Tag: animation

  • Yu Aoi Film Discussion – Tekkonkinkreet

    Let’s start with what the film is about:
    Tekkon Kinkreet is an animated film adaptation of the Black and White manga series by Taiyou Matsumoto, directed by Michael Arias (Animatrix). The name of the film is a pun on “Tekkin Concrete”, the Japanese term for reinforced concrete. It tells the story of two street kids, tough Kuro (Black) and innocent Shiro (White) living in a fictional city known as Treasure Town, a city that is filled with crooks and the yakuza.

    Genre: Animation, Drama, Comedy, Action with violence.
    With the voices of: Kazunari Ninomiya, Yu Aoi, Yusuke Iseya, Kankuro Kudo
    Duration: nearly 2hrs

    Spoilers ahead! Of the film and manga~~~

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  • Oscar 2009: Best Short Films Animated Nominees

    I finally got to see Tsumiki no Ie (or La Maison en Petits Cubes)!! This year’s Academy Award-winning animated short~~~ I remember I had only read the synopsis, after watching all the other four nominated shorts, and thought “Wow, that’s a pretty interesting write-up. I’m giving it my vote” and then it WON. Woohoo!

    Well, perhaps it was just chance~~ After watching it, I feel it was very deserving. To tell you the truth, I’m a little tired of 3d animation, so watching this was like a breath of fresh air. It’s a quiet little piece that explores the memories of an old man that was forced to ‘bury’ part of his history… I liked it. It made me feel very melancholic~~ NO dialogue… though I’ve read the Japanese version has a voiced-over version (by Masami Nagasawa… which surprised me a little.) – However, I don’t think the piece needs narration~~~

    Check out the shorts after the break,
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  • Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature Nominees – Part II

    For Part I of this post, click away~~

    Okay, today is not really early either… but this will have to do because I only have 3 years to go. In case you haven’t read the first part, or are lazy to read it now that I’ve given you the link… I got a little mad remembering films that should have won in years past~~ which include Tekkonkinkreet, and/or Paprika getting nominations in 2006 (or 2007, pick your release date issue).

    So just after the break, I will be talking about 2005, 2007 and 2008…

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  • Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature Nominees – Part I

    Most often than not, there’s a lack of foreign films in the Animated Feature (and in any other) field~ So how many times must we pass over great animation (not only for kids) to open our eyes? I started out with a qucik search for 2006 released animation (because I was discussing that year with a friend), but that didn’t do anything except make me skim through an article stating that “2006 was a great year for animation” – NOT! That there were 2 or 3 animated (3d CG) films each months totaling more than a dozen films of pretty much crappy quality… and if they were lucky they were worth a straight-to-dvd release is NOT a great year for animation. That just makes it a great year for movie business…

    2006 was the year I began hating 3d animation, because everyone seemed to be releasing their 3d films JUST to cash in.

    I ended up at the Academy Awards site to search all animated films nominated since the category began in 2001 with Shrek (the original not sequels) won. I also ended up on IMDb and their ‘Power Search’ tool to search for animated films with feature releases from the year.

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  • Some more YAM

    It’s V-day, so my non-V-day gift to all of you it’s more YAM. Yup, 2nd issue is done.

    YAM - Issue 2

    Featuring Coraline, which opened this past Thursday here in Lima (only dubbed). We are also taking on Best Picture Nominees, and our picks that shoulda been BP. We are also talking about Duncan Sheik, Melinda Doolittle, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Lee-Hom Wang, Franz Ferdinand… and many other reviews!

    Now, if you’re ready~~~ head over here to get it.

  • BAFTA Winners 2009

    Paving the way to Oscar… BAFTA were just handed out~~ My private predictions weren’t too far off, scoring 15/20… considering this is my first BAFTA prediction, I think I did ok~~

    Slumdog got 7 out of the 11 nods it had, including Best Film, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Score – Benjamin Button didn’t leave empty handed either (finally!, lol) – It took home 3 out of 11 nods, all in technical categories such as Best Visual Effects, Makeup and Production Design (which is Art Direction).

    Kate Winslet pushes forward as the favorite in the  Best Actress for winning for The Reader, Heath… well, like, is that a surprise anymore? I’m sure a lot of America will tune into Oscar night to see Heath winning. And Penelope Cruz pushes forward for an Oscar win as Supporting Actress for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona – and well, Mickey Rourke~~~ MAN, that’s a tough one to call. Sean or Mickey?

    Animation was a tough category, WALL-E ended up victorious against AWESOME animated films, Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir, which also lost Best Foreign Film against I’ve Loved You So Long (Il y a Longtemps que Je t’Aime)

    Read the whole list of winners here.

  • BAFTA Nods 2009!

    Well, well~ I think I wasn’t too far off with my Oscar nod predictions with some BAFTA nominations. Biggest surprise? Kate Winslet competing against herself for Best Actress with The Reader and Revolutionary Road. Also… GREATEST thing in the world??? Best Animated Film with AMAZING nominees~~~ WALL-E, Waltz with Bashir & Persepolis! Persepolis was released in 2007, and it was up for an Oscar last time, but it gets to be nominated for a BAFTA, so  I am happy~~~ No Bolt around~~ AWESOME.

    And~~~ Son of Rambow is up for The Carl Foreman Award (given to the British director, writer and/or producer for their first feature film). Anyway~~ who’s leading? Of course it’s Slumdog Millionaire with 11 nods, also leading… The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with 11.

    And no worries… Anne Hathaway and Melissa Leo were probably overlooked because it’s likely their films hasn’t opened in the UK… they haven’t even been seen much in the US.

    For the full list of nominees, go here~ Check back the comments for future quickie predictions.

  • Testing my Luck on Oscar Nom Predictions~

    I NEVER EVER do nomination predictions… and considering my Golden Globes winner predictions, consider this attempt of mine at predicting a bit rubbish.

    Oscar nominations are in about 9 days… and BAFTA nominations are in 2 days. O.O

    With that said, I also found another problem… not knowing what films are considered withing the date range, so I am ONLY using films that are listed on IMDb as 2008 productions.

    Also, I’m predicting almost all categories, including technical awards like Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects – except Documentary Short, Short Film Animated, Short Film Live Action… because I haven’t seen any shorts. Also no prediction on Documentary Feature. Is Man on Wire a lock on that???

    Here I go… predictions after the break~~~

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  • It’s Xmas, and I’m already late~~

    , but need to share this. LOL’

    yam001_dec08-cover

    Thank you, Nate… for poking my eyes on the voodoo dolls you’ve got stash away. Yes, we’ve done YAM. Please, help yourself to some YAM for Xmas over here…

    Hope you enjoy.

  • Dango San Kyou Dai

    When I watched Memories of Matsuko, there was one scene when Matsuko’s life was already going to the gutters, she was lying on the garbage bags, and she was watching TV. I immediately recognized the song as an Okaasan to Issho song… today I decided to look for it, and found it!

    Okaasan to Issho 1999 song, at first I thought it was a Takoyaki Mambo song, but I was lucky enough to find it on a website listing all the songs. Video and Romaji after the break!
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