June 10, 2012

Adjust Your Schedules

...'cause next Saturday you're going to want to have a half hour free, and popcorn on hand.


Not pictured: (1) The context  (2) Her brass balls.

It looks like there are only 3 more episodes of Bodacious Space Pirates. I'm really going to miss this show.

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June 09, 2012

BATTLESHIP

After the success of the Transformers and Twister franchises, Hasbro and Universal looked around for some other Hasbro property to monetize. They inexplicably skipped over the cubist masterpiece that could have been Connect 4 The Motion Picture and went with Battleship.

Although the concept is dubious in the extreme, this film is surprisingly entertaining.  Imagine what would happen if Irwin Allen and Ishiro Honda had collaborated and had Jerry Bruckheimers special effects staff. THIS! Seriously, it's a late '50s Toho epic with a disaster movies plot structure.


Taylor Kitsch and Japanese A-Lister Tadanobu Asano are the defacto leads playing two naval officers trying to deal with the alien threat. The film puts both the USN and JMSDF in a really good light. Though they get cut to pieces the survivors use their wits and behave in a fairly intelligent manner.  My one complaint was Kitsch's character, who was such a screw up at the beginning that it beggers belief he would have made it that far. On the other hand his getting it together is handled pretty well.

The films effects are pretty good , either a lot more practical effects were used than is the norm or the CGI has gotten a lot better. There are surprises, a couple of obligatory "OH NO WAY!"moments and some unlikely coincidences but amazingly, no glaring plot holes.

 This film is by no means art, but is rather better than most. I quite enjoyed it.

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June 04, 2012

Oh What The HELL Was That?


I watched two more episodes of Mysterious Girlfriend X.
Good grief this is an odd show.
It's wacky.
It's quirky.
It's gross.

Then this happens...


More importantly, a bit after that happens Urabe makes a pronouncement...
Which, in the context of the episode is really disturbing.

Possibilities:
1: SHE'S AN ALIEN
2: Souvlaki keeps a log of these things and she secretly read it.
3: She's a witch.
4: Souvlaki will soon discover that his quiet high-school life is shattered when Urabe reveals that he has been chosen to pilot a GIANT ROBOT.

Three episodes in, laughs are still outnumbering gag reflexes, but WTFs are catching up to both.  I am now quite thoroughly intrigued. 

UPDATE: Mauser  is doing an in-depth play-by-play and discussion for each episode of this madness. The first installment is here. (spoiler alert)

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Oh My! Yes!

Trailer for the second Yamato 2199 movie.

If you are like me and saw Star Blazers as a kid this is going to make you very, very happy.



Like the first film, this looks to be quite well updated and yet astonishingly faithful.

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June 02, 2012

Falling Short is not the Same as Scewing Up

Leadership can be thankless.
Even if one does everything right...
Even if one has a superb staff, excellent kit, a clever and thoroughly solid plan that one executes admirably...




The enemy ALWAYS gets a vote...



Oh my.


Numerous people have remarked about the methodical pacing of Bodacious Space Pirates.
That pacing really comes to the fore in this installment. After last weeks action packed previews and the episodes rather jarring teaser the story switches gears abruptly to move at a quite leisurely clip.
Marika formulates her plan, there are character expositions and various background points are clarified. In any other show a build up this gradual would drag unbearably, yet here, every little bit of what seems at first glance to be padding is structure. Every bit of it matters, if not to the plot, then to the characterizations.

When it finally happens, the action is that much more satisfying.

Of course, I'm not sure if my high opinion of this kids show speaks more negatively of US television or me.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 07:35 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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