In a fit of nostalgia I decided to buy the revamped DVD box set of this legendary cartoon series, which was released recently. This 26 episodes long series was one of the first big cooperations between French and Japanese anime makers and formed the basis of one of the biggest cartoon empires in the world: DIC. Jean Chalopin was the spiritual father of this epic story, which was loosely based on the Odyssey of Odysseus (or Ulysses) from Homer’s Iliad. Whereas the mythological story took place in ancient Greece, this series takes place in 31st century space, hence the name Ulysses 31.

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Having become a huge fan of Asian movies of all kinds throughout the years, I was eagerly looking forward to seeing Oldboy, that received the audience award at this year’s Cannes film festival. Although extensively promoted as Quentin Tarantino’s favorite film of the festival, Oldboy has a right and the power to stand on its own and doesn’t need the recommendation, let alone approval of Tarantino. The trailer may suggest a large amount of (at times senseless) horror and outbreaks of violence, but there is more than meets the eye, because behind it is a story that brings along a great deal of comprehension and emotion.
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In 1988 I was 17 years old and my peers raved about this hilariously funny film, The Naked Gun. Now I have never been one for slapstick, but I could appreciate Airplane and even Top Secret at the time, so I gave it a try. However, The Naked Gun never did it for me. A second viewing, sixteen years later didn’t increase my appreciation aside from the occasional gag admittedly making me laugh out loud.

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When this documentary came out, the world of bodybuilding still belonged to an underground scene, unknown to the big audience. People didn’t understand these strange men that would devote all their time and energy to turn themselves into huge mounds of muscles. But all that changed with this docudrama that introduced bodybuilding to the big audience, with its then-biggest star Arnold Schwarzenegger. 25 years after it was first shown in the cinema, a lot of the backgrounds on this docudrama were revealed in 2003 on the special edition DVD. One of the things we learn is that at that time Mr. Schwarzenegger was already a clever man with an uncanny knack for publicity and commercialism.

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This is a movie worth the hype. Supposedly the final collaboration between Disney and Pixar, The Incredibles has been described as an “animated comedy action adventure,” which loosely translated means that dragging the kids along as an excuse to see this movie is just not necessary. Granted, I saw The Incredibles at a late night showing, but it was a packed house and there wasn’t a child in sight.

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2005 Is definitely going to be the year of the final Star Wars installment: Return of the Sith. Fans have eagerly been searching the net for the first glimpse of it. Well, here it is: the teaser trailer of the epsiode in which we get to see Anakin turn to the dark side. Click here (Quicktime).

Maverick Dutch filmmaker and a descendent of the famous painter, Vincent van Gogh, has been shot dead in Amsterdam while cycling along by the Oosterpark. It happened on the morning of Tuesday 2 November; he had been due to appear at the Melkweg in the evening for the US Presidential Elections event there. Police arrested a man in the nearby park following an exchange of gunfire. Van Gogh had received death threats after his short film Submission (on violence against women in Islamic societies), was shown on Dutch TV. Ironically Van Gogh had also been making a film about Pim Fortuyn, the populist right-wing, anti-immigration politician assassinated in the Netherlands in May 2002.