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jameshemphil
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Yamato yo towa ni (1980)
Great Beginning, Underwhelming End
When the movie started, it was like an animated version of Independence Day: a massive, MASSIVE assault on Earth by the Dark Galaxy Empire, cities in flames, ships pouring out fighters and troops. Then they give mankind an ultimatum, surrender or we blow up Earth with an antimatter bomb. Yamato barely manages to make it off Earth, but Yuki is left behind. Very good start up, very tense. But...then it kind of burns out and eventually falls flat. Remember the daughter of Starsha and Jason Kodai's brother? Yeah, well, we finally meet her, all grown up (Iscandarans reach their teens in a year, apparently), and they even introduce a very interesting subplot where she's clearly in love with Kodai and vice versa but he's also unsure of how to handle the affair and she's jealous of Yuki who isn't even there...and then she dies by the end of the movie, and so does Alex. And WOW did Alex die in a shockingly brief and irrational way. He basically sets off a suicide bomb, tells everyone he's going to set it off and in the same breath he does, and it does literally nothing. Oops. Yuki has an interesting story introduced, being trapped on Earth and steadily falling in love with a Dark Galaxy Empire soldier while still in love with Jason...and it goes nowhere, and then he dies. Oops. Then we're introduced to the Dark Galaxy Empire in a way so convoluted and mind-twisting it's almost incomprehensible. Oops.
In fact that could almost be the title of the movie, "Oops Yamato." The story isn't bad, or the basic framework isn't anyway. In a lot of ways it's like Arreviderci Yamato in that it sets up a story that should have been an entire season with like 10-15 episodes at minimum but then tries to tie it all up.two hours. The difference being, in that case they realized it and just turned the movie's plot into a whole season, but here they didn't. Oops.
If they had at least three episodes to show Yuki's conflicted feelings, a similar number to show Jason and his niece and how they were falling in love and out of love and then in again, and God almighty if they had given some real set up and closure to the villains (besides the blink and you'll miss it scene in Yamato: The New Voyages) then it would have worked. But as it is, Be Forever Yamato is a huge meh. It's not bad, but it's not entertaining either, it starts great and then flames out really fast until it becomes a pile of soot.
And considering the theme of Earth about to explode, that's a hugely ironic ending.
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979)
Rankin-Bass's Avengers Endgame
Seriously. It even has a "portals scene" and this was meant to tie a perfect bow on the entire series, and does it. Everything is explained, every character who isn't dead is brought back, every story comes to a complete end and it even involves an honest to God battle at the end against the final boss of holiday specials.
TLDR summary: thousands of years ago the evil, godlike being Winterbolt ruled the universe and along with a dragon he turned everything into a lifeless wasteland of snow. Then, Princess Boreal comes and defeats him, sealing him away in a mountain, but she knew he would awaken again as she was exhausting all of her power to keep him imprisoned, and she's slowly dying. So before she dies, she basically triggers a series of events that spawn Santa, Rudolph and Frosty who act as vessels for her power (no seriously!) so they can come together someday to defeat Winterbolt when he awakens. Eventually Boreal dies, and Winterbolt is freed, and now they have to defeat him in what I can only describe as a reproduction of the final battle of Endgame but with puppet characters. And yes, there is a "sacrifice myself to save everyone" part and yes also an "every character steps out of the portals" part right before.
Absolutely brilliant. A little long, but it says it all. 9/10, I watch it every Christmas and so should you.
Baoh (1989)
A True Classic From A Classic Creator...
Baoh the Caller, called Baoh the Visitor when I watched it back in the 90s, is a true classic of the era and the genre. It's a true memory of what used to be, as opposed to modern anime, and it really shows just what anime used to be. It's exciting and beautifully animated, and when you see the hero striking a pose before shooting lightning bolts from his hands...you know INSTANTLY where it came from. This isn't a spoiler, but unlike some other "screaming and shooting lasers" anime like DBZ, when Baoh roars it sounds less like a roar and more like a man in an echoing room howling! Absolute classic. 90s anime-cool designs and great fight scenes, especially the English Dub. Ah, the memories...
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)
Not A Bad Movie
People constantly say Plan 9 is "bad" but no one can really articulate as to why, other than the special effects are cheezy. Well, yes, the special effects are terrible...but that's not bad. The plot is perfectly coherent, the acting is no different and certainly no worse than any other movie from this era, and to be honest I think Wood gets a lot of heat (then and now) because of his sexual orientation more than him being a "bad" director. Honestly some of the more cheezy aspects like the psychic dude coming out and talking at the end were kind of an askew predecessor to the post-credit sequence. It's an enjoyable, well done movie, done on a shoe string budget with bad FX. 8/10.
Eiken (2003)
Very Well Done For What It Is
There are people who criticize Eiken by saying it somehow "lacks plot" or the jokes are too raunchy. Don't listen to them. It's a fun little romp and it's meant as fanservice and personal enjoyment. Criticizing Eiken for not having a coherent plot is like criticizing Star Wars for having too many spaceships. It's fun, it's funny, it's sexy, 10/10.
Go watch it. :-)