[E-Movie] The Croods (2013) family, comedy, adventure Okay, so the trailers really mislead me but It was a very good movie with interesting cavemen humour and family wholesome goodness. I loved how the circle of life was used well to display weird yet cute creatures eating each other; the crudes included. The story centers around a cave people family named the Croods. Their lifestyle is all about surviving and that meant hiding in caves for the most part and staying away from the unknown. Their lives change when the daughter, Eep meets Guy who foresees the calamity of the continents drifting apart. They all eventually go on a journey of discovery. What mislead me was how the trailers made me believe Eep was the main character. I say this because she is shown with curiosity and a character of action. I thought wow, to have a true female lead in a big animation movie ground breaking; yeah, a little disappointed. I would have to say that the main character in this movie was Grug. He is the leader in the family and set in his ways. He more than any other character goes through a great change in this journey. He is the most resistant to adapt and competes for his daughters affection. So really Eep was more of of a supporting character (albeit highly visible one) to further reshape and massage the father’s ego.
[J-Drama] TV Asahi - Nobunaga no Chef (2013) - cooking, drama Hey, just finished this drama aaaaaaaaaaand I think it is okay. I would only recommend watching if you had nothing better to do. I generally love cooking shows so when I watch this I find the cooking experience this show offers is interesting but it lacks in drama. it doesn’t compare to other shows like “cooking master boy” and the like. The time traveling aspect gives interesting challenges but I don’t think this concept was utilized as well as “Jin”. So the story is about a chef, Ken who mysteriously winds up in the past without any recollection of his past except his expertise in cooking, a mysterious woman and a vague Idea he came from the future. his cooking skills gets noticed by Nobunaga and ends up working for him, overcoming challenges and cooking wondrous food. The strongest point of the series is that all of the food is made in real life! meaning its not exaggerated fantasy-like food. Hey, maybe even I can make it too…. well anyway, it is fun to see how Ken copes with the limited resources he has in a primitive era like making butter from scratch and stuff.The whole mystery about time travel and character development was rather disappointing. You still won’t know how this time travel thing started in the end. At the beginning, it is a little odd how Ken jumps into cooking at level 100. Right off the bat he is the best cook there is, simply because of his culinary training from the future and some genius inspirations. I find it very problematic when the main character can solve all of their problems with a thinking face, showing no thinking process. Ken also whips out custom, unique meals every time he cooks and of course makes no mistakes which makes him like, 25 year old genius (too good to be true)? The actor for Ken doesn’t seem to show much emotion at all (How boring). he has a catch-phrase: “come on, sengoku cuisine!” every time he starts cooking, which I thought weird.  Nobunaga on the other hand was really likeable. At first he seems all cold but by the end of the series, you can see his fun and kind nature underneath his harsh face. The actor was great! There was a memorable able flipping scene. Natsu is a female blacksmith that befriends and helps Ken on his journey. She was a legitimate smith! That is interesting enough to create a spin off series but… you know… she’s mostly there to support our chef <3 and the romance plot. I mean how can they just waste this character by having her run errands rather than proving her value with her own trade?! and not to mention it’s a rare line of work for women in that time period. she does get to use her skills to craft a spear for one of the high ranking soldiers but… do we really know if it was because of her awesome skills or because she was the only smith around? The female ninja… I feel had no impact in the story. she is tough and there is a hint of a tragic backstory and sacrifices she makes to survive this time period. So I guess she is pretty okay in contrast with the two other girls in the show (she doesn’t talk much and wearing unusually eye catching costume). she’s also kinda falls in love with Ken so… wow, ken has a harem. Our other female character is Youko, a pastry chef from the future who seems to know Ken. You could say that both Youko and Ken were in the same situation at the beginning in the story however they ended up in vastly different positions in the end. Ken who almost got killed at the beginning, became a respected, autonomous and admired chef of Nobunaga. Youko on the other hand almost got raped, then became a puppet/slave; coerced by the (high status) monk who saved her. She has her skill and knowledge but is such a spineless weakling. Her pastry chef profession is shown to be inferior to Ken’s versatile culinary skills by the contrast of success the characters get (and the fact that ken can pull off pastries as well as said pastry chef). What’s even worse is that there is no development for Youko’s story to support the decisions/actions she makes even if you interpret her actions as either simple minded or manipulative. Heck, she doesn’t even say much at all. I believe that this story shows how deeply entrenched beliefs about traditional gender roles are in Japan. It sends the message that the women of today, when faced with the same obstacles as a man is: unsuccessful, unable to adapt, incapable, spineless, weak, dependent, and worthless unless to further support a man. It suggests that the view of women from the past is not so much different from the view of modern day women, having common traits of weakness and helplessness. Finally it also sends the message that the stories of heroism and ingenuity only worth telling are male ones. I would say the message is totally depressing, but I can still enjoy the series. It does manage to at least avoid insulting the female gender unlike other shows out there (I’m talking about those ditzy, klutzy, stupid female side kicks). at least there’s that….
[Anime] Fall 2012 It was a season with a surprising amount of shoujo (3) most of which I am currently reading! Kamisama Hajimemashita I love the fantasy element of this shoujo. I liked the romance but I wish there was more of an emphasis on spiritual training, exorcisms, action, adventure as well. Nanami’s character is similar to Tooru from Fruuba but less ditzy so it is touching when she helps others but it is also a limited nurturing female type of character. Tonari no Kaibutsukun There was a big fuss over one line haru says (“I’ll rape you”) which rubbed many people the wrong way. Truthfully, when I read it the first time I did not give much thought to it (violence is violence and is of course not okay). It is not representative of the whole story and is not a big part of the show. The story has better character development than the other shoujo this season I think (although may not be perfect). There are way more anime that exploit women’s bodies more consistently; contributing to the objectification, harassment and violence against women yet it is a-OK for most anime watchers. Suki-tte Iina yo I like the romance in this series and how it focuses on high school body image and self esteem. Sometimes though it is not a perfect picture of healthy relationships but well, what can you do? Robotic Notes truthfully, I only watched a few episodes and so far it seems like a shounen series like Medabots. I like how the girl is so into it because that is like how I was when I was younger. I hope they don’t turn her into a sexy gamer creature or catch her with her pants down or smt.
[Cartoon] Young Justice I just watched the first two episodes, and I am excited to see more. There is no doubt that it was androcentric with a plot that included 4 guys doing fantastic shit. The fifth female member joins when all of the action is done and she is like an outsider; an other. I hope she will be an awsome character in the future and there will be more female centered stories in the future though (I wouldn’t count on it). 
[Anime] 2012 Summer Sword Art Online I was hesitant to start this series because of all the lewd images I see on the net but I like the concept of the story (being stuck in a mmorpg). There isn’t any obscene fanservice so far but it is definitely androcentric. The characters (and plot) are very shallow and stereotypical but I am still interested to see what happens next. Natsuyuki Rendezvous a josei love triangle drama that is in the perpective of one of the guys. The girl is forward for a change. It’s sometimes awkward to watch but hey it’s one of a few anime that is not catered to guys. Uta Koi anthologies of poems (mostly about love). The stories are related to to the Karuta card game and gives a interpretation of the poems. I just watch this when I have time since each story is short.
[e-movie] Brave (2012) Drama I just watched this and I just had to write about it. It was an entertaining movie with a lot of humour and a dash of action scenes. I did however have some problems with the simplicity and narrow scope of the plot, and somewhat shallow characters. From looking at a few trailers, I thought the story would be about Merida getting into trouble as a result of her archery. Instead I got a teen rebellion domestic mother-daughter drama. There is nothing new or an interesting spin on this type of story that hasn’t been done before (brother bear, tangled). The conflict for the movie was about family drama around an arranged marriage… which is really too simple. I suppose marriage is a common issue in princess stories but if this movie was trying to impower women, it should broaden the story beyond marriage and domestic life. Merida was suppose to be a stong female character maybe even femenist. I would say that she might have been if the plot wasn’t so limited. The movie gives her exceptional archery and survival skills that she gets to show off however, these skills are used only to prove to her mother what she is capable of. Fate was a major aspect of the movie but it was used as an excuse to arbitrarily progress the story (will of wisps, enchantments).  Merida wanted to change her fate however she resorted to buying an enchantment to change her mother rather than taking her fate into her own hands. This makes her into a rather weak character which reinforces female and teen stereotypes. Why is this movie even called “Brave”? There was nothing really brave about… trying to fix wishful thinking that lead to disaster, more like you need to be responsible. She was also fighting her father and mordu without even needing to overcome any fears either. The movie focused on the relationship of Merida and her mother. Other characters (family, suitors, non-existant friends) were treated as mere decoration. This severeley limits the development of Merida’s character as well as the whole cast and the quality of the movie. because she is most noteably defined by the relationship with her mother (which was also lacking) rather than with her friends, work, citizens, and other pursuits etc. After watching the movie, I did not find I was particularly attached to any character. Merida and her mother’s conflict is caused by not understanding each other. The enchantment was suppose to indirectly bridge that gap by turning the mom into a bear. It is a common trope used to change perception of a character but it was not appropriate in this case (why a bear?!). As the movie goes on the pemanence of the change becomes  a more serious problem that is Merida’s fault. The message is: that it is bad for a child to want to be heard and the only way to do so is to threaten their mother’s life. I felt really bad for Merida for persecuting herself over this. How was this Magical mix up resolved? It was very uncertain. It could have been when Merida fixed the tapestry she cut; or for apologizing to her mother for turning her into a bear; or apologizing for not being a responsible, grateful and filial daughter to begin with? Either way it was a very one sided resolution especially in the last moments. Earlier the mother changed her mind about the arranged marriage just when her daughter made a speech about accepting it (to make a distraction). Mom then suggests that whoever can win her heart can marry her. This solution was vague and seriously mislead the suitors to believe it was another obstacle to overcome; they still had a chance. Doing so also does not automatically fix her relationship with her daughter. When the mother was a bear, I saw scenes where mother and daughter discovered things they didn’t know before about each other. For example how skilled Merida is at archery and her survival skills and how the mother is silly when she is a bear (why a bear?!). From this they both decide to change their minds about the decisions they made initially. There was not much substance in this change because their motivations for doing so was superficial. I did cry when Merida was blaming herself for causing harm to her mom and desperately trying to fix her mistake. The movie did well in convincing me of that however I don’t think the movie should expect that a happy ending was achieved after that. I would imagine that she would always remember this as something terrible she had done to her mother and would still blame herself for it for the rest of her life. After effects of these events could include inability to cope with future crisis, low self esteem, low confidence, persecution complex etc. I was expecting a little more from Pixar, but I suppose the reason why this story was different from most other Pixar films was because Disney was involved and they wanted this movie to become a new disney classic.
[e-movie] The Avengers (2012) Action OMG!!!! This movie was epic!!!!! well… not really but at least there was a bit of fan service which I was hoping for. I was quite disappointed with the writing especially at the writer Joss Whedon who is known for Buffy, Angel and Vol. 8 of The Runnaways; I expected a lot more from him. The story involves the “tesseract” (energy source) that aliens and humans alike want to possess. The alien bad guys represented by Loki steals it from the U.S. base, and brings an alien army to destroy Earth. The avengers assembles, overcomes group discord and secret gov’t agendas and beats the bad guys. The conflict was dressed to look epic and overwelming but the resolution was not. The primary conflict with the alien invasion was resolved with fighting thousands of invaders one at a time until a nuke was arbitrarily fired and used to destroy the mothership coincidentally killing all the invaders at once (and surprisingly only one human casualty). The secondary conflict with the Avengers discord was solved when an agent is killed in action. All the members put aside their petty differences at once and arbitrarily followed Captain America’s orders (eventhough not all members were present for this touching scene). It is just all very simplistic and shallow. The Avengers is full of iconic characters and all in one movie (only one female member btw) however, there was not a lot of screen time for all of them. I found that Iron man really had the most development with all his jokes, lines and conflicts with other characters. It fits with his character however the movie shouldn’t be all about him either. Loki was especially a poor antagonist with a god complex and used as a joke. His motives and plans were not fleshed out enough. His sole purpose like in Norse Mythology was used to cause trouble which was very 2D and stereotypical. The character I hated the most was Captain America. I don’t believe he really earned his place as the leader of the team and he is a very simplistic, unrealistic, good-natured and patriotic guy.
[E-Movie] The Raven (2012) Mystery, Action Basically this was another Sherlock Holmes but with a poet rather than detective as the hero. A copy-cat murder based on Poe’s stories, lead to the author being consulted on the case. His girlfriend gets kidnapped which makes him all the more desperate to solve the case and save his love. Comments: Entertaining story, but it was unnecessarily gory. This is a story set around 1849 but I thought it was odd that the acting, music and credit graphics were very modern. It is also another guy centered movie… damsel in a fridge…  sigh… The plot is a wild goose chase where a murder occurs with a clue that is unrelated to the whereabouts of kidnapped lady leads to another murder and to another. Finally near the end the murderer graciously gives an actual clue about his identity to Poe who figures out who the killer is. The detective miraculously stumbles upon the same conclusion separately by witnessing ink attracted to a magnet (related to the hair of the killer being attracted to a magnet) while looking for a gun. The magnet was used earlier to take out a lead bullet from the detective (impossible). Since when was that magnetized hair important to the story? How did they know that was the killer’s hair? Even if it was a fact how did they know to analyse the hair for magnetism if anything at all? (not like they had a forensics team back then or a handy magnet) Rather than a murder mystery it was a treasure hunt because none of the murders really mattered we just needed the clues from the bodies to get to the prize. Acting-wise I didn’t think john Cusack did a good job (nor the writing staff). Besides quoting knowledge of Poe’s works, I took him for more of a generic romantic lead (similar to Serendipity) who is a poet disguised as an action hero (similar to Jason Statham movie plots). The movie seriously glorified this poet as some sort of action hero by the homicide detective. It didn’t even need Poe as a main character because as long as they have extensive knowledge of the work (source of copy-cat killings) this story becomes very generic. From the first murder, the intent was supposed to be directed at Poe but something wasn’t right about it. The only indication the first murder was a copycat killing was in the detail of the window which was barely recognized by the detective. If they were really trying to send a message, the murder would have happened closer to Poe. The message was just unclear with each murder and the movie did very little to elaborate on the murderer’s profile until they revealed whodunit.