Almost simultaneously released alongside Richard Linklater’s equally high concept animated film “A Scanner Darkly,” Volckman’s “Renaissance” is a little bit of George Orwell and Phillip K. Dick with the same neo-noir atmosphere of Frank Miller with a Dystopian twist, and it composes itself as an equally high concept animated science fiction installment that focuses on a society that’s not too much in the distant future from ours. The world is ruled by vanity and the search for eternal youth, and this is all spearheaded by an ominous corporation called Avalon that markets on society’s youth obsession and rules over all of society. Ads pop up from thin air, follow pedestrians, and always seem much more omnipresent than they should.
Tag Archives: Foreign
Yo-Yo Girl Cop (Sukeban Deka: Kôdo nêmu = Asamiya Saki) (2006)
I’ll plead ignorance in claiming that I don’t know if “Yo Yo Girl Cop” was either an anime or manga (the latter, actually), because after reading the description of the back of the movie case, this apparently is a revamping of a prior mythos where the former Yo Yo Girl Cop’s daughter is now taking the role of crime fighter. It’s a movie filled with girl cops who fight crime not with guns, clubs, or sticks, but with metal yo yo’s that smack the crap out of assailants; I mean how could I not have risked buying it without viewing it?
Wanda, the Wicked Warden (1977)
Gone is David Edmonds, gone is the original storyline, and in remains the shameless exploitation. Also, there’s Dyanne Thorne. How could you possibly dislike her? You can’t. Ilsa, who yet again hasn’t aged a day, nor does she resemble corpse, is now a brunette warden for a cruel prison. Hey, I don’t ask questions, I just go where the boobies are. This prison is being touted as a clinic, yet it is being operated as a concentration camp treating “disorders” such as lesbianism, nymphomania or prostitution.
Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976)
Ilsa is back. How and why? Who the hell knows, but she is, and she is now working for sheiks in the desert, and taking great pleasure in doing so. And she also hasn’t aged a bit since World War II. The delicious Dyanne Thorne also returns to the role she perfect in the former “She-Wolf of the SS,” and the dubious reclaiming of the character is entertaining. Ilsa now works for Arab sheiks overseeing their affairs in weapons and also, there’s the torture. What would an Ilsa movie be without the torture? One of the most ridiculous aspects of this sequel is that Ilsa is here, hasn’t aged a bit, and is untouched. This isn’t a different actress in a questionable sequel, and Ilsa is here in all her glory. Why is this so irritating?
Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS (1975)
Based on the actual Nazi Ilse Koch, “Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS,” takes the actual person Ilse Koch who tortured prisoners and collected skin from the prisoners who had tattoos, and turns it into a rather shameless exploitation film. Let’s be honest, this is mostly just pornography with a plot, and yet I was lost in its story. The actual Ilse Koch was a lowlife dog, a monster fit to be hanged and pelted with rocks. She was an inhuman jellyfish who took great pleasure in tormenting the poor prisoners, while this film is really just porn. And, I’m not begrudging it for that. This is a capsule of its time. Period.
The Sweeney: The Complete First Series (DVD)
“The Sweeney” is one of those series that hasn’t lost any of its flavor or edge, even though it’s racked up the years and suffered the slight scorn of obscurity. Though many will insist series like “NYPD Blue” and “The Streets of San Francisco” were the more hard edge police series, “The Sweeney” is also a valuable contender for this list. Soon to be remade with the great Ray Winstone, “The Sweeney” is one of the rare police series to feature older men in the role of our two heroic cops that find themselves wrapped in intrigue and street toughs in the investigation of a vicious criminal.
Three…Extremes (Saam gaang yi) (2004)
I can’t tell you how long it’s been since we’ve had a great anthology horror film. It’s been a while, because I really can’t remember the last great anthology film we were given in theaters or home video, but “Three… Extremes” is a surefire breath of fresh air for the horror genre, and one that thankfully did not go unappreciated. I’ve waited a long time to finally see this film, and apparently the wait was utterly worth it, in the end. Take three excellent Asian directors, and let them go hog wild on-screen with rarely a step back into discretion. Fuck “Masters of Horror,” these three directors take you to school. In these three incredibly directed tales, we’re taken through the ringer of the three extremes of humanity.