Ghost In The Shell 2. Review Movie. In 1. Japanese director Mamoru Oshii released a manga adapting anime which asked searching questions about what makes us human while serving up astonishingly slick and inventive hi tech action sequences. Ghost In The Shell was a deserved crossover phenomenon, earning its comparisons with the likes of Blade Runner and paving the way for The Matrix We wanna do that for real, was the Wachowskis pitch. That it took over 2. Hollywood to reskin it for live action isnt that surprising after all, werent there already enough science fiction pictures out there that shared its neon tinged hardwiring Perhaps its been long enough for an audience to glide over the advertisement dominated, skyscraperscape of the 2. The ultimate news source for music, celebrity, entertainment, movies, and current events on the web. It039s pop culture on steroids. Ghost In The Shell and not feel like its just Blade Runner re scanned. Or that the Majors psychic tussle to recover the truth of her life before she became a hard bodied, crime fighting, walking weapon is just another version of Murphys struggle in Robo. Cop. But if youre a longstanding fan of this genre, then the originals deep, abiding influence on Hollywood beyond The Matrix theres A. I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, Avatar, hell, even HBOs Westworld makes its remake feel derivative of so many movies other than its source material. So preoccupied with the shell, it forgot to bring enough ghost. Of course, familiarity can often encourage nostalgia, and thats not hurt by the fact that Ghost In The Shell 1. Director Rupert Sanders is an adept world rebuilder and visualist, as proven by his debut Snow White The Huntsman, which at least looked great. His reconstruction of the originals key set pieces, including the urban lagoon slugfest with an invisible Major, and the climactic showdown with a Spider Tank think ED 2. Starship Troopers Tanker Bug, is impressive. Hes also cast the film appropriately for all the accusations of whitewashing, theres diversity here, with a Dane Borgens Pilou Asbaek as the lens eyed Batou, a Singaporean Chin Han as mulletted cop Han, and Japanese cinematic legend Beat Takeshi Kitano as sly boss man Aramaki. As for Johansson in the lead role, the films concept present in the original is that her body is an artificially produced construct it would have been a welcome and progressive move to put an Asian actor in the role, but Johansson fits it well in the sense that the Majors shell i. There is definitely something off about Johanssons Major a disconnect between her physical form and her true self. Shes been here before as an actor. There are close parallels to her performance in Under The Skin, where she played a predatory alien in a human form of limited functionality, and also shades of the super woman Lucy, not to mention Black Widow from the Marvel movies though there she was a different kind of programmed killing machine. But here she adopts a different physicality hunched and heavy footed, as if every movement is a heavy burden. There is a faint hint of Frankensteins Monster in her surly stride. That said, theres also a blankness that the original Major lacked. Oshiis version was well settled in her shell, an apparent volunteer rather than an unwitting guinea pig, with a zest for her work. The 1. 7 iterations exposition heavy script by Jamie Moss, William Wheeler and Ehren Kruger requires Johansson to do little more than furrow her brow while mostly either lying on a lab gurney or kicking some ass. There is a frustrating absence of personality which means, for all her physical presence, this Majors just not very engaging. Its more a problem with the film than Johansson herself. A case, if you will, of it being so preoccupied with the shell, it forgot to bring enough ghost. So heavily derivative it doesnt feel like anything new, and theres little depth beneath that slick surface. But its solid and attractive, at least, with a retro appeal to its cyberpunk stylings. Our Robocop Remake Reviews' title='Our Robocop Remake Reviews' />On Game of Thrones, the Cracks Are Beginning to Show. I wish I meant that there are cracks showing on the stoic facades of the rival queens, or the troubled relationships between siblings, or between the massive, but fractured partnership that forms at the end of the episode. Instead, I mean the TV series itselfbecause last night there were too many problems to ignore. If Game of Thrones started its sprint to the season seven finish line in Stormborn, then Eastwatch is the episode where the show stumbled, fell down, and scrambled madly in an attempt to maintain its top speed. It was often sloppy and it was frequently shoddy, but man did it still move the story along as quick as it possibly could, no matter what the cost. Our Robocop Remake Review' title='Our Robocop Remake Review' />The wheels on the Escape From New York remake are in motion once again. THR reports that 20th Century Fox is eyeing Sin City director Robert Rodriguez to helm their. And there were costs. There were several interesting things in the episode that would have been wonderful if the show could have explored in more depth, as it has in the past. Daenerys has listened to Tyrion, Varys, and even Jon Snows pitches about how to lead the world and make it a better place for all people i. Now Daenerys takes all the Lannister prisoners from the battle, and ask them if they want to bend the knee and help make the world a better, kinder place for everyone with her or if they want to die horribly. Sam Tarlys horrible father and reasonable seeming brother Dickon choose dying horribly. After failing to convince his Queen that a more merciful, less deadly approach may be called for, Tyrionalready shaken by the sheer destructive power of the dragons, seen while he walks through the ashes of the battlefieldheads straight for the wine, and even Varys takes a drink, as they contemplate Danys join me or die approach. They dont think shes a new Mad King, but the fact they feel the need to bring it up at all is telling. But they have hope Dany can be advised to become a more merciful, less murder y queenbut theyre a hell of a lot less sure than they were before they left Essos. Is Daenerys really the savior the people of Westeros need As for the other queen, Cersei isnt pretending shes going to make the world a better place for anyone but the people she loves and shes not even sure about them. After Bronn leads Jaime to a surprise meeting with Tyrionanother reunion that could have used some more timeJaime goes up to his sister to tell her about the armistice Daenerys is offering. But, thanks to Qyburn, Cersei knew about the meeting, and greets Jaime as the queen, not the sister who loves him. She talks with utterly fake pleasantness about how Bronn betrayed Jaime, how Jaime betrayed her, how Tyrion murdered their father and sonas which point Jaime corrects her, revealing that Olenna Tyrell confessed to poisoning Joffrey. Cersei drops her mask, infuriated that Olenna was killed quickly and painlessly instead of torturously, despite the fact Cersei had already murdered the rest of her family. But Cersei recovers to tell Jaime the good newsshes having another baby, and this time shes going to tell everyone who the real father is. Jaime is genuinely choked up at the idea that he will publically have a child which is when Cersei threatens him to never betray her again. Count how many times Cersei says betray in this sceneand you can see her mask crack a little more each time, revealing someone who will happily watch all of Kings Landing burn rather than let her enemies win. There could have been interesting scenes like these, except the show just couldnt be bothered to give them some time. Tyrions tense, tearful secret meeting with Jaime was more of an uber brief plot dump than anything else. Jorahs triumphant return to his khaleesi was blah, especially because he immediately left with Jon Snow for the North. Even beyond the bare hints of the love triangle between themits basically only Jon and Jorah giving each other the mildest of side eyes when the other is looking at Danytheyre two wildly different characters. It would be cool to watch them interact together, get to know each other more. Especially when Davos and Gendry, Robert Baratheons bastard son, whom Davos found Was there a still rowing joke There was and who immediately decided he wanted to travel with these cool new guys Davos knows north of the Wall to capture a wight to convince Cersei and Daenerys, lets be real that the army of the dead exists. Like, even just a single scene of them on a ship together, just measuring each other up. But nope They all travel to Eastwatch together off screen, where they meet up with Tormund Giantsbane and also find Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr, and Sandor Clegane, waiting for them, too. The time for them all to decide to head beyond the Wall together to find a wight, despite the fact many of them hate each other a great deal about two minutes. This shows utteral refusalit was so harried last night it almost felt like fearto never stand still for a moment is producing ridiculous results. Hd Quality Hey Arnold! The Movie Watch. Case in point The show flat out began with Bronn hauling the fully armored Jaime out of the lake on the far side, and theyre both only mildly exerted by traveling 4. The show doesnt even bother trying to explain away the impossibility of this, apparently fully content to have had a cool cliffhanger in the previous episode over something that makes any sort of sense. There was the immensely aggravating scene of Sam at the Citadel first he just happens to be bringing busywork into a room with the maesters are discussing and summarily dismissing a note from Bran and his maester about an army of the dead is just outside the Wall. Sam gives a stirring speech about it, about the importance of maesters using their wisdom to help people, about how the threat is real because hes seen these things himselfand of course he gets dismissed. Its such a clich, but its less annoying than Sams decision to steal about five to 1. Oldtown, and quit Maester school later that night, along with Gily and Lil Sam. Unless those books include Fighting White Walkers for Dummies or somethingand we have no reason to suspect what theyre all aboutSam just finished a six episode internship to cure Jorah and clean shit. What a great use of everybodys time. But nothing, and I mean nothing, was worse than the bullshit going on in Winterfell. If I may clears throatWhy is Arya giving Sansa shit about ruling Winterfell Theyve just met again after years of hardships. Perhaps Arya could stay polite a bit longer instead of basically accusing her sister of undermining JonAlso how is Sansa undermining Jon by reminding all the grumpy lords of the North that yes, Jon is still their king Who cares if Sansa wants to rule Winterfell anyway Shes spent years dealing with rulers and politics and learning how to manipulate people. This is a job shes incredibly suited for that Jon is terrible at, which we know because not only did he abandon his people to go south to meet with a foreign invader, and instead of going home he then traveled to Eastmarch to personally find an ice zombie despite the fact there are many, many other people who can do that. Jon left a mess, still hasnt come home to fix it, and Sansas trying to keep it all together as best she canfor Jon. Why is Arya suddenly so terrible at sneaking Why wouldnt she at least use someone elses face when stalking Littlefinger Why does that note that Cersei forced Sansa to write to Winterfell against her will, that Ned had been rightfully killed as a traitor, mean anything Is Arya going to suddenly think Sansa was really happy back in Kings Landing and super pro Lannister That she married Ramsay Bolton for political gainThats so dumb it makes my teeth hurt.