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You mean me? Kei's cousin?

Psychic School Wars (2012) - First Time on Funimation

I didn't really know what to expect. All I knew was that I saw the trailer on the Your Name Blu-ray and it looked good. So I decided to finally check it out and boy, was it worth it. Ryosuke Nakamura's Psychic School Wars proved to be far more engrossing than its IMDb score and naysayers would have you believe, the characters are likable, and I could see myself returning to it many times in the future. There's no way around this one: the animation is stunning. Every background is a literal work of art and it has some of the boldest colors I've seen. The story is also worth following—though you'll want to watch all the way through the credits to get the whole story since the real ending comes after the credits—and Nakamura and Yuko Naito give their best shot at adapting Taku Mayumura's 1973 novel of the same name for the 21st century, in the novel's seventh adaptation following four live-action series and two live-action films; for my money, they didn't do half-bad, though I must confess that I actually want to go read it now. Shusei Murai has also done an excellent musical score here that effectively captures a wide-eyed wonder during the scenes where insane magic is happening, humor when characters are bickering, and when necessary, melancholy. NYAV Post has yet again delivered an excellent English dub, as they have for such films as Your Name, A Silent Voice, Napping Princess, Mirai, Okko's Inn, Promare, and Weathering With You and such series as Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn and Gundam SEED. Graham Halstead is excellent as Kenji Seki, a 14-year-old living his life in a small town in Japan when his school up and bans cellphones right around the same time a mysterious transfer student arrives, molding him into a likable character with aplomb. Cassandra Lee Morris, who is undoubtedly the biggest name out of all the voice actors in this dub, is equally impressive as Natsuki Suzūra, Kenji's childhood friend who constantly teases him for his crush on a mutual classmate and often calls Kenji stupid in one way or another, even going so far as to dub him a "G--damn moron" in one scene; Kenji also gets beat up quite a bit at her hands, though this is actually because she has feelings for him—that he's completely oblivious to—and she's none too pleased about his—at least in her mind—wandering eyes. Morris also manages to make Natsuki likable, which is pretty impressive since it would be very easy for a character like this to be annoying and nothing more. Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld is also up to par as Kahori Harukawa, the classmate Kenji has a thing for—at least initially, who has a thing for a certain mysterious transfer student. Daniel J. Edwards is rock-solid as Ryoichi Kyogoku, a mysterious transfer student whom Kahori has a thing for, and whom Kenji quickly becomes friends with, who is actually from the future looking for middle school students who have psychic powers. Edwards gives Ryoichi a personality at least somewhat reminiscent of Kaworu Nagisa from Neon Genesis Evangelion, coming off as a bit closed off, not understanding the point of school plays and having never had a hamburger or a cellphone before, much to the surprise of his classmates. Everyone else is also solid and the dub script is completely natural. All things considered, I really enjoyed this one and I don't see why it gets such a bad rap. I'll definitely be returning to it in the future. Later, guys. I think I'm gonna go watch some My Hero Academia so that, for once, I don't have to think about all the stupid crap going on in this house all the time.





The Beast

NetFlix has its own Taken, nothing new here. Stick to the original.
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Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
More light hearted and comical than I remembered it for. Eastwood is on usual top form with sharp witty one liners throughout. Certainly not a serious war film but thoroughly enjoyable.



Shoot the Piano Player 1960 ‘Tirez sur le pianiste’ François Truffaut


Incredibly stylish and artful French noir, from BFI's 100 Film Noirs list, recommended by doc & matt.

+



The Nest (2020)

Jude Law plays an egotistical trader that - on a whim - moves his family from the USA to England in the hope of building up a portfolio and starting his own dealing house. This was vaguely interesting and the performances were good but...nothing much happens. The family dynamics are interesting but the story flags on so many occasions that its merely a passible drama.



You’re the disease, and I’m the cure.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles - 1987
Why so low? I think it was probably one of John Hughes best.
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You’re the disease, and I’m the cure.
Due Date (2010):
One of Todd Phillips better films (only has 1 or 2 bad films), you can tell they had a good time making this, shows a lot of versatility for the main stars, Jamie Foxx stole the scene he was in and I wish he did more comedies nowadays.
7/10



Victim of The Night
It wasn't even Peter Lorre's first Noir.
Well, I'm not here to debate what is or isn't or when or who or anything else, I'm just saying that many critics and film-scholars and random people refer to The Maltese Falcon as the official First Film Noir and the official beginning of the genre.
That's all I'm saying.
Obviously there are tons of films that were maybe heading down that path or had various elements that would later become hallmarks of the Film Noir genre, but the Falcon is the one people point to as the sort of moment when all of that came together into the actual first production model.
Don't kill the messenger.



Victim of The Night

Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
More light hearted and comical than I remembered it for. Eastwood is on usual top form with sharp witty one liners throughout. Certainly not a serious war film but thoroughly enjoyable.
I struggled to understand what the point of this movie was. I've seen it many times, in the theater on its release, the VHS was lying around our house when I was in college so it got watched a lot, and I revisited it maybe five years ago or so... and I just don't understand what the point of the movie was. What was it actually about? I mean it felt like there was some point to it but if that's true I still don't know what it was.



I struggled to understand what the point of this movie was. I've seen it many times, in the theater on its release, the VHS was lying around our house when I was in college so it got watched a lot, and I revisited it maybe five years ago or so... and I just don't understand what the point of the movie was. What was it actually about? I mean it felt like there was some point to it but if that's true I still don't know what it was.
So why would you watch it so often?
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THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964)
A film from the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list whose ranking includes the #11



Produced and directed by Roger Corman, and based on an Edgar Allan Poe short story, the film follows Prince Prospero (Vincent Price), a tyrannical ruler that seeks refuge from a deadly plague (the Red Death) inside his castle, along with a group of noblemen, while leaving the townsfolk down to their own luck.

I found this to be an odd bag of fun, mostly thanks to Vincent Price's, who's at his scenery-chewing best. Corman's direction is also very effective and appropriate. His use of colors and light, and the whole set and production design are pretty awesome. If anything, I'd say that the story about the dwarves felt a bit out of place (I wasn't surprised to read later that it came from a separate short story).

My other complaint would be with the characters of Gino and Ludovico, both of which I don't think were that well used and executed. But the truth is that I don't even think they were needed. This film rests solely on the shoulders of Price's performance and Corman's direction. Definitely worth a watch. Grade:
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Well, I'm not here to debate what is or isn't or when or who or anything else, I'm just saying that many critics and film-scholars and random people refer to The Maltese Falcon as the official First Film Noir and the official beginning of the genre.
That's all I'm saying.
Obviously there are tons of films that were maybe heading down that path or had various elements that would later become hallmarks of the Film Noir genre, but the Falcon is the one people point to as the sort of moment when all of that came together into the actual first production model.
Don't kill the messenger.
It’s cool, man. You have the benefit of being academically correct. The term originated from French critics in the mid-40’s to describe the metamorphosis of American cinema at the time. This is why Film Noir, classically, is referred to more as an era than a genre, and is distinctly American. Other countries usually have the country preceding noir when referring to their contemporary and similar films (British Noir, French Noir, etc)

There are certainly proto-noir that would fit it as a genre and the outright and even more nebulous deluge of neo-noir in the 60’s and beyond but the classical Film Noir period begins with Maltese Falcon and ends with Touch of Evil.

Not that any of this really means anything, as eras and genres will always have a degree of messiness that can be argued with.

But High Sierra is counted as a late era gangster film and Proto-Noir in most circles.



I struggled to understand what the point of this movie was. I've seen it many times, in the theater on its release, the VHS was lying around our house when I was in college so it got watched a lot, and I revisited it maybe five years ago or so... and I just don't understand what the point of the movie was. What was it actually about? I mean it felt like there was some point to it but if that's true I still don't know what it was.
I haven't seen it, but this Letterboxd review has me curious:

Nothing more and nothing less than 130 minutes of people coming up with new ways to say that Clint Eastwood is a bad mofo.

Sounds like a description of the majority of his movies, really.



Well, I'm not here to debate what is or isn't or when or who or anything else, I'm just saying that many critics and film-scholars and random people refer to The Maltese Falcon as the official First Film Noir and the official beginning of the genre.
That's all I'm saying.
Obviously there are tons of films that were maybe heading down that path or had various elements that would later become hallmarks of the Film Noir genre, but the Falcon is the one people point to as the sort of moment when all of that came together into the actual first production model.
Don't kill the messenger.
Nothing is "official" about noir because the entire conceit is retroactively applied. No one was officially designating any of it noir at the time.


This is why Film Noir, classically, is referred to more as an era than a genre, and is distinctly American.
I fundamentally disagree. These are the kinds of asinine rules that people use to say that Hitchcock doesn't qualify as noir. Speaking of Lorre, if M and Man Who Knew Too Much don't qualify as noir, then I honestly have no idea what the coherent aesthetic is supposed to be.



Victim of The Night
So why would you watch it so often?
Well, back in the late 80s/early 90s, you could only watch movies you actually had in your possession (unless you happened to catch something on cable). So you could drag your ass to the video-store and spend an hour choosing a movie (which we did sometimes) or you watched the movies you actually had lying around over and over. A lot of people from my generation have seen a bunch of movies from the VHS era a dozen times, twenty times even because it was a care-free afternoon, we had nothing else to do, and it was lying right there on the coffee-table. Well, Heartbreak Ridge was one of the movies we had lying around. Can't tell you how many times I've seen Bull Durham, Major League, and Field Of Dreams. We also had Platoon (which I think sucks but when we were only like 19 or whatever we thought it was really cool) and Apocalypse Now so I've seen those 15-20 times also. I stopped counting how many times I had seen A Nightmare On Elm Street when I hit 30 watches.