io9: appleseed

Want To See Appleseed: Ex Machina On The Big Screen for Free this Weekend?

Kevin Kelly — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:13:59 PST

If you've been wanting to see the John Woo produced cyborg war romance Appleseed: Ex Machina on the big screen, and you happen to live in New York, then this is your lucky day. We're giving away five pairs of tickets for a midnight screening of the movie at IFC Center in NYC for either Friday or Saturday night, take your pick. We've been vocal about our love for the movie, and although the movie will be out on DVD starting next Tuesday, it really takes a huge screen to appreciate the animation. Find out how you can take yourself and a friend (or just put your feet up) inside.

If we had the time, we might torture you again with another caption contest... but more than one a week might be a bit too taxing on the funnybone. So, if you want to win, please just let us know in the comments below. Please note that you need to live in or extremely close to New York City to take advantage of these, so enter only if you really plan on using these tickets.

We'll be providing a list of the winners to the organizers of the event, and they'll have your name on a list and you'll be good to go. Please note that we'll select the first five comments from folks in the NYC area who want to see the movie. For the rest of you, set your Netflix for Tuesday, March 11th, and enjoy.

Sneak Peek at Cyborg War Romance 'Appleseed: Ex Machina'

Kevin Kelly — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:00:16 PST

We've already mentioned the John Woo-produced anime sequel Appleseed: Ex Machina and spoken with director Shinji Aramaki, but Warner Video was on hand at WonderCon, handing out a billion postcards to remind people that it comes out DVD on March 11th. They even had a screening of it on Saturday night during WonderCon, although it faced stiff competition from parties featuring costumed fans and tipsy publicity reps. If you missed that, then peek at the clip below and find out what the world of Appleseed is all about.

The film is a Matrix-meets-cyborgs story featuring incredible animation, tons of bullets, lots of John Woo signature slow-motion, and even some cyborg doves. It's arguably, in this blogger's opinion, superior to the original Appleseed, and is at its best when things devolve into pure bullets and octane action. Thankfully, the multi-layered story is cerebral fodder as well as eye candy, so you won't get bored while you watch another clip of armor-piercing bullets get emptied into mindless robo-slaves.

Cyborg and Bioroid Love After the Apocalypse

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:30:40 PST

After a biological apocalypse, humanity's only hope is a city called Olympus, run by an AI named Gaia. Most of the city is inhabited by genetically-engineered, semi-tech Bioroids, creatures whose strong emotions have been bred out. Still, somebody has to keep the peace. That's why the human Deunan and cyborg Briarios have trained as warriors. But they are also lovers, and in a world of bio-engineered people that can get sticky — especially when the AI who runs your city decides to create a new Bioroid out of your cyborg boyfriend's DNA. Welcome to the world of Ex-Machina, the English-language sequel to Japanese cyberpunk anime classic Appleseed.

Appleseed started as a manga (comic book) and has been adapted into several Japanese TV miniseries as well as a feature film that came to the West in 2004 under the title Appleseed. Ex-Machina, coming is produced by John Woo, who is famous for his brilliant Hong Kong actioners like Hard Boiled, as well as stateside movies like Mission Impossible 3, Face/Off, and more. He's a master of action, and the Appleseed universe will be right up his alley.

What will thrill audiences about Appleseed is that it combines human emotional entanglements with its freaky post-human futurescape, making it work as a drama and an SF thriller. When Gaia's experimental new Bioroid Tereus comes on the scene, he looks just like the pre-cyborg Briarios and — in one of those DNA-as-destiny plots — he falls for Deunan the same way his DNA twin Briarios has. Love triangle plus genetic engineering! I'm there.

Exclusive Appleseed Clip [IGN]