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Activity Summary
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Reviews Written: 26
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Member Visits: 685
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Total Visits: 20,731
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About neilworms
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UPDATES
Finnally after a long time I have decided to update! Have been really busy as of late but things are settling down a bit more reviews are on the way but for now just enjoy the mini reviews that I have. Page Last updated 12/14/02
What Am I working on Now
Movies
Metropolis: Increadably beautiful, well designed and concieved, quite well done! Problems lie in Pacing (something Rintaro is infamous for messing up) and in weird scenes.
Mamoru Oshii's Avalon: An absolutely beautiful live action movie from the director of Ghost in the Shell. The strongest point is the soundtrack, the first ochestrial score from Kenji Kawai, is absoultly stunning and beautiful. The film suffers from many of the same problems of character development that are prevailent in Oshii's other work. The philosophy posed is similar to The Matrix only much more intelligent and in depth! (****)
Watership Down: A British animated film about a bunch of rabbits and their society. Quite excellent, among the best "westren" animated films I've seen. I'm surprised that the americans didn't cut anything out of this film (unlike Plague Dogs another film from the same makers).
All of Studio Ghibli's films will eventually be reviewed by me under the "top 10 anime films" catagory. Ghibli's films are almost all wonderful (the exception is Pom Poko which wouldn't really work, unless you had good knowlege of Japanese folk tales and culture; to me, who's so far only seen about 10 min of it, it was weird) most would be 4 to 5 stars. Shame Disney has only released two of them.
Most recient Ghibli Film
Only Yesterday:&;nbsp Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies) gives us a sophisticated drama. One that has some of the best character work in anime (and that few films can beat). It is about a woman looking for something better for her life, so she looks to her past in 5th grade. Much of the story takes place in these flashbacks.
Exqusite animation, art and espicially music direction! Because of its audience and arty nature. Disney would never release this one :( (that is if they actually started to releas Ghibli's other titles).
Series
Lupin III 1st TV series: (finished)While this show tstarted out a bit rocky (they were doing a bad attempt to capture the feel of the original manga) it quickly gets better as it goes along. Midway through due to bad ratings the directors switched to none other than Hayao Miyazaki (Spirted Away) and Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies). The show became much wackier and overall worked a lot better than the first half did. Not to be confused with the lupin that will be airing on Cartoon Network in January, that is the 2nd TV series which was done in 1977-1980.
Lupin 2nd TV series (Miyazaki Episodes, 145 155)
This is like the first series on crack! and that is a good thing! Everything is funnier the animation is excellent for a late 70s TV series and the storys are very engaging, sadly I think that all of the rest of the series cant live up to this one (since they were not directed by master filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.
Patlabor TV: So far so good; lighter tone than the movies. It seems that Centeral Park Media is slowly releasing the rest of the series.
Boogiepop Phantom: Another late night surreal anime series in the tradition of Serial Experiments Lain. It is a great series, good horror from the screenwriter of Perfect Blue (Sadayuki Murai)
Excel Saga: A show that I came across at the local anime club, not a show that i would have normally bought off the shelf, but after seeing it wow! I was impressed. This is a great comedy that makes fun of all of the cliches in anime. Very funny stuff, but your apprechiation of it will depend on how much bad anime you've seen.
Comics/Manga
Akira: Much more detailed than the movie, actually helps you understand the movie a lot more, on hiatus due to horrid price ($25 Per volume!)
The Sandman: Simply the greatest comic I have ever read! I think even literary types who consider comics nothing but garbage should read this, it is eye-opening! Part IV is my fav.
Osamu Tezuka's Adolf: A manga written by the man who started the medium's popularity in Japan. It is quite obivious why he won over so may young Japanese to accept animation and comics as more than just for kids! This tale is historical fiction, while it has cartoony characters, the direction and gripping story make me wonder why this isn't more popular. I wish Eps had more than one slot for this, or I would have reviewed the first volume a while ago.
Phoenix: Osamu Tezuka's Life work. An amazing exestential comic about a phoenix and everything related to man and his universe around him. An excellent read, shame its going to take Viz/Pulp about 10 years to finish this one at the rate they are going.
Lupin III: Much more sexual than the anime, this series is a perfect blend of Mad Magizine with the 1960s James Bond. Schitzophrenic in a good way constantly shifting between low brow and high brow, gritty and wacky, interesting stuff with a very different art style more reminiscent of MAD than Osamu Tezuka. Very funny. Captures what the first part of the TV series tried to do but failed miserably.
Orochi: Blood: Another comic by one of the pioneering cartoonists in Japan horror cartoonis Kazuo Umekazu. Very Stark Style so far with excellent direction, moody and very serious, written at a time when serious gekiga (Japans version of hte term "Graphic Novel" Lit. Dramatic Pictures) merged with mainstream manga. Very engaging.
Books
Smoke and Mirrors: A series of short stories that prove that Neil Gaiman is one of the greatest writers today no matter what medium he chooses to write in.
Good Omens: Comedy by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, haven't started yet...
More to come later...
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