A Japanese anime directed by Katsuhito Akiyama.
A high school boy finds alien technology which attaches to his body, making him into a strong warrior. He faces a secret corporation and their monsters called Zoanoids.
This held my attention pretty well. It seems to have been designed with a male audience in mind, considering that most of it was monsters and violence.I had seen some of the 1989 series in the late '90s and thought that this was it because I did not check dates. Hopefully, you will soon be able to read about the 1986 and 1989 OVAs here. Fans of Dragonball Z would appreciate the conversation-filled fight scenes, powering up and blast battles. The only thing that I found mockable was the Guyver's "boob beam" or "lactating laser" attack (image). There's really not much to say about this. I rate it good.
A Japanese anime directed by Tensai Okamura.
A group of reverse-werewolves (wolves which can become human at will) are looking for paradise and are convinced that a woman made from a flower will lead them to it. Unfortunately, a technological military group called Nobles are trying to keep the woman for their own purposes and an old man is on a wolf-hunting revenge quest.
The premise seems great and the first few episodes (maybe first season?) went really well. That was where it broke down. Episodes 15-18 were a recap of episodes 1-14 and then the ending was all messy. The plot became convoluted and muddy and the ending was inconclusive. Like Chrono Crusade, it would have been better to just have the 4 wolf guys run around dealing with problems on an individual episode basis. This was worse than that because it was so serious. So serious, in fact, that the animation style was in low contrast and low color saturation. The credits theme songs were terrible and it didn't seem to matter where the opening credits ended up in the episode. opening credits 5 minutes in? Sure! Why not? I found the whole set to be boring and it did not hold my attention. I rate it o.k.
A Japanese anime directed by Yu Ko.
A young religious woman has made a contract with a devil. Together, they fight demonic monsters and search for her lost brother. They are soon joined by a girl vocalist and a rich woman who is a jewel summoner.
This was a little bit mixed. There was supernatural violence, blood, female anatomy emphasis, humor and heartstring-tugging emotional material. As far as variety goes, it had that. However, I would have preferred it to be 24 stand-alone episodes of Rosette and Chrono battling supernatural monsters punctuated by bouncing tits and the lecherous old scientist giving them new toys to play with. It started out fun and light, but got emotional and heavy at the end. Just to be clear, this is not associated with Chrono Cross or Chrono Trigger. I really see no need to write overly much about a 24 episode anime series. I rate it adequate. Anime fans would enjoy it more than I did.
A Japanese anime directed by Naohito Takahashi.
A mercenary with a large sword joins a group called "Band of the Hawk". The leader is ambitious and they have military victories together. Then politics go sour and then they go to hell.
Not worthwhile. I would rather have just watched the Nosferatu Zodd fight and the last 2 episodes. Everything else was battles and politics, except the flashbacks. I didn't care about the characters, the plot did not hold my interest and the ending was inconclusive. Actually, it starts at the end, so everything from episode 2 to 25 is a flashback. I have 2 good things to say about it: There was lots of violence and blood. Some of the background textures looked like abstract paintings. I would not recommend this. I rate it tolerable.
An Australian American thriller directed by Ted Kotcheff, starring Donald Pleasence.
A school teacher plans to spend his Christmas vacation in Sydney, but loses all of his money by gambling on the way. Stuck in a small town, he is taken in by a rough group of locals.
I think this film deserves special mention because I consider it to be one of the "unsimulated nasties". Other films in this category include Severed Ways (2007 unsimulated defecation) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980 genuine animal slayings). This film depicts a real kangaroo hunt. Although the hunters were licensed and legal, the kangaroos really did get shot and killed on camera. I'm used to watching some nasty stuff, but actually killing kangaroos pushes my boundary. The plot generally depicts a vacation gone wrong and this character's descent from upstanding school teacher to low-life vagabond. The audio was a little bit on the rough side, with too much dynamic range causing some lost dialogue. The video was grainy (what do you expect from 1971 cameras), but exposure and composition were good. I thought that the film's depiction of alcoholism was quite accurate. The main character re-encountering the sheriff was well written. In the beginning, John was just passing through town and the sheriff gets him started with drinking and gambling. In the end, he's worn out from these things and the sheriff buys him beer to cure a hangover. I would recommend this for those who can see past the nastier elements to the good film within or who enjoy those crude bits. I rate it awesome. Watch it!
A Chinese kung fu directed by Robert Clouse, starring Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The version that I watched involved the hero in conflict with a crime syndicate, including motorcyclists with striped suits. There are other versions with different plots.
This is the yellow and black tracksuit film and Bruce Lee's last film. Hence, the historical significance of a mediocre kung fuvie. I think I saw the 1972 version a long time ago, which did not include the gangsters. The other main point to note is Bruce Lee's death. In the beginning of the 1978 version, his character is acting in a movie and a light almost falls on him. There was also a scene in which Bruce Lee's actual corpse was shown in his coffin. The only part of the film that I liked was the main character going up floors of a building to face other kung fu masters. This obviously includes the climax fight against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (also his replacement in re-shooting). The image that I have chosen was to illustrate the main fight and is not from the 1978 version that I watched. If you're into Chinese kung fu films at all, you have to see this at some point because of its historical significance. However, it is not that great a movie. I rate it adequate.
A French Belgian German Japanese animated adventure directed by Michael Dudok de Wit.
A man is shipwrecked on a deserted island. Every time he tries to build a raft and sail away, a giant red turtle comes to break his raft. One night, the turtle lands on the beach.
This has been called something like a "silent masterpiece" because there was no dialogue. The only word in the version that I watched was "help" in English, not in any of the languages of the countries which the film came from. I would classify the plot genre as more of a fable than adventure, but I want it to come up in the adventure section on my blog. The animation was unique. The backgrounds and landscapes were artsy and almost like a Hiroshige print, but the characters were more traditional and simplified anime style. The classical music and sound effects fit well and were of appropriate volume levels. Other critics seem to think that this is just absolutely astounding and beautiful. I would just call it good and keep it with the rest of the Miyazaki and Ghibli films. It didn't go far enough above and beyond to be called awesome.
A Brazilian Italian action adventure directed by Michele Massimo Tarantini.
A group of people crash an airplane in a jungle of ill repute in South America. The hero, whom I nicknamed "The Bone Man" must rescue beautiful women from the plane crash, a crazy Vietnam veteran, the dangers of the jungle, an indigenous tribe and an emerald miner.
This was almost so bad that it was good. Generally speaking, there was bad acting, worse special effects, lots of female nudity and no dinosaurs. The Bone Man gets dropped off from a ride on a banana truck with his box of fossils and immediately gets into a bar fight. Once he is in bed, he is visited by the woman whom he was protecting at the bar, sex scene. This woman had some strange looking nipples. They stuck out and were really puckered. Then he walks in on the professor's daughter in the shower. When the plane crashed, I thought "well, at least he packed enough fresh poontang to last the trip". The actual plane crash was accomplished with a model plane into a pond with some small plants. This was supposed to look like crashing into a jungle. The closest thing to a dinosaur were some footprints and the indigenous tribe's shaman, who dressed in a tricerotops mask and "dinosaur-like" gloves. I would recommend watching this with a friend so you can mock it. I rate it poor because it was almost bad enough to be good.
