cinema sublevel.

There are a lot of Zatoichi movies. Zatoichi is the master swordsman who wanders around, killing everyone with little to no hassle. Thats what the old movies were like, and I did not enjoy them.
This movie is different. Sort of.
Zatoichi is blind. hes a decrepit old man, who gambles often and lives in a farmhouse with a kind family. when required to however, he unleashes incredible skill, enhanced by his honed senses due to his lack of eyesight. This never fails to catch his opponents off guard. while he has no real purpose, he finally decides to help a brother and sister avenge the murders of their parents.
This movie is extremely well done. From the artistic arcs of spurting blood, to the odd camera shots during fights that enhance the action, to the bizarre cast of characters, including the fat neighbor kid who only wants to be a samurai. The cast is made up of some fairly well known actors, as I recognized several of them from other various Asian movies. One of the things I liked most about this movie is the lack of useless dialog. it was very to the point and straightforward. The fights weren't drawn out, and are completed without hesitation. All this added together makes a really great, action packed, well done samurai movie.
nine out of ten.

Labels: 9, asian, samurai

This movie started out slow and stayed slow. The animation was a little different than i was used to, a very vectory, no shading, Super Milk Chan esque style. This movie is about a cat, named Tamala. Thats basically the first 45 minutes. Then, about halfway through, the movie starts to get interesting. I faded in and out of this movie, so bear with me. Apparently, the cats and the dogs live in different sides of a futuristic city. A few of the gay dogs migrate over into cat space, and get assaulted. then the Tamala revolution begins, and everyone goes crazy. A zombie cat old man begins to explain this monstrous Tamala conspiracy, involving a giant robot. I sort of lost it there. then theres a huge sequence of flashing different random images. Then, at the end, Tamala sets our to Orion to kill the giant robot.
Its not so much that this movie was confusing. It was just that i wasnt paying enough attention to it. Mostly, it had a really different art style, and some really cool images. I may go back and watch it again, but probably not.
Eight out of ten for art.
Five out of ten for everything else.

Labels: 5, 8, animation