Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Gurren Lagann is the kind of animated television series that lets you relive all the fun you had watching saturday morning cartoons as a kid every time you see it. The story gets so insane that near the end, giant fighting robots are throwing planets at each other! The characters are well developed and definitely give a good performance in the midst of an intense action sequence. Gurren Lagann is considered a classic in the animation world and it only gets better every time you watch it.

The story centers around two boys from Jeeha Village, a city that resides underneath the surface of the Earth. Kamina and Simon desperately want to reach the surface to see what lies outside the city walls. In a moment of terror, a giant beast falls through from below into their city and they are forced to fight for their lives. They battle with a small robot they found while digging and they pilot to defeat the beast, eventually leading to their escape to the surface. From here on out, Kamina and Simon fight along with other humans to take back control of the surface from the oppressive Spiral King with the help of their mechanical friends. The plot escalates far beyond this however, and they eventually travel into deep space, constantly gaining more and more powers. Each episode gets more and more ridiculous as the series goes on and it's a ton of fun.

The series gets a lot of praise for emulating the feeling of a over the top Saturday morning cartoon. Not only did it produce awesome battle scenes and finishing moves, but it did a lot to redefine what giant fighting robot shows could potentially do. There are twists and turns all throughout the series and there are somethings you could have never expected to happen. The whole tone of the show could do a one-eighty in an instant and it really keeps the audience engaged in what is happening. The first time I watched the series, I watched the last twelve episodes in a row because I was so invested.

Overall, Gurren Lagann is one of my favorite animated shows because it balances over the top action with a serious plot very well and at the same time, it's so much fun to watch.

Tom-Yum-Goong (The Protector)

Martial art films are probably the most underrated films, especially in the United States. There are so many foreign films that use amazing choreographs and fight scenes that the U.S could really adopt for Hollywood films. One example of a well done martial arts film is Tom-Yum-Goong, otherwise known as The Protector in the U.S.

First of all, the film has the longest no-cut, steady cam fight scene in movie history. It follows Kham (played by Tony Jaa) up a spiral staircase, fighting different thugs to get his elephant back. The only supposedly use of CGI is during the take where a glass window is shattering. The scene is 4 plus minutes long, and only one camera was used:

Tony Jaa also makes the film impressive in the sense that he developed a new style of Muay Thai called "Muay Kotchasan", which can translate to "Elephant boxing". It mimics how an elephant would defend itself, using his arms like a trunk to throw, grab, or break.

This clip shows Kham realizing that his beloved elephant has been stuffed. He goes back and forth in the dream sequence, and once he's been stabbed, starts to break the bones of the guards. This scene shows the "Elephant boxing" pretty well as you can see the way his arm wraps around the guards and what not, like elephant trunk.

Jaa also did all the stunts himself and used no wires throughout the film, which is no surprise since Jackie Chan is his idol. You can see a Jackie Chan stunt double in the airport scene, which was a tribute to him.

The film did well in the U.S, being the most successful Thai film with a total worldwide box office gross of $25,175,096. 

This week in movies...

Friday: Tonight, I've just watched Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino. And I've got to say I was taken aback by it. And I'm not sure if in a good or a bad way.

In one aspect it was beautifully done and in Tarantino-fashion. Lots of blood, lots of "F" and "N" words but wonderfully showed the grittiness of what it means to do a "job".

Maybe it's due to the last few of his movies I've seen are his quote-on-quote best movies, that I built it up as going to be just another Pulp Fiction but with more mobsters.

Hopefully if I watch it again in a few weeks or so, I'll appreciate it more... Of course I enjoyed when Blonde cut the cops ear off- the pacing of it was so well done that my ear only hurt once I saw the ear in Blonde's hand.

And like always, the soundtrack was on point... And I loved Orange's references to Marvel... made my night.

Saturday: This afternoon my boyfriend and I saw Gangster Squad. He wasn't sure on whether we should see it or not since the website, Rotten Tomatoes, gave it a low score. I usually hate what most critics say about a movie so I finally beat the whole "But Emma Stone is in it!" to a pulp and we finally got to see it.

It wasn't that bad. Now, I enjoyed Josh Brolin bash peoples' faces in and Ryan Gosling in a fitted suit but it was a movie you have to see at least once. The story telling was sub-par but it was still a good gangster movie. Brolin's wife in the movie was one of my favorite characters and the fight scenes were always exciting. 

Don't spend your money on the movie while it's out in theaters- wait till it's either at your $2 theatre or until it's at RedBox. If you like Ryan Gosling and gun fights, might as well check it out.