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Reviews
The Grey (2011)
Great movie, if you can ignore the pure idiocy of the characters
How a bunch of Alaskan oil-rig workers, and a hunter, can make so many stupid survival decisions is beyond me. They appear to come to all the wrong conclusions for all the right reasons. If you've got even a little bit of knowledge about wolves, or survival in an arctic environment, this film will leave you smacking your forehead and screaming "You idiots!" at the screen.
The wolves are hokey, and far too big to represent the typical wolves found in Alaska. Furthermore, the behaviors exhibited were not entirely accurate.
Worse still, the supposed expert played by Liam Neeson appears to know next to nothing about wolves, and leads the survival party toward the only cover, in the mistaken belief that the wolves don't den there. As the end of the movie reveals, the character is a moron.
Too bad, this movie had a good premise, but terrible execution.
Asaruto gâruzu (2009)
Unexpected Bargain Bin Treasure
I picked this up on a lark because the cover was three hot Japanese babes, and the flick was directed by the same guy behind Ghost in the Shell. For a bargain bin find, it was well worth it.
I'll say straight away, if you're not into hard sci fi (especially written hard sci fi), you're probably going to find it dragging and dull, and you're going to hate the intro.
If you don't really like Japanese movies/anime/manga, you might struggle to like this film. If this is your first Japanese movie, put it down, and go pick up Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children instead, it has a more universal appeal, and fewer long scenes that don't advance the plot.
The basic plot: The world had some big problems, there was a big economic collapse, wars, stuff like that. Afterward, the world fell into a kind of dark ages where everything (technology especially) stagnated. People were no longer satisfied with their lives in the false utopia that followed all the problems. A lot of them found an outlet for their most basic human emotional needs in a video game named Avalon. This movie follows a group of players in a second imagining of Avalon, named Avalon-F, which is basically a MMO/Hunting game on steroids. The characters all start off trying to solo a big boss, which the game informs them is not really possible. However, the gamers are stubborn and want the glory/advancement for themselves, and it takes them a while to come around to working together. The movie is about them finally coming to the decision to work together, and the struggles, internal and external they go through in the process.
There are lots of long, pretty shots where you don't see anything that advances the story in a meaningful way, just gives you things to think about. I enjoyed it, I like meandering around in video games and exploring my surroundings, so for a movie about a video game to do that was fun for me. That said, if you're a passive viewer who doesn't like sitting around waiting for action to happen, this movie is not for you.
I loved the costume design. Lucifer in particular was great. She appears to have feathers for hair, which will make sense if you keep watching. I love the personal moments that show this character having fun, she's a pretty character, and looks like she really enjoys herself in this virtual world. She finds unexpected ways to have fun, considering the premise of the video game she's playing.
My biggest complaint about this movie comes from the choice of having the actors wear masks, but not recording their voices in a recording studio later. It makes their speech very hard to follow because it's muffled all the time. Movie making 101 should have told the director not to make that mistake.
Overall, it's a good movie, and it hits all the right points for me. If you can pick it up cheap and like sci fi and Japanese movies, go for it.