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Reviews
Trigun (1998)
Simply Amazing
This is definitely one of the best anime series of all time. Offers action adventure and many interesting characters on all sides off the spectrum. The main draw of this franchise is the question of morality that lingers in every episode attacking the characters' actions at every encounter. The series is only 26 episodes long and leaves you wanting more. However, it ended at the right time. Before the show could become stale and boring. Every episode is great and guaranteed as enjoyable as your favorite episode. If you cannot get enough there is a manga series that is roughly 10 years in the making and still going. It offers more story with little deviation from the setting in the anime. This allows easy transition between the two. Vash is also a different hero than a normal action star choosing to fight his battles in a different way than most normal humans would. He lives by a strict code that sets the plot for the series and makes trouble follow him wherever he may go. If you in the mood for something different and more introspective then this is what your looking for. Giving you a steam-punk experience you'll enjoy over and over again.
Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005)
This movie successfully got me off the Family Guy Wagon
I loved Family Guy when it first came out and repeats ran on Cartoon Network. Naturally I was es-tactic when a movie and a new season were coming out this past year. However, I didn't know it would be this bad. This movie and the season opener combined into a strange mix that caused me to not pursue watching Family Guy ever again. The movie is lacking to say the least and offers the same jokes and plot devices seen in the series. This should be great for fans, but it's not. The quality has lessened and the jokes are dull. It's almost like they stuck together the three worst episodes and made a movie. This has obviously jump started the Family Guy merchandising opportunities that will be around for years to come. To me Family Guy has lost it's edge or maybe it's with age. I'm in my twenties now and I can't stand the constant interjections that Family Guy's humor is based on. Back in high school that seemed like the best kind of humor there was. No point and slight jabs at pop culture. The younger audience will eat up the jokes in this move, but in regular fashion some of them will go over people's heads. This is mainly due to Macfarlene's love affair with the theater. Personally, I believe Family Guy has little else to offer after the first two seasons as the ever increasing process of going back to the well with the same jokes have killed much of the funny that originally defined it.
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
You Have to Sit Through This Movie Just for the Ending It's That Good
OK, let me just get this out of the way Al Pacino is one of the most under-appreciated actors of all time. He has only been given one Oscar in his entire movie career and he has deserved at least three. Same with Robert Deniro, but he won two and he's not in this movie. If you don't get a Oscar nod for what he did in this movie I do not know what the Academy is looking for when it comes to Best Actor. Do you have to be in one of the best movies or most controversial movies to be considered for a Oscar. It's ignorant and moronic on the part of the Academy. Especially since 1997 was a very weak Oscar year. A nod is all I'm asking for, just a nod. He didn't deserve the award, but damned if he didn't earn a nomination in that final scene. Giving everything you could possibly think the devil could do to lure you into his world. Make you into what he wants and turn your world upside down. He even ups the performance of Keanu Reeves to the point where that accent isn't even bothering you anymore. Your actually feeling the turmoil and what exactly is riding on his decision and it's all Al Pacino. The Academy wanted Pacino to look but not to touch, well OK they let him touch, but very rarely a taste, OK a taste but never a swallow. And thats how it is. A great actor gives a great performance and devils in Hollywood just play a huge joke on him. I think Dustin Hoffman has been nominated enough don't you? Watch this movie the ending is enough, but the rest is great too. Interesting story and amazing visuals.
The Aristocrats (2005)
Proof Most Comedians Are Retarded
OK I have never walked out on a movie, never. I refuse to it causes me to feel I can't fully justify my reasons for not liking the movie. Proof to this would be my two viewings of Lost in Translation. I gave it more of a chance than most movies I review, but it failed miserably. And the Aristocrats failed in a way much worse than that heap.
Granted I didn't walk out, but in hindsight I should of. It is just an awful documentary and a terrible waste of good film or DV. So many amateur problems exist in this movie it is beyond me. My first question while viewing this was who the hell cut this? It's like someone went crazy in Final Cut Pro trying to cut the movie in a way that all the comedians weave seamlessly in and out of each other, but ended up confusing everyone when the comedians begin changing so often the subject they were talking about becomes non-existent. It's a mediocre attempt to be creative in a medium that was never meant to be creative. Documentaries are supposed to have their subject drive them, that's why we're watching. If the subject wasn't the main focus of the movie then we wouldn't have gone to see it in the first place. Leave the fancy editing to the experimental film makers. If you want to make a good documentary let Robin Williams talk instead of splicing scenes with Drew Carey into his dialog.
Now to the subject, not one comedian made this joke funny. Gilbert Godfrey and Sarah Silverman were everyone's favorites, but they suck to. The joke isn't creative it's just an over the top attempt at gross out humor. It's uncreative because they go nowhere with it. Everyone is doing the same exact thing. No one is making this joke their own. There's only so far you can go with this joke before it becomes tired and old. Plus, to do all those acts totally negates the punch line of the joke. The Aristocrats doesn't make sense. To really think about what an aristocrat is makes you realize how this joke relates nothing to the punch line. Maybe if someone did this in a more political or social concern of humor then maybe this joke wouldn't have died so badly as a mindless attempt at being the grossest telling.
Don't see this movie it gets too much hype for something that wasted everyone's time. When comedians realize it's their creativeness and their skewed ways of looking at things is what makes them funny then they'll realize what this joke is missing. Oh, and just so you know the best joke in the movie was the South Park one. Not because of what Cartman said it was Kyle's reaction to it. Lou Costello once said it best "Comics are a dime a dozen. Good straight men are hard to find."
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Tim Burton Couldn't Tell a Plot if it Hit Him in the Face
I thought Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would be better than this. Unfortunately Tim Burton again manages to screw me out of $9.25. Granted I didn't have high hopes from this movie to begin with, but I believed it would be a more mature version of book than what was done in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (I happen to like this adaptation because Gene Wilder is enchanting as the eccentric factory owner). Tim Burton introduced a new form of dragging with this movie. He completely omits the main character from the film in favor of developing a back story for almost every character. The one with the longest and most intricate back story is Willy Wonka. His back story encompasses the entire second and third parts of the movie (that being the factory tour in flashbacks and the post factory tour). The only thing it accomplishes is explain Johnny Depp's portrayal of the character, which wasn't bad. Wonka is presented as a man-child with deep fears stemming from the authority of parents. This is why I prefer Gene Wilder's portrayal in the 1971 version because he acts like he's in control of the entire factory. He's an adult who sympathizes with childish surroundings. Depp acts like he's completely oblivious to his surroundings, which makes you wonder how he can get anything done. He acts almost like Howard Hughes, but without the get things done attitude and need to advance technology to the next generation, which you'd think be needed to run a factory and keep the Deep Roy's alive. Once you think the movie's over your hit in the face with the third part of the movie, which tries to tie up Wonka's back story. To make sure you know Charlie is still in the movie they run a short story on him before finishing up the Wonka plot. You wonder why this adaptation wasn't called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory because Charlie had a much bigger role in the 1971 version. The movie ends in a nice little package but it is seriously deformed by Tim Burton's inclusion. The chocolate factory has the same Gothic styling and abrasive colors seen in every one of his movies. We know you have a signature, but Jesus try something else for a change. The musical numbers were also very weak. I read somewhere the lyrics came from the book, but the singing and the music were so awful I barely noticed them. Deep Roy needs to be shot so he cannot contaminate the rest of the world. If I wanted to see a bad musical number I would go see Rent. I only take solace in the fact this movie distracted Burton long enough for Batman Begins to correctly represent the Batman character. Thank you Tim Burton for not touching Batman in favor of adapting a newer version of the chocolate factory. You have truly placed yourself beside filmmakers like Ed Wood. At least he made bad movies with much smaller budgets.