Skip to main content

Akira and the Cricket Who Became a Man

Monday: Masquerade (1965)
        David is an American who helped the British during WWII. He became friends with Colonel Drexel. Drexel has long been involved with the oil trade in the Middle East. After the king died control of the country went over to a regent because the young prince was too young to rule. The regent does not want to work with the British anymore. The prince has agreed to continue to work with them once he is of age. But Drexel is worried he will be killed before then. So he hires David to help him kidnap and protect the prince until he comes of age. Their early success does not last long, especially when David is betrayed. I thought this movie was ok.

Tuesday: Ace in the Hole (1951)
         An ambitious reporter named Chuck moves to Albuquerque. He has been fired from papers in all the major cities. Chuck convinces the local paper to hire him. He thinks he can bide his time until he can get a story big enough to get the attention of bigger papers. After a year he has had no luck. On the way to write a story about a fair he stops at a gas station. There he learns that a local man has been caved in, in an ancient Native American dwelling in the mountain behind the station. Chuck knows this could be a good story. He goes to talk to the trapped man. The man could easily get out in a day. But the story would be better if he was trapped for longer. Chuck could get more attention for the articles he writes if it lasts longer. So he does all he can to keep the man trapped for a week. His ambition gets in the way. This movie was decent. It was well acted. It's hard to believe a man would do that to someone just for a story.

Friday: Mulan (2020)
        This is the latest Disney remake. The story is pretty much the same. So I'm not going to write a summary. I will just talk about some of the differences. Mulan has Chi which gives her almost super human abilities. She is a great fighter. But of course as a woman she has to hide it. The main villain, Bori Khan, has a witch who does his bidding. She has Chi like Mulan. She has been cast out. Her hope is that by fighting with Bori Khan she will gain some freedom and be able to live somewhere where she can be herself. She takes the form of a falcon like Shan Yu's in the original animated movie. There are no songs or Mushu. Mulan's love interest is a fellow soldier like her. I thought this movie was decent. Not the best. It was a little jumpy. They didn't spend enough time on each scene. Like Mulan goes to tell the commander that Bori Khan is going to attack the emperor. And within (what feels like) 30 seconds they all forgive her and are willing to fight with her. I liked that she was able to fight in the big battle as herself. I did like the nods they did to the original. Some of the music was the instrumental version of the songs from the original. There was a character named Cricket who was supposed to have good luck. Mulan's horse looks the same. Her guide is a red phoenix, Mushu was red. There was the scene where the men discussed what they wanted in a wife. My sister auditioned for this movie. The funny thing is both actresses who are the young Mulan and older Mulan are also named Crystal (translated).

Saturday: Akira (1988)
        In 1988 there was an atomic explosion that wiped out most of Japan. In the future of 2019 Neo-Tokyo was a much different place. Criminals are ever present. Violent protests happen on a daily basis. A teenager named Kaneda and his friends are in a motorcycle gang. One night they are fighting with another gang. His friend Tetsuo is in the lead. All of the sudden there is a strange glowing figure in the rode. It is the size of a young boy but looks like he has been mummified. Tetsuo runs into the boy. The boy is fine. Tetsuo is injured. Kaneda tries to help his friend. But before he can do anything the army swarms them. They take the boy and Tetsuo. We learn that they have been experimenting on children. The boy and two other children have been given powers. They do the same to Tetsuo. He does not take it well. Kaneda doesn't know what to do. He meets a teenage girl named Kei. She is in a army trying to bring down these experiments. They want to get Tetsuo out of there. Tetsuo's powers have grown out of control. He is dangerous. His goal is to find the mysterious Akira. I thought this movie was ok. It was really weird. Also in the movie they were getting ready for the 2020 Olympics. Which is a coincidence because they were supposed to be in Tokyo this year.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tornado Wrangler and the Amish Safe House

 Wednesday: Just One of the Guys (1985)       Terry is a high school student with dreams of being a journalist. She loses a summer job at the Sun Tribune to two male classmates. Terry believes she lost because she's a girl. Frustrated and still determined to get the job she comes up with a plan. She dresses up as a boy and registers at the other high school in her town. She will then enter her article in the contest. Her article was rejected again. Terry realizes it really is the article that needs work. While finding a new topic she makes friends with another student, Rick. She helps him to get a date to the dance. The closer they get to the dance the more Terry realizes she has feelings for him. I thought this movie was alright. The actor who plays Rick is the brother-in-law of my neighbor. Friday: Witness (1985)        An Amish widow, Rachel, is taking her son to the city for the first time. While at a train station her son witnesses the murder...

Musical Connection and the Bakery

 Friday: Flora and Son (2023)     Flora is a young single mother. She struggles to get along with her 14 year old son Max. Her ex, who used to be in a band, is little help. Max is constantly getting in trouble. He has a case manager who is running out of options from keeping him out of jail. One day Flora finds a guitar. She gives it to Max thinking music will be a way to keep him occupied and off the streets. He rejects it. So Flora decides to take guitar lessons herself. She finds an American man, Jeff, who does lessons online. Flora starts to really get into her lessons. Then she learns that her son it making music on his computer. He is really good. They finally have a connection and their relationship gets better. I thought this movie was good. Saturday: Dumb Money (2023)       This is based on a true story. Keith is a financial analyst. He has a youtube channel where he talks about the stalk market and things like that. He notices the stock in the sto...

Black Cat and the Glam Rocker

 Tuesday: Woman of the Hour (2024)       This is based on a true story. Set in the 70s, Sheryl is an aspiring actress in Hollywood. She books a gig as a contestant on The Dating Game . She hope it will give her exposure. She ends up picking Rodney Alcala. He seems like a great guy. Little does she know he is a serial killer. I thought this movie was alright. I had heard about him before on a podcast I listen to. It was interesting to see it from her point of view.  Thursday: The Black Cat (1934)       The movie, as the credits say, is suggested by the Edgar Allan Poe story. Peter and Joan are newlyweds on their honeymoon in Hungary. They ends up sharing a train compartment with a doctor named Vitus. They gets off at the same stop and take the same taxi bus. There is an accident. Luckily they are near Vitus's destination. The home of famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig. He reluctantly lets them in. Joan was hurt in the crash. While she is recovering Pe...