Movie Diary III

Deep Red (Profondo rosso)

This is the first of a series of italian horror thrillers by Dario Argento I’ve been watching.

This was made in the 70’s and it does show a bit, so if you are watching it expect an old movie. The creation of mystery is fantastic but what I liked the most is the dialogue - the witty banter between two of the main characters. It’s not forced, overly structured or cut down like a lot of American cinema.

I quite liked the music, although I’ve found with Dario (at least his older stuff) the music is either on or off, there is no subtlety in the transition or use of the music.

Skip this if you don’t like older movies, but I recommend it.

Spartan

Suprisingly good thriller. It doesn’t do anything particularly special - kidnapping mystery needs solving, dangrous parties trying to stop it. For me this movie did everything right and had a few cases where I was impressed at the depth of thought. Things went wrong, mistakes made, people killed.

Definitely action thriller, guns, spies, action. Very enjoyable.

L.A. Confidential

For some reason I’ve seen this movie poster or DVD cover a lot. I’m not sure if it was in a video store I used to go to, or I just liked the cleavage - I know the picture. I don’t know why but I had some pre-conceived ideas of what L.A. Confidential was and they were wrong.

It’s a tale of the people in the police, very gritty, corrupt. It’s also the story of an investigation, uncovering the truth.

It’s not a movie I would normally watch, I like safe thrillers or action. I don’t like watching bad things happen, brutality or bad situations. I’m glad I did watch it, it was very good.

Jin Roh - The Wolf Brigade

I’ve been broading my horizons lately with Japanese animation, mostly movies. This cropped up from several sources as a good movie from other similar movies I liked.

In common anime there are quite a few unique characteristics I dislike. Overemphasis of emotions, especially in facial cartoonisation and a crazy funny / serious duality.

I guess the first anime movie that I really enjoyed was Akira, and what a start. Most other movies can’t compare to Akira.

I don’t like the crazy / funny anime. I like the ’serious’ anime.

Back to Jin Roh, it’s an interesting movie. I was introduced to a common theme in Japanese cinema through Ghost in the Shell; the powerplay that goes on between different governemt departments, sections and the military. Jin Roh is quite political.

I wouldn’t recomment it to a viewer new to Japanese cinema and I didn’t enjoy it greatly.

My motto is that there too many great movies I still haven’t seen yet to waste time on the average ones. Jin Roh might have been great, but it wasn’t. My loss your gain.

Oh and I don’t mean ‘average’ as in ‘this muffin looks decidedly average’ I mean average as ho hum, run of the mill, normal. I’m trying to take the word back. If you say a movie was average the general impression is that it’s not good. We’ve started using the word ‘good’ to replace ‘average’.

If you ask someone how they are (even me) they will often reply ‘good’. If they replied ‘average’ you will ask them what’s wrong. Average should mean just that - average. Nothing coming or going.

It would please me to have this continue. Average weather is not sunny nor raining. Just average.

Battle Angel Atilla

Continuing with Japanese animation I watched Battle Angel Atilla. It was average. The interesting part was the concept of living in another city’s shadow, living off their scraps, always wanting to get into that city.

This movie borders dangerously close to the not so serious side of Japanese animation - the hairstyles are quite spikey and crazy. Thankfully the subject matter is serious and enjoyable.

Average (revised usage).

Paprika

A fantastical exploration of dreams and dream manipulation. Vibrant anime with a few dark twists.

Above Average.

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