Paprika (2006)

Note: this review contains spoilers for Paprika.

Though Satoshi Kon may have passed before his prime, his films serve as a testament to the power of animation to blend dreams with reality. His final film, Paprika, based on Yasutaka Tsutsui’s 1993 novel of the same name, takes this idea to its logical conclusion, even making it a central plot point. Though watching the English dub of Kon’s series Paranoia Agent spurred me to seek out his filmography, one point of interest with Paprika in particular was seeing that the Christopher Nolan film Inception had been compared with it, though it had been years since I had seen Inception, so I was able to view Paprika on its own merits. After watching Paprika through an English dub on Blu-ray, it’s safe to say that Satoshi Kon’s cinematic career ended on a high note.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Ever since the release of A Matter of Loaf and Death in 2008, the Wallace & Gromit franchise has been all but dormant outside the UK, not helped by Peter Sallis’ retirement in 2010 and passing in 2017, with the Shaun the Sheep spin-off series helping to keep it alive in the interim. To this end, I was surprised and excited when not only was a new feature film, Vengeance Most Fowl, announced to be in the works, but that it was also a follow-up to the 1993 short film The Wrong Trousers, which happens to be my favorite entry. The announcement of Netflix being the distributor was a bit of a spirit breaker, as I do not have a Netflix account, however as the film got closer to release, a series of limited US theatrical screenings came up, with the only local option I had being a one-day showing at an IPIC theater (the same one where I first watched Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions under similar circumstances). After leaping at the chance, I found the wait and effort to have been well worth it, even if it doesn’t quite live up to the original.

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (GameCube)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Sonic Adventure 2.

Following the success of Sonic Adventure (SA1), development began on its sequel, Sonic Adventure 2 (SA2), but not without incident. Dreamcast sales struggled in spite of SA1’s success, so Sonic Team downsized and a portion of them moved to San Francisco, where they established Sonic Team USA. From there, development continued in earnest, with the goal of streamlining the design of SA1 and appealing to American sensibilities, including a greater emphasis on action, giving the six playable characters more equal playtime and capturing an “American” atmosphere for the setting. Although this gamble paid off, with strong critical reception and selling over 500,000 copies worldwide, Sega had already discontinued the Dreamcast months before SA2 launched, giving the game the distinct honor as the final Sonic game released on Sega hardware. Around this time, Sega had transitioned to third-party development and, a year later, released an updated GameCube port with additional multiplayer content, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (SA2B), which became one of the bestselling GameCube games of all time. From then on, starting with 2003’s Sonic Heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog became a multiplatform series.

Thanks in part to SA2B, SA2 also maintains a reputation as perhaps the most important Sonic game ever made, not just for establishing a formula for the rest of the series moving forward, but also for its influence on the fandom. It not only introduced new characters that remain popular to this day, in particular Shadow the Hedgehog, but also has iconic moments that future games have referenced and a soundtrack that has proven memorable among those who have played it. SA2 would also not only get its own adaptation in the Sonic X anime alongside SA1, but influence the story of the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which motivated me to finally play this game (through SA2B on GameCube due to cost and availability). Shadow the Hedgehog himself would get his own spinoff game, Shadow the Hedgehog, as well as his own Shadow Generations game alongside a remaster of Sonic Generations. I know that I myself wanted to play this game as a kid, but now that I finally have as an adult, I found it worth the effort, even if it’s showing some age now.

Millennium Actress

Note: This review contains spoilers for Millennium Actress.

Though his career was tragically cut short, Satoshi Kon’s work has left an impact on Japanese animation with his unique style of visual storytelling that blends the reality with the surreal. Of his four completed films, his second, Millennium Actress, is the only one I have seen, albeit through a sub-only DVD release from 2003. When I was younger and watched this for the first time, I wasn’t mature or well-versed enough in anime to fully appreciate it, though I decided to give it another chance years later after watching an airing of Kon’s only episodic anime work, Paranoia Agent, on Toonami. After doing so through that same sub-only DVD, and later an English Blu-ray, I was able to fully appreciate it and got very invested in the narrative.

Perfect Blue

Note: This review contains spoilers for Perfect Blue.

Among the legendary directors of Japanese animated films, one name that doesn’t receive as much attention is Satoshi Kon. A few years into his animation career, which interestingly included directing the twelfth episode of Studio APPP’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure OVA (“DIO's World: Kakyoin -Duel in the Barrier-”), Kon would make his feature directorial debut with Perfect Blue in 1997. Based on the novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, the film would showcase Kon’s longstanding theme of blending fantasy and reality, which would inform his later works like Millennium Actress (2001) and Paranoia Agent (2004). When I finally obtained a copy of the English dub of the film on Blu-ray, I wanted to take a look back at where Kon’s output started and while I think his later works perfected the techniques he employed here, it’s still nonetheless an incredibly strong start.

Stubs - Beatles ' 64

Beatles ’64 (2024) starring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr. Directed by David Tedeschi, Produced by Martin Scorsese, Margaret Bodde Run time: 106 minutes. Black and White. U.S./United Kingdom. Documentary.

Every Beatles anniversary gets some sort of celebration, whether it’s the 50^th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper getting a box set and a remix, or as with 2024, the 60^th anniversary of The Beatles arrival in the U.S. To celebrate this occasion, there have been several releases during the year, including a Mega block set that re-enacted their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, two separate Record Store Day releases, including 3-inch singles of all the songs they sang on that first show, a collection of vinyl mono releases from 1964, and now Beatles ’64, a “new” documentary that premiered on November 29, 2024 on the Disney+ streaming platform.

Stubs - 3 Godfathers

3 Godfathers (1948) Starring John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, Harry Carey, Jr., Ward Bond Directed by John Ford. Screenplay by Laurence Stallings, Frank S. Nugent Based on the novel The Three Godfathers by Peter B. Kyne (New York, 1913). Produced by John Ford, Merrian C. Cooper. Run time: 107 min. Color. USA Western, Christmas.

Sometimes directors get a second chance at a story. Alfred Hitchcock had that with The Man Who Knew Too Much, making it twice in 1934 and in 1956. John Ford got the same chance with adapting Peter B. Kyne’s novel The Three Godfathers. Marked Men (1919), directed by Ford starred Harry Carey, Joe Harris and Ted Brooks, made by Universal, is now considered lost. When Ford decided to remake the story, Harry Carey was no longer available, having died in 1947.

While another long-time collaborator, John Wayne, would have the lead role, Ford did bring in Harry Carey, Jr. Even though this was not his first film, he is given an “Introducing” sort of credit. To round out the three, Ford hired Pedro Armendáriz, a Mexican-American actor who was appearing in only his third film, having appeared in only two other films, both directed by John Ford, The Fugitive (1947) and Fort Apache (1948).

Ford wanted to make the film in Mexico, however, it was shot on location in Death Valley, CA, with some additional shooting in Lone Pine, CA. Ford made the film through his own production company that he co-owned with Merrian C. Cooper, Argosy Pictures. Since the story rights were owned by MGM, Argosy negotiated a one-picture releasing contract with MGM. This also marked the first time that MGM accepted a distribution deal without a financial investment or creative input in the production.