Anime Pulse

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Did you know we’ve done a number of time travel movies? Tim alone has gone through a suite of movies about people tooling around the fourth dimension like it’s an afternoon drive. So we thought it appropriate to do a themed episode revolving around the Doc Browns and their respective Martys.

Our joint review is Primer[2004]. It’s a very small and independent film which focuses on a couple of engineers copying some stolen blueprints. They accidentally discover that it’s also a time travel device and begin to exploit it. Things are very slow paced so don’t expect timequakes and planes being kidnapped for genetic material.

Weltall then goes over Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure(1989). It’s Keanu Reeves and some poor bastard playing high school stoners who are about to fail a history class and not graduate. As this will ruin the future, George Carlin gets sent back in time via a time traveling phone booth to let them hop about so they can give a passing report. If it sounds crazy, that’s because cocaine was plentiful in the eighties.

Tim then talks about The Philadelphia Experiment(1984). It is probably one of the few movies based on an urban legend of the same name. We highly encourage you to read the wiki on the urban legend even if you never view the movie. Long story short, some guys from the early forties end up in modern day(the eighties). Things happen for seemingly no reason and they end up kidnapping Officer Lewis from RoboCop. You know, the wacky adventures of time travelers.

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This week is another one of choices. Whereas Tim put forth Brainscan prior, he offered something a little more palatable for Weltall. This might be due to him having something truly awful waiting in the wings that he swears is good or “fun” or whatever other garbage reasons he comes up to justify his purchase of a ten ent copy of “Hell Comes to Frogtown”.

To that end, we talk about The Edge(1997). Some of the casting alone were an enticement. It stars Anthony Hopkins as a billionare who travels to Alaska. Alec Baldwin, yes the good Baldwin, is a photographer who’s tailing Hopkins wife. Things happen and they end up in the woods being hunted by a bear. It’s a lot of fun for anyone who like wilderness survival films and felt The Grey ended on too much of a downer.

Tim then talks about Project Almanac[2015], It’s a time travel movie which came out and was probably forgotten a month after. It’s shot in the found footage style that’s obnoxious, senseless, and half assedly explained. There are some hilarious moments like them claiming the only place they can find hydrogen is at the school. It’s almost a remake of The Butterfly Effect with some technobabble thrown in.

Weltall then talks about The Dark Knight Rises[2012]. In short, it makes no sense. A lot of characters run around doing things either because the plot demands they do it or Gotham has complementary lobotomies handed out every Friday. This sparks a bit of a discussion between the two which drags out til the close of the show.

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Given how Tim seems to pick movies that drive Weltall insane, he offered Weltalla choice. Unfortunately, he failed to exercise this option before the show loomed large. This left Tim with the autonomy of choice. Naturally he picked something from the nineties that was probably dredged from the bottom of a dollar bin and previously viewed.

The joint discussion, once it begins, is Screamers(1995). It’s a very similar plot to that of Avatar mized with Red Faction. There’s a valuable mineral on some planet or moon which the earth wants. Some of the local miners revolt and start a war. The earth coporation governement decides robot that can kill the locals is the best solution. The movie starts when something goes terribly wrong, of course.

Tim then briefly talks about Midnight Run(1988). It features Robert De Niro before his tough guy persona became the punchline in Ben Stiller comedies. He is taked with recovering Charle Grodin who skipped out on bail. Robert has to take Charles from Los Angeles to New York within a week while trying to keep him away from the FBI, the mob and other bounty hunters. He doesn’t manage much to say about it, other than it’s a good flick, blaming time.

Weltall then talks about a Youtube channel, Frank Howarth. Tim rolls his eyes which prompts Weltall to argue that Tim seems stuck on movies. With that out of the way, the content of the channel, named after the creator, is mostly woodworking with insane tools on projects most people will never accomplish. While there are more than a few channels and shows like this, the presentation and effot Frank puts into his videos is astounding. He turns a large majority of his project into a stop motion film and the scope of effort involved is often mind boggling and an experience well woth the price of admission.

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For once, we had a movie recommendation for the show that had to be done. Brainstorm(1983) which features Christopher Walken and the guy who played Uncle Ben in the Raimi Spiderman trilogy. They develop technology with the ability to transmit thoughts from one person to the other. They also figure out they can record memories and share them among people.

Because this was the eighties, the military wants this technology for sinister reasons. At least, we’re told it’s sinister. We never see the technology being abused in anyway. The military does make a tape that’s supposed to drive people insane though what practical use this is beyond the scope of the movie and us.

Weltall then talks about The Secret Life of Walter Mitty[2013]. It appears to be a remake of a Danny Kaye movie from the late forties. It features Ben Stiller as a boring man who fantasizes interesting things happening like any of us resisting the urge to fap in the copy room. Sean Penn becomes the impetus for something interesting to actually happen to Stiller as he goes on a journey and finds himself. It’s a sort of feel good comedy that isn’t packed so full of sugar that Wilford Brimley appears to give you “the speech” when it’s watched.

Tim then talks about The Witch[2016]. A modern horror movie filmed without found footage or, the worst horror staple of all, cats jumping out at characters who chase spooky noises into the laundry room. It follows a family who’s living out a solitary existence when things start to go wrong. Is it all just happenstance or is it the work of a witch and the devil? It’s probably the first part though everyone really sells the latter with all they’ve got.