dimensional_powerx Reviews

The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXV (2014) Season 26, Episode 4

Enough of Moe!

[9 November 2014]

While last ýear's Treehouse stand out only because of its opening, not offering anything memorable. It's good to see This new special has been focused on the shorts... The problem it's still the same: just one writer for all three shorts, instead of one writer per short (as in the good years). So, let's check the shorts

Fist one: Good, funny, original... Still not as horror focused as previous shorts, but nice try.

The second one: If you are going to parody one of the literary and movie masterpieces in history, you need to be extremely funny... This ones is not...just a bunch of visual gags in a non-sensical plot... and Moe... Why it has to be Moe?...I'm sick of Moe in ToH... Use another character, for Christ,s sake... I know he is popular...well I suppose he is popular, but, c'mon, just imagine if they have used Ned, or Wiggum...you even can use Reverend Lovejoy, just for the quick shocking moment in the beginning "hey its Lovejoy, that's odd"..

The third one: After the big announcement for this year's ToH was the meeting of "old" Simpsons with "actual" Simpsons, you would expect something memorable...and it was...for about 10 seconds... then something silly...then epic for the last minute...

So, It's not a bad Simpsons Halloween Special...but we are still far from greatness

The ABCs of Death (2012)

Too many bathrooms

[3 November 2014]

I love compilation films. They have the opportunity to portray different stories, with various results. In this "horror" anthology, we have 26 mini-stories around "death". The director only have two rules "the film must be related to their assigned letter. and must be around death". Some segments are pretty good (Cycle, Speed, Quack, Pressure, Removed) some are original (Apocalypse, Vagitus,Unearthed, Hydro-Electric Diffusion, DogFight) and some are made like the director just wanted to finish their letter to focus on "more important things"(Orgasm, Ingrown, Miscarriage,WTF, Gravity). Some shorts have a dark sense of humor that make them stand out (Toilet, Big-Foot, Nupcials, Exterminate)... The two lowest point in this compilation: First: To many bathrooms... seriously: at least 9 of the segments are focused or mainly related to toilets or "scatological" themes. Second: The three Japanese segments (Fart, Zetsumetsu, Jidai-geki), not only are bad: they are extremely horrendous. As a Japan-culture lover, I can't stand their definition of "dark humor". While Jidai-Geki can be acceptable, Zetsumetsu it's just a load of Nippon symbolism about West-East clash that, in the end, doesn't mean nothing. and Fart...well it's terrible and utterly gross. This is a very unbalanced anthology, if you understand that is not a movie, but a series of events, it can be enjoyable. But if you don't have high-tolerance to "gross and dark", maybe you should look another "horror" movies.

Summer Wars (2009)

A movie that breaks all you can expect from animated movies

[20 July 2014]

Every year we received a movie trailer for some new film that comes with the subtitle "the family movie of the year". I've never understood the term, until when I watched Summer Wars, and after that I understand, because this is the one and only "family movie".

The story of the film starts pretty standard: one guy that has to pretend to be boyfriend of a girl to keep grandma happy on her birthday... We meet the family, as we meet any other film family: full of crazy and charismatic members... and then the movie breaks down: a computer virus threatens to bring down the net and also start and finish war, if possible... and everything for some mistakes happened on the family... we witness the struggle for survival, not of humanity, but a family, a family that needs to keep together and get everything for themselves...

The movie goes up and up every second, and has one of the most crazy, "adrenalystic" climaxes in cinema ever... and will leave you with your nails scratching your sofa... it's simply perfect.

The mix of traditional animation with cel-shade and cgi is beautiful, the virtual world allow for a lot of creativity, and the real world looks so full of life... this is a movie to enjoy on full HD.

In the end, this is a true story of how you always can rely on your family, no matter what bad the situation be... and you will love it...

The Legend of Korra (2012–2014)

Paving its own way while honoring the previous series

[28 June 2014]

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a memorable story, breaking paradigms of traditional animation, and remembering us that, the fusion of American and Japanese style, if its done with passion, can become legendary (I'm talking about Scobby-Doo, Transformers, Thundercats). The journey of Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph (well, and Zuko too) was so fresh and exhilarating. The series ends when it was needed to end, as a whole story of saving the world, the world was saved. There was graphic novels with subsequent adventures... those i haven 't read, and can say how they are, so right now, the story ends with Fire Lords defeat.

Then Nick decides its time for a sequel. Instead of paving the way to a another Aang story, producers make a jump in time, remembering that the Avaatr is not but different lives of a single entity. so "lets jump to tell the story of another Avatar, but instead of only telling them in one episode (like Kyoshi or Rooku) lets do a complete telling"...thus the Legened of Korra was born.

Korra is not Aang: it's the Avatar. If you understand this, you can stop judging this animation for being a sequel and start seeing as a vehicle for new stories in the same universe. We have the typical characters of every animation (the comic relief guy, the too-serious master, the evil villain corporation, and the kids..oh the kids! the low point of the series...Meelo can be so annoying), fortunately, the story focus in relations, not on personalities. While characters doesn't develop that much (except for, maybe, Asami, Jinora...), their relations change so much with every episode... a rhythm i expect to see producers to keep without destroying the characters in next seasons...

INstead of only one big story to save the world, we have "little epic stories to save the day" ... and until now, the villains have been totally memorable: Amon and the lieutenant (Book one) make a stand as deep as a villain can be in a "child cartoon", and send a deep message about discrimination and "the power of few"... and Unalaq and Baatu (seaosn 2) provide a deep, spiritual context, asking us to rethink our conceptions of good and evil, light and dark. So much deep in the cartoon is almost too much, but the pace is as good as in the first series, so there are no much time to bore you with ideology, its just a glimpse, it's up to you to go deeper.

The Avatar team works not as good as in TLA, that is because this series is more focused on Korra than the team per se. but even that, Bolin, Mako and Asami are strong characters with a lot to do and say... such a shame that the love story is so convoluted that appears you are watching Grey's Anatomy... so good they don't focus a lot in that... relief (sigh). Secondary characters, as in TLA, provide fresh ideas every episode (honorable mention to Eska and Desna... those two are impossible to read, their reactions are as comic as dark), and in later episodes we received cameos from TLA that are so memorable to enjoy them while they last.

After finishing Season 2 I can say that The Legend of Korra stands as one of the greatest animations of this decade, and, like its predecessor, will pave the way to new and modern styles of storytelling in cartoons.

Black Lagoon (2006)

A fresh view of human dark side

[7 February 2014]

Anime compress a wide variety of themes. But, we are pretty accustomed to a lot of clichés (pretty, hot teenagers in school uniforms; swords and wings, the search for a stronger foe), not that we dislike them, only it's nice to explore new ways of story telling. Black Lagoon its a series that draws not only the standards of anime, but china movie flicks, spaghetti westerns and south American drug movies. Forget about the pretty girls and the "tsundere/yandere/wherever-dere" archetype (that is rather dull), who can't work without his "oni-san/sempai/kun": in here, women are strong, will-filled, completely independent and have a very, very bad mood. No swords/wings: in here is about guns, pistols, shotguns, bazookas, missiles...and machetes (well, a couple swords in last episodes, but absolutely no wings). Search of the stronger? Nah, forget it: this is about money...lots of money. Paying homage to great visionaries (sigh!) like Quentin Tarantino, John Woo,... we view the ways of living/survival of a "delivery company" in the eastern seas of Asia (no Japan? yeah: almost NO-JAPAN). From recovering lost art, to dealing with human trafficking, serial killers, we witness the drug wars in the eyes of former "salaryman", now turned mercenary/diplomatic/translator for the Black Lagoon company. It's in his eyes that we witness the low ranks of the human race. IN our screens wheel dance a lot of bizarre-dark characters, with twisted ways of living (the Chinese knife-fighter, the Venezuelan soldier turned maid, the Gun- dealer nuns...), and, our protagonist, we will try to understand them... but this not a humanist story, there are no answers here, just questions: How he/she has landed in rock bottom to be like that? But, the same characters will stop any questioning as they shoot each other... if you analyze beyond the action you'll find some very sinister and deep concepts. Some episodes can be hard to swallow (for example, the Vampire Twins episodes are extremely emotional, easily can put your faith in humanity at test). If you ignore this, and only focus on getting a good time, this anime will fulfill your expectedness: action, explosions, and lots of adrenaline...

Chobits (2002–2003)

A must-see for anime fans

[29 January 2014]

I watched this anime back in 2003... I loved it... then, ten years have passed. And by some happy coincidence, i obtained the Blu-Ray for it. I 'm watching it right this days...and I must say that is a very simple touching story.

Can be fun, extremely fun...the first half of the story is a naive good guy (Hideki) dealing with his new lifestyle (a very hard way o life for anybody, you must admire him to resist that much) and struggling to make his new acquired persocom, Chii, to understand and learn form the world. Try to put yourself in his situation: is like a new single-dad... he has been put in a very stressful situation... and the show turns it into a comedy situation... it's simply precious. We meet the rest of the characters: the smart neighbor, Shimbo and his little energetic "desu" persocom, Sumomo; The childish teacher, Shimizu, the rich introvert kid, Minoru and her persocom, Yuzuki, Yumi, the sweet co-ed of Hideki in the bar he works; Ueda, the manager from Chiroru and Chii's boss at work, and Chitose, the kind-hearted manager. They are such a colorful and positive cast that makes the series so light to follow.

As the series progressed, we catch some hints that there is something dark, sad in the air, we are not sure what it is, but we feel it. Then the second half is spiral of revelations that can be extremely emotional. ALL of the characters start to show their hidden secrets, one by one they shock us to the point of taking a moment to understand "what the f**k just happen".

To really understand their feelings, the story has its sub-context: technology alienating people. How technology advances, making our life easy, but at the same time, people are drifting apart? Why people close themselves, relying just in the new advance gadget? This show doesn't provide an answer, it just gets a resolution from a good story, and that 's part of its charm: you have to get the answers yourself. While in other shows, this means "the director didn't want to provide an answer" in this "the answer is extremely personal, the story ends, everything is solved, but the context don't" that's quite nice.

Sadly, the quality of this anime has decreased by his original run, but that's no obstacle to enjoy it. As another great anime, Serial Experiments Lain, it can be watched, and the story became so timeless, that you will enjoy it any year of your life.

The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXIV (2013) Season 25, Episode 2

Simpsons Did it... Three times already?

[12 November 2013]

24 Treehouses of Horror... 24 years of parodies. Every year we wait for this... how can i call them? masterpieces of black comedy? This year, the hype was great, specially after YouTube shared the awesome intro. Everyone talks about the intro. Yes, its great, yes in HD is mind-blowing. Yes...

But the rest? The first segment is kinda lovely: a parody of Dr. Seuss works, funny, but not that memorable, the narration is outstanding, but the imagery is pretty dull... The second segment stands as one of the worst ToH segments by far. Do you remember that last two minutes of Treehouse of Horror II? That gag was converted to a full segment... Why? It was funny 22 years ago, but now is almost irritating. We had a lot of horror/science fiction movies every year,,,and the writers only came to this?

The third segment, while pretty interesting at first (it was inspired by cult classic Freaks), its, once again, Moe taking revenge/satisfaction on Homer, because his love/desire/relation with Marge. We had that last year...we had that in ToH XX... Why again? We have hundreds of characters. I'm not saying that they have to make a segment with Üter as the main character, but, they could experiment...why not? (Everyone remembers Üter...right?)

To think abut too: since the ToH XIV, only one person writes the segments, when before that, you had THREE writers, one per segment. I think, part of the life/soul of this episodes it's to experiment with alternate jokes, situations that are bizarre enough to not be included in the "normal" episodes. So, bring ALL your writing talented people to the game, DON'T put just one person to think about the ideas,,, or the next year we will have "Dial W for Werewolves" or "The Kingdom of Crystal Do'h"...or worse: "The Raven"... C'Mon Simpsons writers: this is your chance to make the Halloween specials shine again... don't waste it....

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

The Nicest of all the surprises

[6 November 2012]

I simply don't trust Disney,,, is hard, very bad movies have clouded the reputation of this empire (a hate Bolt, Chicken Little, Open Range... and wasn't very convinced about Tangled, Princess and the frog)... but There is a simple key that is changing everything: John Lasetter,,,the man is a genius,,, he knows how to take a very simple story, and turn it in something memorable (Meet the Robinsons may be not a perfect movie,,, but the last 20 minutes are brilliant)... After seeing the trailers I was very skeptical: I love videogames, but the story didn't quite convinced me,,, so, I came to the theater, bought my ticket (half price in 3-D... super!!!!)and prepared to see, ready to be disappointed or enjoy a good movie....

And what happen? I watched one of the very best movies this year (not a great year I must say, but not very bad). The story, simple, ad the beginning, evolves into a very interesting mess that I'm sure no one expects (The 'Pixaresque' formula of "one simple character could be what you wouldn't think" persist), and is very enjoyable,,, the characters,,oh, my, the characters!!!! where do I start? the protagonist, Ralph is funny is easy to sympathize with him... I loved Vanellope; I must admit, the trailers made me dislike her, but she redeems pretty well, she is charismatic, behaves like a child, but gets angry,, then jumps full of happiness,,, one minute later is crying (that scene,,,the car scene,,, is one of the most shocking scenes in a "child movie",,, If I were 6-7 years old surely started crying with her),,, his background and development are vital part of the story and is delicious see her grow in the movie,,, Felix and Calhoun provide tension, humor and complexity to the scheme and make you smile a lot.... Short story: The characters are one of the best group in Disney movies....

And the games,,, the references,,, my good, from the old arcades, to the new shooters, the first half hour is full of them,,, big and small, direct and indirect,,, in the front and in the back,,, some direct and shocking (the one with Kano is simply outstanding,,, i say) some other more subtle but funny (Dig Dug), others are expected but satisfying (Sonic giving public messages,,,must have been Mario, but Nintendo was very hard to negotiate...pussies), some a little obscure (the exclamation mark!!! you really don't expect them), and some direct to the players (the Konami code!!!!!!!!, the Centipede and Asteroids arcades!!!!!)... Is also very remarkable that the movie doesn't rely on them,,, it sticks to his 3 fictional games(Fix-It Felix Jr, Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush) and make it from there without more cameos after 30-40 minutes,,, and that's good, it could have been very annoying to have characters jumping on and off the screen every 5 seconds,,,,

I loved this movie,,, because, is made simple with detail and (oh, the cheesy moment, but I don't care) is made with love for the job,,,, You can't miss it,,, ah, doesn't matter if 3-D or 2-D,,, doesn't change a lot,,,,

Battle Royale (2000)

A movie not for the weak of heart

[17 January 2010]

Just when you think you have seen every possibly show of gore and sadism, one day step in a video store and find "BATTLE ROYALE": this film destroys every concept of "justice" you could have,,, a totally dis-topic world, where boys and girls, who barely started to live, are forced to destroy themselves... for survival? Honor? Respect? fun? hard to tell, 'cause every people have their motivations, and when motivation clashes, only tragedy can pass. THis is not a movie about boys killing boys, or girls killing girls: is a complex metaphor of far are we ready to go to be "the one": the life as a contest, with only one winner,,, and the reality is there: You can decide not to play, or go against the rules,,, but in the end, you can't escape, you must win, by the rules, or against them, with your friends, or leaving them behind,,, the true self of person is tested in here,,, of only we could had more screen time, I'm sure we would been able to meet deeper all of the characters, but movies aren't meant for this,,, maybe we understand that everybody around us are playing BR and never noticed it, because in this universe, we don't lose our lives: lose the jobs, fail the exam, that kind of things,,, or is just an exaggeration of the actual world we live on,,, no character is good or bad,,, except of course Kiriyama, a very crude picture of the lowest part of society: those who don't do nothing for good, but can do a lot for bad, without a reason. Everybody have their own interpretation of this movie...for me Battle Royale is the live itself, with pistols, katanas and explosives... in here, some said to kill a man you must kill his spirit,,, maybe reality surpass fiction,,,

Prison Break (2005–2017)

One of the best series of the decade

[4 December 2009]

When an American drama starts, usually has a good 1st season, a better 2nd season,,, an amazing 3rd season,,, an then the story goes good for about another couple of seasons, and then starts the fall. Prison Break have on of the first two most excellent seasons of the decade: a story about two brothers, and how far is a person ready to go for the people that he love,,, charismatic characters all placed in a very well studied scale "from bad to evil" (from the "all sweet" Veronica to the "completely robotic sadistic" Kellerman), but always humans, with human feelings, and primal instincts, a plot full of twists, everyone has his moments where they show never left being humans... A second season where everything starts to feel like a "never will end",,, just add Mahone to the equation,,, the pieces starts falling in a tornado of surprises, where everyone who felt indestructible in the first season fins his "kryptonite" with amazing scenes (T-Bag crying, Sucre escaping with Maricruz, the climax battle between Michael and Mahone)... Everything put together for a first half of one great history (an with us totally in the dark about who really was the real villain). Then, the 3rd season begin,,, only half of episodes than the others,,, with another prison, new rules,,, new characters,,, the old ones suffering real changes... ¿Are we really ready to spend the next 6,7,8,X seasons entering an getting out of prisons across the world? NO, this was the season who ties the cords to the next step: the 4th and final season. Practically, all the characters of the 3r were finished, an we see only one of them (at full), an only one new character is introduced as a regular (one that proved to be a little annoying,,, but hell, is part of a good story)... and the plot is the dream of any prison break fan: almost all the original and best characters reunited in a last "battle" against the main villain,,, with Prison Break its all about "who is gonna be the smartest one", an the fourth season puts a last challenge when Christina appears,,, one incredible character no one expects, because nobody cares about it,,, until her appearance,,, the last 5 episodes show a duel between egos, IQ's, personalities,,, everyone forced to do things they don't want, and choose always for the worst,,,the return of two people no one expect to see again,,, when you know the "battle is over", we receive what every follower of any show wants to see,,, all his beloved characters in the place they need to be,,, personally I feel sorry for Don Self (apealing as the "Scofield" curse, lost everything) and T-Bag (He started to run against what he was,,, an that sent him to the hole again),,, and I will loved to see Veronica, Tweneer, Haywire, Savrinn, Belick and Abruzzi mentioned, I can't complain a lot (besides, Bellick was honored with a full episode), but could have been a good detail,,, the last scene is simply the scene no one wanted to see,,, with the four character that deserve to be there (Lincoln, Sara, Sucre, Mahone) saying goodbye to the people who followed them for 4 years,,, its hard to not have cross feelings: the happiness to see this story over, and the sadness to see the tomb of one of the most brilliant protagonist of all time (life's just not fair),,, The producers knew the series could not keep going,,, or it will lose all the essence of the title itself,,, so, the series starts with Michael and ends with Michael. Brilliant, clever, hard,,, Prison Break is a jewel worth to see, is the testimony that not all the stories have to be of people saving the world, or a group of friends hanging around,,, we can have a story of two brothers ready to save one another,,,

The 4400: The Great Leap Forward (2007) Season 4, Episode 13

An excellent series finale... But cruel series finale

[5 March 2009]

I really think "The 4400" is one of the best series of the decade, a great story, a lot of characters with so much to tell, an incredibly production... When I saw this episode, I said "Yeah, the next season is going to rock like hell", with that "4400 Seattle" and everyone discovering their powers,,, many people surely said it was like "Heroes",,,but The 4400 came first, OK? But, there was no more episodes... Like the series was planned to end in there (I don't be so sure,'cause in the DVD extras, one of the producers said some things about hat will going to happen in season 5), like everything was planned like this...but I don't buy it. What I'm surely known, is the series has his finale sooner than expected, and, if it wasn't bad, I felt there was to much left to say for The 4400. Oh, well, at least, we can say this was one of the best series in the beginning of the century.

Shutter (I) (2008)

Why they still do this 'things' (some call it 'movies')

[22 April 2008]

The original movie is brilliant: Starts like a typical 'scary movie', and suddenly it turns to be an excellent 'love drama' with one of the best endings i have seen in an movie like this,,, But, again, the studios bought the script, adapt it, and put someone who, technically can make a good version,,, the director make a decent work portraying the Japanese society(in a very mediocre way in the end,,,not bad: mediocre... a Japanese girl jumping to the arms of a man? bad bad bad),,, Why Japan and not Tailand? Who knows (we know, but I can't be so rude), in the end is irrelevant, but at the beginning its kinda strange,,, The story starts almost the same as the original,,, and 30 seconds later changes completely,,, the original plot of a man fighting the 'ghosts' of his past, is changed by the plot of a woman fighting with the 'jelous and dead' ex-girlfriend,,, near the end of the film he screams 'he left you because he doesn't love you!!!',,, that's ridiculous,,, the end remains almost equal to the original,,, but it feels terribly empty: the original presents three people(live and dead) destined to have a shared destiny for the mistakes of one man,,, this remake shows a man receiving his lesson because he is a jerk,,, so disappointing,,, I tell you: Go, buy the original Shutter, watch it, enjoy it,,, stay away from this,,, thing,,, remake,,, whatever you call it,,, don't tell is good because you didn't see the original,,, even if you don't watch it, don't make this movie good,,,

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Overestimated

[23 March 2008]

When you see a film, usually you expect to see something with a story (by story mean a plot, a climax and an ending, in its basic structure). All good stories have this, even not in that order. What's the problem with this film? It starts pretty well(not amazing), and advances with excellent rhythm,,, you stay aware of what will come next,,, and you can see great action scenes, drama scenes, even a little comedy scenes, all put to tell a great history about three men and a bag of money,,, everything have a purpose,,, but, suddenly, everything goes to hell....... 20 minutes before the movie ends, everything change,,, with no explanation, no justification,,, nothing,,, for the next 20 minutes you only hear about the existential reasons for the characters still alive, you hang on, just because, deeper, in your mind, expect something really amazing,,, 20 minutes,,, the credits,,, What Happen? I really understand the philosophical message that, I think, the directors try to tell us (The man have lost his purpose because of the money, and without money, we can't see the meanings), but for that, one book is perfect to tell this message,,, not a movie,,, because a movie needs a climax(even implicit), and this doesn't have one, just something missing,,, "Hey, we change everything, but we don't tell you how exactly we did it, just assume you find it by paying attention" and is OK, but frankly, almost sure I am not the only one who felt he saw an incomplete movie,,, not bad: INCOMPLETE.

La niñera (2007– )

Such a Shame

[21 February 2008]

Is kinda pathetic that TV Azteca, clearly unable to make something original, tried to repeat the glory of The Nanny,,, this is an abomination. Even Lisset has said it's an original product,,,DON'T BE FOOLED: is exactly the same scripts the original sitcom had 10 years ago, only with Mexican adaptation and worse acting. The characters don't have charisma or even personality, are totally a copy of the original ones,,, just change Fran Fine to "Francisca Robles",,, totally awful. I really tried to find something good, but really, there is nothing, so, this show became one more of the big mistakes of TV Azteca,, I f you enjoyed The Nanny with Fran Drescher, stay away from this show,,, well, really, no one must never see it.

X (1996)

A good film to start "X" fascination

[25 September 2006]

I have read a lot of mangas and a seen a lot of animes... And X is my favorite one...and everything started with this movie. It has a beautiful animation, charismatic characters, and a story that runs with agility... After seeing it I discovered the manga, and in 2002 the anime series... This two are better in history than the movie itself, that's indisputable... But this movie is a very good point to start in the world of X, because is the story in a very "light" version... After seeing it,and if you really liked, you can buy the manga... Believe me: it's going to be one of the best stories you'll ever read... the only problem is that the manga is still without end (18 tankoubons and part of a 19th one), but I think is part of the emotion that involves X: the eternal sensation of "the end" that never comes. Conclusion: A good movie with a single vision of the complete story. And the end of it is very good (The shots of the exterior of the Tokyo Tower are amazing). I really suggest you this and other works from CLAMP: MKR, Tokyo Babylon, Clover, RG Veda, xxxHolic... and specially Tsubasa Chronicle, because this has a lot of clamp crossovers like Sorata and Arashi from X itself (and without their tragic destiny as lovers).

Sexo, amor y otras perversiones (2006)

Very good movie

[15 March 2006]

Definitely, between all the crap in Mexican movie industry, "Sexo, Amor y otras perversiones" is a decent collection of sex themed short films.

The short films "made in México" are the best of the world, and these are not the exception: very decent, funny, and reflexive. OK, some of the shorts are a little foolish in his story, but, for one of this rare cases, the story is not the important part: the most important is the characters... so humans, and so "cartooonized" at the same time.

Is not the "movie of the century", but is a good way to have a quiet afternoon, without complications...ahhh, yeah, I forgot: the best short: "María en el elevador"...the worst: "Dos meses de Renta"...the most original: "Max Viagra"