animation - Tobasco ice-cream and air warriors in an (Anime?) animated movie?

When I was a child, we rented a children's movie one day from Jumbo Video during the 1980's. My mother slept through it, but my sister and I watched it. It was definitely animated, and may have been Japanese/Anime. It was a sort of action-fantasy movie.

I recall that air/wind played an important part in the movie as though the characters were air-warriors or wind-riders, or some such. I also recall an iconic image from the movie (either from the movie itself, or more likely, from the cover of the tape) being of a bunch of characters riding large animals towards the camera with wind and sand blowing behind them (something like the—very—crude drawing below). I forgot to draw it, but in this picture, they were running through some sort of dusty valley, so the picture should have had some cliffs on the sides.

Another uniquely identifying scene I remember was of a boy and girl in a cave, wherein one of them (I believe it was the girl) eat some ice cream that turned out to contain Tabasco/hot sauce/jalapeños, after which she spat it out and gasped for water.

Does anyone know what movie this was?

Answer

I'm almost tempted to say it's "Warriors of the Wind", which is a bastardized version of the anime classic Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

Everything sort of matches your description, though I'm having trouble with the Tabasco ice cream. In the original Japanese version there was a scene where Nausicaa and Asbel are eating nuts inside an underground cavern, they turn out to be really really bitter. But I'm not sure if that scene made it to the Warriors of the Wind version.

chronology - Is there any reason behind Irréversible's reverse chronological order?

From the Wikipedia article for the movie, Memento:

The purpose of the fragmented reverse sequencing is to force the audience into a sympathetic experience of Leonard's defective short-term memory, where prior events are not recalled, since the audience has yet to see them.

What about Irréversible's reverse chronology?

Answer

As the name suggests actions you make in life are irreversible, one action leads to another and you can't go back to change them.

This film analyzes what actions lead to the brutal actions of Marcus (Vincent Cassel).
Doing this in reverse order forces the viewer to reevaluate his view of Marcus, because in retrospect his actions can be justified by the unfortunate events that happened to him.

Shown in chronological order this film would be a "normal" revenge thriller but the reverse chronological order gives this film a special psychological aspect.

Who did Cal Weaver remind Jacob of in Crazy Stupid Love?

In the bar Cal and Jacob meet for the first time in Crazy, Stupid, Love. Cal asks Jacob why he is helping him (Cal), to which Jacob replies

Maybe you remind me of someone

Who is Jacob referring to? Is it his father?

Answer

I imagine that Jacob is referring to some aspect of himself. It could either be his 'past self' - i.e. Jacob before he learned to be a stylish womanizer, perhaps - or it could be the nice and sentimental part of him that still exists in his character. (We know that some part of him like that exists because he falls in love with Cal's daughter.)

I imagine it is some combination of the two.

production - Why are 3D films so dark?

Why are 3D films so dark?

I watched Brave yesterday and the film was so dark (light wise) in places that it was hard to make out what was happening.

Why are 3D films darker than 2D films and does it also depend on the glasses used? (do some type of glasses work better than others?)

Also, if 3D films are generally dark - why don't film makers make sure that their films are adequately lit (even in the dark scenes) so that audience can view better?

Answer

In 3D films, the 3D glasses are the reason for the dimness.Because the 3-D glasses are darkly coated with polarized filter that decode the images and give them depth dim.

I've found a good link and let me summarize the stuff from that site.

• According to the so-called father of 3-D cinema, Lenny Lipton, because it projects two separate pictures, viewers lose half their light (half to one eye and half to the other). Then, as we all know, the darkly coated polarized 3-D glasses that decode the images and give them depth dim the movie further.


• If filmmakers didn't plan ahead and initially shoot the feature in 3-D, allowing the director of photography to add light and optimize it for the big screen — you guessed it — darker. And none of the above factors in the projector, which is also wearing 3-D glasses (i.e. a polarizing filter). Better theaters compensate with brighter projectors but odds are your aging, butter-stained neighborhood multiplex doesn't. In Lipton’s opinion it all adds up to 3-D films screening with one-third the light level of a 2-D film.

It's hard to fix the dimness in 3D movies.

“Inception” director Christopher Nolan joined the 3D naysayers, saying that he refused to make his new film in the format largely because of the darkness problem.

According to Nolan;

“On a technical level, it’s fascinating,”, “but on an experiential level, I find the dimness of the image extremely alienating.”

The 3D process, Nolan said;

makes “a massive difference” in the brightness of the image. “You’re not aware of it because once you’re in that world, your eye compensates – but having struggled for years to get theaters get up to the proper brightness, we're not sticking polarized filters in everything."

You cannot see so dimness in Avatar 3D, because Avatar was shot in 3D using techniques that boosted the amount of light and compensated for the darkening process to come, was screened at light levels about half of a run-of-the-mill 2D film.

character - Does Natsu Dragneel retain his ability to utilize some of the non-dragonfire elemental magic he eats?

In Fairy Tail, does Natsu retain his ability to utilize some of the non-dragonfire elemental magic he eats?

Natsu has eaten Etherion, Black Flames, and Lightning.

Does his consumption of other magics give him a chance of possibly calling them up for use in a tough battle?

Is "Breaking In" canceled or not?

I recently started watching a show called "Breaking In". I have found multiple different articles, some claiming it was cancelled, then renewed, and then others claiming that it was cancelled again.

Can someone please set the record straight? As of the current date, what is the official status of the show? Also, can someone please explain what happened with the whole "cancelling/un-cancelling" situation?

Answer

Yes, I’m afraid Breaking In is officially canceled. Just like I Hate My Teenage Daughter, it got a second chance (to be aired during breaks/summer) thanks to FOX’s weak list of filler shows. Unfortunately both shows performed poorly (despite Breaking In trying to shake things up in season two), and were not renewed for a third/second season.

As a side-note, Odette Yustman’s timely departure of Breaking In for House is interesting because both shows were cancelled by FOX, so she was no better off in either, though her presence (or lack thereof) may be conjectured to have had an effect on the fate of the shows.

plot explanation - What was the meaning of the elevator scene?

In the movie Revolver, towards the end of the movie Jason Statham’s character, Jake Green, ends up in an elevator by himself. In the elevator he has a dialogue with himself. I wasn’t able to quite follow the point of this dialogue in this scene.

What was the meaning of the elevator scene in Revolver?

Answer

The film deals about pride and ego. Zach and Avi try to teach Jake that one needs to accept his weaknesses and recognize faults and fears. Once stripped of pride then your ego will show itself, which literally happens in the elevator scene. He battles his insticts of selfpreservation which ends up in a clash between himself and his ego. Once seperated he can take back control of his own life. It plays further on the basic ideas repeated multiple times in the film:

"Our greatest enemy is your own inner perception, is your own ignorance, is your own ego."

And even better are Avi's words during the scene:

"The greatest con, that he ever pulled... was making you believe... that he is you."

So he's finally able to break his perception and finds liberation. There's so much more happening on this subject but this is I think more or less the importance of the elevator scene.

cinema history - Era of profanity in movie scripts?

The quote "Frankly, my dear I don't give a damn" from Gone with the Wind was famous largely because of the early use of profanity in the script.

In films from the 90s to the present, many movies are decorated with profanity. Is Gone with the Wind the impetus for the widespread use of profanity in films nowadays?

If not, what film is?

Answer

There was no movie rating system in place back in the 1940's, and movies were greatly censored by the US government. In the 1920's the Supreme Court ruled that free speech did not apply to movies, and a control board was arranged where by all film studios had to submit their scripts for censorship.

Movie studios were given guide lines by which they had to follow. So it's not so much that profanity is now widespread, as much as it was strictly forbidden back in the 1940's.

This system of governed film making slowly started to collapse over the years and gave birth to the Motion Picture film rating system. Where the film ratings and censorship is controlled by the film industry and not by a single controlling person or government.

Now that we have the rating system, films can be classified by their rating. Today's ratings are, at least by idea, implemented by our peers. So as society changes so do those who review and rate films.

That is why we see more profanity in PG rated films, as parents who rate the films accept the fact that children in this age group use these profane words or acknowledge that the film works the way the script was written.

New ratings were introduced including PG-13. To address the need for films that target a segment of the population that are pre-adult but seek adult style films.

Still, I have to wonder who these people are that rate these films.

12 monkeys - Is Jeffrey involved in the virus plot or just the animal-release plot?

I love 12 Monkeys and have seen it a dozen times. Still I can't figure out if Jeffrey Goines is working in conjunction with redheaded scientist to destroy mankind, or if Jeffrey's only plan was to let all the animals out of the zoo.

At one point Jeffrey's father says he has stepped up security in the lab to prevent any trouble with the virus, and Jeffrey says "too late," suggesting Jeffrey indeed is involved with the virus plot and knows it is already in motion.

Releasing the animals could be a secondary part of the virus plot -- perhaps a distraction or a way to jump-start the return of the animals' dominion over earth. But the movie seems to leave room for the possibility that Jeffrey was only interested in releasing the animals and was unaware of redheaded scientist's actions. Which is it?

Answer

After pondering this question obsessively, I agree with the conclusion that the other respondents find obvious: Jeffrey was not involved in the virus plot. However, my conclusion is based on two pieces of evidence not yet mentioned.

First is a seemingly throw-away line uttered by one of Jeffrey's henchmen in the pivotal scene where Leland Goines has been kidnapped. The henchman jokingly says "if you guys get caught... I've never seen you before in my life." This line feels unnecessary at first, and probably wouldn't fit at all if the henchman was involved in a plot as serious as killing humanity with a virus. But the line would make sense as a way to show the audience that Jeffrey's plot is the much-more-mundane releasing of zoo animals.

Second piece of evidence comes from the following excerpt from the production draft of the script, which made it obvious that Jeffrey did not know of the virus. Of course, in the actual movie, this dialogue is significantly different. But after much deliberation, I'd guess the revision was not intended to change Jeffrey's role, but just to make the reveal less blatantly obvious than originally written here (and that his revised comment "Too late!" was just his insane mind not understanding what his father was talking about):

"Kidnapping Leland Goines" scene as written in production draft of script:

LELAND: I took myself out of the loop! I don't have the code anymore. I don't have access to the virus. So, go ahead -- torture me, but you can't extract anything of use to yourself.

The ACTIVISTS are all exchanging puzzled looks.

JEFFREY: What...virus?

LELAND: She knew about it, Jeffrey. She knew you were going to try this.

JEFFREY: What virus are we talking about, Dad?

LELAND: You're insane, Jeffrey.

JEFFREY: You "develop" viruses and you're calling me insane? Typical. What does this virus attack? Don't tell me, you sick fuck, it doesn't matter. (to the others) Have I ever "developed" a virus? Do I put helpless animals in cages and measure their reactions to electrical stimuli? Do I inject radioactive substances into living creatures and examine their bowel movements? Wow! And I'm crazy!

LELAND: Please tell me, Jeffrey, what exactly are you going to do? I don't have to tell you I'm afraid.

JEFFREY: THIS IS A FUCKING EXPERIMENT! YOU'RE OUR HELPLESS LITTLE TEST ANIMAL, DADDY. GOT THAT? NOW -- WHAT FUCKING VIRUS HAVE YOU COME UP WITH, YOU DEMENTED FUCKING MANIAC?

[end of scene]

indian cinema - Why do Bollywood movies have song and dance sequences?

Unlike Hollywood movies, Bollywood movies are quite different, because they're usually mixed with masala i.e dance, song and love sequences. This is the case in most films which are released in various languages in India.

Can someone explain, Why do Bollywood movies have song and dance sequences?

Answer

There may be quite a few reasons for this

• There are not many bands that perform music on a large scale, at least not till recently


• Peer Pressure, everybody is doing it


• Pressure from Producers / Distributors


• If Songs become a huge hit and even if the movie is not that great it can still fetch the producers and distributors enough money (Eg The movie 3).


• The legacy left over from the 1950s, it just refuses to go away .

identify this tv show - Video in which a man follows a string all his life to end in the desert

I am looking for the video where a young man stumbles upon a string (or cable) and begins to follow it, out of curiosity. He follows it a really long time as you can see him age and grow old.
At the end he reaches a point where the string stops to go up in the sky, in the middle of the desert. He pulls it and a big rock attached to the string crashes him dead.

This video is only a few minutes long and might be a commercial if I remember well.

Also, is there some kind of mythological or hidden meaning?

Answer

This is most likely the short called "The String" (2007) directed by Naomi Wright and produced by Ginita Jimenez.