This is the second Ghost in the Shell movie, circa 2004. It focuses mainly on two of The Major’s investigator/partners from Section 9 – Batou and Togusa, and a wide-ranging crime investigation that spans yakuza battles and pleasure robots killing their masters.

While I liked this movie, it has some similar plot elements (albeit more complex given it’s a self-contained movie/story) to a later S.A.C. episode from the TV series. And the absence of The Major means they have to flesh out the two male characters much more – which is a good thing, but I’m not sure they are completely successful. I think they paint a more sympathetic portrait of both Batou and Togusa in the later S.A.C. tv anime than here, but I may be biased, having seen that first.

One other interesting thing – I felt a strong Blade Runner influence on this film – from the noir-esque atmosphere, some of the things that happen to Batou during the investigation, and some of the philosophical commentary both Batou and Togusa make at points throughout the story (odd coming from hard-bitten cyberpunk cops, but that’s the noir element, definitely).

Still definitely worth watching, but if you haven’t seen S.A.C. – watch this first, THEN watch the first series. 🙂

Having been a huge animation fan for most of my life, over the past few years I have become interested in anime. For those of you who don’t already watch it, it’s the highly stylized, often violent and over-the-top (depending on the genre) animated art form originally from Japan (although its influence has been spreading for years). I tend to avoid most of the kiddie stuff (where grade schoolers seem to obtain super powers, enlist the help of monsters to help them solve crimes, mysteries or join up with elves, etc. to save the world) and go for more of the sci-fi, cyberpunk or borderline occult themed series. They just seem more interesting and often have better character development IMHO. And then the occasional guilty pleasure such as Initial D or Wangan Midnight, of course.

So, I saw the first Ghost In The Shell movie some time ago, and despite the main character apparently able to defy gravity with her cybernetic body, this is essentially a cyperpunk detective story at heart, and a good one. I’m not really sure what the risque content adds to the show, unless it’s just there to ‘excite the 8 year-olds’ given that it otherwise has little to no relationship to the actual plot (kind of like how Dr. Manhattan walks around au naturel in The Watchmen, but that’s a whole different set of gripes :))

There are several later movies and at least two series that grew out of the first movie – this review is of Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (the first series). This is a GREAT show – they recently started showing it on Adult Swim (which is how I picked it up, then simply rented the DVD set and watched the rest on a recent business trip).

So the series tracks an elite group of mostly cyborg cops in future Japan called Section 9, and has at least one or two long-term multi-show stories beyond the episodic crimes being solved. The central character is ‘The Major’ – the same chick from the movie – and her fellow cyborgs/detectives and their section chief, who is both an old-school cop and master politician/administrator at the same time.

Some of the great things about this show are that it never insults the intelligence of the viewer, with the possible exception of the Tachikoma characterizations (a bit too ‘little kid’) – and treats the unfolding story around The Laughing Man (elusive criminal? hacker/vigilante? Watch and judge for yourself) with extra care to draw the viewer in and keep them guessing nearly until the end.

While it would be nice to see more of the history around other members of Section 9 in more detail (they are often only seen in limited scenarios or when the whole group is briefed on something by the chief) there’s still more than enough going on here to occupy the viewer. They also don’t ‘explain everything at the end of the episode’ a la Star Trek (I love ST since forever, but this IS a fundamental flaw, for pete’s sake!), which is nice. Many things about future Japan are never explained at all, or simply mentioned once or twice to suit moving the story forward but not much else.

The animation is generally very well done, and doesn’t seem to flip between drawings and CGI the way say, Initial D does. Or they are far better at hiding it. But generally, fluid and pretty animation (kind of has to be given the level of action, explosions, and running around in most of the episodes – this IS a cop show, after all).

Reading between the lines a bit, I’d have to say the future portrayed is a bit bleak, however – if people give up their human bodies when only a toddler or young child (like The Major and at least two other main characters) how can they be expected to really relate to society later on, not having gone through those same challenges we all do as we age? This perspective seems to flip all the recent military sci-fi I’ve read on its head – instead of a person nearing the end of their human life with a worn out body (only to be transposed into a super-soldier with a brand new, young, cybernetic body) – GITS: SAC has them doing it before they’ve really even lived much at all? Interesting….

At any rate, if you like cyberpunk mixed with detective stories, this is a very entertaining and thought-provoking series. It helps to watch some of the other movies first to set the scene and learn about some of the characters, however.

candybowl

So, being a huge fan of The Prisoner, I thought it might be interesting to watch some other Patrick McGoohan movies to see a) what else he did in his long (but sometimes obscure) film career, and b) how those movies stack up.

So, in jumping around timewise, the first is/was 1995’s Braveheart, PMcG’s last major film appearance. The first few times I’ve seen this movie I didn’t know who he was (it was in the sad, ignorant days before I had watched The Prisoner :)) but man is he evil in this movie as the English King Edward Longshanks, the primary villain trying to corrupt and eradicate (or at best hopelessly cripple) any possibility of Scottish freedom. This is simply a great movie, great performances all around, but P McG has to be considered among the best here, definitely. I’m slated to re-watch this in the coming weeks, so i’ll update more comments in a later post.

Next up was 1968’s Ice Station Zebra, a Cold War submarine flick P McG did with Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine and football star Jim Brown during the waning days of filming The Prisoner in the late 60’s. P McG plays an elusive English spy (big surprise) on an American sub charged with investigating some troubling reports from an Arctic base that sent out emergency broadcasts and then went silent. With all apologies to Howard Hughes, this movie is BOR-ING. Roger Ebert is completely right on – I couldn’t finish it, gave up after the first hour. If you want a great sub movie, watch the over a decade-earlier Disney classic 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea; if you want a great cerebral special effects extravaganza, watch 2001: A Space Odyssey of the same year (which holds up well 40+ years later – that alone tells it all). Either of those movies are far more interesting and better in nearly every way. Sorry, P McG.

Next up – The Three Lives of Thomasina from 1964. This was an early 60’s movie he made (weird career choice IMHO vs his typical fare of the time – the complete opposite of spy thrillers and high drama) that is set in a Scottish village in 1912. He plays a stern, small-town veterinarian who is widowed with a small daughter and a cat, Thomasina. Controversy ensues, some harrowing things happen to the cat, but happiness results by the end (of course) and life lessons were learned by all, most notably by P McG. I had seen at least part of this movie when I was a kid, remembering the very weird ‘dream sequence’ narrated by the cat (gotta love 60’s movies and the obvious drug culture influences that often substitute for special effects or hallucinations). There are a number of moments that are outright funny, or simply bad acting by the kids in the movie – one of them looks like the ‘Scottish Peter Brady‘ – and according to kerewin, the youngest two of them were later ‘recycled’ in Mary Poppins as brother and sister. It’s not an action flick, but it does have a certain charm about it – and of course, P McG provides a few choice quotes, yelled in the shrill, increasing-anger voice he perfected later in The Prisoner – such as ‘That Cat has Tetanus!’. After watching this movie, I promised our cats I’d never take them to ‘Dr. McDhui’ – because P McG spends half the movie simply ‘putting down’ the animals he is too self-centered to otherwise care for and save. Ah, but that’s the tough life in turn-of-the-century Scotland, I guess 🙂

candybowl

We finally saw Avatar last night in 3D (3D IMAX was sold out – doh!). Overall, an entertaining movie, but a few qualms, as follows. SPOILER Alert – while we took almost two months to see the movie (came out on Dec. 18 after all) I’m sure there’s at least a few people left on the planet that haven’t seen it (and don’t likely read this blog either, but FYI) 🙂

Good: VERY impressive effects, Mr. Cameron. Obviously you did your homework (and then some) and I’m sure I wouldn’t catch everything barring many repeat viewings – again, well done!

Good: At least a few minor twists and turns (in an otherwise way-overly-predictable and somewhat thin plot – but see below on that point)

Middling/Nitpicky: It was a bit too long. While I understand the need to have ‘montage’ sequences that help move an otherwise story covering several months along, there were dead spots.

M/N: What were the humans doing all the time while Sully is busy rallying all the Na’vi everywhere else on the planet(?) – Surely he didn’t pull that off in a day – were they just hanging out for him to get his army together so they’d have a real fight on their hands, or? Seems fishy…

Really – I mean, Really (with apologies to Seth & Amy)?: The rallying scene, while decent, is a bit too ‘Braveheart’ for me. I almost could hear Mel Gibson in the background encouraging the Na’vi to kill the British after they were done with the (obviously) American mining company providing the troops and all the heavy equipment – Kennecott Copper Mine, anyone?

R, IMR?: The magic ore they are trying to mine on Pandora is called ‘unobtanium’ – are you f’ing KIDDING me? The first time Giovanni Ribisi says it, I thought he was using a euphemism for the technical name of the ore he didn’t want to tell to the grunt Marine – but then he uses it several times later too – again, that was the best they could come up with? That’s like having a guy who’s supposed to be a hologram walking around with an “H” on his forehead? At least when that was done it was meant as an ongoing joke, for pete’s sake?

R, IMR? : Props to kerewin for noticing that in the last fight scene, the bad guy in the mecha suit pulls out a KNIFE(?!*&$*?) to fight the two main heroes – again, you couldn’t come up with leg or arm-mounted missiles, or rockets, etc.?

Cameron Cameo: Movie ends with mecha character battling aliens – only this time the tables were reversed.

Not Trying Hard Enough: Apparently (nearly) all the money went to special effects and (probably) Signourney Weaver’s salary – Most of the main characters are pretty one-note (Giovanni Ribisi’s mining exec sure doesn’t feel much remorse or struggle over his snap decisionmaking to nuke the Na’vi to get all that great ‘unobtanium’) or total cliche (the Marine colonel you KNOW will be in the end scene fighting the main hero). But it was cool Michelle Rodriguez switched sides, at least they gave her more than just a ‘Sulu’ role of piloting the helicopter around without anything else to do.

NTHE: Almost completely predictable plot. Now it’s true that in waiting two months to see the movie (it’s otherwise known as being L.A.M.E.) there was more than a bit of spoiler info trickling through the media along the way, and I’m sure that affected me a bit – but still, guys – the Alien movies had weird twists and turns, the Terminator movies (even the 3rd one) did too – would it have been too much to ask? At least more conflict within the mining company – one of the scientists getting busted, etc.? Far too linear and predictable.

NTHE: Yet another sci-fi movie where select humans (who you want either to ‘win’ or, survive long enough to get killed – badly – when the hero ‘wins’) – have the ability to hold their breath almost as long as David Blaine despite no practice. Nearly all the main characters do this at some point or another when in the process of getting whacked (or whacking each other with knives, spears, lasers, flying lizards, etc.)