Red Meat Reviews » Animation/Anime

Before Watching Inception Check Out Paprika

Shogun00 — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:47:50 +0000

Yeah the title for this one is more direct than creative, but I really want you to read this post.

I haven’t read 1 bad review about Inception, not 1. I still haven’t seen Inception, it came out today, but trust me its on my to do list. So what’s up with this movie Paprika and why should you watch it before the 2 1/2 hour extravaganza known as Inception?

Paprika is a Japanese anime that pushes way past what a “traditional anime” is about. It utilizes anime in a very original way, much like Perfect Blue. It stays well clear of Anime clichés and presents a very creative and engaging film. But why should you watch this before Inception?

Paprika is about, well agent Paprika. Paprika is unique character and the main protagonist of the film. She is an agent of dreams. In this Anime’s world a device known as the DC mini was created by a 2 scientist’s for to infiltrate dreams, sorta like J Low in the Cell. Paprika is an agent of dreams created by the mind of Atsuko Chiba. Wait, what? Paprika is an altered persona of Atsuko Chiba, a therapist that has been illegally using the DC mini for treating patients in dreams. Paprika lives in the world of dreams, she is like Tyler Durden but unlike Mr. Durden, Astuko Chiba created her on purpose and is fully aware of her actions.

This film centers around people committing strange suicides, which are later ruled as murders caused by the misuse of the “DC mini”, and the cast of characters trying to find the murderer who is miss using this device. But again, why watch this movie before inception?

Simply because this movie will blow your mind. This film would have done very well in the USA if it wasn’t an anime. Chris Nolan must have watched this anime and known that. Americans need to come to terms with the notion that animation is the ultimate film medium. We have no problem with CGI flicks; movies like Toy Story 3 and Up kill it at the box office, why not Paprika? Anime creates a medium where a director can literally translate what is in his mind onto film, and Paprika is a film that personifies this fact. Smart, engaging, creative, and is out of the box on an animation level makes this a stand out film and not to be missed by movie lovers and their not so nerd like friends.

I guarantee watching this film before Inception will give you a much better movie experience, you can thank me later.

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Metropia

Redbone — Sat, 29 May 2010 01:20:02 +0000

Instead of watching this movie, I want you to do something… Turn on some porn and play with yourself until you are almost about to climax and then stop abruptly. Now, repeat this every twenty minutes for six days. After the sixth day, wind up and punch yourself in the nuts.

There is so much about this movie that could be good and constantly keeps falling short. The animation is cool, but fidgety and emotionless. It reminds me of the marionettes in Team America, only this wasn’t done on purpose. The story was pulled out of a hat that contained pages from Dark City, the Matrix, Johnny Mnemonic and Brazil. Also, the voice of the main character was done by the ever so annoying and lame Vincent Gallo. Vincent Gallo is the only person to make the anticipation of blow job seem pointless and unjustifiable. Well, I know one other person, but I can’t remember her name.

Needless to say, this movie is stupid. It has so much potential but instead it simply made me feel like I’ve just watched a collection of cut scenes from a shitty RPG video game.

It gets one steak, simply because the animation is pretty cool.

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Netflix Picks- The Mack, Appleseed, The Saint, Albert Fish

Shogun00 — Sun, 16 May 2010 04:07:26 +0000

A new section on the meat that will hopefully turn into a regular occurrence. Netflix instant stream is awesome, but its only a sliver of what they have. Despite this lack of access to their robust library, choosing a movie is still a daunting task, I have literally spent hours trying to decide what to watch. It is our bloody policy at the RMR to get right to the meat as quickly as possible and be out. So I am putting it upon myself to Sherpa you through the mountain of bullshit which is the netflix instant stream to find films that you actually want to watch.

The Mack

Pimping aint easy, especially after getting out of the pen for not being a rat, you dig. Unfortunately thats what Goldie has to do, and lucky for us we get to watch this piece of Americana unfold on the silver screen. Did I mention that a Young Richard Prior is in this film, hell yeah

This 1973 classic only gets better with every viewing. Killer vernacular, supreme style, sexy 70′s ladies(before plastic surgry), whitie, funked out soundtrack and the highest B quality prodcution next to the Shaw Brothers movie makes this an easy choice whether its your 1st viewing or you 100th. Defenatly stream this on your flat screen, no jive.

Appleseed

Stricktly for the anime heads Appleseed is another flick about how humans and AI will get co-exist. The movie is alright, the artwork looks cool, but then again it is kind of dated. The concept and idea of this film is so much better then the actual movie, if that makes any sense. The soundtrack has people like Paul Oakenfold and Bastment Jaxx which enhances movie with dope beats while mechs engaging in combat for the future of humanity. See this utopia type movie if you are in a SciFi state of mind.

The Saint

No one can touch Val Kilmer in his prime, yeah i said it. This spy movie is the SHIT!. Do you like Elizabeth Shue? Who doesn’t, unfortunately she doesnt take of her shirt in this one.

Val Kilmer plays a contract spy that has a thousand faces and more tricks then motherfuckin MAcGyver. He also plays a delicate game with some heavy hitting politically fucked up Russians who are after Elizabeth Shue’s formula for Cold Fusion. Whats cold fusion? Ask Stephen Hawkins.

Albert Fish

This documentary is about one of the most fucked up people in American History. This dude grabbed the American public’s attention and will grab yours. Warning this flick is about a person who is PURE EVIL. Albert Fish was a masochist, racist, pedophile, rapist, cannibal and white. If you can handle the subject matter than stream this dark piece of our history

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Planet Hulk Movie Review

Shogun00 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:52:52 +0000

This movie is a green toxic steaming pile of animated gamma filled shit.

The movie kicks off with the Hulk waking up in a spaceship with a hologram of ironman explaining to the Hulk that he is to dangerous for earth so him and a couple of other “heroes” have sent him to a planet with no intelligent life, the Hulk goes nuts, starts to smash some shit and is knocked off course, crash lands and is captured (I know I should have stopped watching right then) and immediately is put into a coliseum to fight gladiator style only to rise up and overthrow the ruling power.

Right off the bat I did not read any of the Planet Hulk comics so I really don’t have a frame of reference about this particular story arch of the Hulk. The last couple of marvel animations have been hands down freaking awesome. In fact Hulk VS Wolverine was one of the best anime’s I have seen (the entire weapon X cast was in it) in a while and Hulk Vs Thor was EPIC.

This movie was not. The Hulk’s voice acting was subtle, which is just dumb. HE IS THE FUCKING HULK, SMASH SOME SHIT!!!! He should have been killing almost everything in this film, instead the Hulk gets bitched in almost every fight he gets into until the end. It should have been the other way around, the Hulk is an unstoppable force putting people in corners and pummeling his opponents into a fleshy piles of their body parts.

There was a dope ass fight with Beta Ray Bill and the Hulk, and as the Hulk was finally going green eyed with rage until an alien stopped him by grabbing the Hulks arms as he was smashing in Beta Ray Bills face, WTF? If that really happened the Hulk would have tossed that alien across the coliseum.

Needless to say this movie missed its mark.

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Parasite Dolls Anime Review

Shogun00 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:38:05 +0000

I rarely fall asleep during movies, especially anime. This is what happened when I rented Parasite Dolls on the PSN.

The reason I rented this flick in the first place is because the people behind Perfect Blue created Parasite Dolls. Perfect Blue is great, innovative, and thought provoking, Parasite Dolls is the hyper opposite. The characters are pretty generic as well as the plot. The anime takes place in the future where Androids and humans co exists, the robots are called “BOOMERS”. Sometimes boomers go bad, that’s where this movie picks up, we are transported to a secret branch of the government to deal with these rouge and extremely dangerous robots.

The movie attempts and ultimately fails in its portrayal of human and robot concept, you know the whole robots are created to be used as tools for humans, what is human and all that jazz. These are not old concepts and themes for anime and Parasite Doll did not deliver. This movie attempts to be sexually aggressive, and there are some disturbing images of some robot related murders, but nothing too shocking if you are hyper desensitized like myself. Ultimately this anime was a total snooze fest.

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Tweeked Out Late Night Anime Dead Leaves Review

Shogun00 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:14:49 +0000

Hello randomness. Anime lovers this is an exclusive review for you. All appose to the anime please leave, are they gone? Good lets talk dirty….

Holy shitballs this anime is all over the place. This 50 something minute feature came out in 2005, but its a gem. It was late night, nothing was on TV so I logged onto the PSN network and rented this just cause. What I got caused my eyes to spaz and my brain was soon locked into a straight jacket of violence, mayhem, randomness, gore, sex, and genetic clusters of mutated bio weapons?

The anime is not traditional at all, in fact it breaks many rules. If I had to compare it the first thing that would pop into my head would be FLCL, but that thought was promptly kicked out of my ear hole by a pissed off penguin that escaped from a genetic mutated lab on the moon which has now blown up and is scattered along the earth’s atmosphere. My ear hurts.

SO the anime just starts, 2 characters, both naked on the moon, or what is left of the moon and they have no memory of how they got there(this is the only cliché anime theme in this film). They hitch a ride to earth and immediately get into some serious mayhem, get arrested and then locked up on what is left of the moon. That is where they sorta learn the truth. Turns out they are clones that have been genetically altered to be used as weapons, and the prison houses a bunch of , well defective bio cloned weapons, one of which is a dude who has a drill as a penis, for reals. On top of all that they were frozen for seven years and just released.

Doesn’t make sense? Good go watch this and this review will, or will it?

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The Haunted World of El Superbeasto Movie Review

Shogun00 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:48:54 +0000

This past Saturday night there was a one night showing of Rob Zombies rated R cartoon, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. This movie has everything I like, nudity, gore, clown business, language, cartoon, awesome songs, zombie Nazi’s, violence, and the voice of a G’d out Rosario Dawson. I am so glad I got to see this piece of film on the big screen. So the review is to go see this movie, NOW!!!!! Now some details for all you meat eaters.

First off this movie is not for everyone, it caters to a specific group of movie/comic/horror/psycho nerds lovers. This cartoon is based on Rob Zombie’s comic book, which I never read, but I think I got the idea very early on. This film’s animation style is a piece of 2-D beauty, the most comparable style would be Ren & Stimpy, only uncensored and totally uninhibited. The flick loosely follows the exploits of el Superbeasto, a former luchador turned pseudo celebrity that makes porn. His libido is out of control and causes him to get into to some seriously horrific trouble. The voice actor, Tom Papa, does a spectacular job of bringing this character to life.

The best charter for me hands down was Sheri Moon Zombies’ character, Suzi X. She runs secret missions with her brother, el Superbeasto, in this flick her current mission is to hunt down and kill Hitler’s head in a jar while getting chased by Nazi Zombies, fuckin awesome.

There are a lot of other memorable characters/voice actors. Rosario Dawson’s takes her NYC stripper style and breathes life into Velvet Von Black. Paul Giamatti character, Dr. Satan needs Von Black because she bares the mark of the beast (666) on her right ass cheek, once wed Dr. Satan he will be filled with all the powers of hell and can truly live up to his name. the only problem is el Superbeasto wants to tap that ass. There are a bunch of cameos in this movie, mostly from House of a 1000 Corpses, Danny Trejo, Cassandra Peterson (Elvira, mistress of the night) Jason Vorhees and in the opening sequence el Superbeasto hits a knife wielding Michael Myers with his car as he is trying to cross the street! In fact el Superbeasto has to turn on the wipers cause Mikey get stuck to the windshield, classic.

There is a lot of cartoon T & A, A LOT. So much so that the violence, blood and gore that splatters all over the screen takes a back seat. I think it’s great that a raunchy cartoon has made it onto the big screen, the Japanese have been doing it for years, in fact Rob Zombie expresses that idea in this film through the medium of song, which brings me to my next point, the MUSIC.

The Music in this movie ROCKS. It is on par with the South Park movie and in the words of Martha, “that’s a good thing” I don’t want to give too much away so I am gonna leave it at that, which should be enough, seriously.

This movie made me laugh from start to finish. Like I said it’s not for everyone, but it was great to see 2-D animation get its shine, even if was for 1 night. The people I saw it with complained that the movie was a tad on the long side, which I could agree with, but then again I could have watched another 3 hours, but that’s cause I love cartoons. The other thing I disliked was the lack of people that showed up to this movie; I think that there was a total of 15 people, which is why animation in this country is going way south.

Final thoughts, between the a smart gorilla, a transforming robots, and buckets of blood and cartoon tits you made this geeks’ Saturday night, THANKS ROB ZOMBIE, you the man.

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How come 6 is Afraid of 7? Cause 7 8 9 Movie Review

Shogun00 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:37:45 +0000

Tim Burton must have seen the same short I did a year back, because 9 broke out on the big screen this weekend. Here is the review.

Like I stated earlier, 9 was a short with no voice acting last as of last year. Tim Burton flooded in the necessary money and boom you got a feature length film. The movie was only 79 minutes long, but it was packed with dark science/alchemy and a word devoid of humans during post robot holocaust, get all that? Good cause I hate doing plot synopsis.

The CGI is incredible. The animators spared no detail, at no point did I think the rag dolls did not belong in this world presented before me. Unlike most CGI films this one was dark, dirty and dusty. Most CGI movies are super clear and clean, with bright colors and ultra shining metallic’s, 9 CGI has stepped up using dark colors and all the metallic colors have rusted over to correspond with this future world.

The voice actor cast was stellar, Elijah Wood played 9, Jennifer Connely was 7(she was a super bad ass yielding a exacto knife like a spear). Others voice actors included Martin Landau and John C. Reilly(Walk Hard was one of the worst movies ever! Except for the Ghostface cameo)

This was a good family movie in retrospect. I loved the CGI but the story could have been stronger. I think I got the moral of the story, “the world is devoid of humans, but the human spirit is timeless”, or something like that. In the end 9 is a good flick to watch if you have rug-rats, just make sure you hit the “L” twice!!!!

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Ponyo – A Treat for Your Inner Child

Redbone — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:54:45 +0000

They say that all of us has an inner child within us that tries to remind us how to enjoy and embrace life. For many of us, this is a neglected child that very seldom gets to see the light of day. Ponyo, the latest animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, writer and director of other epic animated films such as Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, is the kind of film that awakens this inner child and makes you feel happy to just be alive.

Right from the beginning, the movie begins to capture your imagination with the underwater world of Ponyo, a small fish/mermaid, and the lair of Fujimoto, her human father and keeper. For any of you familiar with Miyazaki’s other films, let me tell you that this one is a bit different and more juvenile, but not in any sense is this a bad thing. Some of his films, such as Spirited Away and How’s Moving Castle, take us into more bizarre worlds with an almost psychedelic undertone, but Ponyo seems to take the bizarre to us. Ponyo, the small fish creature finds her way to the top where she encounters Sosuke, a five-year-old boy who lives with his mother, Risa on the top of a cliff on an island city, while his father Koichi, a ship-captain, is out at sea. The story follows Ponyo’s attempt to become a five-year-old human girl and stay with Sosuke, the little boy that she loves, and his mother. But of course, she first has to free herself from the protection of Fujimoto and a spell that forbids her from being part of the human world.

Like any other of Miyasaki’s films, there is a high level of magic and mysticism involved with the plot; but this movie is much less cynical than his others, making it ideal to take young children to, if you truly need an excuse to go to the movie theater to watch a wonderful animated film.

Animation seems to be a lost art in the United States, having succumbed to the giant beast called CGI. It is an art form that needs to be credited as such and I’m glad that the Japanese continue to produce wonderful masterpieces like this film. Ponyo is one of those films that keeps you watching and curious to find out what comes next no matter what. Why? Because it simply makes your inner child happy.

The full trailer for the US release of the Japanese animation film, now voiced by Matt Damon, Tina Fey, and Cate Blanchett.

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Red Meat Going Green?

Shogun00 — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:20:53 +0000

Hell to the no. Here comes a review of all things green in the world of animated comic book movies both DC and Marvel, I know, real specific topic. Here is some brief history before we get into it.

Both Marvel and DC have a rich history of animation, most popular seems to be the TV series for both houses. They also came out with feature length animated films that go straight to DVD, which is a shame, especially for Marvel because of the recent quality of a particular flagship character portrayed in 2 feature length films (soon to be 3), the HULK.

Right after the Wolverine Origins movie Marvel decided to take their green powerhouse directly to DVD with 2 movies, Hulk vs. Wolverine and Hulk vs. Thor. Let me tell you if you haven’t picked this up and are a comic fan do so RIGHT NOW. The Hulk vs. Wolverine story follows his Logan’s 1st appearance in the original Incredible Hulk comic book. This one goes into Wolverine’s past like no other media has done before, with a cohesive retelling of WEAPON X while keeping pace with the battle of Wolverine and the Hulk, and did I mention the Weapon X Team is assembled!!!! Yup Sabertooth, Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red and Deadpool are in this flick. All the characters are true to form to their comic book persona’s, no touch up for the kids, this is def a fan boyz justice.

The Thor vs. Hulk is good, but I was never really into Thor. I am not gonna get into either’s flicks plots, because they are that good, just watch em.

And was Marvel done with the Bruce Banner, nope. They brought the gamma ridden human back for another animated flick, PLANET HULK. This was a story arch developed by Marvel, Iron Man and the S.H.I.E.L.D. have exiled the Hulk because he is too dangerous for earth and no one can stop him, so they sent him into outer space and his destination was a planet devoid of life, but like most things in the marvel universe a mishap via wormhole crash lands into a planet full much like ancient Rome, and the Hulk is now a gladiator and fights in a coliseum. Don’t believe me? Well at the most recent comic con Marvel decided to bring this out of the comic books and onto film format. Here is the trailer-

Don’t forget Marvel Vs Capcom 2 is going to X-box Live today and the PS3 on August 13th, and the Hulk is a playable character

Don’t worry I got news on the DC front. Today The Green Lantern: First Flight animated movie came out. I haven’t watched it yet, but I am glad DC has decided to portray Hal Jordan’s origin on animated film rather than Hollywood. Yes there is a Green Lantern movie, and hopefully DC doesn’t go the way of Marvel and continues to make GREAT comic book movies. I do love the Marvel universe 1000 more than DC, but DC has proven to be the better story teller when it comes to film, animated or otherwise. Besides Batman, the Green Lantern is one of DC those must follow characters. Hal Jordan being the best (he is the most gangster)and hopefully I will be updating this review in good spirits. We shall see, here’s the trailer for all ya’ll

Whiteface takes over….

Weeeellll, funny you should mention this here Green Lantern movie Shogun, I just watched it last night, being the huge Lantern fan that I am. I have to say it was pretty damn good. It is all about Hal Jordan and his introduction to the Corps. It starts off real quick like with the ring being transferred to him from the alien defender Abin Sur, who has recently crash landed in an area similar to my back yard. He asks the ring to locate “him” and sure enough, Hal is ripped out of his test flight facility and brought to the death bed of Abin Sur. In seconds, Hal is transformed to the Green Lantern and seems to be extremely comfortable with the whole thing. Next thing Hal knows, he is confronted by Sinestro, Boodikka, and Kilowog (voiced by none other than Michael Madsen) and they bring him to meet the Guardians for an “interview.” They are not too keen on the human race and I have to tell you I was a little offended but Hal soon proves why the ring has chosen him and Sinestro decides to take him under his wing till he can get the hang of things. Sinestro has some plans of his own though, hungry for the revenge of the death of friend and colleague Abin Sur. He also feels like the Guardians aren’t using the Corps to it’s fullest potential. Here’s where the shit hits the green lit fan and all yellow breaks loose. If you don’t know much about the Lanterns, the only weakness they have is the color yellow as its the only color that can resist the color green. Well written and animated I give this the green thumb up and any fan of comics should get this shit now. Enjoy.

Whiteout.

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