Animated Assault

The ultra faithful animated adaptation of Frank Miller’s ground breaking Batman graphic novel concludes with the The Dark Knight Part 2. The story picks up with the release of the Joker, who, fuelled with the reawakening of his caped nemesis begins to wreak havoc across Gotham and the inevitable final, bitter showdown ultimately instigates a battle between Batman and the establishment lackey Superman. The animation is excellent and sports some quality voice acting from Peter Weller and co and continues DC’s success in adapting it’s more mature works for the screen with plot and dark cynicism intact.

 

Berserk: The Battle of Doldrey is the second part of the retelling of the grisly medieval fantasy anime and, like DKR above, it’s a high quality product. The Band of the Hawks ingenuity and brutality on the battlefield finally bring them to the King’s attention but when they boldly tackle an impregnable fortress their success has unforeseen consequences for everyone involved. The animation is some of the finest around and the filmmakers commitment to blood and gore is admirable but like the first film the plot is seriously truncated and without the time for nuance it feels more cartoony than it should.

Superfluous Reduxes

It's been a while since I've dipped into anime, mainly due to it's preoccupation with giant robots and panty shots, but the recent OVA reworking Berserk: Golden Age is showing in a local cinema so I'd thought I'd give it a go. Set in a medieval-ish era, Berserk follows the career of a single minded mercenary called Guts and his bloody travails in search of vengeance. The animation is a distinct improvement on it's 80's predecessor and surprisingly it’s retained it’s commitment to violence and viscera however the story, squashed as it is, lacks much of the finesse of the original leaving me to wonder what viewers unfamiliar with the story will make of it.

Alucard is under the kosh at the start of Hellsing Ultimate Ep. 9, the latest in the reworking of the vampiric anime/manga but it's not long before he dusts himself off and scrapes the streets of London with his enemies entrails. This OVA retelling doesn't quite seem to tickle me like the original series did maybe it's the feverish animation, the thinned out, hyperbolic characters or the Nazi-Vamp Zeppelin invasion storyline I dunno, it does have some merits however with a rich smorgasbord of gore and a bucketful of attitude.

Mini Anime Medley

Couch based Sunday

After managing only five mins of Humanity's End, we jumped for Pickup on South Street, an excellent 50's noir about a pick pocket who lifts some microfilm from a courier for the dirty Commies. Tight and well acted, this is a great little film and it looks great for it's age.

And finally a new scifi film that lives up to the hype. I loved District 9, it's got a nice little twist on the first contact meme and with a decent script and some excellent effects it's a cut above a whole heap of movies I've seen lately and definitely one to catch. The documentary style works well and the acting is pretty good. Hope they make pots of cash and a sequel.


Hellsing OVA 6 - had totally forgotten about this and I wasn't disappointed, well a little upset that Alucard still hasn't arrived on the scene yet, I'm rather keen to see the vampiric Nazi's get the ass-kicking of the century. None the less it was a pretty decent episode with Seras defending Hellsing HQ with a couple of tank guns against Zeppelin attack. Hope 7 comes along soon.



Nothing was great, directed by Natali guy who did The Cube, it's an odd little story about a couple of deadbeats who end up isolating themselves into nothingness, literally. The film is a bit patchy but the central idea and the characters response to their dilemma more than make up it's shortcomings. Surprisingly upbeat. Can't wait to see Splice and IMDB has him directing High Rise based on a Ballard novel.

Just Watched

Been a slow week in terms of viewing. I was asked by a perturbed customer to watch "The Obama Deception" Alex Jones' latest tirade against mainstream US politics. I assured my customer that it was his usual parade of half-truths, poor arguments and conspiracy babble. God knows at one point in my life I'd have probably given him more credence but at 33 I'm too old to be chasing phantoms.

I also saw the pilot episode of the Battlestar G. spinoff - Caprica - it was ok, a little too much like the OC but as long as it keeps feeding us background to the events of the main arc I think I'll keep watching. It's set up as a prequel and seems to be focussed on two families the Adamas and the Graystones. Lots of smoking and not enough half built Cylons but we'll see how it develops.

I've started watching a couple of new animes this week - the remake of Full Metal Alchemist which at least seems as good as the original and is apparently much closer to the manga. And the anime adaptation of Valkyria Chronicles. I started the PS3 game of Chronicles before Xmas and it was pretty sweet but got sidetracked into Fallout 3 but the anime is pulling me back into this beautiful, tactical based reimagining of WW2. Well worth your pennies.