Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941)

Here is an animated film that I was completely unaware of, that was created by the Fleischer bothers who made the incredible Gulliver's Travels and the Superman cartoons from the 1940s.

Due to the ill fated timing of this films release (It was released just days before the attack on Pearl Harbor) and tension's between the Fleischer brothers, this film did not get the recognition it deserves, and it lead to the end of Fleischer studios.

The films is very well made, well animated, but didn't blow me away story-wise.  Still, it's a pity that this film has been largely forgotten.

While making characters of bugs seems like a good idea, due to the great diversity of the insects and such, generally American's don't like bugs, so it seems like fighting an up hill battle.  I feel that for this reason, A Bug's Life doesn't have as great a fan base as other Pixar films.

Cloud Atlas (2012)

Before I watched this film, I confused it with Golden Compass, and was waiting for the polar bear to appear for the entire film.

I this easily the most "confusing" film I have watched in at least a decade.  It was made up of 6 different story arcs, all with the same actors, playing different roles.  Other than that, the stories were not connected at all. 

There was a scene set in on a sailing ship in 1849, England 1936, San Francisco 1973, London 2012 (present day at the time of filming), Neo-Seoul 2144 and The Big Island of Hawaii 2321.

Also, there is a VERY loose connection with a couple of scenes of a piece of music called Cloud Atlas.  Apparently, the title of the book was taken from a piece of music created by Toshi Ichiyanagi, who was one of Yoko Ono's husbands, though I don't think his music influenced any of the music in the film.


I would say you could throw out 2 of those stories, and the films wouldn't lose anything.  The story set in 1849 and 1936 were not great stories, IHMO.

The Neo-Seoul scene has a tech-noir feel to it, which was reminiscent of Blade Runner, with the replicants being "fabricants".  But I couldn't understand the division between human and fabricant.  They seemed identical (in their capabilities), and it is confusing to think they would bother to manufacture "humans" to be fast food workers, and then a food.  That would be extremely inefficient.  It was like they mixed Logan's Run and Soylent Green together.  Another thing that struck me odd is that Hae-Joo Chang (the protagonist) suddenly became a martial arts expert and pulled of some unbelievable moves.  It seemed a bit too over the top, to me.

It was interesting to see the post apocalyptic world of the Big Island, with a society surviving with stone age technology and a slightly altered form of the English language, as well as a high tech society that was living separately from them.  While the existence of the character of Old Georgie was confusing, it was a role that Hugh Weaving was born to play.

The scene set in 1973 San Francisco was interesting in that it really did have a feel of the 70s.  It seems like this story was derived from the The China Syndrome.

The story set in present day London was also quite interesting, and can be taken without any of the other scenes, as there is only the remotest of connections.

And as the story set in 1849, had a very interesting scene at the end with Halle Berry playing a white woman (no one got upset).  The strange thing is Halle Berry doesn't strike me as having any black features without any make up, but in the white make up, she looks strongly mulatto to me.

This story also featured Tom Hanks in the role of a villain.  Certainly Tom Hanks appeared as types of characters I have never heard him playing before in this film, but I greatly prefer him in the likable guy roles, which he usually plays.

While I am impressed with what they were trying to do, and I think it may have made for an interesting book, it did not translate well into an entertaining nor thought provoking film.

I have also read that an Asian America group was upset the in the Neo-Korea scenes the actor wore Asian make up.  This is rather a ridiculous thing to get up set about, being that there are big name Hollywood actors, and none Asian actors of equal caliber exist in Hollywood today.  Honestly, they looked so odd, I though they were either an odd looking Eurasians, or some odd new race. While this seems like a ridiculous reason for people to get up set, it seems to me that some group could also potentially be upset for having an African American portray a Polynesian.

One thing that bothered me about this film was the .  I guess the point of this film was the death leads to reincarnation, but as that is not true, it seem to highlight suicide and death too much for me.

This is a film for everyone but ultimately no one.  The narrative jumps back and forth between the six stories.  You don't know why the characters are important.  It covers old sea faring tales, modern settings, high tech sci-fi and a post apocalyptic future.

Weathering You (2019)

I watched this at the Honolulu International Film Festival, as my roommate was working for the festival, he made me aware of this film.

It was quite nice to see Tokyo rendered so faithfully, including even tiny details, like the seams that are present on some street, though they did not show any of the elevated high ways that dominate and loom over everything.

The story stared out ordinary enough (being there were no supernatural elements), but soon verged off.

I am a bit surprised at the title, as I have heard of the term "ame no otoko" rain person, some one who people feel brings on the rain.  This is not something they do actively.

I have never heard of "hare no ko" a person who brings sunshine, so I am not sure if this was just a concept made up for the film.

It was an interesting film to watch, but I wonder if some of the elements of Japanese culture are lost on foreign audiences, like how serious it is to posses a gun in Japan, and a few other things.

Older Than America (2008)

This was an interesting film, and while it was made by and mostly featured native Americans, it focused more on the story, where other films often focus on the plight of native Americans and the living conditions on the reservations.

This film does cover an important chapter in American history that is not taught in high school.  In fact, I would considering this to be the second most important event in that all Americans should know of in American history, with the genocide of native America people being the first.

I though this film would be more about the history of the atrocities committed at the so called Indian schools, perhaps even close to a documentary.

While this film turned out to be more of a suspense film, it did a pretty decent job of covering the atrocities committed at those Indian schools.

One point that I was left unresolved was the fate of the preacher.  While the film gave the impression that he was made to pay for his evil deeds, I would have preferred it if his actual fate was shown more cleanly,such as him being arrested.

While Bradley Cooper was in this film, playing the white guy, obviously, I had no idea he had become a big name actor, or that he was one of the stars of the film, The Hangover.

Apparently this movie was rereleased at American Evil, which I think is misleading, as it gives the impression the film is a horror film, which it is not.

Dance Me Outside (1994)

This is an interesting look into the lives of native Americans living on a reservation.  It's not preachy, and there is more to the story than just their living conditions, as it shows what directions their steer their lives in, (or lack of direction) as well as how they deal with the murder of a native and the unjust punishment given to the white man who committed the crime.

I am a little surprised to see that Frank and Silas are quite aimless, and appear to put a priority on getting drunk.  I know this is common among young people, and a problems among natives, but for me it seems completely pointless.

I was a bit appalled at the way had Illianna sleep with Gooch, behind her husband's back, due to his problems with infertility.  I don't know if this was just something the writer thought up, or is something culturally acceptable to native Americans.  Obviously, being a lawyer, Robert McVey, would have had access to fertility treatments, as he would have enough funds to pay for them.

It was interesting they way the the natives took Robert McVey to have him take part in a sacred native American ceremony, but I would think Robert would have suspected something, as it didn't appear they had gone to a site that was prepared for a sacred ceremony, as the site was littered with car parts and looked very make shift.  And some of the ridiculous things they said and had Robert do, should have been a give away.  Most obviously was when Silas, when speaking of his spirit animal said "I am the walrus"  That scene may have been just for entertainment value.

It's always great to see Adam Beach in a film, who was so outstanding in Smoke Signals and has created quite a career for himself, being in a large number of films, both native and Hollywood.

The Breadwinner (2017)

I have seen two other films by Cartoon Saloon, a studio that is far from the mainstream, in both the topics of it's stories and it's style of animation.  This ain't Disney.

Angelina Jolie is listed as one of the executive producers on the film, as she seems to have developed an interest in foreign cultures since working on Tomb Raider in Cambodia.  While I appreciate that Angelina Jolie has some clout which may have helped to get this film made, I am unsure why Angelina Jolie is considered a box office draw, as I don't know of any film that she has made that was outstanding.

This gives a good look into the life of living under the taliban regime, and it's is not pretty.

This is definitely an important film, but doesn't have the replyability or the enjoyment of Disney films

Atlas Shrugged (2011)

This is less about the film, and more about Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism.

First, I am glad that they were able to make this into a movie, as the book is infamous and daunting, both in it's length and it's philosophy, so having it in a more accessible format helps with those aspects of the material.

Still, the production appears to have been plagued with problem, as the entire cast of the film was recast with each subsequent film.  While the actresses who played Dagny Taggart do resemble each other somewhat closely, the actors of the other three (or four) main actors varied rather wildly in looks and age.

Also, when the book was written, the rail lines played more of prominent role in transportation.  While the film adaption is set in the modern age, they altered the present age to give railroads a prominent place, making air transportation and other land vehicles no longer efficient transportation methods.

I became interested / aware of Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism from playing the original Bioshock.  While the philosophy does play a role in the story of game, it is not an overwhelming one.

The problem with Ayn Rand's philosophy, is it is an extreme counterpoint to communism (as Ayn Rand was born and raised in Russia), but to an extreme that ignores reality and practicality. With the exception of Dagny, all of the other prime movers of came out with a revolutionary invention.  The concept says basically that these people should be able to take all the rewards of their inventions for themselves, but this completely overlooks that the inventors are rarely the same people as the businessmen who set up a system to make those inventions profitable.

Furthermore, in the community John Gault has set up, it is apparently made up of only these geniuses, which leads to the question of who does the manual labor of things such as laying down the roads or clearing the backed up toilets?  A genius's intellect is not put to best use doing such tasks.

If these prime movers were to disappear, as the did in Atlas Shrugged, they would be quickly replaced, as the business aspect of the world is not a scarce talent.

One other thing about this, is that the prime movers were able to completely remove their inventions from society, but once the cat is out the bag, there is not getting it back in again.  Patents were meant to protect the inventors for a limited period of time, and even if the patent were eternal, others would be able to examine those inventions and eventually create their own copies.