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This newly released movie took me out of blogging hibernation and compels me to write more than 140 characters. Dear, M. Night Shyamalan, thanks to you I have seen in theaters a movie that greatly disappointed me as a fan of the original material. Avatar: The Last Airbender, was a gripping cartoon, it brought me joy as action scenes were exciting and characters had a depth I enjoyed. Obviously it’s only a cartoon, but I had always felt it could be taken seriously at times, and every episode was a joy ride.

The Last Airbender movie was none of that. At times I felt the characters were dangled by strings, instead of actual bending (using their abilities to manipulate: fire, water, air or earth), they were actually doing a bunch of yoga poses. If you’re looking of a bad cinematographic adaptation this movie is all you need. The current Tomatometer keeps it below 10%. I yawned, I turned left and right not believe how everything felt stitched together and rushed. It was an accurate re-telling of the events of the first season, but I no way did I feel attached to ANYONE, and understood how any of the characters had any emotions towards each other. The special effects might of been cool, I’ve my theater had the options to see it in 2D, how the movie was originally developed. I curse, figuratively, studios that spin a movie in 3D just to jump on the bandwagon, if it’s not made for 3D don’t bother showing it in 3D.

I’m getting ahead of myself, my point is that you should avoid this movie for as long as possible. You may allow yourself to catch of glimpse of it if it ever airs of TV. The value of the production seriously felt like a direct to TV movie.

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to dig in an anime and watch it from beginning to end. I’m still following Naruto on a weekly basis, but as my spring break was coming I had to find something new. Two friends (not knowing each other) recommended that I watch Death Note.

The anti-hero is the most refreshing character type I’ve come to love, Kratos and Dexter are a few and Yagami Light can join their pantheon. This hard working student stumbles upon a small notebook called the Death Note, in it are directions explaining that any name written inside this notebook is sentenced to die within 40 seconds of their name being written. Further more the cause of death can even be specified in the most twisted way possible.

Yagami Light tests the power of the notebook by killing a man that took hostages in a school. The name and the face of whom you want to kill must be known by the writer in order for the death to occur. He then decides to become the hammer of justice and exterminate all the criminals that scourge this world. Not too long is necessary for the authorities to realize all those heart attacks cannot be coincidental. A famous detective named “L” sets to capture this Dark Defender known as Kira.

Despite the many twits and turns the series has it’s fondly a detective story where the investigation trails on multiple episodes. Each side is determined to win, and both display incredible genius to discover the identity of their pursuer. The supernatural aspect cannot be taken out, as the death god, owner of the Death Note makes multiple appearances and interacts with the owner of the note. You have to know that any great power comes at great price, and that “Shinigami” will be there to collect the first chance he has.

It’s dark and destructive, I suggest you give it a watch.

Image source: Anime Corporation

It’s been a while since I’ve been drawn to an anime, I feel like all the right shows that were out there have all ended (and have been reviewed). There was this friend of mine who was always over-hyped about this show and I never got the appeal. I didn’t appreciate the visual style and though it was just an other story where a kid has to save the world from some evil. Of course what is best out there is mostly a re-hash of old ideas but I’ve become a fan of Naruto just after seeing one episode.

I was lucky to see episode number five on YTV, thanks to it I’ve decided I had to follow the show and I can say that for a series that has 220 episodes I had very few deceptions. The anime is derived from the manga of the same name and despite the use of many filler episodes the story line remained steady and focused on the development of many characters.

The story’s main character is called Naruto Uzumaki, he is a child coming of age and training to become a Ninja (Shinobi), he’s really the type you would consider hyper-active, never listening in class and very hard headed. Thanks to his perseverence and determination he manages to pass all the challenges to come between him and become the next Hokage (chief of the village). As an infant the spirit of a demon (Nine Tails Fox) was sealed into his body in order to save the village. However, while growing up many people resented him because he had this evil within him. He never let it get to him, he made friends and became a full fledge Ninja. What I like about most anime is the fantasy aspect of it. Ninjas have special abilities that involve spiritual energy called Chackras. The episode progression can be slow at times, but battling against the odds and coming on top is always a gratifying experience. The show was so successful that it sprung three movies and a second series called Naruto Shippuden was started to pursue the adventures of Naruto as he becomes a teenager.

If you get the chance to see the show don’t miss out on it. They sure made me a fan.

Four elements, water, fire, air and earth. Teenage characters that have to save the world. Thrilling action sequences and great peril. That pretty much sums up the essence of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The story is about a kid named Aang who turns out to be the Avatar. He’s capable of “bending” all four elements and is posed a the saviour of the world. Their world is divided in four nations in which they each control a specific element. However the fire nation decided to rule and started a war with the other nations that has been burning for over a 100 years.

I’ve always found cartoon from my youth to be the only ones worth a while but was proven wrong by this new show. I caught up to it and now just can’t wait for the release of the third season. The show has compelling story and characters. I get a few good laughs from it and I’m passionate about people coming into their powers and surpassing evil. Nothing that fresh apart that this show is not from the 90s. The third season is expected in Fall 2007. I can’t wait for the show now.

The visuals of this movie are breath taking. This is the only point on witch no other movie could ever compete with it. Except perhaps Renaissance, that I haven’t seen. I had seen the first trailer for this movie last year and was really wondering why they went to all the trouble to modify every single frame of the movie to give it this unique look. It’s only at about half the movie you see how practical these effects have become. The story is based in the near future were a new drug called Substance D creates a very high level of addiction. Keanu Reeves plays a double agent working for the narcotics police department as well as a supposedly involved in drug traffic. The movie is about addiction and how your life could be turned upside down by it. There is a nice twist to the movie and the first few minutes do not give it justice. I refer to that because the weekend of it’s released the first seven minutes were made available online. I had totally turned me off (bugs, hate them), this time around I sat down and decided to process it and see it through. It’s a bit lengthy and is not an action movie. It’s a candy for the eye and brings a lot of reflection to mind. However, I will only give A Scanner Darkly a 6 out 10, because it’s not one I would recommend to everyone. You need to think to really enjoy it, the eye candy alone was worth it. But I don’t think I’ll see it again until they’ve got it on TV… and that nothing else will be playing.

The trailer for this movie hit Quicktime the other day and was intringued by how it looked visually. It made me think of a kind of Anime style, used in Immortel, The Animatrix and A Scanner Darkly. What I believe to be the correct term would be animation, some though that 3D animation was the way of the future with movies like Shrek, The Incredibles and Toy Story but if you need a dark and serious film this style is much better (not only because it’s in black and white!)

You can view the trailer in standard and hi-definition over at apple.com/trailers or by clicking right HERE. The movie is rated R (audience over 17 years old) and the synopsis can be read as it follows:

In 2054, Paris is a labyrinth where all movement is monitored and recorded. Casting a shadow over everything is the city’s largest company, Avalon, which insinuates itself into every aspect of contemporary life to sell its primary export – youth and beauty. In this world of stark contrasts and rigid laws the populace is kept in line and accounted for.

I’ve started this thread back in March with animes like Shaman King on part one and RahXephon in part two. I did state that there might be a third post about the anime I like.

The Vision of Escaflowne is all about a young woman/girl that is swapped to an other world by a beam of light. The new world she discovers is medieval like. A strange world where royalty, chevalry and dragons live. However theres a clear supernatural element to the story line. Hitomi seems to have the power to see the future through visions and Taro cards. She meets with Prince Van who’s people is being annihilated by a terrible foe. Like all great anime you need “mechas”, huge body armor like fighting machines were the hero or the bad guys get to control to take a fight to the extreme. Escaflowne is the name of the legendary “Guymelefs” that to be Van Fanel controls. Over the course of the 26 episodes powers of both lead characters are revealed to fight the evil Zaibach Empire who wished to control the world as well as it’s destiny.

If we consider the previous animes I’ve reviewed you need to consider that this one is the oldest, in the sense the drawing quality is not as sharp as what you can see in Shaman King or RahXephon. There is an other anime I started watching but never got further than a three or four episode is called Saikano. Pretty crazy story and if I get the chance to watch it all I’ll give my 2¢ on it. I’ll be on to watch more cartoons like Reboot or Digimon!

Previous posts:

• Anime Love (Part 1)
• Anime Love (Part 2)

I’ve seen this movie last fall, and the DVD is finally being released in North America. I’m talking about the 2-disc set of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. This movie is somewhat made in the same spirit of the game and is a firm sequel. Even if you haven’t played the game you will still enjoy the action scenes and beauty of the animations. I will not review the whole plot but I must say that even though it works as a stand-alone movie the story line is really complex. I’ve seen it three times and I was still discovering and understanding new subtile points. Yeah, it’s was in Japanese with subtitles and guess sometimes you can’t always focus on the text and want so see what happens in the upper screen! So the good news is that the DVD that is coming April, 25th 2006 will have an English audio track and will be loaded with classic extras.

Special Disc Features:

• Last Order OVA
• Advent Children: Special Edition
• Making of Advent Children
• Deleted Scenes
• Advent Children Trailers
  • Tokyo Game Show 2003 – Day 1, 2 & 3
  • Jump Festa 2003
  • E3 2004
  • Tokyo Game Show 2004
  • Jump Festa 2004
  • E3 2005 [full trailer]

It’s a 100 minute movie, but you’ll enjoy every single of those minutes! It will also include director’s commentary. You may also visit their official website for more info on the movie.
I’m actually considering buying that DVD since their franchise is one I’ve been willing to support (buying all the games, and planning for Final Fantasy XII). Might I add that FFVII was the first game I bought for my Playstation and that it tainted the way I see games today. I believe it was the first mile stone leading to a rich story design that many movies can’t reach nowadays. Drama, action, suspense and love made a great mix back then and the sequel movie was made in the same aspirations.