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Reviews
One Piece: Romance Dawn (2023)
An Exciting New Adventure
This is a very good first episode. It helps introduce the three main leads rather well without giving away too much, as well as lets you peak at the potential chemistry of the characters moving forward.
The actors did a good job at trying to be faithful to their sources, while also making the character their own. It really shows that they took this seriously and wanted to give performances that both new and old fans could appreciate.
Now for the down sides: some of the special effects are a little jarring, and the tonal shifts from serious to cartoony can really make it hard to gauge how you're supposed to be approaching this mentally = without giving away any real spoilers there are parts that get almost gruesome only to switch back to goofy and light hearted almost immediately afterward.
Now that the down sides are out of the way, the real highlight of the episode is that it really does give you a sense of excitement at the adventure that awaits. It shows right off the bat that Luffy has a knack for causing trouble for everyone that comes in contact with him, but he has the skills and charisma to turn that trouble into triumph, and it makes you want to be there to witness that triumph.
Velma (2023)
I knew better, but couldn't stop my curiosity
First thing first: I don't care about the race swaps, or the LGBTQ content added in, and I am actually all for an adult take on Scooby Doo. I also don't care when people take liberties with the source material = an "original" adaptation never ruins the source material, if anything, it just makes you appreciate the original more.
Now that that is out of the way: I could tell from the trailer that this probably wasn't going to be for me, but my curiosity got the better of me, and believing that you should let the art stand on it's own merits, I feel that this art deserves to stand on top of a raging dumpster fire.
Without giving away any spoilers, all the characters are completely unlikable. Fred is defined almost solely by his white privilege, Daphne is the typical hot dumb girl, and Velma is the angry awkward girl who "knows" she is better everyone. "Norville" is probably the only character I don't hate, but he isn't Shaggy. This is not Scooby Doo and the Mystery Gang. Its Mindy Kaling in animated cosplay still being Mindy Kaling. I'm sure some people who are fans of hers will find some enjoyment out of this, but it ain't for me.
S.W.A.T.: Ekitai Rashku (2020)
Generic and Historically Offensive
This show has been steadily declining for a while now, but this episode is one of the worst.
Besides it being just an obvious excuse just to send some of the cast members to Japan for a vacation, it offered very little to any progressive story telling = The actual relationships in the show are so poorly written that I can't get invested in them at all.
The biggest offense of this episode though had to be the fact that they wanted to shoe-horn in some animosity between a Japanese Policeman and Officer Tan (a man of Chinese descent) = In this episode the Japanese Policeman harbored negative feelings towards Tan because the Japanese man's grandfather fought against China in WWII...? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure China was the victim of that exchange. It was Japan that invaded China, killed 1,000s upon 1,000s of innocent people, captured Chinese women and forced them to go back to Japan to be sex worker slaves, and then continued to occupy parts of China until their eventual defeat. So how does this episode have the nerve to make the Japanese Policeman the "victim" in any of this?
I get that we Americans will forever feel quilted by the fact we dropped 2 nukes on Japan, but to continue the charade that Japan is an innocent victim for their part in WWII is an injustice to history and the world.
I don't like to get political, but since this show seems to only want to get political, they should check their facts before writing something so historically offensive.
Batman Ninja (2018)
Fun for Anime Fans
This movie isn't going to be for every audience, especially not the more traditional Batman fans. The bat-crew all have to fight for screen time (Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Red-Robin, Cat-Woman, etc...), and so none of them really get a time to shine...
But where this movie really does shine, is in just how BAT-$HIT crazy it is! It takes place in feudal Japan where the Archam villains have replaced the historic feudal lords = Joker as Nobunaga Oda, Gorilla Grood as Hideyoshi Toyatomi, Death Stroke as Masamune Date, etc... and it's Batman's job to set it right. But that ain't the craziest part = the real BAT-$HIT crazy comes in when a Giant composed of monkeys and bats, fights a giant robot. Yes, you read that right, and it really is something you have to see to believe.
If you're looking for a more grounded Batman animated movie, this ain't it. But if you don't mind the insanity that is Japanese Anime with the Batman characters, than this might just be up your alley.
Power Rangers (2017)
Doesn't deserve "all" the hate.
So for starters, I'll say that this movie isn't a 7, it's more like a 6.1, where it had a lot problems, but was just fun enough, and had just enough nostalgia factor to make me remember the good ol 90s. The reason I gave it a 7 is because it doesn't deserve all the hate it's getting from a generation of cry babies, and giving it a slightly higher rating won't really hurt.
The problems of the movie: The editing seemed a little choppy, and it often felt that they skipped over some things when cutting to a different scene, making me wonder how much of the movie was left out to shorten the run time. The C.G.I. at the end of the movie was lacking, as if they had to cut the budget towards the end. And the acting could have been a lot better = Elizabeth Banks's performance was just plain weird, while Naomi Scott (the pink ranger) and Dacre Montgomery (the red ranger, or as I like to call him, Zach Ephron's younger brother who can't act) were horrible.
The pros of the movie: There is a lot of potential in this world that they have built, and it is definitely one of those movies that the sequel could be better, especially now that the orgin story is out of the way. The movie was a lot of fun, even despite its flaws. And despite the bad acting from a few of the cast, other actors like RJ Cyler (the blue ranger), Ludi Lin (the black ranger), and Becky G. (the yellow ranger) shined when they actually got the screen time they deserved.
To wrap it up: This is definitely a movie worth watching. You can have a lot of fun if you don't try and hold it to some ridiculously high standards like a lot of the cry babies growing up in the 90s did. Just sit back, turn your brain off, and enjoy the movie for what it is = Silly Cheesy Fun.
John Wick (2014)
Surprisingly Fun Movie!
So why watch John Wick? I asked myself that same question when the wife and I got a free Red-Box code and she had heard good things about this movie and wanted to watch it, while I on the other hand not being a big fan of Keanu Reeves originally wanted no part in it, but decided that as long as we were watching for free then I couldn't complain too much... and there was absolutely nothing to complain about. I loved this movie!
The draw to this movie is of course the non-stop heart-pounding action. The plot wasn't complicated, and there was a lot of this universe left unexplained, but I felt that actually added to the movie: they didn't have to get into ever painstaking detail of who John Wick was, because the bad guys knew who he was, and they were terrified of him, that was really all you needed to know.
Like my summary says: This was just a surprisingly fun movie. Just sit back, don't let your brain think too hard about the "journey", and just enjoy the ride.
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Ambitious... But Just Fell Too Short
This wasn't a horrible movie, but they just tried too hard to make a really unique and complicated world, without no where near the amount of time to do so.
To have properly built this world and story they would have needed at least 2 or 3 movies for the content in this one movie alone. The plot was shoved along very convulsed while they decided to concentrate the majority of their time on large complicated action scenes. The romance was also very rushed and felt very dry and forced.
Overall, if you watch this movie with low expectations, you won't hate it, but it also won't have you wanting to rush and re-watch it.
If you can watch the movie knowing that it isn't going to be that great Sci-Fi adventure that you'd hoped it was, and instead it is just something to help turn your brain off for a couple of hours while you admire all the pretty special effects, it is definitely worth a watch.
Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)
Crap Flavored Ice Cream
Seriously, this movie is just terrible. The wife and I saw it and we were really trying to keep an open mind, but come on... This has been one of the worst movie experiences we have ever been through. The plot is very polluted with nonsense that makes little to no sense at all, and the dialogue is so cheesy and predictable it is as if a 12 year old girl who reads too much Fanfiction wrote it.
Seriously ladies, is this really your idea of an erotic fantasy? I've watched porn with better plots and more believable romance.
It really is no wonder why the main stars want more money for the sequel, after all, there is no way this doesn't damage their careers.
There really isn't much more to say about this movie, except: It was a crap flavored Ice Cream Sundae with more crap on top, sprinkled with little pieces of crap, and then topped with nice fresh steaming crap... Overall, it leaves a really crappy taste in your mouth.