I’m kicking off 2023 by trying to watch and review one movie every day for the first 90 days, most of which will be 90 minutes or less.
Title: Ghost in the Shell
Release Date: 18 November 1995
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Production Company: Production I.G | Bandai Visual | Manga Entertainment
Summary/Review:
In a cyberpunk future Japan, Major Motoko Kusanag (Mimi Woods) is an assault squadron leader for a public security agency with cybernetic enhancements. She and her partner Batou (Richard Epcar)investigate an entity known as the Puppet Master (Tom Wyner) who is suspected of hacking into various cyborgs. The more she learns of the Puppet Master the more Motoko questions her own identity.
This movie is brutally violent, but also has long periods that are almost meditative. The animation is stunning and must’ve been mind-blowing in 1995. The score is also magnificent. Buuuut, there are also segments with characters providing lengthy exposition dumps and dry philosophical conversations. For some reason Motoko has to be nude to fight and the animators are really into depicting her erect nipples, which is really sexist. So, this is obviously an innovative and groundbreaking movie (and one that is part of a progression from Blade Runner to The Matrix), but I recommend it with reservations.
Rating: ***
Panorama of the Mountains 
I love the moodiness of this movie. The story doesn’t do much for me, and I could do without all the philosophizing. But gosh, this movie sets a mood.
The nudity doesn’t bother me as much as it does in other anime. It never feels sexual, at least not to me. That being said, the nudity also doesn’t seem necessary to me either. If you’re going to build a cyber-lady with a cloaking device, why not give her cloakable body armor or something too?
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I really like the anime and the story it tells. I also like the live action remake the did a few years ago with Scarlett Johannson (sp?) as Motoko. My younger son is an anime snob and refuses to watch the live action one because it has a non-Japanese protagonist.
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