Director: Philip Rosenthal
Writers: Philip Rosenthal
Actors: Philip Rosenthal and lots of Russians
Rated PG {for anyone who loves learning about sitcoms}
Exporting Raymond follows Phil Rosenthal's, the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005) tv series, attempt to translate his hit show into a Russian sitcom. Despite being one of the top dogs here in the United States, Rosenthal quickly finds himself at the very bottom of Russian "comedy".
WHAT I LIKED
The behind-the-scenes look at Everybody Loves Raymond was incredibly enjoyable.
Phil Rosenthal's commentary, mid movie, was absolutely hilarious and added a lot to the film.
The singing bass.
WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
The up and down nature of this film is painful and depressing. I found myself frustrated by some of the interactions even though they were important to the story.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This movie was great. I give it a C+ for being a high-end documentary. WHEN SHOULD YOU SEE IT?
I would check it out when you get a chance. My recommend would be getting it from Netflix or at your local movie rental store.
SCORE
Personal Rating: 7 of 10 (C+)
Plot: 9 of 10(a simple concept that grows into something remarkable)
How does this TS review compare to major reviews? IMDB 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes C-71%/A-70%
CONTENT
Violence: 1 of 10 (nothing worth noting)
Language/Profanity: 3 of 10(infrequent language, such as "hell")
Sexuality/Sensuality: 3 of 10(the outline of two naked women is shown two or three times)
Director: Takeshi Koike
Writers: Katsuhito Ishii, Yoji Enokido, & Yoshiki Sakurai
Actors: Takuya Kimura, Yû Aoi, & Tadanobu Asano
[A cast of very famous anime voice actors]
Not Rated {for adults only}
R-r-r-r-r-r-r Redline, Katsuhito Ishii's action-packed racer, has continued to built in popularity since its first showing in 2009 at the Locarno International Film Festival, especially in animated media circles.
This film is a bit hard to describe, other than that is like Speed Racer (tv series-1967, film-2008), The Fast and the Furious (2001), and F-Zero: GP Legend (2003) rolled into one movie, so I will refer to a favorite comment about the movie...
"You will leave Redline with no pants, socks or even underwear as they would all be blown away by the sheer bombastic brilliance of Redline." - Luke Halliday, Capsule Computers
WHAT I LIKED
Redline has phenomenal art with awesome coloration. It boasts seven years of development and over 100,000 hand drawn images.
While some have said that Redline lacks a story, I would argue that it is a story played in action rather than with words. It is true this movie tells you very little about anything other than the Redline race and a little back story on each of the champion racers, but this movie does a great job of giving you big enough pieces of the puzzle that you can put them together, except for a few weird parts.
The detail and effort put into the development of each character is amazing. A character may only get a few seconds of screen time and yet you can tell that they really spent time thinking out that character and their motivation. This, however, can be a bit confusing until you have seen JP enough to establish that he is the main character.
I really liked the race tracks in this movie. Mostly because they weren't really tracks or even roads.
Hands down, my favorite element in this movie is the speed. The racers drive so fast that they bleed and their cars explode. Just when you think they are going as fast as they possibly can... they go faster and faster AND FASTER!!! It reminded me a lot of Dragon Ball Z (1989), where the characters, despite hitting their power limits, continue to gain power.
WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
This movie is weird. A tiny bit less of that would have been nice.
I really dislike how much more profane the English dub of this film is, most of which is completely unnecessary.
FINAL THOUGHTS
While I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, its appeal is not universal. I give it a B- for being great movie but far too weird to be an A movie or close to one.
WHEN SHOULD YOU SEE IT?
Definitely a worthwhile watch for anyone who appreciates phenomenal art and can tolerate or enjoy absurdity.
SCORE
Personal Rating: 8 of 10 (B-)
Plot: 6 of 10(An intriguing but overly complex mess)
This movie is on Evan's personal favorites list. I recommend watching this movie in the original Japanese.
How does this TS review compare to major reviews? IMDB 7.3/10 Rotten Tomatoes A-83%
CONTENT
Violence: 7 of 10 (most race scenes contain tense action, characters commonly drive so fast that they bleed out their noses and mouths, punches result in blood, there gun/ship fights where characters bleed/explode/die, a guy is punched then his teeth are pulled out of the glove that hit him, a character is disintegrated, and a character is absorbed by a monster)
Language/Profanity: 8 of 10(occasional use of the following: "hell", "horndog", variants of "ass", variants of "shit", variants of "damn", "bastard", variants of "c**k", "p***y", and variants of "f**k")
Sexuality/Sensuality: 6 of 10(there are several scenes where clothed boobs noticeably bounce, an innuendo about racing making someone hot, implied adultery between a racer and his female boss, a reoccurring dream sequence features a suave racer with two scantly clad women in the back who he kisses at the same time, a female character is topless with breasts showing while watching tv for nearly 30 secs, there are two scandalously dressed racers who are referred to as "rejects from a porno", a group of fans in bikinis is seen at the end of the race, and a loving kiss is shared between embracing characters)
Spiritual Aspects: 2 of 10 (one of the cars is named "Godwing", the names of Jesus and God are inappropriately used, and a female character is referred to as a goddess)
Drugs/Alcohol: 6 of 10 (characters smoke hookah/cigarettes/cigars often throughout the movie, occasionally alcohol is consumed, legal/illegal betting is key to the story, in two scenes cocaine is consumed, and character mentions "tweeking")
