Change Your Image
PorkyMcPork
Reviews
Yu yu hakusho (2023)
Good one
First off: yes, it's rushed. Yes, compared to the manga/anime, it lacks the buildup of both protagonists and antagonists and their relationships. Yes, therefore it lacks depth and proper pacing in some places. Yes, no Dark Tournament. And, finally yes, all that sucks.
Still, I felt this is an admirable effort because of two reasons. Firstly, Yusuke's, Kuwabara's and Toguro's actors are cast almost perfectly. Hiei's and Kurama's don't really fall short. The chemistry they have in the manga is transported well. Secondly, the fights carry the series. And boy do they do well. The raw power, the intensity, the brutality, the choreography, the camera. You'll "feel" every hit, you'll try to evade punches in front of the screen, you'll be immersed, in one word. Fantastic!
If you can get over the fact that the makers needed to fit the arcs that define the Yu Yu Hakusho anime experience, into a 5-episode "pilot", you are in for a treat. And again yes, that is a bitter pill to swallow but in my opinion worth it in this case.
Now, to the producers out there, give it a good budget, redo the series from the start with the same cast but give it 20 episodes, pretty please!
Psycho-Pass (2012)
Incredible
In a dystopian Japan, the so-called "Sybil System", an autarkic omnipresent surveillance framework, controls the lives of the country's population in the pursuit of optimal happiness. It monitors aptitude, potential, and psychic health of its inhabitants. By means of the Psycho-Pass, an individual psychological fingerprint, stress levels are measured and preemptive measures are taken, should a citizen display anomalous behavior such as depression or the intent/latency to commit a crime. The latter finds expression in a number called the "Crime Coefficient", a characteristic showing the latent criminal potential of a person. Once this number surpasses a certain threshold, this person is branded since there is virtually no chance of reducing this number again. Set against this background, a crime unit investigates into a series of murders that set the stage for what I find to be one the most compelling and complex Anime series in recent years.
What begins as a well-executed alteration of Orwell and Dick, soon turns out to touch so many additional topics that I was actually surprised and happy to see that the shear audacity to put all this into one show did neither ruin the flow nor the arc of suspense. On the contrary, all the references to literature, the philosophical discourse, the sociological aspects are woven astoundingly well into the plot. Name it, it's there: Kantian ethics, Max Weber's sociology of domination, Sartre's existentialism, Foucault, etc. All this is combined with contemporary phenomena such as the loss of privacy, alienation in urban areas, and the boundlessness of human beings that are overwhelmed by an overly complex reality.
The show is action-packed and VERY graphic, has brilliant character development and is emotionally very demanding to say the least.
Watch it and be blown away!
Religulous (2008)
nice and entertaining...but flawed in some (few) aspects
Bill Maher is right about many things. Nowadays, as it was in the middle ages, religion is a catalyst of violence and armed conflicts, the reason put forward to legitimize aggression, oppression of women and war. The holy books were written by people, not by god. We know, that the Old Testament formerly contained far more books than there are present today. It is scary to see a biologist who deciphers the human genome and therefore should know about scientific approaches and proofs not questioning the action in the bible but rather taking it quite literally. Religion clouds rational thinking and helps to find easy answers to complex questions which in turn helps to keep people stupid and naive. The world religions are basically sects that have succeeded in gathering huge numbers of followers. He's right.
He also simplifies things though. Religion is not the cause of violence, it is a governing tool for a few manipulative leaders in order to achieve their very worldly goals: power, influence, resources. It is used to misguide people, thus provoking violence. So, if there were no religions anymore, I'm sure, those leaders would find other means to guide their followers. His analysis stays too superficial for my taste. The dangerous thing is not religion, it's the stupidity and lack of education of many believers.
This leads to the next point. He doesn't challenge anyone who's on par with him intellectually. He rather likes to interview simpleminded "victims" and expose their shortcomings...can be really funny though.
Furthermore, while really trashing Christianity and the Islam, he's amazingly shy when it comes to criticizing the Jewish belief. I thought Americans had more freedom in this matter than we Germans do.
The ending is as manipulative and dogmatic as the religions themselves. Not believing is his way of believing (as is mine ;) ).
Overall, this documentary sure is one-sided and flawed, but the arguments in favor of it are dominant. Religion has caused more destruction than ideologies like Capitalism or Communism and has introduced a new quality of irrationality that is frightening if you consider the possibility of Muslim fundamentalists acquiring nuclear weapons in Pakistan or the maybe less threatening fact that the Pope, while traveling Africa, condemned the use of condoms because they, in his opinion, are not protection against but cause of the spreading of AIDS. Religion is no excuse for ignorance and idiocy.
I'd recommend watching and enjoying this (comic) approach on the Disenchantment of religion.
Kiraware Matsuko no isshô (2006)
Thoroughly sad, but incredibly funny (very light spoilers)
I saw the movie on a flight back from Japan and didn't have any specific expectations. It simply blew me away, however. It is magnificently crafted, every scene showing a unique beauty in both camera and composition. it sometimes crosses borders to anime and music video clip, making it a very special experience to watch.
short summary: A young man in his late teens/early twenties, who dreams of becoming a pop star musician and who therefore has left his hometown for Tokyo, is lost somewhere between the vast city and his porn movies compensating his loneliness. He is unexpectedly addressed by his father, whom he hasn't seen or heard from in years, who tells him that his aunt Matsuko has recently been murdered. He consecutively tells his son to deal with Matsuko's "aftermath", including an unbelievably messy and run-down apartment and, more important, the disturbing story of her sad life.
"Kiraware Matsuko no issho"/"Memories of Matsuko" is the most gripping movie experience i've had in the last few years, outmatching even "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" from Park Chan-Wook. The movie's content is so heartbreakingly sad but still you keep on laughing while actually trying not to cry. It communicates the fatal tragedy with a touching lightness. Nakajima has an incredible eye for aesthetics and details. Where "Mr. Vengeance" is mercilessly straight forward, "Matsuko" is so subtle and discrete, thus emphasizing the mental brutality of the ongoing action even more. It came to me, that this film is actually depicting many aspects of contemporary life in Japan such as loneliness in cold and alienating urban areas, fanatic "fanboy/girl"-ism or violence against social outcasts.
This gem of a movie is clearly a must-see if one is into sophisticated off-mainstream films and especially into the the art of Japanese/Asian film-making.