On paper, Ghost Cat Anzu would seem to be this year’s most family-friendly offering at the annual Scotland Loves Anime Film Festival, now in its 15th year. Compared to most other films, the audience was certainly composed of a higher proportion of families with children. Perhaps they weren’t expecting such a deeply strange movie, with a first half structured of loosely associated, scatalogically humorous skits and a second, more action-packed half descending into a chaotic exploration of Buddhist Hell, complete with violent comedy torture demons and deeply unsettling afterlife implications for at least one central character. We go from funny cat man licking his balls to “Needle Mountain Hell” and “Great Screaming Hell” within a matter of minutes.

Ghost Cat Anzu is bonkers, and I love it for that.

It’s not only the unhinged plot that sets Ghost Cat Anzu apart. For one, it’s a French-Japanese co-production and an adaptation of a relatively obscure single-volume 17-year-old manga (though a sequel began serialization earlier this year). Screenwriter Shinji Imaoka is best known for his work on several sexually explicit “pink films,” a brave choice for a “family” movie. Unusually, Ghost Cat Anzu has two directors because, in The Case of Hana and Alice-style, the film was first shot with one director entirely in live-action, then digitally painted over under the aegis of an animation director. I’d hesitate to call the animation style pure rotoscoping, however – while the characters do move in a more naturalistic fashion than in much other anime, it’s not distracting or deliberately provocative like Flowers of Evil, which reveled in its naturalistic ugliness. Here, the live-action performances are transformed not into something uncanny or disconcerting, but human and relatable, even fantastical.

Take Karin – she’s a brat. Manipulative and conniving, she’s not a “nice” kid, but then life hasn’t been “nice” to her. We quickly learn that she changes her demeanor depending on the audience. With her father, she’s rude and condescending, referring to him only by his given name and with no honorifics. Around other adults, such as her grandad, she’s all wide eyes and broad smiles as she pretends to be a “good girl.” It’s funny and a little sad how she uses the blushing village boys to pursue her vindictive agendas. The animation style captures every nuance of her body language, adding to our understanding of her conflicted, complex character. Her facial expressions, in particular, are hilarious. It’s unusual for a child in this animation genre to be so thoroughly fleshed out – she’s an excellent example of a character who acts hatefully but remains empathetic for the audience.

Despite being a supernaturally-sized immortal “ghost cat” (a translation of the Japanese term “bakeneko”), Anzu himself acts more like a slightly weird, single, 37-year-old uncle with a penchant for Hawaiian shirts and farting loudly in public. His facial expression rarely changes – huge wide eyes that are difficult to read, emoting mainly by the liberal use of oddly-floating sweatdrops. He’s hilariously flawed, getting pulled over by the police for riding a motorbike unlicensed and losing Karin’s money at pachinko. At times, he’s the unfair target of Karin’s resentment, but as part of her family, he loves and looks out for her, making sacrifices and suffering for her wellbeing. He’s a good kitty, really.

Anzu’s not the only strange creature. In this version of rural Japan, the supernatural is but another aspect of everyday life – hence, when we meet various yokai, they’re engaged in normal human activities, and no one bats an eyelid. Of course, a tanuki can work as a golf caddy, and obviously, a human-sized frog digs enormous holes and runs his own private hot spring pool. There’s a gaggle of cute little spherical tree sprite birdie thingies that stepped straight out of a Miyazaki movie and a really weird-looking mushroom guy that adds to the extremely colorful supporting cast.

While Anzu’s daft antics raised a great deal of laughter from among the festival audience, it’s a slowly-paced film with strange comedic timing, where it takes a long time for anything to happen. That’s not necessarily a criticism; many writers and directors have made entire careers producing slice-of-life anime celebrating the pleasures of a slow life. So it’s unexpected that Ghost Cat Anzu goes to such exotic – and disturbing – places in its second half – switching up bucolic country existence first for urban Tokyo and then for the various levels of Buddhist Hell, here depicted as an upmarket hotel populated by Chinese-style demons and the souls of the dead. Comparisons with Keiichi Hara‘s Colorful spring to mind, with newly-deceased humans queueing up to receive details of their souls’ fate from businesslike attendants.

I don’t want to spoil the details of why the characters end up in hell or what they do there, but the film culminates in a truly demented car chase involving a minibus full of demons, Anzu demonstrating his most dangerous motorcycling skills, and an insanely-animated yokai-driven sports car sequence. It’s all so silly, and while wonderfully fun for adults, there’s a tonally discomforting element of quite brutal violence, played apparently for laughs. It may be too much for younger kids, and the ultimate outcome of these events may lead to challenging conversations with questioning children about Eastern concepts of the afterlife that may require entering a Wikipedia Death Spiral for parents.

At its core, Ghost Cat Anzu is a film about a young girl struggling with the scars that death has inflicted on her life, lashing out in anger and resentment at those around her, bargaining in an attempt to change her situation, and finding a way to gain acceptance. Indeed, there’s some denial mixed up in there somewhere, too. Ghost Cat Anzu‘s ending will spark disagreements among viewers, as many aspects are left ambiguous, even though the central conflicts are satisfyingly resolved. It’s absolutely not the sort of animated film you’d expect to see from a Western studio.

Even if you’re not a fan of rotoscoped animation, don’t let that put you off Ghost Cat Anzu. It’s a deeply strange but entertaining film that, although it seems to start as a silly comedy, proves to be profoundly emotionally intelligent and interesting. Karin makes for a compelling and conflicted lead, ably supported by her charismatic and weird cat-uncle. Recommended for fans of Japanese folklore, “difficult” girls, and fart jokes. Nya-ha-ha-ha!

Gladiator 2 recaptures the grandeur of ancient Rome, echoing the epic scale of the 2000 original. Directed by Ridley Scott, the sequel leans heavily into grand action, however, it lacks the emotional depth that made its predecessor unforgettable.

Set over two decades after Gladiator [2000], the story follows Lucius (Paul Mescal), now called Hanno, who lives as a soldier in Numidia until General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) invades, forcing him back into the Roman Empire. Under Macrinus (Denzel Washington), Lucius re-enters the brutal arena, ultimately driven to challenge young emperors Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) and Geta (Joseph Quinn) to fulfil his father Maximus’s vision of a Rome free from slavery.

The word Gladiator evokes emotions and memories of Russell Crowe in the Ridley Scott film. There has been an entire generation of audience that has grown up to love Gladiator and watched it multiple times. Unfortunately, the new film not only fails to match up to the original but also disappoints on multiple fronts.

Here’s the trailer:

The sequel delivers action, gore, and an electrifying score that elevates the viewing experience, but none of this compensates for the lack of emotional resonance. Unlike the original, which skillfully pulled emotional strings, Gladiator 2 fails to evoke a lasting impact. Family reunions and Lucius’s separation from his loved ones lack poignancy, leaving viewers uninvested. The story, while epic in scale, is too predictable and lacks nuance, with a few twists that genuinely surprise you.

When Lucius loses people close to him, one is supposed to feel empathetic towards him, but it hardly stirs any emotions. Perhaps the delay and the writers’ strike in Hollywood are to be blamed, or maybe it is just lazy writing.

The hand-to-hand combat scenes of Gladiator made the film a unique experience in 2000. While the action scenes in Gladiator 2 are good, they don’t add up to the experience people had while watching the Russel Crowe original.

David Scarpa keeps the screenplay more or less linear with flashbacks connecting the dots. The only interesting character in Gladiator 2 perhaps is that of Denzel Washington as Macrinus, who plays to the gallery. He is covet in his tactics and is driving the politics in the narrative. But it isn’t enough. The revelation of Lucius being the Prince of Rome is hardly startling for us or the Roman Empire.

Performances by the cast are great. From Paul to Denzel to Pedro, everyone knows the stakes are high, and they are pitch-perfect with their dialogue delivery and action-packed performances. However, without a strong emotional core, Gladiator 2 can feel like a chore, with its two-and-a-half-hour runtime dragging to feel even longer.

The challenges of making a follow-up to a cult classic film are multiple. While Gladiator 2 has a few moments that work, overall, the inevitable comparisons to the original prevent it from becoming a wholesome new experience.

2.5 out of 5 stars for Gladiator 2.

When you tune into a cozy Christmas rom-com, you can expect a few things. Lots of snow. A quaint small town that seems unstuck from time. A plucky heroine who owns a small business but, for whatever reason, is alone this holiday season. And a hunky man who is the magical answer to her loneliness. The new Netflix film “Hot Frosty,” starring Lacey Chabert and Dustin Milligan, has all of the above and a much deeper understanding of how mutual respect and personal growth can be just as hot as lusty love at first sight. 

Set in the impossibly small town of Hope Springs, the film begins with a narrator letting us know from the start that we are in a “Christmas Fairytale” as a magical burgundy scarf blows across the snowy town square. We then meet Kathy (Chabert), who lives alone in a slightly dilapidated Victorian home. A photo of a couple on the mantle and Kathy’s sad demeanor indicate she has recently loved and lost. Kathy owns a diner, Kathy’s Kafe, which serves as a social hub for the community. She seems to feed everyone in town, including Mel (Sherry Miller) and Theo (Dan Lett), who own the vintage store across the square. Mel bequeaths the magical scarf to Kathy, telling her it’s time to go back out into the cold in order to find some warmth. 

What Kathy finds instead is a chiseled snowman amongst the snow sculpture competition on the square. The wistful Kathy takes in this snowman Adonis, the only Christmas creation without a scarf around its neck. Always one to give to others, Kathy places the scarf around its neck. After she leaves a flurry of snow and CGI brings the sculpted snowman, fully nude aside from the tastefully large scarf, to life. That night Jack (Milligan) names himself after the name tag on a pair of coveralls he steals from the vintage store. The next morning he is taken in by Kathy, who hides him from the town Sheriff (Craig Robinson) and his Deputy (Joe Lo Truglio), who are looking for the streaker who broke the store’s window. You might think you can guess where the film goes from here. 

And you’d be partially right. While two form a bond as Jack attempts to lay low from the law, none of their interactions feel forced for the sake of shoehorned romance, instead the film largely focuses on the strength that can be found in a meaningful friendship. Milligan plays Jack with the same wide-eyed, big-hearted puppy dog energy that he brought to Ted, the vet with a heart of gold on “Schitt’s Creek.” While he could have gone big with this magical character in the vein of Will Ferrell in “Elf,” Milligan chooses a more laid-back sweetness, reminiscent of Brendan Fraser in “George of the Jungle” or Jeff Goldblum in “Earth Girls Are Easy.” Although his ridiculous good looks become a sort of joke as the town’s older women, Lauren Holly amongst them, lust over his physique, they aren’t really a factor in the burgeoning relationship between Jack and Kathy. 

When Jack first comes to life, it seems the only word he knows is ‘love.’ He loves the snow. He loves soup. He loves her. Kathy pushes back, insisting that when you say you love someone, it means something much more. Jack listens intently, taking it all in. As he slowly learns how Kathy lost her husband, the gravity of what she said sinks in, and he learns truly what it means to love someone. For her part, Chabert plays Kathy understated, a woman with a big heart heavy with grief—someone who keeps going for the sake of others but has practically given up on herself. Meeting someone like Jack, whose whole existence is to fill the world with joy and lend a helping hand where he can, gives her a ray of hope once again. Together, they grow as people first and a couple second. 

That’s because romantic love is not the only kind of love on this film’s mind. It knows that love of one’s community, of one’s neighbors, and most importantly of oneself, is important and fulfilling. As Jack learns more about the world, he begins using his skills to help others. Cooking dinner for Kathy escalates to learning how to fix her leaking roof to slowly becoming the town’s handyman. Inspired by Kathy’s own altruism, Jack decides helping others is worth the risk of being caught by the Sheriff. Despite his mysterious origins the town itself just accepts him, snowman or not, rallying to keep him safe. As one woman puts it, “A man that sweet must be magical.”

A top tier holiday film in its own right, the film has the requisite nods to previous films in the Netflix Holiday Movie Universe, including a mention of Aldovia from the “Christmas Prince” movies and a tongue-in-cheek moment where Kathy watches “Falling For Christmas” and notes that the star (Lindsay Lohan) looks “just like a girl she went to high school with.” In terms of its themes and overall quality, it reminded me of the excellent and underrated time travel romance “The Knight Before Christmas.”

Like that earlier film, “Hot Frosty” is goofy and sweet and magical. It knows exactly who its audience is and gifts them with a perfectly cozy Capra-esque fantasy where romance is founded in friendship and respect, communities rally around their most vulnerable, people are willing to call cops out on their abuse of power, and mutual aid is just a way of life. Sounds like bliss to me.