May
- John Wick (2014), dir. Chad Stahelski. Rewatch. I noticed more care
& attention to detail in the script and writing this time, humor
and foreshadowing I hadn't caught before. Delivers handsomely
on the promise of Wick violently avenging his dog. Having said
that I'm a little tired of some of the cliches on offer here, even
some of the worldbuilding. Love the casting, particularly the
smaller roles (Ian McShane! Daniel Bernhardt!). I should watch the
sequels some time.
- Sorceress (1982), dir. Jack Hill. A Roger Corman produced swords &
sorcery movie. Low budget (as you might expect). Goofy. '80s
fantasy vibes, think Deathstalker and the like. Watched while reading
a bunch of FTEQW-related source code. Watching because Twitch Of
The Death Nerve recently talked about swords & sorcery films.
March
- Strip Club DJ's (2003), dir. Derrick Beckles. Documentary about strip
club DJs (as the title implies). Hell vibes. I've run into people who
do this kind of work and it's always sounded tough to me. Gnarly.
Watched a pretty bad rip of a VHS tape on youtube.
- Psychic Vision: Jaganrei (1988), dir. Teruyoshi Ishii (and notably
written by Chiaki J. Konaka). Wrote a bit about it (way too much actually)
in this post to the fediverse.
February
- Ghost In The Shell: SAC 2nd Gig (2004), episodes 22-26. This is the
good stuff. The Patlabor 2: The Movie stuff (see for example the
discussion between Gouda and Batou on the rooftop in episode 22).
Politically thorny. There's a lot you could nitpick here, "plotholes"
and things that are a little too convenient, but none of it bothers
me much. This is the best that made-for-TV Ghost In The Shell gets,
I think.
- Ghost In The Shell: SAC 2nd Gig (2004), episodes 17-21. One thing I
appreciate about season 2 and this run of episodes in particular is
that we get to see Section 9 (our protagonists) lose. Those losses
build to the end of episode 21 I think, where thru happenstance
and planning they get massively outplayed. It's good. And it sets up
the end of the series really well.
- Ghost In The Shell: SAC 2nd Gig (2004), episodes 5-16. Watched over
the last few days. I like that this season feels more grounded, that
the world feels more alive. There seem to be significant events
happening inbetween the episodes, off camera so to speak. Now maybe
that's due to budget or time or some other constraint but I like the
effect regardless. Anyway, just a stray thought, these episodes
are really good.
January
- Ghost In The Shell: SAC 2nd Gig (2004), episodes 1-4. I was right,
I do still like the second season way more. Already this feels
much more assured, clear, compact, complex than the first season.
The political machinations remind me of the second Patlabor movie.
I read somewhere that Oshii had some involvement with this season,
I wonder how much. There are a few neat correlations between the
first four episodes of this season and the first season, the one
that comes to mind immediately is the Breathless-referencing
episode in S1 and the Taxi Driver episode in S2. Both good episodes
IMO. Whenever I rewatch these again I should do episode-by-episode
writeups.
- Ghost In The Shell: SAC (2002), episodes 9-26. Watched over the last
few days. It's been close to ten years since I last saw SAC, during
which time I read the comic (1 and 1.5 in the hardcover editions
published by Kadokawa). Finishing this first season confirmed my
earlier suspicion that yeah this does feel more like the comic and
feels cartoon-y in general. It's good and a lot of it still affects
me the same way it did before (rest in peace Tachikomas) but I find
the balance and focus of the '95 film way more interesting. Next up:
the second season, 2nd Gig.
- Ghost In The Shell: SAC (2002), episodes 5-8. I don't know why I've
never asked the question, but: this is a superhero team, right? If
not literally then it might as well be. Anyway the overarching story
kicks off with eps 4-6; I remember most of it, but not all.
- Ghost In The Shell: SAC (2002), episodes 1-4. Starting a rewatch. Have
a lot of thoughts about the show, not sure how much I'll relay here.
As an adaptation I think this is closer to the comics than Oshii's
films; I prefer those films (1995 & 2004). Motoko's outfit is pretty
silly.