Even though “Azumi” was clearly adapted from a quite visual fantasy comic book, that doesn’t mean it lacks any of the emotion or complexities it attempts to inject within its epic scale. “Azumi” is quite possibly one of the most visually amazing samurai epics I’ve ever seen. From sweeping landscapes, to rather fantastic battle sequences, Kitamura’s film is a pure gem to watch, and the long run time makes it all the more rewarding experience, because it will be difficult to turn away from and watch end. Filled with colorful characters, memorable villains (Saru is my favorite: played well by Minoru Matsumoto), and a wonderful heroine, “Azumi” is the tale of a young girl discovered by the side of her mother’s body. Taken in by a sympathetic wanderer and his three sons, she grows to be a powerful samurai warrior in a dojo led by her master.
Tag Archives: Drama
A Portrait of Envy (2007)
Love, especially unrequited and unspoken love makes us do some rather perverse things. Sometimes it will bring about a dark side within us and force us to confront it without our knowledge, and leave us oblivious to all logic and reason. Thus is the hook of Garcia’s utterly morbid and unsettling short drama. Very much in the vein of “The Weight of Water,” Gillian is a humble and rather meek woman who suddenly finds her soul mate one day at work. Rather unassuming at first, she sparks a conversation with her co-worker Jerry, and the two engage in a conversation about art that instantly brings her to the brink of sheer euphoric bliss which is crushed under the weight of Jerry’s confession that he has a girlfriend he’s about to marry.
A Christmas Carol (1951): Ultimate Collector’s Edition (DVD)
It’s surprising that after all these years, after fifty five years of technology and CGI, and stylish directors bringing up this old story, that the 1951 version of “A Christmas Carol” is still the best. Why? Well, there are so many reasons. For one thing “A Christmas Carol” is filled with dread and utter morbid reveling, as it is intent on exploring the world of Ebenezer Scrooge and the punishment he’s earned for himself. Secondly, the hauntings by his old business partner are still rather chilling, including his utterly horrible howling at Scrooge’s defiance. Brian Desmond Hurst unravels a creepy and woefully dreadful vision of “A Christmas Carol” as he films most of Scrooge’s house in stark blacks while relying on factory devices of sound and mind games.
A Work in Progress: A Short Film By Wes Ball (2002)
Writers always put themselves into their work, be they articles, reviews, and especially fiction. The stories we tell are a part of us, they’re our personality, our inner most desires, and our greatest wishes. What “A Work in Progress” does is feature a storyteller in search of her own friend. She’s a girl who sits watching many other children play while she’s forced to basically write and create her own characters. And wouldn’t you know it, she begins to tell the sad story of a brown bear in search of a friend.
Æon Flux (2005)
I was never a fan of the techno-punk, cult series “Aeon Flux” from MTV, and for good reason. While, I’m always up for an animated series about a hot woman kicking ass, “Aeon Flux” was dull, lifeless, and ached to be as entertaining as fare like “Ghost in the Shell” from day one. Thus was MTV’s prime goal back in the days: make every series hipper than the last. And with this they failed. So it was only a matter of time for a movie to be made and eventually flop. You can blame America’s hesitation to enjoy a female superhero, you can say that they mishandled the character of Aeon Flux, but whatever excuse you create, at the end of the day “Aeon Flux” is a pretty bad film, clear and simple, and worse yet, it hearkens back to the absolutely excruciating “Ultraviolet” on many occasions.
Right At Your Door (2006)
We live in alarmist times. We live in times where we’re constantly in fear of terrorism, terrorist activities and are influenced to be xenophobic to a certain extent. We are a people de-sensitized with violence, a people who always fear death at our door, and ultimately have an unspoken paralyzing fear of the apocalypse entering into our windows, and it’s reflected in our culture and pop culture. Be it through zombies, a plague or what have you, we’re in times where our fear of Armageddon is difficult to ignore, and that’s due to increasingly violent circumstances involving the realistic likelihood of some sort of bomb or toxin entering into our neighborhood and destroying everything we love.
Apocalypto (2006)
You have to give it up for Mel Gibson. It’s not many Hollywood heavyweights who would set an action thriller in an Ancient Mayan civilization, and actually have his characters speak ancient Mayan. Only in Hollywood would we have polished young actors speak English in such a setting, but what Gibson has done is throw down all xenophobic and sensationalistic urges, and given us a film that actually sticks true to the concept he puts forth. And it also helps that “Apocalypto” is a genuinely exciting and enthralling action adventure, too. Mel Gibson has really become a director of his own class, a man who tells the stories he wants to tell, in spite of the backlash he receives. All in all “Apocalypto” is probably Gibson’s best film to date, because it’s almost free of any of Hollywood’s tainting.