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REVIEW: Paprika


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redcomet15



Joined: 14 Sep 2005
Posts: 42
Location: I just don't know anymore.
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:52 pm Reply with quote
Truth be told, I've been looking forward to this movie solely due to the fact that its score was composed by Susumu Hirasawa. I'm very glad to hear that he doesn't disappoint with this latest offering!
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omnistry



Joined: 03 Mar 2005
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:56 pm Reply with quote
I'm very happy for this movie. You wouldn't expect less from the Kon man. I'll definetely see this movie when it hits theaters!
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Malintex Terek
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 5:09 pm Reply with quote
There's little credibility for any review that bequeaths an "A+" in all categories; this "review" is more along the lines of an overzealous fanboy rave rather than a meticulous and impartial critique of an upcoming movie. There's always the slim possibility that this movie is "as good" as Sevakis claims, but I'm doubtful of this since "really excellent" movies are once in a decade sort of rarities and this "review" just sounds like a promotional ploy.
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silentjay



Joined: 12 Dec 2003
Posts: 303
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 5:31 pm Reply with quote
Malintex Terek wrote:
There's little credibility for any review that bequeaths an "A+" in all categories; this "review" is more along the lines of an overzealous fanboy rave rather than a meticulous and impartial critique of an upcoming movie. There's always the slim possibility that this movie is "as good" as Sevakis claims, but I'm doubtful of this since "really excellent" movies are once in a decade sort of rarities and this "review" just sounds like a promotional ploy.


Spoken like someone who truly has no idea who Justin is and would reply to this by saying emphatically, with much indignation, that they do.
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Dargonxtc



Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 4463
Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 5:36 pm Reply with quote
I
Am
So
Ready
to
See
this
Film

I have been pumped to see it ever since I heard about it, and I am pumped even more now that I read that.

Seriously, I can't wait.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 5:37 pm Reply with quote
Malintex Terek wrote:
There's little credibility for any review that bequeaths an "A+" in all categories; this "review" is more along the lines of an overzealous fanboy rave rather than a meticulous and impartial critique of an upcoming movie. There's always the slim possibility that this movie is "as good" as Sevakis claims, but I'm doubtful of this since "really excellent" movies are once in a decade sort of rarities and this "review" just sounds like a promotional ploy.


Overzealous fanboy I might be (though I'd argue I'm more of a burned out, bitter shell of an overzealous fanboy), but I assure you I have no vested interest in the success of this movie.

If it helps my credibility any, I saw it with a fairly seasoned anime fan friend of mine, and he was as blown away as I was.
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Malintex Terek
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:30 pm Reply with quote
silentjay wrote:

Spoken like someone who truly has no idea who Justin is and would reply to this by saying emphatically, with much indignation, that they do.


I read about who Mr.Sevakis was before commenting; being a personality only acts as a hindurance in reviewing since there's a running record of a person's tastes and experiences. Coming from the founder of this website, Mr. Sevakis is likely to be heavily in favour of certain directors, titles, genres, ect. that we reviewers are unaware of. Even if this review is sincere, we're a being mislead since there's few reference points, in this case past reviews by Mr.Sevakis or comparative titles to "Paprika". He provided some context, but not enough to give me an idea about how good this movie is; I'm still an outsider, since names like "Perfect Blue" or "Millennium Actress" mean nothing to me. In contrast, mentioning a famous Kon title like Paranoia Agent would have been very helpful in determining the direction of this film.

The purpose of a review is two-fold; it serves to present a select person's reflection on a cinematic experience while conveying a message about whether or not a title is worth paying a cost to watch. While the first set of criteria has been met, the second and more important point has not. There was immediate gratification to be gleaned from reading Mr Sevakis' review, but the long-term educational value of isn't quite as strong for two major reasons; Mr.Sevakis' preferences are not known to we the audience, and his résumé of previously watched films has not been fully disclosed.

There are individuals, and seasoned anime viewers I might add, who have bashed Spirited Away simply because they dislike Hayao Miyazaki's past works and the setting of the story is fantastic.

On that note, it's the same as listening to Roger Ebert when he reviews an adventure-movie; he's heavily biased in favour of them, giving three and a half starts to a movie like, say, Anaconda when the vast majority of his contemporaries panned said flick. Whose opinion in such an instance would be more representative of the average "joe schmo's" opinion on the movie (rhetorical). At that, how do we know all these reviewers were applying the same standard of judgement to said movie Anaconda? Ebert may have been looking at it as a low-brow entertainment film; a more petulant critic might have taken an approach to his/her review as if Anaconda were a lost Shakespearean drama adapted as a movie.

My idea of the prefect anime-reviewer, or someone as close to "impartiality" without actively trying, is someone who has seen between twelve to twenty titles with at least one of each title from a different genre. In this, the mythical reviewer has gone past the "imprint" stage of first seeing something from anime while avoiding the "educated opinion" bias common in seasoned anime fans.

In the past, I have criticized tempest about how silly he was in "hand-picking" reviewers instead of permitting fan-reviews, which are much more "reliable" en masse since the general trends of taste becme more easily recognized, where those reviewers he selects have a great deal of "experience" (however ANN defines 'experience'). Ergo, while the reviews themselves might be an entertaining read, they are not providing a service to the readers at all, where this service is to educate people about whether or not a series/movie is worth spending my money on.

In this instance, such a record was not provided for Mr.Sevakis, but instances of reviewers giving "full marks" to a show are all to common nowadays by the aformentioned "overzealous fanboys" and I've become dull to the alleged "shock" of seeing such a rating. As such, I'm skeptical as to the film's true merits, but I'll bestow onto him the benefit of the doubt since he's affirmed his review is sincere.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:41 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
While the line between the two worlds inevitably blurs, none of the sense of confusion in Perfect Blue seeps in.


How could anyone be confused with the story for Perfect Blue? I guess it's because they were so used to anime without a story like Evangelion or Lain. Rolling Eyes

Quote:
Despite the visuals, those who have been coddled by the hyper-realism of most live action movies may reject the other-worldliness of the logic and narrative at work here. I suspect there will be a lot of nit-picking about minor plot points they deem to be ridiculous and easily dismissible.


It's also a film directed by an Asian guy, and not some jerk-off Eurotrash guy, so obviously, it'll be culturally inferior in the eyes of Hollywood critics.

(Elitist reviewer) OMFG, Pi and The Fountain are the best movies ever, but some slant-eyed guy is trying to actually use animation to tell a story instead of as an excuse to curse a lot and get high, like in Waking Life. Who does he think he is, Don Bluth?! Rolling Eyes

Malintex: That 6.4 on IMDB does have me a little concerned...But then these are the same nerds who gave V for Vendetta an 8! Rolling Eyes

jsevakis: I just hope it makes up for Tokyo Godfathers. Paranoia Agent at least had better individual scenes, even if the bulk of the show was recycling stuff Kon probably came up with while pitching ideas to Otomo.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 8:17 pm Reply with quote
Malintex Terek wrote:
I read about who Mr.Sevakis was before commenting; being a personality only acts as a hindurance in reviewing since there's a running record of a person's tastes and experiences.

Quote:
There was immediate gratification to be gleaned from reading Mr Sevakis' review, but the long-term educational value of isn't quite as strong for two major reasons; Mr.Sevakis' preferences are not known to we the audience, and his résumé of previously watched films has not been fully disclosed.


You seem to be arguing for the point of arguing, as you directly contradict yourself here in the same argument. Do you want my track record of preferences, and does that help you, or do you NOT want my track record at all because I might be biased?

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are voicing genuine concerns, albeit confused ones. I can't help being a personality, but that doesn't make my opinion any less valuable than any other random fan you don't know. If anything, having been in a position where I can directly tell what's popular and what isn't, and what anime fans in general SEEM to like, and what they don't, I might be able to offer a bit more informed of an opinion.

However, I do agree that when reading a critic's views, it certainly does help to have a track record of that person's taste so you can see if your own seems to match. So in the spirit of helping those people, I have made my MyAnime list public.

animenewsnetwork.com/MyAnime/index.php?user=jsevakis&categ=3

However, it seems your beef is not with me, but with any sort of film criticism at all. A review is, by nature, subjective. You seem to want random opinions of a bunch of random people than just one carefully rendered one. That's fine. Go read IMDB. However, as not many people have been able to see this film yet, you'll have to make do with the SINGLE review there, which was possibly the least enlightening thing I've read all week. (The gist is, "I kinda like this anime stuff. I dunno. Why does IMDB make me write 10 lines?")

My goal in writing this particular review was not just to give an opinion, but also suggest discussion on certain undertones and themes that I found to be particularly poignant. As with anything, your milage may vary.

And I think your reasoning that I should have compared the film to Paranoia Agent because it's somehow more famous (because you have seen it) than Millennium Actress or Perfect Blue is absolutely ridiculous. Without getting into an argument you have no data for and I can't share any data for, it's not fair to compare a TV series to a movie due to the vastly different running times and restrictions imposed on either medium.

I'm not asking you to agree with my review. I'm not asking you to even read my review. But don't whine about my review BECAUSE you don't know if I know what I'm talking about or not.

Quote:
In this instance, such a record was not provided for Mr.Sevakis, but instances of reviewers giving "full marks" to a show are all to common nowadays by the aformentioned "overzealous fanboys" and I've become dull to the alleged "shock" of seeing such a rating. As such, I'm skeptical as to the film's true merits, but I'll bestow onto him the benefit of the doubt since he's affirmed his review is sincere.


Gee, thanks for your mercy. I mean, seriously, read that back and think about how arrogant that sounds.

I admit, I did hestiate before giving the film full marks for that very reason -- I'll admit, I wasn't sure myself that it was worth that much. But I went over and over each category in my head, and was hardpressed to give it anything less. I can say definitively that I enjoyed every catagory to which ANN gives ratings to my absolute maximum capability for enjoyment. I can't think of a single other anime that I can say that about -- but I mentioned Princess Mononoke in the review because it comes the closest, for me.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 8:21 pm Reply with quote
Malintex Terek wrote:

In the past, I have criticized tempest about how silly he was in "hand-picking" reviewers instead of permitting fan-reviews, which are much more "reliable" en masse since the general trends of taste becme more easily recognized, where those reviewers he selects have a great deal of "experience" (however ANN defines 'experience').


There are countless sites out there that will give you this exact experience. We do not.
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hikaru004



Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Posts: 2306
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 8:39 pm Reply with quote
Tsk, Tsk. The guy does us a favor and look what happens.

Well, if you want to read some reviews from Venice, look in the 2nd paragraph of this article here and this review here.
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Nermal



Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 223
Location: I was made to hit in America
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 8:40 pm Reply with quote
Well I enjoyed the review and I'm looking forward to watching the movie. The idea of being able to enter other people's dreams/subconscious reminds me of "The Cell."

oh goodness I just read that review from Variety, and the opening paragraph made me pee a little Confused
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:04 pm Reply with quote
hikaru004 wrote:
Tsk, Tsk. The guy does us a favor and look what happens.


Yeah, well... It's only one person.

Quote:
Well, if you want to read some reviews from Venice, look in the 2nd paragraph of this article here and this review here.


Yikes on that first one. It seems my prediction that some people wouldn't be able to deal with the dreamworld logic was accurate. I expect to see a lot more reviews like this when the film gets released.

Here's another one that's a little more positive. I couldn't find any others, but that's hardly surprising, since the film's only been publicly screened once so far. I'll be looking forward to some more reviews after the NYFF screening next week.

Apparently the film got a five-minute standing ovation at Venice, so hopefully most people will appreciate it more than that guy from TimeOut.

I'm dying to see it again. Some parts had me so wrapped up in thought that I think I might have missed something. And I'm also dying for the soundtrack CD.
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red stranger



Joined: 26 Dec 2004
Posts: 184
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:29 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
I just hope it makes up for Tokyo Godfathers.

Tokyo Godfathers was a great film. It deserves an A+ for the drag queen and the randomly crashing cars alone. Smile

Malintex Terek wrote:
BLAH BLAH BLAH

Even if this review is sincere, we're a being mislead since there's few reference points, in this case past reviews by Mr.Sevakis or comparative titles to "Paprika". He provided some context, but not enough to give me an idea about how good this movie is; I'm still an outsider, since names like "Perfect Blue" or "Millennium Actress" mean nothing to me. In contrast, mentioning a famous Kon title like Paranoia Agent would have been very helpful in determining the direction of this film.

BLAH BLAH BLAH


How can you criticise a review of a film made by someone you know very little about? Satoshi Kon has primarily a film director, so it makes much more sense to reference his films, rather than the one and only TV show he created.

Also, TV and Film separate media, so it's actually not very helpful to compare a film with a show, unless the two are related, or you have nothing else to use.

And finally, if you actually had seen "Millennium Actress" or "Perfect Blue" or "Tokyo Godfathers", you'd probably understand why it's possible for Paprika to be so highly rated.
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Someone_II



Joined: 02 Jan 2006
Posts: 167
Location: Right behind you, watching you as you type...
PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 11:45 pm Reply with quote
A+s all arround? Sounds like just an avarage piece of work for Kon Laughing . Seriously though, I can't wait for the dub/dvd release to come out (assuming they dub it). THE one film I'm most looking foward to in 2007.
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