Wizards

WIZARDS-1977-I realize 1977 was a long time ago but I found this Ralph Bakshi production a little disappointing. It's very crude and cartoonish and I thought some of the voices and characters don't quite mesh with the overall story of two wizard brothers: Avatar, a good guy who uses magic and Blackwolf, who uses the last remains of technology to conquer the post-apocalyptic Earth which resembles Tolkien's Middle Earth. There are elves, fairies, wizard, mutants and strange robots. Avatar is joined by a fairy princess Elinore, the elf warrior Weehawk and a rebel robot named Peace. To get his armies in a frenzy Blackwolf shows his troops WW2 footage including speeches by Hitler. There are some violent scenes but it almost seems to be aimed at children.

Despite some obstacles WIZARDS was a success for Bakshi and it led to him doing the first half of his often criticized THE LORD OF THE RINGS the next year. (the second half was never made).

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9

9-2009-In a post-apocalyptic world where machines revolted against man and destroyed everything, little snitched together doll like beings (with  numbers on their backs) inhabit the gigantic ruins. One little renegade, 9 (voice of Elijah Wood) looks for answers and tries to save 2 (voice of Martin Landau) but he accidentally unleashes a machine called The Brain which seems to have been created by a Nazi like leader, The Chancellor. Recent Academy Award winner Christopher Plummer voices 1, the leader of the group who would rather stay in hiding than fight. Jennifer Connelly is 7 and Crispin Glover and John C. Reilly also lend their vocals talents. 


This is a cool animated Sci-Fi fantasy from debuting director Shane Acker who had previously done short films. 


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Short Anime Catch Up

QUEEN EMERALDAS-1999-This is a spinoff of the popular Capt. Harlock anime series featuring his pirate ally Emeraldas who's more a wandering do-gooder than an actual pirate. She helps Hiroshi, a young boy who has lost his faith in humanity. If it sounds a little like GALAXY 999 it's because it all takes place in the some universe created by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto and Emeraldas is the sister of GALAXY's lead female character Maetel. This is a 60 min. OVA in two parts and very enjoyable. 


SOL BIANCA-1990-Japanese anime involving a group of female space pilots, their stolen space ship and a young stowaway who wants to rescue his mother from the evil villian Battros. There's a lot of action and soul searching and it spawned a sequel and a TV series.




BIOHUNTER-1997-Another anime, very weird and violent, about a vampire like virus that turns victims into powerful monsters. Not for everyone I guess but I liked it...

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Late Night Quickies

DEAD SPACE: DOWNFALL-2008-This is an American made ALIEN inspired horror animation that tries very hard to be like a Japanese anime. It kind of succeeds but it’s not for everyone. I think it’s based on a video game.

A space ship from Earth picks up a supposedly religious relic but it unleashes ALIEN/THE THING like creatures that drink blood and kills. Bruce Boxleitner, Kelly Hu and Keith Szarabajka provide the lead voices. Director Chuck Patton had previously done work on GI JOE, DINOSAUCERS and SPAWN.

SHUTTER-2008- A newlywed couple (Joshua Jackson from TV’s FRINGE and TRANSFORMER's Rachael Taylor) arrive in Japan where the husband works as a photographer. While enjoying a short honeymoon they seem to run down a (RING look) girl while driving. No victim is found but later on mysterious images begin to appear in all the husband’s photographic work. While highly derivative in spots (part of the story is reminiscent of the ‘80’s film GHOST STORY) director Masayuki Ochiai makes some good spooky scenes and a great final scene!

LET’S ROCK-1958-“To rock or not to rock”. In his only real movie appearance singer Julius LaRosa plays Tommy Adane, singer of ballads who’s finding it hard to have a hit because Rock and Roll is more popular and he refuses to have anything to do with it. Danny and The Juniors (who do “At The Hop”), Roy Hamilton, The Royal Teens, Paul Anka and Della Reese all perform. Even future TV game show host Wink Martindale does the rocking “All Love Broke Loose”. Conrad Janis is Adane’s manager who wants him to record a rock tune.

I’M CYBORG BUT THAT’S OK-2006-In this Korea lensed comedy-drama a young woman (Su-jeong Lim) thinks she’s a cyborg, When she almost kills herself at work she’s put in a mental hospital with other eccentric crazy people. Eventually a male patient (Rain) tries to help her eat. This was too long and weird for me to enjoy (and has an all too typical confused ending) but it probably has the makings of a cult film courtesy of director Chan wook-Park (OLD BOY).

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