“Kill Bill”, vols. 1 & 2

• I don’t insist on realistic dialogue. I do insist on dialogue that doesn’t make me want to switch to one of the DVD’s foreign audio tracks.
• If Uma Thurman’s character is “more than proficient in the exquisite art of the samurai sword,” I’m Miyamoto f——in’ Musashi. Maybe if you’re going to mix Chinese and Japanese martial arts, you should have some Japanese on your fight choreography team?
• It’s been twenty-odd years since Pris’ freaky writhing kicking spinning death scene in “Blade Runner,” but Daryl Hannah hasn’t lost her touch.
• David Carradine can act. Who knew?

“Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence”

• Speaking of Daryl Hannah — You might have thought we dodged a bullet when we invented the Internet instead of the Nexus 6, but guess what: we’re gonna get those Philip K. Dick / Isaac Asimov futures anyway, courtesy of Japan’s obsession with robots, dolls, puppets and simulacra. Be warned.
• CG is a pretty good solution to cel animation’s static background problem, but haven’t these guys heard of non-photo-realistic rendering?
• Japanese masculinity has got to work through some serious issues with the female body. Hoo boy. This film takes “radical deconstruction” to new heights of literalized metaphor.