• 3Dec 08

  Bamdude's Vampire Chronicles Chapter 11: Moon Child

  Moon Child is a japanese movie released in 2003 and it was directed by Takahisa Zeze. This movie is set in the world of the near future, where an orphan and a vampire form a friendship that is put to test by a gang ravaging the city. Let's get into the story. In the year 2014, Japan suffers a major collapse in the economy and the people in Japan are forced to emigrate to nearby mainland China. In a fictional city of Mallepa, 3 orphens named Sho, Shinji and Toshi were robbing a gangster at one point. During the process of Shinji and Toshi looking over the money that the gangster had in his suitcase, Sho meets a vampire named Kei. The robber comes back to take back the suitcase that the orphens stole and he shot Shinji in the leg, causing him to carry a limp. Kei saves the orphens from the gangster and both Shinji and Sho found out that Kei is a vampire. Kei questions Sho as to why he wasn't scared of Kei, but Sho answered with a big grin.

  The movie jumps from the year 2025, in which Sho is now a young man. While the three orphans still live on robberies and thefts, they have graduated to gun-wielding chaos that makes for dramatic fire fights. Kei is still with the 3 orphens and he serves as a mentor to Sho. Shinji has a limp and he is now a drug addict. Toshi works as a pizza delivery boy and he also helps Sho and Kei for their thievery. During a robbery one night, Sho, Kei and Toshi meets an enraged Taiwanese man named Son and Son is there to take revenge on the gang that Sho the company were trying to rob because they raped his sister, Yi-Che, who has refused to say a word since the incident. So, all 5 of those people have started an admirable friendship and along the way, Sho develops feelings for Yi-Che but however, Yi-Che's interests rest with Kei.

  There is more in the story then what I explained. But I'm not going to explain the entire story because if I did, I would ruin and spoil the fun to you guys. But, here's how I feel about the story. The story is good, but it's not a story that I would've expected in this movie. This is the first problem I have with the movie. The story in this movie is not going to appeal vampire fans because the story does not involve vampires like other vampire movies like Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, Blade and those movies. It mostly centers on crime like many crime movies like The Godfather, The Untouchables and those types of movies. And it just kinda turned me off because it wasn't something that I would experience in this movie. Yeah, there are a couple of stuff on here that involves vampires. But for the most part, it's just basically about mafias and so forth. So, the story might not get vampire fans sucked in. But if you like mafia movies, then this movie is for you. But I will say the action scenes in this movie are fun to watched. This movie contains some of the best gun fights I've seen since The Matrix and Equilibrium.

  Another thing I want to nit-pick before I move on to the characters is Why are there english-spoken news stations appearing on TV in Japan? There was one scene in the movie that showed this. Now, I don't know if Japan actually aires news stations or whatever that are in english in real life. But if they don't, then why the hell are these non-japanese programs doing on TV in Japan in this movie? I don't think japanese people don't understand english. But anyway, in terms of characters in this movie, the characters are alright. Sho, Shinji and Toshi are good characters. Son is alright. Yi-Che is fine and I have mixed reactions for Kei, for two things. First off, Why is Kei using guns to kill thugs instead of his own fangs most of the times? Whenever Kei gets involved in gun fights, I'm thinking Why can't Kei use his own vampiric abilities to finish off criminals that are shooting him and Sho. I think he is too scared to use his fangs to finish off enemies. I mean other characters like Bloodrayne, Selene of Underworld and others use might have used both their guns and their vampire abilities to finish off enemies. Now, there was only a couple of times that Kei used his vampire abilities to bite people and drain their blood. But for the most part, you mostly see him using guns.

  And speaking of fangs, Kei does not have no fangs at all in this movie. This is the same problem as the movie, Twilight. Without fangs, that person isn't a vampire by no means whatsoever. I don't know why the staff of this movie didn't even put fangs on Kei. That is such a total letdown for me. But at least, he burns whenever he gets in the sunlight unlike in Twilight, where they shine like walking diamonds. I'm sorry, but that is not how vampires are when they get in contact by sunlight.

  I can't say much on the settings or whatnot. But the settings in this movie do look pretty good. The acting in this movie is fine. 3 of the actors in this movie are musical artists. Sho is played by Gackt Camui, a member of the band, Malice Mizer.Son is played by Lee-Hom Wang and Kei is played Hideto "Hyde" Takarai of some rock band called L'Arc-en-Ciel. The one odd thing about the acting is that sometimes when the people that get's shots by guns, they don't do any shaken body movements, for a better way to describe it, the minute after the bullet hits their chest. But besides that, the acting is pretty good in this movie.

  The music is good. One thing that kinda bothers me is that this movie mostly uses songs that are english rather then songs in Japanese. With the inclusion of having english spoken songs in a japanese movie, it makes this movie feels like it came from America rather then Japan. Granted, the theme song in this movie is sung in Japanese and it's performed by the two guys that played Sho and Kei. But besides that, the songs are mostly in english. I don't think Japan, in real life, would ever have english songs.

  In the end, Moon Child is a good movie, but it's a disappointment in my opinion. It's one of those movies where it's going to be as what you expected. But the minute you watched it, it's going to be nothing like from what you wished to be. And that's how I felt about this movie. I thought it was going to be a kickass japanese movie that centers on vampire throughout the flim like Dracula. But it's a bit of letdown for me. But does that make Moon Child a bad movie? No, the story is still good and the action scenes are fun to watch. So, here's on how I would suggest this movie. If you like mafia movies like The Godfather, The Untouchables, Goodfellas, Scarface or whatever, then this movie is definitely for you. If you are the sort of person that is looking for a movie centering directly on Vampires, then this is not the movie you are looking for. You'd be better off watching Dracula, Interivew with the Vampire or any other Vampires movies out there that centers on Vampires more so then Moon Child.

  7.5 out of 10

  Chapter 12:

  

  For real, this time.

  • Posted Dec 3, 2008 9:07 am PT
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• 2Dec 08

  Bamdude's Vampire Chronicles Chapter 10: Shadow of the Vampire

  Shadow of the Vampire is a movie that was released in 2000 starring John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. This movie is a fictional version of the making of the classic 1922 vampire movie, Nosferatu. Now before I start with this review, I must say that I also watched the original 1922 movie on Youtube. The reason why I did that was because I want to compare the original Max Schreck to the Max Schreck in this movie. And that way, my review would be a little bit better.

  As stated, the movie sets in 1922. German director Friedrich Wilheim Murnau, played by John Malkovich, and his crew on are set to travel to Czechoslovakia and Poland in order to the Nosferatu movie, which is an unauthorized version of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. Friedrich informs his crew the person that is going to play the role as Count Orlok, and that's a german theater performer named Max Schreck, played by Willem Dafoe.

  But in order to involve himself fully in his character, he will appear only at night with the crew in full make-up and in full character. But later on the movie, we find out the Max is actually a real vampire and he has made a deal with Friedrich, so that Friedrich could his flim absolutely realistic. And if he does that, Max will have Greta Scroeder, played by Catherine McCormack, as his prize. That's basically the story of the movie and it's pretty good. You don't really see these types of stories in movies lately, where the story will take place at a true event. In this case, this movie is dealing with the behind of the scenes of the first ever vampire movie. But, they add something in the story that can make it fictional. I do like on how they make the story that way.

  All the characters in this movie are good. They do have solid character development and it makes it feel like that's how they actually were in real life, for the exception of Max Schreck because they made him a real vampire in this movie. Max Schreck a.k.a. Count Orlok is easily the best character in this movie. I don't know if it's his character or whatnot. But there is something about him that just makes him the best character in this movie. However, there was one character, in particular, that I felt that didn't get a whole lot of character development and that's Fritz Arno Wagner, the cinematographer that is played by Cary Elwes. The reason why I felt that he didn't enough development was that he was introduced almost a few scenes before the end and then he dies around the end. I mean, you do get to learn a little about him. But more would have been nice.

  The movie's main setting is an old castle in Czechoslovakia and it does look pretty good in this movie. It actually looks like it was from the actual Nosferatu movie. The makeup used on Willem Dafoe for his role as Count Orlok looks incredible. It looks just like how the real Nosferatu look like that the real Max Schreck played. In fact, the makeup received a nomination for Best Makeup in the oscars. One of my effects in this movie is when the movie will sometimes change from color to black and white, when you are viewing through the lenses of a camera. Not the only did the makeup received a nomination in the oscars, Willem Dafoe received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Dafoe is great for the doing the role of Max Schreck. He obviously looks like him, in many ways. I think Catherine McCormack is a great choice to play the role as Greta Schroeder. Eddie Lizard did a fine job for doing the role of Gustav von Wangenheim and John Malkovich is great has Friedrich. The music is good in this movie, but I felt that there wasn't enough of it.

  Overall, Shadow of the Vampire is a superb movie. It definitely captures the feel of what made the first Vampire movie ever and seeing Willem Dafoe playing as Count Orok really makes this movie shine in many ways. If you love the 1922 movie or if you are a Vampire freak, then Shadow of the Vampire is the movie for you.

  9.5 out of 10

  Chapter 11:

  

  • Posted Dec 2, 2008 12:14 pm PT
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• 1Dec 08

  Bamdude's Vampire Chronicles Chapter 9: The Batman vs. Dracula

  The Batman vs Dracula is an cartoon movie that was released in 2005. This movie is based on the Batman animated series that came out in 2004 and was aired on Kids WB. This movie has a much darker tone then the TV series because of the fact that there is blood and violence, this movie was mostly geared for teenagers, since the show was targeted for kids. The movie starts out at Arkham Asylum. We see one of the villians in the Batman universe, The Penguin, and he was told by one of the prisoners that a large amount of gold has been hidden in Gotham Cemetery, in a crypt behind a tombstone with a cross. However, that certain prisoner told this to the Joker first and because of that, the Joker escaped the Asylum, as well as the Penguin.

  Penguin meets up with the Joker to make a deal for going to the graveyard as a team. But Joker refuses and shocks him with a hand buzzer. That's when Batman ,a.k.a. Bruce Wayne, comes in and he chases the Joker and tries to catch him so he can go back to prison. Meanwhile, Penguin has arrived at the cemetery and notices that there was a door behind one of the crypts. He breaks the door, enters a cave and sees what appears to be a coffen. While in the process of opening the coffin, Penguin accidentally cuts his hand and the blood that was from his hand drips to the corpse in the coffin and the corpse's heart starting beating and gains new flesh and organs. Penguin finds out the corpse is Count Dracula himself. Dracula hypnotizes Penguin into becoming a servant and he shows the Count that he is in now, so he can feed on the people of the city.

  The story tends to get a little deeper later on, but I'm not going to spoil it. You're going to have to watch the movie yourself if you want to learn more of the movie's story. But what I can say is that the story is pretty good, for an animated flim that is set on the Dark Knight himself. There are a couple of problems I have with the movie. First of all, why did the batmobile drove on its own, after Batman got out of it to head to the cemetery to kill Dracula? I mean, the batmobile nevers done that in the live action movies or the animated cartoon seires back in the 90's. And I don't think Batman wouldn't even think about putting an autopilot on his car. Second of all, I've always wondered why is the movie called "The Batman and Dracula." I've never seen a Batman movie that has the word "The" in the beginning before Batman. Either call it "Batman and Dracula" or if you really want to keep "The" on the title, call it "The Dark Knight vs. Dracula".

  Batman or Bruce Wayne, Alfred, Penguin and the Joker are the only characters in the Batman franchise that appear in this movie. Dracula is great in this movie and has always been in past Dracula movies. The new character that appears in this movie that is part of the 2004 Batman animated series is Vicki Vale. She is this news reporter who makes these reports about certain citizens of Gotham missing, who were apparently victims of Dracula. She is a good character.

  The artstyle and animation looks great in this movie. I do have a couple of problems though. First of, I really don't like the design of the Joker, where they gave him long hair. It looks out of place and I'm more used to the classic design of the Joker in the mid 90's cartoon series. I also don't like the design of Gotham City all that much. I prefer the design in the 90's cartoon series then this, because this one looks like it came out of a comic book and it doesn't look too good that way. But overall, the animation and artstyle in this movie looks great. The characters look good and animated very well. The action scenes are executed rather well in this movie.

  The voice acting for great, for the exception of the guy that plays the Joker and that's Kevin Michael Richardson. Kevin was known for a bunch of stuff. He was known as Goro in the first Mortal Kombat movie, Crunch Bandicoot in the Crash Bandicoot games, Tartarus in Halo 2 and Barney Rubble in the modern-day animated series and movies based upon The Flintstones. The reason why I don't think Kevin doesn't do a fine job for doing the role of the Joker is because the actor is black and it doesn't work and sound right for a character like the Joker. Bruce Wayne and Batman is voiced by Rino Romano, who was known as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the animated TV series, Spider-Man Unlimited and Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon and he does a fine job at voicing his character.

  The best performances come from Peter Stormare, the man who played Lev the russian astronaut from Armageddon and the wood chipper guy from Fargo, plays Dracula and he is great for doing the role of everyone's favorite vampire lord. And the other best performance in this movie comes from Tara Strong, who plays Rikku in Final Fantasy X, Bubbles in Powerpuff Girls and Timmy Turner in Fairly OddParents, and she plays Vicki Vale in this movie and she is great. The music is great, like in most Batman movies live-action or animated.

  Overall, The Batman vs. Dracula is a great Batman animated flim. It might not be as good as other animated Batman movies like Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, but it's really neat to see everyone's favorite superhero representing a bat facing off everyone's favorite vampire lord. If you love Batman and if you Dracula, then this movie is worth a look.

  8.5 out of 10

  

  • Posted Dec 1, 2008 3:39 pm PT
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