Two severed thumbs up!

S

spanky123

#41
#41
Re: Re: Sticking my neck out in support of decapitation...

Originally posted by Ny Vanessa


I am warning you AE, if I have to cover my eyes even ONCE, I will be scarred for life, and it will be ALL your fault!!

Ever since Friday the 13th, (the first one) I haven't been able to watch a movie with gore. That movie scared the crap out of me!
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It's cartoony violence though, and it's not in the context of horror but in an action movie. I actually went to watch it with a girl (no, not a provider....or a family member....) with the same reaction like you before heading into it, and she actually enjoyed it.
 
W

Wwanderer

Kids, don't try this at home
#42
#42
Originally posted by justme
I'm star[t]ing to be convinced that I'm right.
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I feel sure you are right. The clearest give away is all the really tight close-ups of faces and even more so of character's glistening eyes...a stylistic hallmark of anime since way back when.

However, I am not so sure that it is only about anime. It seemed to me that there might be "nods"/"references" to other types of movies or story telling too. Spaghetti westerns for one. Probably old kung-fu (and John Woo) stuff as well. I don't see that it was entirely any one of those things.

-Ww
 
W

Wwanderer

Kids, don't try this at home
#43
#43
What was with the B&W sequence?

Originally posted by Wwanderer
I don't see that it was entirely any one of those things.
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There were several things in the movie that felt a bit like "references" or imitations or whatever but which I did not understand or get. For example, why did the film suddenly switch to black and white at one point, stay that way for an extended period and then switch back. That might be an anime thing, but I am not sure. I think some of the old anime books (not films) would print only some of the most important/dramatic pages in color and do the others in B&W to save printing costs.

I will ask when I am next in Tokyo, which will be pretty soon.

-Ww
 
J

jp1064

#44
#44
You guys can't be serious? I went to see it due to the comments on this thread. This movie sucked big time! All violence, and NO story line what so ever.
 
J

jp1064

#46
#46
Technically...yes, but I can only see the appeal of this movie belonging to 14 year old boys who enjoy long kung fu movies and play video games all day.
 
J

justme

homo economicus
#47
#47
Originally posted by justlooking
No no. It's not that a sequal is planned. It's that the movie turned out to be so long that, at nearly the last minute, they decided to chop it in half and release it as two movies.
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Right, I should have been more precise with my phrasing.

Many of the times I'd go rent an anime (or any HK action film for that matter) from the Asian video store, the movie came on two tapes, an A and a B. Niether tape was self contained, they just divided up the film at about the halfway point.
 
J

justme

homo economicus
#48
#48
Ww - I'm sure you're right wrt there being references to other genres. QT always loses his discipline at some point of his movies and throws in one too many cutesy tricks. Still, I think the overwhelming influence in this movie was anime (the scene in the diner / sword shop was classic a anime slapstick boss / worker bit that didn't execute as well as it could have).
 
W

Wwanderer

Kids, don't try this at home
#49
#49
Originally posted by justme

1 - QT always loses his discipline at some point of his movies and throws in one too many cutesy tricks.

2 - Still, I think the overwhelming influence in this movie was anime (the scene in the diner / sword shop was classic a anime slapstick boss / worker bit
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Yeah, that was basically what bugged me about the movie, but not that much; I sort of see it as a sign of genius plus immaturity in an artist. Some of them "grow out of it", and it makes for interesting comparisons (and many PhD theses) of the early and late works of famous artists of various types. Others don't, and I think it sort of limits their greatness.

2 - I agree, and true, that is absolutely a stock anime subplot.

-Ww
 
W

Wwanderer

Kids, don't try this at home
#50
#50
Originally posted by jp1064
Technically...yes, but I can only see the appeal of this movie belonging to 14 year old boys who enjoy long kung fu movies and play video games all day.
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There is little point in arguing about such things; if it doesn't do it for you, then no amount of discussing will change that (usually), but let me give just one example of a tiny bit that I thought to be brilliantly "staged". Just before the bit battle between Thurman's and Liu's characters begins, there is a close-up showing Liu stepping out of her old fashioned Japanese women's shoes, carefully and neatly tucking them together against the little ledge behind her. Then as she steps forward into the snow in her tabi (Japanese toed stockings) clad feet toward her opponent, the dramatic musical score of the fight suddenly starts. This is all filmed in tight, so you can only see her lower legs and feet, and at a very leisurely and deliberate pace. Imo, it was way kewl and added tremendously to the drama and tension of the impending fight. The scene was not only well done in itself, but the way it was inserted to break the manic pace and momentum of the previous "big brawl" section of the movie were really clever imo.

-Ww
 
N

NOYL

Poster Child for Birth Control (ironic, no?)
#51
#51
So has Texas Chainsaw Massacre dethroned Kill Bill from the #1 spot at top of the box office receipts yet?
 
E

eyexoreye

#53
#53
Originally posted by Wwanderer
I feel sure you are right. The clearest give away is all the really tight close-ups of faces and even more so of character's glistening eyes...a stylistic hallmark of anime since way back when.

However, I am not so sure that it is only about anime. It seemed to me that there might be "nods"/"references" to other types of movies or story telling too. Spaghetti westerns for one. Probably old kung-fu (and John Woo) stuff as well. I don't see that it was entirely any one of those things.

-Ww
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The spaghetti westerns impacted later kung-fu and anime, just as classic Hollywood westerns impacted earlier samurai films (e.g. Kurosawa).

These influences flow in both directions...
 
J

justme

homo economicus
#54
#54
Getting in touch with our inner child.

Originally posted by Wwanderer
There is little point in arguing about such things; if it doesn't do it for you, then no amount of discussing will change that (usually), but let me give just one example of a tiny bit that I thought to be brilliantly "staged".
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Probably the worst thing about being a 14 year old boy who enjoys long kung fu movies and plays video games all day is that it tends to stay with you for the rest of your life. No matter how well you eventually overcome these nerdy beginnings, no matter how well developed you manage to groom your preferences, when you least expect it, there's that 14 year old boy and his retarded taste.
 
W

Wwanderer

Kids, don't try this at home
#56
#56
Originally posted by justme
(the scene in the diner / sword shop was classic a anime slapstick boss / worker bit that didn't execute as well as it could have).
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The boss-woman and "Charlie Brown" worker at the Tokyo nightclub was also a variation on this common anime motif.

-Ww
 
W

Wwanderer

Kids, don't try this at home
#58
#58
I can't wait...

The critics are all over the place, up and down the scales, on Vol 2...usually a good sign imo.

Meanwhile, I got a copy of Vol 1 on DVD to watch with some friends who missed the theatrical release and in prep for Vol 2. The DVD does not offer a whole lot of extras (probably being held for the release of Vol 1 & 2 together on DVD), but there is a very nice clip of the 5-6-7-8's doing two songs. It turns out that they are (or were) a real band in Tokyo. Quite good in a quirky way, I thought.

-Ww
 
A

alterego

#59
#59
Re: I can't wait...

Originally posted by Wwanderer
Quite good in a quirky way, I thought.
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If you like the quirkiness of the first you might really be happy with this one.

But it doesn't have the same kind of over-the-top John Woo type action, which is what I really liked about Vol. 1.

æ
 
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