Are you living in the real world?
Oct. 13th, 2002 01:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolariI couldn't believe it when I saw it:
Mind you, I couldn't believe it. Cowboy Bebop, the best anime TV show ever with the best soundtrack ever was coming to Austin. I knew there was a movie, I knew it had been dubbed, I knew it had ben pushed back a year in the US, I knew it was getting a wide release...but...here?
I just had to get more info.
Hole cow! It really IS showing here!
Wait, maybe it's the wrong Cowboy Bebop....maybe it's some artsy movie and not the anime...
Wow.
This is it.
So I waited.
And saved.
And waited.
And I went to go see the movie.
My first words after the movie finished? "That was no 107 minutes."
And then we got to VOTE on the movie...and we were all...inspired to vote EXCELLENT.
The problem with putting an anime movie into a competitive film festival is that every movie will have film buffs...and anime movies will get the anime buffs as well. And no one is as hardcore as an anime buff. It's like releasing a velociraptor at a wiener dog convention.
Any ways, it was nice to be among anime geeks again. In front of us in line we had the snobby geek and the religious experience geek. Behind us we had the critical name-dropping geeks.
Cowboy Bebop - The Movie:
THE GOOD: Everyone gets a good scene. Spike and JEt get a great hostage situation scene, Spike gets three good fights, Jets gets a fight and some great scenes about strategy, Faye shows her vulnerable side, and Ed and Ein get to do Sleuthing the Funky way. Even Punch and Judy have an extended episode with even LESS to say (although he Punch and Judy Plushies are cute). The music is Top Notch and is Ask DNA is ever released as a video - they need to use the opening to this movie as the video. Basically, all it is is grey scaled animation of people going on with their everyday lives, all mouthing the words to the song as the credits roll. The movie does something ALL action movies should do: Breathe. The part of the movie between the two main set pieces is very quiet and introspective. Why? Because it deals with the CONSEQUENCES of the first set piece. It sits back, and digests The Story So Far. Too many action movies don't deal with consequences as they're ready for the next explosion IMMEDIATELY.
THE BAD: This is basically a two hour episode of a one-hour episode of Cowboy Bebop. After three majorly intensive sequences...the show seems stretched out and padded. These parts aren't so much "taking a breath" as it's taking a regular episode and stretching it to fit the movie. The animation in the TV series is OVA/Movie quality animation...so the movie looks just LIKE the TV series...nothing "Extra" there. The difference between "Transformers the TV Series" and "Transformers the Movie" isn't here. The music is much more pop driven than jazz driven, although it's got it's high points ("What Planet is This?!" stands out). Also, if you've seen Episodes #23-26, you know what happens to the characters, so a lot of the threat just isn't there.
THE UGLY: (1)Maybe it was the projectionist. Maybe it was a work print. Maybe it was a bad effect of the dubbing, but the movie kept switching from wonderfully open Dolby Surround Sound to Mono. Kept flipping back and forth. The volume kept sliding up and down, too. Some parts you could hear every rumble and beep. Other times, you could barely make out the dialogue. (2 - Trying not to majorly spoil) The climax to the story is resolved by a secondary character, and not a Main Character. While Jupiter Jazz II had a secondary character solve the climax, a Main Character followed up by granting the Secondary Character his last wishes. This one just ties it all up with a secondary character leaving the main characters to...well...not even mop up.(3) If any anime movie was going to go Wide Release...well...I would want it to be this one...but...well... If you've seen the first 22 episode of Bebop, it's a Wonderfully Excellent movie for Ed. If you've seen ALL of Bebop, it's a Good Movie because a lot of the suspense isn't there. If you've never seen Bebop, you're going to wonder who the Indian Guy is, or even some of the main characters. They never explain who anyone is, and just assume everyone has seen the show. You don't know who the guy feeding info to Jet is during the drive-in movie. And what is up with Ed? A wide release of this movie depends on a wide release of the episodes. Otherwise, it's going the way of Akira - a great anime movie that no one could figure out what was going on.
The solution?
Everyone go out and see the first 22 episodes of Cowboy Bebop. Everyone. Hear that America? Go get those DVDs! NOW! I'll wait!
Then, wait for Columbia Tri-Star to release the movie. Everyone in America go watch the movie.
THEN watch the last 4 episodes of Bebop.
Do it now.
This I demand.
7 out of ten stars - losing for some "stretched" pacing and for having a secondary character do the dirty work.
10/01/02 -- Further "premiere" screenings of KOHD - This month there are two more announced "premiere" screenings of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. One at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on the 12th and 13th, and one at the Austin Film Festival on the 12th. Sources: Anime News Network, Big-Big-Truck
Mind you, I couldn't believe it. Cowboy Bebop, the best anime TV show ever with the best soundtrack ever was coming to Austin. I knew there was a movie, I knew it had been dubbed, I knew it had ben pushed back a year in the US, I knew it was getting a wide release...but...here?
I just had to get more info.
Saturday, 10/12 - Westgate 11 - A - 7pm Cowboy Bebop (114 min)
Hole cow! It really IS showing here!
Wait, maybe it's the wrong Cowboy Bebop....maybe it's some artsy movie and not the anime...
Cowboy Bebop (Japan, 107 min.) REGIONAL PREMIRE
Writer: Keiko Nobumoto
Director: Shinichiro Watanabe
Producers: Masuo Ueda, Minoru Takanashi, Mashiko Minami
Based on the hugely popular animated television series by Japanese director Shinichiro Watanabe, this futuristic anime film follows a band of unlikely young vigilantes that battle terrorists wielding biological weaponry. Set On Mars in the year 2071, this masterpiece of imagination offers a visionary glimpse into the future.
Wow.
This is it.
So I waited.
And saved.
And waited.
And I went to go see the movie.
My first words after the movie finished? "That was no 107 minutes."
And then we got to VOTE on the movie...and we were all...inspired to vote EXCELLENT.
The problem with putting an anime movie into a competitive film festival is that every movie will have film buffs...and anime movies will get the anime buffs as well. And no one is as hardcore as an anime buff. It's like releasing a velociraptor at a wiener dog convention.
Any ways, it was nice to be among anime geeks again. In front of us in line we had the snobby geek and the religious experience geek. Behind us we had the critical name-dropping geeks.
Cowboy Bebop - The Movie:
THE GOOD: Everyone gets a good scene. Spike and JEt get a great hostage situation scene, Spike gets three good fights, Jets gets a fight and some great scenes about strategy, Faye shows her vulnerable side, and Ed and Ein get to do Sleuthing the Funky way. Even Punch and Judy have an extended episode with even LESS to say (although he Punch and Judy Plushies are cute). The music is Top Notch and is Ask DNA is ever released as a video - they need to use the opening to this movie as the video. Basically, all it is is grey scaled animation of people going on with their everyday lives, all mouthing the words to the song as the credits roll. The movie does something ALL action movies should do: Breathe. The part of the movie between the two main set pieces is very quiet and introspective. Why? Because it deals with the CONSEQUENCES of the first set piece. It sits back, and digests The Story So Far. Too many action movies don't deal with consequences as they're ready for the next explosion IMMEDIATELY.
THE BAD: This is basically a two hour episode of a one-hour episode of Cowboy Bebop. After three majorly intensive sequences...the show seems stretched out and padded. These parts aren't so much "taking a breath" as it's taking a regular episode and stretching it to fit the movie. The animation in the TV series is OVA/Movie quality animation...so the movie looks just LIKE the TV series...nothing "Extra" there. The difference between "Transformers the TV Series" and "Transformers the Movie" isn't here. The music is much more pop driven than jazz driven, although it's got it's high points ("What Planet is This?!" stands out). Also, if you've seen Episodes #23-26, you know what happens to the characters, so a lot of the threat just isn't there.
THE UGLY: (1)Maybe it was the projectionist. Maybe it was a work print. Maybe it was a bad effect of the dubbing, but the movie kept switching from wonderfully open Dolby Surround Sound to Mono. Kept flipping back and forth. The volume kept sliding up and down, too. Some parts you could hear every rumble and beep. Other times, you could barely make out the dialogue. (2 - Trying not to majorly spoil) The climax to the story is resolved by a secondary character, and not a Main Character. While Jupiter Jazz II had a secondary character solve the climax, a Main Character followed up by granting the Secondary Character his last wishes. This one just ties it all up with a secondary character leaving the main characters to...well...not even mop up.(3) If any anime movie was going to go Wide Release...well...I would want it to be this one...but...well... If you've seen the first 22 episode of Bebop, it's a Wonderfully Excellent movie for Ed. If you've seen ALL of Bebop, it's a Good Movie because a lot of the suspense isn't there. If you've never seen Bebop, you're going to wonder who the Indian Guy is, or even some of the main characters. They never explain who anyone is, and just assume everyone has seen the show. You don't know who the guy feeding info to Jet is during the drive-in movie. And what is up with Ed? A wide release of this movie depends on a wide release of the episodes. Otherwise, it's going the way of Akira - a great anime movie that no one could figure out what was going on.
The solution?
Everyone go out and see the first 22 episodes of Cowboy Bebop. Everyone. Hear that America? Go get those DVDs! NOW! I'll wait!
Then, wait for Columbia Tri-Star to release the movie. Everyone in America go watch the movie.
THEN watch the last 4 episodes of Bebop.
Do it now.
This I demand.
7 out of ten stars - losing for some "stretched" pacing and for having a secondary character do the dirty work.
