For the record I'd like to say that I probably spent more time playing Guilty Gear X in the game room and wandering around the halls of the Baltimore Convention Center than in any of the video rooms, but since I was the one that spent more time in the video rooms than anybody else I'm going to be writing a report of what little I'd seen. (I'm Jerry. Waaaaaaah! - Dave.)

Ok so I only saw three movies - "The Killer," "Sakura Taisen The Movie," and "Avenging Fist." "The Killer" and "Sakura Taisen The Movie" were both shown in the 35 mm room. Lemme tell you something about this room, the acoustics were shitty. It was worse when there was singing in the movie; ask Joel, he'll tell you. The seats were those that kinda linked up to each other so you couldn't take the seat in front of you, turn it around, and use it as a foot rest. I don't know about you but I sure hell can't watch a movie without having some sort of object to put my feet on, make it Joel's cooler, Skabla's shitty "Halo" TV, a midget, etc. you get the picture. I suppose it was a logical idea cause it actually keeps the chairs from being moved around and cluttering the whole place but whatever. Now that that was settled on with the movies.

What do you get when you combine Chow Yun Fat, John Woo, Tsui Hark, and the nike white sweatshirt football team in a movie? A FUCKING awesome action movie with lots of gun fights, killing, and guns with infinite bullets, and killing. If you have not seen this movie, GO SEE IT! Chow Yun Fat aka Jeff or Mickey Mouse, as his counter part called him, is a hitman out to get some money for a cornea transplant for the woman he injured during one of his hits. On his ass are the police, the Triads, and the nike white sweatshirt football team. Yes, that's right the nike white sweatshirt football team. These guys are hardcore. They don't wait for their car to stop to get out, they go out as it moves - tuck and roll and shoot style. When play time's over and it's time for business, these people tote around automatic weaponry instead of the usual duffle bag and football. These guys are hardcore. Now I'm not saying that the nike white sweatshirt football team is more hardcore than Chow Yun Fat, Chow Yun Fat is just as hardcore as these guys and maybe even more. He doesn't settle for one bullet in a bad guy, he makes sures he empties out what seems like half a clip into every person. A regular sniper puts one bullet in the target's head and calls it a day. He puts three and goes out a kills random bad guys and saves a kid. My suggestion to you is WATCH THIS MOVIE. If it you can't find it, go for "Hard Boiled," it's just as good.

What do you get when you combine the Sakura Wars characters, top-notch animation, a disjointed plot, and an unnecessary opera scene? You get "Sakura Taisen The Movie." Originally, "Char's Counterattack" was going to be played but for some reason it got cancelledand was replaced by this. I liked the Sakura Wars OVA and was hoping for something similiar. Well I was quite unsatisfied when I saw the movie. I have a big problem when they use CG's out of the wazoo with the steam powered mechs (the Koubus, Eisenklieds, etc.) and the demons - it just doesn't look right. The movements were really sluggish. The whole movie felt very disjointed; each scene almost didn't go along with the next one. I knew enough about the Sakura Taisen background and I still was confused a good number of times. The anti-American plot was good (but not as good as "Silent Service"), I mean nowadays it's hard to come up with an "original" plot. This movie also had a number of unnecessary scenes and I thought Steven Spielberg's "A.I." was the king of this department but... no wait I take that back, nothing out does that movie. However in the same sense, "Sakura Taisen The Movie" could have also used a good scene cut in the very end just like "A.I." Cutting that last 5 - 10 minutes in the end would have really helped (hey it's fucking better than 30 minutes!). Even though Joel and I left that room a bit unfulfilled, it has it's good parts (mainly Oogami fighting - anyone that fights with two swords is my hero). I'm sure when it comes out on DVD domestically I'll most likely buy it.

What do you get when you combine lots of special effects (and not necessarily good ones), a Tekken-like plot (this courtesy of Sean Adams), mediocre fight scenes, and a load of corny ideas? "Avenging Fist" aka The WORST experience of your life. This movie was absolute shit. I think this movie was aimed at the teenage Asian population. That says everything right there. What the fuck are these hover scooters? I hate goddamn fucking SCOOTERS! Last time I checked, only people who like taking it up the pooper love these things and I think it still holds true. Their idea of cellphones of the future are these two rings you put on your pinky and your thumb. To use it, you made your hand look like a telephone. What is this shit? ARGH!! I want to kill someone! Why did I go see it? Well, Sean upon hearing that it was going to be shown immediately told me that it was "supposedly" very good and that it had a tekken-like plot (I guess it's not his fault as he did just hear it. I sure took the bullet for the team this time). This interested me. Looking for video room 7 was like looking for Shangri-la. The other video rooms were all on one side of the convention center in series. Video room 7 was like an island and to make it worse I don't think I even saw a sign for it. I actually got there a little early, early enough to see the ending to "Future Cops," a Street Fighter parody by the same guy that did the live action "City Hunter," I think ("Future Cops" reminded me of Shaolin Soccer for some reason). How I so wished I had seen this instead of shit-o-rama. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the only good point about this movie was that it had Samo Hung (he's a good guy). The only thing good that came out of it was that I learned about "Future Cops" and that I'm interested in watching that movie now. If you liked "Storm Riders" (an earlier movie with the same protagonists from this one and the same caliber) then you'll like "Avenging Fist." But if your name is Jerry and/or didn't like "Storm Riders," your going to hate it.

Well that's that report. Hopefully next year Otakon will just as fun if not better. And please god no more Mizuho Kazami cosplayers.