This is a great CD. James Newton Howard creates a sad, yet exciting soundscape for the movie, and does an amazing job of such. Worth a buy for an film score fans.
I saw this movie in theaters, and seeing as it is not yet out on DVD, I cannot provide a DVD review, but will provide a short one for the movie. Yeah, nevermind. Just look at what I listed in the "what's great about it." I'll wait until its released to give a full review.
What's great about it: Cinematography, acting, direction, writing, etc...
What's not so great: The fact that I don't own it yet.
It takes Sergei Bodrov 2 hours to not say anything
on November 22, 2009
Posted by: ThomBo
Feature: I wasn't sure what to expect upon renting this movie. I was expecting something pretentious, which I can live through--almost every Oscar-nominated movie is pretentious as hell. I was expecting acting, direction, cinematography and story, I guess.
Whatever the case, this movie is a chore to watch. The cinematography makes this one of the d*mn prettiest movies I've ever seen. The direction is superb and so is the acting. Yet, somehow, they don't save this movie.
The plot is a random bunch of tropes thrown onto a script, then spread thing over two hours. Nothing happens in this movie, and when it does, it passes by hella-quick, and has little to no meaning or consequence within the plot. For all of its feats, this movie ends up really being nothing.
Which is a huge shame, because the feats mentioned are truly amazing.
Video: Beautiful.
Audio: Also great. Fantastic use of the 5.1 surround, a simultaneously subtle and explosive soundscape, I love it.
Features:...Yeah...didn't really bother to watch any of these, so...yeah.
What's great about it: The cinematography is beautiful, the direction is superb and the acting is amazing.
What's not so great: The afformentioned strengths aren't enough to cover up a hackneyed story in which nothing happens. Like, ever.
Ghost in the Shell, following in the footsteps of Akira, is one of the most critically acclaimed animated movies of the 1990s. Director Mamoru Oshii's bleak cyber-punk anime makes for a good, but flawed DVD. Picture quality is outstanding. The 1.85:1 widescreen transfer does the movie's bold vision justice, and color contrast is excellent. The sound, however, is problematic. The English dialogue track is very good, the voice acting is acceptable, and the sound effects are commanding. Turning on the subtitles while listening to the Japanese audio track, however, reveals flaws. The voice acting on the Japanese track is particularly awkward; the actors simply read their lines without emotion. Also, sound effects are buried on the Japanese track, no matter how loud the volume. The DVD's special features are not as exciting as the case's artwork would have viewers believe. The 30-minute "making of" featurette is dull and offers little insight or substantive information; it's similar in nature to the promos found on cable television, but infinitely less professional and interesting. The theatrical trailer is also a waste of time. "A Guide to Ghost in the Shell" brings up nine areas of background information, such as character bios, crew bios, a plot summary, and some design information. Ghost in the Shell is Grade-A anime and maybe a Grade-B DVD.
Customer Rating
5
A Masterpiece
on November 13, 2009
Posted by: ThomBo
Feature: This movie is absoluetely stunning. It's smart, has a fascinating philosophy, great acting, amazing direction and a beautiful score.
Video: Not perfect, this being an early DVD, but the hazy look actually provides nice mood for the movie.
Audio: The acting is great both in Japanese and in English, but its somewhat unfortunate that the English is treated to 5.1 surround sound while the Japanese is left in stereo.
Bonus Features: Neh.
What's great about it: The movie is amazing. Every image is ripe with meaning, it brings about interesting questions, etc.
What's not so great: Only one special feature, that's a bit long and boring.
The original Ghost in the Shell is a masterpiece, and one of the reasons for this was its direction and what it did in terms of visual imagery, and the meaning every image contained.
This version decides that meaning is over-rated, and replaces it with distracting CGI, and awkward color changes.
You'll be doing yourself a favor by watching the original rather than this washed-out, destroyed pile of remains. It's a shame that the original doesn't get released on BD.
Video: Animation on Blu Ray. Need I say more? It's amazing.
Audio: Much better than the DVD release, which was already pretty good.
Features: Also good. A lot of nice, in-depth featurettes.
What's great about it: I suppose that it has good video quality and special features.
What's not so great: It's a horrible butchering of the amazing original film, which would've looked great on Blu-Ray.