Tag Archives: Anime

Alita: Battle Angel Trailer #2 (2018) *From James Cameron & Robert Rodriguez*

Fox has released the second trailer for Alita: Battle Angel (or “The Adventures of Creepy Big-Eyes).  It’s kind of odd that it wasn’t showcased at this weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con.  Aside from a Deadpool 2 panel Fox really didn’t have much of a presence at the con.  With the studio’s acquisition by Disney now all but a matter of contracts, Fox finds itself at a crossroads.  Alita is definitely an F/X showcase and I thought the second trailer was an improvement over the ponderous and wistful first trailer.  This movie was initially supposed to come out last weekend and we’ll have to see in December if the delay was to get the kinks out or to put off a bomb.  More below from Coming Soon.


Visionary filmmakers James Cameron (Avatar) and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) create a groundbreaking new heroine in Alita: Battle Angel, an action-packed story of hope, love, and empowerment. Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita (Rosa Salazar) is found in the scrapyard of Iron City by Ido (Christoph Waltz), a compassionate cyber-doctor who takes the unconscious cyborg Alita to his clinic. When Alita awakens she has no memory of who she is, nor does she have any recognition of the world she finds herself in.

Everything is new to Alita, every experience a first. As she learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield Alita from her mysterious past while her street-smart new friend, Hugo (Keean Johnson), offers instead to help trigger her memories. A growing affection develops between the two until deadly forces come after Alita and threaten her newfound relationships. It is then that Alita discovers she has extraordinary fighting abilities that could be used to save the friends and family she’s grown to love. Determined to uncover the truth behind her origin, Alita sets out on a journey that will lead her to take on the injustices of this dark, corrupt world, and discover that one young woman can change the world in which she lives.

Alita: Battle Angel also stars Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, and Jackie Earle Haley.

Directed by Robert Rodriguez, the December 21, 2018 release features a screenplay by James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis and Rodriguez. Based on the graphic novel series Gunnm by Yukito Kishiro, Alita: Battle Angel is produced by Cameron and Jon Landau.
Rosa Salazar in Alita: Battle Angel

Alita: Battle Angel Trailer #1 (2018) *Will Hollywood Finally Get Anime Right?*

*Text from The Verge
For more than a decade, James Cameron was working on an adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s manga Battle Angel Alita, before handing off directing duties to Spy Kids / Machete / Sin Citydirector Robert Rodriguez. That project is finally moving forward: Alita: Battle Angel is scheduled to hit theaters next year, and today, 20th Century Fox released an initial trailer, in which its main character falls squarely into the uncanny valley. Continue reading Alita: Battle Angel Trailer #1 (2018) *Will Hollywood Finally Get Anime Right?*

Movie Review: Ghost in the Shell (2017) *What a Beautiful Mess*

Scarlett Johansson, Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell is a visually stunning film with cutting-edge F/X that will, ultimately, bore you senseless.  Between Scarlett Johansson and the art direction, there’s a lot of beautiful things to look at, but it can’t save a dull and awkward script from making a hash of an anime classic.  There are, by the way, about 16 different “this shell is hollow” jokes that I passed up because-honestly-after sitting through this I’m suffering from sensory overload and intellectual underwhelm (it’s a thing). Continue reading Movie Review: Ghost in the Shell (2017) *What a Beautiful Mess*

Trailer Time: Ghost in the Shell Trailer #2 (2017) *Or Possibly the Whole Film in 2:30*


The second full trailer for next month’s Ghost in the Shell is out, and-as someone who has little to no history with the anime series it’s based on-I feel like it’s intriguing and visually stunning.  I also feel like this trailer is one of those that makes you feel like I have already seen the entire movie.  However, Killing Time has an official policy on Scarlett Johansson movies than involves onesies, so I’ll be there when the film opens on March 31, 2017.  It’s policy.  What can I do?
Scarlett Johanssen, Ghost in the Shell

 

Trailer Time: Ghost in the Shell Trailer #1 (2017) *Visually Stunning Anime Adaptation*

The first full trailer for Ghost in the Shell has been released, and whatever you think about the controversy surrounding the film, you can’t deny the visuals are total eye candy.  I think Kate Beckinsale’s leather onesie in the Underworld films just got one-upped.  If you’re not familiar, Ghost in the Shell is a classic anime series that Hollywood has long  sought to bring to the screen.  The controversy that’s dogged the movie has to do with “whitewashing”, or the casting of white actors in roles clearly not Caucasian.  For example Scarlett Johanssen is playing “Major Moto Kusanagi”.  Aside from the fact that I already told you this was an anime adaptation, I think you can probably see what has some fans up in arms about her casting.  At some point, though, they’re going to have to accept that this is the GITS movie they’re getting and decide whether it’s true to the series, ScarJo or no.  I’m not well-versed enough in the source material to be a judge myself, but the trailer looks pretty stunning if nothing else from a stylistic standpoint.  Ghost in the Shell is one of the movies that’s going to make March 2017 the most hotly contested March in the history of film.  GITS is scheduled for a March 31, 2017 release.
Scarlett Johanssen, Ghost in the Shell