Double Feature #1

I started doing double features in which I picked a pair of movies to borrow from the library to watch and review. I have since stopped, but I've gotten a few of them done.

Rio: I didn't originally want to see this one because I wasn't that impressed with the trailers I saw, which were just basically the two main protagonists crashing around while chained together. But one of my friends said it was a good movie, so I borrowed it from the library and found he was right. If you still don't care for the plot, it's at least got good music (villain song aside, which is crap). I especially liked the song from the beginning and end of the movie and the one during the bird rave. As for the special features on the DVD, I can't tell if this movie spawned Angry Birds or is just promoting it. Either way, there have been similar games to it in the past, just not featuring birds. Why this version got so stupidly popular I don't know. Anyway, the sequel to this movie came out in 2014 when the World Cup is being held in Brazil; both were a disappointment for Brazil.

Hetalia Paint It White: The Hetalia movie! Well, when I saw it in Japanese on YouTube, the person who uploaded it cut out the bits from the first two seasons, which weren't necessary to begin with but kept with the series' overall style. As a straightforward movie, it was pretty good. The creator wanted to make this series to promote world peace (which, thanks to shady organizations controlling governments, we can't have, but I digress), and like they say in Avenue Q, everyone's a little bit racist. The commentary track is a must-listen as well. While episode commentaries are limited to five minutes (the episode length), the movie runs for eighty minutes and groups of actors switch out after talking for a while. And of course the outtakes are great too. Truly this show is the Japanese equivalent of South Park just as Azumanga Daioh is the Japanese equivalent of Peanuts. And after watching these back-to-back, I wish they would put Brazil in the anime next. And Ireland too for that matter since this movie shows the alien nobura attacking the island along the border between the two.