After revisiting this film, I recall what a stylistic triumph Cowboy Bebop: The Movie truly is. The animation is gorgeous, the characters well-defined, and the music infectious. The narrative is perhaps the most well-constructed in the series, featuring a bio-terrorist plot spearheaded by Vincent Volaju who would even give Vicious a run for his money in the villain department. The voice-acting is spot on as always, setting the bar for English dubs in anime. Shinichirō Watanabe's creative genius is fully…

The action adventure genre feels pretty tiresome nowadays. The ancient artifacts, the traps, the setpieces, and even the romance are all parts of a rather large checklist that filmmakers seemingly cross off as if they were following some sort of predefined recipe set forth by prior cinematic adventures featuring fedora-touting protagonists. The adventure film has become formulaic and, as such, has lost the very important sensation that made the genre so endearing in the first place: discovery.

On paper, Castle…

There are moments in life when you will be broken. There are moments when you will be beaten. There are moments of love, and of victory. There are the crooks who will be kept at bay by the few decent men of this world, and there are those who will be there to pick you up when you fall. Sometimes your friends won't be there for you at all; everyone will let you down at some point or another, even…

During the acceptance speech for his AFI Lifetime Achievement award, Director Frank Capra took a moment to share some advice with the young filmmakers of the day. "Don't compromise," Mr. Capra cautioned, "believe in yourself; because only the valiant can create, only the daring should make films, and only the morally corageous are worthy of speaking to their fellow man for two hours and in the dark."

I can think of few directors who are so worthy of such a…