Tag: sci-fi

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Neo Yokio is Vaporwave.

or why I like Neo Yokio ( and positively hate Rick & Morty. )


Beau Tardy. Saturday, September 30, 2017.

America is a very literal country. We say what we mean and we do what we say. Our founding fathers were all men of letters, even newspapermen, all very well read. Our constitution is written on a piece of paper by these same men. The very privilege to write anything and everything is enshrined in our first amendment. We are a country run by writers, whether they be writers of laws, of contracts, of screenplays or of checks. The writers literally run the show. Until now.

The writing on Neo Yokio is the polar opposite of the pedantic, heavy handed, supercilious Rick & Morty whose editorial board is essentially reddit.com. Please deliver us from these sanctimonious, college essay driven writing stylings of today’s bloggers cum screenwriters who populate new media bullpens.

Neo Yokio is refreshingly superficial, light and breezy like a menthol cigarette or a diet 7 up. It’s style is tongue and cheek, self effacing, unpretentious and full of 1990s anime cliches. Neo Yokio is light on the writing, light on the social righteousness and light on the eyes. In short, it’s vaporwave.

The art is where the love is. Here finally is a cartoon that recognizes that this is a visual art, not a puppet theater for frustrated pamphleteers.  From the mock 1930s Monaco Grand Prix posters, to the beautiful art deco renderings of the Chrysler Building, to the pink and blue nostalgia vaporwave skies of Neo Yokio, this is a clever pastiche and a clin d’oeil to art history.

Neo Yokio’s absurdist retro futurism, the foppish cocktail parties, the mecha butler, the designer label name calling and the giant toblerones give the whole thing the feeling of an 1980s cocaine and vodka hangover that is just delightful.

 I love it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Beau Tardy/ 
www.tardyartist.com

Neo Yokio is a Netflix original production.

Created by Ezra Koenig
Written by Ezra Koenig
Nick Weidenfeld
Alexander Benaim
Directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Junji Nishimura
Creative director(s) Ben Jones
Production
Executive producer(s) Ezra Koenig
Nick Weidenfeld
Hend Baghdady
Angela Petrella
Producer(s) Matthew Chadwick
Andrew Chittenden
Kris Wood
Running time 22 minutes
Production company(s) Studio Deen
Production I.G.
MOI Animation
Infinite Elegance, LLC
Friends Night
Distributor Netflix
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Ghost In The Shell – Movie Review

Wow, how cool was that? I had no idea this movie would actually be this good! I was totally expecting a sub-par remake of the all time anime classic. After all who could possibly make anything half as brilliant as Mamoru Oshiis’ animated masterpiece? Nobody of course. This redux has a lot going for it all the same. 


But first, the weak spots. The biggest fail of all time is the fact that Scarlett Johansson decided not to play this in the buff like the original anime robot. Instead she is fitted with a latex body suit which is a huge let down even if it allows the movie to be rated PG13. Why can’t us adults get to see a movie with a naked robot? Just why?

The anime robot was naked. But you knew that!

Also why on Earth did director Rupert Sanders decide to start the movie with a 5 minute flashback sequence that is slow and bothersome instead of ‘plunging’ right in the way the anime does with Major’s dive from the building roof?

This has the effect of blunting the noir dread that is supposed to infuse this cyberpunk epic. To that point, everything is a little bit too clean and well lit.

A little too clean.

Last but not least this movie is lacking a proper kick ass soundtrack. I mean Tron Legacy has Daft Punk, man! The original anime has a beautiful eerie theme song by Kenji Kawai but this film relegates it to the end credits… bad move. They should’ve gotten Deadmau5 to score this film!

Scarlett kicks ass!

Now on to the good bits! Scarlett Johansson looks freaking perfect as Major. She plays it well in a stiff human-machine hybrid way. (I still think she should have been naked – I mean just think of the publicity! Built-in ad campaign! Chickens, the lot of them… )

The evil Geisha robot is dope. I want that thing as a body guard! 
Batou played by Pilou Asbaek is awesome rad too. 

In the original anime his look was inspired by the Italian comic book character RanXerox who was another cyberpunk icon of the 80s.  

RanXerox classic 80s cyberpunk icon by Italian artist Liberatore.

Cyberpunk is a product of the 80s and Ghost In The Shell took a lot of cues from Blade Runner and Akira. The 80s were not a clean decade and the future looked grimy and dark. Millenials are too used to the sleek rounded corners and shiny surfaces of their asepticized iphones. Anyone remember using a pay phone on 42nd street in 1985? Any way I digress.

I saved the best part for last which are the awesome sfx and glitch tricks. I mean folks, augmented reality is coming and we better get used to navigating the third layer of VR holographic ads. Not to mention naked robots! 

I feel this version of Ghost In The Shell has staying power and will develop a bona fide cult following. Definite addition to my cyberpunk collection!
****
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TMNT **1/2

The Turtles were originally made into TV cartoons to sell toys, which is a very effective strategy often used by the Pop Culture Illuminati to bore into kids brains. G.I. Joe and Transformers are other glaring examples of this. Though the TMNT franchise started out as a bona fide indie comic book success story – basically created on a kitchen table by Eastman and Laird back in the ’80s – it only reached Pop Culture icon status as part of a well-orchestrated toy merchandising campaign. As a result, TMNT is another summer toy movie that can’t decide if it’s animated or live action.

The 3d looks 2d. Tedious digital rack focus and fake lens flares are tacked on in a desperate attempt to impart style to Lula Carvalhos’ hackneyed cinematography. The arch villain Shredder comes off as something out of Power Rangers. Basically someone in a suit stomping around a miniature set, like the old Ultraman. The Turtles’ characterization doesn’t help to give them personality either and they can only be told apart by the color of their bandanas.
Megan Fox as the only standout provides tame sex appeal. This is paradoxically a good role for her and jives well with her Transformers past. Her crossing of the desert must be over as Michael Bay and the Hollywood bigwigs have re-evaluated her box office draw despite the 5 or so last bombs she did (Jonah Hex anyone?) It’s too bad Minae Noji as Kari doesn’t quite come off as the hot villainess. Poor costume design hid rather than highlighted her assets. The rest of the cast is forgettable. (Is Whoopie Goldberg secretly one of the turtles?)
Sophomoric humor, great for 9 year olds or mentally equivalent adults.
The opening titles are the best part of this 101-minute toy commercial.
Review by Mike Hammer
Director: Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath Of The Titans, Battle Los Angeles)
Written by: Josh Appelbaum & Andre Nemec (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Alias TV show)
TMNT originally created by: Peter Laird & Kevin Eastman
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Guardians Of The Galaxy ****1/2

Blockbuster marries cult.

Star Wars meets Blade Runner meets The Watchmen. Like riding the Shinkansen high on LSD, this movie is a psychedelic trip the likes of which Ridley Scott and George Lucas could only dream of making back in the dark ages.

A sexy green girl and a sexy blue girl (Zoe Saldana & Karen Gillan), a wiseass raccoon (Brad Cooper), a tree with limited vocabulary (Vin Diesel) and some apocalyptic villains will make you want to strap into the Milano and shoot off some plasma blasters.

Guardians of the Galaxy just put James Gunn’s number on the red phone speed dial and made Chris Pratt every teenage girl’s screensaver.

Cool factor: after watching this movie you will be scouring Ebay for a Sony TPS-L2 Walkman. While you’re at it, go ahead and download “I’m Not In Love” by 10cc and “Cherry Bomb” by Joan Jett and The Runaways. Yes young ones, we know, we where there…

Only downer – soundtrack could have been tons better. The late 70s and early 80s had much better music to select from and any true Walkman sporting hypester would have been listening to the Dead Kennedys or Run DMC, but I digress.

Dead weight: John C Reilly and Glenn Close just feel like ballast brought on board to steady the ship when in fact they should have been jettisoned.

Did I mention mind bending special effects, the toroid shaped Dark Aster mothership, Benicio Del Toro, faceless necro-soldiers, an Infinity Stone (‘an item of immeasurable power that destroys all but the most powerful beings who wield it’ says Wiki), fighting girls, Cosmo the Soviet space dog and Benicio Del Toro?

AND IT’S ALL IN 3D! In the future it will be cool to have seen this movie in the past.

Review by Feeney Last

Director & screenwriter: James Gunn
Camera: Ben Davis
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan Brad Cooper and Benicio Del Toro.
Effects: Framestore, Moving Picture Company; Luma Pictures; Method Studios; Lola VFX; Cantina Creative; Sony Pictures Imageworks; CoSA VFX; Secret Lab; Rise Visual Effects Studios; Technicolor VFX; Industrial Light & Magic.

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