toji Reviews

Chasing Amy (1997)

witty, at times contrived, but loved nevertheless

[8/10 · 2 February 2006]

First of all, I am unbiased about the film maker Kevin Smith as I have both loved and loathed his work. Chasing Amy is one of his I have loved.

A mate of mine watched it for the first time and, whilst loving the charm and wit of the script had problems with the reality of the storyline. This time last week I was at a bar and began to get along very well with a beautiful young women. We danced, drank and had fun. At the end of the night I asked to catch up later for coffee to which she replied that she actually fancied one of the girls I was with and if I could tell her that she liked her. My mate was a witness and proceeded to blurt out, drunk, "Go Chase Amy" I don't like Ben Affleck. He has screen presence and obvious good looks, but in every film he is a liability because he simply cannot be convincing and plays the same guy in every film (i.e Hugh Grant) However, that's because he basically plays Holden McNeil in every film, so this was quite appropriate.

Joey Lauren Adams.... hearing her voice makes me think of Lolita. Ahem... did I just say that... I don't know if there is any element of truth in this, but having heard the rumor that the script was written for her, and that it was 'something personal to say' promotes the film immensely... on the back of a very good acting performance never the less.

Jason Lee is excellent and gets about 90% of the one liners. He is far more effective in promoting the 'relationship' between he and Holden, which speaks volumes of his comic ability.

The type of film used by Smith is appropriate and gives it that 'indie' feel, which is where this film belongs (on the shelf right next to clerks) The soundtrack is OK, touching final piece. Holden's solution to fix his own shitty life is contrived and expected before it arrives but this is rescued by the anti-climactic ending. The film should have been a tragedy and I am glad it ended that way (a threesome? please...)

Tips for anyone in love with a girl they're not with: recite Holden's speech to Alyssa in his car... it's a sure thing.

Tips for anyone in love with a girl they're with: Don't recite Holden's speech to Banky and Alyssa in his apartment... it's corny and doomed.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

A good film in retrospect

[8/10 · 26 June 2005]

Many people in the past have looked upon George Lucas' return to the Star Wars franchise with confusion. Many new fans have been won over by three simply entertaining cinematic experiences, with more characters and exotic locations than the first three installments. Episode 1 has to take most of the credit for this. Most criticism has been leveled by old hands like myself, who have held onto a false expectation that somehow 25 odd years since it's conception a story as broad in scope and complex in detail can boast the continuity of, say, a Tolkien trilogy (which were shot back to back) I have seen episode 1 now many times and find it to be very entertaining. The musical score is very good (so good it's critical pieces are reused throughout the the following two episodes) The concept of the republic, and it's capital Coruscant, show great imagination. I can understand how difficult a task it is to take the scope from a small group of rebels and then broaden it to galactic civil war. The jedi have been evolved from the mystical and largely unexplored cult of the first three releases to the para-religious servants of the republic. SFX are great, and some great work has been achieved by the stunt and fight co-ordinators. Ewan McGregor has and always will be great, although this was his weakest performance of the three (not his fault - see below) As needless as the scene was, the pod race is very cool and obviously a homage to great cinematic races of the past. The droid battle is an important scene and is also well done. Lucas would have had many sleepless nights over it. Droids are so dumb... cept artoo. Naboo royalty are very well conceived and look stunning (yes you Natalie) The story is simple yet it sometimes seems to confuse itself. You tend to go from thinking about the story and what the characters are doing to a state of thinking why did they write it that way, or they should have done something else. The basic tale is quite good and unique, and I wont go into detail as every man and his dog has seen this movie. Needless to say that this isn't exactly a tale about college fraternities or summer holiday love affair or suburban inquisition - it is a very difficult task of spreading thousands of years of history of a galactic wide government and law enforcement agency, and their ultimate doom, into three two-hour movies. Sorry, three two-hour watchable movies. Some concession must be made for the sheer size of the project.

It would be unfair to suggest that us old fans are naive though. There are some very glaring-come-annoying anomalies. Trade federation block all routes in and out of small planet (not investigated enough really) republic secretly try to end dispute (what dispute, why secretly?) Mysterious puppet master orders invasion and jedi assist royalty to escape and plead case to republic (ironic that they are asking the help of the body that tried to help them...) hindered by annoying alien creature, whose only 2 purposes in the whole saga seem to be to accidentally help them to the city of Theed and to table the vote to give executive powers to supreme chancellor. Struggle through blockade and must land at desert planet (why only tatooine, and why the answer so soon?) come across boy who likes girl who like boy (she could have her pick of billions of other eligible men but chooses to like little slaveboy) who just happens to be only human in galaxy who can race pods (never finished a race though...) just happens to have built one (how does a slave have so much money and time...) and says he will race it to get them off planet (why they didn't just slaughter Watto and take the thing is beyond me...) kid wins race beyond all odds. Gungans, with their grand (coward, retreating) army decide to battle droids after hiding for the rest of the movie. And Anakins destruction of the one ship in the fleet that controls the droid army (redundancy people, don't these trade types have a backup...) is very lame.

The rest of the movie is generally free of criticism. Many attack medichlorians and the prophecy of the chosen one. To me these criticisms are just a distraction, and I think that if the story was as attractive as, say episode 3, then things like this would probably be ignored. But that's just my opinion.

In short, I enjoyed this film when it was first released. It was entertaining and exciting to see the continuation of a story I had come to love. The barrage of negative talk from non-fans seemed to malign me somewhat but now that I have witnessed the entire opening trilogy, many times, I look back now and see that for all it's flaws the story is good, the effects are great, the score is excellent, and that sith rock!

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

The bookmark of childhood we all need...

[10/10 · 8 December 2002]

Star Wars defines "fantasy" for all children who exist as men and women. None so more evident in any Star Wars cinema premier or special.

The old Saturday morning serial, under the tutoridge of the great Akira Kurosawa, has provided now 2 generations of stellar bound dreamers of adventure a fantastic platform for release from 9-to-5, with Lucas as the pilot, to a distant galaxy far, far away where even modern politics play a role in this very appropriate, very entertaining serial mimics not only the Skywalker within each other, but the statis quo. Fiction or non-fiction, Star Wars removes the reality element from the status quo and returns us all to the child we want to be, whether it be playing with ewoks in our front garden or standing up to the local bully in the name of the Jedi.

May the force be with you

Army of Darkness (1992)

S*** Hot!!

[10/10 · 27 August 2002]

In the words of the immortal Flange, S*** Hot!!!

This film is the idol of every 13 year old male sleepover, giggles and horror. A hero that imprints his face on your psyche for years to come, so much that he appears great in the presence of great Hollywood actors of the time many years later. Ash is the hero we want to be, a pre modern Austin Powers without the visual camp but enough atmosphere to entrance the most novice of fans to the Evil Dead series.

God Bless this series, what a mix of genre! (an element of film that is severely lacking this day and age)

"I'll swollow your soul"

"Come get some"

Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995–1996)

This should be mandatory viewing for all students!!

[10/10 · 16 August 2002]

Ladies and gentlemen, 5 years ago on a great little channel here is Australia called SBS (best TV station around) a series of adds appeared before new years showing the coming of the most significant television event yet, accompanied by the choral rendition of Beethoven's 9th. The series it was previewing was Neon Genesis Evangelion, commencing January 01 1998. There was nothing but images of mecha and giant alien like creatures getting it on taliban style. I sussd it out on the web, yeah....a few kids who pilot giant robots. But to be honest, as you'll find if you go on the hunt for eva info, this was only a small element of many eva web sights. What constitutes these sites is pretty much what constitutes the evangelion saga....unrelenting, intelligence challenging, liberal society crushing religeous opposition to absolutely everything we have considered real.

To be frank this is the short version of NGE (purpose and not plot). A man called Hideaki Anno is a member of a Japanese production company called Gainax. In response to a personal tragedy that Anno experienced he and his colleagues started production on NGE. It is an emotional work bathed in jap manga necessities like mecha, humour, and big eyes. Anno's personal elements that invoked him to create the series permeates throughout the series in the guise of several children, the main characters and people of significant importance to the human race. Supporting characters serve to direct and dictate these children. The rest is made up of several years of hard research and dedication of the GAINAX team, invoking Jewish, Christian, and Apocalyptic theories (very radical for Japanese society) into thier saga.

In short, the story is about the next stage in human evolution and how humans attempt to control this...

The intention however is not a narrative fantasy, but as many EVA fans believe it is the magnum opus of a tormented man who deserves the credit for instigating, what I and many others believe to be the most inspirational and thought provoking work of ART to grace my little ol' SBS television station. The saga boasts 4 different endings that all coincide, each dealing with what the series serves to deliver, the psychological, physical, potential, and moral endings to reality and existence as we know it.

Please, for my sake, watch this series.

Akira (1988)

Trademark Manga for the Western culture

[10/10 · 23 October 2001]

Without a doubt the necessary injection of Manga culture Western audiences needed. Personal objections (or should I say appraisals) aside, Akira deconstructs the form of narrative and character development that we had all become accustomed to through Hollywood and produces a reasonably honest translation of Katsuhiro Otomo's Manga epic, with mass deletions of unnecessary characters and plot avenues. The story is complex enough to keep western audiences attention, yet simple enough to digest whilst taking in the wonderfull animation and excellent soundtrack (a collection of traditional Japanese instruments and modern day synthesised electronica that allow for elements of cinema to establish themselves for the audience) The conflict between the two main characters, Tetsuo and Kaneda is ultimately superceded by the films namesake, the mystery of the boy Akira, and as with very few films Hollywood produces it leaves it's more labour intensive thinking until the end. A delight to follow, with periods of intense action and thought provoking predictions of a neo society, one would like to think of the film as the pipe dream of one who predicted such tragic events as of September 11. Akira, whilst violent for the medium, is a lush metropolis of gang warfare, a psuedo examination into the possible, and a fantasy tale of elements long lost in modern cinema. A cool, entertaining piece littered with cult visions and awesome bikes.