Reviews
Sakamichi no Apollon (2012)
Meh (mild mild mild spoilers)
I am a huge Shinichiro Watanabe fan. I thought Cowboy Bebop was brilliant (and am very frustrated by it's continuing unavailability on iTunes), and Samurai Champloo nearly as good-- although I am more kindly disposed to SF than Samurai entertainment, so that partially colors my opinions. Heck, his Animatrix shorts were the best of the lot in my opinion. But this?
Meh.
It's not the animation itself, which is up to the same high standards of those other two series. It's certainly not the music, which is by the wonderful Yoko Kanno, who did the music for both Champloo and Bebop as well. So what is it?
Partially the storyline, I suspect; I am probably at this point in my life too old for teenage bildungsroman stories, particularly those set in the recent past of a country I've never visited. Partly it's the characters, none of whom I am able to find myself caring about (particularly the whiny lead character). And partly it's "the girl" of the romantic love triangle, the pigtailed schoolgirl looks of whom just annoys me on a level way too deep to analyze. This is the direction Watanabe has gone since the gun-toting Faye Valentine of "Cowboy Bebop"? Seriously? Oy.
So you put it all together and you end up with what is, for me, "Meh". Two episodes, and I just gave up. My 17 year-old, anime- and manga-loving daughter might like it, but if you're a fan of Bebop or Champloo, well, I'm just not so sure. And it bums me that, judging by his previous output, we're going to have to wait until 2018 or so before we see another new series by Watanabe. Sigh.
Your mileage may vary, obviously.
Delgo (2008)
No Advanced Warning
I watched the trailer for this; it certainly doesn't look *that* bad, and might even be good. But I'm a big animation fan and have never heard of it at all. How can a film make money if no one's ever heard of it? Maybe this film isn't all it could be--I couldn't say--but it certainly could have been helped by *some* kind of ad campaign. (I can't believe I'm saying that.) You don't want your first customers to hear about you from a story designating your film "a bomb."
Perhaps one of the creators or commenters has some information on why this film was released with so little advanced warning? Was it advance-screened for any critics at all? What's the scoop on the stealth-release?
Days of Thunder (1990)
Dreck
I have seen hundreds of films, and I have only ever walked out on one ("Bliss"). I did not walk out on this film, because I saw it while I was in an airplane at 35,000 feet. I thought about it, though.
This movie is abysmal. The characters are cartoons, the plot is absurd, the conflict is ridiculous. This film was an excuse for Tom Cruise to indulge himself in his hobby on screen. Robert Duval is wasted. Nichole Kidman as a surgeon (she was 23 at the time, for crying out loud!) is absolute idiocy.
Look, if you want cartoonish thrills, watch "Top Gun" instead. It's almost as ridiculous, but personally I find watching jets with Michael Ironside and Tom Skerrit and Anthony Edwards a lot more fun than watching cars zoom around the track with Michael Rooker. Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes, but I doubt it. Don't waste your time or your money.