[Daijoobu]

I watched the move "Avalon" by Mamoru Oshii (the director of "Ghost in the Shell") last night, and I thought it was really nice. I especially liked the industrial designs on the "bosses" and the photo and the soundtrack (I'm listening to it right now)is awesome. Have anyone else seen it? I strongly encourage you to do so if you liked "eXistenZ" and "The Matrix".
Awesome stuff.

[krAtul]

The movie is really weird and not as public friendly as Matrix. You can notice pretty easily that the 2 movies come from the same kind of wonderings on our future (Oshii being Wachowski's mentor).
For those who play video games online, Avalon will ring bells cuz it is kinf of game mixing both actual massively multiplayer online games as well as first person shooters (Asheron's Call/Counterstrike).
Definately worth it.

[Gimbal8]

I saw it a few months ago and can't wait to buy it on DVD, if it were to ever come out in the US. I had to watch some crappy bootleg version. Wish I had known it was giong to be a good movie before I watched it or I would have waited. The only thing my friend told me when he gave me the video was, "Here, you'll like this."

Oh well. I guess if it wasn't for him there would be quite a few good movies I would never have known to look for, like this one.

How did you guys get to see it? Was it released in theaters there or did it come out on video/DVD?

[krAtul]

It was released in the theaters here in France, original version not dubbed but subtitled. I saw it the day it was out

#k

[Sumaleth]

Since Ghost in the Shell is my favourite anime film I've been hanging out for Avalon for AGES, but still no sign of it getting any sort of release here.

Row.

[Daijoobu]

I watched it in DivX , but I will try to buy it on DVD for sure!

[Gimbal8]

This is why region lockouts for games and DVD's suck. Can someone explain why they exist again? I used to know but I keep forgetting because I just want to believe there is no reason for them.

I used to go and watch anime movies on the big screen at this dirty little downtown, one screen theater. But they don't do that anymore. Used to be primarily anything the New Line picked up. Seems like Miramax has been picking up quite a few foriegn titles recently though. The only other way I get my anime fix is through Toonami whenever they show something somewhat cool. But most things they won't show because of the nature of some anime.

I heard something funny recently from a friend of mine who grew up in France. She used to watch this cartoon all the time when she was a little kid(I can't recall the name of it now). Apparently the anime she was watching was actually pornographic in its orignal form from Japan, but they just cut out all that stuff and broadcast it in France like a regular kids cartoon. She happened to find a video recently of it and thought she would get it for nastalgia purposes. lol, I wish I could have seen the look on her face when she saw her favorite childhood character doing the nasty.

[Daijoobu]

Well since I live in Sweden, and we use the same regional coding as Japan (2) I'm thinking about ordering it from there...But I'm not sure wether the japanese DVD has english subtitles. I guess the regional coding-thing is used primarily so that he movie companies can control which movies are gonna be released were and when...so that people wont be able to order a DVD from the US of a movie that hasn't been released in Europe yet. It really sucks. But if you've got a region-free DVD player (like me) that of course wont matter...

[krAtul]

Although 'Avalon' is directed by a japanese, its original version was filmed in some East European language (Pole ? Russian ?).

Sumaleth : I hope you read the comic books from masamune shirow cuz the movie may be nice but the books are way better imho (especially all the design notices shirow adds for almost every concepts that are used in the story).

Gimbal : For the cartoon, if she's as old as I am (22), the cartoon you are talking about could be either hokuto no ken ('Ken le survivant' in french) with uncut gore scenes or City Hunter ('Nikky Larson' in french) with cut erotic scenes, both were on the screens during kids shows on TV in France something like 10-15 years ago.

[ April 01, 2002: Message edited by: krAtul ]

[Sumaleth]

krAtul: yes, I've read a lot of Shirow's mangas and love the little notes he puts in the borders.

But I still LOVE the movie. It's a different thing to the manga, not really comparable, and both are very good in their fields.

Row.

[Daijoobu]

Is "Avalon" available as a manga too?!

[Gimbal8]

krAtul: Yeah, the entire cast is Polish if I remember correctly. I love that girl who played Ash. I have to see if I can find any other movies she's been in.

And City Hunter was the cartoon, thanks.

[a_sh]

thanx for the tip.
just saw avalon.

i really like the scene where giant trackmarks suddenly appear on the ground and the Citadel vehicle is 'built' up out of them.
That was cool!