Dragon Ball Z Uncensored

[Spamdini]

Golly gee, it's been a while. How is everyone doing?

I only saw 6 Fantasia movies this year because I've been making an effort to see the sun more in the precious few summer months we have. Heh heh just kidding, it's because I've been going to Just For Laughs and playing lots of D&D and stuff. Here's tiny reviews of what I did see.

Playing Hard (Canada)
** (out of five)

A pretty dry and boring documentary about the making of the Ubisoft game "For Honor", which already loses marks for not being spelled "For Honour" those heretics of Canadian English! What could have had an interesting narrative about the lead designer being an obsessive auteur with a grand vision and an overbearing personality gets thrown on the back burner as it ends up just becoming the story of a bunch of non-descript French-Canadian white dudes making games. In the end, the lead designer feels alienated from the very passion project that he had been trying to make for decades and he leaves the company. Do we see why? No, we just hear him whine at the end about how no one likes him and how he doesn't feel welcome, losing what chance we had at an interesting story hook. Maybe Ubisoft made the documentary makers cut stuff out that made them look less favourable, but that would just mean that the staff making this movie was toothless.

If you have interest in the industry maybe it would be interesting to see a glimpse into its inner workings, but otherwise hard to recommend.



Mega Time Squad (New Zealand)
*** 1/2

Continuing the New Zealand comedy tradition of having overly polite and awkward people doing polite and awkward things, Mega Time Squad has a small time crook from a podunk town getting in trouble with his boss over stealing money behind his back, but he manages to turn the tables thanks to a mystical Chinese artifact that lets him travel back in time a few seconds and paradoxically team up with himself multiple times. A lot of the humour stems from the fact that in spite that he is up against what is supposed to be the toughest gang in town, they still remain quirky and lame all the same. The protagonist also learns to be more confident thanks to his magical help, but is forced to do even deeper personal reflection when he is tasked with manning up even without it. Cute and fun and a bit of over-the-top gore for good measure.



The Travelling Cat Chronicles (Japan)
****

Based off of the book by the same name, The Travelling Cat Chronicles tells the story of a cat-lover driving around Japan and reconnecting with old friends in order to find a home for his cat whom he can no longer take care of. As he meets his old pals, we delve into his past as well as why he can't take care of this little guy anymore. The cat's internal narration is funny, and provides a nice counter-balance for the sincerely touching drama that doesn't fall into the usual eye-rolling melodrama that Japanese movies are known for. I won't say much more other than the fact that several people were audibly crying during the final act. This old softy was on the verge of tearing up too.



Violence Voyager (Japan)
*** 1/2

Shot in Geki-mation (hand drawn cutouts that are moved around like puppets while voiced over by actors), it's a style that will either intrigue or annoy the hell of out you (my partner couldn't get past the trailer). It's obvious from the title of the movie and from the marketing materials that it's a pretty fucked up movie, but Violence Voyager plays it pretty straight for the first twenty minutes with two boys setting out on a summer day to explore the woods before they descend into body horror territory. Goes on a bit long and is particularly, and perhaps unnecessarily, merciless towards the pre-teen cast of characters, but the art style is demented enough that you don't feel too horrible for them. After all, one of the kids starts off looking like his head is made of bubble wrap. If you can get past the animation style, then I'd recommend it.


Body Melt (Australia)
**

An early 90's body horror movie about an evil pharmaceutical company putting out dietary supplements that are killing people in bizarre ways. Not a whole lot to say other than the fact it is influenced by much better horror movies and commits the rather grievous sin of being wacky and camp but kinda boring at the same time. Soundtrack was pretty dope though, sounding like vintage John Carpenter mixed with 90's Euro dance.


Five Fingers of Death AKA King Boxer (Hong Kong)

***

A classic 70's Shaw Brothers kung fu action movie about a man learning martial arts to enter and win a tournament. In the meantime, he must deal with treachery courtesy of a rival school and a jealous student, fighting a hard headed wanderer and a trio of dastardly Japanese along the way. With a plot that is surprisingly gripping for a Shaw Brothers movie (who definitely use a paint-by-numbers approach for a lot of their works), the action itself is only OK. Not the top tier of the genre, but enjoyable.



That's it for this year. Hope everyone is having a fun summer too and let's all stay in touch!

<3
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[Spamdini]

And a return to a classic!
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[Ryoko's Biatch]

I didn't know that they showed old movies at Fantasia. I should probably look up Five Fingers of Death at some point.

It's good to see that you are doing well, friend.

[Spamdini]

They usually play a few, and almost always a classic kung fu movie. Fantasia is the place where I originally saw Troll 2.

And you as well sir!
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[Fagzilla]

Spamdini...chan....

[Spamdini]

:3
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