These were done several years ago to promote Season 12 of South Park (2008), I remember seeing them on TV, for some raisin they popped into my head this am, and of course ‘the internets’ did not disappoint…:) If you aren’t old enough to recognize what they are making fun of, watch some of these.
Tablet/mobile users may need to click through for the second one (bad embed code)
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Yeah, it’s viral for good reason – wow. For those too scared, watch the fake Simpsons Mr. Sparkle ad below instead…. 🙂
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So the summer movie-going season kind of hit a wall in mid-July due to work and other commitments, sadly. But that’s why the DVD was invented, rightl? 🙂 So I finally saw Pacific Rim this afternoon on DVD. While I’m sure the effect of mecha-robots and kaiju slugging it out was diminished somewhat by watching it at home – it was still entertaining.
Likes: – the way the soundtrack draws you in when the battles intensify (this was done well IMHO in other recent movies, notably The Avengers);
– The robots are pretty cool, even if not that original (we’ve seen them all pretty much a zillion times before if you have seen Transformers or any anime mecha from Gundam onward through Evangelion) although I was a bit disappointed the majority of the battles occur at sea rather than on land – gotta smash up those buildings and stomp the people and cars! One of the mecha uses an actual ship as a bat at one point, so that’s pretty cool, too, even if I think they have a bit of a comparative scale issue on that point;
– The actors are all fairly unknown (to me, at least) save Idris Elba, who seems to be really hitting the big time of late. Charlie Day also resembles Sam Rockwell more than a little bit – I was surprised it wasn’t the latter. I’m glad they did it that way and not just have a bunch of big names who demand more money and more screen time – stories like this are about kaiju and the men/women who waste them with huge robots, first and foremost!
– the fact that the robots didn’t just win the war at first go and that the kaiju kept coming back, meaner and more vicious.
And, then the inevitable gripes and spoilers (alert!)
– it’s been pointed out many times over that building big robots to take out big monsters wouldn’t work. Godzilla proved that with Mechagodzilla, and that was guys in rubber suits (and arguably, both characters were bad guys anyway)! Suffice it to say that with mecha, you just have to disbelieve from the word go, or you can’t enjoy it;
– why, oh why don’t the robots simply RIP OFF THE MONSTERS’ HEADS when they fight them? It’s obvious from the start of every fight that trying to punch them out (especially when half submerged in water) DOES NOT WORK. Nor does throwing them around, on the few times they try it. And when you have pilots trained in martial arts and that have flexible swords mounted in the back of the mecha, using those skills and weapons more than as an afterthought *might* make sense – who knew? Again, a boxing match works best on land, and more likely between guys in rubber suits who don’t have the benefit of CGI weapons. 🙂
– the whole thing of the monster shorting out all the mecha in one of the later battles excepting the Gypsy Danger because they were ‘digital’ and it is ‘analog’ is completely bogus. Do you really think that shorting out wires and hardware depends on whether there’s a CPU? The answer is NO. Fried wires and computers are fried, period, guys. Ask any Cylon, old or new.
– there are a few too many ‘fight to the last man’ cliches here, but at least the movie doesn’t drag them out, so they don’t distract *too* much.
– I don’t care how many helicopters you use – there is no way they could lift a mecha like that? But barring some other plot device (like how the Autobots could fly when the plot suited it), not sure how you resolve that one….?
All in all, an entertaining ride, even if not seen on the big screen. Next up, catching Elysium and Oblivion on DVD to finish out summer movies …. three months late!
A final word – throughout this movie I was constantly saying to myself – Gojira would have kicked ALL their a**es! Thankfully we only have to wait until the start of next summer to see it happen……muhhahhah!
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At one point or another, we’ve all seen these on various family members, friends and celebrities. I myself have had the Reverse Mullet as well as an attempt at the Hair Metal (I however never, ever used petroleum products in my hair, I just never brushed it :))
The 13 Ugliest Hairstyles of Our Time
Notable missing participants, by hairdo style:
1) The Flock of Seagulls – this is now called ‘Japanese Anime Hair‘ and if you go to any Comic-Con or watch a Justin Bieber video, you’ll see it in abundance;
2) The Beehive – What, no B-52’s?
3) The Side Ponytail – You can’t leave out Tina Majorino’s ‘do in Napoleon Dynamite! Plus if you double up, you end up with Witch Hunter Robin…
4) The Jheri Curl – Ah, the days when Lionel Richie ruled the planet. But Keenan did the best turn in Hollywood Shuffle….
5) The Crimp – The two words that remain, forever, infamous: Gene. Simmons. And in a side note – kerewin and I have seen this ‘do in person at Whistler, complete with guard-Guidos to protect it.
6) The Big Bang – I’m not going to comment on certain sisters who have sported this ‘do – you know who you are 🙂 – but to this day, an entire western half of the Salt Lake City valley still keeps these ‘stylists’ in business….there, however, it is known as ‘The Hair Claw’.
7) The Phil Spector – I always wondered what happened to Bernie from Room 222….Or did he just reach the Tipping Point?
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Was headed out of the library last week and saw a Marvel Anime of the X-Men on the shelf, so checked it out. Just finished watching it this am – and had some interesting reactions.
First, I’m not an X-Men expert by any means. I’ve seen the movies, and recently read an anthology reprint of some very old X-Men comics I read as a kid, but otherwise nada mucho. As far as the movies went, I liked the first two better than the third one, which I felt kind of squandered things to a degree character-wise into just action and mayhem (maybe due to different director, not sure). Then the X-Men First Class movie came out – which I liked more, although Kevin Bacon’s villain was fairly ridiculous (while entertaining, to be sure).
I guess one of the challenges in following any of these comic stories, characters, ‘teams’, etc. at this point is that so many of the plots, counter-plots, stories, etc. have been either done so many times or sent in one direction, then another, then another new writer steps in and takes it in a different direction (thinking of the recent Marvel Knights X-Men series I watched, in addition to the JJ Abrams ‘redo’ of Star Trek in the two recent movies, etc.) at some point you have to simply give up on a linear history of *any* character and just enjoy the story for what it is or tries to do.
So in talking about this X-Men anime – I liked the fact that they had yet another team of obscure weirdos to battle (the ‘U-Men’) and that ultimately there was another team of ‘evil’ Mutants – the Inner Circle – to deal with too. The animation is very well done, and there are obvious nods to the movies in some of the presentation and implied plot points (at least to me). However, there are also a number of times where there’s either too much mindless violence that transitions to a plot stoppage where everyone sits and ‘monologues’ too much, and at least two to three key points where characters who have certain knowledge don’t say anything, don’t act as you’d expect them to, and then the plot moves forward irrespective (this is otherwise known as a ‘plot hole’ :(). And yet again, certain X-Men seem far weaker here than otherwise implied – most notably Storm (who got her a** kicked far too many times in the movies too vs. her implied power?) – so that’s a problem. Am I reading too much into this? Probably. Another gripe (although this is anime, after all so not a complete surprise) is that nearly every woman in this thing is drawn as if she was first seen in Ghost in the Shell – and if you’ve seen that movie or series, you know what I’m talking about. It just doesn’t work here, guys.
I guess to sum up, if you like X-Men and have more nerdy knowledge about all the myriad characters and history of same, you will probably like this too. I liked it, but didn’t like it as much as I *should* have, which is disappointing. If I had to choose, I’d pick the Marvel Knights series…..
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Not sure if i’d have the patience to create something this detailed, but it sure is cool!
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Will have to check this one out. Love the million movie references….
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Gotta get this book!
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Well, it’s been awhile since I watched any anime – but what’s cool is that despite having thought I had watched most of the ‘really’ cool series (Initial D, Ghost in the Machine, Cowboy Bebop, etc.) there was still at least one more great one out there – Samurai Champloo. Just watched the last episode today, sad to end it.
This is the next series done by the director of Cowboy Bebop, Shinichirō Watanabe. Completed in 2004, it tells the story of a young girl, Fuu, seeking a ‘samurai who smells of sunflowers’, accompanied by two master swordsman – Mugen (a fairly wild man/criminal type who literally lives on the edge nearly the entire series) and Jin (reserved, quiet dojo master fighter who says little but can clearly handle himself). The two effectively act as Fuu’s bodyguards (not always successfully) for the interesting and sometimes crazy situations that crop up along their journey. The story is set in Japan’s isolationist Edo period (late 1600’s to 1800’s) so it’s a very rural society with only basic firearms becoming available, possibly through limited European influence/trading. The travelers journey for a long time across Japan, ending near Nagasaki.
There are a number of interesting parallels with Cowboy Bebop, if you pay close attention. The three main characters vary wildly in personality and are largely thrown together by circumstance, much like the crew of the Bebop in the earlier show. While the journey of the Bebop is a bit more disjointed, an overwhelming sense of wandering without knowing why, where or how is a strong influence on both series. And the characters of both seem to be running from their past lives while somehow circling back to confront them at the same time. Finally, in thinking about it, I can see where Mugen and Jin are arguably the two halves of Spike Spiegel from Bebop – the crazy wild side that loves to fight and thrives on excitement and conflict (Mugen); and the measured, calculating, quiet side that still retains an edge (Jin).
But there are plenty of new things to enjoy about Samurai Champloo, too. The pervasive influence of music and specifically, hip-hop in the theme and at various intervals where you least expect it. The ability of the stories to relate history while putting a new (sometimes blatantly fictional) spin on it. Ultimately, taking a rather simplistic concept that’s been arguably done many times (Kung Fu, the original Hulk tv series, even Samurai Jack) yet still creating something new and very entertaining.
Like most anime, we don’t get to see *all* the motivations of the main characters – many are left to the imagination. And in the usual anime way, there is endless posturing and one-upmanship that I’m starting to think is just a facet of Japanese society (old or new) – but never having been there, i’ll have to take that one on faith for now. And there are a few cliff jumps in this show that are unbelievable (meaning not possible to survive if you did it) but i’m picking nits here.
In summary, I’d have to conclude Samurai Champloo was a very pleasant surprise as to the quality and entertainment value and ranks among the best anime I’ve seen to date, surely up there with those mentioned above – Check it out if you get the chance!
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