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michael-dioguardi
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Uchu Senkan Yamato 2199 (2012)
Space Opera at its finest
I watched the original series, like others here. I can safely say that while this series holds true to the original, it stands alone on its own.
The animation is very good. Explosions, lasers, all the sci-fi stuff one expects and done well.
The score is another aspect I found compelling. The music was done well, with great pieces well placed to enhance the story.
Characters, this is where I believe the show really stands out. With 26 episodes characters are well developed, and not just the humans. Many of the enemy characters are given equal treatment, going so far as to show family relationships among the enemy.
Battle scenes, great stuff here. We are treated to some battles that get you excited and anxious at the same time. People die, even many characters who have been developed in the storyline.
Finally, and I know some will not like this statement, any movie containing a battleship is a great movie. The naval themes presented are right up my alley. With everything from ship designations based on naval terminology (destroyers, cruisers, aircraft carriers, etc) and line formations just like watching naval reviews. Much of the ship fighting combat scenes are based on naval warfare techniques from the days of the large capital ships combined with more modern carrier warfare.
To conclude, I have watched this series twice now, and still find it exciting to watch and the characters extremely compelling. I have only found the series with English subtitles and the speaking in the original Japanese. If one is not able to do subtitles, you might wait until a dubbed version is released.
Note, this has also been released at Starblazers 2199. The primary difference I found is calling the ship the Argo rather than the Yamato, as the original Starblazers series did. The original series also changed the names of the main characters, for example Yuki Mori was called Nova in Starblazers. I am unable to explain these changes in names other than fear that a US audience would reject characters with Japanese names and would not want to see the IJN Yamato take on a second life of space flight a mere 40 years after its actual sinking. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 plays no such games with its audience.
C'era una volta il West (1968)
My favorite "spaghetti" western
I consider this to be the greatest of Sergio Leone's westerns, commonly referred to as "spaghetti westerns". I enjoy each of the big three leading up to this: "A Fistful of Dollars", "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". But this is his best of them. The story, the music, the gritty realism all make for one of the best movies ever made.
The snippets of Harmonica's memories brings the audience closer and closer just as Frank is brought closer and closer to the final realization of how the past has finally caught up to the present in order for justice to be served.
Everything else is unimportant in the end, as it comes down to the final confrontation. Cheyenne's death confirms my belief in the irrelevancy of everything else.
This is a must see not just for lovers of the western genre, but for movie lovers in general.