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Reviews
The Postman (1997)
An enjoyable patriotic movie requiring an appreciative audience
From reading prior comments, it seems that a lot of people have a hang-up about Waterworld (or about Kevin Costner). The Postman is a wholly different movie with an epic scope (more so than Road Warrior to which it's compared), higher levels of cinematography, multiple scenes of highly choreographed actions, and an anti-hero who assumes the hero position rather than remaining an anti-hero at the end of the movie.
So why do so many people hate it? From the negative comments, a lot of people didn't seem to understand it or if they did, they did not appreciate the patriotic wistfulness of the plot.
The Postman was an excellent two-part set of science-fiction short stories first published in an anthology magazine. The pair of shorts had such promise that they were combined and an extended ending sequence was added.
In print form, the story and plot are appealing since the reader is able to bring his or her cognitive processes to bear on the patriotic aspects of the self-fulfilling prophecy of a man who inadvertently unifies a broken region of cynical people.
The symbol of a postal service is a strong ICONIC reminder of the lovable past that was lost to the inhabitants and the awakened patriotic emotions lead to a better life for everyone (except the cynical survivalist holnists).
I enjoyed the short story version the most for its epic enigmatic ending, but feared the day the movie optioned book would make it to the screen. Would a thinking man's epic movie make a financially successful movie or not? It is hard to tell in these cynical times whether or not a movie can kindle feelings of patriotism without resorting to huge amounts of special effects in space.
Vinasu senki (1989)
Commentary by a longtime buyer of laserdiscs and DVD
In The Venus Wars, mankind now resides on two planets: civilized Earth and fractious terra-formed Venus. In the midst of fighting between the two nation-colonies of Ishtar and Aphrodia, a group of monocycle racers accidentally befriends a feisty reporter (Susan Somers) who hopes to advance her career through gritty reports on the war from the Aphrodian side. There are plenty of opportunities for the characters to demonstrate their different attitudes and spirit. It is nice to see characters that are true to their natures and which do not exhibit that nasty tendency to change personalities in midstream just because it was convenient to give a shortcut to the plot. There are no shortcuts in the plot and it is a fast moving action-filled drama in true grand anime style.
The characters have genuine quality character designs and the mecha designs are detailed and innovative. The director was also willing to experiment with different artistic filming styles. As subtitles go, Studio Nemo (an Arizona group) was competent and placed the titles so that the action was not obscured.
Some people may compare this movie to Akira in grandeur, but there are differences. This movie is darker in color (more tones instead of bright colors), grittier in plotting whereas Akira used shock value instead, and has a stronger moving plot than does Akira with a definite goal in mind. A telling difference is that the soundtrack of Venus Wars is much more listenable with strong catchy vocals and epic background music for the sequences that need it. What's similar? Both have lavish budgets used to develop high quality detailed animation for theatre release. This movie has a timeless animation style and fluid plotline which makes it worthwhile in any anime collection.