Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Finally got around to watching this. It definitely deserves its reputation as being one of the best anime films, with beautiful and fluid animation and a thought-provoking plot. Ever since watching it, I'm suddenly beginning to notice its influence on other films and media everywhere. The film manages to fit a lot of philosophical food for thought into a relatively short runtime without feeling too self-conscious or self-important about it, which was really nice to see. On the other hand, while in some ways I really enjoyed the relative sparseness, at times I felt it didn't explain enough. Perhaps it's the language barrier or maybe I just missed it, but I never understood
Spoiler (click to read)
what the purposes of Section 9 and Section 6 were and how they relate to each other and the Puppetmaster case, where the tank in the finale came from, and who ordered the three unmarked helicopters to kill Major and Puppetmaster. Also, if technology is so advanced that people can get brain implants to communicate wirelessly, why are people still using payphones?
There are a bunch of really interesting concepts hinted at in the film, yet they are never explored or alluded to beyond a throwaway line or two.
In addition, the pacing feels a bit off. We get long intense action scenes as Major and her team chase the Puppetmaster, only for the entire plot to come to a halt as a character to deliver a long and rather stilted monologue about the nature of consciousness or humanity. That, and the film seems somewhat obsessed with nudity (or rather female toplessness) to the point where borders on the mildly questionable.
Spoiler (click to read)
While for the most part it feels justified in context it does beg the question of why full-body cyborgs designed to be so realistic-looking to begin with, seeing as they are established to essentially be specialised military-grade hardware and cyborgs are fully aware that they are cyborgs (there is no replicant/synth-type situation where they erroneously believe themselves to be fully human).
It just seems like a very odd detail to include to me.
Even so, it's a fantastic film, and I would highly recommend it, especially if you're into sci-fi or cyberpunk, as long as you don't mind some violence or nudity.
Doctor Strange (2016)
For once, this is a Marvel film I actually enjoyed. This, to my mind, does what a superhero film should: It takes the formula and plays with it in new and interesting ways, instead of regurgitating the same old plots and actions. It has stunning visuals and art direction (part of me actually regrets not having seen this on the big screen), a unique concept (at least, as far as superhero movies go) and most importantly, a protagonist whom I actually cared about and who changes and develops in a meaningful way as the story progresses. Stephen Strange goes from being egotistical and self-interested to caring and using his powers to help others. It's not exactly original--the original Iron Man had the exact same plot--but at least it's something. There's actually a reason and emotional investment for the main character to undertake this journey. Compare that to basically every superhero film since The Avengers, where every single character is literally the exact same from start to end and there is no change in the status quo because they all have to appear in 3 sequels down the line. The action scenes are really fun to watch and not something commonly seen in this sort of film--at times they seem much more reminiscent of Inception than any Marvel film.
Even so, this film definitely has its flaws. In particular I feel it is too Marvel-like. It's really refreshing to see a concept that is inherently goofy to 21st-century sensibilities, like magic or mysticism, and actually have it be treated seriously within the film, but this is undermined every time the film attempts to be funny. It's like the screenwriters wrote out the entire script before realising "oh wait this is a Marvel film so we have to throw in a bunch of jokes because all Marvel films have to be funny" and then tacked on a bunch of forced and awkward attempts at humour. Some of the funnier parts work really well
Spoiler (click to read)
the "WiFi password" gag and part with the Cloak of Levitation in particular are really well done
but more often than not it kind of falls flat. The most egregious example is Strange himself. Every time he cracks a joke it feels like he's trying way too hard to be Tony Stark (he's a rich arrogant genius, therefore he has to make snarky quips all the time!). I realise it's kind of nonsensical to complain that this film is too Marvel-like when it is based off a Marvel comic, but it's really jarring to see a genuinely unique and fresh take on the genre like this, only to have it suddenly grind to a halt and watch its ham-fisted attempts at "witty banter".
Aside from that, the writing at times is rather clunky, in particular when it violates the "show-don't-tell" rule (we get loads of people telling Strange how arrogant and egotistical he is--it would be nice to actually experience that), although there are only a few truly bad moments. The inevitable romance subplot was completely pointless but at least it was decently well set up. Another main issue is that the villains' motivations don't make much sense and they're not that memorable. Mads Mikkelsen as Caecilius is criminally underutilised. It's a real shame to see the guy who played easily the most memorable Bond villain in recent times do basically nothing for the entire film. (Also, his eyes look kind of stupid.) The writing for Mordo is even worse.
Spoiler (click to read)
He literally goes from being helpful and supportive to "ALL SORCERERS HAVE TO DIE" on the turn of a dime. I actually laughed out loud in bewilderment at the post-credit scene because it was so poorly written. it's kind of frustrating because this could have been built in to a potentially really interesting point of conflict between Strange, Mordo, and the Ancient One, but instead it comes across as being really rushed and mindlessly tacked on to the end as sequel-bait.
It's a shame, because I feel that Doctor Strange could have been a truly great film, but as is, it has quite a few flaws that stop it from reaching that level. Even so, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth watching, in my opinion.
Although I can't help but feel that the inevitable sequel is going to undermine all of this.
Last edited by Mr Vertigo (March 6, 2017 (03:02pm))
Retribution (3rd place in BRAWL 2015)&Smeagol make the most of being surrounded by single, educated women your own age on a regular basis in college
AquaMorph I dunno women are expensive
I too was not sure about the CGI for Leia's face, although it was not a huge bother to me as she did not appear for very long. I was however very impressed with the CGI for Tarkin, as he looked a lot more realistic than Leia. However, it is clear that there is still a bit of a way to go for the future of CGI characters.
hopefully in a DVD release they will shows us the original ending, as I think that would be quite cool to see.
