Jun 24 - Jun 30
The Devil on Trial, Europa Report, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, The 08th MS Team, Bone Tomahawk, Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, Phone Booth, Mr. Brooks
- The Devil on Trial [2023] - 40
A “was it the devil or was it a family being exploited for money” story, The Devil on Trial is fun enough if you want to sit on your couch with popcorn and snacks and poke fun at everyone who pops up. Anything other than that, however, and this “documentary” quickly falls apart as next to nothing is actually investigated or challenged, and none of the more interesting aspects of tragedies being taken advantage of, bias, or sensationalism are given more than a passing nod… when they’re acknowledged at all. You’re better off watching The Amityville Horror from 2005.
- Europa Report [2013] - 88
A likely contender for my top 20 on the year, Europa Report is a found-footage/ documentary science fiction film with staggeringly varied review scores [IMDB: 64, RT: 80/57]. While something that I definitely connected with and loved, I can see how one might not. You have to be in this for both the wonder and horror of exploration, as well as enjoy the found-footage format. If neither of those interest you… this won’t be your thing. Part Event Horizon and part Sphere, Europa Report is one that will likely leave you with feelings of some sort no matter what side of the field you land on. One of the only genuinely interesting and thought-provoking things I’ve watched lately, I look forward to picking this back up in a few years to see how it’s aged.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin [2018] - 77
A prequel to the original series, Origin picks up just before the events of 0079 and sets the stage for the conflicts, feuds, and rivalries that lead to the dropping of of space colony Side 5 onto the Earth, resulting in hundreds of millions of deaths in just a single day, and an untold number of casualties in the years to follow.
The series is mostly very cool and gives much needed insight into relationships that made virtually no sense in the original series, but does suffer from what I call “anime bullshit” more than anything previously watched. Exaugurated emotions, screaming characters, and weird relationships between adults and children speckle this mini-series that is otherwise very interesting and adds a ton of great context to something several decades its senior.
- The 08th MS Team [1999] - 79
A longtime favorite of mine, The 08th MS Team is a gritty-reboot coming off the slew of Gundam content from the 80’s. Ground combat, guerilla-style jungle warfare, and a relatively small cast of characters makes 08th MS engaging, raw, and heavy… mostly. With the death of the director halfway through the series and a few elements of AB [anime bullshit] before that, 08th MS is something a little better remembered than experienced again. It’s still cool and still has some genuinely interesting arcs and great fights, but its tone is all over the place and it features one too many questionable age gaps for me to truly call it “excellent”.
Why’s anime gotta be like that?
- Bone Tomahawk [2015] - 72
A very rare horror/ western, Bone Tomahawk has few competitors in its pool, but still doesn’t manage to stand out entirely from the crowd. Part Unforgivable and part Hostel, where Bone struggles the most is finding a lane that it wants to take. 2/3rds of the film are entirely western, while the last turns into what wants to be an Eli Roth film, but doesn’t quite have the lack of abandon to pull it entirely off. Bone’s elements are all strong enough on their own to make a whole film but, when combined and not fully committed to, create something a little more lukewarm than desert-sand hot. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy my time with Bone Tomahawk, it’s just that if Richard Jenkins hadn’t been so enjoyable as the dopey old man, that there would have been very little drive to make it through any moment that wasn’t outright thrilling.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket [1989] - 82
Almost no AB, an interesting story with characters that have something to lose, great animation, and an investigation into what it means to side with the “enemy” in a conflict that has nothing to do with you, Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket is a series I was wholly unfamiliar with but had always intended to watch… and I’m very glad that I did. Gundam is at its best when it uses its obviously warlike mobile suits to make interesting statements about war and its glorification, which is what Pocket is all about. Tightly paced at only 6 episodes long, Pocket doesn’t get sidetracked with nonsense that has nothing to do with the direct plot, but still manages to develop interesting characters with meaningful lives.
I hope the series has more to offer like this in the future.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt [2017] - 58
Though I guess I shouldn’t hope too much as the following show in timeline order, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt is, frankly, horrible. Featuring great animation and excellently fast mobile suit fights, Thunderbolt also features some of the most horrendous storytelling I’ve seen in anything I’ve watched this year… and maybe last as well. It’s narrative is disjointed, poorly relayed to the viewer, and features so many meaningless pieces of character trivia that you might as well fill out a bingo card while you watch it. Broken into two main parts [December Sky and Bandit Flower], Thunderbolt suffers majorly from a lack of connective tissues between ideas, scenes, or even basic concepts to offer much more than “wow-factor”. While its opening sequences and the Living Dead Division [a Zeon squadron made up of amputee veterans] are very very cool… the show moves at such an insane pace that it throws away any narrative relevance or weight in place of action set pieces and big explosions. Ugh.
- Phone Booth [2002] - 71
I remembered seeing this movie when I was… much too young to be seeing this movie, but not much else about. I’d had it on my mind anyway when a buddy suggested we watch it, and I’m glad that we did. While it has a lot of issues the longer you think about it, Phone Booth largely excels [weirdly] in the artistic vision department. Lots of split-screen shots make a single location film into something dynamic and revolving, Colin Farrell and Forest Whitaker work as well on screen in this semi-cheese thriller as they ever have, and Kiefer Sutherland engages the audience with nothing more than a voice over a phone. The film does truly suffer from some subpar decision making from certain characters at key points to make the journey more dramatic, but at only 81-minutes long, Phone Booth is easily worth your time even 22-years later.
- Mr. Brooks [2007] - 78
The second movie of the night, Mr. Brooks is a longtime favorite of the same buddy who suggested we watch Phone Booth above. Businessman by day, serial killer by night, Early Brooks has something of a conflicted existence. Good thing he’s vowed to commit only a single further murder before giving up the hobby for good. It sure would be too bad if something happened that extended his stay…
With a truly fantastic interplay between Kevin Costner as Brooks and William Hurt as his alter-ego, Marshall, Mr. Brooks is a far more enjoyable ride than it really should have been. The whole thing has an almost Kiss Kiss Bang Bang meets Fargo vibe that only drops off some because of a few too many plots that don’t add much to the overall story beyond simple complexity. That said, if you’re in it for the weird convergence of life’s annoying little happenings, you probably won’t mind too much. If you’ve never heard of this, I highly recommend you take some time and track it down.
