The Old School Otaku Lounge

davemerrill wrote: All three of these are pretty light on plot; COSMOS PINK SHOCK at least looks great, has this swell Hirano vibe to everything.

I was able to enjoy this show based on those merits alone.

usamimi wrote:(Minority Report is a movie I keep wanting to like, but ultimately don't because I don't like Tom Cruise. I do like the premise, though.)

High five on that one! I feel exactly the same way. I can only think of him as that crazy scientologist guy.

Haha, thanks! I've basically come to the conclusion that almost every Tom Cruise role could easily be played by almost any other younger actor (and they'd probably do a better job). The only real exceptions being "Interview with a Vampire" and "Collateral". (And possibly his cameo in "Tropic Thunder".) I seem to only be able to tolerate him when he plays a bad guy, I guess.

My problem with Minority Report has less to do with Tom Cruise and more with Spielberg's tendencies for Hollywood sentimentality. The last few scenes totally go against the colder, harder nature of the first 3/4 of the film, which I loved. Same goes for A.I. too, which was originally going to be handled by Stanley Kubrick. I respect Spielberg enormously as a craftsman but I can't help but think his stature and pull in the industry has helped propped him up as a greater director than he should be considered.

oh yeah, I totally agree on both parts. I wanted to like A.I., too, but the ending was really sort of lack-luster in comparison to the rest of the story--just like Minority Report. I love premises like these, but it really sucks when they try to tack on a "happy" ending just for the sake of making it end well for the audience.

I'll say this, though: Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, and A.I. for me constitute the most interesting period of Spielberg's career. As flawed as they are, I think they're the most distilled examples of his craft as they all display his greatest strengths, his impressive versatility, and of course his weaknesses. You could say Jaws and E.T. and the Indiana Jones films are movies better suited to his tendencies, and Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan are his award winning "masterpieces", but I really find that trio of films he did from 2001-2002 to be the most fascinating discussion fodder when talking about Spielberg's career.

I have to just ignore the celebrities when I watch movies. They always lecture us on politics and tell us who to vote for. They lecture us on the environment and global warming, yet they fly around in their own personal jets and waste more than any of us. Several of them belong to ridiculous cults like Scientology, and it was absurd how many of them rushed to the defense of Roman Polanski, the statutory rapist. I have Minority Report on DVD, but I don't really remember much about it, other than a bunch of albinos floating in a swimming pool, predicting crimes. Philip K. Dick stories generally turn out to be good movies (Blade Runner, Total Recall, Paycheck, A Scanner Darkly). I should watch Minority Report again sometime. Lately though, when it comes to live action, I've only been in the mood to watch MST3K/Rifftrax movies and Buck Rogers episodes.

I'm intrigued by Psycho Pass. I will look into that title!

danth wrote:

davemerrill wrote: All three of these are pretty light on plot; COSMOS PINK SHOCK at least looks great, has this swell Hirano vibe to everything.

I was able to enjoy this show based on those merits alone.

usamimi wrote:(Minority Report is a movie I keep wanting to like, but ultimately don't because I don't like Tom Cruise. I do like the premise, though.)

High five on that one! I feel exactly the same way. I can only think of him as that crazy scientologist guy.

I found myself enjoying COSMOS PINK SHOCK a lot more now than I did when I was 17, mostly because I have more understanding of the context and the pop-culture references (the baseball teams, for instance). Also, having subtitles helps a lot.

Cruise is a fine actor when he puts his mind to it; I didn't think MINORITY REPORT quite captured the paranoid feel of the Phil Dick novelette, but then again most movies based on his works don't. I don't know if Cruise was right for the lead; he's way too competent and confident, basically turning the movie into yet another Mission Impossible action movie. Then again, I've certainly seen worse films from both Cruise and Spielberg.

[quote="davemerrill]I didn't think MINORITY REPORT quite captured the paranoid feel of the Phil Dick novelette, but then again most movies based on his works don't.[/quote]
The Scanner Darkly movie certainly is an exception to that! I haven't read the book it's based on (or is it a short story?), but upon second viewing, that movie made me laugh with its insane paranoia. "I thought you said that is a 12 speed bicycle! I'm only counting 10 gears!" "Somebody must have stolen the other two gears! Who could have done this?"

On topic, I'm still plowing through Yawara with my wife, when my bossy 4 year old will allow us to watch it during dinner instead of her stupid Nick Jr. spider show DVDs. I made it only through one Lodoss episode over the weekend. I really want to watch Cyber City Oedo soon. I hear that they get the cyberpunk aesthetic right, but as usual, the music doesn't really fit that mood.

davemerrill wrote:I don't know if Cruise was right for the lead; he's way too competent and confident, basically turning the movie into yet another Mission Impossible action movie. Then again, I've certainly seen worse films from both Cruise and Spielberg.

Totally agreed on all counts there.

I'm seriously breezing through the current eps of Psycho-Pass right now...I'll say "Oh, I'll just watch a couple of eps." and before I know it, I've spent all afternoon watching 5 or 6 episodes. XD I'm up to ep 12 already! The best thing is that Hulu is streaming the series as Funimation subtitles it for free: http://www.hulu.com/psycho-pass It's kinda weird to be watching something in Japanese and seeing English commercials during the commercial breaks, lol.

greg wrote: On topic, I'm still plowing through Yawara with my wife, when my bossy 4 year old will allow us to watch it during dinner instead of her stupid Nick Jr. spider show DVDs. I made it only through one Lodoss episode over the weekend. I really want to watch Cyber City Oedo soon. I hear that they get the cyberpunk aesthetic right, but as usual, the music doesn't really fit that mood.

Yeah, Cyber City Oedo has a very late 80s sort of soundtrack (even though it's a 90s anime, I believe). Incidentally, I started watching the dub version this week just for kicks. Damn, it really is one of the most hilarious dubs I've ever heard.