Tag Archives: Parody

Attack on Titan: A Sudden Visitor: The Torturous Curse of Adolescence Review

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It’s time for another Attack on Titan OVA. You’ll be happy to know that this one is the best yet. It approached dangerous territory when the characters decided to go hunting, but the special did a pretty good job of handling it. It wasn’t perfect, but it managed to save itself as there was no blood or anything. It would be a little dicey if this was a long show were that kept happening or a movie with repeated scenes of this, but as a one off it wasn’t fatal.

This special should really be called Attack on Jean. He’s a pretty minor character in the main series, but he effectively got his own special here. Jean wants to get a cushy job in the Interior so he won’t have to fight Titans for a living, but this is proving to be difficult. His best chance is to do well in a training exercise, but then his teammates destroy this chance by just being better fighters in general than him. Jean doesn’t take this too well and hastily accepts a cooking challenge against Sasha. If he wins, she’ll have to stop up staging him every day of his life. The battle is on, but can Jean really win?

I do have to say that the remixed opening was handled pretty much perfectly here. We see a lot of shots of Jean running around and trying to be relevant and then at the end when the music is ramping up we just have him walking around since he usually doesn’t get to do much during the climax. It’s emotional yet also very fitting for the character. The soundtrack in general is easily 5 star material as we get most of the show’s famous themes from the first season. It’s just consistently amazing. The visuals are also pretty good. You’ll recognize the green energy effects the show loves to use and all of the character designs are on point. It’s not an action this time around so it’s hard to say just how good it is in the end, but it’s certainly good enough for me.

One thing that is interesting to note is that Jean is a whole lot meaner than usual. In the main series he’s not the nicest of guys, but he’s still pretty even tempered as he just tries to get promoted to a safe job. In this special he’s mean to his Mom for no reason and even threatens to punch Sasha. He resorts to stealing/cheating and just has absolutely no moral compass. I suppose it’s part of the humor, but I can’t imagine his fans would be too thrilled about this. The Mom subplot in particular felt random since in the flashbacks Jean was actually a nice guy and I suppose we are led to believe that joining the army corrupted him. He’s just not the nice guy that he used to be anymore.

The ending is also really cheesy so I wasn’t thrilled with that. We all know who should have won the cooking contest based on the two dishes. On the other hand, we can also assume that the wrong choice was picked because the judge was incredibly drunk. At least he was in character as I’ve never liked this guy. He has some hype but never does anything with it and is content to boss everyone around from the sidelines. Not the kind of guy you really want on your side.

As I mentioned before, there was one tricky scene where the heroes decide to hunt a boar for no good reason. Unfortunately they do nab him, but it was at least not done in a violent way. It’s a nice consolation. That’s really is for negatives and minor gripes. Beyond that, the special had really good pacing along with its soundtrack and graphics. It did a good job of embracing its comedic nature without going too far. For example, a good scene was when everyone transformed into Titans and could only watch as someone started taking everyone down. It was a nice high budget action moment that was certainly one of the highlights. It was just a good amount of fun.

I also liked Eren’s cameos as he called Jean out and also didn’t let Mikasa do all of his work for him. Eren likes to contribute so he will get strong enough to stomp all of the Titans. It would have been cool if the special could have kept in the scene where Eren beat Jean up, but at least the highlight is up on Youtube so you can always pause the special and quickly watch it during the beginning where it would have been perfectly thrown in. In case it wasn’t too clear, I was on Sasha’s team for this mission as Jean just didn’t do anything that made me want to root for him. He was basically the antagonist in this one after all.

The special also added some clever homages to the main series like when Sasha hit Reiner with her elbow in the same way that Eren attacked him in the forest. It was the same exact shot and I seem to recall 1 or 2 other instances of this. It was a nice bit of foreshadowing for the people who had already read the manga. Fans of the series will definitely get more out of this than average viewers, but both should still enjoy it quite a bit. It’s ironic that the best Attack on Titan special would be the comedy one, but now we know what the series could have been if it was a parody.

Overall, Attack on Jean was pretty fun. I wouldn’t mind if the series followed his adventures, but I have a feeling it would still suffer from the same problems as the original and a big problem would be that there would be fewer Eren scenes to try and bring it back up. The ending may be a little disappointing, but I’d still recommend checking the special out. It’s just pretty fun and quite possibly the only time you’ll be able to see Attack on Titan like this. It’ll truly go down as a collector’s item.

Overall 6/10

Airplane! Review

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It’s time to review what is considered to be one of the funniest films of all time. Some even call it The funniest of all time. I can safely say that it lives up to the reputation and I actually would agree with the title. Of course, in a film with so many jokes, there are obviously ones that fall flat and others that are crude/annoying. Fortunately, the positive ones outweigh the negatives and this is definitely a film that I’d recommend checking out.

The film starts off with a cab driver named Ted. He’s hit a rough patch in life since he got traumatized by the war and his friends don’t respect him anymore. He decides to stop moping though and gets on a plane that his former friend Elaine is on so they can reconnect. She is less than thrilled about this, but has no time for him. The plane has been stocked with poisoned food that is causing everyone to hatch eggs. She must now think quickly or the plane is going to crash and everyone aboard will die. There’s also a mad bomber to think about along with a suicidal person, a lady wit a gun, a shifty guy with a crowbar, and more. Fortunately, the world’s greatest pilot has been called out of retirement to help guide them down but can he pull it off?

Airplane is one of those films that has dozens of gags a minute. Something is always happening. While there is one obvious joke going, there are always a few subtle ones in the background. The best scene in the film is certainly the pilot’s entrance as he walks in and beats up a bunch of people who were trying to sign him up for their various groups. He wasn’t having any of that and the guy promoting Jehovah’s Witnesses seemed to have gotten punched particularly hard. Needless to say, one of them was wise enough not to approach the pilot. He had a job to do after all. The retired pilot was certainly the best character, he kept everyone on their toes and certainly wasn’t messing around.

Ted wasn’t a bad main character but he’s mostly oblivious to all of the jokes. He doesn’t do anything funny so much as he helps some of the other jokes succeed by existing. I definitely don’t blame Elaine for leaving though since Ted definitely didn’t take the past war situation very well at all. Elaine is a little naive and doesn’t seem to be very smart so I can’t say that she is my kind of character either. Of course, these characters are all meant to be rather incompetent and not very smart to help make the movie funnier. The two characters did a good job in their roles even if they weren’t super likable like the retired pilot.

There are a few other supporting characters. They aren’t notable so much as there jokes can be memorable. One character that fell flat was the guy who would just act random the whole time. He would comment on someone gaining weight and always seemed rather loopy. His jokes never worked. You also had the normal pilot and a basketball player. I liked the Basketball player as his joke worked well.

Now while the jokes were very funny, the humor is also what holds the film back somewhat. We get a pretty iffy scene with the rubber pilot as getting air back into him can be somewhat dicey. The ebonics talk was also a little tricky if you could understand what they were saying as opposed to the sub titles. I can understand it somewhat myself so…yeah. There was also a scene with a dog attacking someone for a little while which could be a little dicey depending on how you look at it. Finally there’s the pilot’s conversation with the kid that was risky. The romance is pretty bad as well. This is intentional, but it doesn’t make it any less bad.

These negatives are fairly mild though so they don’t hurt the film too much. They shave off one star, but that’s all. This is still a film that I’d recommend checking out. There are just too many laughs not to watch it. Before this film, the Cat in the Hat is probably the film that I thought was the funniest and possibly Pixels as a guilty pleasure. I’ve never laughed so hard on the inside during a film before that one, I was shaking in my seat. I dunno, Sandler is like a movie that’s so bad it’s good. The writing wasn’t good, but it was funny. The two don’t necessarily have to be connected.

There isn’t really much of a soundtrack in this film but some nice themes do appear as jokes. I believe the Jaws theme may have played at one point. They also intentionally used the wrong sound for the plane the whole time which is a pretty nice detail. One of the more underrated scenes that was fun was when the two people over the intercom are arguing about where to leave your stuff in the Airport. It’s very subtle at first and is gradually brought to the forefront by the end of the scene.

Mentioning all of the jokes wouldn’t make for much of a review though so I’ll stop there. It’s more fun to watch the film and find them out for yourself. There’s not much more of a plot or characters to talk about either so this is more of a shorter review. Watch out for the flashback since it adds some more dimensions to the characters and squeezes in a Star Wars reference along the way. As I said, the film is quite clever.

Overall, Airplane is more hit than miss. You’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you end up not watching it. The film is basically timeless and has aged quite well. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the amount of jokes we get during the film and it’s so unrealistic and unreasonable that it works. I can’t imagine that a sequel/spinoff/prequel could ever hope to match its greatness, but I’d like to see the studio try some more options. We need more good parody films like this one. I wonder if any film will ever surpass this one with humor or if I’ll die with this one still at the top. It’s definitely something to think about.

Overall 6/10

Mob Psycho 100 Review

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This show is a nice contrast to Attack on Titan. That show had amazing animation, soundtrack, and writing which helped to counter the terrible source material. It managed to bring up the manga which is like a 1 all the way to a 5. Granted, it hasn’t had to adapt the really sketchy stuff yet so we’ll see if that can last. Mob Psycho is the opposite as the animation is terrible and the soundtrack is only average at best while the plot isn’t bad. It’s funny how two shows can be so different and so similar at the same time. It’s no One Punch Man, but the series manages to pick up its game just enough in the end to save itself.

The series is about a kid named Shigeo. He was born as the strongest being in the universe and he could end all life on the planet if he wanted too. Shigeo was unable to deal with this so he locked away his true powers with his emotions and decided to train under a con artist named Reigen. As a result of losing his emotions, Shigeo is now super timid and unsure of himself. He basically says whatever he is thinking and is typically a very oblivious person who is also not fit physically. He is forced to come to terms with his powers more when an evil organization known as Claw kidnaps his brother. Can Shigeo defeat them without losing his cool or is it curtains for him?

Right from the start you’ll notice a lot of similarities to One Punch Man. I like to think of it as the poor man’s version of OPM as it does everything on a lower level, but at least it still tries to be like that show. If you’re gonna copy something, you should copy from the best. It’s from the same guy so at least he’s just copying himself, I imagine there would have been a lot of waves online if this had really been a ripoff from another person.

Lets start with the negatives and then go into the positives. Mob Psycho is hurt by a very slow start. The show is only 12 episodes and the plot doesn’t really begin until around episode 8-9. The first chunk is just for filler and character development. Most of the development isn’t any good though which doesn’t help its case. The show isn’t so much boring as it’s just very underwhelming because of the animation. You won’t really begin to like any of the characters aside from Reigen and most of the supporting cast is pretty bland and lackluster.

The beginning of the plot didn’t help matters either as it covered Shigeo’s brother Ritsu on his descent into darkness. He turned completely evil and wrecked some lives before being beat up a few times and realizing that being a hero is less paiful. He was definitely one of the worst characters in the series so getting multiple episodes to himself wasn’t a really good idea on the show’s part. Next up is the biggest negative of the series though…the animation.

You can call the animation indie or experimental, but it leads to the same result. It’s just really bad. The average episode will look like hastily drawn title by the Dragon Ball Super B team. (Not even the starters) The character designs are only good when the episodes get serious or during a battle so otherwise they don’t look very good at all. It’s like we’ve time traveled decades into the past for this show. Moreover, the show looks ugly on purpose at times. The show has a really awful way of drawing characters sweating and we get some dicey facial expressions the whole time as well. The animation focuses on elements that don’t help the show’s case and parts of it will even seem like FLCL. It can be subtly gross if anything.

Now, the animation isn’t terrible 24/7. It magically transforms into a solid spectacle once the action gets underway. Suddenly the show remembers that this is 2016 and it looks top of the line. For the final 3 episodes, this is mostly the case for the entire adventure which also proves that this “experimental” style as intentional. It’s a little insulting that the show looked so bad on purpose. It would be like if the One Punch Man anime had decided to look like the web comic sketches. It would make no sense and would have severely hurt the show. Unlike Mob Psycho, the OPM series is just a lot better in general so it’d probably still get a 7, but it would be a massive two point drop.

As for the soundtrack, it’s not bad. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a little standard, but I’ll take it. It has 1-2 really good themes with the rest not being very notable. I wasn’t a big fan of the theme song and I still don’t care for the visuals, but the actual music grew on me by the end of the show. It’s definitely pretty catchy and the serious Mob themes are good. I’ll give this area of the show a thumbs up. All right, lets talk about the characters.

I definitely don’t like Shigeo. He’s not very smart and is way too timid. While the first trait can work to a character’s favor if handled well, the latter pretty much never works. Shigeo gets serious when he reaches 100% rage of course and he quickly jumps into the other extreme since there’s no middle ground for him. I wish he’d stay like that though. Not only does his design get a lot cooler, but he actually has a personality. Normal Shigeo has no character and just lets everyone walk right over him. He stays in normal mode for so long that a member of Claw even defeats him and then he loses another round later on for losing control again. Shigeo’s just not a good character and he is extremely annoying whenever he is on screen. For being the world’s strongest fighter, he’s got a ways to go.

Luckily, Reigen is the best character in the series and he gets a lot of screen time as well. Since he is a professional con artist, he doesn’t fall for any of the tricks that Shigeo steps into. Reigen knows how to steal money from people and trick them into enjoying the process. While he doesn’t have any powers, Reigen does know basic hand to hand skills and has most of the best moments in the series. He takes on the final bosses and it’s just great. While his advice at the end was completely terrible, it was the only out of character moment for him. The rest of it was all pretty legit and he just steals the show plain and simple. He’s the kind of character who should definitely stay powerless as it’s part of his charm, but I’d still love to see him beat up more villains at some point.

Next up is Dimple. He was a big villain who got turned into a powerless spirit and now Shigeo allows him to hang around. It may just be to fuel his ego though as Shigeo will threaten him now and again. He is definitely a villain even if it’s not played too seriously so the other characters need to watch out. He’s not a great character, but he can definitely be amusing. Ritsu on the other hand never gets amusing or likable. He’s the classic “jealous brother” trope along with characters like Yukio from Blue Exorcist. He doesn’t have any powers so that makes him feel bad. Ritsu does whatever he can to gain powers, but nothing works so one day he decides to take a shortcut. After he gains his powers, Ritsu immediately uses them to bully people because of his inferiority complex. This is the part where Ritsu makes sure to never redeem himself. He really only turns into a good guy because he was completely humiliated by the villains and spends the last episodes just getting beat up over and over again. He got to keep his powers so now he can fight to a degree, but he’s nowhere near Mob. Like One Punch Man, if you’re a supporting character then you’re doomed.

Ritsu does officially turn good so he’ll probably be a solid character in season 2, but it was too late for him here. He already ruined the lives of a lot of classmates by framing them and he just really crossed the line into full villain territory. It’s hard to reverse that in a handful of episodes as opposed to Naruto where Sasuke had hundreds of episodes to show you why he was a villain before turning good. Granted, it wasn’t handled any better than this show though, but that’s another story. Ritsu actually does bring down the show.

The last member of the heroes is Hanazawa. He has a similar plot to Ritsu as he starts off as a bully and then becomes a good guy after Shigeo shaves his hair off and beats him into the ground. There’s a trend here if you’ve noticed, the only way to turn a villain into a good guy is to beat him up. The series goes even further with this by the end of the series. I actually liked the ending of the show quite a lot. Just about everyone turned good, apologies were made, etc. It was a nice uplifting ending to the series and while Shigeo looks bad as usual in his epilogue, it hit all of the right notes. Since this is supposed to be a light hearted parody anyway, it should have an ending like this to match that beat. It’s why I have much higher hopes for the 2nd season. If it plays its cards right, I could definitely see that one getting a 7. Hopefully they don’t get the same animation studio though.

Time for the villains. Shou is the hype antagonist who they are saving for season 2. His abilities are certainly extraordinary as he was able to take down one of the strongest villains in the blink of an eye. He’s pretty charismatic and I think that I actually will end up liking this villain. He’s the best villain in the series at the moment. Another big villain was Sakurai. He’s a swordsman who uses psychic energy to amp up his equipment so he can take the fight to the heroes. He’s very strong and is certainly the most no nonsense of all the fighters. His role may not have been huge, but he was one of the big villains and I’d say that he was the best member. (Shou doesn’t count as a member of course)

Koyama was another one of the big members. He has super strength and it was quite formidable since he was actually able to punch a hole through Shigeo’s defenses. He wasn’t at 100% yet, but that was still really impressive. Furthermore, he was able to survive a long combo from Shigeo’s true power and had enough strength left to counter-attack and take him down. This guy was definitely no joke even if he was treated like one during round 2. He was another really good villain. There were other members of the group who shows up like one guy with fire powers and another who used a whip. The organization definitely had some really talented fighters under their belt.

Ishiguro was the leader of the group and “her” design while in villain mode was pretty cool. The gravity balls were also a nice touch. Gravity powers are some of the most underrated abilities in all of media if you ask me. They can definitely be very lethal and she was holding her own even after Mob stepped in. The ultimate reveal for Ishiguro may have been underwhelming for some and funny to others. It was mildly expected that something like this would happen, but at the same time it’s still a little surprising. It definitely destroyed Ishiguro’s character so hopefully it was worth the laugh.

One element of Mob Psycho 100 that can be a mixed bag is the fact that it’s a parody. Shigeo is meant to be virtually invincible which means that he can beat people whenever he wants. The reason why it doesn’t work as well as One Punch Man is because he’s just not likable. Also, Shigeo does lose 2-3 times in the series unlike Saitama who has yet to even come close to losing. It hurts the whole concept a little. Also, this means that there is never any real danger in the show. The show did randomly get dark at a few points in the series like with Ritsu’s plot and when the organization showed up for the first time. It’s a little all over the place with the tone and especially when the show would just go full parody mode and have some big comedic reveal to disrupt a tense moment. It just didn’t always work well. Some episodes had a perfect blend like with the last episodes as Reigen wrecked everybody, but others like the super strength guy getting one shotted by Shigeo didn’t work. I do think that it’s a formula which could work like OPM proved, but this show just isn’t as good at it. As a result, many of the fights in this series are completely one sided which is never a lot of fun for the viewer. Whether it’s the hero outmatching the villain or vice versa if you make it too lopsided then it’s not going to be any fun. It has to at least be at the level where the other side has a slim chance like with Aizen wrecking the Bleach cast or Broly dishing out the pain. Those were lopsided battles, but they still felt like battles, not just one guy murdering everyone else or knocking them out with a thought.

Also, the supporting characters just need to be written out. The Alien, Psychics club is really just a waste of time. None of their scenes are funny and the characters aren’t likable. At least the body improvement club members help out Shigeo when he needs them. Those guys are honorable and you can count of them. Unfortunately, they are still side characters so they get beat up quite a lot. I definitely felt bad for them at any rate since they didn’t really deserve it. It was also one of the moments that hurt Shigeo a lot as he just watched all of his friends get beaten up in front of him and didn’t move a muscle to help. Considering that these guys only got into this mess to protect Shigeo from the bullies and it’s pretty messed up. The bullies sure get away with quite a lot in this show.

On a final note, making Reigen the main character would really help the show. As I mentioned, he has most of the best scenes in the show. He takes out the villains while staying classy and not breaking a sweat. One problem with the show is that all of the fights revolve around someone beating Shigeo black and blue until he turns into rage mode and then crushes the opponent while insulting him the whole time. There’s no middle ground so the supporting characters are your only chance at a good fight. It’s just Shigeo turning into rage mode constantly, but not even a really cool version like Kirito. (Best kind of rage mode) Reigen wouldn’t have that problem since he never even gets upset. The show could just tap into its comedy/parody nature and think of cool ways for Reigen to win through his scams. A show like that would definitely be a lot of fun and that’s the key thing. It would be fun as opposed to just being dark and brooding at times.


Overall, I wasn’t really a fan of Mob Psycho. It had its hype moments and did get really good at the end, but the painful beginning really held it back. It could get a little mean spirited and the fact that Shigeo’s not a good lead doesn’t help either. That’s why I make the comparison to Attack on Titan, they’re both similar when you think about it. Mob Psycho has a whole lot more potential, but actually realizing it will be the struggle. Improving Mob as a character and getting the animation to a reasonable level should be the show’s two top priorities. Along the way it should also try to get the blend of genres balanced and write out some of the supporting characters as well. If it can do all of that, then Mob Psycho will be a success. Looking at One Punch Man and learning how to use humor as effectively would also be a valuable use of time. If you love One Punch man, then I guess you should check this out. I’d recommend just watching the first episode and then skipping the next 5-6 and starting with the plot if anything. That would probably help the experience quite a lot. Alternately, just check out One Punch Man instead.

Overall 5/10

Dr. Strangelove Review

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It’s time to look at a critically acclaimed political film. This one takes a pretty interesting look at the good ole Cold War days and our tensions with Russia. Back then it was all about getting the bigger weapons, but we all know that such a build up can only have negative results. This film points that out with America’s half thought out attack protocols and it leads to a very tense atmosphere where all of the characters are wondering what to do about this. It is definitely a well made film.

So, the long and short of it is that one of America’s generals is fed up with the whole thing. He wants to wipe Russia off the map and nobody’s going to stop him. He orders his men to execute the order where they are to fire a nuke at Russia. The command was given as if it was a critical red scenario meaning that the homeland was taken over so this was a last act of retaliation to ensure that Russia died alongside the U.S. Naturally, this was not the case at all, but the pilots had no way of knowing that since they were already in the air and set about to complete their mission. This was a suicide mission so they would not be able to return to see its effects anyway. The President finds out about this and gathers all of the top ranking officials to decide what to do about it.

The problem? There is nothing they can do about it. The order cannot be taken back due to radio silence and there is no way to override it. The President can tell Russia about it, but that will demand retaliation so the U.S. would also blow up. That means there are two ways this can go down. 1. The U.S. alerts Russia to their impending demise so they fire their own nuke and we both die. 2. U.S. keeps silent and Russia dies before they can retaliate, but then we will be known as villains around the world. It’s a tough call.

The cast of characters is of a reasonable size. We’ve got the President as a main character which is always cool. The flaw with this guy is that he’s very timid and I can’t imagine someone like that winning the oval office. He has a hard time talking with Russia since they end up being more aggressive and his whiny disposition makes it hard to sympathize with him. I’m sure this president did a pretty good job during the term, but he wasn’t cutting it. He’s a decently humorous character if you keep in mind that this is a parody though. Turgidson is a pretty charismatic character and one of those guys who gets a lot of witty lines, but is actually a bad character if you think about it enough. He is a little too enthusiastic about implementing a terribly selfish plan at the end of the film to save himself and he doesn’t mind shirking his duty for no real reason. What helps to combat these negative traits is how devoted he is to stopping the Russians. He is willing to lie or do just about anything else to convince people that they are behind all of this. Naturally, he opts to just stay silent and let Russia grow up. While the rest of the council made sure to ignore him during the decision making, you couldn’t ignore him because of how loud the guy was.

Ripper was really the main antagonist of the film and the guy who got the ball rolling. He’s definitely pretty crazy so there is no reasoning with him. It was surreal to see him start firing on his own soldiers just so he could stay alive and once he had stalled enough, he just shot himself. Shooting himself definitely hurt his credibility since he took the cop-out way in the end. The crazyness may have added to the film’s overall atmosphere, but I wouldn’t have minded if this character was cut out. Poor Mandrake was caught in the middle of this breakdown and he did a good job of trying to make the best of the situation. He did come close to stopping the catastrophe, but it was too little too late. Guano is a random general who showed up to take command of the situation over there and I’ll give him a little shout out for being fairly tough. Considering everything that had just happened, he took the situation in stride.

Finally, we have Dr. Strangelove. He is certainly quite the character and that’s to be expected since the film is named after him. The concept of an ex Nazi working for the U.S. and getting a seat on the council is pretty ludicrous but we’ll let it slide for now. His main gimmick was that he kept trying to salute by mistake and telling treasonous things like “My Fuhrer” and hoping that nobody noticed. He is pretty well educated about weapons of mass destruction and nuclear deterrents so he is consulted quite a lot in this film. It’s always interesting to have a traitor in your midst as well and he added some tension to the film. He was without a doubt, one of the best characters in the film.

There is really only one scene here that holds the film back a little and that is Turgidson’s debut. It’s just a really drawn out scene of his secretary answering a call for him while not fully dressed and the scene just stays here for a while. It felt like obvious fanservice and while it wasn’t anything drastic, it is enough to make you shake your head at the whole thing. The deluded general Ripper’s fixation on bodily fluids was also mildly alarming and the final desperate plan that the U.S. considers was also rather twisted. You’re liable to have some iffy plots in a black comedy since it’s part of the humor, but at least it was kept to a minimum. If you consider that this was really the only negative in the film, then that’s actually a pretty good sign. The film may not be amazing or as good as it could have been, but I’d call it a solid film in the end. It’s a movie that I could actually re-watch right now since it’s been a while and it does have a good amount of replay value.

I have to give a brief shout-out to the ending. It was handled beautifully and I was not expecting it in the slightest. It’s an ending that I can’t imagine a modern film getting away with. Not because of content as there is nothing violent about it at all, but just because it’s not a mainstream ending that people would probably approve of. That’s why it was so shocking when the film just suddenly ended with a quick song and a slow montage. I can’t say what the montage was about since that would definitely be a spoiler, but it was classic nonetheless.

Overall, Dr. Strangelove is a very clever film and most of the humor is actually rock solid. It’s a film that will breeze by in no time at all. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and just has a lot of fun along the way. The characters are all very crazy and charismatic. While some of them may not be all that likable on their own, they do make the film more enjoyable. It’s a very crazy film and while that can sometimes work against it, the uniqueness helps the film more than it hurts. If like me, you enjoy watching films that deal with politics and even poke fun at it in the process, then this is a film that you can definitely get behind. The film has a much larger title which will make a lot of sense once you watch the movie. I’d love to see a remake of this film someday as the concept is something that could easily be used again.

Overall 6/10

Young Frankenstein Review

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It’s always sad when you’re so close to being a good film, but then crash and burn towards the second half. Young Frankenstein had a promising start, but as with many comedy films, it simply couldn’t think of enough good material and had to resort to iffy moments in the end. It does succeed as a parody and will get you a good amount of laughs so comedy fans may enjoy this film anyway. At any rate, it certainly does destroy the normal Frankenstein films, but that’s not much of a feat.

Frankenstein is a professor who is given a tough time because people always question him about the original Frankenstein. Frankenstein has even gone as far as to switch the pronounciation of his name to Frankensteen and always denounces the possibility of creating a monster. He even stabs himself accidentally when trying to get the point across. Unfortunately, he cannot escape his destiny. He gets ownership of the castle and once he gets there…strange things start to happen. An assistant by the name of Igor arrives with the house and a lady named Inga. Frankenstein doesn’t want to create a monster, but his genes start to take control of him and force him to go along with it. He begins to revel in his new role as a crazed scientist, but this isn’t what he wanted….right?

The film was definitely fun at first. The whole scene with him in the classroom was brilliant. He kept the students in line and while they really made it tough on him, Frankenstein never cracked. He even took the stab pretty well considering that it looked rather painful. You’ll feel bad for his volunteer though since that guy wasn’t prepared for the insanity that would ensue. The first parts of the castle were also fun as Frankenstein very sarcastically takes in the strange surroundings. He’s very skeptcal and isn’t afraid to mention it. At first he reacts to all the crazy stuff like Igor’s broken hand constantly switching sides, but gets used to it at the end. He adapts and adapts until he goes full crazy and tries to reenact the experiment.

The film really does recover just about everything that was in the first film. Naturally, some parts are greatly improved like the little girl scene. Instead of being drowned, she is simply thrown through a window back into her bed. It’s the kind of change that could have really helped the old Frankenstein films. We even get the blind guy burning the monster again. There are a lot of good homages and the film is at its best when it’s making fun of the old films and having Frankenstein panic at everything. Unfortunately, things go downhill when we get away from this.

The biggest offender is really the fact that the film constantly brings up the fact that Frankenstein’s upgrades also affected him in more personal ways. You’ll see a lot of jokes about that, but one joke goes a little too far as he chases one of the heroines. She trips and is unable to escape him. She does end up falling in love with him after the experience, but the fact remains that she didn’t really have a choice the first time. It’s meant as a joke, but one that was in rather poor taste. Aside from that, the “romance” between the main two characters is just as bad. During the whole film, Inga is constantly flirting with Frankenstein and purposely taking his comments the wrong way. She finally breaks his will by the end and then we get more sad plot twists. It’s a cruel end for Frankenstein as well since he basically loses his mind. The romance parts are definitely the weakest bits for the film and the scenes just aren’t funny.

It goes without saying that I’m not a fan of the Monster. He really only cares about running around and destroying things and finding a partner. That doesn’t make for a great villain or for a misunderstood guy. Inga is not any better as romance is the only thing on her mind. She’s portrayed as being incredibly unintelligent. It’s part of the parody aspect of course, but it doesn’t work too well at all.

With Frankenstein also falling off the deep end, the only good character here is Igor. You have to wonder whether he is as out of the loop as he suggests. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the actual mastermind behind the scenes. He gave Frankenstein the wrong brain because he “accidentally” broke the real one and then he would move large distances in impossibly quick times. The film hinted that he may have had a twin in the castle as well since it would be the only logical explanation at times. If that is the case, it only goes to reinforce the idea that he is a lot smarter and craftier than he seems. The pieces simply start to add up once you begin connecting the dots. Igor was definitely fun to have around.

Overall, Young Frankenstein wasn’t a good film. It’s a shame because as I mentioned earlier, the first half was fairly great. The humor was well done and Frankenstein’s reactions to everything were real highlights. Other scenes like getting stuck in the revolving door were also handled well although making sure that Igna also got stuck felt rather mean spirited of Frankenstein. Unfortunately, the film started to get a little too obsessed with romance by the end and getting the monster in on the action was really not a good move at all. Frankenstein’s descent into madness made absolutely no sense, but I suppose that was part of the point. I preferred him as a skeptic though since he kept on calling everyone out and just being a lot of fun. The actor certainly did a really good job for what it’s worth. The film just let him down this time. If you want a funnier parody, check out the horror/comedy I reviewed a while back where Sherlock Holmes and a lot of other famous detectives must team up to solve a murder mystery before they are all bumped off.

Overall 2/10

Superman/Batman Volume 3 Review

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It’s time for a Batman and Superman adventure. Typically these stories are all rather awesome and you’d expect an easy 9/10 or at least an 8 at the very lowest right? Well, for some reason the stories weren’t as great as I thought they’d be. The characters are all a little out of character at times, the writing can be rather bad and the art is really bonkers for some of the stories. It’s still getting a solid seven at least, but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed at the result. Perhaps it will grow on me if I read it at some point in the future. Still, with a bunch of plots here, there are comics that are better than others so let’s look at each arc.

The first story involves the first time that Batman and Superman met each other in one of the timelines. This timeline is particularly wonky though as both characters seem a little off. It starts out pretty well with Batman and Superman having some of their usual banter. They are seeing who can find out the other’s identity the quickest. Back to the human plot, both of them are using the same cruiser. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent have been assigned the same room due to a technical malfunction and Clark refuses to be bullied by the Wayne name. Both of them refuse to budge so they’re forced to share the room for the entirety of the cruise. This helps them learn each other’s identity, which is sure to be interesting since they were both being over the top annoying to each other. Granted, I was on Team Superman from the get go. Can’t let the money win!

Things take another odd twist as Owlman and another Superman show up along with Deathstroke and Deadpool. It was all a cosmic game and one that certainly did get on everyone’s nerves. It could have been crazy in a good way I guess, but it just didn’t work out for me and made for a very weak start to this collection. The art was also pretty bad, but this was possibly intentional to show how crazy things were. I do like the big and bold style of this era as it can make for great visuals, but this was not one of those times. At the very least, we did get some action here though.

Next up was a quick story in the far future about Power Girl and Huntress. Batman and Superman were both quickly cursed and trapped in their bodies. If they don’t escape soon, they will be mentally destroyed and unable to ever return. Power Girl and Huntress have a similar skill set so the two heroes get used to this easily enough, but it will still be difficult to find their bodies in time. They aren’t as young as they used to be after all. This was an okay story. There wasn’t a whole lot of action though and while the whole concept of body swapping is classic, it wasn’t really long enough for it to make much of a difference. Also, it should be Batman and Superman swapping bodies as that would make for a great story.

The next story was the first serious one. Batman was minding his own business when Martian Manhunter breaks into the Batcave and beats him up. Batman just barely manages to fend him off. Things get a little stranger as Superman is attacked by a bunch of people, the justice league shows up except they’ve all been mind controlled. Supergirl also arrives, but she’s mind controlled and then Superman is turned evil. Batman manages to fend him off and Lois Lane reminds Superman why he’s a hero. It was a little late for that though as Batman is now evil so we get a nice rematch. Then Superman takes on the Justice League and we find out that Despero and a race of ultra powerful aliens are behind this. The aliens can mind control anyone and they have these rocks that also help take people over. I think they’re confirmed planet busters as well by the way. Luckily, they’re nice guys in the end so they just leave thanks to Superman’s belief in the good that resides in everyone.

That story may have sounded awesome on paper, but it was super convoluted. Instead of being hype and awesome, it was just super confusing and the whole time you were just waiting for more action and fight scenes. Granted, this is another comic that I think would be a lot more enjoyable the second time around. It should have been better the first time, but some things do take time. I didn’t care for vinegar in my tea at first, but now it’s one of the best things to add. Fudge is still the coolest along with sugar though. Seeing more Batman vs Superman fights is always classic though. Not to mention that the art was quite good here as well. It was a huge improvement over the first two.

The collection ends with a final arc involving the Metal Men. They show up to attack a Gotham facility so Batman quickly calls Superman and the two manage to stop them. That being said, it turns out that they were just testing the security of the location. After the misunderstanding is over, this may as well have not been the case. The Metal Men are taken over by Omac and decide to destroy everyone that they can. Batman and Superman are called back into action, but Superman isn’t thrilled about Batman keeping more and more secrets. Not to mention that he also lied to Superman’s face the whole time as well. They’ll get over it though. This was easily the best adventure in the collection. This is a story that I could easily picture happening, not to mention that the art was also very sharp as well. It may not have been great for facial expressions, but the action scenes benefited from it and the characters showed a lot of emotion.

It’s also the little things that can help with a comic like this. I was glad to see Superman show up right away to deal with the Metal Men. Batman may not have done all that well on his own, but with Superman the battle was decided in an instant. The writing was also the best from the adventures and everyone was in character. If all the stories were like this one, I’d say that it really could have reached the elusive 9. There weren’t even any real guest stars here, Batman and Superman were able to hold their own comic with ease.

I’d say that the main problem with this collection was that it relied too much on gimmicks. Super powerful beings from other universes who were just messing with the heroes. I like having a villain that the heroes can punch. The writing was also an issue as good writing can make everything a lot more exciting. I’m just going to assume that this is an outlier and the rest of the comics will likely be a lot more fun. Batman and Superman still are the two best comic book characters in all of media and I don’t see that changing for me anytime soon. As the last story showed, they’ve still got it. As Bruce Wayne, Batman was annoying in the first saga, but aside from that both characters were great in the rest of the book. Superman being mind controlled has been done to death though and I still believe that he should be immune to it. Likewise for Batman. I wasn’t surprised about the Martian Manhunter being taken over though. He had a really poor showing the entire time although I did love his big twist. It helped to up the stakes.

Overall, This volume may not have been as good as expected, but it was still a solid comic in the end. I’d still easily recommend this to any Batman and Superman fans out there. There is a lot of action to be found and the banter between Batman and Superman is always classic. I do think that this collection is more fun the second time around so just enter this collection with that frame of mind. Once you know how it’s going to end, the stories should make a little more sense and not feel so random. It doesn’t completely excuse them, but at least it can possibly make them more entertaining. The stories can be fun, but the big alien takeover just felt like a huge missed opportunity considering how grand and large scale it was. It’s rare that a story is better the second time around, but just look at the Megaman NT Warrior manga series. I’ve read it dozens of times and it was only during my second last reading that I truly got to appreciate just how amazing the series was. Sometimes, things just get better with age and time. Another comic review with Batman and Superman is on its way so prepare yourself for that!

Overall 7/10

One Punch Man

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All right, I’ve finally started the super popular One Punch Man series. It’s definitely a lot better than the other insta hits like Sword Art Online and Attack on Titan. This series shows a lot of promise and could go down as one of the better titles if it can keep up the momentum. I’ll have a review for the series when it finishes.

Overall 7/10

Galaxy Quest Review

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I saw this film a while back, but the review has been in limbo for quite a while. I’m always up for a parody even if they can get a little dicey at times. This one is pretty well done for the most part, but it still does have enough dicey moments and plots to hold it back quite a bit. The bright side is that this film is much better than some older Sci-Fi films like The Forbidden Planet. The bad side is that it’s no Star Trek and the parody should always be better than the original.

The plot revolves around Peter. (Again?) Well, Jason to be more specific, but he played Peter in the Star Trek parody show and it still has a very strong following among its fans. The problem is that the show was too popular and aliens from other solar systems have seen it as well. A group of them come to Earth to enlist the aid of the actors who they believe to be the real characters. Jason naturally agrees since he loves to be in the spotlight, but his comrades are a lot more reluctant. Jason may have been good in the show, but can he really hack it against a group of tyrannical aliens who have come to destroy everything that we know and hold dear? It’ll take a lot of gusto to hold these guys in check!

First, I’ve definitely gotta say that the TV show looks pretty hype. It definitely feels like Star Trek, but possibly with higher stakes. I wouldn’t mind seeing a movie that adapts the actual show rather than showing the real world. As it stands, the actors…range from good characters to iffy ones although luckily none of them are downright terrible or even really bad, which is good.

The best member is easily Alexander. He really disliked his role in the TV show and tries to forget it, but that task is incredibly difficult when the fans always recite your famous lines. He dislikes the fans and isn’t afraid to show it, but Jason always plays on his ego. Alexander wants to be a great stage magician or something like that so he must answer the curtain call or he’ll be a fraud. Towards the end he lives out some of his lines and learns the values of friendship, but I’ll definitely miss his cynical/dramatic self from the opening.

Jason’s the lead and well…he’s a little dicey. He’s actually similar to the Peter from Men In Black Alien Crisis, but he’s a little less obvious and also doesn’t seem as far gone. We learn through exposition that he basically was like Kirk and he flirts with Gwen a lot during the film, but luckily he is typically shot down. I was glad that he actually took the alien situation in stride and talked tough to the villains even if he thought it was a dream. He certainly has more guts than the rest of the crew so it is one of those cases where he has a lot of good traits, but tries to balance himself out with bad ones. It’s not as extreme as it could have been though.

Gwen’s a decent character although the film sadly uses her for fanservice on more than one occasion. One scene in particular makes no sense as her outfit just happens to rip during the climax. It’s a shame since her other gimmick of repeating the computer was a pretty original one. I think her character would have been fine with just that one trait. Gwen lacks the charisma that Jason and Alexander have, but she’s better than Fred. Fred was a decent character, but his romance at the end really was unneeded and wrecked his emotionless front. He would typically just go along with whatever plan Jason thought of and that was also enough for his character. I think the film just went overboard with how much personality it wanted each member to have.

Unfortunately, the same can be said for the alien allies as well. They all have very annoying voices and their lack of knowledge about Earth can also drag on and on. I’ve never liked the trope of aliens not knowing Earth’s customs which makes them look bad for long periods of time. We get that they don’t know about Earth, but there’s no need to dwell on it. The sounds that the alien allies make when they panic can also be annoying and it doesn’t grow on you the same way that Chewy’s roars do. I just didn’t like any of the allies from the get go. If they were less naive and a little more hardcore then that could be different, but at it stands, they needed more vigor and gusto.

The main villain is fairly decent. He’s a little on the generic side of course, but the main thing that matters is that he has a cool design and he can fight. He isn’t here to ask for help from the humans and he doesn’t back down to their threats either. His army is also pretty intelligent and there was a pretty big shock moment towards the end as the villains took the ship. It’s a good thing the heroes are in a place that houses a legendary weapon with an unknown power. I can definitely buy into that twist and I wouldn’t even call it all that plot haxed. Well…okay, there was plot hax involved.

Now, I can buy the fans figuring out the true purpose of the device, but how? The explanations in the film that were given were unsatisfying to be honest and this may be a parody, but I still want to know how the deux ex machinas are known to the general public. It was great to see the fans getting their props and it proves my age old theory that sometimes the fans know the characters better than the writers. A little plot hax never hurt anyone and it doesn’t hurt the film either, but it’s something to think about. Hopefully the main characters will keep this in mind the next time they have a press conference.

A sequel dealing with the fallout from this film could also be fun. After all, they probably suspect that aliens exist now since a spaceship was launched in the middle of the awards and Jason actually disintegrated an alien. It’s easy to play off the alien as a trick, but the spaceship? I don’t think so. A sequel with the government recruiting the cast into their space program to fight off some invaders would be pretty hype even if a reboot is probably more likely at this point.

Overall, Galaxy Quest is a decent parody. It certainly has its flaws, but I’d still call it a “decent” film in the end. This is a classic one and done film as you’ll never need to re watch it. It has enough solid moments to keep it afloat and Alexander definitely steals the show even if you end up feeling bad for the fans at some points. They didn’t ask for this! They just wanted to have a good time, but they really took a verbal beating at times. The romance can be iffy and the characters can be dicey, but the film never goes too far with these points. The part that made this film get to a 5 was the alien allies and I think they were just enough to tip it down. It all adds up of course, but they were the main culprits. I could recommend this to you all to watch, but you may be better off checking out Star Trek Into Darkness! That film has the right blend of action and hype!

Overall 5/10

Prince of After School

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I’m not typically a fan of these 4 Koma adventures and unfortunately this series doesn’t break the trend. It’s a lot better than the Chibi titles like Rock Lee or Sasuke’s series, but there’s not a whole lot that you can do with 4 Koma and the jokes are already starting to be reused. I haven’t even read chapter 2 yet so you can imagine the repetition once I’m past #50. I’ll have a review for the series up when it’s done though so maybe things will change.

Overall 4/10

Justice League Gods and Monsters Review

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It’s time to check out the latest DC film. The company has started to become a trainwreck with their animated films, which is unfortunate since they used to be so good. Yet another thing for us to blame the New 52 on I suppose. Unfortunately, this is actually the worst one yet and it’s horrifically bad. The climax helps it save some dignity as well as a possible choice that could help the sequel, but it’s safe to says that Gods and Monsters is dead before it ever got a chance to truly begin.

The story takes place on an alternate world where there aren’t really any good guys left. Superman was raised by Mexican Immigrants who taught him how to live under a harsh government. Superman has no qualms with murdering all those who stand in his way and will do anything necessary to secure his planet’s safety. Batman is not Bruce Wayne, but Kirk Langstrom and he is a vampire who loves to murder his victims by drinking their blood. Certainly not the heroic figure that you would expect. Wonder Woman is probably the least changed in that regard as she always murdered her opponents while in battle. She is similar to Thor from Marvel from that respect as war takes no prisoners. That being said, the film balances that out by having her flirt with everyone and be willing to allow everyone to be with her at times. It’s a terrible part of her personality.

We’ve already established that the characters are all warped versions of themselves. Don’t worry, if this wasn’t clear to you from the cover, the first scene makes sure to show this off as the heroes brutally murder everyone inside of a building. Their justification is that the people who were murdered were all villains and villains basically have no rights to keep their lives. The Justice League naturally has a very strained relationship with the government and it gets worse when they are framed for killing a bunch of scientists. Can the Justice League clear their name and do we even want that to happen?

As this is an alternate universe story, it allows the writers to kill off as many actual characters as possible since it has nor repercussions on anything else. So, expect a lot of cameos before the characters are blown up in various ways. This film was really a train wreck because it committed just about every big negative that a film could really add, which was quite sad.

First stop on this train is the excessive violence problem that has plagued DC for quite a while. The very first scene with Batman has him immediately snap someone’s neck and then he goes on to do the usual vampire sucking bit. Characters are ripped apart, dismembers, and burned into oblivion. The violence just keeps on coming and a lot of it is just there for the gritty vibe that is unnecessary. DC is basically just trying to counter Marvel’s Daredevil and while this is an improvement, it’s really not saying much.

Another reason why I wouldn’t be able to like this film was the fact that Batman is a vampire. If you recall from some of my earlier reviews, I really don’t like vampires. There are very few vampire films that I could even call good at this point and I’ve never liked the concept of blood sucking. It’s just gross and never adds anything to the story. Batman tries to pretend that he is a hero through it all, but he doesn’t resist the urge to suck blood at all so I really don’t believe him. Even in the end, he is the voice of doubt.

Before I go into more negatives, it should be noted that the characters are all pretty terrible here. I definitely disliked Batman from the start and Wonder Woman’s alternate version is essentially what could have happened if she was introduced to the comics nowadays without an established history. Superman is as far removed from the character as possible. His only good moment is the fact that at the end of the film, he mentions that maybe they shouldn’t kill people anymore. Batman quickly doubts the idea, but If Superman goes through with it, he’ll instantly be a better character. That being said, he’s still not a likable one so he’ll need to improve. Even insulting Lois behind her back just felt really petty.

For the side characters, Lex was decent at least. He was probably the most true to character, which is a good thing. He’s let himself go over the years and he probably won’t last much longer, but at least he was cool. He was constantly one step ahead of the other characters. The main villain was pretty cheap once you find out who the mastermind is. His origin story about how he became evil is terrible to be frank and he never became a cool villain to root against.

The three androids had cool designs and made for good villains. Their final form was certainly powerful and made for a good end boss. That was good because the film had basically had no good fight scenes the entire film. We had a brief scuffle with Batman vs the Robots and that was it. Certainly less action than you would expect from a so called “Justice League” film. The end scene definitely helped to alleviate that. Also, now’s a good time to talk about why the ending gives the sequel some slight hope.

Superman mentioned how maybe they shouldn’t be killing people and that could be a plot for the sequel. If the heroes go through with it, then that will certainly be a good thing. The question is “Will they?” and another one follows. Will this this be enough to save the film? I doubt the latter, but if they do follow through, it would certainly make that one an improvement as these alternate versions would be less of a mockery of the originals.

It should also be noted that there is some unnecessary animal violence here. The film just really wanted to push my buttons didn’t it? A miniature horse is seen getting eaten by a wild animal and we also see some test mice die because the humans were using them as guinea pigs. It’s certainly not an heroic act and it just made Batman look even worse for me. There’s some mild language, but it’s been cleaned up a little since the last film so that’s definitely a good thing. Hopefully the films continue to improve in that area.

This film really should have been called the Justice Lords. In effect, that’s how the team operates. They don’t like to reason and they destroy whoever gets in their way. I’d also like to point to that two part episode in Justice League to show how an alternate universe should be. The team was evil, but they still acted like their original selves and you can see why Superman made the critical choice. It was a dark world, but the show explored that without being over the top with violence and grit. It felt more natural and was much better handled.

Gods and Monsters was treated more like an AU that really had no purpose. A good example of how the movie just doesn’t care is when the scientists are all getting murdered. Once all of them are finished off and Batman is about to be taken down, the Justice League arrives and then the hero music plays. Hero music after literally every one of the targets were killed while Batman was on duty? It just didn’t make any sense and that’s just how the film operates. It doesn’t matter how many innocents die, as long as the League lives, it’s all okay.

On a slight bright side, the soundtrack was good. It had a lot of fast paced themes that helped make the scenes a little more bearable. The animation was also solid although it didn’t get to show us what it could do until the fight scenes finally arrived. More battles with the androids would have been a lot of fun. After all, Androids are just made up of parts and such so the film would have a tough time making it gritty.

Overall, Gods and Monsters is horrifically bad. It’s the kind of film that I actually have less fun seeing than Pixels. At least Pixels gave you a lot of laughs. It’s a slightly better film on a technical scale though and I’m giving it an extra star thanks to the soundtrack/final fight and the promise of the ending. The ending gave the film a glimmer of hope and now I can say that the next movie has potential although I don’t see it being that much better. Hopefully DC steps up its game as Batman Unlimited really looks like the only decent DC film coming up at this point. Maybe the next Justice League film will be good, but I’ll have to see some screenshots or a plot summary before I start getting my hopes up. Until DC’s movies start shaping up, at least I have the classics like Sub-Zero and Starcrossed to keep me busy!

Overall 2/10