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The-Brick
Reviews
Gen V: Jumanji (2023)
R-rated Inside Out
Throughout the show I've been distracted with the sensational gore and association with the boys, I've been giddy and excited with this spin-off but this episode suffused all the previous bad signs I tried to ignore into an incontrovertible realization that this show was written for no other than teenagers. I could forgive the shallowness of the characters, the implausability of some events, and the awkward teenage drama, but now they shoehorned a silly "inside out" episode because writers are either not paid or care enough to properly write characters authentically without resorting to having our protagonists reminiscing their past inside some supe's mind palace. I doubt I'll go on eventhough I'm an avid sucker for the Boys. Everything to see here, the cookie-cutter characters and rehashed "X-men" plot, is just a cheap backdrop to blood+sex+violence.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Subspace Rhapsody (2023)
Through the Earwormhole.
It is sad to see the negative ratings and reviews for this episode but it made me curious. It's not too uncommon these days that poor ratings can indicate a split in audience and it usually speaks well of the object of contention; that the showrunners dared something. It's not always so, but for this show, I know there are many diehard fans who are quite conservative and rigid in their disposition but I've come to trust the showrunners more than these fans.
Because I can only assure anyone who is of open mind that you will enjoy this brief lapse in judgement by the writers. Those who found this musical to be in poor form do not have a joyous bone in them and have committed themselves to Star Trek as a show that is merely rooted in plausability or rationality, but since Star Treks first iterations it was always willing to embrace the nonsensical to give its audience a novel experience. They took a big leap here, one that I forgive and will return to many times to appreciate the music and surprisingly clever and emancipating lyricism. In no way if this had been a mediocre endeavour would I have had accepted this far-fetched musical episode, but it is just too good to dislike. Take off your brown-tinted glasses, take a break from somberness, sit back and enjoy the show however it goes. With these talents "anything goes".
The Legend of Vox Machina (2022)
This is only fun if you're an impressionable teenager
This show is written by amateurs. Luckily for critical role, their fans have poor taste and constantly wear rose-tinted glasses.
I went into this show with open arms, I thought I was going to enjoy some DnD fun at last! But what I get is the creeping realization that this title isn't what I hoped for. None of the jokes make me laugh. None of the characters make me root for anyone. It is the animated show of my teenage DnD days, with all the tropes and all the cliches a teenager might fancy. I will be so arrogant to wager that I may have made my characters at least more interesting than these cookie-cutter personalities.
With a score of 8.4, as of writing, somebody may mistake this schewed scoring as an indicator of quality. It's not.
I know this because they tried making more of the formula with dragon age absolution and it's not working. People notice the bad writing, the inoriginality, when the hype isn't there to cover up the bad things.
Hopefully people will wake up and see this for what it is, so that this animation company can go on to do better things because I love their work. Critical Role may be a fun and creative lot, but they can't pull together to do a good story and narrative outside their usual table-top enviroment.
Hopefully with season 2 the writers will improve, but considering that the fans set the bar so low I doubt they will.
Baby Driver (2017)
Rewatch review
This film looked well enough on the big screen back in the day, but watching it in the comforts of my home today it has already managed to become excrutiatingly cringy. The characters are, on par for the course, quite soulless individuals with zero emotional attachment to anyone or anything, and this includes the main protagonist.
Ansel's puppy antics work well if it's the first time you see him, pretty face doing pretty things, but he may just be the worse aspect of this film. The camera follows him way too much doing quirky things that could've been fun if the actor/character had something more than just looks, rather than paper-thin charms. No one could enjoy it, unless you're an adolescent girl, understandably, but I'm very sure that this film wasn't made for that crowd.
Much like Guardians of the Galaxy, I don't like the music for the same reason here. It's the "expected" playlist that doesn't surprise whatsoever, the usual suspects of typical/classic songs that we've all heard. And that's how I feel about the film altogether. It's frustratingly typical and all the might of Edgar Wright's directing power only amount to gild this pile of manure.
It's second-hand Tom Cruise in Risky Business playing Driver while trying to make love with Heat, but the heat is gone and the car-radio can only tap into one frequency. No love here.
Basutado!! Ankoku no hakaishin (2022)
This made me laugh my ass off far more than most comedies!
I don't know if I should even like this, I'm certainly not target audience for this kind of production (or maybe I am) but I bloody love this. The writing is masterfully stupid with humor that hits you unexpectedly and frequently, accompanied with animation that's mostly top notch.
Nobody who's thirsty will protest the sexually themed animation, it all adds up to brilliantly mock male ideals and Hollywood tropes in my view, and yet, my primal brain does enjoy "Bastard!!"s great renditions of the female form - albeit idealized. Anyone who's tired of conforming to sensibilities of contemporary society, or everything else in our downspiraling world, may find some much needed stupid escapism here and I can't think of anything better than these perfect bite sizes of well animated debauchery to forget my day and bask in the glorious light of Dark Schneider - who, in my heart of hearts, I confess I wish to be.
The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World (2021)
Fairly good, looking for forward to more
Many things could be better but the show still has potential if they continue with a second season, with some love and improvements I think it's possible it can be great. It's a heady universe to adapt and I imagine any production involving wheel of time will take time to get its footing. Took a few episodes to warm up to the casting, by the end of the season many of the actors seem to have grown into their roles and I've come to appreciate them.
I really hope they continue this but that they tighten some of the CGI and cinematography, and that they smarten up the dialogues a bit too. My main problems with current season, as this episode, are the occasional awkward and clichéd dialogues. Feels like these are faults a show with this financial backing could afford to amend.
Loki (2021)
Disconnected melodramatic superficial multiverse soup
Good production quality, it has Owen Wilson, occasional interesting dialogues and acting, but it suffers the same errors made by many other Marvel/DC productions. The story is just not that compelling, it's another example where Marvel need to rethink their story arcs and invite the idea that every superhero film doesn't need to be about resolving the fate of all things. There is never any tension in these productions because of it, it's all a part of a multiverse soup anyhow, one Loki dies another will appear.
The characters surely grow during the series, but not to any interesting direction, just the absolutely expected one, a narrative decision that has now made Loki an even less interesting character than before. Now he's just like ever other goody two shoes commonly depicted.
Would it have been just this light-weight narrative to give room to fun and flashy entertainment, I'd enjoy it more but the ever life-choking presence of female Loki's personal melodrama made that worthy pursuit an impossibility. I am torn between having to engage in superficial storytelling one moment, then sloppy cookie-cutter melodrama in another, and thus it all feels very disconnected and quite ridiculous.
By the end of the series, I couldn't care less for a continuation.
Rick and Morty: Rickdependence Spray (2021)
I am glad I didn't pass this episode
It caused me a belly-aching laughter listening to and imagining Keith David in a studio acting out these absolutely crazy lines,. Overall I thought this episode was really good, I appreciate them going out on a limb and so creating, although grotesque, humor on the sick fringes of our imagination. This season continues to deliver quality laughs, even when the subject matter surely will attract appalled reactions from sensitive audiences.
WandaVision (2021)
You can pass this hype-train also
I can only guess to the reasons why, but my two best cracks at the mystery here follow as these:
1. people actually like this cookie-cutter soap-opera formula juxtaposed to the cheesy melodrama of superheroes (which to me must be counted among the worst in the field of melodrama)
2. people just like Wandavision because other people told them so on various social platforms, and a slew of people are nigh completely ruled by peer pressure when forming personal taste.
In short, if you don't like soap-opera, pointless melodrama, corny, campy, on-the-nose arm-chair psychology, then avoid.
This is coming from someone who can get down with Whedon's early stuff, I am not completely outside their target-audience.
This is my review 8 episodes in, the finale needs to pull an heroic effort to make me reconsider. I am glad Disney took a chance at something like this, I just hope they rinse and repeat with a better project next time.
+2 for Elisabeth and Paul and +1 for an original, but ultimately stupid, idea.
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Surprisingly excellent!
There was a general sense of "Star Wars" fatigue when this film released. My reason for not watching it were of same reasons, I could not muster more of the same since the reboot made by JJ Abrams.
I am today regretful of my broad stroking the franchise, as I consider this film the best behind the original trilogy and the Mandalorian production. I enjoyed this immsensely, the sets are great, the acting is vivid and fun, wrapped inside a convincing atmosphere. The story is to me quite perfect for a character like Han Solo, and it managed to set the bedrock from which greater stories about this character could've been told.
I can't really say why people gave this film so much hate and disregard, but it coincides with the cultural shift where people began hyping each other up to hate rather than appreciate.
Hype can raise or kill a giant, as it shapes entertainment industry by its whimsical nature.
If you try this one, try looking for the positive things rather than the negative, as many of us today seem prone to only look for the latter.
Outlander (2014)
Take me to Graigh Na Dun
I am a man who likes this show.
To perhaps reel in you, a lost man or woman in search for parcels of inspirations hidden in vast seas of entertainment, I'd like to say this show is good for either sexes but you need to have an appreciation for history, a bit of empathy and willingness to forgo (during viewing) modern notions of morality.
There are scenes here that might make an insecure man feel like Outlander is a feminist revenge story. And there scenes where women might get mutually offended. These are fools and biased to menial thinking. If you are not a fool, you will appreciate this.
This show explores many aspects of history, the one we know, the one we don't, and one that could have been. It does this playfully well with the help of fantasy, great characters and great writing. The emotions in some of the scenes are so tangible it can be hard to watch, but of course it is always worth it.
Apart from some few episodes where directing and writing felt alittle uninspired, the overall quality is reliable without any deep lows. Well, fine, the writing of 1-2 characters are so stereotypical and flat they seem like they were copy-and-pasted. Luckily, these are represented by capable and likeable actors.
I have not seen through the third season, but so far I can't say it looks like it's getting worse.
This show is great for fans of history, great characters, tartan, non-sappy romances, the occasional injection of madness and morbidity, bagpipes and that general feeling of being on the highlands that resides in every man, woman and child.
I ken you will find this show very braw.