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Are you a wizard? Quick reviews.

Ghost in the Shell

We've now watched both films in my Tokyo Cyberpunk class here at the U of O, and I gotta say; there's a ton I missed back when I first saw this movie. Upon closer inspection, I actually enjoy the entire experience a whole lot more than just ogling at the action and naked cyborg chick. GITS ends up being a really intelligent flick, with incredibly detailed artwork (beautiful cells) and some interesting questions on humanity/technology that make it all the more fun to watch and think about later. That being said, the more I see of Japanese movies, the more I realize that they like to pace things with long drawn out scenes after spending 30 or 40 minutes clipping along. It's a jarring change, but works out in this case.

Basset Hound obsession/10

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

I think I might prefer this one over the first. Why, you ask? Well, the use of ball-jointed dolls (as a nod to Bellmer) and the theme of .. well, just how freaking creepy dolls are, really sold it to me. The color palatte is warmer this time, perhaps to separate itself from the first film. In any case, we follow Batou and Kusanagi as they investigate bots who have started to kill their owners. Sound similar to iRobot? Maybe, but only in that aspect alone. What the two end up unraveling sends them on a journey to an outlying former-boomtown that reminds the viewer of Blade Runner, viewing a beautifully constructed 5-minute Parade scene that took them a year to make, and getting stuck in a loop as they try to question a famous hacker.

There's a lot of great dialogue here, but the action feels tacked on. I'd rather have a more cerebral thriller (Seven?) than have them feel as though they have to have the big action scene at the end. However, the characters, dialogue, visuals, storyline, and music are all on point so see this shit.

Isaac Asimov/10

Super speed reviews:

Ikiru: The pace kind of crawled to a halt after a while, and Kurosawa missed a perfect ending by dragging things on. Otherwise amazing/10

Rashomon: Every time I see it, the less I like it/10

The Bad Sleep Well: Great noir piece, see this/10

Tetsuo: The Iron Man: My head is full of fuck. I'm not sure if I like this, but I enjoyed it once/10

[TV stuff]

The Office: I'll say it again, if the show focused on making entire episodes like the intros, it would be better. As of now, unfunny and boring/10

30 Rock: Gotta love it. The writing is sharp, the comedy is fun, and Tracy Morgan is usually amusing. Beware, though, his character can sometimes become annoying/10

Nip/Tuck: Fucking horrible. Seriously, what's the deal?/10

Glee: I... they're very talented, and my girlfriend likes 'em so I gotta/10

Shit, it's been too long since I've updated this bad boy. I need to make a better effort on writing more consistently if only for my own piece of mind. With a new Call of Duty game just out, I found that I was craving creativity after playing it for hours on end. So I'll spew this update out real quick, then hop on some photoshop or screenwriting to cure me. I luv u