killedgrilledandfried Reviews

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

I went in with no expectations...

[8/10 · 25 February 2023]

I did not like the first movie, found it dull and generic, decent enough to pass the time but nothing worth going out of your way to watch. Hence, I went into the sequel without any expectations especially of it being any good. I was aware of the hype around it even though I tried to avoid it. Checked it out eventually and was very pleasantly surprised.

The beginning was more of the same as the first movie but it changed gears a few minutes in and I felt myself getting engrossed in the story. As it went on, more characters were introduced who added so much to an already strong main cast and were beautifully and subtly developed throughout the runtime. The animation is sublime, the voice acting is so much better than the first movie which was still pretty good.

The story is extremely well paced and the character development is brilliantly portrayed, meshing perfectly with each other.

This gets a strong recommendation because of the strong characters and a beautiful story!

Arcane (2021– )

An unexpected masterpiece!

[10/10 · 29 April 2022]

I never played the game but consume some of the LoL content i.e. The music videos and cinematic animations but let me be clear about this: You do NOT need to know anything about the game to watch this show. Judging from my limited exposure to this intellectual property, I expected this show to have brilliant animation. Those expectations were surpassed even though I didn't really like the kid character designs at first. The animation is unbelievably good. Seriously, you can see the hard work they put in on this and it adds a lot to everything else which also turned out to be brilliant. To be able to tell what a character is feeling just through the look on their face without anyone uttering a word is what they pulled off.

The characters are the best part of this even though they had stiff competition from the animation and story. Just about every single character feels real and believable. None of their actions feel forced or serving the plot just for the sake of it. All of them have their own motivations and beliefs which are gorgeously portrayed and not straight up told to the viewer. It's usually a considerable feat to have just a few characters come off this way but this show manages it for nearly all of them, even one-off characters that show up for a couple of minutes. Quite possibly the best roster of characters I have ever seen put to screen.

The story doesn't lag behind either, it is brilliantly woven into the characters' backstories and actions which makes for a natural and organic world-building. I don't think there is any exposition in all the nine episodes of the first season and yet everything becomes clear to the viewer thanks to the brilliant meshing of the characters, story and direction. For a video game adaptation to pull this off where other movies and shows that only need to focus on these aspects fail is unfathomable and yet they did it. They have also managed to set the bar for story-telling, world-building, animation and characterization so high that I doubt it will ever be surpassed.

The only gripe I have about this is well, kind of a spoiler so I'm not going to mention it. Just watch the show, it will grip you and you won't want it to ever end. Consequently, season 2 can not get here quick enough but I'd like them to have more than enough time to make it because they have set a standard that it is going to take a hell of a lot to just live up to it moving forward and I don't want any compromises.

Amphibia (2019–2022)

Gets so much better as it goes on!

[7/10 · 17 April 2022]

Initially I was indifferent to this show because of it's seemingly episodic nature as I found those episodes to be forgettable and filler-y but as it went on, around the season 1 finale, it got so very good. When the show focuses on the overarching plot, it is probably one of the best shows out there and that's what we get as it progresses especially in seasons 2 and 3.

The characters are some of the most likable and fun along with a wonderfully intriguing plot. I loved seeing their dynamics develop and change over time. The only complaint I have with the show is that the occasional filler episode is not as good in quality as the story focused ones but that was more of a problem in season 1 and seems to be disappearing as we move along.

All this show has to do now is stick the landing and it can become a 10/10 pretty easily as season 3 is turning out to be the best so far and I hope for even better things to come. However, the threat of cancellation or being cut short always looms over shows these days so I'm going to stay cautiously optimistic for the future.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Overhyped to the moon

[3/10 · 13 March 2022]

As is customary for all MCU movies, this one is also massively overhyped and overrated. I enjoyed the first Spidey movie (Homecoming) featuring Tom Holland as it was funny, the characters were all likeable and it had a decent story with some twists and unpredictable moments.

This one however, starts off with a stupid but neat idea, the execution, however, is dismal. They just manage to rehash every other Spiderman movie before this and it was stupid, predictable and boring. I felt no chemistry between MJ and Peter this time around and I know they are a couple in real life but in the movie it just didn't work. All the other characters felt bland except for maybe a villain or two.

Overall, I just got bored watching this and am glad I didn't pay to see it in theatres. I thought others would be cured of their MCU disease by now but looking at other reviews it is definitely not the case. Carry on milking this, Disney, seems like there's a lot money to be squeezed out. I am done with this though, enough of this repetitive CGI Superhero/Comics crap.

Invincible (2021– )

Good lord, this is intense!

[8/10 · 11 May 2021]

I am completely unfamiliar with the comics this is based on and I don't really care unless they leave the story unfinished, so I can't say anything about how well it adheres to the source material but I do know this: You gotta watch this show!

When I started with the first episode all the characters seemed annoying and I couldn't care less about the teen melodrama or whatever so I was questioning my decision. And then... the ending of that episode... holy hell! I was not expecting that at all and I was caught, hook, line and sinker. If you are squeamish, stay away from this one but I got desensitized to the violence and gore by the second episode and you're gonna *have* to do that.

The plot is extremely interesting while some of the characters are not. Most of the characters weren't really likable for me but I was intrigued by them. They're not really relatable but still interesting? I don't really know how else to put this. Couldn't care less about the love lives of the teenagers but I suppose it's mandatory or something and it becomes tolerable eventually except for the bit with the legal loli(?).

Omni man is the MVP without a doubt and Homelander can learn a few things from this fellow. Speaking of which I had strong 'The Boys' vibes from this show throughout but it was still quite different. I am indifferent towards the main character though (that goes for most characters actually), I don't know what but something doesn't feel right with him. He should be going through some very strong issues but it seems like he's pretty unaffected by it all. Human lives aren't valuable here at all to any of the characters, it seems. The voice acting is great and the animation is good for the most part even though the show tends to get attacked by bad CGI quite a lot. But still, the setting is so unique and interesting that it just completely overshadows all the negatives one can have.

Highly recommended and I can't wait for the 2nd season.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018–2020)

A surprisingly wonderful experience!

[10/10 · 25 April 2021]

After watching this multiple times, I can confidently say that this is one of the best shows I have seen, animated or otherwise. There's just so much this show gets right. It was a wonderful surprise the first time I'd watched it casually without any expectations and also a very rewarding experience on subsequent viewings. The characters are very well written and the chemistry between all of them is just great! You can have any two characters interacting with one another and there's never a dull moment. The story is also better than it had any right to be. The elements just come together to create this immensely entertaining experience that leaves you wanting more. Seriously, the biggest complaint I have with this show is that it feels like it was cut short. I mean there's the potential for whole arcs for a bunch of characters which would really work in any kind of setting, and some of them need those as well.

The art, especially the backgrounds and the character designs are also really well done. They capture the setting and the personalities of the characters nearly perfectly. That said, the second biggest complaint I have with the show is the animation which is not quite consistent throughout. It fluctuates between really good and average. The show also takes a little while to to really get good (the first couple of seasons are not as good as the subsequent ones) and the ending feels a little rushed.

Even with these flaws, it still managed to be a very entertaining experience and I loved it. Highly recommended. Just go in with an open mind and enjoy a beautifully done work of art!

Arrival (II) (2016)

This movie is a disappointment to me

[5/10 · 25 October 2020]

The beginning of the movie is just outstanding, it hooks you in spite of the slow pace. It has some very interesting ideas and concepts but it fails mostly because of one thing in my opinion and that's time travel. Any movie that uses time travel as an essential plot point has to be very particular with the rules to make me engage with that aspect. I did not engage with this movie's version at all. In fact, all the intrigue and drama it had built up just fell flat as soon as the concept of going back and forth in time was introduced and I lost all engagement with the movie.

May be different for you as it seems is for the rest of the reviewers that are giving it a 10/10 but it's just not for me. A shame since I was really looking forward to how things were going to go. In any case, it is probably worth watching but it is a very slow and weird movie.

I hope more movies like this are made favorably without an element of time-travel (Interstellar is another one that lost me because of that).

The Lion King (1994)

Unpopular opinion

[2/10 · 19 October 2020]

Okay, first of all I believe this movie is not a ripoff of Kimba the While Lion. There's a video on YT by YMS which goes into detail on that. Check it out before labeling this as a ripoff or whatever.

That said, I did not like this movie at all. Perhaps it is because I did not watch it as a child and had no nostalgia for it. Or perhaps it is because I watch a lot of Lion shows on Discovery/Nat Geo, etc. and nothing depicted in this is at all realistic and honestly a story about an actual lion pride is much, much more interesting and appealing to me. Or perhaps this would have worked better with humans (Hamlet is what it is based on I believe). Or maybe this is just a bad movie?

I did not connect with any of the characters even if I was to give in to the suspension of disbelief completely. Did not like the musical numbers, the story or the direction. The fact that Simba or whatever the main character is called gets it on with most likely his sister or cousin (lion prides always have related males as heads) made me sick. I suppose the voice acting of the villain named -ugh, really- Scar was fine (why did he have a different accent than his brother though?). That's about it. Don't get the praise for this movie at all. It was a total slog to sit through.

That said, since most people love it, give it a go if you haven't, you'll probably like it.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Kinda ruined a lot of movies for me

[9/10 · 19 October 2020]

When the first Hollywood flick you watch is one of the best action movies ever, it kinda sets the standards far too high for other movies, which is what happened to me. I stumbled onto it while channel surfing one time when I was 10 or something and I was just mesmerized even though I caught it in the middle and didn't really know what was going on. Regardless, my tiny little mind was blown and I would seek this movie out as soon as I could to watch it in full.

I have seen it at least 10 times since then. The characters, the story (for the most part) and the direction, everything is top notch. The one star I took off is because of the time travelling premise which just ruins everything. I mean there are no real stakes when you can just go back and change everything, nothing feels like it has real consequences (which Hollywood has repeatedly demonstrated by making more and more of these movies to tarnish the legacy completely). This aspect is the reason why I didn't like the first movie much either. Really wish the time travelling trope didn't exist at all.

Anyway, I might have rated it this high because of the nostalgia factor as well. Still, highly recommended.