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eternalhennessy
Reviews
Tatta hitotsu no koi (2006)
Enjoyed this series immensely.
Yes it was exceptionally corny & heavy handed. Drippy, gooey and overly sentimental but isn't that also what Titanic was and it certainly didn't hurt Titanic. I think it actually helped it same as it does with this series.
I am a cynical, born NYer and this series made my eyes watery (Actually it made me cry several times). Kazuya Kamenashi was wonderful in the lead delivering a moving performance of torn stoic youth having difficulty with a hard life & his inner emotions and was all doey eyed swoonable handsomeness. Haruka Ayase was beautiful & equally moving in a fragile delicate way as his budding gf. Their romance was, even with all the emotional corn syrup, touching and warm hearted. Their courtship's development was very sweet and wonderfully detailed in small charming ways that would elude most American TV programmers out to find the new Dawsons Creek/Gossip Girl oversexualized fakery.
Koki Tanaka, Kamenashi's co-member from the popular J pop group Kat-tun, was way too over the top hammy in his role but even he gets in an effective scene in the drama. The supporting cast was mostly good and the show itself is well directed by Hitoshi Iwamoto offering up a diverse pictorial of its characters & locations. The series main theme song "Cool Whispers" by Ike Yoshihiro is pretty darn catchy too and like Celine Dion did with Titanic, meshes perfectly with the series.
I encourage those who enjoy well done romantic goo to find & watch this emotionally fervid series. I dare you not to be brought to tears at least once and luxuriate in it's sweet teenage romantic angst of the heart. Poor boy, rich girl, interfering parents, handicapped sibling, romantic theme song, conniving exes...get the Kleenex ready.
Then you can also watch Kamenashi & Tanaka on their "Kat-tun Cartoon" J variety series if you wish to see them again in a different context.
The Fairly OddParents (2001)
Poof
I'm surprised by how much that I truly like "Fairly Oddparents". At its heart it seems to me like a young Jewish wiseacre who's making rapid jokes at a bah mitvah...some really funny, some groaners, some merely smilers. I think its no coincidence that Jackie Mason has appeared on this show or that the April Fool is a parody of Jerry Seinfeld.
To me, a strong urban, Jewish ethos informs most of the humor here...a Catskill kind of go for broke aspect to the shows humor. Being from NY and Jewish I think helps me to be amused by this show. I can watch some of my favorite episodes again and again.
I think the voice work is superb and beautifully matched as well as idiosyncratic to each character that appears. Unlike say Jimmy Neutron where Andrea Martin's schoolmarm character grates on any nerve
What can I say? The show just tickles me. However the success of this show certainly didn't transfer to "Danny Phantom" it seems. Hackneyed, unfunny and a "seen it before many times" pallor makes "DP" unenjoyable to me. Danny is cute. thats the only nice thing I can say on THAT show.
You Got Served (2004)
You Got It....
It seems that every generation has its "dance" films, "You Got Served" is following in a long line of films that throughout the celluloid eras have tried to be of a certain "moment" and "style".
And style it has. And charms too thanks mostly to its winsome and attractive leads. The dancing is beyond keen and is entertaining in itself.
I'd like to think of "You Got Served" as more this era's "Breakin" than "Body Rock". Hopefully the warm nostalgic glow that surrounds "Breakin" will envelope a film like this too.
Is it a good film? To a certain age level it will be and thats what counts.
One thing that these youth oriented "of the moment" films do that amuses the heck out of me is they strip the edginess out of said thing so that its palatable to even the most restrictive burgs and towns. Its always a hoot to me to have the "edgy" dances or "lingos" grafted with tried and true gooey wholesomeness...such a scene occurs in this film when young lovers are sharing a malted at a local sweet shop as if in a Sandra Dee film of yore.... :o)