-two-shoes flawless fairytale princess. The dwarves are wise-cracking thieves played by incredibly talented little people, which definitely is a tip of the hat to that particular community of actors since in the age of CGI it would've been easy to just "create" them, and their chemistry with Snow is endearing as it is genuine. Nathan Lane (aging quite gracefully, by the way) rounds out the palace ensemble as Brighton, the
simpering, scraping manservant to the Queen who finds himself quite
literally playing the cockroach he is in a sequence that would make
Franz Kafka proud.
And, of course, the Prince. Could there have been a better choice, really, than Armie Hammer? He's blonde, blue-eyed, and so darn hapless in the presence of two great female leads you just want to give him a big old hug. What else can he do but just do what he does best - be charming? And yet, somehow he succeeds through his interactions with Snow White as being more than just a stock fairytale character, and even gamely does a great job at imitating a puppy when the Queen botches one of her own spells.
But under all the fluff and visual splendor, the film has a dark edge that is highly appealing to me, and is rather appropriate given that the tale itself is quite macabre. While there's no glass display coffins to be had, the Queen's rotten apple core of a magical abode has very Poe-like elements and the opening animation sequence featuring young Snow White, the King, and the Evil Queen as fine-featured porcelain dolls is incredibly original. What I'd give to see an entire film done in that style!
Probably what sold me the most on the film is what they do with the King, Snow White's father. He's a story element that has rarely been explored in recent interpretations of the tale.His character in Mirror, Mirror is given a rather unique spin, and I think if you take the time to give it a watch, you'll very much agree with me.
The DVD is sadly lacking in the extras department. The documentary is interesting and will give viewers more of the mindset in filmmaking from the Indian cultural experience (Armie Hammer quite rightly calls Tarsem Singh's directing style "unceasingly effervescent") and a cute puppy feature for the kiddies, but not much else to write home about. However, it does let you skip past the previews for other films at the beginning and being able to pause certain scenes and take in all the rich detail is a definite plus.
Mirror, Mirror may not be the fairest one of all - but it's a whole lot of fun and a great opportunity to step into another doorway of cultural moviedom.
By a strange twist of fate, I ended up seeing Brave twice - once in 3D and once in 2D. I'd like to say right out of the gate that if you are so inclined to
see this film, DO NOT see it in 3D. It doesn't enhance the film
dramatically, it takes the incredibly vivid colors and makes them drab,
and muddies up the the numerous night scenes making the characters
almost completely indiscernible from one another. Save your cash - it's
not worth it! Also, be sure to stay til the very end of the credits for a mini-bonus sequence.
Now, for the rest of the review. The spunky Scottish princess (voiced brilliantly by Kelly Macdonald) does a lot of running around on her amazingly animated horse, Angus, tossing her tornado of red curls around, and stamping her foot while echoing her mother's wise words that "Legends are lessons. They ring with truth."
Clearly there is some legend to be told and we are supposed to learn something from it. But it's not really clear what that lesson is, other than don't make any deals with wily witches in forests before you've read the fine print. But we all know THAT. This doesn't make for a BAD film, but let's face it - we've all gotten semi-biased when it comes to Pixar. After all they've put out hit after hit. Toy Story, Ratatouille, and my personal favorite, The Incredibles. (Apparently I'm not alone in this one - a recent Entertainment Weekly poll showed that 21 percent of their readers consider The Incredibles their favorite despite it being eight years old.) And why were they so good? Because they had amazing stories to be told to go along with the jaw-droppingly beautiful and innovative animation.
I enjoyed Brave and there are certain parts of it that I'm actually quite fond of - even the parts that BEARLY made sense (you'll forgive the pun if you've already seen the film.) But as Pixar aficionados, we've gotten used to being served the best of the best - and this is definitely not. It's an absolute visual stunner, but plotwise it fails to be as inventive.
But let's put all of this comparison stuff aside for a moment and look at the film in its own right. I really enjoyed the dry, cutting humor combined with slapstick, provided via Merida's father and the other bumbling clansmen chiefs, their ineffectual sons (all vying for the hand of Merida at their father's forced nudges) and Merida's three younger brothers - a hive of mischief and well-coordinated and executed crimson-curled mayhem. Her brothers, which so easily could have been three-minute gags sporadically pastiched on the storyboard for comedy relief, end up serving as important plot devices throughout the film as a whole. There's also very Hayao Miyazaki-like overtones to the Will O' The Wisps that beckon Merida toward her "fate." I also found the relationship dynamics between Merida and her long-suffering mother, Queen Elinor (voiced by the ever-versatile Emma Thompson), to be quite genuine (having had my own share of clashes with my own mother as a young teen not so unlike Merida, minus the crazy mop of red hair) and, at times, incredibly heartfelt.
WARNING: FROM HERE ON OUT, THERE BE PLOT SPOILERS, MATEYS.
I actually didn't mind the Ursa Major plotline so much. It's a plot device of a human trying to work out their flaws by walking in the paws of another animal's skin, and though done before, can be an effective one of executed creatively. Merida's mum turning into a bear was not a problem for me. It was the fact that Pixar seemed to get lazy with what to do once her mum became a bear. Okay, we're going to learn to fish together. Quality time. Her mum learns that sometimes it is important to fight and know how to use weapons. Yay growing experiences!
And yet, it all felt a little contrived. The compromise at the end of the movie proved to be no compromise at all. Yes, Merida learns to respect her mum, and her mum learns to let her hair flow in the wind and loosen her queenly stays a bit but it's not clear if Merida will follow through with her societal duties. That's a lot
of tradition and dynasties flushed down the proverbial toilet if Merida prefers to stay single. And what of the witch? Does she ever come back? Where did she ever come from? She's fun and spunky and someone I would've liked to have gotten to know better if the plotline hadn't been so hellbent on reaching it's desired conclusion with the same pacing as Merida charging through the woods on Angus.
So who ends up being Brave in the end? Our
fiery-haired heroine of the hour, Merida? Her strong-willed mother,
Queen Elinor? Or maybe us in the audience, who put our faith into a film that was a joy to view with beautiful music but ended up being little more than a summer popcorn movie and a way to beat the heat for an hour and change. And that's okay too - but Pixar, next time around, don't put all your creative eggs into one basket in your beginning short, the absolutely flawless and breath-taking La Luna -I won't say any more about it except that it has the wide-eyed wonder and brushed gold magic that makes Pixar creations truly stunning - and leave nothing left for the main feature.
Toby sez:
For more Brave thoughts, visit my friend Ric Meyer's page here. (Note: his review is spoileriffic!)
