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Reviews
Westworld: Akane No Mai (2018)
A masterpiece
I honestly think these reviews got invaded by some incel message board with the negative reviews, this was easily, clearly, unquestionably one of the best if not THE best episodes of Westworld. It was a detour, yes, but also a much needed breath of fresh air. This episode is beautiful and haunting and absolutely magical. The sets, the costumes, the performances were all next level.
Iced (1989)
Unintentional comedy abounds
I saw this at a screening at my local Alamo Drafthouse, billed as a "so bad it's good" 80s cheesefest, and it did not disappoint. Make no mistake about it, this is a TERRIBLE movie. But it's so ridiculous it'll leave you entertained as hell as long as you know what you're getting into. It's a gem.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
SO much better than its given credit for!
This is easily my favorite X-Men film since X2, and I was not expecting it to be. With all the negative press I'm not sure what movie most people were watching. There are some flaws but it achieves something historic in the franchise history: it gets the characters right! The film benefits from the absence of Wolverine as the main character and finally does justice to Cyclops and most importantly Jean Grey.
This is the hardcore X-Men fanboy coming out in me, but Jean Grey has always been the most interesting of any character in the comics for me. Sophie Turner does a great job as a young Jean Grey afraid of her powers but learning to unleash them. It nearly makes up for the atrocity that was X3.
Xavier, Magneto, Quicksilver, Beast and Mystique all shine. Jennifer Lawrence is the best she's ever been in these films and I've been dubious of her from the start. She really stepped up in this one.
This film's Nightcrawler is good--not as good as X2's, but it's still great to see him. We are introduced to the new Storm, Psylocke, & Archangel, and while they could have used some extra depth they were great and I hope to see more of them going forward.
Now... Apocalypse. He was fine. I think if some of his powers that were shown in the trailer had been left as a surprise for the movie he'd have had a bigger impact. He was still a great villain though, and the whole mythology around him was very cool.
All in all, I went into this expecting to be disappointed and was pleasantly surprised from start to finish. If you're a fan of the series --or just the POTENTIAL of the series-- watch this. I bet you'll love it. I did.
The X Files: Mulder & Scully Meet the Were-Monster (2016)
A wonderfully meta and self-aware send up
This episode will certainly be divisive--but it is a fantastic throwback to some of the older, sillier "monster of the week" episodes, much like a top-tier "comedy" episode of Dr Who. It is bizarre and utterly hilarious with a brilliant performance from Rhys Darby.
I was very skeptical at first, but by the end I was absolutely in love with this episode. It is a departure from the ultra-serious 2 episodes that came before it but it pays homage to everything that made the original run so special--even at its silliest. When this new run is finished, I expect this episode to become a fan-favorite. It brings some much-needed levity to the modern series.