This is an old interview. As old as 2011. That's 6 years from where we are in the brink of Detroit: Become Human. But good stuff is never old. One of the other notes is that only a day ago I have -finally- bought Heavy Rain on PSN for PS4 -as I never had a PS3- in the bundle with 'Beyond', I still haven't played it yet (I have to wait for the correct time of month so I don't ruin my metered connection) but it is soon. So here it is, the fans of Mr. Cage probably already read this, but for the others this is one of the best articles I have read coming from a creative person's mind.


"David Cage the brand, as you call it, is about not having to make sequels. It’s about creating a brand that is the name of the creator, not Heavy Rain 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 12.

 Let me be stupid for one second; I’m not in this business to make money. I wrote Heavy Rain because I was excited about it, because there was something to say. Yeah I could make Heavy Rain 2, but I’ve said what I’ve had to say about it. That’s the strength of Quantic Dream, to have the capacity to create new ideas, to make something that breaks ground.
I don’t know what to say. I guess I don’t have a long-term strategy for my career. It’s certainly not to make as much money as possible though. I see myself as an author, really. I just trust my instinct. I think fans of what I do want me to do that too.
I’m an old game creator. I’m 42 this year. There are so many old game designers who have passion when they are young and they get a bit a bit older and the passion falls away. They get a family, and suddenly they think ‘okay I need to make as much money as I can for my family – this is what matters.’ I’ve not reached that stage yet.
I still think I’m doing something important. That may sound naïve in this industry, but I still think I’m here to be creative. I just have a company because I need that structure to develop my ideas."

Read the rest here: http://www.develop-online.net/interview/david-cage-from-the-brink/0117243



This is inspiring. So much so that in months I have finally posted an entry for my blog.

Christopher Nolan so far has made films we can call "smart blockbusters" -- big-budget movies but also movies with good screenplay. Interstellar is also such, but I think most of the people who disliked the second part of the movie -- and preferred the 2008 script -- agree that Nolan compromised in order to be a blockbuster. Let's leave the discussion that if this really happened or not behind for a second, and investigate the post title.

At this point Kubrick's approach takes in.

With Nolan and some other movies I believed in the fact that the same --2001-- quality could be achieved -- but Interstellar, no matter how top-notch it is production value-wise, and partially plot-wise, is definetely not a 2001 material.

In my All-time top 5 is The Matrix, The Prestige, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Into the Wild. Out of all these movies Matrix and T2 are R-rated. And they both closed an era and opened a new one. Prestige and 2001 are good-budgeted well-earners but they are not blockbusters. Their rating classification isn't high either but content-wise they're not for masses. Of course 2001 is in the lead of this.

I for one think a movie -- a good movie -- should earn as much as money as possible, so I don't find it strange for directors to want to earn money but I find it strange -- or perhaps sad -- if directors choose to compromise just to earn more. Nolan and those other movies have shown me there could be "smart blockbusters". But "Interstellar" has been written as a con to the smart blockbusters side for me. Interstellar isn't nearly a bad movie, especially its first half is very good but to me this movie's competitor is 2001 and it is beaten by 2001 overwhelmingly, it is a con to the smart blockbuster side.


All of this is nice and cool, but the real question is this: Could a film like 2001 ever be made as a blockbuster? It is easy to answer this with a "no", and maybe it is simple as that, but the important thing is to know for sure. That's the question I wonder the answer of. Of course 2001 here is only a symbol. Such movie can be in any genre sci-fi or any other. And the ones that are so different yet is in 2001 caliber. For instance, I think The Matrix is a much better movie than 2001. But Matrix was R-rated. In fact, the only movie I could call smarter than 2001 here in my top 5 is Matrix. Terminator 2 is so beautiful but it's not exactly smart. The Prestige is smart but not smarter than 2001.

About The Matrix -- R-rated blockbusters in my opinion should be discussed in a completely different subject. Most of us know, most of blockbusters are PG-13 rated. Matrix was one of the last examples of successful R-rated blockbusters. After it there were films that made with R-rating but they either failed in the box office or failed to be decent movies. I always give this example as I follow it closely, a very violence containing but a true masterpiece of a story, BioShock, was about to be adapted to the big screen with R-rating, and the movie was going to be made by a money-maker director Gore Verbinski, whom its studio trusted so much, but despite all that the studio didn't green-light the R-rated $150-200M budget and the movie died in the development hell.

Long story short, nowadays big-budget R-rated movies almost never get made. So when we say a movie like 2001 ,we should forget about the R-rating. And when we do that there is no chance for The Matrix alikes to be given birth. So the question is, without violence and things that will drive the average audience away, how can you make a movie like 2001? Think of a Matrix with no cursing, blood, or anything disturbingly real. And this thing shall be better than 2001. (With this, I should also adress the question "why can't a movie like The Matrix isn't being made again?")

While I let you stay indecisive if the said movie could be made or not, let me talk to you about my only hope. A day shall come that movies that could be made with $150-200M shall be made with $50M and ZERO compromise. If such a day that visual effects and production values go cheap so much comes, then that day will be the new golden era of cinema. Think about it... a new Matrix every year. This isn't impossible. But it seems there's at least 10 years ahead of us for this to happen.

Today there are some movies made with $50M but those movies unfortunately aren't "epic scale" movies, those are movies that focus on certain themes of the story and try to make the world as realistic as possible without showing it much. Today even the difference between a $100M movie and a $150M movie is easily noticeable. In fact even the difference between a $150M movie such as Interstellar and a $200M movie is easily noticeable. Say, if the worlds, environment we saw in Interstellar were more diverse, the movie would automatically be in the $200-250M range.

R-rating topic in cinema is just about that. There is an area where this subject isn't even a problem, where everything is R-rated. Video games. There, the limits to make a masterpiece is much wider. But of course there isn't as much genius there. (Or how else could this world even rotate if there was no catch?) But in this said area there was a second, even if it's for a moment, where everything in the universe was aligned correctly and something much more smarter and better than both 2001 and Matrix was made. Eh, do you want me to spell it for you? If you know me, you know it.

P.S.: I should've shared my Interstellar review with you before this, but I am too lazy. Sorry about that.

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN ALL OF THİS ANİME

Original Post Date: Feb 8, 2014.

Its first 7 episodes were more or less MASTERPIECE. It went into idiotic calculations in 8-12 and nonsensical things such as time travel. In the rest of it, it couldn't get back to its former level.
Hakaze's escape from the island was completely unneccesary. How many more fantasy have time travel? Obviously not in most. How about when it turns out Aika is the Exodus mage? Hakaze became an unbearable character the second she escaped the island. Attitudes and mimics which felt sympathical when on island, turned into an unlikeable romantic comedy main character. I wanted to kill herself, several times. I have to mention Aika also was unbearable at times. But with her the problem was more about the screenplay than her character. The story wasn't connected to a strong foundations in the first place. Because with its names coming from Christianity and Judaism, there are Exodus and Genesis trees, but despite all the explaining attempts it's not able to explain anything. How did the names come up in the world of the story is another question. Because there are no any religious comments in the show other than these two names. Let alone the fact that they went completely stupid with the depiction of Exodus and Genesis as TREES, I'd understand the Genesis tree (Tree of Life and all) how on earth are explaning the Exodus ACT as a g*ddamn TREE?

There's also the theory of "Civilization Blaster" theory which our female agent character mentions, I can't help but have a big laugh! Then I realized this "statement" was also next to "Zetsuen no Tempest" name, on some places. Which also is written in the middle in the ad breaks of episodes. I'm still not sure I understood Exodus and Genesis trees, but apparently Genesis tree is truly a thing that tries to limit civilizations by "blasting" them. And even tough they haven't get back to it before the show ended, there is a real possibility that all of this was made by aliens. Now I don't know what to say. Such unnatural stuff in a fantasy... Plus when there's another work that's not an anime that dealt with this theme in sci-fi, as it should be, in an infinitely better way, why would you want to add this to a fantasy story? You already have a tree in your hand, you can easily create a plot out of it, a better one, why make all this so silly instead? Sometimes it is best to know where to stop for a story to be good.

Anyway I'll make this short. I'll explain how it should've been in a list.

- Aika shouldn't have been Exodus mage.
- Time travel should have never been a part of the story.
- There should've been one single tree, Exodus tree (even if the name is silly)
- Hakaze shouldn't have escaped the island, it doesn't matter whether she dies or not as long as she's there.
- Hanemura should've never been part of the story.
- Characters such as Samon's charisma shouldn't have dropped down underground.
- Yoshino turned out a stupid character after 7th episode, initial Yoshino should've been preserved.
- Drama out of Black Iron Syndrome and the duo's progress on the isolated world should've continued.

There are many things I can write. Even if the show was always a contemporary fantasy, it lost most of its touch after 7th and 12th episodes gradually. Both, characters started talking to themselves and the script couldn't preserved the good story themes of the story. I can almost say that in terms of storytelling quality, not a single positive thing happened after 7th episode. Aika's death was first a drama element I liked, they even managed to over-use it. They could keep the story's central drama element alive, work the story in an increasingly beautiful way by without breaking Mahiro's and Yoshino's characters -even tough Mahiro wasn't much affected- but unfortunately none of this happened. I haven't read Hamlet but there should be a reason for it to be more famous than the Tempest. There seem to be things I would dislike in Hamlet as well, but choosing an ending where everybody is happy just to not a let tragedy happen when you can be a serious story by being a tragedy or at least a drama isn't much logical. I too am not a fan of bad endings but I would worry more about the story than a bad ending. Actually there's no need to nitpick, how much more tragic can you get than the death of 2 billions of people? What more are you trying to prove? The main trouble tv show couldn't simply "tell itself" after a certain point.



In short, it was a show I really loved at first and gave a 10/10 rating in its first 7 episodes, but it couldn't maintain its masterpiece quality. So it upset me, I can even say that watching last 5-6 episodes was hard for me. Still, I really love the Yoshino and Mahiro duo -despite Yoshino's unsuccessful development-, there were good dramatic moments, the music was very beautiful, so despite everything it isn't a bad anime. My rating is 8 out of 10.

PS: If you want you can question a lot more, Aika was characterless from the beginning by knowing that she's Exodus mage all along. And it could be claimed that Yoshino is a bastard to be hated by the things he keeps as secret -despite my tendancy to like him-, but there's no need to go that deep into it, because flaws in the story is more important. You also think that when you complete this show, you really think that this is a shounen. And that kind of ties your hands. Because shounens are shounens... If this was a seinen maybe most of the things I mentioned would automatically be fixed.

Oh, music, right? Tell your ears I said hi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4I339TjeZk&list=PL-76djaHFMnL6fB9_BK-_UrWlQJCnIdmo
Watch out for Emergency, Deal, Zetsuen, Collapse, Unexpected, Suspicion.

Original Post Date: Mar 17, 2015

I have seen 52 episodes. Checked the big 'arcs' of the rest up to ~350. It isn't even 1% of what I expected. Another long "shounen" (stories about young teenagers who gain power on their way, the most popular type in Japan) Bleach was The Godfather and I didn't know it. I have rated OP with a 5/10, which is pretty low in my standarts, I don't rate anime "series" with 1-2-3 ratings; at least I haven't, so far.

I was told "what did you expect?"

I don't know what to expect from a very long shounen but I didn't expect this. It is quite similar to another long shounen, Fairy Tail, which I couldn't even stand for one episode. There's one more similar shounen, not as long, Soul Eater, but I guess it's not as bad... or maybe it is, I don't know.
But Bleach isn't like this, Hunter x Hunter isn't like this, Dragon Ball isn't like this. And I haven't seen it but probably Naruto isn't like this either. Bleach and Naruto are among the anime most people tend to rant about but buy didn't I know such poor quality existed on the dark side of the moon.
Better yet (or worse) I see people who choose "OP" over "HxH" or who think "HxH is good but OP is special" or so. Now I respect everyone's opinions but when there's such a drastic difference of quality, I get confused when One Pice is seen as equals of those, or even better than them.
How could the level of quality be overshadowed by "taste" so much is what I don't understand. Now sure most people accept and speak of One Piece being not very serious, but there is so much love for this show that one can't simply not expect a great depth benath that childishness. But there WASN'T one. There wasn't the slighest of it. For instance in Bleach there're also lots of comedy scenes, childishness, but not only it is fun, there's also a great depth behind it and the main story isn't affected by this childishness. I guess I have to give up on hope on an anime when it is talked as "not being so serious", at least the audience who watches shounen once in a while but who is more of a "seinen" anime watcher (anime which aim at more adult audience also with more serious stories with serious, darker tone). I always thought it was one of those "I laugh at the life but there's a storm in me" type of things, but turns out it wasn't.

There are much more "fillers" (anime are mostly adapted by manga, Japanese comics, fillers episodes in an anime that isn't any part of the original work, manga) in Bleach, but I think One Piece's episode that aren't technically fillers, are, in fact fillers in a way that doesn't contribute to the main story. For instance, Alabasta story arc of One Piece, IIRC was episodes 92-130 or so, an arc that completely fitted to the "side-story" description. In fact, in my opinion, everything after ~50 episodes are like that. Hence my act of dropping it.
I have looked at Alabasta, Water 7, Skypiea, Thriller Bank, Sabaody Archipelago and lastly the everyone's favorite Marineford arcs, none of them made me curious in the slightest.

So how many filler episodes does Bleach have, 150? And how many does One Piece have? 50? Well I think 600 episodes of One Piece are fillers in the story-wise meaning! (Technically not fillers, but fillers because they don't contribute to the main story at all, that is if there's a main story after such time)

I was actually suspicious when I found out One Piece had so few fillers. I guess we have to be scared of anime that doesn't have much fillers. 'Cause all of it may be filler!

Bleach, Naruto and alike are at least making a distinction between "fillers" and rest. In One Piece the anime's quality suffers from the fillers when it is in every arc and episode. There is no way to skip the "bad parts". Of course this is just in theory, because despite the homogeneous state of the "fillers" about the anime, it doesn't work even if you try to skip 10 mins of an episode and watch the good 10 mins. I have tried that, first few episodes had that, but then entirety of the anime turned out to be one big meaningless chore. I think the story AND the world is completely very weak.

And I see the reason behind this as the extremely long life of the both manga and the anime. Because entering the Grand Line or near (hinted from the very first episode) happened in 50-100 episodes, it might have ended in 200 episodes or so if it progressed as initially planned. But despite entering the Grand Line very early, no other real progress was made next ~600 episodes. People say "did he still not started to fly" to Clark Kent in Smallville, I am not a fan of that saying, but now how can I not take side with those who say "is he still not King of the Pirates?" for Monkey D. Luffy, the main character of One Piece? How is this any different than never-growing Ash Ketchum of Pokémon?

For instance Bleach's Bounto arc felt more "cannon" than One Piece's Alabasta arc. It is common in video games especially in fantasy RPG's, that we go and help to a villager in distress, save them from bandits. These are "side-missions". Alabasta arc was exactly a "saving the villager" type of thing. Bleach's Bounto arc on the other hand, despite the meaninglessness of some of it, contributed a lot to the development of the main character and it was philosophically interesting and of course, in my opinion, had much more level of quality than the other.

I was already planning on starting Naruto, realizing this small detail, my desire to start it increased even more. I will of course probably not watch its fillers.

That's all I have to say about One Piece... If you seek a great or a decent story, seek elsewhere.

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN ALL OF THE FIRST TWO SEASONS.




Original Post Date: Jan 29 2015

Last episode of 2nd season was one of the best season finale I have ever seen. And I've seen some of them.
Many things could happen, more importantly; many things could happen differently. What happened in the show was one of the most unpredictable, unique possible scenario anyone could dream of. For instance, we all thought something was going to happen between Jack and Hannibal. But in reality, all the previous events came together in a single point to form a singularity. This alone is simply mindblowing. Adding this to the getting away of Hannibal made this episode possible. I truly love flashforwards when they are used in place. Just like Breaking Bad's 2nd season. There is a known fact in horror genre: Scaring in plain sight but doing it slowly has been much harder and worthy of respect than simple jump-scares. Horror, or terror, in Hannibal can't be created by simple momentary scares. You have to spread it to whole 13 episodes. The magnitude of 13th episode doesn't come from 13th episode, but the whole 2nd season. 13th episode is actually made of the entire 2nd season. 50 minutes is 650 minutes.

In Hannibal, all of the senses of power, death, stress, tension, excitement, shock, amazement came together in this confrontation. But to feel this first we need to acknowledge it. By acknowledging I mean to feel the character. Not just Will, Jack; Hannibal too, even silly Alana. When there's good character development, you find yourself caring for anyone; even for the ones you feel less of them and you are affected by their destiny. This show made me think this; the side I support is obvious, 'but what would happen if I was Hannibal in that episode'? Despite my lack of support for Hannibal I thought about this because Hannibal is a character who connects himself with the viewer as much as Will. Maybe even more than Will, because he manages to connect himself to you despite his characteristics.

Now when this confrontation took place, you find yourself placing yourself in everybody's shoes in milliseconds, and your mind is exposed to shocks after shocks. Other than feeling the sensation of the characters, you get to realize; the resolution of the confrontation will be vital. You know, that, whatever happens will be a great change and this will be a shock to you. Besides feeling the sensation of characters, you also need to feel this. The screenplay does also make this possible. Who will die, or will not die, or what will happen to them is unknown to you. But this does not just come from unpredictability of events, this comes from the unbelieveably realistically depiction of the events. Thus, you believe wholeheartedly that the outcome will not be caused by a fictional screenplay, but by natural results of events. This is just like the collision of two unstoppable forces resulting in an unknown outcome. You wide open your eyes, and watch the particles flying everywhere to guess where they will land. But there is so much movement that while you were following one single particle and still far from guessing, the whole event ends in the blink of an eye, leaving you shocked by the result. 

I can't describe the thrill I had while I waited for the 13th episode. Because it bursted out intelligence, was made with the full capacity of a human brain. But I've seen tons, many, action, thriller, horror movies that didn't even raise my heart rate a single beat. I see one common thing in all these genres: The thriller. But in truth, I describe it a thriller in a "horror", "terror" level. Clearest characteristics in this is the wait. The overwhelming force of realism. Many action movies can't do that, or know that, and are ignorant to that.
That is why there's such a 21st Century phenomena as action movies that bore us to death. Of course, the cinematography do also play a great part in this. Cinematography in an average action movie is give or take pre-defined. Somewhat pleasing, but unrisky decisions are made. Characters and events are two dimensional. For instance, very few movies have had as much people die as the number of people who had died in the movie '2012', but who wept for those who died? Yet a single person can do that to you. "A death is a tragedy, a million death is just statistics". This isn't just restricted to death either. Thriller without action is sometimes more terrifying. It all depends on realism.
If I asked about the best thriller moments of the cinema history to you, everyone would answer differently. Some would list some horror films, even some action scenes would be mentioned. But besides many possible examples, the Monolith scene in '2001' would be a strong candidate for top spots, as it is an example of how a thrill emotion would ascend to a horror, terror level with no action at all.

Hannibal exactly has this thriller in its 13th episode. It all depends on the imagination. What we see moves us to the horror and terror feelings by using our imaginations and our feelings through what we imagine; more than by using what we see. And we live the feelings we wouldn't live, had we been there in flesh and blood.
I take the issue of relativity of time in Einstein's Theory of Relativity very seriously, but whatever happens, the time in reality is only infinite for just a second and then we can forget that feeling of infinity. In this work of fiction, the infinity of time spreads to an infinite width and it simply doesn't ever end.


Many people are able to watch many average action scenes with excitement, but in turn could be clueless in such 'next level' works. And I can sleep through many average action scenes but in return I can fell to the ground before swinging a single sword swing in the independency war that my heart declared in such 'next level' works.
Of course this was the peak moment. What many works fail to preserve is this level. In fact this can lead to the request of taking the "endings" subject in a philosophical and deeper meaning and examining them. Hannibal too may not preserve this but the trailer of 3rd season seemed different like never before, and it seems to me that we will be seeing a lot more 2nd season finales.

Some try to understand Black Stag. I don't see limiting the Black Stag to a single thing or trying to solve it with a single thing right. In fact, even trying to solve it isn't right. Even to talk about it is only to a point. Black Stag must be felt. Black Stag will always exist until Hannibal dies. I never really tried to understand it. I don't think it can be understood. I don't mean that it is meaningless, but in Quantum Mechanics there are things we just can't possibly know even if we had limitless technology and resources. Black Stag, to me, is just like that.

Some say there is a gloom in the show. Sure, there is a gloom. But why is this a bad thing? This is an artistic choice. Even if the whole world was shown gloomy, which isn't being done so, we couldn't argue. This is one of the most fundamental steps of 'suspension of disbelief'. Of course each person like some things averagely more and some averagely less. But personally I liked some works in the past despite the fact that they were not my style. Hannibal can more than easily become one of these works for someone who doesn't like the style.

Say, in Matrix eveyone is super-serious, but the moment you question this it is over. Matrix is Matrix because of this. Not despite this. And Hannibal is Hannibal just the way it is now. Remove the color filter or bell ring sound effects from Hannibal and it is no more Hannibal.
As rare it may be, sometimes I too dislike gloom, but this is not about the style itself but the way it is used. Hannibal, with the greatest cinematography of the world's television history is to me the definition of perfection but someone with an unmatching rate of frequency with the show's screenplay could start to question this. Just like someone who would question The Matrix.

Hannibal is one of the peak points of the modern art of storytelling. In such a story that dependant of the resolution of the events, being both "deep", and "event-free" is a truly mind-bending achievement. I think there's no other work I've seen in my life that gave this exact feeling to me. There's only one work which is also a psychological story with also a psychologist in centre, with also bell ring sound effect; an anime called "Ghost Hound"... but other than that, even tough I had many different beautiful feelings in many films and tv shows, I didn't exactly live this feeling in a tv show or a feature film before. Of course I'm not just talking about the thriller here, otherwise I wouldn't not mention 'Lost'... but such a time-stopping work of fiction that makes you feel like you are almost an arm's reach away from answers to most incredible questions in the world is what I'm talking about.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The Godfather (1972)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
His Girl Friday (1940)

I was shocked when I was seeing His Girl Friday.
It was so uplifting and joyful that I thought it had to stop somewhere. Because that's what usually happens, right? You start watching a movie, it is generally bad, but when it isn't, you keep praying (even if you're atheist like me) so it doesn't go bad, but it generally doesn't work. The movie goes bad. And there is nothing you can do about it. It is not an inter-active event, after all. It isn't like watching a Twitch broadcast and commanding the broadcaster. It isn't like playing a game and doing the best role-playing you can in order to un-see the bad stuff. No, with movies we 'generally!' have to see what we see and there is no escaping it. So when a movie goes bad, it goes bad. There is nothing to do but to say 'oh well, next time then'.
But that wasn't the case with His Girl Friday. No sir/madam.
By the way is it my poor English or does His Girl Friday sound like a gender-bender title? Well if you haven't seen this movie let me assure you it is not such one.
His Girl Friday is one damn movie. Quoting from IMDb, A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying. It features Cary Grant and Rosaling Russell who are perfect match for both their roles and each other. They have great chemistry. It is such a movie that it uses sweet edges of relationships and human interaction, it does get a lil' extreme with what happens and that's what makes it so beautiful. It's like Hitchcock's Rope, or silent features featuring Charles Chaplin or Buster Keaton where our hero tries to hide something. The chemistry is not limited to our main characters but extended to the Black and White picture, to environment, to side-roles, music, pacing and everything in it. I probably imagined hoping to see such a perfectly balanced movie in my subconscious, but I never actually realized even the possibility of seeing one before I started watching it. It was in first few minutes I had realized this fact. Then all the pieces of puzzles were aligned together. I probably imagined a similar, but a modern-era movie, but I don't recall seeing such one. I probably have seen TV shows, TV episodes worst case scenario. And anime (Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai is probably the most resembling thing to His Girl Friday). And did I mention His Girl Friday is THE ONLY comedy movie I have rated with a 10/10?
You know what? When I think about it His Girl Friday is actually the only comedy thing I have rated with a 10/10. Sure I have rated some "episodes" of Coupling, IT Crowd and all, but not a single TV show's general rating have I rated with a 10, a movie, a video game (which is very rare to have comedy as genre), or an anime. Isn't it such a superb accomplishment? I am very glad to know 'His Girl Friday' exists.

I do tend to exhaust myself with one movie and then have nothing to write about the others. Well that's not true, I can write about rest, probably as long as I want, but it does make me a bit tired.
The Godfather is a movie everyone knows very well and talks a lot. It is often described the best movie of all-time by both critics and audience. And I can't argue that. I too love The Godfather, a lot. It's a breakthrough in cinema history in many ways. It is also possibly the best mafia movie ever made, by a long shot.
When I was seeing The Godfather I had felt an excitement, a true sense of time around me slowing down to a degree that it almost stops. Cinema is many things, and one of those things is the harmony of the picture and the sound. The two senses of human body it serves. And the way the harmony established in The Godfather is what makes it stop time itself.
But there was an event, the wedding. It adds to the feeling that something will happen. It is a suspense, a state of consciousness that transcends the mind above space-time. What will happen next is not important. It is the feeling that there is this space in 2D screen we are watching and it will be filled with masses of objects, live things that when they take action, move in that space. Don Vito Corleone moves in a room? It is transcendental. He waves his hand? Transcendental. We see some conversations take place and scene changes? It's only after a while we start to adjust to that feeling. But the movie's greatness is what makes this feeling come back. We are into half or more of the movie, Don Vito Corleone picks fruits in market place, we still have that feeling. And The Godfather is probably one of the fewest, probably only, movie I have seen do that in my first watch. I did see it in TV bits and pieces but the time I watched it could easily be counted as my first time because I remembered almost nothing (which isn't a surprise as I have terrible memory). But the film still gave me such an effect. Before I clicked play, I remember that day thinking to myself, 'Okay, I am sure it is great but could it really be that great?' If I had seen it first time today I would have thought the same thing probably, and a lot more, because most of the things I see are remotely near their praise. But The Godfather was and still is every bit of the praise. Even more. Yes, I actually think people don't praise The Godfather enough.
I wasn't going to talk about Part II or divide my article to two, and I still won't, I see them as whole, and rate them as equal, but let me just say that part one made the most impact on me.

Judgment at Nuremberg is the star of the article which I deliberately left to the last. Or is it? I don't know it just like you, and I won't know it until I hit 'Publish' and you reached the last sentence I wrote.
Alright, In terms of power of impact Judgment at Nuremberg is a similar effect to His Girl Friday, but with different tones. Judgment at Nuremberg starts out rather slowly, but it has this confidence and strong standing. I am not a fan of overly-dramatized tragic stories, sure I do feel for them especially for the historical meaning, but I think a story needs something more than just unfolding tragic events. Otherwise we would just watch documentaries of terrible events of all kind.
Judgment at Nuremberg is the difference in-between. Hitler's Germany has been mother to hundreds, if not thousands, of movies and video games. And there are some great stories among them. I have seen Judgment at Nuremberg after I have seen most of those, despite it is one of the earliest works made. Judgment at Nuremberg was made only 16 years after Hitler's death. So it could be thought as "raw" as we probably didn't have as much info as we have right now and certainly not as much as imagination about the events as we have right now. But Judgment at Nuremberg eludes all the others and it takes advantage of being one of the early works to such a degree that it becomes THE best movie about Nazi Germany. Most movies take place in courts either take advantage of the thrill, or drama. Most court movies aren't a big deal. But Judgment at Nuremberg is a big deal. It doesn't take advantage of anything, it doesn't misinterpret facts, it doesn't over-dramatize. It is a true humanistic movie that would make every human being think and feel without lying or cheating them. It is simplified yet perfectly and masterfully scripted motion picture. I don't normally like simplified scripts but the way Judgment at Nuremberg is made is the extreme beauty of simple. I honestly don't know a single similar movie, with any plot that's similar or not.

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the beacons of Sci-Fi genre that lights the vast void of space. 2001 is first and foremost an epic journey. It inspired movies like Interstellar (2014), but it still hasn't been surpassed except the video game series Mass Effect.
2001 is a story of humankind, it tells us to us. Then how good of a movie can you make out of this? Sky is the limit. We don't know our story. That is the starting point of this film. We have forgotton our story. This is the way of telling of this film. Classical music wasn't just used in 2001 because of it sounded nice, or space didn't have sound. It was used because what else could be used on a movie about us than pieces that held a foundation to the creation of music by us? A movie about us had to have something from us. And it was Strauss.
2001 is a story feels so natural. It almost feels real. I'm not just talking about the realism of the movie itself. I'm talking about after seeing it remembering it as something part of the history. Like as if it happened some time ago and then it lead to something else. I guess if I went to space I would feel like I was Dave. And if there was an AI I would freak out just by the fact that I remember HAL. I don't normally have a phobia against machinery or AI's, this is all caused by the realism of 2001's story and its misrememberance of  being part of the history. I guess this obviously has to something to do with its "retro" use of technological environment, unlike today, just like Alien movies, despite I am not a fan of those. But still, I think I wouldn't have felt the same if I worshipped Alien movies, because 2001 connects itself to us by starting from the very beginning to the far into the future. It is a whole story in every possible manner.

1. The Matrix (1999)
   
2. The Prestige (2006)
   
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
   
4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
   
5. Into the Wild (2007)
   

I just came up with this. This is an exclusive for this blog, just popped out of my mind.
I always had favorites but I never did a top 5, usually top 10, maybe 3. This time I took my time and decided by depending on; how significant the movie was in its genre and compared to similar stories, how much of a genius it contains and how much of an emotional impact it had.
These are my favorites. Top 4 are similar in my opinion, not just because of the genre but because of that 'magic' that lies in them. 'T2' is actually in my opinion the most 'normal' out of them, but we are so familiar with it we forget its magic. When it came out it made us aware of topics such as artificial intelligence, machines, etc. Now we're so familiar with it, it doesn't seem that magical to us but if you simply think about the movie or just watch it, you'll remember how magical it is. I know this from experience. I have seen it a few years ago and it was still current, but at the same time magical, authentic, exotic. It is as magical as Prestige's "certain" parts, if you know what I mean.

And Into the Wild is just my personal favorite. What can one say about that one? It is on par with V for Vendetta for me, but I liked Into the Wild better.

 T h e   K i n g

It can be seen as a classical hero story, an ordinary man has something extraordinary happen to him. But it is so much more than that. If it had to be, the movie could be defined with the following sentence: 'one-of-a-kind'. Of course, in theory, all the movies are one of a kind, masterpieces; even more. But there is something else in The Matrix than just 'good'. It has a 'style', which is something really hard to achieve. Again, all the movies have some sort of styles, but this style I'm talking about is different. I feel safe to say that all movies except The Matrix, has a style that if applied in real world, ignoring the defiance to the laws of physics, can be seen as 'normal'. Meaning, its depiction wouldn't be so weird, absurd, or anything of sort in the real world. But with The Matrix, exactly this would happen. In The Matrix everyone act 'super-serious'. There're almost no jokes in such a Box-Office action movie.

Not to mention this is one of the fewest blockbuster that had an 'R' rating. This alone says a lot for it. Of course, today's movies aren't to blame for today's misery, at least not in this aspect; Right now Hollywood is trying to survive in blockbuster area, and right now making an R-rated blockbuster would be next to impossible. But that doesn't matter; The Matrix had a single moment, a single shot in an R-rated blockbuster area, in a year as significant as 1999, all the conditions were right and all the stars were aligned, and it took it by becoming known universe's greatest motion picture.
Until visual effects and other filmmaking costs become dirt-cheap by clearing the way of R-rated blockbusters for everyone, it will hold the throne for a long time.

In The Matrix even the characters who aren't agents act like agents. And this is where its success comes from. It is such a world that such a ridiculous thing beats every single moment of the movie in the race of importance, taking the lead and boosting that world to an unreachable state.

Not to mention the movie's incredible attention to detail, symbols. The style could more easily be defined as 'iconic'. The classical visualization of a phone, LCD screens, people who wear suits, a metro station, a homeless person, sunglasses, hairstyles, cities, and everything else. Incredible use of music and sound effects and the color green boosts it even more.

And not only that but the script is like a rose flower with tens of layers. You can never guess what happens next, even if you've seen it a dozen of times. And you always find something new each time you see it. It is 'hyperactive', you have to see it by using 100% of your brain or you would be left behind. It isn't just a movie. It is a fully fleshed out world that will never get old or de-mystified.


All the movies with one word:

The Matrix: Iconic
The Prestige: Itch
2001: A Space Odyssey: Grand
Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Tension
Into the Wild: Emotional

This quote is simple (often cliched) but when you read it at the right moment it's inspirational. Which led me to think about my ultimate dream. While that truth is sad, it's also something else. Probably symbolizes the power of thought. Even if no one hears it, it will echo in your head, somehow get out, and reach out to other minds, somewhere, somewhen, somehow. But it will, eventually. Someone will think exactly what you had thought and "the dream will live on". I'm not religious, I don't believe in any sort of God, but I accept that we don't know everything in this universe and this alone is enough to feel similar. If you've seen enough sci-fi, you'll know there are spirituality without religion or God, or even literal spirit itself. It's simply a collection of emotions, feelings, thoughts, ideas, passions, existence of being. Unless the universe becomes a mystery-free place to us, this is how it is. Heck, even scientific spirituality is a reality because we can't possibly guess what happens next in Quantum realm. Enjoy the sound.

(The title of this article is quoted from a user on the YouTube comments)

Kenji Kawai - Kugutsuuta Ura Mite Chiru (Ghost in the Shell: Innocence)

I'm playing Talos Principle for a week or so now. It was fun at first, then it got hard. Not that I complain. But some parts were way too far-fetched. Luckily I had YouTube. I didn't use it unless I had to tough! I solved them by myself as much as possible.
Anyway, TTP is a puzzle game. But the creators seems to be knowledged on storytelling. I do know this how? One of the particular sentences I have read (which I didn't really read much of the content of the game FYI) was criticizing 'a story as a decor' theme which they seem to abide to. Not that I have any complaints. I knew what I was getting into from the get go. So they were criticizing themselves, also they were hinting about the power of storytelling and their inclination to it. So I am fairly sure that the creators at least have some idea on how to story-tell and how to do it good.

Anyway, TTP actually surprised me on that department and it turned out even better than Portal 2, the game people can't stop talking about. Not to mention its easter egg reference to it. TTP doesn't really have much of a thing you can call visual storytelling, but it tells you some stuff through other means and this is coming from a Dark Souls hater. So I'm not really into "make your own story" stuff, as I find them phony, a joke. But TTP is different from that. I know I said it doesn't have much of a visual story-telling but, being just about in the middle of the game, I enjoyed what I saw when I completed the level "A". And it did give me some ideas and inspirations.

No, no, I'll just go ahead and say it: The Talos Principle inspired me to create one of the most original ideas I have created and I like to believe I have some original ideas. So, Talos Principle is that. It is a modern-ish and spiritual take on some fundamental stuff. Which is good. I am very curious to see how the game will end. I think the game can lead me to imagine one or two more unique stories. I am also looking forward to the see what TTP's developers have up their sleeves, they can do some cool stuff if they make their next game a more story-driven game.

This article is about,

1. My completion of Married with Children's 2nd season,
2. My re-watch of Twin Peaks which I am at s02e12,
3. The recent release of House of Cards' 3rd season,
4. Ongoing 3rd season of Vikings.

Today I have completed Married with Children's 2nd season!
It ended with a blast. Yes, I do have to admit this is the first time I am watching MWC, but, I have always wanted to watch it and I always knew it was the comedy show I wanted. I am a Seinfeld fan after all. Bits and pieces from here and there (no I mean it) I knew exactly what I was getting into and I was happy for being able to watch it.

I do hope Al gets his way around a bit more tough, he is always being overrun by his family, the guy needs some happiness too! I do enjoy watching his misery but I'd enjoy even more if I see he 'wins' too. But I guess seeing the guy gets the beating was more fun at 80's/90's.

Now that they announced the big come-back of the 25-year-old show, I have been re-watching Twin Peaks for a few weeks.
I have seen the 12th episode of 2nd season today, I have to say I do love Cooper and his determination of knowing exactly what to do. He is driven, he doesn't get distracted by anything and he gets the job done quickly and effectively. While I do see myself improving, I wouldn't mind becoming much more like him. Well, who knows?..
But... my heart, of course, beats for Audrey. She is a true beauty in a show with many beauties.

I said I am re-watching Twin Peaks but it is like a fresh start for me, even tough I have seen it only a few years ago (5 tops), I have completely forgot some of its parts. I still remember the big stuff and rest comes back to me as they happen, but I watch it as if I was going to discover the very hidden secrets of the universe.

After becoming a more experienced watcher (and creator) I can see some small details I haven't seen or connected before and some raw, core stuff really keeps me guessing and I wish to see what's behind the 'curtain'. If you know what I mean. I will watch it knowing this fact, so it is truly entertaining for me.
But I also know that its ending isn't really explanatory and a lot, a lot of stuff stays hidden, I'll still be happy for the stuff I see unveil. The 2016 show isn't too much away from airing anyway. Keep it coming Mr. Lynch!

House of Cards... No spoilers, first of all!
I have only seen first two episodes, and the main reason I haven't seen the rest is the lack of subtitles for my native language, I can easily watch it in English but I am watching it with my dad. I think I will wait for a while for all the subtitles to be translated, not some, and then marathon the hell out of it! It was nice to see Frank Underwood's monologues but this season is different, and different good.


Vikings...
Well, I have to admit I am not the happiest person with it. I do have my questions and doubts. But the cinematography is damn good. Some scenes aren't detailed and some are weirdly colored, but, it is generally damn good!

There isn't much to say on this topic. This is just an update. I do think the show's pacing is a bit annoying and it will be a bit tiresome to see where things will lead. Let's hope it gets someplace better, like... Valhalla!