Animondo: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Season 2)

I might as well get this over with.

Welcome back to Animondo. Today, we're discussing Season 2 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

I'm not going to go through all the details of the show--it's the same as for Season 1, by and large. I don't just mean the plot and characters: basically everything that I said in the review for Season 1, good and bad, applies to Season 2. Despite several years passing before Season 2 was made, Season 2 feels like a fairly natural extension of Season 1, with no major changes in technique or quality in general.

It's just...well...'Endless Eight' happens.

Okay, stepping back a bit: Season 2 takes place interspersed at points along the storyline of Season 1. It fills in a few minor gaps Season 1 had, and can basically be watched along with Season 1 seamlessly, fitting in just fine, if you know where to put the Episodes. It contains three main stories: a short one about Kyon and Mikuru time-traveling, then Endless Eight, and finally the story of how the group made their film for the school festival (the film shows up in its entirety in an extra Episode of Season 1, and is shown in the background in some shots of other Episodes in the same season). Overall, the show feels the same as before, and is quite enjoyable, though both of the multi-Episode arcs in this one move pretty slowly at times. The show can drag a bit, but not enough to cause any real problems.

I know it might seem like I'd go and complain about the Episodes being inserts among already established Episodes, given my rant about the original airing order in the earlier review, but...it isn't bad, here. Unlike watching the Season 1 Episodes in the airing order, these Episodes are kind of just extra stories--they aren't, by and large, things that were referenced confusingly in Season 1. They add to it naturally, and feel like part of a whole, but it didn't feel like something was dreadfully wrong without them. That said, I do have one problem with the fact that this Season fits entirely within Season 1, but I'll get to that in a bit.

I'm going to do a full spotlight on 'Endless Eight' down the line, but if you haven't already heard of this, here's why I called it out specifically above. It more than anything is the biggest problem with Season 2. It takes up more than half of the season (a full 8 Episodes, thus the title), and almost completely consists of the same exact Episode, redrawn and re-acted in slightly different styles. It's a time loop plot done in the worst possible way you could do a time loop plot: with no one taking any actions that make it different each time through. It is quite honestly very nearly torture getting through the Episodes.

So...here's the thing. Season 2 is more of the same Haruhi Suzumiya goodness from Season 1. It's a lot of fun, and if you enjoyed Season 1 you will enjoy Season 2, if you obey this very critical instruction: watch, at most, the first and last Episodes of the Endless Eight plot. Skip the rest of it until you've watched the rest of the season, and then, if you're morbidly curious, you can go back and watch the others and see what is simultaneously one of the worst ideas ever put into an Anime and one of the most interesting studies in methods to vary tone and presentation of the same scene in television history. Seriously, though...the rest of the season is well worth your time if you enjoyed the first season...just skip most of Endless Eight for your sanity.

One more comment before I close this up: there is, as I mentioned above, one problem that I have with this fitting within Season 1: the characters don't really grow or change all that much here. There's a slight development with Kyon and Haruhi in the later stages of the season, but it's nothing that hadn't already been done pretty effectively in Season 1 (just another example of how much Haruhi actually does value Kyon). Also, I kind of felt like Season 2 closes on something of a downer for their relationship, with Kyon being the one to back down and allow Haruhi to kind of get away with some pretty awful mistreatment of Mikuru. That said, that's because this comes before Season 1's "Someday in the Rain," which kind of resolves the threads Season 2 leaves hanging by more expressly showing that Haruhi is developing care for other people. If you watch the Episodes totally chronologically, it's a stronger show for it...if you just go ahead and watch Season 2 and call it a day, you may feel a little dissatisfied in the end.

So that's Season 2. It's basically the same idea as Season 1, and it is quite a bit of fun and if you like the show already, you're going to like this season as well. Just...skip most of Endless Eight or you'll lose your mind. A fun but flawed addition to a good show, Season 2 doesn't reach the same standards as Season 1, but works well enough nonetheless. If you enjoyed The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya you'll be happy to see more of Haruhi and the gang, but things just don't quite go as well this time.

Dubbed or Subbed? This uses the same cast as Season 1, so far as I can tell, so my evaluation stands: watch it either way you want, as both are excellent.

Rare Flix: Raptor (2001)

What are you- chicken?!?  In the case of today's creatures, the answer is kind of 'yes.'  Wait- haven't I used this lead-in before?  Let's start over...

Did you ever see a crappy film and think 'man, I wish they made more of that?!?'  Well, if so, Roger Corman is your best friend.  Wait...that's not right.  One more try...

The third time is...about the same as the second one.  It's fun to play with cliches right?  Okay...let me figure this out...

****

Today's Film is Raptor, a 2001 Film that is a hodge-podge of a new Story and old Footage.  Not content with 3 Carnosaur Films, New Concorde made a 4th...and called it Raptor.  The Film actually is said to feature T-Rexes of various sizes (not a thing), but we'll let that slide.  Why not just make Carnosaur 4?  You made Angel 4- and that was after Part 3 being The Final Chapter!  Here's the reason for the re-used Intros now- pretty much all of the major F/X Shots are reused from the previous Carnosaur Films.  Roger Corman using F/X Shots over again- what a shock!  The actual Story is...pretty much what you expect.  Say it with me- Government Experiment gone awry creates dinosaurs and they get loose.  Can our Hero- Eric Roberts- stop the evil Corbin Bernsen?  To find out, read on...

In the Cold Open, some young Adults are killed by a creature with green POV.  When will they run out of colors for these POV shots?!?

The Police- led by Roberts- are on the call.  He also calls in an Animal Control person...who just happens to be an ex-girlfriend.  Naturally.

Oh and the Actors playing corpses can't hold their breath and/or stay still for 1 minute of a shot!

Thus begins the Stock Footage Train!

Right off the bat, we see the Poultry Truck from Carnosaur and later Black Deputy goes back to the Universal Lot to get killed by not-Raptors.  When will he learn?!?

Since there's not much to say about the Plot- Sheriff finds out what is going on, gets caught and the Military shows up- let's point out how sill the mixing of the Shots are.

Late in the Film, this Lady is attacked in the Elevator and turns into a completely-different woman!

Later still, Bernsen sees the Military Helicopter (the 2nd one, that is) arriving...much later than where he is. Damn Time Shifts!

He steals the generic yellow jumper from an Agent, but only so...he can be barely-matched to some footage of a guy in a yellow suit being killed in Carnosaur.  Naturally!

For the climax of crap, Roberts takes a vehicle (from Carnosaur) footage to kill the T-Rex.  In the 2nd bit, you can clearly see the make of the vehicle AND the original Actor.  Finally, the same vehicle- some sort of digger- is now a different, yellow vehicle to push the creature back into the base.

I guess if you're color blind and lack object permanence, this is a fluid sequence!

To wrap this all up, we are told that everything was covered up- in Narration!- and they cut to a new Lab where...they cloned Bernsen and the other Doctor?!?  Why?  Huh?  The End.

Damn lazy stuff.  The whole thing is just bizarre and ridiculous.  To reiterate, they made a new Film and awkwardly made it work with the F/X Shots they already had done.  Night turns to day.  Inside turns to outside.  The Facility alternates between being a Building, a bunker, the inside of a Ship and back around again!  Somehow the Facility is now next to a Quarry for one shot!  Helicopters seem to travel through time warps as from the inside it looks like daytime, but it looks like night-time from the outside.  In one bit, a Pilot is killed by a Raptor...who is clearly from a different location entirely!  Did that Raptor/Mini-T-Rex teleport there or did their Shots just not match?!?  You decide!  No wait- I do!  This Movie is all sorts of bollocks.  That said, it is pretty damn hilarious at times.  I don't think they meant to make a Comedy, but they did!  Speaking of not knowing what Genre you are, one Scene involving a girl (Roberts' Daughter in the Story) flat-out turns into Softcore Porn for a few minutes.  I expect a minute or two from this kind of thing, but the pair dry hump (with only her being naked) for a good 6-7 minutes and then go to leave...whereupon they are attacked.  Don't turn into Please Don't Eat My Mother on me without warning!  Let me leave you now with the most fake-looking effects in the Film...

Next up, I dive head-first into some random, blind Reviews.  I don't know what to expect, so how can you?  Stay tuned...

Ghostly Import: J-oke'l (La Llorona)- Curse of the Weeping Woman

Hola, me amigos.  Now that I've expended a good 50% of my good Spanish, let's dig into today's Film- J-ok'el: La Llorona- Curse of the Weeping Woman.  This 2007 Horror Film has some Mexican origins, but also some strong ties to the States.  In a nutshell, they got some American Actors to help sell it, but otherwise tried to make it authentic.  Hey, if Ron Perlman can be in Spanish-Language Films, why not?!?  What kind of Mexican name is that of our Director- Benjamin Williams?  Oh, that's not his name, you say, IMDB?  His actual name is Roberto Carlos Morales Vergara, it seems.  That's...quite a change.  Is it better than Vincent Dawn or Lewis Coates though?  Our Stateside connections here are Dee Wallace and Tom Parker (not the Colonel).  The former has a lot of good Films to her credits- like The Howling- but also alot of shit ones- The Eden Formula.  I'm not going to harp on 'working Actors' all the time, plus she's apparently a nice lady.  She's still in this Film though, so my leniency only goes so far.  Parker is someone I'm not familiar with, but he did apparently do a Travel Show about South America the same year as this one.  The Film's Plot- a missing Sister (In Law) brings a man to Mexico to find her.  Without his Mother's help or that of the Police, can he save the day?  To find out, read on...

A man (Parker) travels to Mexico when he's told that his Sister-in-Law disappeared from her home in Mexico.

His Mother lives there, but she's shutting him out.  Why so serious?

Our Hero gets no help from La Policia and can't find out who took her, but this lady has a theory.

J-oke'l is apparently a woman's Spirit who shows up when kids are troubled and kidnaps them.  Is this the Mexican Import Version of The Lady in Black?

With nobody else on his side, he teams up with a local woman, in spite of their conflicts.  Can they solve the case?

Given this Film's Budget (reportedly $500,000), you'll have to make do with a veil being waved in front of the camera for our ghost.

As things get worse, our Hero gets temporarily locked up and sees J-oke'l in the Street.  Can he find her/it?

 Eventually, he finds where J-oke'l has been hiding, albeit only after his friend's son goes missing.  Now begins the depressing final events...

First, all of the kids are dead.  No happy ending for you!

Next, it turns out that Wallace is actually the culprit and our Hero is forced to kill her.  Joy.

Lastly, at the Cemetery with our mourning Heroes, the real J-oke'l appears.

Literally no hope at all, huh?  Alright.  The End.

Ghostly non-fun!  This Film sure is bleak.  This Film sure can be tedious at times.  This Film sure is...not that interesting.  Wow- a triple threat!  Hell, this Film is more depressing than the realization that 2/3rds of ECW's Triple Threat group is now dead!  The Story is pretty simple and there's really not much to it.  Parker doesn't believe in anything and then he does.  The woman is optimistic that they can win and they don't.  Wallace seems crazy and...is, apparently.  I want to say more about these kind of low-budget Horror Films.  When they are good, I'll praise them.  When they aren't, well, I'll just be that guy making fun of them.  The thing had promise.  A man out of his element, working a personal case and confronting his demons.  These are all good ideas and could make a good Film.  As a whole, however, the Film falters.  It wastes much time on a Sub-Plot with the woman's ex-Husband as a red herring.  Nobody is fooled!  The language barrier works at times, but mostly just makes us non-Spanish speakers read.  I have no problem with that, really, but others might.  It is kind of like how Tom Hanks' Character speaks German in Bridge of Spies, but they chose *not* to give us Subtitles most of the time.  Did that help?  Ultimately nothing here is that impressive, scary or immersive.  It isn't a terrible Film- just not a terribly-interesting one.  It does have great Lighting though...

Next up, a Rare Flix feature from New Concorde.  While it has no Island or Planet, this Raptor sure is...Stock Footage.  Stay tuned...

Holiday Re-Post: Goodbye Uncle Tom (aka Addio Zio Tom)

***I feel the need to preface the entire review by saying that I pretty much agree with nothing that this movie says. When you read what this movie has to say, you will understand my discretion.***

In the wake of Mondo Cane, the Mondo sub-genre was born. You had a ton of imitators (including the makers of Mondo Bizarro) and a slew of follow-up films by the men who started it. Their latter films- including Africa Addio and Women of the World- were met with controversy related to their impartiality and just how real the events were. The bottom line-they faked stuff.  They didn't always fake the Animal stuff, unfortunately, but their Films were full of staged crap.  The other critique- their Films were Racist.  I can't deny the facts that people cited for their case (which you can read for yourself), but I also can't speak to the state of mind of two people I never met- both of whom are also dead.  Sufficed to say, the accusations affected them deeply.  With that in mind, they naturally, they followed this up by making a fake Documentary (presented as if it was shot at the time it took place) about very real events- the Age of Slavery in America. It was called...

There is pretty much no getting past that title, is there? I don't blame you. It is what kept me from renting this film for months. Am I glad that I did? Well, I would answer with an emphatic 'Yes...and no.' It's as emphatic as I am going to get.

To note- this Reviews is based on the Italian Cut (shown below), but the majority of content is shared between this and the U.S. Release.  There is not much point in covering them both separately.  Got it?

The begins darkly enough in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death- thanks, Movie. It gives you the dark side of the Black Power movement and its statements. Are you ready for the other side? Tough shit- you ain't getting them here! Therein lies the biggest problem of the movie: representation. More on that later.

A little bit later (though longer than it should be), the film finally introduces the most controversial element of it: Time-Travel. Yes, you read that right. It also gives us the title screen a good 20 minutes in.  What is this- a Christopher Nolan Film? 

The bulk of the film is done in a Faux-Documentary style. The idea is that when we are in the Antebellum times, the camera(s) are the eyes of Italian documentarians who are visiting (ha ha, real clever).  Of course, they also fly in via Helicopter, so...logic?

Unfortunately, the Movie can't agree on a format. We get numerous shots from behind cells or from really awkward angles that would not be a place where a person would go. We also get time jumps back to the present (of 1971). This is like Lost, only a lot more racist and annoying.

The movie is very long (the cut I watched was 136 minutes), so I will give you a bullet point representation of the film's narrative...

-Black people are put on a boat, mutilated and sent to a camp to be 'cleaned.'

-Black people are used as slaves/sex objects/breeding machines/cattle.
-White people are all self-righteous assholes who think that black people are animals.

-All white Preachers in the South think that slavery was ordered by God.

-All white men want to have sex with black women and not their wives.

-All white women don't give a shit about their slaves and/or abuse them.

-Oh yeah, black slaves never talk. Ever!

Just picture that for two hours, throw in some random nudity (male/female and adults/children) and horrible, horrible dialog and you have the movie. They throw in horrible imagery (the little girl leading the naked black boy being one of the worst) and expect you to go 'whoa, it's so profound.' 

Here is the other big problem: they just make shit up- all the time. 
- Did Andrew Jackson hunt runaway slaves? No. 
- Did French nuns keep slaves? No. 
- Was there a black whorehouse run by a half-black midget called 'The General?' I seriously doubt it. 

So why put it in the movie and taint any good narrative/sense of reality that you had? Because you're a bunch of idiots. At least the later realized how bad the Movie is (according to a 2003 documentary about the pair of directors).  Better late than never, I guess.

After all that, the Film ends with the Black Power people starting a violent revolt and killing the 'White Devils' (at least in the Italian Cut).  See what I meant about representation now?

A bad Film for a number of reasons.  One we'd like to forget, but really shouldn't- no matter how hard it may be.

Quick Reviews: Vendetta (2015)

Another WWE Films Production?  Well, at least this one has one of the Superstars playing the Villain.  Will this be a Big disappointment?

A Detective (Dean Cain) and his Partner catch a criminal (Big Show) and his brother.  Nothing can go wrong with this set-up!

Three Months Later, he gets free and kills Cain's wife.  To rip off Identity Crisis, she's also pregnant!

Legal Question- what career Criminal is released within hours of the charges being dropped?  Isn't there some sort of process to file the paperwork?

Cain makes a big decision- become a killer himself (taking out Show's brother) and gets himself sent into Prison to take out Show.

Simple question- why not just become a Guard?  #WWTBBMD (What Would The Big Bossman Do?)

Now in Prison, Cain must fight to survive!

Well, more accurately, he must hunt down and kill the people that attacked him earlier- just in case they might try it again, I guess.

How does this play into the twisted machinations of the Warden?  I mean, he's obviously-evil.  Just look at this guy...

The Big Show runs this joint (like a less-talented Vincent D'onofrio) and will get what he wants!

Who wins?  Who loses?  Who dies?  To find out, watch the Film.

Mean, brutal stuff- and that's just the Writing!  Zing!  All jokes aside, this is a dark, dark Film.  Men are shot.  Men are stabbed.  Men are choked out.  Men are left to bleed out.  They don't even get the courtesy of having their blood stored in several matching jars either!  The whole thing is just plain mean!  Cain's Character has a good reason to get a little angry and he has some things happen that give him an 'out.'  That said, he goes out of his way to do mean things or do things that he doesn't have to do in order to get his revenge.  Revenge- the most fruitless of goals.  I can't really put myself in his place for a number of reasons, but I find it hard to condone his actions at a certain point.  For me, he passes past being a dark Hero and just kind of being a murdering asshole.  There are very few people who don't either cross into that territory or just start out that way.  You know what happens to those people?  They get killed!  The Film was Directed by the Soska Sister and you can tell.  We can always imagine worse things than most Filmmakers can show us, so why revel in how bloody you can make the dying wife's face or how bloody you can make a pillow?   The bottom line- Vendetta is a dark, sometimes ugly Film that doesn't really have a message.  If you like Action Films in Prison, this is one of them.  I will note that I expected to catch them using the wrong Flag in the Film, but they actually didn't!  Mind you, they actually filmed it in Canada, but the mild compliment stands...

On the surface, nothing special.  Underneath the surface, a Film that wallows in excessive violence.

Quick Reviews: Tokyo Tribe

At long last, the Action Film/Rap Musical from Japan that we've all been hoping for.  This is...

In Tokyo, the big City is divided up between 4 'Tribes.'  Our Musical Narrator is here to walk us through what happens in this Story.

 Conflict is ever present as each Tribe controls their own area, but always hopes to control more.

The City is chock full of interesting and crazy people who just so happen to love wall art.

Chaos erupts as the battle for one important person comes up.  They hold the future of all of Asia in their hands- albeit indirectly.

This brings the arrival of some big-name, scary dudes and all-out war!  Be ready for lots of kicking of both ass and 'it old-school.'

Who will win this battle for supremacy among the Tribes?  Who dies?  Who gets served?  To find out, watch the Film.

Weird, weird stuff.  The Film is all sorts of bizarre for a number of reasons.  First off, it is a Rap-based Musical.  Is that a common thing over in Japan that I've just somehow missed over the years?  Mind you, the Japanese Band I know the most- Maximum the Hormone- does have/had a Rapper in it, but still.  Second- the Tone.  The Film is all over the place tone-wise.  At some points, it is straight-up Comedy.  At other points, it is darker, featuring death and just plain evil folks.  At other points still, it is just plain campy, featuring dick jokes, funny outfits and over-the-top visuals.  The rest of the time it is some sort of mix of all three.  Make sense?  The Acting is all over the map as well, pretty much trying to keep pace with the Film.  One Character varies from super-evil to jokey to menacing in a silly way to evil to strange again.  The Film has alot of fun, crazy moments though, in spite of the Tone issues.  It builds and builds in a pretty fun way and everything pays off.  Like I said, it is a mixed-bag as far as the whole experience goes, but lovers of Japanese crazy will adore it.  It is Streaming still on Netflix, so no excuses.  While you do that, I'll pick up some Interior Decorating Tips...

Damn strange and damn fun at times.  The Story and execution is all over the map, so not all will enjoy it the same.