Elizabeth (1998)
It came up on the telly, and since I've forgotten most of this film since I rented the DVD like 25 years ago I had to rewatch it. I remember back then renting it mostly due to the reviews praising this young up and coming Australian born actress called Cate Blanchett..
I wont even try to go into the complicated history around England during this time. Our UK friends here might think it's pretty clear but I don't, considering all the stuff like who's relatives were supposed to get the throne, religious contradictions etc etc. My old history buff dad probably would've explained everything in details as well, when his now old mind (sadly) was considerate sharper than today.
Anyhows, Elizabeth was the daugther of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (yeah, one of his decaptivated wives like his horrible habit dictated). And the complications and feuds start there and finally leads her to the throne at 25yo. In short, that is lol. Of course there's lots more drama during her regency which is depicted here.
This is of course a very well made movie about an iconic regent during a fascinating historic English era. The cinematography is beautiful, the score is great and the costume department of course did a fantastic job. And to no surprise the acting over all is great. Blanchett in what I assume would be her break out role truly shines, and it's fascinating how she in the end visually transforms into the classic iconography of Queen Elizabeth in terms of the hair style and pale face. However, I was expecting an armada of wellknown British actors here but only reckognized a few like Eric Cantona, Geoffrey Rush and Daniel Craig. As a non English person I probably missed a few.
If memory serves, Elizabeth passed as early as like in her mid 40s. Which might feel remarkable today, but many of these historic regents back then seemed to often be crowned very young, but the life spans also could be surprisingly short due to various reasons in those eras (I'm always so ****ing thankful being born in at least mid/late 20th century..).
Batman Ninja vs The Yakuza League
Considering the first Batman Ninja flick being just a weird totally bonkers fest of whatever anime.. stuff, I wasn't expecting much but like more of that insanity here. Hence this surprised me, being more enjoyable and slightly less crazy. This felt more like a tribute/satire of the anime culture, and Japanese culture tropes over all as well. I laughed several times when terms like SUSHI, ORIGAMI, YAKUZA etc were used as exposition in the story in various over the top ways.
Still, this worked better for me than the the first one. I enjoyed the animation which varied in style. I also had fun with the various versions we got of JLA here. Of course Diana as the stoic highly honoroble warrior being on the righteous side stole my heart (like, WW always HAS to be the last good one no matter what, we'd all rage otherwise).
All the anime clichés and tropes (that I'm aware of) were used in a playful and self aware manner - like Ninja Science !! - in which we get a short exposition of some bat-stuff gadgets that's just successfully been used. Or some random short song numbers, even by Wonder Woman LMAO. But consdering the Bat-family was supposed to be here, I feel they seriously missed out on Batgirl though (I would always replace Damien with Batgirl).
Personally I had quite some fun with this flick, since it had loads of self distance and self awereness. Far from perfect story-wise (for starters, what was the purpose of Joker and Harley here..? Etc etc). Nevertheless if you turn off your brain logics, a fun and enough crazy anime flick with some cool visuals. And IMHO better than the first.