Fun Fact:

Fun Fact:

Before Victor Frankenstein created his infamous monster and sparked the debate over man's right to create artificial life, a 16th century Jewish mystic called the Maharal invoked the names of God to give life to clay. This created a golem with superhuman strength and loyalty that guarded the mystic's community from persecution in medieval Prague. The golem also wore an amulet that gave it the power to turn invisible and summon dead witnesses whose testimonies were considered totally valid in Prague's court and used to prove the innocence of people who judges were biased against. The problem with the golem is that although it was animated, it couldn't speak, had no free will and took instructions way too literally, causing it to do things like chop down entire forests when asked to get firewood. And one night, the golem was feeling lonely and neglected, so it rampaged through town, attacking the innocent people it was supposed to protect. This forced the mystic to remove one letter from the Hebrew inscription of "emét", changing the meaning from "truth" to "death" and rendering his creation lifeless.

The story started so positive too...

Viktor Vasnetsov and Hayao Miyazaki.

Sleeping Beauty/Howl's bedroom.

Two senseis of the visual arts.

Tokyo Godfathers (東京ゴッドファーザーズ) by Satoshi Kon.

A masterwork by the late storytelling master, Satoshi Kon.

For those who don't know, Satoshi Kon is the same director who worked on films like Paprika, Perfect Blue, and the mystery/psychological thriller/supernatural anime masterpiece Paranoia Agent. Unfortunately, on August 24, 2010, we lost this creative mind to terminal pancreatic cancer. If you ask me, we're probably never gonna get anything close to the creepy works this guy managed to craft ever again.

Tokyo Godfathers is a really good example of a tragicomedy, and it is one of the most disturbing Christmas films you'll ever encounter (without relying on pure shock value) solely because of the subject matter. While animated, it really focuses on making the setting as realistic and as gritty as a wacky story like this can be, leading to this unsettling, off tone in a familiar, yet urban setting that really made me feel uncomfortable. What makes this movie disturbing is how realistically the developed characters and setting are. These are just average, everyday people - the kind you may have encountered or known in real life - dealing with a stressful/unfortunate situation, while also dealing with the preconceived notions about who they are from the people around them and each other. There are fantastical elements to this movie, to be sure. But I'd say that the grounded nature and focus on mental health and identity are just downright heartbreaking and genuinely hard for me to watch.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter what background you come from, what horrible thing has happened in the past or what society says about who you are. The things that make us truly human is the empathy we can have for one another. This isn't your traditional Christmas film, but it's most certainly one of the best I've ever seen. It's not only disturbing, heartwarming and more than earned the right to be labelled as a modern classic, I think it's one of Satoshi Kon's greatest projects that he's ever worked on. To me, this film exemplifies his filmography the best and shows how an artist really can create something that is stunning, beautiful and eerie all at the same time. He has a perfect filmography. Let us never forget.

The biggest mistake is that anime, in general, is often misunderstood. It has created timeless adult masterpieces.

Donkey Skin (French: Peau d'Âne; also known in English as Once Upon a Time and The Magic Donkey) by Jacques Demy.

Based on "Donkeyskin", a 1695 fairy tale by Charles Perrault.

This film has the gentle magic and unforgettable images of the classical fairy tales.

La Belle et la Bête: journal d'un film (Beauty and the Beast: Diary of a Film) by Jean Cocteau.

A superb book about the making of a masterpiece.

Some hard questions (and my opinion on them)…

1) Pineapple on pizza is good? 😒 No, who in the right mind would put pineapple on their pizza? 2) Peanut M&M's are the superior M&M's? I haven't partaken in the M&M's recently. 3) Is Metal Gear Solid 2 the best game of all time? One of them, for sure! 4) Is Death Stranding the greatest game of all time? One of them! Absolutely! Great designs and great actors in it! 5) Could a hot dog count as a sandwich? I don't think so, because it's like a vertical sandwich. 6) Is cereal a soup? The way some people make it? Yes! Me, I don't use milk in my cereal. 7) Smoking is never cool? It only LOOKS cool, but it's not cool for the biology.

Mystery Men by Kinka Usher.

This movie is a combination of a lot of things that I like:

An underdog story, gaudy superheroes, creative sets/visuals/costumes, and some of the funniest actors of our era. Loosely based on Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot Comics, Mystery Men takes place in a world where not only are superheroes for reals, but there are way too many of them, putting some of the superheroes with the lamest powers on the Z-list.

The main thing I don't like about this film is the ending. Throughout the movie, none of the Mystery Men's powers work quite right. Then suddenly, at the end, everything just works for no good reason. That's lazy writing. What should have happened was the heroes should've figured out a way to turn their weaknesses into strengths. Instead, their powers just work out of the blue, "THE END."

Still, I really like the production value and this movie has some of my favorite fanboy jokes. Also, I find Mr. Furious relatable from time to time...

Fun Fact:

As much as I admire the legends of merfolk and swan maidens, we ought to give some spotlight to the selkies.

Selkie folk, also known as "seal folk", come from Norse and Celtic folklore. They're what's known as "therianthropes", meaning they can transform from human to animal at will. In the case of the selkie, this is done by shedding their seal skin. When in their human form, selkies are super attractive. Both males and females have humans chasing after them, if they're lucky enough to see them naked on the beach.

The stories about male selkies are pretty hilarious and usually entail them being the object of desire for bored housewives (they were essentially medieval pool boys), but the female selkies always had it rougher. Men would steal their seal skin so they couldn't change back to their natural form, then coerce them into marriage. And what's really tragic is that even if the selkie does marry the thief, falls in love with him and has his children, the moment that she rediscovers her hidden selkie skin, she abandons her family and makes her escape back to the ocean, because that is where she's truly meant to be.

Halloween (1978) by John Carpenter.

One of the greatest horror movies of all time. A genre supernova. Created a taxonomic category that still lives. Unsparing precision, a simple premise and style.

While the original Halloween may not be the first slasher movie, it is the film that set the groundwork for the genre and paved the way for all the other great slasher franchises like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. If you claim to be a horror fan and you haven't seen the original Halloween, first of all, shame on you. Second of all, watch it NOW. This one is required viewing.

Also, it is my personal opinion that John Carpenter's Halloween has the greatest opening scene in horror history.