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The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Whenever you’ve got a film with the word affair in the title then you know that you might be in trouble. Naturally the word doesn’t have to inherently be bad but it’s usually used in a negative context. The film is basically about someone trying to pull a James Bond and just the concept of that plan is usually funny to me. Still, it does actually work in the real world even so I can’t really talk much about that. Ultimately the film lacks the good characters to make this a success and the romance is particularly weak.

The film starts off with a rare painting being stolen from Thomas Crown’s museum. It was worth tons and the insurance company might have to pay for it. As a result they send in a lady named Catherine to oversee the whole thing. She will make sure that the company does not get ripped off here and she will locate the painting. She believes that Thomas did it himself. It seems a bit unlikely to the cops to put it mildly but she is convinced. So her plan will be to seduce him and then get the information. Will she really be able to reel in a rich guy who has everything so easily?

The first part of the plot that already starts you off on a skeptical note is Catherine’s idea that she can just seduce this guy like it’s easy. I have the same skepticism for many romance type titles and naturally the James Bond films as well. Sure there are some people that are extremely shallow like that but a super rich guy with unlimited options? At least have her break him down after several months or something but he immediately takes the bait hook line and sinker. Now you could argue that it’s just because he wants the thrills of a cat and mouse game but to me it seems like he liked her right away with how sharp her personality is.

Then the rest of the film continues the cat and mouse game while they mess with each other the whole time. There’s a subplot where Thomas has a psychiatrist who confirms how he can’t trust women and all that. Well the film seems to confirm his suspicions as Catherine tries to mess him over several times. If anything the movie seems to make the case for Thomas on why he can’t trust anyone too much. The instant Catherine feels betrayed she tries to completely ruin his life by exposing his theft.

I mean…that was her job the whole time but it’s clear by the end that it’s super personal now. She refuses to listen to him at all and just goes back to her own thing. Then by the end when the misunderstanding it cleared up she is desperate to be with him again. Catherine jus seems incredibly unstable and I don’t see things going well for the two of them. The original film had the much more satisfying ending as a result and I couldn’t stand by this one. The reason is because I wasn’t a big fan of the romance in general despite how much the film tried to present it as a decent one.

I do like the whole enemies to lovers trope when handled right but this one didn’t convince me. As much as I was going on about Catherine not being the most reliable or trust worthy, the same is true for Thomas of course. The whole film is happening because he was bored and wanted a thrill after all. You better hope he doesn’t get bored of romance either since he seemed like a real player back in his day. That is definitely one of the big downsides of being super rich. It’s a bit of a meme as everybody would usually like to be rich anyway but I can see how life can get dull if you don’t find anything to give you purpose.

Also to make the romance even worse, we have the head cop in charge of the case, Michael. This guy is absolutely desperate for Catherine from his very first scene and it’s obvious that she is not into him at all. She gives him a pity kiss later but I wish the guy had been a little bolder and just created some distance after the first attempts failed. Lets keep this professional right? This film is the definition of unprofessional as nobody was able to really keep to the job but it’s probably the worst for Michael. Catherine at least had the excuse of this being part of her plan and Thomas was using this as a way to gauge Catherine but Michael should have at least been objective.

Now in terms of the heist itself, it does stretch your disbelief at times. I find it hard to believe that nobody noticed the CEO sliding under the door to steal the painting early on. The film’s excuse for this would be how crowded things were and to an extent I get that but it’s still a bit of a stretch. Likewise when the painting was returned later on. The ole switcheroo was pretty clever though and I didn’t really have any problems with that one. I did enjoy all the “magic” and planning even if the resources and time to pull that off are also tricky. Thomas obviously has the money but finding enough people willing to take a fall and potential jail time? With enough money you can pretty much do anything but you can also count on at least one guy to get cold feet and go to the cops.

I’m not really an artistic person myself so I always wonder how paintings can really go for millions of dollars. I’d sooner buy into the conspiracy that the whole art market is just a front for money laundering than actually thinking someone would value the piece so highly. Talent is talent and some people are truly gifted at it but millions for any piece of art seems absolutely crazy. I’m also not particularly entertained by walking around a museum to look at paintings. That seems like the kind of thing you would endure for good company.

So the main appeal of the movie is about the heist and the cat and mouse games. That is when the movie is at its best but the rough romance really holds it back. There’s just no way this will work out and the romance is more of a show over tell kind of experience. So not only was I not convinced but the movie spends a lot of time on the romance only for me to still be shaking my head the whole time.

Overall, I would still skip on this film. It’s an improvement over the first film but it’s still not a winner yet. At this point I think we need a live action version of Sly Cooper. That’s a film with a similar premise but 1000x cooler. You will still have the cat and mouse banter with the detective trying to catch the thief but it’s played in a much more interesting way. Until that movie comes out, I recommend playing through the games and you will quickly see why the Thomas Crown affair can’t quite compete.

Overall 4/10

Trigun Stampede Review

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It’s been a long while since I saw the original Trigun so it was fun to check out this modern remake of it. It’s a very short series so it can’t quite tackle everything that the original could but does well in a compressed kind of way. Directly, I would say that the original did just about everything better than the remake but at the same time it’s been long enough where my memories of the original might be better than my experience was. I see that my review of the original wasn’t exactly glowing back then so it’s always fun to see how things have changed. Regardless, this one does a good job…even if it is CG!

The show starts by introducing us to Vash and Knives. They were raised by a nice lady named Rem but Knives ended up sabotaging the ship and basically causing everyone to die. Vash barely survived the incident and now he has to find Knives and put a stop to him before he hurts anyone else. Along the way Vash also repairs any generator that is run down and needing repairs. See, the world is effectively powered by these things and without them you can’t really get power, water, electricity, etc. You basically die without them. One lady was trying to grow plants so that they could create oxygen but everyone thinks that she is super crazy.

Also, unfortunately Vash is a wanted man with a huge bounty on his head. So he has to always be on the run. Despite this, he has managed to remain as a pacifist for all these years and really tries to never fight if he can help it. Obviously this is not an easy task by any means so definitely kudos to him for doing his best there. The problem is that when he is put into a situation where he needs to fight, he doesn’t always do well. Will Knives end up winning because Vash refuses to do anything?

In a nutshell that is my biggest issue with the remake. I felt that the first show had a much better balance of how Vash should be. Yes, he was a pacifist who never wanted to murder anyone but he was much more willing to fight and at least stop the threat. Knock someone out or capture them at least. Here, he spends a lot of time running around and dodging which lets innocent people get shot or put into harm’s way. Whereas the original Vash was a super prodigy who could stop anyone, this one feels like he gets by on pure luck most of the time. A great example of this is in the very first episodes.

So you have a crazy guy who wants to throw bombs around and destroy the town. Vash is messing around like always but you figure he has a great plan and won’t let anybody get hurt right? I mean he can’t just be acting up like this if he has no plan?….well that’s exactly what happens and it is supremely annoying. This is just disgraceful considering that we are counting on him here. In fact he runs out of bullets and it is only thanks to some quick thinking by Meryl that the town isn’t blown to kingdom come. It may seem like a minor thing but it’s quite major when you think about it.

See, a key part of Vash’s character is that all life is precious. He doesn’t care if you’re a law abiding citizen or a mass murderer, he’s going to try and protect you. He does this by honing his gun skills every day and making sure he is the absolute best so he can win every fight in a non lethal way. In the old show the only exception is Knives who Vash does fully intend to take down for good. He doesn’t have the same drive here at all unfortunately. So with Vash being clowned on here, it undermines his motivation because now he’s not going to actually save everyone. In fact, instead he’s just going to end up causing many more civilian deaths on a high order. This is not the way to go, not at all.

This keeps on happening in the show where it feels like they made Vash too extreme in his pacifism to the point where he’s just enabling the villains after a while and it nearly costs him everything. So while I grew to enjoy him in the old show, I didn’t really care for him here. It just helped to underscore why Wolfwood was a much better character. Wolfwood is the pragmatist here who does what needs to be done. Lets face it, he had a much worse childhood than Vash had. Wolfwood was tortured and experimented on for ages while basically losing everything. He’s blackmailed the whole series and still manages to help people out from time to time.

The biggest difference is that he will actually murder the villains when they are going too far. Wolfwood directly saves a lot of lives this way. Sure he may not be as heroic as Vash but to the people he saves that won’t end up mattering all that much. In a fight I think Vash would probably still have the edge here if he was going all out but if they’re both in character then I’m betting Wolfwood wins more times than not. He’s simply willing to go further and his healing factor is extremely good here. I actually think he seems more powerful than in the original version with how fast he heals from everything. He’s a great character through and through.

Meryl is a solid character here who is very gung ho and always ready for action. She disobeys orders several times in order to help the heroes out which I appreciate. It’s usually a problem if you follow orders too closely because then you lose sight of the forest for the trees. So I’m glad that didn’t happen here as it would have been a real problem. She may not be able to fight at a high level just yet but she does help out on multiple occasions and is a fun character to have around. She does a great job of being the B plot.

Meanwhile her partner Roberto is also a lot of fun. I admit that I can never take him seriously when he pulls the gun out on the more powerful villains but it is a fact that he has more experience than Meryl and helps her out on many occasions. I often disagree with his decisions but he does some of them in order to protect her. He’s rather jaded and seems to have lost faith in humanity a long time ago. It’s easy to see why with how messed up the world is in this series. It almost does seem like humanity is determined to mess up every planet in its way so you can see how that’s a big problem. So at this point he just wants to pick up his paycheck and keep his head down but having a partner like Meryl makes that impossible. They have a great dynamic going there.

From the flashbacks you have Rem who was a very solid character as well. It’s a shame that things didn’t go better for her. You could tell that she did her best to make the right decisions. Ultimately I wouldn’t put any blame on her, sometimes you do everything right and things still end up going badly. That’s just life in a nutshell after all. Finally you have Knives who is as sinister as ever but I did think that the show gave him more points this time around. Yeah he’s the antagonist but when he’s going up against the humans you’re rooting for him because of how crazy they are. It feels like every human immediately goes off the rails as soon as any accountability vanishes.

We see them torturing the plant life and Knives’ fellow friends all the time. Most of the humans don’t seem all that remorseful. We even have a whole episode to show how quickly they turn on Vash and the others when the going gets tough. Humanity can’t be trusted in this series and that’s a running theme. Vash simply chooses to help them out anyway. It definitely underscores what a nice guy he is but sometimes to a fault. Knives’ decision to massacre them all is extreme as well but is it much different than what the humans would do?

To the humans, Knives is simply a sentient plant. They wouldn’t bat an eye in murdering him the way they wouldn’t for a bunch of aliens. So to Knives the perspective is really the same here which makes sense. Whenever you make a villain like this with a solid backstory and make the humans relatively unlikable, it’s a little hard to root against him. Particularly when there are no solutions presented to combat his logic. He’s definitely one of the standout characters here and the show really made him a huge threat here, he’s even more powerful than in the first show.

Hamilton is one of those villains who reminds you why Vash is a little too lenient. If someone didn’t show up things were going to get dicey again. He’s one of the most underwhelming villains though. I couldn’t take him too seriously in a world where Knives and his gang exists. Legato barely gets to do anything in this series and he’s many times better. The guy’s gravity powers are really intense and he’s the kind of character who strikes fear into your heart the moment he appears. That is absolutely the kind of guy you want to have as a big antagonist.

Elendira appears for even less time and leaves more of an impact than Hamilton. I think there’s a whole lot they could do with her moveset. In general Knives’ group are very interesting and I would like to see more of them. You probably need to give Wolfwood and Vash at least one more powerful ally so they aren’t too badly outnumbered though. Otherwise that would really put them in a tough spot.

Then you have the villains who are victims like Rollo and Livio. Rollo is probably the most tragic character in the series. He was only a kid but due to Vash’s carelessness he had to go through a whole lot and really lost his mind. He’s a complete victim because he never had a choice in how his life ended up. Definitely sad all the way. Same for Livio who may have gotten to be older but he was molded since he was a kid so I’d say that the same thing applies to him. If anything he may have gone through even more pain than the other characters. It shows that the villains have to be taken out before they can do this to more people.

Finally there is Zazie who is a great wild card but doesn’t do as much as I would have liked. So you have the humans who crash landed on this planet a while back and the sentient plants who are trying to do their best to survive. There is a third party though, the creatures who already existed on the planet. They are led by Zazie although that might not be the right word. Zazie is the collective consciousness of these creatures and as a result he wields a ton of power. At one point he explains that whoever he decides to help will win the war which is a great speech. And then…Zazie doesn’t do much for the rest of the series. I really wanted to see him get a bigger role, maybe take on Vash and Knives. I suppose in a way you could say that he doesn’t have to do anything since he will exist as long as the planet does but that’s too passive. I want to see him do that because you can’t have one of the best scenes in the show and just vanish. That doesn’t work for me.

Stampede is interesting in how it’s a remake in a lot of ways while also working as a prequel. Now there are some obvious reasons you will note as to why this can’t totally work as a prequel after watching the whole series but the ending does add 2 ways that make it work. So the best way to think of this is as a completely different path that will be leading to new events. It’s as if you started a game and skipped most of the content in an attempt to speed run the final boss. Now the game is catching up so a bunch of the old missions will appear. It’s a really unique way to handle things and all in all I thought it was very interesting. It puts the sequel at a bit of a disadvantage since a lot of the best scenes are already here but I’m curious how it will go.

The series feels a bit darker than the original. The original had time for a lot of light hearted episodes and sequences in addition to the action but here because of the sped up format the series focuses more on the dark backstories for everyone. I feel like there are very few moments where the characters get to just hang out and have a good time. There is always something serious going on. At times the show can go a bit far with all of the violence and dark themes. You have quite a lot of people being tortured or dying some rough deaths. Most of the characters don’t really end up in a happy place by the end.

In fact, most of them have sad endings here. The very ending is actually really sad as well with how things went down. So get ready for a very emotional series. What helps at least is that the series never feels exploitive. It can be really heavy for sure but without overplaying the issue the way other titles were. So brace yourself to be sure but this series is still focusing on having a captivating story first and foremost. Perhaps one where you are rooting for the plants over the humans but that’s all in how you see it.

Now for the animation, a big thing here was that the show was going to be CG. Of course you know that means it won’t look as good as hand drawn but if it can still at least look pretty good in general then that wouldn’t matter right? I can satisfactorily say that it does look sharp. I would still say not as good as any of the hand drawn shows on the market but they tried pretty hard here. They do a good job of showing off Knives’ abilities here for sure. Vash’s arm cannon doesn’t look quite as good but that’s more on the story direction than the animation I would say. There are fun fights here and so in general they did the best with what they had.

For the ost…another forgettable one for the most part. The opening isn’t bad as it reminds me of the Tower of God opening. It fits the tone of the overall show. The tunes aren’t bad and there was one battle theme I liked but they could have gone a little harder on this end I’d say. Give me some really tense tunes and a bunch of opera type music. I think those would have worked really well with the show and made it even more exciting. Especially with the show’s deep themes you could have some Death Note kind of music in there and it would work really well. Maybe next time I suppose.

A final thing to note is the show spends a good amount of time on Vash’s backstory here. More so even than in the original show I’d say as outside of the whole situation with Knives we see how Vash was able to hang out with some humans for a while and how he actually knew peace for a while. It’s easy to forget but as a plant he is effectively immortal and he’s been around for a very long time. That can get awful lonely especially with the level of guilt that he is carrying. It gets really emotional with the group that he hung out with as well especially with so many secrets around. The whole show can get sad a lot of the time and this part is no exception. Again it shows how impressive it is that he is still so cheerful all the time and how he hasn’t broken down yet. I can at least give him that credit.

Overall, Trigun Stampede is a pretty good show. At times it can get a little on the violent side which just makes you mad at Vash every time since he could have done more to prevent these scenarios. Realistically you can’t blame him for everything though, Knives also deserves the lion’s share of the blame at the end of the day because he’s the one putting the gears into motion but Vash should have been better. The show has a good plot and it is very engaging though. The banter between Vash and Wormwood is as good as you might have guessed and I liked how many different parties got involved by the end. It’ll be difficult for a future season to match this one now that a lot of the big plots are completed but there is certainly room for the sequel. A lot of the internal debates like the rights for the sentient plants can continue to be a thing. Of course it does feel like a losing battle as long as the people in high positions tend to be humans. I’d recommend checking this one out and if you like it, then watch the original for the more fleshed out version.

Overall 7/10

Ghostbusters (2016) Review

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This film was definitely quite infamous when it came out. Trust me it’s definitely deserved although the film is at least a little more fun when you watch it as a complete parody. That’s how it should have been marketed to be honest because this film is not serious in the slightest. I’d argue that it is practically a parody to be honest even though I know how crazy that might sound. Every few minutes there is some kind of gag to undercut the whole thing which is exactly what a parody would do right? At least that’s the way it seemed to me. In a way this could have actually been an interesting angle if you treated it like an SNL skit to really be authentic but it doesn’t quite work.

The film starts off with Erin doing her best to deliver quality lectures and be a respected teacher. Unfortunately a ghost of her past has appeared. See, when she was younger she co-wrote a book with Abby about the supernatural and now it is something she is embarrassed by. Also, they had agreed to never publish the book and why isn’t Erin getting any of the royalties? She confronts Abby and begs her to take the book down but instead she is repeatedly bullied and humiliated by Abby. Erin loses her job as a result and now her only shot at success is to team up with Abby and her partner Holtz in finding some actual ghosts. She will be….a Ghostbuster!!

This is one of those films that peaks early which is a problem for it. About 80% of the best gags and moments are all in the first 30 minutes of the film. I really enjoyed the dynamic with Erin and Abby and how much they hated each other. They were so bitter about everything and Erin would constantly be professional only for Abby to stab her in the back. This happens over and over which was just great. Then you had another good gag with a fake-out involving a dead guy and his grand son. Good stuff…lets not forget the intro stinger either. It felt like the movie was really going places. It was also interesting to have one of the supporting characters be that really annoying Gabe character from the final seasons of the Office. Never thought I’d see him anywhere else again.

So how does the film falter? Well, once Erin and Abby agree to bury the hatchet, the film tries to play things a little closer to the vest. It acts as a normal action comedy film with the characters fighting Ghosts but it doesn’t have the script needed to pull this off. The jokes get more and more cringeworthy as the movie goes on. It starts to rely on the same jokes over and over again like Kevin being super dumb and this just doesn’t work. It’s a little too overblown and again…repetition is the enemy of a good gag. If you rely on the same joke too often then it is inevitable that it will fail. I guarantee you 100% that it’s not going to be a good idea. Even the best joke won’t work if you run it into the ground.

For Kevin…every 2 minutes he is on screen a gag like this is going to show up. So those really hurt and he’s also not remotely a likable character. There’s no point for him to be here except to be the butt of the jokes and hey that’s the comic relief character’s role but in this case it’s really not worth it. Cutting him out would have been better for the whole film. The other supporting character Patty is a lot better and even she’s not great.

At least she is an actual character though and can keep up the banter with the others. If only the banter was good though. Holtz is the third member of the trio with Abby and Erin but there isn’t a ton for her to do. She’s the “tough” character of the 3 but they’re all so inept that it isn’t really saying anything. Abby is the worst of the 3 and is completely awful at everything she tries. So yeah she embraces the comedy role as well but as one of the main characters this doesn’t work too well. Erin was the best by far at first but then she has the character gag of drooling over Kevin the whole time which loses her massive points.

If you were hoping that the villains would save the day then think again. Rowan is the main villain here and he’s super whiny the whole time. He wants to help the ghosts make a comeback and all but you can’t take him seriously at all. Then you have the Marshmallow Man in his big comeback appearance where he is treated pretty awfully. He falls on the first two characters and then the third one just oneshots him from being with a little pinprick thing. Definitely a disrespectful way to go out here. Of course it’s all played as a comedic kind of thing but that’s probably something to save for a sequel when you’re earned the cache to pull that off.

The cameos for previous Ghostbusters as different characters was much better. Now that’s a fun easter egg for fans. I also liked the new take on the Mayor and his flunkies as they get in the Ghostbusters way. Having them be fully aware of what’s going on and having to put up an act the whole time is great. That’s what I would expect them to do in this situation and so it matches up.

The fact that the film doesn’t pull up the classic Ghostbusters theme is a shame though. I was really waiting for that. So I think what hurts this film is that it’s not exactly sure of what it’s doing. You have 3 real options as a big reboot like this. (I’d say it’s definitely not in continuity so I’m treating it as a reboot).

1. You play it straight as a new take on the series. Keep any easter eggs to a minimum and try to win fans over with your fresh direction. You need to have full confidence to pull this off.

2. You go for outrage and do your best to mock the fans of the originals. Something like the Velma series or Teen Titans Go where you go out of your way to slap fans across the face. If you take it far enough it can double back around into being endearing.

3. You go for nostalgia. Plug the film full of easter eggs, references, and wink wink moments. Do this if you’re not really confident in your abilities as a writer and you need to borrow from the old material to get fans into the door.

I feel like this film is mixing all 3 of them. It certainly does a good amount of 2 and 3 so in that case you could have just made it in continuity and been direct about that but the film is also trying to set up the next generation with these all new ghostbusters which doesn’t work. It’s rare to make a successful new branch of the series over the bodies of the old ones. You have to be careful how you do it or you’re always gonna get a bunch of issues.

Overall, In the end I didn’t think this film was very confident in itself. Yeah the original Ghostbusters were comedies as well but they still had their serious moments and they had a tendency to keep the balance very well. This is more like one of those modern films that feels like it can’t stand to be serious for more than 3-4 minutes at a time without cracking a big joke. The tension must always be cut as soon as possible and that’s always going to put you in a tough spot. You can always get a free out of jail card if the jokes are actually funny of course. That’s an exception to virtually every rule but the jokes here by and large were no funny. I still did really like the first part of the movie but it all started to go downhill from there with no way up. Something tells me that this film isn’t really going to be making a comeback with guest star appearances or anything in the new films. But hey I could be off base there. For now I would say to skip this one and focus on other Ghostbuster titles.

Overall 4/10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Review

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It’s time for the latest big TMNT project. This film works as a new segment of the franchise so you can jump in without any prior knowledge on the series. Long time fans will get some extra fun out of it with all of the characters around but it is very accessible. Technically I would put this one below a number of the other TMNT films but as a whole it’s still a good title. I’m ready to see what the sequel has in store.

The movie starts by introducing us to the origin of the Ninja Turtles. They get blasted by some ooze and are raised by the rat known as Splinter. He believes that they should stay hidden away from the outside world because people wouldn’t understand and I get that. They would almost certainly be hunted to their demise like the X-Men. Unfortunately the Turtles are now old enough where they want to get into the human world and have a lot of fun. They meet a girl named April which leads to a partnership. She will let them into School and help them try out various human activities while she gets the exclusive scoop. These happy days cannot last forever though as other creatures are preparing to take control of the human race.

There is always a lot going on with this film so I give the movie props for the fast pacing. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s quite as fast paced as the Spider-Verse films and there is definitely down time here but it does aim for a rapid style. That means the action scenes can go pretty hard as well and fight past the limitations of the art style which isn’t the best. In general the film can be pretty fun and I liked the main villain a lot. Before diving into the characters though I’ll just touch on some of the reasons why the film didn’t stack quite as high for me as some of the others.

The first part is the animation like I referenced earlier. I feel like it’s a bit of an uglier style with or without the characters. The characters you could blame on the art style but even that can hurt a bit. Like Leonardo is obsessed with April but the art style means that it’s a bit hard to connect with him because nobody looks even remotely attractive in the film. When April first appears you half think it’s a parody for a second and the real April will show up behind her and this might not have been so noticeable except that her beauty gets referenced quite a lot as Leonardo’s crush continues. The film could have tried a little harder here.

Then throw in the crude humor that this film shoves in for a few characters like April and one of the mutants and you’re really in trouble. I’ve seen way worse crude humor before of course but it’s been a minute since I’ve seen this much in a movie. Probably since I saw the Garbage Pail Kids about a year or two ago. It’s not overwhelming but it’s the little things that add up and these comedic moments definitely do not land. In general this isn’t a laugh out loud kind of film. The jokes are mainly okay with some that fall flat and others that are reasonably good.

Finally the Turtles themselves are one of the worst incarnations of the characters that I’ve seen. They beat the Bay Turtles but beyond that they’re just really not likable. The film tries too hard to make them act like actual teenagers. Teens are generally not as likable as adults unless we’re talking about anime or comics where the teens tend to be cool. These are more like real life teenagers so the film wins points on realism but loses points on the basis of their just being annoying the whole time.

Also, Splinter suffers from this as well. I prefer him to actually be an expert fighter who knows what he is doing. In this film he’s one of the main comic relief characters. All he knows about fighting is from movies so he’s not very good but he does bumble his way into a few victories. It’s a very different direction for the series so it’s a bold take but one that I don’t think worked very well. I want Master Splinter back, not this guy. You do feel bad for him in one scene when the heroes all ditch his pizza party without giving any good reason for that. That was definitely emotional.

So these are the areas that hold it back from being higher but now lets talk about the good aspects. First up we have the main villain Superfly. This guy has a cool design and he’s a really good fighter. He actually manages to take on the whole team with ease. The film can’t resist the “Giant enemy” climax but this guy still does good the whole time. Definitely not an enemy to take lightly at all. He was the only villain who was really ready to see the whole thing through to the end.

He got a good origin story so you can understand his actions from the start. That’s something that goes a long way to making him more of a memorable villain than the others. The rest of his allies are mainly other animal hybrids who have had a tough time of things. They tend to range from annoying to bad though. You have the crude humor one who is the worst but will unfortunately probably be in the sequel. There’s the “cool” skateboarder who isn’t bad. He has some skills and potential.

Rocksteady and Bebop are reasonable. This is the one case where I actually preferred the Bayverse ones but that’s more so because those were way better than expected. So there were a lot of mutants to show up here but it felt like a bit of a cop out not to have a proper fight with the Turtles. I worry that the problem is that the Turtles are a bit too weak in this verse. They seem super young and don’t really know how to fight at a high level. I’m hoping the sequel has a time skip where they are now expert fighters or something. Maybe they hired a proper fighting coach or something like that.

The school setting has potential for the sequel. So long as the film avoids the romance traps and mostly focuses on the Turtles getting used to human customs, it could be fun. There’s a lot of material there to have fun with. As with this one, there should be a lot of jokes running around so as long as most of them land then we’re good. Of course I won’t complain if we switch to a more action focused approach like the 2007 TMNT film. Either way though if we’re not comparing this to other TMNT films then it is still a good movie. For sure there is still more action and stakes than your average animated theater film over in the US. I still enjoyed a good amount of the jokes and some of the action segments could look pretty good. The world building is on point and there are already a lot of things set up for the sequels.

Overall, This is a good TMNT film. There are other directions I would have preferred that it went but at the end of the day the important thing is that the franchise is continuing. I’d say this one’s sort of like a modern take on the 80s part of the franchise. With some of the intro stuff out of the way the sequel might be able to jump into the action a little quicker. Naturally I will be waiting for the Shredder to show up and take some names. Since Splinter won’t be able to do anything this time, maybe this could be when Casey is introduced as the rival to the Shredder. Either way there are a lot of possibilities here and I would recommend checking this film out.

Overall 6/10

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Resident Evil is one of those franchises where the films are typically doomed from the start but you are still curious how it will play out. The first movie series had a lot of flaws to be sure but it never forgot to turn up with some amazing musical themes and a whole lot of action. It had some crazy scary visuals and in general was very intense. This one tries extremely hard to be scary, often taking the shortcut of just being grotesque but it doesn’t work as well. It drags on and on and while the film was initially trying to be more accurate to the games, it seems like they gave up on that early on.

The movie starts out with a reallllllly long scene of a girl noticing that there’s a mysterious creature in her room. She heads over to investigate and you’re just waiting for the jump scare the whole time as something seems wrong with the other girl. Anyway onto the real plot! Many years later, Claire travels home to warn her brother Chris that Raccoon City is hiding something and they are in danger. Chris doesn’t buy any of it and runs back to the police station. Only problem is that zombies are real and the town is now under attack. It’s mostly deserted at this point which is good but the problem is that the Umbrella corporation is blocking all exits. Can the heroes find a way out?

Where to start with this one right? First off most of the characters are pretty bad here. You have a truck driver who isn’t paying any attention to the road so he crashes into a girl and then tries to tell himself that the crash wasn’t that bad. Unfortunately his dog becomes a zombie so later on he gets taken out which was pretty tragic. The dog really didn’t deserve any of that.

Then we have Leon who is the biggest clown in the movie. This guy’s supposed to be super serious. An amazing agent who takes on all kinds of threats and stuff. He’s the guy you call in when all else has failed and yet that just never happens to be the case here. Yes he gets a big moment at the end of the film. That’s great and all but he’s complete comic relief here and constantly getting into trouble. I laughed when he walked up to the prison bars like a rookie after a prisoner was threatening him. What do you think happens at that point? Well the guy pulls him into the bars and while Leon is stunned he grabs his gun and gets him into a chokehold.

That’s so embarrassing. That should absolutely never happen to anyone. How do you let yourself be that close to the bars in the first place? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense at all and just makes him look awful. Then Leon takes so long to open the door that the guy gets eaten anyway. To be honest if I’m that guy I would have shot Leon myself for all the incompetence there so hat way at least we both go down together. Leon shouldn’t be walking out at that point when he’s the one who was creating this whole mess.

Hopefully in a sequel he will be experienced but I wouldn’t hold my breath. The writing for this film was pretty bad the whole time anyway. Wesker definitely has a very different kind of role in this film. He’s certainly missing all of the usual aura that he has. This guy is just another dude with a gun now and he also comes across as rather petty since his motivation here is money. It’s not global domination or anything like that, he just wants his big pay day. That’s a fine motivation for a grunt, but not Wesker. That’s going way too far in the other direction.

I didn’t really have a problem with Chris or Claire. Chris maybe could have listened more but I do have to admit that Claire made an historically bad argument in favor of the conspiracy. Showing a video of a crazy looking guy yelling about the virus and how Umbrella is evil isn’t a great jumping on point. She didn’t give Chris any reason why he should even believe this guy. Chris also did dash off rather quick so it would have been tough to convince him either way but the whole exchange didn’t work out in Claire’s favor.

Chris does get a really bad scene later on with a lighter though. It’s supposed to be tense but it was just dumb. So basically there are a bunch of zombies around and so Chris turns on the lighter to scare them off. Problem is that it’s defective so it keeps on turning on and off. This way you can see the zombies getting closer as they keep on circling him over and over again. The scene doesn’t work because they should have finished him off so many times. Like it just doesn’t make sense that he keeps on surviving because of how close they were. It should have been all over for him and so it was pretty annoying to see him just continuing to escape with that plot armor.

I’d argue more plot armor is when the girl from the opening scene returns in some kind of monster hybrid form and crushes one of the zombies. These monsters should not be losing in a battle of physical strength like that. Maybe if you’re Alice who has super abilities but a girl who is seemingly some kind of hybrid? It’s a bit harder to buy even allowing for the fact that we didn’t get to see her much. Meanwhile the final boss looks really bad as it gets one shotted. So the problem here among many others is that you couldn’t take the zombies super seriously as a threat since they kept losing.

There’s not much of a good soundtrack here unfortunately. There are a pair of songs that play randomly in moments that really don’t seem to match with what’s happening on screen though. Trust me that really took me by surprise because of how crazy it was but not really in a good way. As for the visuals, again I’d say the original is much better. This one’s going more for grotesque as opposed to cool so you lose a lot of points there.

At the end of the day what more can be said about this one right? It squeezes in all of the negatives you would expect to see. We’ve got animal violence, general excessive violence all over the place, a very weak cast, poor writing, and it’s just not that interesting. There are very few positives I can even give the film which is why it’s so low. There is one positive though and that is that I enjoyed the way the information was presented. For example when the on screen messages tell us what time it is or why the city is so abandoned. It was a fun way to deliver the exposition. I enjoyed it at least which is a small consolation. If only the rest of the film could have hung in there. I wanted to see more of what Umbrella was doing about this and reactions from the rest of the world. It feels like the setup is really nice but the film just didn’t capitalize. There’s a lot of fun things you can delve into here aside from the obvious zombies murdering everyone.

Overall, Resident Evil has another stinker here. I would definitely recommend watching the original films instead but I suppose technically the best thing to do would be to skip the whole franchise at this point. It’s difficult to pull off a zombie film as it is and I don’t think these will ever be the ones to buck the trend. At least there is an after credits scene to help set up the sequel and in general there are a lot of ways you can continue with the series but we’ll see what they actually want to do for the next adventure. Hopefully they get a little more out there with the next one.

Overall 1/10

Prom Night (2008) Review

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Why’s this poster so awful?? Seriously you can’t tell anything about the film from this and if anything it just makes you want to stay away. Trust me this is not the way to advertise any kind of film. Regardless this is a really bad title though so you will want to stay away. It ends up being a painful experience from start to finish with no real smart characters.

The movie starts off with Donna watching her family get murdered by a psychopath named Richard. We jump to the future where she is now being taken care of by her uncle and aunt. She is still rather traumatized but wants to at least try and enjoy her prom. It should be the perfect day and so she heads out to be with her friends. Unfortunately though Richard has escaped from prison and because everyone is incompetent in this film it took 3 days for the cops to be notified. They let the guardians know but instead of taking Donna out….they decide to let the prom continue since it would be too traumatic to cancel. Okay……how many victims will it take this time before Richard is stopped?

There are so many issues with this film but I think it’s safe to say that the biggest issue you will run into right away is just how depressing and mean spirited the film is. A high body count is to be expected but so many people keep dying and nobody is safe. A lot of these characters had nothing to do with the story and they’re still getting bumped off. Sure that’s technically true for a lot of slashers like this but I think part of the problem with having this take place in the school is you’re basically having a bunch of kids get murdered the whole time. We had an elementary school kid get bumped off in the intro even which is taking things a step farther.

Allowing the prom to continue is also complete insanity. Winn has a moment where he mentions that they don’t see any reason why Richard would come here. Really? They see no reason why the crazy psychopath who made it explicitly clear that he would do whatever it took to go back to Donna would try to attack her now that he’s broken out? That had to be one of the silliest lines in the film without a doubt. I could barely believe what I was hearing. Come on………come onnnnnnnnnnn.

Okay so the prom’s going to continue, but you’re going to let the hotel staff know that there’s a crazy guy on the lookout right? No, the hotel concierge asks the police officer if they should be afraid and he just says “Nah, probably nothing to worry about” and leaves. The hotel staff don’t know anything is wrong until near the end of the film so of course they start to get picked off too. I’d be fuming if I was the sole survivor from the hotel staff because that makes no sense.

Then of course Winn isn’t able to get the villain at the hotel so he tells the two police officers to keep a lookout at the house. Naturally both have to be completely isolated so taking them down is child’s play. Why even stay at the house? The first order of business should have been to take the characters over to the police station. Keeping them in the house that Richard knows the address of is crazy. Even worse is that Donna is kept to her room…where she is right next to a window. You can’t make this stuff up.

Now granted, Richard still shouldn’t have gotten as far as he does but apparently he is so skilled that he can take out virtually every opponent without making a sound. The house is also sound proof I guess because even with the door open and Donna screaming, the parents and Winn can’t hear her while not being all that far away? The amount of plot holes and stretches of imagination here are really pretty insane.

Going back to the tragic part though, it just feels like the film should have let more of the characters get a happy ending. Pretty much everyone was destroyed and the sole survivors are going to have a complex for the rest of their life. It doesn’t stop the film from having a fairly upbeat song for the credits but there’s nothing happy about the ending. There’s nothing really happy about the film in general which is something I have an issue with. A slasher film will rarely be happy of course but the tonal contrast here was a bit much. The film would try to be really happy at times and it didn’t work because obviously you can’t feel that good when everyone’s getting destroyed.

The film’s not as bloody as you would expect but it still tries to be as violent as possible within the confines of not being an R rated horror flick. Characters get stabbed tons of times and the deaths are all rather grisly. Nobody seems able to put up even the slightest amount of a fight against this guy and the whole film feels futile for the heroes. Every scene has so much build up that you see the deaths coming several minutes in advance which is annoying. There are a ton of fake jump scares but they’re always before the real death to the point where you can pretty much set your watch to them.

At one point Dillon even has a dream of the future about what’s about to happen and….she decides to do everything that she did in the dream anyway. A bit of an odd choice if you ask me, wouldn’t you want to not do what you did in the dream even if it wasn’t real? I just don’t see why you would actually try to copy your answers there. Seems like a recipe for disaster by any metric. It’s why hiding under the bed wouldn’t be a good idea since that worked last time so don’t do the same thing twice. It was also rough that she didn’t step in to save her mother. Obviously that’s easier said than done and in the moment it’s hard to make that decision but it’s yet another brutal scene. The cast of characters are all pretty forgettable and the romances are all paper thin. There’s just nothing of substance in this title. The film almost should have just played this off as part parody with the heroes deciding to have the prom party instead of cancelling it.

I keep going back to that because the whole scenario is absolutely crazy. Nothing makes sense in this film, people don’t act the way they should with a mass murderer on the loose with an obvious place of attack. At least in most films the characters reasonably don’t know where the villain will be but this time they actually do know. A whole lot of lives could have been saved if Winn did the responsible thing instead of waiting to see this all play out.

Overall, Prom Night is a film that you should absolutely avoid. There are no redeeming qualities to be found in this film. It starts off rather brutally and ends on that same note. There are no scenes that are actually all that happy because they are happening in the context of ugly things about to happen to the cast. There was basically no escape for them and any victory is a rather hollow one. The slasher genre tends to be doomed right from the jump and this film doesn’t do anything to convince you otherwise. It’s very by the numbers and for a genre like this that’s about as bad as it gets.

Overall 1/10

Shaman King Review

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Shaman King is one of those Shonen Jump titles that was really big back in the day but then it basically just fell off. So much so that even when we got this big remake of the show that would adapt the whole thing I didn’t see it mentioned much except for when it got mocked on occasion. Well I have to say that this is a title where a lot of people missed the boat on it because it’s amazing! I have a ton of good things to say about this one but in short, it’s a title you should check out.

The show focuses on a kid named Yoh who wants to one day be the Shaman King! He wants to live an easy and carefree life and realizes that becoming the King is the only way to pull this off. After all if someone else becomes the King then it might make things even tougher. Additionally this way he will have the power to protect those close to him so it’s really a win/win when you think about it. He makes friends with a kid named Manta and together they get started on their journey. Along the way they’ll meet many other allies and enemies alike as they go forward to the goal. Can they possibly succeed though?

Most of the show is basically a large tournament of course but before that we do get some pre arc adventures. Right off the bat I’ll say that the animation is really solid here. I enjoyed all of the big battle scenes and seeing the character use their oversouls. The author really had a lot of unique designs and seeing them in motion was definitely cool. The attacks stand out and you always looked forward to the battles.

Then there is the soundtrack which is actually the most impressive part of the show. It’s not often that I say that…in fact it may be the first time. Still, the music here is incredible! It has a lot of rock themes. Agni’s Song is one of the really standout themes and plays during the series’ best moments. You always know something’s about to happen when it starts. Then there’s Anna’s Resolve which is an incredibly emotional song that always fits the scene it plays in. It captures the desperation of each scene really well.

Now the pacing is fast since there’s a whole lot to cover and little time to do it. I remember feeling like it would be impossible to get all of this into one shot without going to 100 episodes or so but somehow they pulled it off. Now granted, I haven’t read the manga in so long that I wouldn’t really notice the fights/scenes that were skipped. I would probably take that a bit more personal if I was super familiar with the content but at least this way I can say as part of the general audience that it’s not super noticeable. You won’t have a bad time feeling like you missed out.

Yoh makes for a fun main character as he’s very unique. I can pretty much guarantee you have not come across many main characters who are as laidback as he is. Yoh takes this to the next level as he always says things will work out no matter what. It might be easy to think he has no drive as a result but I would still say the motivation is there. After all his goal can only be attained by becoming the King so he works hard at it. He just doesn’t stress about how things will play out which is a key distinction. It’s something easier said than done but that I would say is the right approach. Why worry about things that you cannot directly control right?

Like I said it’s really difficult to do that but it actually does make a whole lot of sense. At the end of the day there are times where you can try your best and it just won’t be enough. That’s just life after all. As long as you know you did everything that you could then you shouldn’t sweat the small stuff. That’s really a big theme later on when one fighter appears with abilities that are so good they’re basically unfair. You just have to acknowledge that there was nothing else you could do and then it works out.

The manga goes in a very interesting direction for the ending. It’s definitely not one I would have expected prior to reading the series but I do like it. I wouldn’t want this to become the norm of course but it’s a great way of writing around a powerful villain and not allowing any power level hax at the end. Trust me the author would have been in a tough spot if he wanted to end it traditionally. I would have just had a very hard time buying into it no matter how convincing he tried to be. That just wouldn’t have been easy. Now there are a lot of characters here so lets start diving into them.

Anna is an excellent main heroine who even gets a whole flashback arc to herself. Right away that speaks volumes since you wouldn’t get that kind of attention otherwise. She’s a very tough character who always makes sure that Yoh keeps up with her training. Despite her tough demeanor she always looks out for the side characters as well and protects Tamao as well as the little kids when the villains are around. I really enjoyed the fact that she could hold her own in a fight all the way through to the end of the series. Anna may not fight physically but she knows how to make the most out of her summons.

Manta is the human in the group so he sort of represents the general audience. He doesn’t know anything about spirits or what’s going on here so gradually he begins to learn all of this by hanging out with Yoh. I can’t say I ever ended up liking the character all that much though. Sure he’s nice enough but he can’t really fight and basically ends up being a hostage at times. His father was actually a lot more interesting as he actually used his money to get weapons and results enough so that he could try and threaten Hao. Obviously that doesn’t go so well but I liked the attempt. If Manta used his money more for things like that then that would be awesome.

Ren is a great character as you can probably guess. He’s basically the rival in the series and has the classic arc of starting off evil and then turning good. They really go far with this though and he gets a ton of development beyond that. He tries to own up to the crimes his family has committed and doesn’t waiver. He continues to get stronger and even by the end of the series he still has his confidence. Now yes, he does get completely surpassed by Yoh but that was always going to be inevitable. The fact that he lasted so long was still impressive and I just love rival type characters like this.

I would make the case that he’s one of the more complete rivals in league with characters like Vegeta than the average ones. Meanwhile Horohoro is sort of like the second rival but gets more of the shaft. He tends to be treated more like a joke when the going gets tough which is rough for his fans. He is still very powerful but becomes irrelevant a lot sooner. To make up for this he does have a power up near the end but by then it’s already a bit too late to compete with the others who kept on getting stronger and stronger. At times Horohoro can lose his head but he’s definitely someone that you want in your corner at all times.

Ryu is a character who grew on me a little more in the anime but I still don’t like him much. He’s one of the weaker members of the cast both in terms of personality and strength. He’s always lagging behind but at least he does have the determination to keep on fighting. He definitely has his moments where he stands up and receives a lot of punishment but he’s also just not that funny. His redemption arc was fairly decent but he really could have stood to be cooler. His gimmick of always whining about wanting to be with Lysberg got old fast.

Then you have Faust who is my least favorite member of the group. He tried dissecting Manta and I never forgot that. It’s just too much to come back from. At that point you might as well just make him a villain because that was just completely diabolical. From then on he is supposed to be a hero you can root for but I just couldn’t do it. It may sound crazy but sometimes a single scene is enough to hold you back. From that point you just can’t move forward and that’s what happened here.

Joco is next and he was okay. Also not someone I was a big fan of (I guess I liked the side characters more than the main ones at times) but at least he’s better than Faust. Joco also starts off as a villain but gradually learns to respect human life more and becomes someone who can be handy in a fight. He sacrificed a whole lot for power, a bit too much if you ask me. But temporarily the reward was that he was one of the most powerful characters in the series. He doesn’t get to fight much after that but he leveled up really quickly.

Finally there is Lysberg who is a fun character. He’s desperate for revenge against Hao and won’t stop until he’s taken the guy down. The problem is that like Angel’s grudge against Apocalypse is futile because of the power difference, Lysberg is leagues weaker than Hao. He has no way of enacting revenge which makes him more and more desperate. I actually liked him quite a bit in the show when I didn’t like him much in the manga so his character was handled well. Ultimately he learns to work with his rage instead of letting it control him and that was a really good message to put out there.

Yoh’s father Mikihisa gets a decent role by the end of the series but you do have to wonder where he was the whole time. It’s great that he finally appeared to train Ren and the others but if he was this strong then he should have been helping out in the whole fight against Hao from the start. I didn’t buy any of the excuses for why he was gone the whole time. Nah I just don’t see it, he knew that there was danger and didn’t step up. That’s not something you can really do.

Then of course we have the big gun himself, Hao. Hao is a very interesting villain because in his own way he does believe that what he is doing is just. He murders people all the time and amasses a lot of power but doesn’t see himself as cruel. He just thinks that he is above good and evil. I would say he definitely had a firm evil slant initially but the more he talks with Yoh and friends, the softer he gets. He just doesn’t like humans but quite a few characters in the series don’t and I can see why. Hao easily has one of the most iconic baby scenes in all of anime as he fights and talks tough when he was just born. That’s really impressive and he only gets stronger from there.

He’s a very layered villain and one who doesn’t come off as pretentious. I always looked forward to seeing him show up and dish out the damage. Hao is absolutely a highlight of the whole series and I really enjoyed his brief team up with the heroes. Admittedly you couldn’t take the cliffhanger seriously since the humans were completely doomed but it was a really cool moment anyway. His theme is also one of the most iconic in the series and you’re interested in what he’ll do after the series is over.

Tamao is a character that I never ended up liking all that much. She’s super shy and likes Yoh so you know that she’s doomed the whole time. She has her moments where she tries to get stronger and I do like how Anna is still very friendly with her. Anna still considers Tamao as a friend and on one hand it’s almost tragic for Tamao that Anna doesn’t even regard her as a remote threat but it’s much better than this turning into some kind of triangle which would have been awful. Still, make Tamao tougher and that would have been cool.

Then there’s Ren’s sister Jun who starts off as a villain but also gets better. I still think her dynamic with Pairon can be a little odd considering that her family completely ruined his life but I guess he’s good about moving forward and not letting the past drag him down. Jun doesn’t get a ton of screen time but makes the most of it. Yuan makes for a good villain but he’s a character who lost all his edge once he turned good so I didn’t like him as much after that.

There are a ton of Patch members running around and a lot of them do get a role in the final arc but for the most part Silva’s the only one with a big role. He works well as the mentor figure and I’m glad that at least he was trying to do something about the Hao situation. The others were just going with the flow which is not what you want to see out of the organizers. They should be the ones up in arms trying to do something right? Perhaps that was hoping for too much. Silva ends up delivering with a really good fight and I liked him more in the anime viewing than in the manga.

Then we get to the X Laws which was a really fun group. They made for an excellent third party to the mix and while the power creep may have surpassed them fairly quick, they were memorable. In particular you had their leader Jeanne who had a really high power level and a unique moveset. You don’t want to be her opponent because those attacks looked like they would reallllllly hurt. I would have liked her to have gotten at least one more fight but since her role remained large it worked out.

Next up is Marco who was also a standout. He understands his role as the leader and never misses a beat. He can be harsh in his training but you understand it with the stakes being so high. At the end of the day he’s someone you can trust and by the end of the series he’s surpassing his limits and fighting with the best of them. The guy has a lot of honor and believes in his convictions which makes him a very tough opponent to defeat. There is also Hans who works as a secret weapon of sorts but I wish he could have appeared more. I think he would have been a really good ally to Marco.

The biggest missed opportunity is Sati to be honest. So she’s the leader of the third group of god level fighters. The problem is that this group shows up way too late to the point where you barely get to know any of the characters. They show up when the tournament is already winding down and so we know they’re really tough but you don’t get to see it. It makes the characters feel like empty hype which is no good. Sati for example has a good design and a solid amount of hype. Her first appearance was really good but it’s hard for me to say that I actually like the character because she vanishes so quickly.

Then we have some of the villains here like Opacho. This villain’s a total kid so he never ended up being one of the big ones tbh. I see him more as emotional support for Hao, someone the villain could really trust. I did like how they basically had a family dynamic going there but it would have been more fun if Opacho could have fought at some point. You’re always limited as a villain if you can’t fight.

In contrast Luchist was an excellent fighter and someone who really held his own throughout. His debut appearance left a great impact and his evil angel spirit made for a really cool mecha. In general all of the mechas looked really great but this one really stood out. He’s also a fairly complex character who still kept a lot of his mystery by the end of the series. He’s certainly a villain but a very compelling one and one of the best antagonists in the series.

The BoZ Brothers weren’t quite as hype. Sure they actually held their own against the heroes which was impressive and the music was sort of surreal to see but on the whole I wasn’t big fans of theirs. They weren’t that tough and I never saw them as a threat. They were just around to stir up some trouble. Peyote was a little cooler maybe because of his final scene. It’s sort of like a double edged sword since on one hand it doesn’t make him look too smart but on the other hand he becomes way more memorable that way. I really wasn’t expecting his plot to end the way that it did so that was intense. I guess you really do have to watch out for the quiet ones.

Quick shoutout to Dracula whose role was way small but he had a very memorable design and character moment. That’s about it for him but hey Dracula’s in here….sorta. Bill ends up being more memorable because of the Football motif and the fact that he actually returns for more fights. He’s low key fairly strong, he just showed up at a point in the series where everyone was really strong. Otherwise he would have done a whole lot better in the matches.

Then you have the 3 witches group in Kanna, Marion, and Matilda. They’re a decently fun group although I don’t think I was as big a fan of them as most. They were big enough to get their own spinoff after all which is impressive but they wouldn’t have been my first pick. Ultimately it’s not like they’re super strong either and most of the heroes could take them down rather quickly. Likewise the two kids Redseb and Seyram are heavily carried by their Golem. Without it they would have had a really rough time of it. I did appreciate their revenge subplot though.

Shaman King tackles the whole cycle of violence really well. The kids want to avenge their father after they were attacked by a gang but if they murder the one responsible then that guy’s friends will go after them and it basically won’t end. It’s the tragic case of why it’s so hard to stop the cycle. After all it feels unfair if everyone got to have their revenge except you right? But at the same time someone needs to stop it eventually. Ultimately Yoh is definitely the main voice of reason here as you would expect.

On the spirit end, Amidamaru makes for a good ally. He’s got a good honor code and does his best to make sure that Yoh stays on the straight and narrow. The two of them get along very well and I like the dynamic they have. He feels like someone you can trust! Amidamaru is already a good character from the start so he doesn’t even need a whole character arc.

Meanwhile Bason is similar but I would say he shows the negative quality of how too much loyalty can be a bad thing. For example if Amidamaru disagrees with something he would tell Yoh while Bison follows all of Yoh’s orders without question. There lies the problem though. When you follow all orders without thinking for yourself and that includes criminal acts then you really become part of the problem and that’s no good.

Kororo is a nice spirit who doesn’t talk but is always there for Horohoro. There actually wouldn’t be much to talk about with her but we get a backstory later on that adds a ton of depth to the character. Ultimately I thought that she was really solid. If anything her story is a lot more tragic than what I had been expecting the whole time. For the most part Shaman King is a fairly lighthearted series. It does have its serious moments but not a whole lot of them. This was definitely one of the exceptions.

One main allied spirit I never ended up liking was Tokageroh. At the end of the day he was a villain back in the day and sure he’s mellowed out now but eh….it was never too convincing. He’s just not a very likable guy and you get the feeling that if Ryu ever turned evil again and gave him an order he would just end up following it without question. That’s something I couldn’t say for the others.

Eliza is very memorable because of the past but technically as a spirit she doesn’t do much. I just like the idea of a bond that transcends time and death so she’s still looking out for Faust. I may not like Faust at all but Eliza never did anything wrong and seemed like a good person from the start. Then we have Matamune who in comparison is one of the spirits with the biggest role. I would have liked an extra appearance for him at the end to really tie things together but he was still a lot of fun. Some of his dialogue was a little too cryptic to actually be all that meaningful imo, but at the end of the day he was always helpful. I also liked the fact that he could fight and that he lasted so long without a proper master to give him mana. He was super loyal throughout and always did the right thing even if it meant fighting his friend. It’s part of what made him such a tragic figure.

Then we have the Spirit of Fire who has an awesome design. No real character but that was enough for the shoutout. Personally I would have given the other elements different designs to make them standout though because otherwise they all start to blend together. Likewise the Golem gets a shoutout for looking really cool. I forgot how he had looked from the manga so it was nice seeing him here.

Then for the story arcs I’d say you can mainly divide the series into the pre arc, tournament saga, the Anna flashback, and then the climax of the series. The pre arc does a good job of introducing all of the characters and getting them onto Yoh’s team. In a way even once the tournament starts I still think of it as the pre arc until we’re at the team phase. Still, you get to understand how the spirit fighting works and meet the characters. It’s some of the only times you will get to see Yoh at school chilling out so enjoy the time while you can. It’s paced well so you don’t feel like the series is being held up in the meantime.

Then for the tournament there’s not much to say there beyond the fact that it’s awesome. The fights keep on coming and there are so many different powers and fighters in the ring. It’s really fun to see how they all match up. Towards the end the heroes start to easily clobber their opponents but at least for a while there it was close. In particular once Yoh got to a high level even multiple fighters at once couldn’t phase him. I liked when Yoh was on top like that though, it showed how far he had come.

Tournaments are a great way to increase the stakes and introduce a bunch of characters so that’s something this series took full advantage of. As we neared the end we also entered the big Anna flashback and it was a really good one. We really got to see what she had to endure back in the day and they are some of the most emotional episodes in the series. I would even say Shaman King is one of the rare titles to really understand romance and how to use it effectively. I was definitely proud of how it went and the slowburn style is the way to go. Additionally Anna never loses her fire. She is always ready to defend Yoh and jumps into the fights as needed. Her powerful summoning skills can’t be underestimated. I almost didn’t want to leave the flashback land because it was so good.

Then you get to the climax which was a classic boss rush as the heroes had to keep on climbing through the final tower. It’s a fun arc even if it’s a bit on the shorter side next to the others. While watching you kept thinking that some of the fights were going to have to be rushed because otherwise there were too many enemies and not enough fighters. Considering that, they did a good job of still giving most of the members complete fights that actually went on for a while. The last bit is definitely rushed but otherwise it was still solid. The fight scenes were fun and we got to really see how powerful this group was.

Ultimately there is a classic epilogue involving a timeskip but that part’s less exciting mainly because I don’t really like any of the redesigns. Perhaps I would get used to them someday but they just don’t look very cool. The main characters all had very signature styles about them that worked well within the context of the series but as adults they all just look rather bland. It’s really just not the same.

If the show has any weakness it’s that the humor can be a bit desperate at times. Particularly Tamao’s two spirits who basically show up just for comic relief. They go so over the top you can barely believe what you’re watching. Still, they barely appear so you can easily get by them. Additionally there’s basically no fanservice here which is nice as well. The series is just very tasteful and that fits in with its very calm atmosphere. This is really a very different action anime and it succeeds on so many levels.

Overall, Shaman King was an excellent show. I have to say that I was really impressed all around. It was fun getting back into the Shaman King franchise after this like I quickly went and checked out the sequel as well as some of the spinoffs. The franchise has built up a whole lot of great characters and lore so there is no shortage of content. In a way the sequels might be getting too ambitious but that would be going off into a tangent. Either way I would say to watch this right away. It’s got a good blend of action and emotional moments so there is something here for everyone.

Overall 9/10

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit Review

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Jack Ryan returns for another intense adventure and this time he is a fighter. In the other films he was usually an analyst without much combat experience but here he was a full marine who was an expert at survival and getting the job done. So you can bet that he was taking a lot of wins and could handle himself in the field. It’s an interesting change and hey I do like my action scenes so that works out. It’s not quite as solid as the last one but still makes for a fun adventure.

The movie starts off with Jack getting a big injury and he has to do some tough rehab for a very long time just to walk again. Fortunately he meets up with Cathy and the two of them get engaged. Jack is then recruited by Thomas into the CIA so it’s all fun and games but then he notices a big move by Russia. They’re messing around with the stocks and currency. It looks like this could be a major play to take down America once and for all so Jack will have to go there in person but this last second trip is going to be putting a lot of tension in his relationship with Cathy since she doesn’t know about his true job. Can he save the world and salvage his relationship or will he have to choose one or the other?

One positive out of the gate is that the series still keeps a lot of political intrigue into the mix even while it is focusing on the fights more. The plan to take down the U.S. through a stock crash is quite inventive and while I may have some issues with seeing that go so smoothly, it’s a fun plot. It’s different and we get to have a lot of discussions from the characters on how this would work and how to stop it. The short answer is that you don’t just stop it, you have to foil the terrorist part of the plan actively and rest will fall like domino’s. I feel like as a last resort they could take the stock market down but that would cost billions on its own and would probably just delay the inevitable.

As for the action, that’s fun. We get a high speed chase scene and Jack has to take one guy down early on. He seemed quite outmatched so he was smart to use the terrain to his advantage. It was a nice way to start off the Russia adventure since the danger hit close to home almost immediately. Although it also made you think of a fun alternate premise for the film. When Jack escapes the room his contact tells him he just has to survive until he can meet with the next agent. Imagine if the rest of the film was him trying to survive in a foreign country with plenty of assassins after him? I think that would be very interesting but ultimately it would be a different movie.

The writing is on point here as well. The movie goes by in a flash and it always feels like a lot is going on. The characters are good too. I liked Thomas as the senior agent here and he actually made himself useful. A lot of the times it feels like these agents are only around to hand out the moral of the day but then they get bumped off or written out. Here he actually acts like a senior member should and is always watching out for Jack. He makes sure to step in if things are getting too dicey and pops quite a few of the villains with his sniper rifle. That’s absolutely how this should go.

As for the villain, he is definitely a downgrade from the last few. He has a lot to prove and really wants to get a win for Russia but he has some pretty well known weaknesses. He loves money and he can’t resist women. These weaknesses are so well know that the heroes and his own minions know this so they use it against him. That part’s a bit annoying because of course the instant Cathy wants to help, her role is to distract the villain while Jack infiltrates. That just seems to always happen and I’d rather for once her role would be to take him down while Jack breaks in or something like that. At least the movie uses it as a weak weakness for Viktor which costs him a lot but it’s still very overdone in the movies.

His minion wasn’t very smart though. Why would you tell your own boss about how he’s failed and how Russia will be disappointed? That’s like asking for your boss to take you down. There was no way that he was going to survive after that. No shot at all. Catchy was a good heroine at least. She was able to handle the dangerous situations really well without panicking or making mistakes. While she had some issues with Jack initially due to the secrets, you can actually blame Jack there because Cathy gave him multiple opportunities to come clean. He was just way too slow on the uptake and handled it all really badly.

If you see that your girlfriend is asking if you’ve seen a specific movie that you just saw yesterday, wouldn’t you think that something is up? He should have just said that he saw it. If he had to lie about the reason then just say he needed a break and saw it by himself but anything is better than just avoiding the question or saying he didn’t see the movie. He was also sloppy to leave the ticket there.

Beyond his romantic slip ups, Jack is a good main character though. He’s always ready for action and does well on the tech side as well. It’s definitely handy when you’re a computer whiz and you can fight. That makes him the ultimate dual threat here. With a solid cast and story the movie was certainly set up for good things. The only weaknesses here would really be the main villain and the romance. It didn’t really add onto the story and having a better main villain is always a great way to instantly elevate the film. We get some decent banter though so with the writing still being on point the villain doesn’t really hurt the film.

Overall, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a good film and a solid way to try and kick some new energy into the series. If you like classic action thriller films then you would like this one and throw on an extra point if you also like the political intrigue and drama there. This one has a bit of everything even if it’s a bit of a step down from the last one. I’d recommend checking this one out, it’s a quality all around movie.

Overall 7/10

Dredd Review

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This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Judge Dredd has returned for another film outing. The first film was rather solid and had a good blend of action and excitement. This one doubles down on how corrupt the city is which makes sense on why the Dredds are around. It unfortunately focuses a little too much on the tragedies as opposed to Dredd making the world a better place and ultimately falters due to its own violence but at least you do get a hype soundtrack here and some memorable action scenes.

The film starts off with Dredd taking out some more delinquents and then his boss says that he will have to evaluate a new cadet. Dredd isn’t thrilled about that because historically he’s been a solo act but this is how it has to be this time. The new recruit is Cassandra and she is a telepath which is definitely handy to have in the field but Dredd still feels like she might not be ready for the level of danger in this job. He intends to be a harsh but fair mentor but what should have been a routine bust ends up being a whole situation as Ma-Ma takes over the building and locks it down. She is the head of the ultimate gang that runs this show and says that Dredd must die. He and Cassandra must try to stay alive while also keeping their prisoner Kay alive so he can be tried and brought to justice.

With the heroes locked in that does make for a rather tense setting in the building. I also thought there was a good amount of variety as the heroes go through the floors so it never felt confined. This is a really big building after all so that never became an issue. The visuals are solid here with a lot to look at and Dredd’s uniform definitely appears to be very faithful to the comic. I wouldn’t have any complaints there. It also ties in well with the really good rock music that plays throughout the film. It helps to get you in the zone and it makes the film as a whole a lot more exciting too. A good soundtrack goes a long way.

Dredd also makes for a very solid main character. He doesn’t let his emotions get in the way and tends to be a very pragmatic character who wants to take in his opponents alive but if they shoot first then he has to respond. Often times they are dealing with hardened murderers here so Dredd and Cassandra just have to open fire when they’re being attacked. Given the context of the world at large and the situation they’re in, it makes sense why they can’t all be jailed. In this world attacking a Judge is also a really serious offense.

The criminal system here is definitely interesting and I’d like to see that go into more depth someday. Regardless, Dredd lives up to his hype of being the most dangerous Dredd around. He overcomes a significant disadvantage in numbers and makes it all look easy. Not to say that he’s unbeatable though and he has to deal with real issues like running out of ammo but he always chooses the optimal path in tough situations.

Then we have Cassandra who does really well too. Her mind reading ability comes in handy several times. I was glad it helped her dodge a pretty big trick by the villains in pretending to be an ally at one point and it also gave her the edge over Kay. When you’re a telepath you should absolutely be able to crush anyone trying to beat you in the mind space and that’s exactly what happened here. If it had been close at all then that would have been disappointing. An expert just shouldn’t lose to a novice.

Cassandra’s abilities also put her in a unique position to really know who is a victim and who is an attacker. She’s more emotional and lenient than Dredd as well which can be an asset or a liability depending on the circumstance. Either way she would definitely make for a very good judge and they would be lucky to have her on the team. There aren’t any other heroes in the film with a notable role so Dredd and Cassandra have to be able to rely on each other when the going gets tough. If either one of them was not prepared for this then it would not have gone over well.

The main villain Ma-Ma was not all that good though. I appreciate that she had a plan for everything at least. No matter what the heroes did she would reveal another tactic or technique to even the field. Right up to the end it felt like she had everything under control and it took a really crafty idea to take her down. I can appreciate the grit it took to rise to the top and all but ultimately she’s quite psychotic and her grand goals don’t amount to much more than wanting to be at the top. If she could fight more personally that would have helped her.

She’s considerably better than Kay though. They’re both rather demented and I don’t think for a second that she would hesitate to do any of the stuff that Kay did, but he was around more so in a way we got to really see how depraved he was. The guy was annoying throughout the film and in a way he’s lucky that he wasn’t shot dead with a lot of the other villains. If Cassandra could have said she was 100% positive he may have been axed out near the very beginning.

So the Dredd movie has a lot of nonstop action and I love the premise of being stuck in a building filled with enemies and no way out. That part’s good but the film just ends up suffering due to how over the top violent it is. In a lot of ways I think the movie was trying to really show that it was different than the original. The original was more comedic and had a lot of light hearted moments so this one probably wanted to show how dark the city of Dredd’s is. It does make sense that it would be bad out there since the point is that the world’s really gotten as bad as possible but even then you can do that without all of the details.

The people who die are basically cut up and die in really vicious ways. You have the whole mental battle with Kay and Cassandra which immediately goes for the gritty/nasty kind of visions for them. They both play dirty in order to get the win at the audience’s expense. Then even the gun fights could be handled in more of a stylized way. You definitely don’t need the full explosion for every shot. There are plenty of action films with gun fights where you know the hit connected and the guy goes down but it’s not a huge splatter. It’s not as big a deal as the other elements since they are at least combatants but you could tell it’s the film trying hard.

I also thought the slow-mo was way overdone here. I went in a full circle with that because at first I was rolling my eyes at this, then they showed that it was a part of the plot. So I thought, all right…they showed this so we could understand the drug. But then it kept on happening over and over again so it went all the way around the world back into being excessive again. At that point it just became a negative. Slow motion shots can be cool, a lot of action films use this to great effect but there needs to be a purpose. A cool background effect, a nice scene, a great pose, etc. Not just someone smoking their drugs as we see it in slow-mo. It was just annoying more than anything. At least it did nullify one scene that I thought was going to be a fanservice moment but it turned out that this was not the case. Slow-mo has its use there at least although you could just say that the scene was filmed well because slow-mo could also backfire in that kind of way.

Overall, Dredd is a very intense action film. I can see the appeal as it’s basically the Punisher in a really rough environment who doesn’t need to take any prisoners. In this case he’s even government sanctioned so it’s not like he is defying the law to do it. I’d say you can do this without making the film be so over the top though. It takes away from the scenes that are pretty cool like when the other Judges showed up. That was really interesting. This film in a lot of ways is like Resident Evil. It’s a very interesting film but also tragic in the sense that you can see how this could have been great if it could have just held back a lot.

Overall 2/10

Hitman: Agent 47 Review

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This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

We are back in the Hitman universe with this reboot. They learned a lot of their lessons from last time fortunately so this one actually ends up being pretty fun. We’ve got some solid action, special effects, and the whole works. It even feels a bit more like a superhero kind of film with how we’ve got powers now and even 47 can shoot across the whole city. Yeah if you were looking for some Hitman action then you’ve come to the right place.

So the movie introduces us to Katia who seems to have the ability to see the future. It helps her get out of a lot of bad spots and she even saves some lives by utilizing this power. She has been trying to find someone for a while now but doesn’t even know why. The situation gets dangerous when a man named John Smith (I’m sure that’s his real name…) shows up and tells Katia that an assassin is after her so she has to trust him. The assassin of course is 47 who is pursuing her quite relentlessly. Perhaps this guy can help Katia find out why she has super powers and why she even wants to find this random guy from her visions. Either way they will need to move fast.

The first half involves a lot of chase scenes as they try to get away from 47 and I thought this was handled really well. 47 is a Hitman after all so he won’t always be the hero here. Putting him in as a villain makes for a very intense perspective and I definitely wouldn’t have minded if it stayed like that the whole time. He gets some great feats here too like when he goes on a roof and then shoots a bullet that goes through a train, car, past a bridge, and then into the car where Katia is to hit her. The shot is absolutely insane and even Hawkeye would have to give him some respect there. It’s really impressive all the way through and 47 is practically robotic with how he keeps on going.

Now I do have one absolutely major issue with one of the opening scenes though. So 47’s mission right now is seemingly to neutralize both Katia and John. He is authorized to do whatever it takes to accomplish this. Now as the film goes on you can see why Katia is okay for now but what about John? There are several times where 47 can finish him off but chooses to keep on going. These scenes only work if you assume that 47 actually is a robot. I’ll give you a quick scene here. 47 knocks John to the ground and then turns to set up his gun so he can fire at Katia. He gets really close to shooting her but then John tackles him so they fall to the ground.

Okay, time to shoot John and then go back to hunting Katia right? Wrong, 47 acts like John isn’t even there and gets up to walk after Katia. So…John tackles him again and they wrestle in the train tracks for a bit. Several times John will interrupt 47 and the Hitman will knock him away or land a punch but then go back to ignoring him. I thought that didn’t make any sense unless they changed scripts midway and he was going to be a robot. 47 seems to have no common sense in these scenes which is just odd because he is always portrayed as such a highly skilled agent.

Still, as a character he was really solid. I liked his scenes in the embassy where he is in control the whole time and talks tough. He talks a whole lot more in this film than in the first one and it works well. You get the sense that he is absolutely ruthless and now that he can explain his intentions to the other characters, it makes him that much more sinister. It was also just nice seeing the U.S. Embassy show up even if you knew they were going to be doomed after a while. So there was a whole lot to like about these opening scenes. Plus I also enjoy how everything was dialed up to 11 with the crazy shots across the city or even Katia using her powers to figure out where to go next.

As a character Katia is quite solid. She may have been lacking in confidence at first but this didn’t stop her from taking a risk to save the lady in the opening scene and then always staying on the run. Katia basically had to self teach herself how to use these strange abilities and to stay in the game which is not easy. By the end of the film she has really come into her own and it’s a shame that we won’t be getting a sequel because I think that could have been a great film. Certainly Katia would have had a nice role in it and I liked where the film was going.

Yes, we do have a cliffhanger here so get ready for that. It’s a really hype one though and you can pull quite a few comparisons to Terminator 2 here. I think in a lot of ways this film was trying to be like that one and it succeeded. So if we kept this up I think the movies would have gotten even better as we leaned more on the sci-fi angle. The final scene (pre credits) was just really excellent and exactly the kind of note you want to end the movie off on.

Diana actually appears in person for this film which was nice. She doesn’t seem quite as personable as in the first film though. Here she appears to be fully part of team corporate. I guess if you stay long enough they always get you but it would have been nice to have seen her in more of a heroic role. Then we have John Connor Smith and he’s a fun character. I did find it a bit funny when Katia asked if that was his real name later on. Cmon now…it’s definitely not. The sad thing is if I ever met someone who was actually called John Smith I probably wouldn’t believe him. At this point the name is only used as an alias to the point where using that name actually just puts some suspicion on you.

Either way John was a really solid character here though. He definitely helped to bolster the cast. The movie has a fairly small cast of important characters to be honest but this way you can focus more on the plot and what’s going on. There are some other characters of course but these are the big ones. There is a whole lot of action here as well so you’ll definitely enjoy that. 47 gets to fight with guns, knives, and his fists. Everyone gets a little piece of the pie here.

The uniform still really stands out as well. This movie got to show off how versatile it could be as well by having 47 be a villain one moment and then someone you have to root for in the next. In some scenes he’ll remind you of Wesker even. This time the movie has quite a few twists and turns compared to the first which was more straight forward and it works out quite well. I did think the first one left things off on an interesting note as well but this one really raised the bar. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t better received because I need that sequel!

Overall, If you like a solid action movie then you should definitely enjoy this one. It’s a well rounded title with a lot of action and interesting plot developments. Sometimes the heroes can be a bit brutal with how they finish off their enemies like one kill in particular where the guy got crunched into oblivion but in Katia’s case she is fighting for her life and in 47’s case…he really couldn’t care less. You get the feeling he has some kind of plan going on that he’s not mentioning to anyone either but that could just be me overthinking it. It’s not like we’ll ever know for sure I suppose but hopefully we get another reboot or something soon because this series has a lot of potential.

Overall 7/10