Archive for the 'Based on a graphic novel' Category

Persepolis

Published
by
nathanshorb
on July 5, 2008
in Adolescence, Animation, Autobiography, Based on a graphic novel, Coming of age, Foreign, French and War
. 1 Comment

Persepolis is the animated film adaptation of the autobiographical graphic novels of Marjane Satrapi. It’s her coming of age story, living through the turmoil, wars, and revolts of Iran in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s

Simply put, it’s a lovely little film that really catches the viewer’s attention. Its animation is simple but thoroughly heartfelt and extremely effective. While few of us have lived through wars, seeing our relatives fight for their beliefs and die in the process, we can somehow relate to this story, perhaps because it’s told so candidly. The innocence of childhood, the ups and downs of adolescence, and trying to make sense of it all in adulthood are something each of us experience. Satrapi has said that this was one aim of the film, to show how much of growing up is a universal experience.

In the process of the film, though, we are treated to a little bit of a history lesson of the country of Iran. And while you don’t get all the ins and outs of the history, it makes you eager to learn a bit more.

My only complaint is that the storytelling at times seemed too fragmented. It felt rushed, each segment was brief before jumping to the next event at hand. Satrapi, obviously, is a talented and poignant storyteller, and I would have appreciated a more in-depth, detailed look at some parts of the story

So, this film comes highly recommended. It’s an enlightening and personal story that is absolutely beautifully told. I hope more animated works like it start coming our way.

Rating: ★★★★½

Appleseed: Ex Machina

Published
by
Chalupa
on March 11, 2008
in Action, Animation, Anime, Based on a comic, Based on a graphic novel, Conspiracy, End of the world, Foreign, Future, Japan, Martial Arts, Sequel and War
. 1 Comment

This is my first-ever sponsored review. I haven’t done anything like this before. If you’ve never heard of Appleseed: Ex Machina before, you should know it’s an Anime sequel to Appleseed. This film does come from Japan, but the Region 1 DVD release has been dubbed into English. Directing this film is the legendary Shinji Aramaki. I say legendary because this man has been very influential in the world of animation and the drawing of cartoon machines. This guy worked on the drawings and designs of the first Transformers toys, MASK, the Genesis series, and Fullmetal Alchemist. Producing this film is John Woo of action and martial arts fame.

If you know anything about Anime, you know it’s a style of animation from Japan. John Woo happens to be from China. The two of them working together, in a creative manner, is nothing short of amazing due to the long history of being at odds that their two countries have. The fact Woo is involved leads a lot of credibility to the project and puts the film on the radars of many potential fans. Even though Woo is known for his fight scenes, there’s the element of emotion that many miss. The emotion and depth to the characters and story turns a film like this from being just eye-candy into a truly wonderful work of art. You’ll definitely see his influence in scenes where slow motion, creative fighting styles and lots of bullets are used.

The word Anime is really just an abbreviation of the English word animation and has its roots in Japanese Manga. Anime is traditionally hand drawn, but computer animation is becoming more and more common. Having majored in computer science as an undergrad, I know a tiny bit about the work and processing power it takes to make cartoons and animated films. The 3-D animation is this film is nothing short of amazing. Everything looks so realistic from the body movements, facial expressions, fully animated jaws, backgrounds, sceneries and landscapes. The visual aspects of this film are breathtaking.

I haven’t seen the original film, Appleseed, so I may be a little clueless to the story. I think this is a good thing when it comes to a review because I have no pre-conceived notions of what’s happening. Ex Machina takes place in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world. At some point in the past there was a global, non-nuclear war which took out pretty much everything. Olympus is a Utopian-like city where peace and order stand with the help of its elite fighting force, the ESWAT. This isn’t the only city in the world though. There are still other countries and governments. There are also three types of people: humans, cyborgs, and bioroids. I’m going to assume you already know what humans and cyborgs are. Bioroids are clones, genetic copies, of real people made with the best technology available. They also lack some of the bad qualities that seem to contribute to the not-so-great aspects of humanity.

The three main characters are Deunan, a human, Briareos, human turned cyborg, and Tereus, a bioroid that is a copy of Briareos when he was human. I’m sure you’re already imagining the drama between the main trio. Deunan and Briareos were partners back in the day and continued to be after he was severely injured and turned into a cyborg. As far as I can tell, they exist in the original film. In Ex Machina we find ourselves in another classic, Confuscist battle of good versus evil; there are organized terrorist attacks trying to bring down the peace and order of Olympus.

In the midst of peace talks between all the countries and governments of the world, humans and cyborgs are being turned into mindless zombies. These remotely controlled drones are being made to massively attack anything of strategic value in the city. At first it is thought the cyborgs are just susceptible to rogue, controlling frequencies, but humans are being affected too. Are Deunan, Briareos, and Tereus susceptible to this mind control? Will they be able to take down a terrorist mastermind that makes Dr. Octopus look like a distempered man-child? Well, I couldn’t really tell you or I’d be ruining the movie for you.

I highly recommend this film. I think it will be dearly loved by existing Appleseed fans. It is a great addition to the already wonderful Anime genre and there’s enough story, action and drama to keep everyone else wanting to find out what happens next. Rent it or buy it, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Rating: ★★★★½

Oldboy

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 23, 2006
in Based on a comic, Based on a graphic novel, Drama, Graphic Violence, Kidnapping, Martial Arts, Mystery, Narrated, Neo Noir, Revenge, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

Oldboy is a movie I learned about from my good buddy Tim Mahan. It’s a Korean film about a man who is kidnapped and held in a room for 15 years. He’s allowed to watch some TV but has no access to things like sunlight and contact with other human beings. Eventually he breaks free and decides to try and figure out who imprisioned him and why. He can’t find his family and friends because the world thinks he murdered his wife and is on the run.

Through the twisted world one man has created, we eventually discover exactly what Dae-su Oh has done to warrant such revenge. I do need to say that this movie is kind of messed up and wouldn’t be enjoyed by many. If you’re up to it though, you might want to give it a try some time.

A History of Violence

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 16, 2005
in Action, Based on a comic, Based on a graphic novel, Based on a novel, Crime, Drama, Mob and Thriller
. 0 Comments

I saw this one a while ago with Liz, if you’re one of the regular readers I’m sure you’ve noticed I haven’t been keeping up on here.

I would like to start off by saying I really enjoyed this movie, but it’s definitely not for everyone. Like the title states, there’s some violent things in here. It also isn’t your normal type of action-shoot-em-up kind of violence. There are a couple scenes where people get shot and it actually looks like a real gunshot wound. There are some semi-prolonged close ups/shots of some of this stuff and I’m sure it has to bother some people. There are also a couple sex scenes that are a bit more than the norm. Granted these take place between a married couple, but it’s just intense. I think that’s a good word overall to describe this movie - intense.

Viggo Mortensen does great in this film. A lot of people weren’t very aware of this actor until his debut in the much awaited and acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think the first movie I remember seeing him in was either Crimson Tide or G.I. Jane. It was cool to see him in a role that wasn’t LOTR or military based.

The basic plot of this movie is a small town diner owner gets held up by a couple of gunmen and saves the day. Out of nowhere he pretty much wipes the floor with a couple of professionals. This of course creates a lot of press and media hub-bub which then attracts the attention of some people associated with organized crime from back east. I’m not to go into the whole plot here, but things get interesting.

One thing that kind of caught me off guard here was how the movie ended. It was abrupt and kind of out of nowhere. However, it was appropriate and ended where it should have; I just wasn’t expecting it. Maybe this will be a new trend as I saw the same thing happen in Broken Flowers.

Sin City

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 2, 2005
in Action, Based on a comic, Based on a graphic novel, Crime, Drama, Graphic Violence, Multiple story line, Narrated, Neo Noir and Thriller
. 1 Comment

Sin City is a movie adaptation of the graphic novel/stories by Frank Miller. It was co-directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez with a Quentin Tarantino as a guest director. There are so many big name actors/actresses in this movie I’m not even going to try and name them all. Check out the link for yourself.

I’m most definitely not going to make a general blanket statement of telling people to go see this movie. This is definitely a comic book made into a movie - and I’m not talking about X-Men, Spiderman, Batman or The Hulk. There was some great cinematography and I loved what they did with the black and white with artistic splashes of color in all the right places.

As far as content in here that might turn people off there’s a decent amount of violence. Definitely nothing that bothered me, but I’m sure it’ll bother some. There was also a decent amount of T&A that I wasn’t necessarily expecting.

The story was great and captivating. I most definitely didn’t understand everything and will need to see it at least one more time. The timeline was also a bit confusing. Sort of like watching Pulp Fiction for the very first time. I’m going to need to talk to Lofton - I’m sure he can explain it all to me.

Overall I’m gonna have to say I liked this movie. Great acting, great directing, great story. It was intriguing as well as interesting. There’s a good chance I’ll be seeing it again with some other people and will hopefully get a better grasp on things.