keith81 Reviews

Armor Hunter Mellowlink (1988–1989)

The best anime nobody knows about

[8/10 · 28 April 2024]

Only 86 ratings by IMDB users as of May 2024... are you kidding me? This has got to be the best anime OVA series that nobody has ever heard of. I only discovered it myself because its theme song made into some top 50 list on YouTube.

Armor Hunter Mellowlink is a spinoff of the Armor Troopers VOTOMS series, but the stories are completely independent of each other. You can thoroughly enjoy Mellowlink without having watched a single minute of VOTOMS - I know I did.

Plot: Not much plot here to be honest. Mellowlink Arity is an infantry soldier whose unit is sacrificed by corrupt army top brass. He miraculously survives, gets framed, and goes on the lam to exact revenge on his corrupt commanding officers one by one. No spoilers there, this story is basically told during the theme song.

What you get is twelve short episodes packed with violent revenge action drawn in great late 1980s cell animation.

Since the main character is an infrantry man with a massive gun hunting down bad guys who (usually) drive mechas, I found it MUCH easier to relate to than the usual fare of mecha vs mecha.

Light on plot for sure, but great fun to watch. Highly recommended.

10 (1979)

If American Beauty was a farce

[8/10 · 5 March 2024]

Simply laying his eyes on Jenny makes George feel alive for the first time in years. To escape his unhappiness he is compelled to risk his relationship with longtime girlfriend Sam by following/stalking Jenny.

He thinks a younger woman will make him feel younger, but inevitably, with the age gap comes a huge divide in tastes and values: she calls his award-winning music "elevator music", she smokes weed all the time, she talks openly about her somewhat alarming sexual history, and finally he is immensely disappointed to find out that he's just one of many casual flings for her. She felt so special to him, like a bright light amidst the darkness of his depression, and he unreasonably expected to be special to her too. When he realizes that things aren't as he wants them to be (demanding as he is), he gets frustrated, denigrates her promiscuity and open marriage while quickly sweeping under the rug his double standards and hypocrisy, and then leaves abruptly without even having sex with her, in order to return to Sam who shares his traditional values.

The last scene between George and Jenny elevates the movie because it shows the confusion that a mid-life crisis causes within oneself, and the sadness that comes along with doomed fantasies.

Shin Godzilla (2016)

Dr. Strangelovezilla or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Monster

[6/10 · 13 April 2017]

I'll own up to the fact that I had high hopes for the first Toho Godzilla movie in 12 years - I was hyped up.

The movie starts out very well with us experiencing unusual events happening in Tokyo as seen and felt by politicians in a board room. The only monster action in the first act is seen from short Youtube clips shot in hand-held (Cloverfield style). By Japanese Godzilla standards, this made for a very realistic feel. When it is established that everything is caused by a giant monster we finally get a good look at the creature and a few great but short doses of monster action.

Emphasis on the word "short". Sadly, I have to say that this is much more of a political satire than it is a monster movie. I did enjoy the satire aspect for a while, but after the first hour it just got too much. I get the inefficient bureaucracy of Japan; I get the too many departments and none knowing who is responsible to deal with an unexpected situation; the allegory for the 2011 tsunami and the Fukushima incident; and how foreign interference affects decision making in Japan... I GET IT. But what I signed up for was a Godzilla movie – not Dr. Strangelove.

Now we all complained that the 2014 US Godzilla gave us only 8 minutes of Godzilla action (in 10 second bursts) spread out over the second half of the movie. In Shin Godzilla, the monster has about the same amount of screen time, but is shown in awesome 3 minute bursts. Unfortunately, between one bombastic Godzilla scene and the next there are 40 minutes of political satire. As the movie progresses the endless political dialogue starts to drag on and on. When the climax comes along, after such a hideously long wait, it inevitably feels weak. If they were to cut 20 minutes of dialogue out of the last hour, then the climax would be a better fit.

I'll give it a 6/10 because the second half is too weak.

Indio (1989)

Rambo ripoff

[1/10 · 28 November 2005]

Former green beret is at first hunted down by Brian Dennehy in a forest, then fights back. I know I've seen this movie before...

This film's nothing but a cheap, Italian, Rambo rip-off from the get-go. The entire budget went into explosives and Dennehy's pockets. The green beret is named Daniel Morel after David Morrell, author of First Blood. This is supposed to be an homage, but when you're stealing so much, you ain't fooling nobody.

The sequel is a tad better and stars Charles Napier as the villain, who incidentally (not) played the villain in the Rambo sequel as well. Another "homage", right?