Anime Juke Box - Database - Log Horizon

Most of the time when I share something in the anime jukebox you get a bit of score or a J-pop song from a female singer. But I've been watching the series Log Horizon lately and this song is actually pretty darn fun. Kinda reminds me of the Beastie Boys singing in Japanese with plenty of English thrown in for good measure.

The series is about a group of video gamers who get pulled inside their massive multiplayer online game Tron style. The series covers how they cope with this bizarre event and how they learn about the world they are in and the rules it follows (or doesn't follow). A review will be coming soon. But in the meantime enjoy Database by Man with a Mission featuring Takuma. And yes they are actually saying Database a bunch of time as well as Wow. Yeah I think they know all about World of Warcraft.

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Movie Music Musings: Soul Surfer

I tend to write about favorite film composers who are part of the older generation. These are guys who worked films in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Some are still working like John Williams and Ennio Morricone. Others have left us a legacy to enjoy like James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith. But since I do watch current films, I do actually enjoy music from some of the current crop of composers.

One gent that I'm finding more and more to like is one of Jerry Goldsmith's students: Marco Beltrami. I posted a blog about his outstanding work on 3:10 to Yuma. But one of my favorite scores by him is Soul Surfer. Now to be honest, I've never seen the movie. And normally scores to inspirational dramas are not usually something I pick up. But Soul Surfer has such a unique sound and has a couple of great uplifting themes that it is really hard not to fall in love with it.

The film is based on the life of surfer Bethany Hamilton and her experience of surviving a shark attack and rising above it to continue her life in competitive surfing. Beltrami takes the setting in Hawaii and uses it at the basis for his score. He fuses Hawaiian style music and chanting with an orchestra and the result is unique and completely engaging.

Here is one of my favorite tracks, I just love the way he builds into a wonderful crescendo in this one, called Half Pint Boards.

See, nice and soothing with a great uplifting lilt to it. But Beltrami takes that same style and turns it dark with some pounding percussion and sinister sounding chants for this next track, the fearsome Shark Attack.

Man, that almost sounds like a horror movie in parts, and I love it. Beltrami really captures the tension and fear of that sequence in the music. And male chanting is so intimidating, and over the propulsive percussion that just keeps the tension raising. It is one of the best tracks on the album, but not necessarily something you want to listen to all the time (unless you're a film music geek).

But let's end this with something more uplifting. This is one of the final tracks in the score Bethany's Wave. It takes the themes already presented in Half Pint Boards but brings them to this great triumphant conclusion. 

The whole score is one of those that I can pretty much listen to in one go and not feel the need to skip a track. And once it ends, I have no issue playing it again. Not too many film scores fall into that boat for me. Soul Surfer is a great example of a composer allowed to try something unique and yet fitting for the film. It is one of Beltrami's great talents, and when the man is given some free reign he composes some great stuff. But like many modern composers he often gets stuck composing minimalist scores or scores that rely on atmosphere over themes and storytelling. He does a fine job with those too, and actually can make some very interesting atmospheric music. But I love a good theme and musical color. Soul Surfer fits the bill perfect. Highly recommended if you like these samples.

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Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014)

Introduction:

It is just one of those things we all face. According to movies, television and commercials especially – we all need to be happy all the time! I think the movie Inside Out lays out a pretty good case against being happy all the time, but I digress (and only in the third sentence, a new record)! So here we have a movie about a man leaving everything to find his happiness. Kind of reminds me of American Beauty, but with Simon Pegg instead of Kevin Spacey. Does that mean you need to be very, very afraid?

Summary:

Hector (Simon Pegg) is a psychiatrist who lives a very ordered life with his girlfriend Clara (Rosamund Pike). He has a routine and it trundles along until one day he loses his temper with one of his patients. He comes to the realization that he doesn’t really know why people are happy and how they would define this happiness.

This inspires Hector to take to the road and see the wide world. His travels take him to bustling Shanghai, a lonely monastery in China, a war zone in Africa and finally into the suburbs of Los Angeles. Along the way he meets a bunch of unique folks who express to him what makes them happy. But can scenes with Jean Reno, Togo Igawa, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, and Toni Collette aid Hector and the Search for Happiness?

Good Points:

• Simon Pegg provides an impressive and diverse performance
• Lovely location shooting
• Some clever visual techniques as Hector’s journal comes to life

Bad Points:

• Hector and Clara aren’t the most involving of characters
• Hits several of the road trip movie clichés pretty hard
• Feels a little too clever for its own good

Overall:

First things first, just because Simon Pegg is in this film doesn’t mean it is a comedy. This is a road trip drama with funny moments. The film is trying to be whimsical and yet provide some food for thought. It is worth watching the film to see Pegg run the gamut of emotions with his excellent performance. You also get some gorgeous location shooting in China, Africa and California. Some of the visuals are inventive as Hector’s journal comes to life on the screen. But it does end up crossing from nifty to a little too much for me. Almost like they felt they needed to spice up the road trip story a bit. Depending on how you feel about the message, you may enjoy the movie a bit more than I did.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 3

Acting: 4

Script: 3

Music: 3

Direction: 3

Entertainment: 3

Total: 3

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

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First Impression: Tangled

So Disney animation seems to be riding pretty high these days. Movies like Frozen and Big Hero 6 have made quite a few fans. Then you've got the upcoming Zootopia looking like it could be another hit. I'm seeing plenty of animation buffs even claiming we are in a new Disney Renaissance (how many of these can there be?) With all that said, lots of people feel that this all really started back in 2010 with Tangled. I was curious to see how Disney approached this take on the tale of Rapunzel, so I gave the movie a shot. Here are some first impressions.


Three Things I Liked:

• Some gorgeous animation and impressive set pieces
• Maximus the horse was a real fun character
• Mother Gothel was an interesting passive/aggressive take on a villain

Three Things I Didn't Like:

• The songs and music wasn't memorable
• The songs felt like they stopped the story cold
• Just what kind of movie were they going for?

Overall

I have to say that Tangled offers a lot to like. It moves quickly, keeps things light and fun with some very engaging characters. The high points are the impressive animation that creates a wonderfully vivid fairytale world. The action scenes are especially well executed and exciting. But the music for this musical just doesn't have the sticking power. Worse the songs feel like the interrupt the action more than build up within it. In a few ways this movie reminded me of Treasure Planet where it didn't quite know what direction to go, so it goes in all of them. The end result is a muddled movie that lacks memorability. I'm hoping another viewing will allow me to enjoy it a bit more. 

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Movie Musings: Wait, I've Seen this Before!

So my wife found a Blu-ray edition of It Happened One Night by Criterion Collection for a great price at Costco (of all places). We had the DVD release for quite a few years, but figured we could replace it with Criterion's clean up copy.

So yeah, this print looks great, but what surprised me was the sound. Holy crap did that audio sound as crisp and natural, as if the film were just made yesterday instead of 1934. I shouldn't be too surprised, Criterion always does a fine job with restoration. But before this turns into a full fledged commercial for the Criterion Collection (too late), I had this odd epiphany while watching the movie.

I wrote earlier this year about how much Ex Machina reminded me of Ghost in the Shell. I have an upcoming post about the similarities between Dune and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. So I must have movie comparisons on my mind. But It Happened One Night was something different. It reminded me of a ton of different movies while watching it. But the reason for that is because It Happened One Night pretty much refined the romantic comedy genre into a a crystallized perfect specimen... in 1934! Nearly all mainstream romantic comedies that followed have borrowed in some way from this classic film. Some have modified and improved elements. Most just copied and pasted the sequences and moments wholesale into their films.

Memorable scene? Sure, but there is more to this movie.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, It Happened One Night is a very entertaining film. It has some great dialogue, two excellent performances, and moves a great pace. Frank Capra does a fine job putting the whole thing together, and working with the chemistry between Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Sure every time this film is mentioned all you see is the infamous hitchhiking scene. But this scene works even better in the context of the film because of the adventures and interaction building up to it. This movie may be considered the great grandfather of romantic comedies, but it works so well: you laugh and you swoon. What more do you want in this type of film.

We are actually getting away from the influence of It Happened One Night in this modern era of movies. Fellow writer Richard Bellush at Richard's Pretension has pointed out that many modern "romance" films view romance through a cynical lens. Characters who fall in romantic love are mocked and considered the oddballs. The comedy stems from how bizarre these characters are. After years of Hollywood basing their films off of It Happened One Night, it is a pretty refreshing.

That said, I'm a softy at heart (check out my review of Oh My Goddess if you don't believe me). So something like It Happened One Night or When Harry Met Sally still work great for me.

I love the whole discussion about dunking doughnuts.

What is interesting is that even though It Happened One Night feels overly familiar, through no fault of its own, I still enjoy it. But on a revisit of North by Northwest, I found it really hard to get over the fact that I knew every plot twist and sequence because so many movies have borrowed (and yes lets just say it, ripped off) the 1959 classic thriller. I wonder if it has something to do with the genres. With a thriller you are there to enjoy the twists and the build up of tension. With those things neutralized the movie is less entertaining. I enjoyed North by Northwest, but not as much as I enjoyed rematching Rear Window. Might have to take a closer look at why in a future blog post.

But for It Happened One Night, I am there to watch the interaction between Gable and Colbert. I'm there to see those characters work their way out of those situations. And I'm there for fun ride. All those things hold up well, and make it a true classic, not just of the genre, but in the space of all film history.

Have you ever watched an older film that inspired a whole slew of imitations? Did that impact your reaction to the original?

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Nostalgia Nugget - Do It Now!

Divi-chan, the mascot for animeondvd.com

If there is one thing I've learned from the internet, it is that you can be nostalgic about anything. No, it is true, I looked it up. I figured if the Nostalgia Critic could be nostalgic about commercials, I can be nostalgic about trailers, and specifically anime trailers.

I've mentioned before that I became a bit of a hard core fan of Japanese animation in the mid and late 1990s. I was writing for one of the first websites to cover reviews of anime on DVD... hence the name Animeondvd.com. It was a lot of fun, and I learned quite a bit about review writing, fandom and even a bit of Japanese culture. This side job even landed me a ghost writing gig for an actual book about Animation on DVD.

This era has a lot of great anime related memories for me. Especially the excitement of seeing a trailer for new anime coming to a DVD (or VHS, which was still a viable alternative at the time). Companies approached trailers in a myriad of ways. But the one that always stuck out in my mind was the "Do it Now" trailers from ADV (or A.D. Vision).

The logo on more than half of my anime DVDs
from back in the day.

At the time ADV was kind of the scrappy new kid in the anime releasing biz. Companies like Animeigo, Manga, Pioneer and Central Park Media had been around since the 80s. But ADV arrived in the early 90s with a few solid shows (including one of my personal favorites Gunsmith Cats). But when they got the rights to the ultra popular Neon Genesis Evangelion they shot up to the top of the business.

They also had some great trailers cut together by a gent who posted on the anime forums under the name Dan the Man. Most of these used oh so 90s techno tracks, quick music video editing and showed you just enough to get you excited about an upcoming release. It worked so well that most of us picked up a movie or series based on the trailer alone, only to realize that Dan the Man made the show look much better than it really was.

On VHS nearly all the trailers on an ADV tape ended with the "Do It Now" trailer montage. Dan would use a particular techno piece, the eponymous Do It Now, and cut a whole bunch of different series and movies together, flashing the name on screen before a series of images exploded into view. These trailers got all us anime fans pumped up for more anime and the feature presentation. Most of the "Do It Now" trailers ended with Neon Genesis Evangelion, because ADV was proud of their flagship title. Talk to most anime fans who were around in the era and all you have to do is mention "Do It Now" and you'll get a "Hoo-uh" followed right after it. Check out the trailer below at around the 40 second mark to see what I mean.

And yes I had to pick the one that featured Gunsmith Cats. Any time you get to see Rally blowing away bad guys, it is a good thing. Do you have any favorite movie trailers? Do you find yourself nostalgic about commercials?

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And Then This Happened...Dune

You know when you invite Sting to the party things are going to get interesting. And if David Lynch is directing, then it is going to get surreal. Caption this!

And then this happened...

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