Jag85
Joined Jul 2005
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Reviews20
Jag85's rating
One Piece somehow managed to pull it off: a legit great live-action anime. It does a great job adapting the first East Blue saga (first 95 manga chapters and 45 anime episodes), condensed down to eight hour-long episodes. It's mostly faithful to the source material, but condenses down some stuff and makes some changes for a live-action format.
For One Piece fans, it's a great way to revisit the early East Blue saga. I watched the anime version of that saga almost 20 years ago, so it felt fresh watching a live-action version after all this time. The story beats and character development have been mostly preserved, with some foreshadowing added, and the fights are very well-choreographed.
The original Japanese anime is a 10/10 show for me. The live-action does fall short of the anime in some ways, but it's as close as it gets. At the very least, the live action is far better than the terrible 4Kids anime dub.
For One Piece fans, it's a great way to revisit the early East Blue saga. I watched the anime version of that saga almost 20 years ago, so it felt fresh watching a live-action version after all this time. The story beats and character development have been mostly preserved, with some foreshadowing added, and the fights are very well-choreographed.
The original Japanese anime is a 10/10 show for me. The live-action does fall short of the anime in some ways, but it's as close as it gets. At the very least, the live action is far better than the terrible 4Kids anime dub.
An Akira Kurosawa movie that is impressive for a crime film made in the 1940s, although I'm not sure how well it compares to Hitchcock's classics which I have yet to see. However, Stray Dog is comparable to quite a few well known modern-day crime films (like Seven for example), although I liked Stray Dog better.
The film is very modern in the way the story unfolds, the relationships between the two policemen, the way the investigation is carried out, the way the criminal is revealed, etc. However, it is also a story unique to late 1940s post-war Japan and is not something that could be recreated in the modern day. As usual, Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura once again gave great performances as the main characters in the movie.
Highly recommended for Kurosawa fans as well as fans of crime films in general.
7/10
The film is very modern in the way the story unfolds, the relationships between the two policemen, the way the investigation is carried out, the way the criminal is revealed, etc. However, it is also a story unique to late 1940s post-war Japan and is not something that could be recreated in the modern day. As usual, Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura once again gave great performances as the main characters in the movie.
Highly recommended for Kurosawa fans as well as fans of crime films in general.
7/10
A musical melodrama from the Hindi film industry of Bombay, now popularly known as "Bollywood", although it wasn't called that back then. Well this movie is certainly a lot better than any of the more recent "Bollywood" musicals I've seen, and it's probably even one of the best musicals I've ever seen from anywhere. What really stands out in Pyaasa in particular is how the music is often used to express serious themes and social critiques, which is something I've rarely ever seen in a musical. The ending was also quite unexpected and very moving. The last few scenes and dialogues in particular were powerful and had a lot of meaning to them.
The star of the show here is Guru Dutt, who was not only the director and producer, but also starred in the film as the protagonist Vijay (a struggling poet from the slums), comparable to the versatility of Orson Welles in Citizen Kane. The two main actresses in the film, Mala Sinha as the married ex-girlfriend Meena and especially Waheeda Rehman as the prostitute Gulabo, were also impressive. In some ways, the story has some similarities to that of Moulin Rouge! (2001) but even better than that in my opinion. The music by S. D. Burman and his son R. D. Burman also has a timeless feel to it. I would highly recommend this movie to musical fans, or even if one is not a musical fan, I still think it's worth checking out.
9/10
The star of the show here is Guru Dutt, who was not only the director and producer, but also starred in the film as the protagonist Vijay (a struggling poet from the slums), comparable to the versatility of Orson Welles in Citizen Kane. The two main actresses in the film, Mala Sinha as the married ex-girlfriend Meena and especially Waheeda Rehman as the prostitute Gulabo, were also impressive. In some ways, the story has some similarities to that of Moulin Rouge! (2001) but even better than that in my opinion. The music by S. D. Burman and his son R. D. Burman also has a timeless feel to it. I would highly recommend this movie to musical fans, or even if one is not a musical fan, I still think it's worth checking out.
9/10