Posts Tagged “Movies”

Totally unrelated, just wanted to use the image.

I’ve been reading the past couple days about the live-action Death Note premiering in theaters across America in a two-day limited run and while the effort garnered a fair amount of press, I feel it was a lost opportunity of sorts. The “unique theatre event” (from the press release) likely increased the appeal of Japanese film and anime-influenced productions given the brand attraction Death Note has. However, the fact that the film was shown dubbed and forced viewers to experience that instead of experiencing the original cast’s voices makes me shake my head in shame as a film purist first and an anime fan second. (I suppose it shouldn’t be called ‘forcing’ since attendees are willingly paying $10 per ticket but still.) Regular readers know that I am more forgiving than others with regard to dubs but why didn’t Viz think about bankrolling subtitles on their prints?

What’s odd about this is that in the next couple months, Bandai is going to be screening The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in limted release in three different locations: Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle. The two West Coast cities will be getting the subtitled version while those in New York will see the English dubbed version. While it’s good that there are different options, it seems like New Yorkers are getting the shaft in a way.

I would prefer anime films be screened domestically the same way foreign films are shown in arthouse theaters - with minimal alterations and subtitled so the audience can understand as best as possible. Alas, this is not likely to happen in the near future with financial interest tied in with these promotional screenings.

Today Netflix announced that all subscribers, except for those on the bare minimum 2-discs-a-month plan ($4.99/mo), will have no restrictions on how many hours they can utilize the company’s instant watching feature, a move the company likely made to counter the expected announcement of iTunes movie rentals at Macworld tomorrow. Last month, I signed up for the lowest unlimited discs per month plan ($8.99) and thus had eight hours of instant watching per month so now I can see more movies aside from returning a disc and waiting a couple days for the next one to arrive. This news also allows for a more convenient way to watch some anime series in their entirety or at least a healthy dose of episodes. [UPDATE (1/15): Forgot to mention that instant watching still requires IE6 or higher and Windows XP/Vista. Thanks, Scott, for reminding me about the Mac crowd still being shut out from streaming movies on Netflix.]

In a cursory click-through of their listings, one can watch entire series including Mezzo, GitS: Stand Alone Complex, Gilgamesh, Comic Party Revolution TV, Jinki: Extend, and Chance Pop Session as well as large portions of series such as AIR TV (8 out of 13), Air Gear (21 out of 25), Pani Poni Dash (14 of out 26), Saiyuki (25 out of 50), Utawarerumono (14 out of 26 episodes), and Xenosaga (8 out of 12). [It seems that many of these are ADV titles but that may just be a coincidence.] Also some feature films that are available to be watched online include Perfect Blue, Blood The Last Vampire, and Ninja Scroll.

The obvious caveat is that these will be dubbed versions but for those who don’t mind that much, such as myself, this could be a good way to check some series for free if you are already a customer. However, I’m more inclined to use my now-unlimited streaming for movies and TV shows (30 Rock Season 1) since the anime selection is very limited and watching my physical library is a higher priority.

What better way to bring a popular series like Fullmetal Alchemist to a close than with a theatrical feature? “The Conqueror of Shamballa” attempts to resolve the cliffhanger of the TV series successfully and manages to do a pretty good job of that during its 104-minute runtime. I am sorry that the below review was a bit delayed (was busy with schoolwork yesterday) and a little disjointed. I have decided to review the extras and the movie in seperate posts so look for another entry on the two documentaries tomorrow along with those postcard scans I promised. Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I finally got the limited edition version of the Fullmetal Alchemist movie (as well as Love Roma Volume 4)! I would have made this post yesterday except my shipment from Amazon wasn’t delivered because my apartment’s mailbox is too small. Damn skinny malibox! So it was held at the city’s main post office and I picked up after school this afternoon. Anyway, below are some pictures from the unboxing. Sorry in advance for the crappy quality — I had to use my cameraphone because my digital camera’s batteries are recharging.

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Mark Beall over at Cinematical reports that producer Gerald R. Molen (Jurassic Park, Minority Report) recently got onto two major projects: one is a sports drama about baseball players in WWII and the other is Lupin the 3rd. The sports flick is scheduled to begin filming in Feburary while no date has been set for Lupin. This news made me think of previous and ongoing anime-to-live-action attempts. Read the rest of this entry »