A rare glimpse of early Japanese sound anime and prewar Japanese culture, The Roots of Japanese Anime features the masterworks of such pioneers of Japanese animation as Noburo Ofuji, Yasuji Murata, and Kenzo Masaoka, in addition to Mitsuyo Seo’s Momotaro’s Sea Eagle, the notorious war cartoon billed as Japan’s first feature anime. These movies represent the brilliance and variety of anime, ranging from beautiful Japanese paper animation to powerful multiplane cel cartoons. They also evoke the fascinating complexity of Japan, a nation that is then both marching towards war, enlisting kids in militarist nationalism, yet also delighting in a mixture of modern popular culture, ancient folk tales, irreverent comedy, and the everyday life of prewar Japanese children.
When Imperial China calls one man from every family to defend the empire from invading Huns, a young woman disguises herself as a soldier to take her ailing father’s place.
Rising pop star Mima Kirigoe quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered.
Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a research psychologist who uses a device called the DC Mini to enter her patients' dreams, wherein she adopts the alter-ego "Paprika".
A member of an elite paramilitary counter-terrorism unit becomes traumatized after witnessing the suicide bombing of a young girl and is forced to undergo retraining.
Sniffing around for di-stink-tly hilarious animated antics? You're in luck, ma cherie! You hold in your hands a nose-crinkling collection of cartoons starring the most malodorous mammal ever to go lookin' for l'amour with all the wrong species: Pepe Le Pew! Including 14 shorts never before seen on video or DVD, these 17 tres aromatique outings feature the love-struck skunk falling hard for felines, canines and - sacre maroon! - the occasional fur coat! in Dog Pounded, our powerfully perfumed protagonist co stars with Tweets and Sylvester.
Popular movie trailers from 2008
These some of the most viewed trailers for movies released in 2008:
John Legend: Live from Philadelphia actually constitutes a two-disc set, with an album and a disc of concert footage culled from r&b and neo-soul demigod Legend's Philadelphia engagements on his "Show Me" tour.
Spring 1945: the Allies are outside Hamburg. In front of a movie theater, Lena Brücker meets Hermann Bremer, a marine assigned to the 'final battle on the home front'.
A gonzo black comedy with six intertwining stories set in the streets of Tokyo about the ongoing battle between the Internet generation and the older generation.
When Bella Swan moves to a small town in the Pacific Northwest, she falls in love with Edward Cullen, a mysterious classmate who reveals himself to be a 108-year-old vampire.
Daniel is a scientist who just got married to April, an attractive, immature and extroverted youth who reveals a side of herself which he has not yet seen, unleashing conflicts with the inhabitants of her hometown.
In this soulful surf documentary, filmmaker Cyrus Sutton shadows five different surfers, capturing the ups and downs of their daily routines -- much like the ebb and flow of the waves they ride with such passion.
Comments
Have you watched The Roots of Japanese Anime Until the End of WWII: 1930-1942 yet? What did you think about it?
