2009

Watching 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back for the gazillionth time made me think about the golden years of animation, past and present. Frank Oz, puppeteer and future director, painstakingly created the original Yoda and helped move him within each scene, in the back-breaking old school way, making the classic fifth Star Wars film a rewarding trip. Yes, Lucasfilm later computer-generated the Jedi Master in the prequels and Clone Wars animated series, but it was Oz who first breathed life into the ancient peaceful warrior.

That, of course, would change. Why put your hand up a puppet’s ass if you can spin the light fantastic on a computer, creating whole new worlds like a Geek Demigod? Why, indeed. A few years after Empire, 1988 to be exact, along came a Japanese anime film that would become a classic in its own right. Akira, the manga-inspired gem, is still considered to be one of the elite of its genre, and it helped move cinema from a world of four-eyed dipshit cartoons into grand mythical landscapes with rich, legendary stories.

This week, we deal with a Hidden Flick within a trio of films. Memories, a 1995 anime compilation featured the work of Katsuhiro Otomo, the co-writer and director of Akira. The series of three films contains an anime masterpiece, and two lesser works that don’t hit the mark. The pearl is the initial film, Magnetic Rose; whereas the other two, Stink Bomb and Cannon Fodder, are visually intriguing, but not as artistically compelling.

READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick…

Congrats to moe. on their induction into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame. moe. performed Akimbo at the ceremony after bassist Rob Derhak spoke.