My Review of James Cameron's 'Aliens'

This is a review of James Cameron's 1986 science fiction masterpiece 'Aliens' starring Sigourney Weaver.

This time, it's War! This is the slogan for Aliens, Cameron's follow up to Ridley Scott's brilliant Alien. To sum up Cameron's version, an astronaut named Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is discovered on a derelict space ship after being asleep for 40 years in frozen hibernation. She is revived and asked to be a part of a reconnaissance expedition consisting of Marines to a planet overrun with alien creatures. And I'll stop right here for anyone who has yet to see the film. What I will say is this: imagine a bunch of jingoistic Marines packing the latest in high-tech weaponry turned loose and given carte blanche to kill. Throw into this mix a couple of mean b*tches trying to protect their babies, flamethrowers, nuclear bombs, and industrial-grade exoskeleton suits and you can imagine the rest. Absolute bad-ass! Can you imagine how this film would have been if it were done with today's technologies in cgi?

But the fact that these technologies weren't available is what makes the film so good, damn good. Computers can't replicate the organic feeling and weight of real textures. The aliens in this film look better than the cgi aliens in the later films because of the organic-hand-made craftmanship that went into creating them, something I have yet to see duplicated in a 3d environment. Live action and cg together is never seamless to the eye, which can't be fooled. Cgi looks good because it's hyper-real and placed beside live elements, cgi comes off as cartoonish and weightless.

Aliens is Cameron unleashed,to date, his 2nd best (and most original) action film behind the original Terminator. I prefer the special edition to the theatrical version. Normally when you see what was left out of the original it's justified; in this case, it wasn't. The added scenes add even greater depth to Ripley's character and her maternal relationship with the orphan girl, Newt. This version also plays up the gung-ho mentality of the marines a lot more than the theatrical version. Looking at this film now, one gets the sense that Cameron was looser, having more fun doing it than he did directing Avatar, which had such a ridiculous budget attached with it. Like Jackson was just before he made Thriller, looser and not under a lot of pressure, having fun. Now, every film Cameron does will have to be bigger than his last film.

Anyways, Aliens is one of those films that will never look cheesy no matter how old it gets. Still one of my favorite action films.

Katsuhiro Otomo's 'Akira': a review

This is a review of director Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 anime masterpiece 'Akira'. 

This is one I first got on the original VHS format that included the now defunct Streamline "State of the art, Japanese animation" trailer montage featuring the original Vampire Hunter D, Silent Mobius, Neo Tokyo, etc. I popped my anime cherry with Akira and Fist of the North Star, but it was Akira that really blew me away with its sci fi and especially its artwork, the amount of detail and movement in this film is massive. This film remains a primer for anyone remotely interested in knowing why people like me are so nuts about anime.

Basically, this film is a Frankenstein story that takes place in the year 2012 in Neo Tokyo, called so because it's right after a cataclysm similar to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A super powered boy named Akira who was the subject of secret government experimentation played a major part in the cataclysm and for this reason is contained in a cryogenic vault at ground zero, which is beneath a stadium. Determined to master and control "the ultimate power," the government sets its sights on another guinea pig, a short, unstable, biker named Tetsuo who happens to be obsessed with a cool, red, turbo-charged bike owned by his best friend Kaneda.

This film looks incredible. The colors just pop at you scene after scene. The opening scenes at night are simply breathtakingly colorful. Comparisons to another cyber-punk classic from which this film derives its look, Bladerunner, are especially evident in its use of neon against a night backdrop. Amazing what can be done without 3d or cgi. The rainbows chasing the motorbikes, the motorbikes themselves, the clothes, the cityscape--everything about this film is eye-candy, almost too sweet, but I love it.

Despite the visual achievements of this film, the dialogue is embarrassing and cliched. Mr. Otomo shows his weaknesses in the writing department here but I'm not sure if this isn't due to it being translated into English. Maybe it sounds better in Japanese. But here it sounds very hokey. But in the end it didn't matter to me as it most likely won't matter if you see this film for the first time. Even after all these years, as far as animation has come, Akira still looks good. I think what makes this film age well is the fact that what you see on the screen is completely organic, that is, done by real people, an army of people working day and night to bring this enormous vision to life. A true anime masterpiece.

'Penitentiary': a Review

This is a review of director Jamaa Fanaka's 1979 Blaxploitation drama film 'Penitentiary' starring Leon Isaac Kennedy.

What can I say? This movie brings back some old memories. Back in the day when me and my buddies would sit around my 13 inch TV set smoking, drinking, checking out this flick on video tape and rewinding it over and over to the funny parts like the brother with the broken cigarette sticking out his ear; the part when Big Jess clocks "Genie" for standing up to use the toilet; the part where the brothers are out in the yard dancing; the part where an inmate planning to rape another inmate says to his partner: "relax, Dead. Wait a few days, so we can set the booty up right."

This is "the" buddy movie for me growing up in my late teens. Basically, it's about a brother named Too Sweet who is set up and goes down for killing a racist hillbilly. Once he's sent up to the 'pen, the film becomes about survival and maintaining his sense of who and what he is against predators, like Half-Dead, probably the ugliest dude in the history of motion pictures, and homosexuals who have surrendered their manhood. But Too Sweet is a fighter both in his cell and also in the boxing-for-booty tournaments that take place in the film. His only friend is an institutionalized old head with a white fro named Hezekiah who has long stopped dreaming of being free and "deals with the meat" inside the walls.

This is one of the best Black films ever made and one of the best films about prison life, if not the funniest.

'Neo Tokyo'; a Review

A review of MTV Liquid Televisions 1987 anime science fiction anthology 'Neo Tokyo'.

Neo Tokyo is an anthology of 3 short films, the best of which is the middle film called Running Man, which ran years ago on MTV's Liquid Television along with Peter Chung's Aeon Flux.

Neo Tokyo begins with Labyrinth, which features a small girl being lured into a carnival tent where she sees the 2nd and 3rd films, Running Man and The Order To Stop Construction. Running Man, directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, is about a futuristic race and its god, Zack Hugh, who, like most athletes, don't know when it's time to quit. The Order To Stop Construction, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, is set in the Amazon where a construction manager is ordered to halt a construction project gone haywire under its rogue construction manager, which happens to be a robot, a la Frankenstein.

I don't think that telling a story is the real object here as much as it is to showcase the talents of the respective directors, Rin Taro, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Katsuhiro Otomo. All of their styles are strong and distinct. You have Taro's surrealistic look, Kawajiri's realistic look, and Otomo's obsession with mechanical details. But of the three, the best imo, is Kawajiri's segment, and career for that matter. Anyway, anyone interested in seeing what real anime is, when it was really good and before it went south trying to please American tastes, check out this collection.

'Wicked City' Review

This is a review of director Yoshiaki Kawajiri's 'Wicked City'.

Still have this one on VHS with the old Streamline trailer that included classics like Akira, Neo Tokyo,Fist of the North Star, and Vampire Hunter D. Basically, the film's about a secret agent named Taki and his incredibly beautiful partner named Makie. They are assigned to protect a pint-sized pervert named Giuseppe Mayart who's coming to Tokyo to sign a 500 year old peace treaty between Earth and the Black World, a parallel dimension, which also happens to be where Makie is from.Throughout the film, the agents do battle with a host of weird creatures determined to sabotage the treaty.

The artwork is absolutely gorgeous. Kawajiri's trademark throughout all of his films are the long mysterious Japanese eyes and this film is probably his best in that regard as Makie has got to be the sexiest female ever in an anime.

But I can't stress this enough: this one is for adults only. A good example of hand-drawn artwork before 3D rendered artwork took over. Like the song at the end also. If you like Takashi Miike's stuff you should have no problem with this one.

'Drive' (2012): a Review

This is a review of Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 neo noir crime thriller 'Drive' starring Ryan Gosling based on the 2005 novel by James Sallis

This film is a throwback in that the stars, and not the cars, are the humans and to my eye there are no cgi gimmicks to speak of. I won't get into the plot because that's been done here already but I will agree that the film and its star evoke the same tight, custom-fit, leather racing glove feel as McQueen's Bullit. And like McQueen's character in that film, Gossling in this one is as brooding, cool, and low-key.

There's a very brief (but unbelievable) car chase that gives a sly wink to Bullit involving a Mustang and a Chrysler, both newer models. This film does have its share of action but it fits the situations they erupt from. And when I say erupt I do mean that word literally. It's not wall to wall action but it is VIOLENT with a capital V and there's a big difference between the 2. But Drive is not the Fast and The Furious. It's not about the cars. It's about people and hard choices. But it's more than that even. It's not what it's about but how this film goes about it. Look, if your favorite film last year was the Smurfs or Scorpion King 3 you won't like this film. If you can appreciate a film on multiple levels, including story, acting, cinematography, action, etc, and if you liked such films as The American, A History of Violence, and Bullit, then you should have no problem with this film.