Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo is an action packed animated series that has a ton of kick ass fight scenes and never takes itself too seriously.  The characters are fun and interesting and are developed very well throughout the twenty six episode show. Aside from the action and story, Samurai Champloo has a very recognizable soundtrack that is a mashup of hip-hop and electronic which gives the setting of feudal Japan a very fresh, if not somewhat out of place, feeling to it.

 The story revolves around Fuu,  a waitress who enlists in the help of two samurai to hunt down the man that killed her father, referred to as the "man who smells of sunflowers". Mugen, a rude and unorthodox swordsman, Jin, a calm and emotionless samurai, and Fuu travel from town to town, embarking in one adventure after the other. Every episode, apart from a few two parters, focus on new environments and side characters which keeps the show fresh and entertaining. From accidentally thwarting a national revolution to entering eating contests and playing intense games of baseball, first time watchers will never expect what will happen next.

Fans of Cowboy Bebop, the animated space-western series, will find plenty to love in Samurai Champloo as they share the same creator and a lot of the same aesthetics. Although the space and samurai themes could not be anymore different, they are similar in other ways. The group of loners and rejects, the dramatic and cinematic styles, and a heavy influence of music are shared amongst both while still keeping their own individual and unique charm. Fans of either series should absolutely watch both shows.          

Overall, I would recommend Samurai Champloo to people who are trying to get into animated Japanese shows or action cartoons in general as it really is considered a classic. 

   

Samurai Jack

Samurai Jack, my all time favorite childhood program, is an American made cartoon that ran for four seasons on Cartoon Network. Created by Genndy Tartakovsky, who also created cartoons such as Dexter's Laboratory and Star Wars: Clone Wars, this show received 4 Primetime Emmy Awards and 6 Annie Awards. Sadly, upon entering the fourth season ratings rapidly declined and the show was not renewed for another season.

In creating Samurai Jack, Tartakovsky intended to create a show that "is cinematic in scope and incorporates action, humor and intricate artistry," due to the fact that he had conflicting feelings on typical action based cartoons. Influenced heavily by Seven Samurai director Akira Kurosawa his character and concept were both born. The plot of the show is that a samurai prince, who goes by the name Jack(voiced by Phil LaMarr), is thrown into the future by the shape shifting demon Aku (Mako Iwamatsu). Jack ends up in a time when Aku is the ruler of the world, we follow Jack as he attempts to return to the past in order to defeat Aku before he takes over the planet.

The aspect of this show that makes it so attractive is that it is unlike most all other children's shows. Samurai Jack does not rely mainly upon character interaction and dialogue to tell the story; however, it relies upon the stylization and visualization to develop the plot. One of the most impressive aspects is that every episodes stylization has a different influence. For example, there are episodes based off of My Neighbor Totoro, the Battle of Thermopyle, and Frank Miller's comic book series Ronin. The show uses multiple angles and split screens to build tension while showing different angles of action. Many episodes have little to no dialogue; it is this kind of minimalism that Taratakovsky uses that gives the show such a specific style.

This show has amazing design and plot. I would recommend that everyone check it out.

Rush Hour film series

The Rush Hour film series is a series of Hong Kong-American martial arts/action- comedy films starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, directed by Brett Ratner, and distributed by New Line Cinema. The main plot centers on a pair of police detectives: a Hong Kong Police Force inspector and an American LAPD detective (portrayed by Chan and Tucker) who go on a series of misadventures often involving corrupt crime figures. All three films achieved commercial success and incorporate elements of martial arts and the buddy cop sub-genre. 

Rush Hour was released on September 18, 1998 grossing $244,386,864 worldwide.  Martin Lawrence and Dave Chappelle were originally considered for the role of James Carter, but Chris Tucker was finally chosen for the part. Director Brett Ratner, a big fan of Jackie Chan's Hong Kong movies, felt that American audiences would not be familiar with the jokes in Jackie's other movies, and deliberately re-used some of his gags. For example, the scene where Inspector Lee accidentally grabs Detective Johnson's (Elizabeth Peña) breasts is a reference to Jackie Chan's film Mr. Nice Guy (1997).  Jackie Chan, fortunately, did win over the hearts of the audience.  Many people found him hilarious, and a great actor. 

Rush Hour 2 was released on August 3, 2001. The film grossed $347,325,802 worldwide, making it the most successful film in the Rush Hour series. In an interview, director Brett Ratner admitted that the first part of the karaoke scene with Chris Tucker was not supposed to be filmed. Tucker refused to act like Michael Jackson with the cameras running. During takes, he went up as entertainment for everyone. Secretly, Ratner told the cameramen to film it but to not let Tucker notice them. On an episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Tucker said that while he was filming this movie in Hong Kong, many locals mistook him for NBA star Kobe Bryant. In the film, while Tucker's character is running up the stairs, the old woman shouts, "Move out of the way, Kobe" to him. This film obviously had a very strong cast and crew connection, which is key for a well-made film to be produced.  It also creates the feel-good emotion that comes with great films. The mural on the wall of the Heaven on Earth Massage Parlor was copied from one in Scarface, which Harris Yulin and Ratner appeared in. It is funny to see a parody take place in such a popular film.  The scene where Jackie Chan and Tucker are running down the street naked in Hong Kong was an actual take; production could not block the street off for the shoot. The scene where Chan and Tucker run in the streets was inspired by a scene in The Accidental Spy (2001) which Chan made before this movie. Ratner saw the film and decided to include a similar scene in Rush Hour 2 (2001).  Although this film incorporates a lot from past films, it was very well put together, and obviously, the public reacted positively to it.  

Rush Hour 3 was officially announced on May 7, 2006, and filming began on July 4, 2006. The film, set in Paris and Los Angeles, was first released on August 10, 2007, and grossed $258,022,233 worldwide. Academy Award-winning film director Roman Polanski co-stars as a French police official involved in Lee and Carter (Chan and Tucker's characters) case.  This movie, said by most audiences, did not live up to the expectations of the last two movies in the series.  Rush Hour 3 was literally, rushed, and not as well made, I believe.  The story and plot could have been executed better. All in all though, it was a good third movie to a big series.  

Because of the films' collective box-office success, director Brett Ratner and writer Jeff Nathanson were considering the production of a fourth installment. In the DVD audio commentary for Rush Hour 3, Brett Ratner joked that the fourth Rush Hour film could be released in 2012. Ratner and Nathanson are exploring many concepts, including the use of the motion capture technique for the possible sequel and various different film projects with Chan and Tucker. It has been reported that the fourth film may be set in Moscow.  Although I think that this series has had its run, and maybe they should just leave the legacy of the great movies alone, I don't think I would mind seeing a Rush Hour 4.  I would not like to see actors that are not Chan and Tucker.  To conclude, I think they should just leave it as is and count their blessings.  

This series was hilarious and is a must see for everyone who loves comedies!  Chan's stunts are impeccable and fun to watch.  Tucker's humor ties it all together in a fun, feel good, action-comedy. 

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Last week, I wrote a post about the trailer for the upcoming Captain America sequel. I decided that I really enjoy dissecting trailers and everything they hold, so this week, I'm doing it again with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. This time, though, I won't be focusing on the dialogue. That's because, well, there really isn't any.

The Dialogue
There's a million different ways a person can edit together a trailer. One of the biggest decisions the editor has to make is which dialogue they are going to feature in the preview to their film. Many editors choose to use very many of the most climactic, the funniest, or the most inspirational quotes to draw in movie-goers. The editor(s) for this trailer, however, decided to take the completely opposite route.

He/she/they chose to use absolutely zero lines of dialogue throughout the entire trailer; that is, until the last five seconds when Ben Stiller asks a man if there are any car available to rent and the man replies "Yeah. We have a blue one and a red one." These five seconds could either serve to emphasize the fact that the film is indeed comical at times, or could serve to represent some sort of change in Stiller's character (the majority of the film appears to be bluish, so choosing the red car could mean that Stiller eventually goes for change or wishes to stand out--it's a long shot, I know).

Either way, the lack of dialogue in the trailer leaves a lot to viewers' interpretation. Yes, this is a remake of a 1947 film, but who knows how closely the writers will stick to the original? Any character or voiceover telling me what's happening, I'm sitting there wondering why the pictures on the walls are moving. I'm wondering who the girl is who Stiller keeps looking at. I can make whatever assumptions I want, but the fact that I'm so intrigued to find the answers to my questions that I'll go see the movie in theaters means the editors did their job.

The Coloring
Wow. How about that coloring?! Everything's blue! I honestly don't know what to say about it besides the fact that it is simply stunning.

I mean, seriously! Hot damn!

Since IMDb is telling me that the film is an Adventure/Comedy/Drama, I'm not quite sure what kind of response the coloring is supposed to draw from viewers. With a drama, it would make a whole lot of sense. The blue adds a bit of bleakness and sadness to the overall emotion of any film. How the blue is intended to interact with the adventure and comedy of the film is beyond me. Maybe I'm looking too far into it? It's possible, but I'd like an answer, nonetheless.

The Storyline
Here's another thing about this trailer I know very little about, but intrigues me, nonetheless: the storyline. It doesn't give anything away! I have personally never seen the original Walter Mitty, so I have absolutely no foundation of understanding when watching this trailer. I've tried my absolute best to avoid asking others about it, too. Since this trailer has intrigued me so much, I want to go into the theater with nothing but my own expectations. Here's what I've deduced from the trailer: man is bored with life, man is bored with job, man likes girl at job, man imagines going on adventures, man eventually goes on adventures. I could be wrong, and I hope that I am. I'd really like to be surprised with some kind of surreal, unexpected plot that just shocks everyone.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty has an incredibly enticing trailer. Its cinematic beauty manages to give away very little with the extreme lack of dialogue, and I can't wait to see what I've been waiting for when it comes out this Christmas.

A breathtaking reboot of the Superman trilogy

The original Superman film--besides "Superman and the Mole Men" (1951)--debuted in 1978. The film told the story of an alien orphan sent down from the planet Krypton who becomes the world's first superhero. As is the case with most trilogies, the first of the series was most certainly the best. After a couple failures at making a better Superman movie, the hero was dropped from theaters. That is until recently.

In June of this year, Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" crashed into theaters. The film received very mixed reviews from viewers. For the most part, I feel that Man of Steel matched, if not slightly surpassed, the original Superman film's plot. What the reboot did that the original--or any Superman film for that part--did not do, was show viewers what exactly happened on Krypton before Clark Kent landed on Earth. Sure, we were told countless times what happened, but despite the fact that older versions of the film could not pleasingly pull off such a scene due to the lack of cinematic technology, Man of Steel was truly the only Superman movie that even tried.

Another thing the film did that others did not, was that it laced humor in with all its endless drama and action. Here's just one of many examples...

What really made this film an absolutely stunning reboot to the Superman trilogy was the film's breathtaking cinematography. Whether you liked the film or not, there's no possible way that you could say the cinematography was just so-so. Even some of the computer-generated scenes of the film--particularly the drawn-out fight scenes--are possibly some of the most extraordinary demonstrations of cinematic artwork that have ever appeared on the big screen.

While not all viewers may agree that Man of Steel was a phenomenal film, it's simply unfair to say that it was not a super reboot to the Superman trilogy.

A Game of Thrones and The Hobbit

I recently just finished The Hobbit and started A Storm of Swords, the third book in A Song of Ice and Fire.  The Hobbit also recently had its worldwide premiere in New Zealand and is due out nationwide on December 14th and the third season of A Game of Thrones is set to air starting 3/31/13.  I like many other people are thrilled about both.

The trailer looks fantastic and I really like the songs the dwarves sing.   It gives me goosebumps.  Game of Thrones hasn't released a full trailer for the season yet, but they did release a teaser.

Since the Hobbit is now three movies I am very interested in how they are going to do it since it is not a very long book.  I have heard that they are going to follow Gandalf on some of his adventures and I would assume some time will be spent connecting it to Lord of the Rings.   The two things I am really excited to see are Gollum and the final battle.  In the book the Final battle consists of many different species and I can't wait to see how Peter Jackson brings the battle together.

When I started reading A Song of Ice and Fire last summer everyone told me that the third book or Storm of Swords was the best one in the series.  Now that I am finally there I am especially excited that I will finish reading it so close to the start of the third season.  As the war between the Stark's, Lannister's and Stannis start to heat up and Daenery's gets more powerful and Jon Snow learns more about the wildings I think this will be the perfect book and season.

Shooter Review

I watched the movie Shooter tonight, starring Mark Wahlberg, and like all movies I watch now-a-days, I can't help but analyze the crap out of them.  This movie was no acception. It is an action movie so you're going to get a ton of your cliche gun battles, walking away from fiery explosions, to good to be true combat moves and techniques, among many other things.  The basic premise of the movie if you haven't seen it is Mark Wahlberg's character plays an ex marine sniper who gets commissioned by the Government to track down and thwart a potential assassination attempt.  Without his knowledge, his acceptance to help is a death sentence and they end up framing him for the killing of a head of state in some god for saken african country instead of the President of the United States to cover up some greedy crap.  Long story short, Mark Wahlbergs character out runs them all, out smarts them, and kills them all, and manages to escape a free man and clear his name.

I know what you're thinking, "that sounds awful and super cliche" and it totally is cliche, but my god it is good.  Mark Wahlberg first and foremost is an incredible actor.  I have loved him in every movie I've seen him in, he always fits the character he is meant to play extremely well.  His acting is one of the major highlights of the film.

From a directing standpoint, the director does a fantastic job of creating suspense (kind of like we watched in The Fast and the Furious).  Everything from music, body language, to editing, slowing time down, all of the landmark things you expect, he does to a tee, but, he also does some other things that knock it out of the park.

The story is quite good to begin with.  Sure, it is cliche, but even though I've seen it before, I'm on the edge of my seat the entire time because you just don't know what is going to happen next or what badass thing Mark Wahlberg is going to do to the enemy.

I also enjoyed how the enemies in the movie are very well defined but are not your average movie enemies.  One is a senator, one is a high ranking military official, and others hold offices in different branches of government.  I personally love conspiracies and do think the government has a lot more power and does a lot of things behind our back that we will never know about or choose to ignore.  This movie does an awesome job of showing you how easily the government can sway a country to think one thing when it couldn't be further from the truth.  The movie does a great job of asking the question we all fear the most, "Can one trust the government that they choose to give power too?"

Overall, after watching shooter tonight, it has become one of my favorite action movies.  It also got a 4 and a half star rating on Netflix which is pretty good in my opinion. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it and are looking for a good action movie to watch.

Tyler Chadwick

Stand By Me

So even though it's not a recent title, I thought I'd throw this one out there: if you haven't seen Stand By Me, watch it. It's about four boys who go looking for a dead body just for the adventure of it. My brother got it for Christmas one year and my parents were super-psyched to watch it as a family, even though my brother and I were like "yeah, yeah, okay, this looks kinda meh." For the first fifteen minutes, I was convinced it was a horror movie and something was going to jump out and eat the kids only because I knew it was based on a Stephen King novella.

Oh my God my family was DYING during the whole thing. We couldn't stop quoting it for weeks, and it's a major family favorite now. It has Kiefer Sutherland in it for a bit. Oh, and if you watch it, look up what the character Verne looks like today. It's insane.