Robocop Arrow Blu Ray: To Serve and Protect Metro City.

As a Michigan resident, I don’t think Robocop is the most accurate portray of Detroit (maybe in someone’s mind) but It does give a good represent of Michigan in the movie landscape (similar to the Evil Dead series). But Robocop is also a prefect landmark film of the 80’s satire of political messages, war satire, corrupted businessmen, and full on crime of the 80’s but with dose of entertaining action that makes Robocop a recognizable product till this day.

I think most people may seen or heard of Robocop, so I don’t want to talk a lot of the plot because really it’s pretty simple but still holds up. But I will talk about a lot of things that are highlights of why I love Robocop so much. Mainly the characters are entertaining and you do appreciate the main character (Alex Murphy) stuffing of his death and rebirth as Robocop and want to him to have his humanity back in his robotic body. Paul Venhoeven sharply and consistent direction while combining with Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner’s script makes a lot of scenes quotable, action packed, character driven, and political humor that makes everything feel like it’s own product.


Now Robocop has several different home video releases including from The Criterion Collection on DVD and Lasterdisc, MGM’s 4K Blu Ray, to finally Arrow Video’s release. This Blu Ray is probably the best version of Robocop for not only having the same 4K video from the previous Blu Ray and having most of the previous extras including new extras made for this release, but it also has the best audio department in all of the releases because most movies from companies like MGM usually put a 5.1 surround mix for films that didn’t had some when they first release and sometimes it’s hit or miss because it depends if they worked with the right material. With the Blu Ray, not only has that option but also has a new 2.0 stereo mix that makes the audio more like how the composer, Basil Poledouris wanted his score to be listed like in the Criterion DVD and Laserdisc. Also, I have the Steelbook release it is a gorgeous release that uses the iconic poster on the front cover while having unique designs for the back cover and on the discs themselves.

Go see Robocop, it’s violet and gory, but it has brilliant satire and memorable moments that makes every action movie of the 80’s special feeling when you watch of them at home, phone or everywhere. The Arrow Blu Ray comes highly recommend for any wants the perfect edition of Robocop. “Stay out of Trouble!”

Animator showcase: Naotoshi Shida

Dragon Ball Z is one of the most popular manga and anime series in both Japan and Worldwide that most people would recognize Akira Toriyama art style from T shirts, promo posters and even fan art that borrows from his art. But some don’t recognize or even think what made DB and DBZ is the animators that help the style for the anime. One of the animators is Naotoshi Shida who not only a great animator for Dragon Ball but also still works on DB till this day with the recent Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

Now Shida didn’t started as a big animator, he started mainly as in between artist and didn’t went to art school, so he didn’t really wanted be a animator until he was employed by Toei Animation. While working at Toei around the early 80’s, he did study the animators work and did some drawings to the style and moment of the animators while he did some in between work. He eventually got promoted as an key animator on some shows Toei was doing, which includes Dragon Ball. He started working at Last House, a studio that Toei used for commission work on the episodes that other studios working on different episodes. Last House was probably the “C” team where they didn’t have the most detailed or moments like Studio Junio(A) or Seigasha (B) but they were more consistent and had talented animators than Studio Live ( the worst studio in my opinion and I will talk later about). Under supervision by Masayuki Uchyiyama, his team of animators like Shida and the underrated Taiichiro O’Hara were quite talented and deliver a lot of memorable moments that made them cheap but effective until Shida left the studio and worked with other animation supervisors on the later half of Dragon Ball Z. 

What makes Shida a very unique animator is his timing and impact on movement and attacks he animated. Even at Last House, you can tell it’s him when he does face paced scene of punches or ki blasts that feels big on the impact. 

Sources: https://youtu.be/k2L95cGw1b4
https://www.sakugabooru.com/post?tags=naotoshi_shida
Thanks for reading this! Check his body of work on Sakura Booru.

Scarface (1932) Blu Ray Review: “This "pre-code" era before censorship shaped the way movies were made, &this powerful gangster film is the most potent of the 1930s“

I think most people would know or heard of Brian De Palma’s Scarface from 1983. A film that deals with Tony Montana that had nothing but rise to be a drug lord of Miami of the 1980’s, the film that may have mixed reviews when it was released, but made impact in the crime drama films of 1980’s and  people still quote “Say hello to my little friend” from parodies and pop culture. But people forget that it was a remake of the 1932 of the same name that not only has the same impact as the De Palma film (both when it was released and its legacy).

In 1920s Chicago, Antonio "Tony" Camonte, a gangster who violently rises through the Chicago gangland. Meanwhile, Camonte pursues his bosses' mistress as Camonte's sister pursues his best hitman. 

While having similar plot points, the 32 version is mostly tamed in comparison but has some very shocking moments for being a film in the 30’s. This is mostly because of pre code era of the early 1930’s where the censorship wasn’t a thing (it was somewhat but it wasn’t in effect until 1934 when the Hays office was more directed because of the adult references and death in the films). Producer Howard Hughes was main reason why he wanted to make it more realistic and have some shocking moments because he bought the rights of the novel of the same and he wanted some scenes like to match the real life Al Capone by having scene be similar to the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. Director  Howard Hawks does a great job shooting scene in different angles, nice conversations scenes, and the shootouts/robber scenes. Paul Muni does a electrifying performance by being a character that you love and hate (similar to Al Pacino). Special mention to Boris Karloff who does a great performance as one of my gangsters, Tom Gaffney, who knew Frankenstein can be an effective gangster. 

The Blu Ray of Scarface is funny how it was released because it got a release when the 1983 film had its Gold Limited “The World is Yours” Edition including both versions on Blu Ray and the 1983 version on UHD. It was later given a separate release, which is what I owned. Universal’s Blu Ray of Scarface looks great for what elements they used because not only uses the original version, but the alternative version that was used in later releases after the original. The audio sounds nice for just a simple 2.0 mono track. The only extras  is an introduction by Robert Osborn and the Alternative ending.

1983’s Scarface may be the most recognizable, but the original 1932 movie still holds up well like it’s  successor. I recommend for anyone who love the films of 1930’s  and it makes a good historical pre code movie of how sins ruled the movies. 

Ultraman Blu Ray Review: The Guardian of Earth, Ultraman!

In 2019, I begin watching Ultraman series due to being widely available on Crunchyroll, Toku and on  Mill Creek’s streaming service: Movie Spree and what better time because not only Ultraman is everywhere because of Tsuburaya Productions owning the worldwide right from legal troubles from other companies, toys, an upcoming Marvel comic series, and recently with Mill Creek’s Blu Ray releases of most of Ultra franchise. Created by co creator of Godzilla, Eiji Tsuburaya, Ultraman was 1960’s Kaiju series meant for young audiences that the Japanese network TBS needed after the success of Ultra Q. Eiji was rushed in production for a spin-off of Q that not only becoming more famous than Ultra Q but had more ratings on the Japanese television every day it was on. Ultraman later came in North America by United Artists Television and had some it’s content trimmed or censored by of broadcasted standards and Titra Studios involved with dub, which had notable Speed
Racers actors like Peter Fernandez as Ultraman.

From Wikipedia, When the Earth is threatened by alien invaders and giant monsters, the world relies on the Science Patrol, a special anti-monster defense agency armed with high-tech weaponry and vehicles to combat these threats from the unknown. When the Science Patrol's weaponry is ineffective and all hope is lost, one of their members, Hayata, transforms into a giant alien called Ultraman to defeat the monstrous menace threatening the Earth, unbeknownst to the other Science Patrol members, who are unaware of his secret identity.

I had a lot of fun with Ultraman. It has a nice and fun charm with the monster fights, the characters while being somewhat archetypes of shows of the time are still like able and you want to see what will be next for them in the next episodes. Each episodes function like a typical monster of the week formula where something happens in local area (mainly the monster for that episode) and the squad, The Science Patrol, go to the location and look for the problem, the monster appears and Ultraman beats them like a usually Tsuburaya suit fight. Speaking of Tsuburaya suits, the monster designs are great with a nice creative and weirdness to them that feels appropriate for the show ( Heck one of the Godzilla suits is used for one of episodes). Ultraman design has earlier design flaw where it looks rushed (because it was) and later on, it will get tweaks to make it more of how Ultraman looks that we know him today. 

For the Blu Ray release of Ultraman by Mill Creek Entertainment, they only made standard edition of Ultraman but also a Steelbook release which is the version that I owned. This will be for all of the future releases of the classic Ultraman serie, which will pleased fans who want to have a consistent release for their collection. The steelbook is a gorgeous looking design that makes great of the source material and makes comfortable for your shelf. It comes with a booklet that tells the history of Ultraman, Bios on the characters and monsters, episode bios, and plenty of information facts Ultraman. The video quality is nicely looking transfer that still gives the 60’s looked quality from shows around that time. The Japanese only audio is also nicely crisp and consistent throughout the episodes. The only problem is the discs being staked on the case. It’s not bad because their Blu Ray discs but worried about not damaging them.

Overall, if your fan of Godzilla, Ultraman may be a good way to into the series. It’s not for everyone, but there’s charm about watching shows like this and it’s the reason why Ultraman stands out with fans for many years.

Welcome to my new blog for anything I talked about anime, animation, video games, and many others. So welcome.