Sekko Boys (2016) [REVIEW] |Idol Arts

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Idols anime are a dime and a dozen, be it improvised local idols, zombie idols, virtual idols, magical girls that are also idols, male counterparts of an other idol show, etcetera etcetera.

So often in anime you’ve find parodies of idols and the showbiz surrounded within many shows not about idols. And in 2016 Kadokawa thought of making an original short anime series (later made into a manga) about a male idol group… composed by half-busts renassaince style statues of historic and mitological figures, with Medici, Mars, Hermes and Saint George, nickname collectively “The Rockies”. A new graduate from art school, Miki Hishimoto, find herself being recruited as their manager, and the titular Sekko Boys (lit. “Sculture Boys”) are definitely a handful to deal with.

You are probably thinking this series is built on one-note gag, but you’d mistaken. Continua a leggere “Sekko Boys (2016) [REVIEW] |Idol Arts”

[EXPRESSO] City Hunter: Private Eyes (2019) | 2019t Ol’ Comedy Hammers

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I wasn’t sure about reviewing this one.

I mean, ultimately i’m more familiar with Cinderella Boy than City Hunter (including it’s forgotten live action adaptation where Jackie Chan – also – plays Chun Li), i don’t have any real nostalgia, and i was surprised to learn Private Eyes it’s the fourth feature lenght for the series, the last in 29 years. Yeah, it’s been a while.

But why not, as here in Italy it’s the first of the new “anime for cinemas” batch?

In any case, you don’t need to know much (or anything really) about the series to watch this one. It’s an old fashioned action crime comedy, where we follow the oddjobs undertaken by private detective Ryo Saeba, the titular “City Hunter” (amazing shot and fighter, but an unpenitent and perpetually unsuccesfull perv) and her assistant Kaori Makimura (a tomboyish girl prone to punish Ryo’s perviness via classic anime comedy hammer), with some romance between them simmering in the back between cases.

Here, Ryo and Kaori are commissioned to protect Ai Shindo, a model who it’s being targeted for unknow purposes, which makes Kaori casually reunite with her childhood friend, almost unrecognizable as the CEO of the massive company Dominatech (yeah), and Ai’s father is involved…. Yeah, the plot isn’t really anything that needs further explanation, it’s fairly clichè, as is the villain, but it’s as good as needed for the main selling point of the movie: nostalgia.

It’s not a bad movie, at all, but besides some minor upgrades like drones (and the animation), it’s an 80s anime movie all the way, so much there’s a cameo from the Cat’s Eye protagonists. Which is fine, but the style of comedy is really, typical of the era whence City Hunter came from, and REALLY outdated.

Decent fun, still.

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[EXPRESSO] Stuber (2019) | Please 5 Star Me

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Here the floodgates have been lifted, so to say, and way too many movies came out last week in cinemas (hence why i missed Submergence by Wim Wenders, and why there won’t be an EXPRESSO review of it). I choose Stuber, mostly because of Bautista and Nanjani being in it, though the title is amusingly goofy enough.

Kumail Nanjani here is Stu, who alternates between his crappy job at a super store and his Uber career, trying to keep his star ratings up while having to deal with a douchy boss, the fickle variety of Uber customers, and an uncomfortable love-friend relationship with his crush. One day is called for an Uber drive by Dave Bautista (the character has a name, but who cares), playing a buff, grouchy and violent cop who is still obsessing over the death of his partner and wants to solve the case, stringing Stu along for his vendetta, who’d rather go to his lady friend/fuck buddy.

It’s a typical buddy comedy at heart, with two characters that couldn’t be more opposite to each other, forced to work together by the circumstances despite hating each other, that eventually develop a sense of camaraderie and mutual rispect, etc etc. There’s nothing new in this regard, and the characters are fairly stock, but deliberately so, with Kumail Nanjani and Dave Bautista doing the typical role you’d expect from them, the story is also clichè, but it’s done in a comfy way, not by making an half hassed parody of the genre, or a tribute, but just updating it for the “era” without misguided attempts to be subversive for no reason, or shame of being “just” a buddy comedy.

And ultimately, it’s really, really funny, great cast, fun script.

A fun crime comedy romp with Drax and Kumail Nanjani.

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[EXPRESSO] Asterix & Friends iOS | SPQR

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While it isn’t very popular in the U.S. (or anywhere outside Europe, i guess), the Asterix & Obelix comic series its fondly remembered here in Italy, and it’s definitely one of the best things to come out of the “Italy VS France” senseless rivarly, as it focuses on a small Gaul village resisting the Roman Empire conquest with the titular heroes and a magic potion of superstrenght.

Many adaptations were made, as animated and live-action movies (the last one came out in 2018), and of course, videogames, from Atari 2600 onwards, and since 2019 marks the 60th anniversary of the series (i guess this the reason), we got a remastered port of 2006 Asterix & Obelix XXL 2: Mission Las Vegum, with an upcoming third game.

And in 2016, Namco Bandai released… this for smarthphones.

I stalled talking about it because there’s really nothing to say. You’ve played any of those Facebook/browser games where you run a farm or something? You’ve played this. You click on things to get resources, you use them to build facilities in the village, you collect characters to stack as fighting fodder in the mindless battles (represented as classic cartoon “scuffle clouds”), use said resources to power them, and fend off the always encroaching roman assaults, which keep happening even if you’re not playing.

Because the timed events, the trifecta of currencies, daily log-in bonuses aren’t enough, let’s really force the hand of “retention” upon the players, either you play this forever every day or fuck you with a rusty menhir. No middle ground.

And to do that you mostly wait out timers or cough up the green, with aggressive in-game ads to boot. At the very least the cartoony graphic style is in tone with the works of Renè Goscinny (RIP) and Albert Udenzo.

Go read those, instead, i highly recommend it!

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[EXPRESSO] Fighting With My Family (2019) | Wrestle for it!

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Preface: i was not familiar with the real life events this is based upon, or the 2012 documentary The Wrestlers: Fighting With My Family, about the wrestler Paige.

And one could have made some educated guesses that some of the events didn’t actually happen, i didn’t even know it’s basically a dramatization of a documentary based on a true story. I did know it had Dwayne Johnson, Nick Frost, Vince Vaughn and Florence Pugh (recently seen in Midsommar) in it, and i was already sold on that.

Zak and Saraya Vebis, brother and sister, since the age of 10 are trained by their parent in their work and family tradition: putting up wrestling events and training other kids in their gym in ol’ Norwich, UK. They grow up with the dream of making it big, until Zak and Saraya manage to attend a try-out event, but only Saraya is ultimately accepted, which crushes Zak’s long held dream.

So Saraya moves to Florida to train and try to actually be signed into a league, and Zak stays in Norwich to attend to his newborn son and the family gym.

You’ve heard this story before, you know where it goes, but it’s done without over-romanticizing the sport/craft in question, with believable character arcs, believable characters, a great cast, and it isn’t a glorified ad for the WWE, or its’ public, for that matter. And more importantly, it has a honest, big hearted attitude about the drama, so it never feels too contrivedly syrupy or more dramatic just for the sake of being dramatic, but more grounded in reality.

Not a complain about the movie itself, but there’s a bitter aftertaste to it knowing this year the WWE strikes a 10 million deal with Saudi Arabia for pay-for-view shows, so no women division, because Saudi Arabia.

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[EXPRESSO] Stockholm (2018) | Chillin With The Captives

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So, this finally arrived in ol’ Italy a week ago, let’s review it!

Very loosely based on the events of the infamous Stockholm bank robbery of 1973 (and hence on the concept of “Stockhold Syndrome” which spun from it), Robert Budreau’s movie tells the story of the bizzarre bank robbery operated by Lars Nystrom, an eccentric and quirky criminal that occupies the bank, takes some hostages, and negotiates the release of his friend Gunnar, that joins Lars as a mediator.

But as the standoff between the criminals and the police proceeds, the hostages form a bonding relationship with their captors, willing to take their sides over the police’s.

As you may expect, it’s a very romanticized take on the story, with many liberties taken (like the use of Bob Dylan songs instead of Elvis and Roberta Flack’ tracks by the strange criminal), and the oddity of the whole situation lend itself quite nicely to a crime comedy, with some decent drama and interesting execution, and likable characters.

While it’s done fairly well, well casted and acted, the idea of a movie about the Stockolm bank robbery is quite nice, it has some issues, mostly because it never fully commits to it’s stance on the matter of police abuse, despite the script being pretty clear who you’re supposed to symphatize with, but ultimately painting the picture of a complex situation, an absurd but more realistic one, which is fine, but it’s also playing a bit too safe.

For me, at least.

That and the characterization is ultimately uneven, because we get a romance between Lars and Clara, but even Gunnar is just……… kinda there for the most part, like the other hostages. Which is kinda disappointing.

Still, a more than decent movie, could have been better, but not bad at all!

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[EXPRESSO] Stan & Ollie (2018) | Friends To The End

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Yes, this arrived just now in my country’ theathers (1st of may, to be precise), and i’ll be blunt, that’s my only gripe with Jon S. Baird biopic about Laurel and Hardy’s beloved comedic personas.

In 1953, after their Hollywood days and a long period apart, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy reunite for a tour in english theathers, in order to rack some needed cash, and also train for their upcoming movie about Robin Hood, pitched to a producer but still in the air. They are warmly welcomed by the public, still enamoured with their antics and affable charm, but it’s not the relatively small packed crows they attract at first, the competition coming from the cinemas (or the home video), not even the rise of new comedic duos like Abbott and Costello the main problem.

It’s their crumbling friendship, with old grudges resurfacing, the constant knowledge of them being a thing of the past, held together by their personas more their actual selves (or so they think), and a conflicting view on many things, all made worse by Oliver’s degrading health. It’s a tale about mending a broken friendship in the world of entertaiment when you’re not top dog(s) anymore, and it’s beatifully executed, even more because you don’t really need to have a lot – if any – familiarity with the duo, or even like the passè style of comedy (i personally think it’s more cute than funny today).

Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly do a stunning job portraying the comedy duo, which is shown not as overly-idealized , but as a couple of flawed individuals (the controversy with Hal Roach is portrayed, for example), with a great balance of drama and comedy, that celebrates earnestly friendship and passion for the craft.

Funny and quite touching.

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