Dirty Pair: The OVA Series (1987-1988) Episode 2: No Thanks! A Totally Wasted Halloween Party

The success of the original Dirty Pair series based on the light novels by Haruka Takachiho, the OVA movies and the theatrical feature film prompted a sequel show for the home video market in the form of a 10-episode OVA series by Sunrise. The series was mostly handled by director Katsuyoshi Yatabe, but other directors included Masayoshi Tanidabe, Shinji Takamatsu, Shin'ichirō Watanabe, Mihiro Yamaguchim and Osamu Sekita. The writers included Koichi Kasamoto, Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, Yuichi Sasamoto, Hiroshi Ônogi, Hideki Sonoda and Yasushi Hirano.

In this episode the agents are stuck in a festivity they don't quite understand: Halloween. It's supposed to be an old earthly tradition but they are not really that familiar with it and don't quite get it. Kind of weird seeing the Angels be confused about present day traditions, just to remind you that this is the future. They go after a guy selling state secrets but crash the ship with the cargo in it and it turns out the cargo, a robot weapon that looks like a mechanical skeleton à la The Terminator, walked right into the nearby Elenor City.

Now the Lovely Angels have to go after the robot weapon in under an hour. At the same time, four different dressed up groups of delinquents are planning to pull off a variety of jobs around town on Halloween. A chase throughout the city begins with a beautifully orchestrated sense of chaos, ending in unrelenting destruction all throughout the urban area during the flashy climax.

This is one of those episodes with a solid enough simple premise to carry it throughout, there aren't many twists and turns in the plot, nor is this episode sentimental, but it's a romp from beginning to end. The energy this episode has is totally comparable to the best of the original series. The Terminator concept was used previously, so it is kind of a rehash in that regard but you can forgive it because of what surrounds it. The violence is constant and dynamic, with outlandish and extravagant images popping up every now and then, especially when the criminals are shown in costumes that range from Alice in Wonderland to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

It's also got the great sense of humor we love from Dirty Pair, mostly with the girls accidentally foiling the plans of the four gangs and getting into these unbelievable situations just by chance. It's well structured and laid out in that regard as it moves quite speedily with precision and brevity without feeling like it's cluttered or hyperactive in a bad way. It's got the charm and the quirks with the slick animation to back it up.

This could probably top a list of "alternative" and non-horror halloween specials. It's underrated and often overlooked. Check it out and Happy Halloween.

Ghostbusters (2016) Movie Review

Ghostbusters (sometimes known as Ghostbusters: Answer the Call) is a 2016 comedy horror movie directed and co-written by Paul Feig, with help from screenwriter Katie Dippold. It stars comedy actresses from TV and movies that were popular at the time like Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon and MCU star Chris Hemsworth. The film came after a long and drawn-out attempt, or several attempts, to make a third Ghostbusters movie that went basically nowhere. So it was met with skepticism when a brand new twist was implemented: an all female cast. The well-known controversy began, which for a lot of people marked the beginning of the so-called "culture war" on a major scale than before as the release of the trailer brought up some rather awkward and bewildering conversations online, something that spilled to the mainstream media.

The film follows Doctor Erin Gilbert, a former scientist interested in the supernatural but now turned University professor, reunites with her old friend Doctor Abby Yates, her partner in paranormal investigation who had a fall out with Erin after she disavowed her unorthodox line of work to be more conventional and rational. Abby now works with physicist Jillian "Holtz" Holtzmann on her projects and wants to republish the old book she co-authored with Erin, who is convinced by Abby to investigate a real paranormal occurrence, reigniting their love for ghost-hunting and friendship. Transportation worker Patty Tolan joins the team as well as their business is put on the media spotlight. Meanwhile, a haunting menace has nefarious plans for New York.

It's been ten years since this reboot or requel (?) of the Ghostbusters franchise was released and became a notoriously hated movie among geeks and internet users. The controversy the trailer ignited accompanied it to its very release date. I remember being on IMDB on thursday and as soon as ratings became available people started giving it low scores, they were review-bombing it before even getting a chance to see it. I became uninterested in the whole thing and waited until family members watched it when it was released on home video. My thoughts back then? It was mediocre and mostly a mixed bag. My opinion now? Not that different. I have a less harsh attitude towards it but I still think it has the flaws many comedies suffered from back then and even today.

Without comparing it to the first movie (a film I am not crazy about to begin with), I can say that the comedy itself seems to fall into the mechanically quirky improv style comedians applied to just about every piece of media they did after Judd Apatow movies got popular. A lot of emphasis is put on being weird, odd characters trying to act crazy or behaving in unorthodox ways but there's very little contrast when these things happen, every character seems to be peculiar, armed with quips, and a lot of the dialogue seems to be interchangeable. The improv aspect is overdone as some scenes are extended slightly longer than they should have been or for way too long. This breaks any controlled pace the film could have had and instead turns it into a brief riffing session that goes out of rails just enough to throw off the timing a lot of the time. The length is also way too excessive for a comedy, of any kind. 

I will also say that while there's nothing wrong with crass humor the way some mainstream movies used it was either too tame or just baffling, for a cheap laugh without much else going on. However, in this movie I found it to be quite decently implemented. I remembered it being much less effective in my first watch years ago, but now I think the delivery was on point sometimes. Besides, this was at the time when more risky comedies with women were being done in Hollywood and I assume it was part of the backlash to some degree.

When it comes to the characters I think they all work fairly well, they do take on the roles the original team had but they aren't just imitations of the original characters, the girls have different personalities even if their narrative and practical roles are somewhat similar. The continuity with the franchise doesn't bother me either so I never had a problem with its place in the timeline and I thought the cameos were alright as well. The special effects do look relatively plastic and completely lack any weight or interesting art direction even if they are technically well done when it comes to CGI. The sludge effects, the textures and the lighting they apply to the ghosts are just not quite there, they look stale and too cartoony to achieve the contrast the first film had, like a forgettable version of the monsters from Scooby Doo 2. It goes for a full-on lite cartoon tone. I guess that's not out of place for a comedy but a lot of potential is lost by defanging the horror elements.

Overall, It's a heavily flawed movie that can be sort of a guilty pleasure if you wanna turn your brain off and just put it on the background for an alright time. It's light entertainment without much else going for it, but it has enough moments of laughter that work to be worth one watch if you are curious. 

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) Movie Review

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is a 2016 action horror film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. This is his final movie in the franchise and the sixth movie in the series as a whole, made precisely with the intention of it being the ending to the Alice Storyline. It stars Milla Jovovich, Iain Glen, Ali Larter, Shawn Roberts, Eoin Macken, Fraser James, Ruby Rose, Rola, and William Levy. Made for only $40 million, this finale wasn't all that expensive but made more than its budget back around the world and grossed $314.1 million.

Alice lives in the hellish wasteland disposing of the dead when she is once again made aware of Albert Wesker's army going after her. The Red Queen comes back and explains to Alice that she is using her as a proxy to stop Umbrella's plans of world destruction. Now Alice has to end this apocalyptic nightmare in one last strike.

With an unrelenting pace and complete disregard for harmony or stability this last roller coaster reaches a very solid momentum when it comes to being a dynamic experience filled with kinetic energy and frenetic camera work. It's almost a formal fever dream as it uses rapid fire editing to completely disorient and numb your senses during most of the action or even very normal sequences and scenes. We have come a long way from the precise and almost clinical detail and construction of the very first movie, still somewhat faithful to the videogame logic and aiming for clarity, but here we have very fragmented space and zero regard for spatial clarity. The problem is that every new shot is redundant in what it adds or is completely aimless, feeling more like a delirious music video than anything else.

The characters are about as one-dimensional and straightforward as ever, having Milla Jovovich drive this series was a good call because I can't truly remember any other character, supporting or otherwise, as they are all empty action figures the director uses as playthings to his objectives. I am fine with that, but they do drag down the emotional investment one could have in the film. There's also a lot of wasted potential as this dirty and grim visual look to the movie to convey its post-apocalyptic world isn't very appealing when compared to the slick and stylish environments from other movies. Although, I do think the contrast between them is neat and adds something to the films overall.

Unfortunately, the production of the movie was plagued with two very horrifying accidents. Stunt-woman Olivia Jackson suffered severed injuries in an accident involving a camera crane, she sued and won but only after going through a great amount of serious medical issues. Not only that, but crew member Ricardo Cornelius was killed during another accident involving a military Hummer. It is a real shame those incidents occurred, especially when they could have easily been avoided.

Overall, this is a very entertaining movie when it comes to its special effects and fast pace, bringing all of the stimulating tricks and setting them up to their maximum effect, but it can sometimes be an overload of stuff going on and the actual storyline is weak and feeble. Not a horrible ending as it's tonally very much in line with the other movies but it's not the grandiose finale I would have hoped for.