Once is really, really fantastic. I'd heard about when it was first released in '07 but never had the opportunity to check it out.
My interest was peaked when I found out it was a film about music! Some of you might not know, but, I love music.

I came across the dvd today. And for a real bargain too: $9.99. I took a chance.I was not disappointed. I rarely am, actually.

The story, put simply, is about a friendship that grows out of two strangers love of playing music. They come across each other one night in Dublin. The lead male character, "Guy", performs with his guitar on the streets for money. He doesn't need the extra money necessarily, his main source of income comes from him repairing vacuum cleaners at his dad's shop. He performs because he loves it. The female lead, "Girl",who cleans houses for a living and lives with her mom and daughter, just so happens to hear one of his own original songs one night and from there decides to inquire more about him. She's a musician, too, he discovers, who plays the piano.
They take an interest in each other, at first, musically and decide to collaborate on some songs. From then on the relationship grows, beyond just music, and they start becoming a part of each others lives.

The film has very real and very natural performances by the "actors". They're not professional actors. They're musicians first, which is why the music works so well in the film, who the director himself knew and asked to be apart of the project.

They do a spectacular job for persons who have never acted in a film before.
Granted, a lot of the scenes they're just playing music together, so, I guess, they didn't really need to act so much.

The scenes that do involve music are probably some of the most convincing moments I've seen captured on film that involve the process of writing and rehearsing songs. I have some experience with this process myself. Other "music" movies tend to skip over these creative moments in songwriting. Or if they do try and show it it always seems too fake (it is, of course) or rushed. Case in point: the recent film, Cadillac Records. Horrible, horrible movie.

Once rushes nothing. It's a slow boil, but in the best possible way. It's great! Did I mention that?
It's not hokey, fake, or formulaic at all. This is why the film is so good.

I recommend anyone who likes good movies to check this one out. It's bloody brilliant!



Also: If you want to know about another great film that has to do with music bringing strangers together to form beautiful friendships, check out The Visitor. Also on dvd now.

Richard Jenkins, the star, was nominated for an oscar for his performance.

(Don’t worry, reader, no spoilers in this one.)

Coraline is a great picture that hits all the right chords with this viewer. It’s tender, funny, and even a little creepy at times. Everything about it is quality entertainment: good story, good characters, great performances, a fantastic soundtrack (None of that radio Disney crap), and really, really exquisite character designs. Everybody looks totally unique. And hilarious, too.

My favorite looking character, personally, is Mr. Bobinsky.

And when you’re watching this film, you have to sit in awe of the quality stop motion and the work that must of went into it. Stop motion has a unique and beautiful aesthetic of its own that you don’t see too much anymore in our modern 3D animation saturated films. We’re lucky to have directors like Henry Selick who are still driven to pursue this obscure kind of filmmaking. Keep up the good work, Henry!

Bottom line: I really liked this movie, and suspect it will be mentioned later this year as one of my favorite films of 2009. It’s certainly one of the more novel, entertaining, and surprisingly mature children’s films, outside of the Pixar ones, I’ve seen in recent years. No fart jokes whatsoever. If you haven’t watched it yet, do yourself a favor a check it out right after you’re done reading my review. Seriously. Do it.

Now I bought the blu-ray version of Coraline, and it looks exquisite! The 2D version I mean. The overall subdued color palette is accurate to what I remember seeing in the theater, and the same goes for the picture’s sharpness, as well. You’ll marvel at all the little details you can make out in their clothes and in the background sets. WOWZA! It looks as good, if not better than the other fairly recent HD release stop motion picture, Corpse Bride, and totally annihilates the picture quality of Nightmare Before Christmas (directed by Mr. Selick, too). I thought the picture on the Nightmare blu-ray was a little underwhelming, myself. Granted, though, that is a much older film.

Buying this blu-ray also gave me the opportunity, for the first time, to experience a 3D picture at home. This is the version I watched first, and I have some mixed feelings about this “3D presentation”: on the plus side, the picture was much more 3Dimensional than I had anticipated. I was genuinely surprised at how well the illusionary effect was rendered on this disc, almost as good as the 3D picture I experienced at the moviehouse in February of this year. However, I was a little disappointed that throughout the entire movie it looked like a semi-transparent sheet of pink and green was covering the picture. This multicolor sheen is due to the fact that the 3D glasses that come with it, 4 pairs to be specific, have a red violet lens on the right side and a green one on the left side. Unavoidable, I guess, but still a little distracting. At least the 3D didn’t cost extra, but, if pressed, I definitely prefer the 2D version.

As far as special features go, this disc delivers again. There’s a very nice 35-minute “making of” feature, a short look into the casting and the recording of the vocal performances, and extended and deleted scenes. That’s about it. Adequate.

Note to reader: This is a review of the dvd of the 1986 animated film, not the manga or animated tv series.

The movie:
I first saw this movie in the early 90's when I was a little kid and, up until watching this particular film, all I knew of animation was what I was getting from Disney and Saturday morning cartoons. Kids stuff. Fist of the North Star was an awaking. You might even say it was a rude awakening, or even a bloody awakening. I didn't know that they made cartoons with cursing and gore and violence. But these so called "adult" elements only made me want to continue watching it even more. I thought the movie was awesome from the start.
This movie is ridiculous. And I mean that in the best possible way. It's action entertainment at its best. This film even claims, at least on the cover, to be "the most violent, action packed animated film of all time". I don't know if this claim is entirely true but the movie is pretty damn violent. It has a lot of obscenely muscular dudes beating the crap out of bad guys with only their fists, causing the heads, chests, and limbs of said bad guys to explode in an orgy of blood, guts and bone. Its even got men stabbing people not with knives or swords, but with their fingers. That's right, with their fingers. This kind of stuff appeals to my id.
Another way of describing The Fist of the North Star is that it falls under the category of being so bad it's good. I like this category, personally. It's got bad voice acting, bad dialogue, bad drawings, very limited animation in some (most) parts, and it's very 80's. The 80's, as some of you might know, is now regarded as a sort of social stigma from which many are trying to ignore and forget. I don't have that obligation because I didn't grow up in the 80's.
I don't feel it really necessary to go into specifics about the plot because I don't really remember this movie for its story. Just know that it touches on many themes and plot devices that we're all familiar with: "good vs. evil", "love", "betrayal", "lust for power", and "the children are our future". Nothing new under the sun. Although, I will mention this, this film does have somewhat of an atypical and surprising ending which possesses a bit of an emotional punch for me. It's very touching in a way.
So if you like exaggerated, unrealistic, obscene, bloody violence, if you love the ridiculous, if you adore crap, good crap, check out Fist of the North Star. In stores on dvd, finally, now!

The dvd/ blu-ray:
This won't take long to write about because there really isn't a lot to write about in regards to special features. It's got character profiles, image gallery, and some trailers. That's it. Nothing really intriguing to me personally, but I didn't buy the dvd for the special features.
The image quality looked surprisingly good for a 23 year old animated film that probably, at least in the western part of the world, not a lot of people know or care about. I wonder how many final prints of the film survived the last nearly three decades? I didn't notice any signs of age, there's no dust or scratches to be found. The audio itself sounds a little dated but that's because it is dated. Overall, though, a solid and pleasing aesthetic experience.

Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler was one of my favorite films of 2008. I first saw it in theaters in early January and have been anticipating its release on dvd/blu-ray since. And now it's finally here! Here's what I thought of it.
The movie:
Mickey Rourke! That's all you gotta say. You can't talk about this movie without mentioning what a tremendous performance he gives as the films protaganist Randy "The Ram" Robinson. His acting alone is reason enough to watch it. I hear that before Rourke signed on that Nicholas Cage was gonna play "The Ram", which seemed to me to be an odd decision, but, luckily for us, that never happended. Probably for the best. Part of this movies appeal was that it was being heralded as Rourke's big comeback into the picture business. Who doesn't like a comeback, right? Some of the films plot has to do with the potential for a comeback. But I'm not gonna spoil anything for readers who haven't seen The Wrestler yet. Just know that it's a very solid piece of work, compelling, brutal, but also tender, and heartbreaking as well. The good kind of heartbreak, you know? All the good qualities great movies should have. The Wrestler is my second favorite Aronofsky film next to The Fountain.
My only criticism is that I wanted more. There's a secondary plot involving "The Ram" and his daughter that I would have liked to have been fleshed out a little more. Oh, well. Be happy with what you got.
The dvd/blu-ray:
Now, I bought the blu-ray myself , but I'm pretty positive that the dvd and blu-ray of The Wrestler are indentical in regards to special features. The picture quality itself, on the blu-ray, I believe, holds true to how the film was shot and how it looked in theaters. It's a very grainy movie so don't expect a clean pristine picture like you'd see on a pixar or spiderman dvd/blu-ray. Sharpness varies from scene to scene somewhat but, again, the movie was probably shot this way. The finest detail can be seen in close up shots of faces, bloody wounds, and bare butts. Of which there are many. I'm talking about butts, of course. As far as the colors go I didn't see any discrepancies from what I remember in the theater. They're not to dull, not to over saturated either. Granted, my television has not been professionally calibrated, so you might have some different impressions regarding the visuals of the disc itself when you watch the blu-ray in your home.
As far as special features go I found this disc to be a little bit lacking. There are 3 special features. Just three? You get a music video of Bruce Springsteen's theme song "The Wrestler", not HD! A roundtable discussion of former professional wrestlers talking about the movie and wrestling, not HD! Seeing a trend yet? Then finally you get, and this was the only feature I found worth a damn, a 43 minute making of documentary. It's actually pretty good. Oh, yeah, NOT HD!!!!
If only blu-rays had something more to offer that would separate them from their dvd counterparts. But I guess blu-ray isn't profitable enough, as of now, to warrant that kind of special attention from the studios. What a ripoff! Just kidding. Or am I?