The Girl Who Played With Firestarter

Twenty years after Ghost In The Shell changed the face of animation, The New Movie seeks to explain the origins of the iconic Section 9 mercenaries. Can literal cyber-babe Major Kusanagi turn hardass Batou, family man Togusa, sniper Saito, jack-of-all-trades Pazu, explosives expert Borma, and wisecracking tank Logicoma into a well-oiled killing machine? And can anyone untangle a conspiracy that connects military uprising, political assassination, and discontinued prosthetic limbs to a body-hopping hacker? Arise and become a Platinum Donor to find out now!

nowplayingpodcast.com/movies/ghost-in-the-shell-the-new-movie/

During the third act, I noticed something that confused me before: even though Okiura's design of Motoko is my favorite of all the works in the series, she lacks emotional padding as far as the “character” is concerned, which leads the story to be more of a lecture than an experience

❏ 90th on LBD
❏ 27th 2025

The Bots And The Hound

Anime director Mamaru Oshii switches gears as he returns to the world of cybernetic cops in the 2004 effort Ghost in the Shell 2. Has this sequel gone to the dogs now that original star Major Kusanagi has disappeared inside the Net, and metal-eyed partner Batou is left to investigate a new case with unaugmented family man Togusa? And why exactly are a series of black market sexbots turning on their owners and committing seppuku instead of performing the Kama Sutra? Find out if Innocence lost the plot when you Donate to Now Playing Podcast and Listen Now!

nowplayingpodcast.com/movies/ghost-in-the-shell-2-innocence/

Enter the Matrix four years before the Neo-lithic Era

Stuart, Arnie, and Justin as they dive naked off a futuristic Japanese skyscraper and into thirty years of Ghost In The Shell, starting with 1995’s groundbreaking animated movie. But did director Mamoru Oshii preserve enough of the original spirit of Masamune Shirow’s playful sci-fi manga in his big-budget telling of cybernetic cops taking down a super-hacker? And can Major Kusanagi remain twice the cyborg as elusive foe The Puppet Master once she’s stripped of half her body parts? Listen to that whisper telling you to Donate to Now Playing Podcast and find out now!

nowplayingpodcast.com/movies/ghost-in-the-shell-1995/

The story is amazing with lovely visuals, though a little dated. "Ghost in the Shell" offers a blend of high-tech futurism and philosophical exploration about humanity's ethical boundaries. It also critiques our self-understanding. I really enjoyed this film and would recommend anyone who loves good cinema to watch it!

Please, please, please let the data wipe not be a sci-fi fantasy; let’s absolutely destroy late stage capitalism and throw everything into anarchy. Hope you have paper copies of your assets! 

Loved Sylvia Hoeks’ Luv as the cold, brutal antagonist. The Joi/Joe reveal at the end breaks me.

The pacing is so insane for a modern two-and-a-half-hour plus “blockbuster” movie. I saw Thor Ragnarok the week before this and couldn’t believe they are the same length.

Some of the very best scifi is something that wrinkles your brain and man oh man does this do the trick. only held back by some occasionally less than amazing voice work.

The real ghosts were the shells we met along the way.

For real though. This movie has been on my watchlist forever as it’s one of the legendary anime films I had never seen but have knows it’s impact on cinema and the world. It 100% lives up to all of its hype.

A thrilling and intense cyberpunk crime noir, Ghost In The Shell boasts brilliant visuals and one of my new favorite scores, composed by Kenji Kawai.

A cinema spectacle adapted from the anime, recreates itself in a form of stunning visual effects and cinematography. It is extremely difficult to capture colors in a cyberpunk world and it was done efficiently.