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nemesis2000-2
Reviews
Fallout (2024)
"everyone wants to save the world, we just disagree on how"
Amazon's adaptation of the Fallout video game series delivered at every moment! It wholly embraces the maturity of the games, its story and embodies the spirit of the source rather than trying to make it into something entirely different. A whole lot of fun for both gamers and non-gamers who appreciate good storytelling.
High praise to the writers, the actors, the actresses, the directors, the special effects teams, etc. They all brought their A-GAME into making this series like none other and bringing the Fallout world onto the silver screen (computer screen, or where ever it can be watched from). This is a great tribute and shows high respects to the creator of the Fallout titles, Tim Cain.
The Marvels (2023)
Getting there
It is entertaining but is missing something. The gravity of the story was there but felt incomplete, like it was not the main focus of the movie. If they have to make the film 10 minutes longer to achieve that, then that would work. There are some scenes where it was time to pay attention and some where you could get away with blocking out the film for a minute or two. Comedy is ok, but when it manifest into a 2 to 3 minute filler, it disrupts the flow and overall immersion of the film. Did I laugh? Yes. Did they become cringe or awkward? For me yes, but it also does vary on the audience. For me the reason why it became cringe is because the actor(s)/actress(es) don't give off the body language or facial expression showing that they are comfortable, and again... it breaks the immersion.
Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel) portrays her character accurately. She does a fantastic job at portraying a teen persona. Brie Larson feels like she goes in and out of encompassing the character Captain Marvel. As mentioned before there is gravity to the film but that weight only seems to apply when it's convenient and not throughout the film. Teyonah Parris (Monica Rambeau) was...there. I feel like the writers missed some character building, development with her. At times her character felt a little stiff or robotic. It felt like a short departure from the flow of the film at times.
I would give this film a 7, but there are some things missing. And for a 7 the flow and gravity of the film is going to be important for me. Overall I would place between 6.5 & 7, but I unfortunately cannot rate up unless it had an edge.
Grave Encounters (2011)
High School Film With a Budget
Found footage films are difficult to achieve these days. They almost completely rely on the weight of the story to allure the audience in, and not the quality. It becomes a guilty pleasure for some. But I feel like this film takes itself too seriously. What is supposed to be a mockumentary becomes its own thing missing the mark of satire.
The story for Grave Encounters is literally an episode of Ghost Adventures with a bit of exaggeration. Not going to say which one so this review does not get flagged as a spoiler. The writers for Grave Encounters took that IP/episode and re-envisioned it into their own.
There is a bit of humor but the acting is too stiff that you cannot tell if it is supposed to be funny or serious. That and scenes that are serious the acting is severely lacking. To be honest, this is a high school film with a budget. There is not much else to break down with this film other than bad acting and the screenplay and/or flow of the film is just random. Paranormal Investigators with Youtube Channels have better structure than this. I will admit some paranormal investigation shows whether it be Travel Channel or Youtube, are even worse than Grave Encounters.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
How MARVEL Films Were and Should Be
To be honest I am disappointed I did not get a chance to see this in theaters. Just finished on Disney+ Guardians 3 IS one of the best MARVEL films and IS the best MARVEL film since Endgame.
The story expands on the Guardians even more and does it without the comedy aspect overpowering the base narrative. All while carrying a steady pace between story, action, etc. Sadly a lot of the phase 4 MARVEL films and TV series went the route of comedy over narrative, and it shows. Here Guardians 3 includes the emotional aspect where it not only sticks with you but also has the factor where you can re-watch and enjoy seeing those moments again. I go back to re-watching the MCU in phase 1 through 3, but Phase 4 I have little interest in re-watching with the exception of a couple TV series. This does include some sensitive material, and may not be for everyone. Sensitive material is hard to watch, overcoming it to see where it goes I feel is a reward in itself here and Gunn delivered.
Guardians 3 feels like the MARVEL producers, higher ups did not heavily influence it and let James Gunn do his work. If you are looking to get that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania taste gone I HIGHLY suggest watching Guardians 3.
Halo (2022)
It's Called "Halo", but IS DEFINATELY NOT HALO
All that was good about this series was the first 10-15 minutes. Seeing the characters from the source Halo game being portrayed on screen. The action was great, yay. After the intro sequence the story became a convoluted mess and the main characters were re-written into Paramount+'s own. About 98% of the story and lore has been thrown away. This is no longer Master Chief from the Halo games, his platoon, commanding officer, the Covenant, etc. They were all re-written, and the name HALO had become a cash cow for Paramount+ instead of being faithful to the source material.
**If you are aware of Netflix's Resident Evil and their re-writing of The Witcher lore to make Blood Origins their own, then you know what Paramount+ did with Halo.
The story and some of the action sequences after that initial intro were ok. Acting was cringe at multiple times. Reminded me of some of the goofy acting from DOOM 2005 movie. Predictable and irrelevant story could not help this series. The same thing that has happened to many/near all video game movies and shows that came before.
Within the first episode it was apparent Paramount+ was not going to be faithful. I'll try a few more episodes...nah. I made it to episode 5 trying to give this adaptation a chance. It was evident in the second half of episode 1 that this series was going to piggyback off the name HALO without being Halo.
The Last of Us (2023)
THIS is How Video Game to Live-Action is to Be depicted
The accuracy, faithfulness to the source material, and drama/action depiction of the game makes this adaptation perfect. HBO's The Last of Us at 97%-98% accurate and IS CANON. The reason why it is not 100% because there are subtle changes. Even though the changes are there, they still have the same outcome as told in the video game. What I like about the changes HBO made is they don't take away from the source material (lore), where as other video game adaptations stray so far off script they create their own story; diluting the source material and re-inventing a story from scratch.
The challenge I see with video game -to- live action adaptions is what content should be carried over. Include this amount of action? Include this amount of drama, etc. The game includes many more interactions with Clickers, and other oppositions Joel and Ellie encounter in the TV series. It is difficult to bring every single encounter, yet HBO found a balance. Doing it as a series and not a move is ideal because there is more opportunity to elaborate on parts of the story. There are some sequences that are not playable in the game; however, they are mentioned through newspaper articles, journal entries as Joel and Ellie travel, etc.
The art direction of the Clickers, the buildings, the landscapes, etc. Bring a nostalgia factor to when I played this game. The series in itself is giving me that feel that I want to re-visit the video game. People around me who are not gamers, bought the game to experience the cinematic experience of the game. That to me says a lot about how well this video game-to-live action was done.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Just for Fun. Some Opportunities Were Missed
The movie is what it is; just for fun. Quantumania is more comedy, drama, weighing more on comedy. Again the comedy hurts the weight of the story in this film as the intense story with the main villain needing more emphasis. The setup in some parts of the film did in fact heightened the gravity of the situation, but events that followed downplayed everything. Because of who the villain is they could of made him just as strong in the comics, but downplayed him like how they did with Gorr the God Butcher in Thor Love and Thunder.
Is it entertaining? In my opinion, yes. Was it a spectacle/memorable? To a degree. There are some parts where you could tell writers were writing in filler material. Without that material the gravity of who the characters are remains the same. In my eyes Quantumania has a similar feel to some 90's films I grew up with that were there for fun.
28 Days Haunted (2022)
Who Is This Show For?
28 Days Haunted is about getting closer to the paranormal realm upon investigating known haunted locations for an extended duration, 28 days. The intro segment over hypes the settings of what is about to happen and when the investigations begin, the investigators produce awkward or cringe worthy scenarios/responses. This show is all about collecting evidence of the paranormal so I don't count that as a spoiler.
Who is the intended audience here? The introduction and body of the first episode is like everything is haphazardly thrown together. Some of the names in this show I have heard of before and anticipated the subtle tones (non-scary), but the nonchalant behavior made it seem like they didn't care.
Those who may follow Youtube content creators doing Paranormal investigations and have seen other known shows like Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel will immediately notice a huge disconnect between the Netflix show here. First, where are the tests? When they switch footage between groups on day 1 they all only perform one test. And when they get activity they don't follow up with it, they're not even acknowledging it. Just saying "this is happening" and "oh my gosh" with the least amount of emotion. Yes it is possible all this stuff is real; however, based on the presentation, breakdown and each persons' character, all evidence feels irrelevant. The investigators appear unprepared and/or don't explain WHY they test or act that way.
I tried to watch these. Unfortunately they feel too scripted and artificial. It honestly looked like they were mocking Hollywood ghost/paranormal videos.
The challenge with this content and these shows is not only to entertain the audience, but to also convince what they are doing is real. I have had a small paranormal experience before and my reaction is more aligned with content creators, not this show.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)
The Show Feels Like They Don't Care
MARVEL could of done so much better with this series. There is a story to be told but the tone and flow was executed poorly. The cameos were ok. Obviously Daredevil took the spotlight in epsidoe 8 and in just that one episode he proved why Jennifer's (She-Hulk) character development was poor, almost non-evident.
After watching the finale, this series reminded me of M. Night Shyamalan films when he had the Spielberg complex. He felt like anything he pumped out was gold, and failed. That's how episode 9 felt and the mark it left on the series.
I'm pretty sure MARVEL is going to continue She-Hulk for continuity. The comedy is fine, but it should grasp the MARVEL universe for continuity instead of trying to start from scratch.. hole they are in and look into more serious tones. Out of the 9 episodes there are only about 3 or 4 epsidoes that stick to the story.
This show looks like it was thrown together quick. If there was a month or more spent in pre-production the story may of been written better.
Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 (2020)
This takes me back
SAC_2045 definitely has that classic GitS feel to it. The story, characters, music, etc. I only binge a selected few series and this easily became one as the nostalgia factor kicked in and intricate story kept me going. SAC_2045 carries a discreet adult tone. Overall the story, the characters, etc. SAC_2045 is solid, and makes a great installment to the Ghost in the Shell series. There are a couple more things I would like to see here, but the writers may have more cards to play when season 2 comes out or future series.
Some may not like the new animation style, but it is easy to get past once your an episode in.
The series only has Japanese audio with English subtitles at the moment. I cannot see the Japanese cast of voice actors here on imdb, but some of the characters sound like their original movie (1995)/series (2002) voices.