Reviews

Okay, first off, Seagal's voice is dubbed over for like 50% of the film... Why? Because apparently there were rewriting the script and story as they were shooting and they need to change his dialogue for story continuity as they have multiple versions. From the very beginning, you just scratch your head because the overdubs are not only distracting, but they make no sense.

That said, the story still sucked and doesn't make any sense at all. When I got the the end, I was just scratching my head cause the movie was so pointless and the ending didn't even make sense.

Avoid like the plague. This movie made me stop watching Seagal straight to video movies cause they just get worse and worse.

Where do I start? How about the beginning? The beginning fight scene will sum the cheese of the movie. Really bad acting and unrealistic fights...

The only thing saving this movie from a 1 is the story as Bruce Wayne. The Batman sequences were overdone and cheesy. But Clooney as Bruce Wayne was a great match. His acting style suited that aspect of the movie well. However, every time it cut to a Batman scene, I just asked myself "why am I watching this and who gave the green light..."

Avoid unless you have absolutely nothing better to do... Even then, I'm sure you can find something better to do.

This 6 part OVA of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure takes place during the 3rd generation of the ongoing manga of the same name. The manga which started back in 1987 and is still going to over 70 issues (after 63 issues, Araki Hirohiko started the numbering at 1 again...) and is in its 6th generation of characters. This particular arc of the story jumps right in the heart of everything so some people may be confused as to what is going on. It can be viewed as a stand alone piece with the viewer filling in the pieces as we go along or for deeper understand, reading of the manga is necessary. I saw the anime first and was so intrigued by its originality that I started reading the manga to understand everything better.

This generation of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure follows the story of Jotarou Kujo and his grandfather Joseph Joestar along with their companions they met along the way. All of them are "Stand Users" which to normal people would be considered telekinetic powers, but take the shape of something humanoid to some degree. If I say more, I might ruin the surprises... Jotarou and company are after a Vampire (something you dont know unless you read the manga) named Dio who is also a Stand User and battle his legion of Stand Users in often bizarre but original battles (hence Jojo's Bizarre Adventure). Dio is a 100 year old Vampire who a century ago, Joseph's grandfather Jonathan defeated and thought was dead during a decisive battle (1st Generation of the manga).

During that 100 years, Dio's head took over Jonathan body and was resurrected when his coffin was salvaged by grave robbers. Now the bloodline of the Joestars must once again confront Dio for an intense showdown of various and bizarre sorts! Not recommended for the faint of heart, but for someone who wants a good action flick with lots of depth. Need to be a thinker for this one. Theres something for both anime and non-anime fans.

Outstanding directing by Hiroyuki Kitokubo (Goldenboy, Blood: The Last Vampire, "Tale of Two Robots" from Robot Carnival) and sound directing by Tom Myers at Skywalker Sound. This is the only Japanese anime to be recorded at Skywalker Sound (You know, Lucusfilms!) which should also tell you about the quality of this anime.

The series was so popular that currently a new 7 part OVA is in production as a prequel to these six episodes. While this 6 part series covers the second half of the 3rd generation, the new prequel covers the first half of the 3rd generation.

My rating 10 out of 10.

City Hunter: "A Magnum of Love and Destiny" is without a doubt the greatest City Hunter movie as well as the greatest anime movie of all time. Although City Hunter has that stereotype as a comedy anime of many sorts and it is, there are often many deeper issues presented that are not often seen. In this movie, Ryo Saeba is hired by Nina Steinberg, a genius pianist who has come to Japan to look for her father because her mother who died many years before told her that he was in fact still alive before she passed away. Now enter Nina's Grandfather who for some reason is trying to convince Nina that her father is dead. Add to that mix the search for an information spy's hidden microchip and you have a tightly wound story. In the movie we can understand Ryos relationships with his clients as well as his partner Kaori Makimura whom he loves but shows opposite feelings for her safety because of the business he is in as a "sweeper", not necessarily a private eye as most are lead to believe.

The soundtrack is first-rate with an excellent piano score that is very moving during the climax of the movie. The animation is also top-notch dating back to 1988 and came out between City Hunter's 2nd and 3rd TV seasons (4 is all, 140 episodes total). I wont reveal any more of the plot, but be aware that this is NOT just a comedy and with most City Hunter movies shows some kind of deeper meaning to our relationships as people. A must see. 10 out of 10!