Reviews

Don't know why I'm surprised when an old silent movie is so good. Perhaps it's because the difference in the style and experience between it and modern cinema. Have patience. One trick is to watch half an hour at a time.

The excellent and appropriately morose soundtrack of The Phantom Carriage begins with a solemn drumbeat which goes on too long though later you understand it is as it should be. The story features a man taking terrible wrong turns in life, a woman with delusional hope and a mysterious spirit who collects ... I watched a poor-quality version of this film on YouTube. There are other streaming channels that have the movie for free, but they were all missing some key feature such as; no soundtrack, no subtitles, or no colored tinting e.g. Dark blue film tinting to indicate night. The murky video on YT made the story hard at times to follow. In the end, all was understood. The preview here on IMDB looks much better than what I watched. I'm guessing it's from the Blu-Ray. Strangely the online version, poor as it was, seems to have added to the gloomy ambience. No matter. Watch and beware of THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE.

Nine disagreeable Britons representing different social/economic classes are mysteriously transported to a place with a door. As they wait for the door to open, we get to know them better. Eventually the door opens, and they go explore a city which the audience never sees. T The idea is that post WW2, England should become a more fair and equitable society with people who treat each other well. When the characters find themselves in such a city they have different reactions. It's interesting how some of the selfish ones try to emotionally drag those who want to live in the city back to their miserable lives. There is an episode involving a mother and daughter that is very similar to an episode in C. S. Lewis' novel "The Great Divorce" written 12 years later. It made me wonder if Mr. Lewis ever saw the film. Note: "They Came To A City" is similar to watching a stage play. At only 66 minutes long it's worth a look.

The delightful "Choppy and the Princess" aka "Princess Knight" (English dub on Crunchyroll), tells the story of a princess who is raised as a prince by her parents, the king and Queen, since no girl can become ruler in their medieval country. Two members of the court, one who sounds a like W. C. Fields the other who wants his own son to gain the throne, are always trying to prove the prince is a girl which you'd think would be easy since she has such a high chipper voice thanks to Carole Wyand.

Princess Knight is brave and takes on all challengers including dragons, soldiers, thieves, and even supernatural beings. While she is aided by her horse and a not so helpful angel named Choppy, what is remarkable compared to modern anime heroes is that she has no magical or super powers. She fights with her own strength and sword skills and sometimes loses, at first.

The animation and soundtrack have a nostalgic style reminiscent of old Disney movies and Silly Symphonies. The episodes are fun and aimed at children under 11. Parents can enjoy it with their children.

Whenever a sci-fi story builds a world in which the story takes place, the viewer expects that world to remain relatively consistent. This is not what happens in "Prime Rose" aka "A Time Slip of 10,000 years: Prime Rose." It'll make you wonder things like "Where did those giant cockroaches come from?" and "Why in the heck is he leaving?" There are plenty of things in this anime movie that don't make sense. On the other hand, the bad guy is interesting. It's a demon who's sole purpose is to get the only two groups in the world to war with each other but he only shows up halfway into the film.

The animated illustrations are typical for that time period. Despite its faults and plot holes, Prime Rose is an OK time-killer. Not every film has to be a classic.

AKA: Ryoko's Case Files. Ryoko is a narcissistic, attractive redhead who manipulates and irritates her colleagues and the criminals she encounters. She does nothing unless it's for her benefit or advances the case. Ryoko and her kowtowing, though good in a pinch, sidekick Izumida, often end up in violent encounters. Some of the dangers are created by Ryoko herself due to her recklessness. On the other hand she is gifted at solving complex cases and fighting. The moral is: Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. We can only put corruption on temporary hold.

This is not an anime for kids. The animation and Japanese voice acting are done right for this series. The stories have some unrealistic-even in it's world, flaws but this unique series is worth watching and sticking with to the last bullet.

This is a fictionalized story is based on a manga and is not meant to be historically accurate. The first exciting 15 minutes of the movie made me think it was a war film. Instead it is a tale of a mathematician, who 9 years before the battle, tried heroically to prevent a money wasting battleship from being built for Japan's pre-WW2 navy instead of a carrier built on behalf of the forward thinking General Yamamoto.

The attack on the battleship at the beginning was well done and exciting. The main character ,played by Masaki Suda, gives an award-winning quality performance. The rest of the cast is good as well. Watching it in the original Japanese will better reflect their performances. There are some not so believable elements that you'll need to put aside in order to better enjoy the film. The final act has a poignant and surprising twist.

So, I'm a Spider, So What? (anime series 24 episodes.) A classroom full of high school students are killed by a bomb and reincarnated into another world. All are reincarnated as humans except for a dragon, an elf, and a big Spider who is the main character. The spider begins in a labyrinth while the others find themselves in a kingdom that looks to be from the middle ages.

The show is best when focused on the adventures of the spider who is hilarious, and less so when focused on the others who are being trained for conflict. In the final episodes, the show takes the course of all-out war and a final conflict. Though not a cliffhanger, it does setup future adventures. The end theme for the first dozen shows is a hoot!

(Watched on Crunchyroll) What would be like if your mad scientist sister had slipped you a mickey.(i.e. Given you a drugged drink without your knowledge) which then turned you from a loafing deadbeat, 20-year-old man into a middle-school aged girl? The thing is, your sister has watched you become a friendless, lonely, purposeless gamer. So, she decided to shake things up, ethics be damned!

Thus the story begins with Mahiro waking up and discovering his new physical situation as a girl in early adolescence. Each episode deals with a new situation a young girl that age must deal with as well as how Mahiro with his social anxiety deals with it. Over the series with a lot of gentle pushing by his sister Mihari, Mahiro's life gets better. It's a very cute and funny series for middle school age and up. This 12 episode anime and is similar to the 8 volume manga, though the manga version contains additional characters and information and I believe is worth getting. The show ends very sweetly and will leave a smile on your face The animation is very good, the dialogue, episode plots and voice acting are delightful. I had read the manga series three times before watching the anime and wasn't sure if the anime would be as good. It was.

Taking placed in and around Britain and Ireland, the old master in perhaps his final presentation, avidly narrates alongside views of exquisite wildlife footage in this 5 episode series, showing us the remaining pockets of land and water which are home to remarkable animals. This series on wildlife is as fascinating as any that have come out of more exotic locations. Britain or Ireland could build a zoo just showing these local creatures and it would be a smash.

Sadly, we are reminded that due to human encroachment, pollution, farming runoff, overfishing, few such areas remain and the population of the various species examined have dropped up to 90% in recent years. Hopefully though unlikely, these trends will be reversed.

PT09 was released 6 months prior to JFK's horrific assassination in Dallas. While there are some good action scenes as the PT base being strafed and bombed by Japanese fighter planes. The director does little in way of building suspense or revealing Kennedy's Charisma other than Robertson smiling a lot and refusing to give up. But this is shown in such a banal manner, without deep emotion or intensity. Instead of "War is hell" PT109 is more like "War is unpleasant'. Kennedy is treated too reverently. If you want to see a movie that better expresses Kennedy's strengths , leadership style, and profound insights I highly recommend "Thirteen days" which is about the Cuban Missile crises which came dangerously close to starting a nuclear war.

I watched this on YouTube. Thanks to whoever posted it.

Sometimes I wonder what the reviews of a movie would be if the viewers saw the movie and didn't know who directed it or weren't familiar with any of the actors. Would the reviews be as good or does a movie with a famous director or actor get a bump to a higher rating?

"Wild Strawberries" was such a film for me as one who didn't know the actors and knew little of the director and his work except what I read in an old "Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide".

Review: The film is very good with wonderful; acting, storyline, dialogue and diverse characters, each going through his or her own bleak ordeal. Despite the gloominess, the film ends on an upbeat note. So if you are unfamiliar with director Ingmar Bergman or Swedish actors from the 1950s, "Wild Strawberries" is well worth watching.(Warning: This movie contains no superheroes, literal or figurative.)

"Bagel Girl" originated in Korea and refers to a sexy woman with a very youthful face.

Bong-gi is an obese and clumsy young man with very low self esteem. He has no friends and does not stand up for himself when mistreated at work. One day he wakes up to find that his body is that of a beautiful and curvy young lady. He has no idea what's going on.

Girl Bong-gi quits her awful job and meets the sister of a former friend. The sister seems well on her way to alcoholism. (FYI, FDA recommends no more than 3 drinks a day 7 drinks a week for women and 14 a week for men.) She concludes that Bong-gi had a sex change and so shows Bong-gi the ropes at being a girl. Those episodes are well done and humorous. It's when the series becomes a murder mystery things go downhill.

It could have been good, but the characters do things that make no sense, just like in a bad slasher movie. No one calls the police, opportunities to fight back or at least struggle are not taken, people announce themselves to the bad guy before attacking which of course leads to failure. Obvious clues are missed or not followed up on. Secrets aren't spoken. I don't want to give it away but in the final 5 or so episodes, people just act stupidly. It got so maddening, I fast forwarded through two episodes. The final episode is OK but it doesn't show what happens with the female lead.

In this series and one titled "Kiss Him, Not Me", the overweight characters are given a weird low somewhat mumbly "fat person" voice. Of course there's no such thing. Overweight people talk like everyone else. I hope this type of voice is left behind.

The animation art is good and you may like it, but I'd recommend the comedy anime "Magical Sempai" instead.

I was a young man in the first year in my new career after college when the challenger exploded. It was heartbreaking. There was a teacher being shown standing next to a TV set showing the even to her grade school class. After the shuttle exploded she burst into tears and was unconsciously hitting the old style tv set. Thirty two years later I came across Challenger on some obscure channel while channel surfing during a Sunday football game-break.

Challenger is not a great film. But it is a good one. The acting is solid. The story about whether to launch or not, the astronauts and their families were portrayed well. In retrospect you wonder how anyone would have considered launching with all that ice. And . It brought back the memories and feelings of those sad days. I'm very glad they didn't show the explosion. Challenger was about the people. As the crew was about to lift off, each astronaut was shown in the shuttle, voicing over lines from John Magee's poem "High Flight". The final verse of that poem is: "Up, up the long, delirious burning blue I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace Where never lark, or ever eagle flew - And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod The high un-trespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."

This overly optimistic Japanese musical was made during WW2. It takes place in a happy village and features a couple engaged to be married. The movie seems to made for 8-year old's though it's probably indicative of what people were allowed to watch back then. Despite it's lightheartedness, there is a non-graphic bombing scene though the village is not targeted. In addition, a man is drafted into the Japanese military which knowing the war's outcome, comes off as rather grim. Hanako-San can be seen on YouTube. The video quality is not good, but I sort of liked this silly propaganda film. Thanks to the lady who voluntarily added English subtitles and uploaded the film.

A cameraman takes film of everyday life in Russian cities during the Soviet era. There is no sound or music at all. He does some experimental filming and editing and even shows an audience watching and reacting to his film. However, most shots are straightforward and often we see a cameraman and his camera in the foreground.

I wouldn't say this movie is revolutionary or even very innovative for that time (except in Russia where they may not have had access to foreign films). There were far greater innovations in earlier movies. Think of Harold Lloyd hanging from a clock far above the street in "Safety Last" (1923), the science fiction of "Metropolis" (1927), all the stunts and remarkable shots in Buster Keaton's "The General" (1927) , or the bizarre story and innovative look of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1919). "Man with a Movie Camera" (1929) is slight in comparison and dull to watch.

Comical Psychosomatic Medicine (English name for series) - This is a 5 minute per, 20-episode comedy Japanese language with English subtitles anime. It has two main characters, psychologist Ryou and nurse Asuna. Each episode covers a different psychosomatic issue like depression. The dialogue alternates between explaining mental health issues and crazy, sexually charged, politically incorrect, remarks and antics (Ok for 13 and up). Sometimes an episode contains reasonable explanations and suggestions on how to handle things like anxiety. The explanation of SSRI's (antidepressants) using the example of a hostess club is cleverly done. But I wouldn't take too much stock with its advice. In short this it's silly, it's crazy, it's a little naughty, and it's fun.

I recall enjoying the original eco-challenge races back in the 90s and wondered what ever happened to it. Luckily it showed back up on Amazon Prime and they did a great job showing teams from around the world along with their struggles, mistakes, failures, and triumphs. Featured, among others, are teams from New Zealand, India, Spain, Fiji, Canada, and several from the US.

The race was 699 kilometers/416 miles through the jungles, hills, rivers and over the oceans in and around Fiji. This island is part of Oceania and about 2000km/1300 miles north of New Zealand.

Each team must have one person from each gender. The Indian team had twin sisters in the group with their dad as a member of the support team. Another team consisted of people in their 60s. Often there is a special reason for wanting to participate in the race such as providing inspiration for a certain group or in several cases to race with a family member. One group raced with a member who suffers from an eventual terminal condition. At the end of episode 10 a dedication is made to one of the participants who was featured regularly during the show who had died in early 2021.

Watching these athletes race all day and most of the night and get 2 hours sleep if that much, then come to their breaking point and either finish or bow out was dramatic and inspiring. I felt a great deal of respect for all who participated. Bear Grylls does an excellent job as narrator and host. The scenery was great while the weather alternated from from hot and humid to torrential downpour. If you need some inspiration and adventure, Eco-Challenge Fiji fits the bill.

Koro Sensei Quest! Is a lighthearted, chibi (i.e. Small characters) version of the excellent and uplifting 'Assassination Classroom', KSQ is better enjoyed after watching it. There are 12 episodes, each about ten minutes long. It has the same characters and English voice actors. Koro Sensei is the Demon King and is training the magic students to defeat him. It's all in silly good fun and I enjoyed it more the second time through.

After reading the book 'American Messiahs' by Adam Morris which devoted several chapters to Father Divine, I was pleased to discover this recently made documentary which tells the story of this self-proclaimed God and his movement. Father Divine's followers are called Angels and there are less than 20 or so left, all elderly. They currently are living together in an enormous estate. During its heyday in the 1930s, Divine's movement had tens of thousands of obedient followers and many fans.

During the great depression he would hold weekly 'communions' where everyone who came was fed at no cost. He was a proponent of positive thinking and didn't believe in race. This resulted in 15% of his congregation being white during a time when few, if any, churches and groups were integrated. This was a communal religious group where members lived together and shared what they earned. They were commissioned by Father Divine to work hard, not complain, and be positive.

'Father's Kingdom' is a comprehensive, fascinating, and fair documentary that is well worth watching. It's always a pleasure to learn about an important historical character and movement that you've never heard of before. It's also a breath of fresh air when you compare him to other cult and even mainstream religious groups lead by Jim Jones, David Koresh, etc., with their suicides, murders, tragedies, and child abuse.

There are many interviews with the few remaining devotees, as well as, historical films and interviews with current historians and civil rights leaders. A museum is also being created. Father's Kingdom does not neglect negative aspects of the movement, like celibacy and the breaking up of the nuclear families that joined. However, the remaining followers seem genuinely happy. When you find yourself asking "How can they believe that he is God or that they will physically never die?" even though Divine died in 1965? Answer: just look at the news and you'll find people believing without evidence all sorts of things with unwavering devotion and illogical rationalizations. Cult-like thinking is all around us. Is it in you?

47 Episodes Total. And no, don't kill your teacher or anyone else for that matter.

I never expected to watch this show because of the title's implied subject matter. However a commercial on Funimation channel explained what it was about so I gave it a try. I loved it. It was exciting, but also funny. Also it showed the students growing as people which was often heartwarming. I binge-watched the entire series over 6 days because it was so good. It got docked a star because the ending was very drawn out. It's worth paying the 8 bucks for a month subscription to Funimation to see this series. And while your at it, check out Sgt. Frog and Toilet Bound Hanako-kun.