Looks visually stunning. I don't know what to make of it. I'm not familiar with the anime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vctm5VD7qKQ

and the "Enjoy the Silence" remix

no opinion on the rest, except to agree that visually it is awesome. i saw the anime once, but that was forever ago and i don't remember the story.

The geishas are nightmare inducing.

I say this as someone who got the first run of the manga when it dropped, and have seen everything ever done with the story. Just the trailer but she just seems to lack the confidence of the major and have more of the black widow poor me carry over. I don't think it's enough to ruin the movie because I don't doubt she can carry the action, but I wish they had got someone that could better capture the character. Didn't have to be a japanese actress necessarily but I think I lot of the sublties would have been better portrayed by someone with that cultural background.

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

nope.

There's basically 3 versions of Ghost in the Shell.

The manga which is kinda like weird cheesy sci-fi with nudity; think those Heavy Metal comic Magazines with Conan the Barbarian in loincloth with women with big titties.

The High art, Terrance Malik-esque dream of the OG movie...think a tripper version of Blade Runner.

The HEAVILY underrated TV show that's basically a futuristic sci-fi procedural, think individual Law and Order episodes balanced with a premium tv single season arc.

That's my favorite version of the property. Granted, I've only seen the OG movie (fell asleep) and watched both seasons of SAC. Hell my profile on facebook has been the Laughing man for years now.

Call it nitpick but I need that

https://youtu.be/tRkb1X9ovI4

http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/smhp.gif

>https://youtu.be/tRkb1X9ovI4

It at least looks like a good bad movie, lol.

or do ALL of her lines in this movie seem to fall flat in these trailers. The poster above who mentioned the Major having a lot of confidence is right on the money. She is contemplative for sure but she is the Major. She commands the team and makes stuff happen.

I'm going to see this because visually is looks sick but I don't know about any of the other stuff.

SMH

And none of the trailers have really won me over. I don't know the original but it kind of feels like they're remaking a movie that was special 20 years ago but, since then, has been ripped off or replicated so many times that it's not as fresh or original anymore. Rupert/Ehren/actors are going to need to bring something to the table and I haven't really seen much of anything impressive yet.

I'm blown the fuck away to be honest.

As someone who is not familiar with anything GHOST IN THE SHELL related, I'm sold.

IMAX 3D is the only way to see this.

Also, do not see this inebriated on anything or else you might melt into your seat.

>Also, do not see this inebriated on anything or else you might
>melt into your seat.

Im happy its good; even beyond the property any good sci-fi movie = a win for the team

I saw about 45 minutes of the film, and I was really impressed. The suspense and tension built up in some of those scenes are unbearable.

in anime - lots of white characters. So maybe this isn't whitewashing.

and no it's not white washing.

The major runs around half naked; half of the themes deal with existentialism, and there are really no 'villains' in the traditional sense.

Even the adaptations between manga/tv/movie haven't been consistent.

As far as the white washing; sadly enough the major being scar-jo sexy makes sense as far as the general fetishization of whiteness of the world, particularly asia. If you could offer a chance to have a brand new 'white' body it wouldn't be hard to find takers in Japan.

>and no it's not white washing.

let us all bask in the glow of his infinite wisdom.

thank you, oh wise one, for deigning to dispense your pearls among the swine.

Geeks are raging in other places because of the 'whitewashing' and the fact they took liberties with the source materials. I get it, but they forget the first movie as esoteric and trippy as it was could be boring as hell at times.

But taken on its own its a solid ass movie. Scarjo did her thing, the tech was great (creeping onto body horror at times), some of the side characters got some cool scenes, and the world itself was cool as fuck. Only beef is that some of the action setpieces they cribbed from the OG movie they should have done something different/made it their own. I wanna see it again, and in 3D this time.

Full review later including how someone got kicked out for yelling out whitewash.

>Full review later including how someone got kicked out for
>yelling out whitewash.

but it seems to be a bit unfair. While the characters are asian in the source materials a sci-fi story about cyborgs and androids isn't exactly culturally specific; shit like when Emma Stone was supposed to be 'half asian' in that role a year back and throwing Matt Damon in medieval China imho were more offensive.

Can't tell if its genuine anger at asians being locked out having reached a boiling point, fanboys going jihad against any deviation from the source material, or oddly connected to ugly misogyny floating around the internet where anything remotely female empowering is hated (like Ghostbusters 2 fallout before the movie came out)

this is the worst and wrongest thing I've ever read on OKP.

GiTS is massively culturally specific, and it's not just "robots and androids"

if that's what you took away, then imo you weren't paying attention to what the stories were about.

They were never about robots, they were about politics and society in a way that was specific to Japan, they just happened to have robots.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

but yeah, the theme song, politics like you mentioned, etc.



>this is the worst and wrongest thing I've ever read on OKP.
>
>GiTS is massively culturally specific, and it's not just
>"robots and androids"
>
>if that's what you took away, then imo you weren't paying
>attention to what the stories were about.
>
>They were never about robots, they were about politics and
>society in a way that was specific to Japan, they just
>happened to have robots.
>
>www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

but every story they ever did in the universe (in the film and shows, I didn't read anything) was about the japanese experience


www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

The movie is all about white people putting Japanese minds into white people bodies, but the movie never once acknowledges how culturally fucked up and weird this is.

You know you’re in for trouble when at an all-media screening, someone from the general audience section yells “Whitewash!” and manages to piss off a Paramount rep so much that he gets ejected. That controversy has plagued this movie from the time Scarlett Johansson was announced as The Major. As for the film itself? Well, I was on board till a certain reveal in the plot that led to this whitewashing becoming a stain on the film. Paramount seems to have an uphill battle with this in the coming days once more people (and press) lay eyes on this.

A cyborg named The Major works for an elite task force named Section 9 alongside her partner Batou (Pilou Asbæk). As they work on stopping cyberterrorist criminals, a new threat arrives with the goals of bringing down Hanka Robotics’ artificial intelligence technology.

I am not familiar with this intellectual property. From what I was told this is a combo of the various iterations of Ghost in the Shell with an original spin on the story. I got to see fifty minutes of this in IMAX 3D back in February and was blown away by what I was shown, out of context, on the best IMAX screen on the East Coast. The actual press screening was on a fake IMAX which is fine, but it was at Kips Bay a theater that’s pretty much on the East River and is a pain in the ass to get to. I knew we were in trouble when I saw that this was an all-media screening and was told by a fellow member of the press that many press people weren’t invited at all. Well, I can say for those of you going to see this no matter what definitely do IMAX 3D, just not at Kips Bay as the masking is nonexistent at that theater. There was crucial information missed in the plot of the film because subtitles were cut off at the bottom. I know IMAX personally runs their theaters, so hopefully they can have one of their people fix that.

(Editor’s note. The following contains spoilers to crucial plot details that hinge on whitewashing. Skip to the last paragraph if you want to stay spoiler free)

When making the press rounds for this film, everyone including the cast, crew and even people who are associated with the creation of the property have defended Scarlett’s casting. I didn’t have a problem with this till I got to the climax of the film in which it was revealed that Major, as well as Micheal Pitt’s character, are kidnapped runaways who have very Japanese names. It was here the revealing of the names where it brings into context the entire story of the film as well as why an elderly Japanese woman was so fond of The Major earlier in the film.

I was so appalled by this fact that it took me out of the film completely for the last twenty minutes of the film. Before this, the film had me with its beautiful production design, Clint Mansell’s score is awesome, next level set pieces, and sharp directing. That water fight that showed prominently in the trailers is both brutal and beautiful. I wished more blockbusters could combine art and brutality as good as they did here. The cast is committed, but the story they are serving is thin making me cold to the characters, but it was still working for me. For those of you looking at the screenwriting credits, it should be no surprise that the story is lacking due to one name there. Not mention this an Avi Arad production. This reveal, that showed us this unnamed city is obviously supposed to be a futuristic Tokyo with Japanese characters.

I heard people trying to argue that since these cyborgs are made by white creators, that they are made in their image. The film does not even attempt to offer up that to any extent, so I call bullshit on that. In fact, the two best characters in the film are played by Chin Han and the legendary “Beat” Takeshi Kitano. Watching them made me wonder on my way home from the screening on why wasn’t the entire film played by Asians.

(End spoilers)

If you can get past the whitewashing and/or you are a huge fan of the Ghost in the Shell property, then IMAX 3D for sure. Everyone else I don’t know what to tell you as I feel some type of way of seeing a black man being kicked out of this screening for a slight jab and one that’s been brought up time and time again on this press tour. Reps are there to make sure the right people get in and the screening is running as smoothly as possible. Seeing a white dude get mad at that and then have fellow people of color ejected is not how you want to kick off a screening of a film that already has its fair share of controversy and denial proving that privilege is still in full swing.

>(Editor’s note. The following contains spoilers to crucial
>plot details that hinge on whitewashing. Skip to the last
>paragraph if you want to stay spoiler free)
>
>When making the press rounds for this film, everyone including
>the cast, crew and even people who are associated with the
>creation of the property have defended Scarlett’s casting. I
>didn’t have a problem with this till I got to the climax of
>the film in which it was revealed that Major, as well as
>Micheal Pitt’s character, are kidnapped runaways who have
>very Japanese names. It was here the revealing of the names
>where it brings into context the entire story of the film as
>well as why an elderly Japanese woman was so fond of The Major
>earlier in the film.
>

i'll have to see tomorrow how they execute it before i give it the seal of approval as a fan of the series in its many incarnations. but god that's just a really fucking weird choice lol.

The cast did, the crew did, Paramount did.

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/scarlett-johansson-ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-1202020230/

The Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) has blasted the casting choice of Scarlett Johansson in “Ghost in the Shell” just ahead of the film’s opening weekend.

In a statement released Friday, the group condemned the movie’s “whitewashing” of Johansson’s character Motoku Kusanagi who first appeared in the Japanese manga of the same name.

The organization also criticized Johansson’s recent interview on “Good Morning America,” in which the actress said she “would never attempt to play a person of a different race, obviously.” MANAA responded by writing that “she was lying.”

Additionally, the group denounced the casting of Michael Pitt in the role of Kuze in the film, which MANAA said “is revealed to have originally been named Hideo, meaning he too was Japanese.”

“Apparently, in Hollywood, Japanese people can’t play Japanese people anymore,” MANAA President Robert Chan said. “There’s no reason why either Motoku or Hideo could not have been portrayed by Japanese or Asian actors instead of Scarlett Johansson and Michael Pitt. We don’t even get to see what they looked like in their original human identities — a further white-wash.”

Last year, MANAA vocalized their opposition to the casting of Tilda Swinton in “Doctor Strange.” In the film, Swinton played “The Ancient One,” who in the original comic book is portrayed as a Tibetan male.

“Hollywood continues to make the same excuses, that there aren’t big enough Asian/Asian American names to open a blockbuster film,” added Founding President of MANAA, Guy Aoki. “Yet it has not developed a farm system where such actors get even third billing in most pictures. Without a conscientious effort, how will anyone ever break through and become familiar enough with audiences so producers will confidently allow them to topline a film? When will we ever break that glass ceiling?”

The organization later indicated consequences of the casting on the film’s profit, citing films based on anime and mangas that featured non-Asian actors including “Dragonball Evolution,” “Speed Racer” and Matt Damon’s “The Great Wall.” Aoki finished by point out that “Ghost in the Shell” is looking at a moderate opening for its budget, and should trail behind “Beauty and the Beast” and possibly “Boss Baby” in its opening weekend.

The Slate piece I posted on Twitter today pointed out some things I was thinking during the film-- you could make this angle *really interesting* by pointing out that white corporate employees choose white bodies for these Asian men and women. If they simply acknowledged this and made it a point to bring this up during the film, they probably could've still had ScarJo as lead!

This movie just doesn't have enough on its mind past making a buck to dig deep into the potential commentary here, sadly.

>The Slate piece I posted on Twitter today pointed out some
>things I was thinking during the film-- you could make this
>angle *really interesting* by pointing out that white
>corporate employees choose white bodies for these Asian men
>and women. If they simply acknowledged this and made it a
>point to bring this up during the film, they probably could've
>still had ScarJo as lead!
>
>This movie just doesn't have enough on its mind past making a
>buck to dig deep into the potential commentary here, sadly.

>you could make this
>angle *really interesting* by pointing out that white
>corporate employees choose white bodies for these Asian men
>and women. If they simply acknowledged this and made it a
>point to bring this up during the film, they probably could've
>still had ScarJo as lead!

It's like Ghost in the Shell: Greatest Hits.

I thought they nailed everything, but the actual plot points they chose to include in the movie were puzzling

cherrypick action/tech sequences with no real depth behind it.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

movie? holy shit...

She's playing it like it's still sort of a clunky robot. I think she did it well, but again that's not the way I wouldve done it in my idea of the movie.

Which is odd, since the casting in general is one of the worst parts.

But she's done this "where is my humanity?" thing in a few films now. She's comfortable with the role's trickiness imo. Script lets her down more than vice versa.

just bland...

but I guess it could work for this movie since she is a robot.

Visually, it's pretty balls to the wall from beginning to end and is one of the rare movies worth seeing in 3D IMAX. Narratively, it doesn't have any real momentum (particularly in the first half) and many scenes drag. Still, it looked cool as shit.

I went in with high expectations for the visuals and low expectations for everything else.
Actually, so I've seen the original movie, and some of Stand Alone Complex, but I'm not super deep into the universe or the various storylines.
The story was more streamlined than the original movie, which I always found very confusing (but I haven't seen since like 2004, when I was still a teenager). But they also do the Hollywood thing and make it a little too convenient. A little too simple.
Does make me want to revist the original movie, SAC, and everything else I missed.

but the original movie is boring as fuck. it's good, but it's obtuse and boring for most of the flick.

the second movie and SAC are way doper imo.


www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

After SAC came out, i went back and watched it and could actually follow it now that i knew the characters and the world. The movie was really throwing a lot at you.

>the second movie and SAC are way doper imo.

SAC is the high point, the improvements in the second movie are because it was more 'SAC'-ish then the OG movie.

SAC all day and twice on Sunday. Way better vehicle to tell the GITS story.

and whitewashing had NOTHING to do with it. scarjo's casting actually made sense considering the scene involving major's mother... i really wish film critics would stop being social justice warriors for the fuck of it and start doing their job again.

>and whitewashing had NOTHING to do with it. scarjo's casting
>actually made sense considering the scene involving major's
>mother... i really wish film critics would stop being social
>justice warriors for the fuck of it and start doing their job
>again.

I think critics focused on ScarJo because she's the most recognizable/SEO-friendly name, but there's really no justification for just *how many characters* in a Japanese story set in Japan aren't played by Japanese actors. And if it's distracting in a film-- as I genuinely think it was, as I was sitting and thinking about it during GITS-- then of course it's part of a film critic's job to address the casting.

I would've accepted the ScarJo-as-white choice as part of a commentary that the white corporation takes Japanese men and women and puts them into white bodies... if *so much of the rest of the cast was also not Japanese.*

Like, just set the shit in a futuristic Chicago or whatever. Or, y'know, make Batou Japanese. Either would have worked better.

I mean c'mon man.

lack of japanese actors. hell i didn't even notice half of the stuff you pointed out.

more japanese actors simply wouldn't have made that dry ass script any better. or the direction for that matter.

>lack of japanese actors. hell i didn't even notice half of
>the stuff you pointed out.

>more japanese actors simply wouldn't have made that dry ass
>script any better. or the direction for that matter.

I'm not convinced this is necessarily true. Different casts provide different spheres of influence on the proceedings. You're right that the script was not good and the direction wasn't good either... but making the film more specifically about Japan very well may have forced the creative team to make different decisions that would've made the film more interesting. It certainly would've made the film more interesting from a cultural perspective, bare minimum-- and an all-Japanese cast save for the corporation and the shells would've undoubtedly added layers.

My point is really that one can't accuse critics of needing to "get back to their jobs" when the takes being lobbed out there were, for the most part, exceedingly fair. I'm usually the first one to point out a critical dogpile when I see one-- and honestly, Gods of Egypt, another film that got dogged for whitewashing, is a pretty good example of a movie with way more interesting shit than it gets credit for, albeit a movie that's overall quite uneven-- but this really wasn't an unfair critical consensus. Yeah, some critics got assholish and hyperbolic, but that's the nature of the biz at this point. The points being made underneath those layers were definitely legitimate opinions, imo, and telling critics to stop being "social justice warriors" when the issue of culture and race is woven directly into the fabric of the film through setting and identity isn't a terribly constructive path.

For the record, I know a few people who feel similar to you re: ScarJo's whiteness not having a negative impact, and I've had this debate with those people as well, so I know you're not alone... I just can't get around how fucking easy it would have been to remedy literally *every* issue in the film with an all-Japanese force surrounding ScarJo. They could've had their white cake and eaten it too, so to speak.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/ghost-in-the-shell-scarlett-johansson-casting-whitewashing-japanese-publisher-comment-well-cast-a6994056.html

http://www.inquisitr.com/4132128/ghost-in-the-shell-hideo-kojima-japanese-market-okay-with-scarlett-johansson-casting/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/japanese-ghost-shell-fans-quite-like-remake-165221358.html

the movie is doing well compared to the us market and it seems like they have issues mainly with the story...that's why i still think the whole whitewashing controversy was overblown in the US.

That being said you made some good points and i think we can all agree this movie was a huge missed opportunity.

it's almost like you're different people or something.



www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

were trash, and you were mad then?

why not just go live in the mountains and keep your bad takes to yourself where you don't have to be bothered by the demons of rotten tomatoes?

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

way to project bro

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

was my overall reaction.
feel like i've seen this shit before in about 20 other movies.
only ever saw the original anime (never watched SAC), but i remember being slightly more interested in that than i was in this.

V.