Sucker Punch Animated Shorts - Move Over Animatrix...or not!

Instead of linking all three of these my Facebook page (and continuously spamming everyone that has friended me over there), I compiled all three animated shorts into this blog entry. Now I can talk about them as well as drool over them.

Three animated shorts have popped up today to accompany Sucker Punch, which releases tomorrow March the 25th.

While the source where I found the shorts recommends them for viewing after the movie, I could not help but to view them prior. I, of course, am ready for my Sucker Punch fix despite all the grueling and horrible reviews floating around about it. After waiting on a movie for a year or so, I will watch everything pertaining to it and defend it in anyway possible.

After watching the three shorts, I don't think viewing the movie first is absolutely necessary. If you've seen the trailer a couple of times (or a couple hundred like myself) then each of these shorts adds to familiar elements that are in the trailers. They do not spoil anything about the plot - or lack thereof according to reviewers - about the movie. If anything, they just try to add on to the portions of the movie and may enhance the viewing of it, considering these little back stories will not be in the feature length film.







Each short takes place in a different level of Baby Doll's mind - ala Inception, but probably not as good. Having not seen the movie as of yet, I am unsure if the level of her imagination (minus the Brothel of course) is the correct order the videos are in, but I managed to put them in the order other sources have them in.

Animatrix is one of my favorite things on this planet! It was such a successful addition to the Matrix trilogy and is better to me then one of the movies in the trilogy. Animatrix utilized different directors and art forms for the majority of its animation which is something these Sucker Punch shorts did not do, but I really enjoyed this shorts. I think they all evoked the same emotion from me and were more similar then they are different, which does not put it on the level of the Animatrix as an animated accompaniment to a film. I found them enjoyable nonetheless.

Coming Soon 3/11 - Red Riding Hood, Mars Needs Moms, Battle:LA

This weekend we have three movies, two about aliens and one about the color red.

Red Riding Hood stars Amanda Seyfield and Gary Oldman and appears to be a gritty, dark, and twisted version of the classic fairy tale. From the trailer, the movie seems absolute gorgeous in my opinion. I love the usage of the "red hood", how it is always the brightest color and juxtaposed against the surrounds - especially the snow scene where it is a brilliant red spot and almost symbolizing a loss of purity. The movie seems to be taking on the sexual awakening analysis of the old story and throws in the werewolf. The trailer seems a hodge podge of about three storylines and I'm interested to see how they merge together.

Mars Needs Mom is a Disney movie with Seth Green voicing Milo, a young boy who must save his mother who has been abducted by aliens to raise Martian children. This animated film is going to have to compete against Rango, which released last weekend, and seems to be a pretty hilarious and standard Disney movie. It seems quite entertaining and would be perfect to take children to see.

Battle:Los Angeles is a movie I have wanted to see for a very long time, ever since I first saw a teaser trailer. Alien invasion movies are some of my favorite to see and Battle:La's trailer is really good for a trailer. The concept is, of course, simple. Aliens are attacking Earth to steal it's resources and will destroy all human kind to do so. Michelle Rodriguez is in the film and I am a huge fan of hers. Explosive and riveting, Battle:LA is sure to be better then the last alien invasion film, Skyline, which was highly disappointing. Whether humans win or lose, Battle:LA is a must see this weekend.

Here is an interview from Attack of the Show with Rodriguez. She is certainly a very intelligent woman and talented actress.

Amazing New Series: Avatar The Legend of Korra

There has been speculation that a new Avatar series would be happening.

Speculate no more.

It was just announced that Avatar: The Legend of Korra is now a go and we can expect to see it sometime next year. This is a blast of fresh air after the incredibly failure of a live action movie, The Last Airbender. Now, fans can rejoice that we have a new series to look forward too.

Here's what we know about Avatar: The Legend of Korra so far:

Beyond the Gate - The End of Fullmetal Alchemist

Watching the first episode of Fullmetal Alchemist in highschool was - for sake of sounding overly cheesy - a brillant and amazing expierence. I was pulled into its wondrous world of alchemy with rules and loved all the characters. The tragic tale and adventure of brothers Alphonse and Edward Elric moved me.

Now, it's over.

The original 2003 series ended at 52 episodes {and also a movie) while the recent 2009 series ended at 64. The manga is also over.

It's over.

Edward and Alphonse Adventure is over.

Excuse me, I think I need a tissue.



Fullmetal Alchemist was a wonderful, well-rounded anime series - a series any anime fan should love to watch. Regardless of whether you watched and became a die hard fan, casually watched, or did not watch at all (<- wait, WHY!?), Fullmetal Alchemist is the stuff of animated dreams. For starters, Alchemy has rules. Therefore, the series was already realistically grounded even though alchemy itself is not realistic. Alchemists are not superheros who have a weakness, they are extrodinary humans bound by rules that have dire consequences. Of course there is a way to bend these rules, but, even then, choose to bend those rules can be downright evil.

There is also the wonderful cast of characters in the series. We have are main two characters, Edward and Al, who have lost parts (or all) of their bodies trying to bend those alchemic rules. There is also several other characters that stand out in the series including Roy Mustang, Winry Rockbell, Major Armstrong, and the villians, Homunculi, named after the seven deadly sins.

I certainly can not forget the amazing animation that both series have. Of course Brotherhood, the recent 2009 series, is "better" in terms of animation because it's newer, but both animated series offer brilliant sequences - especially any scene using alchemy.

The musical score throughout the series is captivating. I personally loved all the openings and endings.

The 2003 follows a path of its own while the 2009 follows the manga very closely. After having seen the 2009 series in completion, i simply love it more. The twists and turns, the brilliant animation, the fighting scenes, the subplots, the complexity. Its a better series. That does not mean the 2003 series was not brilliant in its own way! It's just that the 2009 series has cemented Fullmetal Alchemist to be one of the favorites!

Movie Review: Toy Story 3

Nostalgic. There's really no other way to describe the recent and final installment of the Toy Story franchise. It has been 15 years since the story of a couple of toys belonging to a kid named Andy captured the hearts of many.

Now, Andy is off to college and the fate of the toys is questionable.

What follows is a truly captivating, heart wrenching, entertaining journey. I was certainly emotional the entire time as the movie kept me on the edge of my seat.

The movie seemed very adult, at least more adult then other Pixar films. Disney/Pixar has seemingly (in my opinion) been moving towards themes that can certainly keep an adult interesting (such as the theme of love and loss in Up). Toy Story 3's main theme is certainly the strange stage between being a kid and growing up. Any adult can relate to this.

Although the movie will be something great for adults, some of the scenes may confuse children and even scare them. I still think the rest of the movie despite these few intense scenes.

Toy Story 3 is a must see movie. It holds the charm of the other two and is an amazing end of the franchise.