Sansho? Uhhhh NO

Sansho the Baliff was very sad, depressing and the plot, the story, and the characters were pretty terrible.

None of the character seem to have grown at all.  The sister seemed like she was going to be the back bone of the film, but then she killed herself.

She could have ran with her brother and escaped.  But instead she says, "here i'll just slow you down take this dead person."  Then she says she promises she kills herself.

When she ties the old lady up with one slip of a not to pretend she got away with force.  Would that really convince the guards?  A toddler knot?  Then she leaves the lady there probably going to be beaten and killed, only to run then kill herself.  She risks another life only to waste it.

The guards were terrible and killed servants, and didn't keep an eye on them so the servants would escape, then get captured and then punished.  They left an old woman servant to guard a 25 healthy well built girl and expect her not to run away.

In the beginning, the mother was told not to trust people and she trusted the first person she saw.  This was very stupid.  The stupidity of it all.

Godzilla?

I always love a good story and Godzilla is a good one.  It took many sweaty guys in suits, crushing many model buildings, and lots of fire extinguishers to get it right.  I can never take the movies seriously because I always remember my Dad showing Mystery Science Theater 3000 with Gamera (another Japanese monster) and Godzilla.  It was so funny and ridiculous that I can not see Godzilla or any movie with those monsters without laughing.

Mystery Science Theater is about this guy named Joe who is shot up to space to watch terrible movie while they monitor his brain.  He makes robot friends and they watch terrible movies and makes fun of them.  Its amazing and I recommend it to everyone (especially DMA STUDENTS)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNBItyTjS_c

If you want to check it out, heres the link!  ENJOY!

The Candy Man?

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I remember watching this when I was a child.  I watched this over and over, but I haven't actually paid any attention to the detail they used in the backgrounds and the wonderful inventions.  It seemed really simple at first, but it was more complex than I thought.

I loved the old books.  Especially Roald Dahl, Charles Dickens, and C. S. Lewis.  This book I remember reading it over and over again.  But this was one of my favorite books of all time.
 The original really tries to stick to the book.  While the new one gives a comedic twist.  These are two very different takes on the movie telling the same story.  But I think many people should make their versions of different stories.  Or maybe just different perspectives on it.  The original movie is very classic music oriented, while the new one is more Dr. Seuss lyrics.

I don't like either one more than the other because they have good attributes and bad attributes.  Some more than the other.

From the original, my favorite scenes were the Candy Man song and the first entry of the chocolate room.

From the new one, my favorite scenes were the backstory of Mr. Wonka that Grandpa Joe was telling Charlie and the dinner ending.

Both I loved and enjoyed!

The Book of Life

I first thought this movie was about the Book of the Dead in the view of Egyptians.  But thats before I knew anything about the movie.  May be that will be a sequel though.

I especially enjoyed this movie, because this for 2014 has been the best mainstream animation of this year.  It was a very romantic story that had a romantic triangle, a separated couple, and a troubling couple.

The Romantic Triangle was between two boys, Manolo and Joaquín, who grow up to still fight over the same girl, Maria.  They both have their troubles and worries about themselves, but abandon them to fight over Maria. You obviously know the good guy wins the girl.  But I liked that they kept both friends to conquer their competition to save the town and become heroes together.  Maria (at times) was a strong independent woman.  But I think they demolished that when she was trying to decide between which guy.  It made her seem a little ditzy.




The separated couple was very vague.  This was the mother and father of Manolo.  You know that the mother died leaving his father to care for him for most of his childhood.  He didn't seem to despair for her but more anger was shown.  Especially towards Manolo.


My favorite couple was between Xibalba and La Muerte.  They had trouble over and over with arguments and making bets.  But they always came back together and forgave each other.  Even with all the fighting, they always solved the problem and continued on.  Instead of letting it be broken they fixed it!  And that's what a lot of relationships need.

Some really weird videos

These were some really videos that I couldn't tell if they were so crazy imaginative that they were funny or were just so bad that they were funny.  I have seen so many bad videos that it was easy for me not to laugh.  But at times there were videos that were so crazy awful, I couldn't imagine watching it again.  There were some cool animation I saw in these outrageous videos.

Some we're decent videos were okay with okay animation.  But what I learned was that you have to have a good story to follow your video, no matter what kind of video it is.  Without a decent story your video will look like crap.  Like some of the videos we watched.  They made me want to cry because of how bad they were.  I hope never to make a video that would be categorized with this videos.

I do admire the creativity those videos had, but I hated how the creativity was portrayed.  It was very bad, and it showed what not to do.  We can even learn from the worst and the best.  Don't always watch the good stuff, but watch the bad stuff.  No matter how horrible, it can teach you some pretty cool things you wouldn't learn from the best stuff.  It's all about trial and error.  But I know when I look back at some of my drawings, I think I did a terrible job.  But I was learning and I still am.  I'm never going to stop learning cause there's always so much more to learn. 

Luke, I am not your father...

The movie is called Like Father Like Son.  This was suppose to be a sad depressing movie, but I could only think of this (the title) the entire time!  It great watching all the kids interact with one another and the boy taking a picture of his father's foot.

Over all, good movie.  The redemption scene was lagging for a long time.  I was wondering if it was going to happen, because it was so long.

I really appreciated that the other son who stayed with the rich family knew who his real parents were all along.  And after he said what his wish was, to be with his real parents, he apologized.  I think he grew as a character more.  He was my favorite character.  Probably because everyone else likes the rich, polite kid.  

That was also a game changer.  Having the rich kid not be snotty and mean, but having the poor kid the mean one (for a moment in time).  Surprised me, greatly!  Like Father Like Son

After the After Life?

So we watched this movie called "The After Life."  This was about what happens to people when they die.  They have 6 days to choose a perfect memory so their soul can feel that sedative feeling for eternity.

But some people don't choose a memory.  They don't want to choose to pretend their memory their whole life.  Because they know that's not a life worth living.  People fill their lives with drugs and meds to try to get a sense of serenity.  But that's not true serenity.  You can still have serenity throughout the tragedy of this world.

I would choose to not live a perfect moment.  For what is beauty without pain? That isn't life.  Life is not perfect and that's where we find beauty in it.  Life is dirty, cruel, and full of temptations and pain.  But a life worth living is finding the beauty through all this and still saying, "This is a life worth living."  Our life doesn't have to be perfect.  We can't choose our fatal end, but we can choose to be happy either way, therefore making it our happy ending.

My Heart Departed

The Departures: Directed by Yojiro Takita 

This film was about a man who looses his job.  And through his struggle finding work he finds an ad in a paper for work.  Not knowing much about the job, he is hired on the spot and is pre-paid handsomely.  He soon discovers that he became a mortician.  Needing the money, he continues in this gruesome job to keep house and his wife.  He learns how to deal with death and show that not only life can be beautiful, but death as well.

Morticians, in many cultures, are looked upon as unclean and dirty because of them touching the dead.  But it is a very noble job. It’s something that someone has to deal with every day.  They have to look at death in the face everyday and keep on living.  What touched me dearly was when his friend came to him and said: you're an idiot, get a real job.  He was being shamed by the closest people he had, and he still went on, doing what had to be done.  

Life is beautiful, but it's taken for granted.  Death is so much more real, and it brings us close to morality and humanity.   

Samurais could make great Cowboys?

Samurais could make great Cowboys?

I watched a Japanese film called, "Yojimbo".  It's about a samurai named Kuwabatake Sanjuro, wanders into a very small, yet almost torn apart, town in a western setting.  This town was divided by two gangs called the Seibei and Ushitora.   These gangs spread havoc, never letting the town at rest.  This plot unfolds with the samurai outsmarting the both gangs and cleaning out the town of their evil.  

This was a well thought out movie that I did enjoy.  There was one part where one of the gang's bosses bought a woman from her husband.  The boss took advantage of her, leaving the husband regularly beaten in front of his child.  Even though, the husband made a mistake the samurai helps him regain his wife and his dignity.  They leave the town behind.  I wish I could have saw more about what happens after they left.  What would the wife say to her husband who betrayed her?  How will he regain her forgiveness?  

Now surprisingly this does happen today.  It's called human trafficking.  It has been going on mostly in other countries, but it also happening in the United States.  Sadly, this has been happening under our noses for a long time, and there isn't a samurai to help them...

When the samurai helps them escape, they come back to bow down in thanks (practically worshipping him).  But he remains humble and cares for their lives and makes them leave town.  His humbleness show heroism.  That even Samurais could make great cowboys.

Anime....Not animaniacs

Anime....Not animaniacs

I just got back from watching my first anime movie "Spirited Way".  It was this 10 year old girl who had to move to a new town.  As she and her parents drive around their new town, they come across this old building with a tunnel that leads to a place for the spirits.  Unaware of where they are, this girl manages to loose her parents find a building that happens to be a sauna for the spirits to rest.  Freaking out by the new creatures around her, she goes back to where she lost her parents and finds them turned into pigs.  Even more freaked (more like spazzing) she runs around scaring other spirits of her humanness.  Along comes a friend to help her along her journey to regain her parents, save a friend in need, and learn the true meaning of working hard and respecting others.  

One thing that was brought to my attention was "No face".  "No face" is an outcast who was not allowed into the sauna and was basically shunned for life.  Irony was he had a mask for a face.  That still counts as a face.  He was all alone until this girl comes in and shows him kindness by letting him in the sauna and by giving him recognition.  Everyone else said he was a monster until he gave them "gold" (which turned out to be really nothing at all).  Everyone then accepted the gold and him.  But when he offered the girl gold, she turned it down.  Money can't buy friendship, the kind of friendship worth having.  

Even though this is a terrible movie to start when you're just grasping the concept of anime, it was a great movie (even through all the confusion and Radish spirit).  The characters did grow and they did learn something, which hopefully taught the other viewers something as well.