FunBlog

This show has no particular ambition other than to be very funny, and to a large extent it succeeds. The episodes on the first two DVDs are the funniest things I have ever seen in an anime series.

After that it loses some of its comic energy. The biggest laugh on the last DVD is probably unintentional (and only occurs on the Japanese soundtrack). By the final episode they have sunk to using cheap sentimentality in the hope of producing a lump in the viewer’s throat. It’s sort of like putting a heart-warming ending on a Three Stooges movie (which doubtless has been done, and didn’t work any better there).
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If there is a lesson to be taken home from Martin Scorsese’s new movie, it must be that Irish gangsters are more ruthless and bloodthirsty than Italian gangsters. This is a dark and gritty crime thriller that clearly draws some of its inspiration from recent Boston police scandals. If the premise didn’t warn us that this is going to end with bodies stacked like cordwood, the name of the director should be a tip-off.

This might make an unpleasant film but it is saved (at least for me) by the charisma of the actors. Rarely do we get to see such talented performers having so much fun portraying really evil people.
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Everyone who has taken photographs knows that sometimes you get a great picture by pure luck. If you take enough pictures, sooner or later you will press the shutter at just the right moment when the combination of circumstances will produce a much better picture than you had anticipated. It was a fortuitous photograph of this sort that forms the centerpiece of Clint Eastwood’s new movie Flags of Our Fathers, a dark meditation on the nature of heroism and our (perhaps foolish) need for heroes.
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A young traveler on a talking motorcycle travels from place to place, never staying anywhere more than three days. Each new place has a story of its own. Sometimes the stories cast new light on earlier stories.

That sounds like any of several dozen American television shows, doesn’t it? But you aren’t likely to see stories like these on American TV. If Jonathan Swift were alive today (and living in Japan) he would probably be writing stories like these.

The story-telling in this show is first-rate. The stories are clever and ironic. Some are charming; others are funny in a very dark way and some are chilling. This is well worth watching for viewers of an appropriate age.
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This movie is set during a week in 1997 that most of us can remember. At the beginning of the week Princess Diana, the divorced wife of the Prince of Wales, was killed in a car accident. Tony Blair, the newly elected prime minister, appeared on television with with a statement that eulogized her as “the Peoples Princess”.

As the nation mourned the popular princess, Queen Elisabeth and her family remained in seclusion at Balmoral Estate in Scotland. The Queen had been trained from childhood never to display any emotion or other weakness in public, and she presumably also wanted to keep her grandchildren away from the press whose paparazzi had played a major role in their mother’s death.

But as the Royal Family remained silent, public opinion began to turn against them. A poll published at the end of the week showed 25% of the respondents in favor of abolishing the monarchy. At that point the queen reversed herself, brought her family to London, and addressed the nation on television. This quickly restored her popularity and soon everything was forgotten and forgiven.

(Forgive me for giving away the ending, but I’m assuming that everyone already knows this.)
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A long time ago, before xxxHolic, before Chobits, even before Cardcaptor Sakura, the enigmatic team of artists known as CLAMP created a manga called Magic Knight Rayearth, which was made into a two-season television series, the first anime to be based on their work.

Perhaps because it was an early work the series has a strangely uneven tone. Watching the first season for the first time I initially felt amused, then impatient, and finally shocked. The second season seemed darker but more enjoyable. When I watched it for a second time I had a better idea of what the first season was really about and I enjoyed it a good deal more.

Actually once I accepted that there is more going on here than just a goofy parody I found the story powerful and affecting. If you are a fan of CLAMP’s other stories you will definitely want to see this one. On the other hand, if you have no previous exposure to CLAMP’s somewhat twisted sense of humor you would probably do better to start with one of their more accessible works, such as Cardcaptor Sakura or Angelic Layer.
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This is one of those quirky British film comedies, actually a bit quirkier than most.

The Reverend Walter Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson) is the Vicar of the tiny village of Little Wallop. He is a good man, but rather dreamy and unobservant. Among the things that he has failed to observe are that his son is being bullied in school, his daughter is sleeping around and his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) is thinking about running off to Mexico with her sleazy American golf instructor (Patrick Swayze).

Obviously this family needs help, and what could be more helpful than a cheerful, competent, wise old housekeeper (Maggie Smith) who will show up one day and gently show them how to solve all of their problems.
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