Just saw Spies in Disguise. The final Blue Sky movie before they closed down.
Will Smith plays Lance Sterling, the best secret agent in the world and Tom Holland plays Walter Beckett, his gadget man. Where Lance, who after an accident with one of Walter's gadgets, transforms into a pigeon.
It was enjoyable, though has some issues with a slow beginning, and the body-transformation plot getting a bit old near the end, and some of the jokes are a bit silly and childish.
The middle stuff, when it picks up into the main conflict/plot, is a lot of fun. They blend in a lot of mature humour into this film and it flows naturally, as well as some slapstick that doesn't go too overboard. I also liked how it subverted the usual trope of how many people usually die by the good guy's hand in these espionage stories, focusing on Walter's drive to find peaceful ways to dispatch foes. The "rubberizer" gadget that turns people into a total malleable blob of a person had really impressive animation.
It's good, but I'd give it a 6.5/10.
Fun fact: it was based on this short film called "Pigeon: Impossible". Doesn't really have much to do with transforming into pigeons, but it is about a secret agent dealing with a pigeon causing hijinks. (Also the agent is called Walter Beckett, so that's probably a nice reference the film did in its honour.)
Mmm, really enjoyed this season. Jo was a standout side character in the first season, and in this one I'm really glad she seems to have gotten the full spotlight.
Her struggles with leading a team as well as the various outer space locales the team visits over the course of the season was fun. I especially liked the Heist episode, since it uses the "Ocean's Eleven" heist concept in great ways, with the incorporation of the Power Stones.
The ending of the season felt a bit back-loaded, as the final episode had a lot happening in it.
The heroes manage to get their stones back, Fantos is defeated by his own mother, but then he regains the stones AGAIN (he does it like 3 or 4 times in this season, it really got old by the last one), it looks like it'll turn into a cliffhanger with his victory, until... the heroes manage to save the Earth.
AND THEN.... because it's still not over, they get recruited by a global agency to become Global Heroes, which leads into Season 3.
I'm curious about that, since I've heard Season 3 is the last one, and it seems to me that it'll be an entirely new plot. Bit weird for a show that's so far been one continuous plot with the Stones and the Space Survivors and Erodius.
Also, for the entire season I was expecting Queen Xhan to double-cross the team, as if she had some ulterior motive for pushing Jo so hard to be a tough leader... but no, she's just misguided and was headstrong in her morals.
There were a couple issues I had with some of the writing -- felt very kid-like at times, especially in the Pyramid Puzzle episode (I had nearly all the riddles solved way before anyone did in the episode. They were pretty simple.)
Apart from that (and spoilers above), it was a pretty solid season. 9/10
Third post in a row, eh? ok.
Finished Season 2 of Kid Cosmic.
Mmm, really enjoyed this season. Jo was a standout side character in the… more first season, and in this one I'm really glad she seems to have gotten the full spotlight.
Her struggles with leading a team as well as the various outer space locales the team visits over the course of the season was fun. I especially liked the Heist episode, since it uses the "Ocean's Eleven" heist concept in great ways, with the incorporation of the Power Stones.
The ending of the season felt a bit back-loaded, as the final episode had a lot happening in it.
(Spoiler)
There were a couple issues I had with some of the writing -- felt very kid-like at times, especially in the Pyramid Puzzle episode (I had nearly all the riddles solved way before anyone did in the episode. They were pretty simple.)
Apart from that (and spoilers above), it was a pretty solid season. 9/10
I haven't seen the original PPG (but I did see the origin movie on a whim once) so I'm not so aware of the VA's.
I definitely recognized Tara Strong though, but she's in nearly everything.
Finished watching Peacemaker and I think it's absolutely fantastic! It follows the same standards set by The Suicide Squad by being just as funny, heartwarming and horrifically gruesome. James Gunn did a wonderful job of humanising Peacemaker from the absolute bastard that he was in the movie into someone you can truly root for. This is also easily John Cena's best role. Ever. The Suicide Squad showed some real promise with him, but this show really delivered on it. The man can act, and I hope he gets more roles like this that really lets him spread his wings.
Of course rest of the main cast, Vigilante, Adebayo, Harcourt, and Economos, who did a wonderful job as well. They all had great chemistry with each other and had a lot of really fun and hilarious back and forth. They ended up being a surprisingly lovable gang of misfits and assholes. Of course I can't forget Robert Patrick, who did a fantastic job in playing the incredibly intimidating and reprehensible pile of living sewage waste that is August Smith. It's been a while since I've hated a character this much.
If you loved James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, I absolutely recommend this. It's got many of the things the movie had and more. Cannot wait for season 2!
I finally got around to watching the third and final season of Kid Cosmic, which recently released and I really enjoyed it! This might be my favourite season overall, with the show continuing on with its strong music, voice acting and character writing, especially in regards to Kid Cosmic himself, along with some great twists and turns and emotional moments spread throughout the season.
I will say that the general story does feel overloaded at times and it doesn't help that this is the shortest season with only six episodes instead of the usual ten. However, the character development and interaction, as well as the overall heartwarming and satisfying conclusion, make up for most of these shortcomings. I'm glad to see that Craig McCracken, after all these years, still has it in him to create a pretty wonderful show like Kid Cosmic. I hope he and Netflix have more plans to work with each other in the future.
Arcane. A really good addition to the Netflix Animation catalogue.
Just finished the first season, and I'm shocked it ended the way it did -- clearly they've planned to add a Season 2 and luckily Netflix greenlit that, so whatever comes next will surely happen.
The animation being this water-colour style in 3D was very impressive. Great use of animation, and some fantastic motion capture for the characters.
Hailee Steinfeld once again proving she's an adept actor, with more voice acting that felt a lot different than Spider-Gwen.
One issue I have with the time-skip, is that the use of Shimmer seemed to improve, but it took me a while to get caught up on that. People didn't turn into hulking monsters, but I kept expecting it whenever it appeared (further hinted at by the mutated 'vagrant' people in the under-undercity) It also seems like a miracle drug? It was used for healing wounds, improving strength, bonding with magical artifacts... Yet it's still doesn't seem trustworthy.
Speaking of magical artifacts, Viktor's subplot was a really tense affair. I really hate body-horror, especially the stuff that shows you exactly how someone's body is changing against their will. The scenes where he fused with the HexCore made me so nervous! Still wonder how that'll end. Seems it's become a dark, malevolent force. I guess the animators did their job though, because it was creepy.
Jinx's arc in the show was really heartbreaking. Showing us so much of her inner struggles (props to Ella Purnell), and how she constantly fights with her own demons and others who drive negative feelings onto her.
I did have a bit of an issue with some of her scenes, usually where's she's a manipulative genius, as it felt like they were trying really hard to go into the "I'm quirky 'cause I'm crazy and villainous" trope, but overall I think her portrayal of mental illness was three-dimensional enough.
Also, a thing at the end where Jinx pulls out this magical bazooka. We knew she had something in the works for the gemstone, but I'd wish we had seen more of how or when she was building it. Clearly she's great at building tools, but I feel like she caught on to how the magic and runes worked much too fast, when it took Jayce so long already.
Really impressive show overall though. Love the world-building, love the animation, and the acting. Can't wait to see it continue.
I watched the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot. No, not the recent Netflix one. The 2003 version. This was my first Texas Chainsaw movie to watch as a kid and I remember being so scared of it. I love its color grading and the way it remade the iconic shots from the original.
Here is a hot take. I prefer this over the original because when I first watched the 1976 movie, I hated it, due to how almost all the characters die in the same house, one by one and I didn't find any of them likeable. My opinion has changed since then though because I think it's more of an indie film than a full-fledged big budget film. I do respect the original now but I still stand by preferring the remake.
I watched the first two episodes of Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, and I enjoyed them! The revival manages to capture the same spirit of the original show, with their diverse cast and the narratives tackling different social issues in funny and interesting ways. Not every joke lands in my opinion, but there were some really funny ones that had me hollering, with most of these coming from Penny's dad Oscar, as well as some jokes involving the generational divide between younger and older people. There are also some changes to the cast, most notable Sticky, who's been replaced by Michael, a recurring side character from the original show.
The revival's more risque which I really like, with the creators now being able to introduce openly gay characters such as Michael and them alluding to sex between two adult characters at one point in the show. Also big props to the creators for introducing three gay characters who are all male. The animation's good for the most part, you'll get some really smooth as butter moments, but every once in a while there'll be a scene that feels like a slide show which is jarring. Also the art for this show is GREAT! I absolutely love the backgrounds and character designs in this. It's a great modernisation of the original shows visuals.
I will say that a bit too much on the humour in based on just being really loud and frantic. This is especially true for the first episode, though I feel the second mellows out a little bit. There are also moments that stray into being random for the sake of it, but again this was a first episode problem.
Overall I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season plays out. I just hope the show doesn't rely too much on being loud and random.
Jacob (Steven Yeun) and Monica (Han Ye-ri), two immigrant Korean parents, move their family from the big city to rural Arkansas so Jacob can build a farm.
But it's hard work for everyone to acclimate, especially when the grandmother (Youn Yuh-jung) moves in too.
A very pretty, moving drama film that has a really engaging Korean script, with few lines in English. Cool to see Steven Yeun flex his fluent Korean roots, too, since he's pretty well-known as an American actor.
RIP male chicks by the way. If you know, you know.
In the middle of S3E1 right now...
Am I right to say they did a little tribute to Stan Lee?!
The Kid-Cosmobile is first unveiled, with a voice that sounds a lot like Stan "The Man" himself (New York and old). It even uses his catchphrase "Excelsior!".
That'd be a pretty awesome way to pay tribute to (what I assume is) one of Craig McCracken's comic idols.
Hehe, sorry, just a little detail I felt really compelled to bring up.
I finally got around to watching the third and final season of Kid Cosmic, which recently released and I really enjoyed it! This might be my… more favourite season overall, with the show continuing on with its strong music, voice acting and character writing, especially in regards to Kid Cosmic himself, along with some great twists and turns and emotional moments spread throughout the season.
I will say that the general story does feel overloaded at times and it doesn't help that this is the shortest season with only six episodes instead of the usual ten. However, the character development and interaction, as well as the overall heartwarming and satisfying conclusion, make up for most of these shortcomings. I'm glad to see that Craig McCracken, after all these years, still has it in him to create a pretty wonderful show like Kid Cosmic. I hope he and Netflix have more plans to work with each other in the future.
Yep, I'd be surprised if it wasn't a tribute of some sort! Makes sense to reference him with the shows overall comicbook aesthetic and the Avengers/Justice League route they take with the third season.
In the middle of S3E1 right now...
Am I right to say they did a little tribute to Stan Lee?!
The Kid-Cosmobile is first unveiled, with … morea voice that sounds a lot like Stan "The Man" himself (New York and old). It even uses his catchphrase "Excelsior!".
That'd be a pretty awesome way to pay tribute to (what I assume is) one of Craig McCracken's comic idols.
Hehe, sorry, just a little detail I felt really compelled to bring up.
Season 3 is really running its engines hot. Lots of big reveals, references and cool moments, and it's only 3/6 episodes in!
Freaking Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey guest star! (Must've been a couples package deal lol)
Not to mention the abundance of cartoon regulars they've had so far. Cree Summer, Grey Griffin, Phil LaMarr, etc.
In the middle of S3E1 right now...
Am I right to say they did a little tribute to Stan Lee?!
The Kid-Cosmobile is first unveiled, with … morea voice that sounds a lot like Stan "The Man" himself (New York and old). It even uses his catchphrase "Excelsior!".
That'd be a pretty awesome way to pay tribute to (what I assume is) one of Craig McCracken's comic idols.
Hehe, sorry, just a little detail I felt really compelled to bring up.
I watched The Batman and I thought that it was pretty darn good!
Robert Pattinson did a great job playing a younger, angstier and less experienced Batman. I love that the movie went full in on exploring Batman's detective side, which is something I don't believe has played much, or any real importance in previous live action iterations. A big part of the movie is him trying to figure out how everything connects, and how he's not always right. He messes up, sometimes in small ways and other times in big ways. He'll miss things and he'll trip and fall. There's still a long road ahead before he becomes the worlds greatest detective. I also have to praise them for keeping Robert Pattinson in the suit for like 95% of the movie. He's very rarely out of the suit. Paul Dano is absolutely fantastic as The Riddler. He's really truly an intimidating and terrifying character. All the casting in general is great. I want to see more of everyone in future movies.
This is also the darkest Batman movie yet. Figuratively and literally. 90% of this movie takes place at night and there are a few moments where I just can't see or make things out lmao. As for its tone, I can see exactly why people are comparing the movie to things like Zodiac and Se7en, especially in regards to how The Riddler is portrayed. The movie does some things that push the PG13 rating, but isn't hindered by it. I wouldn't say that there's anything in the movie that could have been improved by it having an R rating. Sometimes it's best to leave things up to the audiences imagination. The movie is also slow, in a good way (for the most part). Things get to properly build up as you get more and more clues before things start to come together.
As for criticism, you can absolutely feel the length of the movie, and the movie can be slow to a fault. This movie did not need to be 3 hours long and we certainly did not need a minute long scene of Batman slowly grabbing and opening a letter. I think a cool 20 minutes could be cut out of this movie and it'd be better for it.
Overall, I thought the movie was great, and could rival the likes of The Dark Knight. The movie nails the essence of Batman and is a wonderful return to form for the character after the last 6 or so years and I'm looking forward to see what Matt Reeves does with the tv spin offs and inevitable sequels.
Watched Turning Red, an animated movie I was pretty darn excited to watch after having been very impressed by Bao, a Pixar short created by the director Domee Shi. I shall now ramble on about it.
The movie is adorable and full of heart, it's got that relatable cringe, and the humour is energetic, sharp and legitimately funny. It's very apparent that the director drew a lot of inspiration from her own childhood when writing the movie. Mei is a great character, she's smart, goofy, painfully relatable at times and overall just really fun to watch as she develops throughout the movie. The same can be said for a majority of the cast, her friends in particular were incredibly fun to be around. The story goes to some pretty wild and out there places that I wouldn't have expected but I loved it. Of course it was also neat to see some Chinese culture, especially in regards to family.
I've also gotta give big praise to the animation, this is by far the most expressive Pixar movie yet. There's been some people giving this movie shit for its art style but damn, the facial and body animations are so wonderfully expressive and over the top. I love how much they squash and stretch the faces in this. The visuals were also great. The fur especially really shows how far Pixar has come since Monsters Inc.
Overall, I really loved it! This is Domee Shi's directorial debut and in my opinion she did a wonderful job. I will now watch her career with great interest.
Finally got the opportunity to rewatch Spider-Man No Way Home and it made me feel like I was in theater again. Only this time, I heard no cheering and applauses from the audience during the iconic moments of this film. I can safely say this is my personal favorite MCU film but that's only because of Spider-Man himself. He is the main reason I started getting interested in this franchise alone. This isn't a flawless film but the fun factor in it is definitely 100% there and the flaws can be easily ignored.
"It's all about that hustle, am I right?"
-Meilin Lee
Turning Red was such a fun, unique movie for Pixar, and if this is how Domee Shi is starting her feature film career, I'm really interested in what she does in the future. This movie deserved to be in theatres! There's even a "stereoscopic 3D" and "IMAX" section in the credits!!
This movie has so many fun moments in the direction of the plot, and ties in moving themes on overbearing parental guidance (and teenage rebellion), Asian heritage, all set on the backdrop of Toronto, Ontario, Canada... circa 2002.
(Director Domee Shi was 13 in 2002!)
Mmm, gosh, to start it off: I love how much of a comedy this film is. It is a comedy-coming-of-age film first, and I think that's a first for Pixar! The use of teenage awkwardness, close-knit friendship, along some great facial expressions, 2D-3D animation blend, a warm pastel colour palette and engaging camera direction, make this such a fun film to watch!
The choice of rooting the film in the boy-band burgeoning, tamagotchi-playing era of 2002 was also very enjoyable, leading to a great plot of needing to see the latest cute boy-band.
I also really liked how they weren't afraid to show the girls exploring their new hormonal environment and how confusing it can be, doodling romantic pictures of crushes, or obsessing over boys' muscle definition on the field.
Second point: gosh, all that Toronto/Canadian iconography is such a treat to see! We're always portrayed on-screen as the New York or Chicago of Canada, so to actually have the city be treated as itself is always, always fun for me!
The old streetcars! (RIP)
The CN Tower!
The Daisy Mart! (What a throwback!)
The other Canadiana stuff! (OG SkyDome! Timmies! The Blue Jay(s)!
Also yes, blink-and-you'll-miss-it... our province sells milk in bags, as well as cartons.
Third: plot direction. Was a bit surprised in some of the direction the plot took, but I really enjoyed it.
Mei unleashing the panda in support of her friends I saw coming, but using it to hustle some money to go to the concert was a surprise (and was loads of fun to see. The 5$ bills! The loonies! The toonies! Lol.)
I was expecting it to be more about hiding it and being a friendly secret, so the money-hustling angle was a hilarious surprise.
The plot got extra-magical in act 3, really diving into Mei's family's roots, giving us a spiritual ritual in the temple, and a cool mystical element to the panda problem. Then it suddenly became a kaiju-monster movie, and what the hell, I was on-board with it. For what so much of the movie felt small-scale, this was a huge, funny, and still very moving climax. I cried after Mei calmed her mother down from her Panda self, and learnt about her mother going through the same transition.
(Pretty interesting how both Disney and Pixar have gone through the "generational trauma/parental expectations" themes very recently.)
Overall, it's a solid, solid Pixar movie, with so much energy, creativity, and style in a small-scale, slice-of-life package.
I don't know if or how I can compare it to their other films that are way bigger or fantastical in scope and genre, so I'll just say that I really liked this film, and is one of their must-watch, for how unique it is.
I still haven't watched Luca, I'll wait until the summer for that, but I've heard it's also got a lot of slice-of-life vibes. That's cool.
Highly reccomend you check out the making-of documentary on Disney Plus afterwards. It's so interesting to see the team behind it, their research, and what went into making this movie what it is.
I don't know what past me was on, thinking different genres or scopes meant I couldn't quantify the value of Turning Red. Nah, screw that. It's a 9/10 movie for me for sure. Just saw it, again, just now. I guess I was on a hype high after watching it and was in denial of it claiming one of my top spots.¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It's really freakin' good.
[extra note: I recognized the Grandmother's voice on first watch, finally looked it up: it's Wai Ching Ho -- she played the villain Madame Gao in the Marvel Netflix series! Cool.]
Another watch means paying attention to details. Caught a few nice ones.
Love this quick-frame jump she does.
silly pun
[dicaprio pointing meme]
they got the scotiabank building in the skyline!
Also here, tier list.
Yes, I haven't yet seen Coco, Luca, or Good Dinosaur. I'm of the opinion that Pixar's movies are usually good, enjoyable stuff at the least -- or so far.
We don't talk about Cars 2. Vividly remember walking out of the theater annoyed, and scrubbed every inch of that movie from my brain.
"THE HOUSE" on Netflix is a stop-motion anthology film, marketing itself as a cross of spooky horror and dark comedy.
Three 30-minute short films that all use the same house location.
It was... fine. The felt characters and animation itself is very technically impressive and artistically expressive.
The stories though, left me underwhelmed. The tone is sufficiently spooky, but it gets less spooky the further into the movie you get. Part 1 is real unexplainable horror. The second is depressing and freaky. But the third feels like it could be part of a totally different film, being this wacky tale of tenants who refuse to leave. Though, its the only one with character development, and introspection on its protagonist.
The music was very nice, offering spooks and whimsy when needed. Gustavo Santaolalla worked on it which is neat!
Meant to check in a few days ago to comment on what three (going on four, which I'm a few minute into) I've seen of Walking Dead Season 4 thus far.
Of Rats and Girls
So, Lizzie...that's a name I definitely remember from previous conversations back during my earlier days. So I already know what set piece that eventually leads to and as you can imagine, her general attire, body type, that reaction where she was seeing her dad off, and of course where Carol said to her as a result hit fucking hell territory. 😑 And yeah, a scroll too many kinda spoiled another oddity from earlier in the episode that I honestly forgot to think about.
The murderer(vaguery or not, read this after the next to avoid spoilers if you're not that far)
And as if that wasn't enough, another thing I didn't think hard enough about in spite of the signs had to do with the little murder mystery. Namely, that the perpetrator could remotely be one of the main characters we've been following since the beginning--yeah, we've seen them have to do some harsh stuff at points, but I don't think it ever got as close to this. And now her rationale for doing it--after all the reckless acting out she did mind--was that "somebody had to [try][saving lives];" you know, when TVTropes mentioned a close resemblance to a Melissa McBride, I had no context for who that was...and now that I do, it's like, "wow, they really didn't try hiding that did they? It all make sense now--an embarrass amount of sense." And like, I get it, she's technically in the right for thinking that way and iscertainly more sympathetic with little comparison I guess, but she also incriminated her own damn self there. I'm not hatin just yet, but not a good a look objectively speaking.
The mystery itself
I must say before that Tyrese's reaction, while justified, was also kind of sudden for how he was characterized previously (which I guess was similar to T-Dog and Oscar) and brings to mind Conrad's arc; sorta makes me wonder why they didn't keep Donna(?) around before if that's what they were gonna do. But yeah, I was honestly under the impression that it was the other doctor they're introducing(what happened with Doc Stevens?)--they namedrop him a few times about investigating the virus, but I don't think we ever actuallysaw him at the meetings. But when he ended up getting sick himself and took the L in favor of everyone's safety, I was questioning what little chance it was a deflection, especially since I noticed we hadn't seen Mika(?) since she coldly called her sister stupid and messed up for basically not liking death (so a little Becca to go along with white Sarah--charming; also, yes I know there's a problem, but they just lost their dad a few minutes beforehand).
The virus' outbreak
Can we talk about how fucked that situation is? Like, a boy just came down with a sickness within an afternoon, got up that night lumbering for comfort in the shower, and just died on the spot; kinda sucks cause he seemed like a good character to have around compared to what we've seen of the sisters and Carl so far. And then he turns, follows not-Donna(I'm sorry, I don't recall her name) into the cellblock, goes into a guys cell, and starts eating at his throat as he's awake through the whole thing--and when he turns in the middle of having his guts eaten, they then get up to continue doing it throughout the block. The world of the Walking Dead is just a special kind of hell, isn't it? And the explanation that it's not even the virus, but the symptoms that does them in? Yeesh
And for a second, I couldn't help but assume it was Daryl who gave it to them.
I'm still watching episode four itself, for the record, so I might have to follow up on what the rest yields afterward.
As we speak, I am currently watching a critique on PragerU, and fuck me, it's maddening to think I listened to that channel during my edgelord phase years ago. So glad I got out of that mindset and woke up Would much rather watch paint dry than seriously watch and consider anything that comes from them
This is a nice animated series from Netflix, but I think is geared a bit too young for my age range.
In the show, we follow Horse. A, well, Horse in a war-torn realm being invaded by a masked army. After falling off a cliff and being separated from her Rider, she finds herself in an overly-colourful, magical world of Centauri. (Seriously. Everything from the leaves to the bugs to the animals and even clouds can be a Centaur.)
She must then enlist the help of Wammawink, a llama-centaur along with her very (VERY) wacky friends, to find a way back.
The show is mainly a musical-comedy-adventure, with each episode featuring around 3 songs, that usually have some fun hooks, but I wouldn't say many of them really stuck with me.
The musical aspect feels a lot like a stage musical. Characters begin conversations only to resolve it through song, which sometimes also advance the plot. There are also numerous Reprisals of songs the further into the season you get. It's a nice touch, that links the plot together.
The animation of the main group is very interesting, with Horse's design being more straight, having more edges to it, while the Centauri have very round, wibbly-wobbly movements.
The performances by the main cast are all good fun too. Especially for Horse (Kimiko Glenn) and Wammawink (Megan Hilty), being the fearless warrior and the overprotective, fun mother, respectively.
While the VA's for the rest of the herd do a good job, I can't say I was really impressed or enjoyed their character arcs. They usually stay in their own lane and stick with it.
I personally can't stand Durpleton. Just... too much random and fart jokes for me.
The show is also one of those childlike dark-twists as well. Near the end of the season, some dark themes start to really pop up with a gripping final two-parter that has a dark cliffhanger.
Very interested in if Season 2 will be darker as a whole because of it.
Though it's also my headcanon that the show overall is pretty dark if you consider the fact that these Centaurworld characters spend so much time being joyful and energetic, their very weird outbursts in the series give me strong "This person NEEDS therapy" vibes.
This is a nice animated series from Netflix, but I think is geared a bit too young for my age range.
Yeah I definitely felt that at moments especially with the fart jokes but then something really dark would happen that would have me raise an eyebrow at the TV-Y7 rating.
Especially that episode with the whale convincing people to commit suicide lol.
Though it's also my headcanon that the show overall is pretty dark if you consider the fact that these Centaurworld characters spend so much time being joyful and energetic, their very weird outbursts in the series give me strong "This person NEEDS therapy" vibes.
Finished watching Centaurworld Season 1.
This is a nice animated series from Netflix, but I think is geared a bit too young for my age ra… morenge.
In the show, we follow Horse. A, well, Horse in a war-torn realm being invaded by a masked army. After falling off a cliff and being separated from her Rider, she finds herself in an overly-colourful, magical world of Centauri. (Seriously. Everything from the leaves to the bugs to the animals and even clouds can be a Centaur.)
She must then enlist the help of Wammawink, a llama-centaur along with her very (VERY) wacky friends, to find a way back.
The show is mainly a musical-comedy-adventure, with each episode featuring around 3 songs, that usually have some fun hooks, but I wouldn't say many of them really stuck with me.
The musical aspect feels a lot like a stage musical. Characters begin conversations only to resolve it through song, which sometimes also advance the plot. There are also … [view original content]
Whoa, I thought the show would be rated PG, since some of the dark stuff can look pretty disturbing, along with dark lyrics and yeah, that one episode that has lots of dark ramifications.
I guess that's the benefits of streaming ratings?
And yeah, there are quite a few dark undertones that pop up now and then that definitely keep me hooked.
The main herd is good, they've got their fun moments, they just feel pretty one-note overall. Most of those notes are pleasing though!
...as I type this I'm also checking out a few songs in the Season 1 album.
It definitely feels like a stage musical. Plenty of songs have music breaks with dialogue, or actions you can't see (as it's a recording)
The songs involving Sunfish Merguy have a totally different actor playing him (non-british accented too) which is very weird. Maybe he was unavailable when they were recording the cast album.
This is a nice animated series from Netflix, but I think is geared a bit too young for my age range.
Yeah I definitely felt that at … moremoments especially with the fart jokes but then something really dark would happen that would have me raise an eyebrow at the TV-Y7 rating.
(Spoiler)
Though it's also my headcanon that the show overall is pretty dark if you consider the fact that these Centaurworld characters spend so much time being joyful and energetic, their very weird outbursts in the series give me strong "This person NEEDS therapy" vibes.
Yeah pretty much.
I decided to try HBO Max for the first time since I heard it has a great library of movies and shows that are familiar to the general audience. And the first thing I saw was A Quiet Place 2.
The first movie was really good, I enjoyed it a lot but I don't think it needed a sequel to begin with. That's why it took me a year to finally watch it. Now that I have seen it, it was really good. Cillian Murphy was easily the best part of this film. Correct me if I am mistaken, but this is the second time he has been in a great apocalyptic film, with first being 28 Days Later. The other great things were the development of the characters from the first film, especially the main children. While I had fun watching this film, I don't think it really justified its own existence. There were some cool ideas that had a good execution but it didn't really have much going for.
As for the HBO Max itself, I hate the lack of subtitles. Now I didn't start watching anything else yet but there was no option to turn on subtitles while watching A Quiet Place 2 and I barely understood what the characters were saying. Other than that, I can't wait to see what else it offers. I just learned it has The Leftovers, the show made by the same creators of LOST which I loved and binged the whole thing last year. Hopefully it has the same quality, if not even better.
As for the HBO Max itself, I hate the lack of subtitles
Strange. It might just be a Quiet Place 2 issue on there.
I did a quick google search, and HBO does have subtitle settings.
I've found that in some digital versions of QP2 on sale, people have complained about a lack of subtitles, or subtitles that turn on for the dialogue, but turn off for the sign language.
So, maybe Paramount forgot to provide a subtitle track for the service? Or maybe fiddle around in the settings.
I decided to try HBO Max for the first time since I heard it has a great library of movies and shows that are familiar to the general audien… morece. And the first thing I saw was A Quiet Place 2.
The first movie was really good, I enjoyed it a lot but I don't think it needed a sequel to begin with. That's why it took me a year to finally watch it. Now that I have seen it, it was really good. Cillian Murphy was easily the best part of this film. Correct me if I am mistaken, but this is the second time he has been in a great apocalyptic film, with first being 28 Days Later. The other great things were the development of the characters from the first film, especially the main children. While I had fun watching this film, I don't think it really justified its own existence. There were some cool ideas that had a good execution but it didn't really have much going for.
As for the HBO Max itself, I hate the lack of subtitles. Now I didn't start wat… [view original content]
Just finished watching The Legend of Vox Machina, an adult animated adventure series based on the Critical Role podcast, and absolutely loved it. It's a winning combination of funny, violent, and kinda gross. Love the characters, with pretty much everyone getting their moment to shine, especially Percy, who's the big focus in this season, the action's well animated and incredibly brutal (near Invincible levels of violence), and the writing's also pretty damn good, in particular the comradery between the main cast. A lovable, but kind of fucked up version of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Everyone's voice work is also top notch, which isn't surprising considering the cast consists of some of the best voice actors in the industry.
I think the one real gripe I have with the season is the CG that's occasionally used stands out way too much. Not only is it really obviously distinct from the regular 2D animation, but it's often too smooth and weightless, in comparison with everything else.
Other than that I really loved it. It's a whole lot of fun with some parts reminding me a lot of my experiences playing Dungeons and Dragons, the characters are charming and lovable, and I found the story to be really engaging with some pretty jaw dropping moments. I am very much looking forward to season 2.
Finished various things recently, very good things.
Pam and Tommy
The Annapurna Television biopic about the infamous Tommy Lee & Pamela Anderson leaked sex tape scandal in the mid-90's.
With Seth Rogen, Lily James, and Sebastian Stan leading, this is a very well-acted drama about how the tape came to be stolen, and all the fallout that happened because of it.
I'm not totally sure how much of the show is accurate or how much is entirely made-up (I'm assuming many of the scenes with Pam and Tommy are, as neither of them lended their support to this production), but overall it paints a very heartbreaking picture of one person's actions (Rand Gauthier) snowballing out of control because of some simple revenge, that had far-reaching consequences for everyone involved.
Probably one of the first times I've seen Seth Rogen do a dramatic role, and he does it well. With his frustration and (misguided) anger of only taking revenge because of Tommy Lee's vain construction plans, and later his pain and anguish for what he's done at the start. Lily James plays a very fierce Pamela Anderson, and -- from what small bit of Anderson I know -- I think she really morphs into the role. She looks just like her, the accent is very accurate, and her performance in trying to rally against everything regarding its legality going wrong is impressive. I think she did a good job treating the role with care, and respect for what the real Anderson would have gone through.
Sebastian Stan morphs pretty well into an impulsive, obnoxious Tommy Lee rockstar. He gets some downtime scenes with Pam, and offers great believability in his interest with supporting his wife's acting career, that eventually falls apart because of the way they're treated from the tape.
I will say that the show treats the issue of the sex tape itself mostly delicately. There are few scenes shown from it, they all use Sebastian Stan and Lily James as recreations, and don't ever show the act of their sex. Though it is described during depositions, and heard off-screen.
As someone who knew nothing about this controversy, and after some research afterwards, I think it was a good biopic that accurately portrayed enough, and what that situation might have been for all parties involved.
Peacemaker
I still can't believe they greenlit and filmed this thing before The Suicide Squad even came out. Well, they made a great choice, because this is a great companion piece to the film.
It follows John Cena's Peacemaker, and picks up where THE Suicide Squad ends, with him in the hospital, recovering from injuries, and not yet out of Waller's grasp.
As you continue on, you get a heavy fleshing out of his character, his friends and family, the agents Harcourt and Economos from the film, and new addition Adebayo.
James Gunn's wacky (sometimes juvenile) humour fits this character and series very well. With characters doing strange humorous tangents, Peacemaker and his pretty-crazy pal Vigilante being juvenile man-children, and some crazy, sometimes ridiculous violence.
The show also has a LOT of heart to it. Mainly revolving around Peacemaker, it shows a lot of his backstory, his really-easy-to-hate white supremacist father, and provides a great character study on Peacemaker -- someone who is very patriotic and macho in nature and design, has had some very toxic ideals drilled into him, and through the power of friendship and exposure to the outside world, learns to grow, learn, and question himself, what he believes in, and what his father has done to him.
John Cena is a great actor. It took me a long while before I finally said "YES", fully buying into his performance and acting chops, but I believe it. He's got it. Comedic timing, improv skills (the bloopers are really interesting), weight, and emotion.
Can't wait for what Season 2 might bring. Love those characters.
(I am sad that they turned Detective Song into an alien halfway through the show. Damn. She was entertaining, and I was invested into her arc, even if it was against Peacemaker's mission. She played stoic alien pretty well, but I wish it wasn't that. Also Murn died and I really liked that guy.)
Time to talk about THE BATMAN
Awesome film. Like an 8 or 9 out of 10 for me, at least on a first watch.
Ooh, it had a really specific style and theme -- neo-noir mystery, thriller -- and stuck to it very tightly, but pepperring in a bit of funny moments, thanks to Batman's stoic nature or random thugs' over confidence.
Be prepared to see this film in a dark room. Most of it takes place at night, in the rain. They really nailed the anachronistic style of a moden Gotham city, with its very antique architechture, vehicles, but inserting laptops, mobile phones, streaming, etc.
The mystery behind the film is very engaging, and since it'w 3 hours long, it branches off far. There was even one point in the film where I'd forgotten about a major loose end from the previous hour, since this new thread took up so much of the plot.
The Riddler is frightening but also a bit silly, given how seriously he takes himself and his crusade online. Probably the effect that was intended so I enjoyed that
And Robert Pattison. Wow. To think a lot of people were skeptical about his casting. Nope, he did really well here. The costume is imposing, he has a very gruff attittude as Batman, and what little we see of Bruce fits the recluse character.
The Batmobile was especially cool too, given how basic we all thought it would be. It's reveal scene had me giggling.
The climax was especially tense. Going off of what felt like a resolution to a: "oh shit, this villain really does have an evil master plan". I also like how it tackes the running theme involving superheroes -- do their methods or their power specifically cause others to rise to take the challenge?
Overall, it was a really enjoyable film. Definitely deserved its length given how much mystery and action and how slow it likes to take things -- but it's gripping.
Screw rushing into a cinematic universe, DC. Just make good standalone movies like this.
Fun fact: My family and I were the only ones in the theater last night. Wild. So we didn't have to whisper to each other lol
I watched The Bad Guys, which is Dreamworks latest animated movie and I really really enjoyed it, I think it's great! It's like Zootopia meets Ocean's Eleven, with a little added craziness. The animation is exaggerated, frantic, and fantastically fluid, the characters are incredibly charming and funny, especially Sam Rockwell's character Wolf, the visuals are great, and there's also some really good dance/fight choreography. The movie in general is just really fun, adorable and feel good. Also they made Diane Foxington, voiced by Zazie Beetz, weirdly attractive. In my opinion this is Dreamworks best movie in a long while and I wouldn't mind this getting a sequel at all.
My only nitpick is that I wish it was just a TEENY bit longer, literally just like 5 or 10 minutes so that certain things get a little bit more development. Also the rules for the anthropomorphic animals are a little funky, because some animals are fully sapient but others, even if they're the same species are just regular animals. It's a little weird but not a real problem.
I watched The Bad Guys, which is Dreamworks latest animated movie and I really really enjoyed it, I think it's great! It's like Zootopia mee… morets Ocean's Eleven, with a little added craziness. The animation is exaggerated, frantic, and fantastically fluid, the characters are incredibly charming and funny, especially Sam Rockwell's character Wolf, the visuals are great, and there's also some really good dance/fight choreography. The movie in general is just really fun, adorable and feel good. Also they made Diane Foxington, voiced by Zazie Beetz, weirdly attractive. In my opinion this is Dreamworks best movie in a long while and I wouldn't mind this getting a sequel at all.
My only nitpick is that I wish it was just a TEENY bit longer, literally just like 5 or 10 minutes so that certain things get a little bit more development. Also the rules for the anthropomorphic animals are a little funky, because some animals are fully sapient but others,… [view original content]
I love that this is a straightforward review and you just slip that in there lmao
I love the blend of 2D and 3D animation that more animated movies are doing now.
It's hard for me to not think that Sony and Spider-Verse are the reasons behind the new push for this mix, and with Arcane's recent success, I think it's probable that more mainstream studios will join in the fray.
Also they made Diane Foxington, voiced by Zazie Beetz, weirdly attractive.
I love that this is a straightforward review and you just… more slip that in there lmao
But yeah I watched it too and I thought it was a fun movie. I love the blend of 2D and 3D animation that more animated movies are doing now.
First off, the choice of having the final episode be a feature-length finale was an impressive and sorely-needed touch. It gave multiple plots time to unravel, have the show reach a dark and epic climax, and give us an uninterrupted triple-length episode that tugged at all the emotions.
Man, this show's rating gets more confusing the further you get into it. Freakin animal drowning, terrifying zombie-corruption of the Nowhere King/Elk, buncha murder and death, a mercy killing, and a visible impalement too!
Hot damn, this show is unlike any other, but it's fantastic the way it flips-flops between saccharine childlike whimsy and dark, ominous imagery. This last episode was jaw-dropping with how far they leaned into that darkness.
(Also a great cut-off moment where Horse nearly called someone a dick!)
And this finale has some great music! Lots of reprisals and medleys, a lot of backstory worldbuilding, ooh, it gives me the shivers. Really liked it.
They also had me cry at Rider's apparent death (halfway through the Last Lullaby Pt. 2 song). Then turns out she wasn't dead, but that was still pretty shocking!
As for the rest of the season, it was great! Really tread the line of zany Centaurworld antics with dark murder and necromancy.
I actually want to say my second favourite episode was EP2, with all the bird-taurs. Felt very weirdly meta, but I enjoyed the jokes and most of the songs were catchy. (Not sure why they had to toss that meta-plot in there though. Was it supposed to mock the Centaurworld fandom, or just fandoms in general? Considering they'd have written this probably before Season 1 came out, it did feel a bit too on-the-nose, and wishy-washy about why it existed at all. Still liked it though, weirdly.)
Favourite character definitely has to be baby Stabby. Wow, finally, a role where Dee Bradley Baker doesn't have to do unintelligible warbles and animal grunts. Such a cute design and great voice. ["I have unquantifiable corpses on my conscience..... Cup-cup, daddy!"]
And, I've gotta say, with Durpleton, that his revealed backstory, and raising of Stabby improves my view on his character. Still think he's a bit too weird and random, but he's okay.
The show overall is very well-made, if feeling a tad shaky at times with how much it can get caught up in its juvenile childish antics, but it's great and the finale really ties it all together with a nice black bow.
Props to Kimiko Glenn, Meghan Hilty, Jessie Mueller, and Brian Stokes Mitchell for carrying this season. Nice!!
To fill this now childish cartoon void, I think I'll waddle on over to Netflix's Dogs In Space. That one's got William Jackson Harper (Chidi, The Good Place) in it so that's exciting enough for me.
They also had me cry at Rider's apparent death (halfway through the Last Lullaby Pt. 2 song). Then turns out she wasn't dead, but that was still pretty shocking!
I almost wish they went through with it, but I guess it would have been way too dark considering you see the Nowhere King get murked right before lol. Not to mention Rider is literally a kid still.
Speaking of the death of Nowhere King, The Last Lullaby Part 1 is such a beautifully tragic and wonderfully dark reprisal of a song that was already fairly creepy in the first place, and I absolutely love it.
"You will die, and so will all your lies. When I see the life leaving your eyes," is not something I would ever expect to hear in an animated series aimed at kids 7 and up.
According to some people who worked on the show, the Centaurworld crew actually asked Netflix if they wanted to do another season, but apparently Netflix just completely shut them out then later fired them during the animation layoffs a few weeks back.
If you want another Netflix animated series that's weirdly dark I recommend Maya and the Three. It's nine episodes with each episode being 30-40 minutes long and it's a complete story with a proper ending.
I finished the wild ride that is Centaurworld.
(Spoiler)
The show overall is very well-made, if feeling a tad shaky at times with how … moremuch it can get caught up in its juvenile childish antics, but it's great and the finale really ties it all together with a nice black bow.
Props to Kimiko Glenn, Meghan Hilty, Jessie Mueller, and Brian Stokes Mitchell for carrying this season. Nice!!
To fill this now childish cartoon void, I think I'll waddle on over to Netflix's Dogs In Space. That one's got William Jackson Harper (Chidi, The Good Place) in it so that's exciting enough for me.
"You will die, and so will all your lies. When I see the life leaving your eyes," is not something I would ever expect to hear in an animated series aimed at kids 7 and up.
Couldn't have said it any better myself. Loved that scene, the twist on the original song, while also being pretty stunned that "Wow, now this is REALLY dark. HOW is this so dark??!"
According to some people who worked on the show, the Centaurworld crew actually asked Netflix if they wanted to do another season, but apparently Netflix just completely shut them out then later fired them during the animation layoffs a few weeks back.
I don't know if the show needed another season, I thought everything tied up nicely by the end, but that's still majorly fucked up. Why are you the way that you are, Netflix? Ugh.
Maya and the Three
Heard nice things about that show. (Didn't know it was dark though!) I also didn't know it was a Netflix thing too.
I'll add it to the list.
(Spoiler)
According to some people who worked on the show, the Centaurworld crew actually asked Netflix if they wanted to do another seas… moreon, but apparently Netflix just completely shut them out then later fired them during the animation layoffs a few weeks back.
If you want another Netflix animated series that's weirdly dark I recommend Maya and the Three. It's nine episodes with each episode being 30-40 minutes long and it's a complete story with a proper ending.
I don't know if the show needed another season, I thought everything tied up nicely by the end, but that's still majorly fucked up. Why are you the way that you are, Netflix? Ugh.
Yeah I don't mind that there won't be another season but how it happened is pretty terrible. The show implied that there's a bit more going on with Glendale and her pocket universe so it might've had something to do with that.
Heard nice things about that show. (Didn't know it was dark though!)
It definitely goes places and pushes some boundaries, which is always a fun time.
(Spoiler)
According to some people who worked on the show, the Centaurworld crew actually asked Netflix if they wanted to do another s… moreeason, but apparently Netflix just completely shut them out then later fired them during the animation layoffs a few weeks back.
I don't know if the show needed another season, I thought everything tied up nicely by the end, but that's still majorly fucked up. Why are you the way that you are, Netflix? Ugh.
Maya and the Three
Heard nice things about that show. (Didn't know it was dark though!) I also didn't know it was a Netflix thing too.
I'll add it to the list.
Barry Season 3 is fuckin' tense! Just 2 episodes in but arrrrgh it's making my hair stand on end.
All I can really say about the show itself. This season's gone very dark in one of its central plots.
Its dark humour and surreal humour is still fantastic though. Dark events presented with total funny non-chalance by some characters. Or, totally out-of-touch executives not understanding basic human interaction in a script. Really good stuff.
Comments
Just saw Spies in Disguise. The final Blue Sky movie before they closed down.
Will Smith plays Lance Sterling, the best secret agent in the world and Tom Holland plays Walter Beckett, his gadget man. Where Lance, who after an accident with one of Walter's gadgets, transforms into a pigeon.
It was enjoyable, though has some issues with a slow beginning, and the body-transformation plot getting a bit old near the end, and some of the jokes are a bit silly and childish.
The middle stuff, when it picks up into the main conflict/plot, is a lot of fun. They blend in a lot of mature humour into this film and it flows naturally, as well as some slapstick that doesn't go too overboard. I also liked how it subverted the usual trope of how many people usually die by the good guy's hand in these espionage stories, focusing on Walter's drive to find peaceful ways to dispatch foes. The "rubberizer" gadget that turns people into a total malleable blob of a person had really impressive animation.
It's good, but I'd give it a 6.5/10.
Fun fact: it was based on this short film called "Pigeon: Impossible". Doesn't really have much to do with transforming into pigeons, but it is about a secret agent dealing with a pigeon causing hijinks. (Also the agent is called Walter Beckett, so that's probably a nice reference the film did in its honour.)
Third post in a row, eh? ok.
Finished Season 2 of Kid Cosmic.
Mmm, really enjoyed this season. Jo was a standout side character in the first season, and in this one I'm really glad she seems to have gotten the full spotlight.
Her struggles with leading a team as well as the various outer space locales the team visits over the course of the season was fun. I especially liked the Heist episode, since it uses the "Ocean's Eleven" heist concept in great ways, with the incorporation of the Power Stones.
The ending of the season felt a bit back-loaded, as the final episode had a lot happening in it.
The heroes manage to get their stones back, Fantos is defeated by his own mother, but then he regains the stones AGAIN (he does it like 3 or 4 times in this season, it really got old by the last one), it looks like it'll turn into a cliffhanger with his victory, until... the heroes manage to save the Earth.
AND THEN.... because it's still not over, they get recruited by a global agency to become Global Heroes, which leads into Season 3.
I'm curious about that, since I've heard Season 3 is the last one, and it seems to me that it'll be an entirely new plot. Bit weird for a show that's so far been one continuous plot with the Stones and the Space Survivors and Erodius.
Also, for the entire season I was expecting Queen Xhan to double-cross the team, as if she had some ulterior motive for pushing Jo so hard to be a tough leader... but no, she's just misguided and was headstrong in her morals.
There were a couple issues I had with some of the writing -- felt very kid-like at times, especially in the Pyramid Puzzle episode (I had nearly all the riddles solved way before anyone did in the episode. They were pretty simple.)
Apart from that (and spoilers above), it was a pretty solid season. 9/10
Also a pretty neat reference in case you didn't notice!
The three female agents in the Planet Protection Group (The PPG), are voiced by the original voice actresses for the Powerpuff Girls.
Ah, neat.
I haven't seen the original PPG (but I did see the origin movie on a whim once) so I'm not so aware of the VA's.
I definitely recognized Tara Strong though, but she's in nearly everything.
Finished watching Peacemaker and I think it's absolutely fantastic! It follows the same standards set by The Suicide Squad by being just as funny, heartwarming and horrifically gruesome. James Gunn did a wonderful job of humanising Peacemaker from the absolute bastard that he was in the movie into someone you can truly root for. This is also easily John Cena's best role. Ever. The Suicide Squad showed some real promise with him, but this show really delivered on it. The man can act, and I hope he gets more roles like this that really lets him spread his wings.
Of course rest of the main cast, Vigilante, Adebayo, Harcourt, and Economos, who did a wonderful job as well. They all had great chemistry with each other and had a lot of really fun and hilarious back and forth. They ended up being a surprisingly lovable gang of misfits and assholes. Of course I can't forget Robert Patrick, who did a fantastic job in playing the incredibly intimidating and reprehensible pile of living sewage waste that is August Smith. It's been a while since I've hated a character this much.
If you loved James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, I absolutely recommend this. It's got many of the things the movie had and more. Cannot wait for season 2!
I finally got around to watching the third and final season of Kid Cosmic, which recently released and I really enjoyed it! This might be my favourite season overall, with the show continuing on with its strong music, voice acting and character writing, especially in regards to Kid Cosmic himself, along with some great twists and turns and emotional moments spread throughout the season.
I will say that the general story does feel overloaded at times and it doesn't help that this is the shortest season with only six episodes instead of the usual ten. However, the character development and interaction, as well as the overall heartwarming and satisfying conclusion, make up for most of these shortcomings. I'm glad to see that Craig McCracken, after all these years, still has it in him to create a pretty wonderful show like Kid Cosmic. I hope he and Netflix have more plans to work with each other in the future.
Arcane. A really good addition to the Netflix Animation catalogue.
Just finished the first season, and I'm shocked it ended the way it did -- clearly they've planned to add a Season 2 and luckily Netflix greenlit that, so whatever comes next will surely happen.
One issue I have with the time-skip, is that the use of Shimmer seemed to improve, but it took me a while to get caught up on that. People didn't turn into hulking monsters, but I kept expecting it whenever it appeared (further hinted at by the mutated 'vagrant' people in the under-undercity) It also seems like a miracle drug? It was used for healing wounds, improving strength, bonding with magical artifacts... Yet it's still doesn't seem trustworthy.
Speaking of magical artifacts, Viktor's subplot was a really tense affair. I really hate body-horror, especially the stuff that shows you exactly how someone's body is changing against their will. The scenes where he fused with the HexCore made me so nervous! Still wonder how that'll end. Seems it's become a dark, malevolent force. I guess the animators did their job though, because it was creepy.
Jinx's arc in the show was really heartbreaking. Showing us so much of her inner struggles (props to Ella Purnell), and how she constantly fights with her own demons and others who drive negative feelings onto her.
I did have a bit of an issue with some of her scenes, usually where's she's a manipulative genius, as it felt like they were trying really hard to go into the "I'm quirky 'cause I'm crazy and villainous" trope, but overall I think her portrayal of mental illness was three-dimensional enough.
Also, a thing at the end where Jinx pulls out this magical bazooka. We knew she had something in the works for the gemstone, but I'd wish we had seen more of how or when she was building it. Clearly she's great at building tools, but I feel like she caught on to how the magic and runes worked much too fast, when it took Jayce so long already.
Really impressive show overall though. Love the world-building, love the animation, and the acting. Can't wait to see it continue.
I watched the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot. No, not the recent Netflix one. The 2003 version. This was my first Texas Chainsaw movie to watch as a kid and I remember being so scared of it. I love its color grading and the way it remade the iconic shots from the original.
Here is a hot take. I prefer this over the original because when I first watched the 1976 movie, I hated it, due to how almost all the characters die in the same house, one by one and I didn't find any of them likeable. My opinion has changed since then though because I think it's more of an indie film than a full-fledged big budget film. I do respect the original now but I still stand by preferring the remake.
I watched the first two episodes of Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, and I enjoyed them! The revival manages to capture the same spirit of the original show, with their diverse cast and the narratives tackling different social issues in funny and interesting ways. Not every joke lands in my opinion, but there were some really funny ones that had me hollering, with most of these coming from Penny's dad Oscar, as well as some jokes involving the generational divide between younger and older people. There are also some changes to the cast, most notable Sticky, who's been replaced by Michael, a recurring side character from the original show.
The revival's more risque which I really like, with the creators now being able to introduce openly gay characters such as Michael and them alluding to sex between two adult characters at one point in the show. Also big props to the creators for introducing three gay characters who are all male. The animation's good for the most part, you'll get some really smooth as butter moments, but every once in a while there'll be a scene that feels like a slide show which is jarring. Also the art for this show is GREAT! I absolutely love the backgrounds and character designs in this. It's a great modernisation of the original shows visuals.
I will say that a bit too much on the humour in based on just being really loud and frantic. This is especially true for the first episode, though I feel the second mellows out a little bit. There are also moments that stray into being random for the sake of it, but again this was a first episode problem.
Overall I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season plays out. I just hope the show doesn't rely too much on being loud and random.
Minari.
Jacob (Steven Yeun) and Monica (Han Ye-ri), two immigrant Korean parents, move their family from the big city to rural Arkansas so Jacob can build a farm.
But it's hard work for everyone to acclimate, especially when the grandmother (Youn Yuh-jung) moves in too.
A very pretty, moving drama film that has a really engaging Korean script, with few lines in English. Cool to see Steven Yeun flex his fluent Korean roots, too, since he's pretty well-known as an American actor.
RIP male chicks by the way. If you know, you know.
In the middle of S3E1 right now...
Am I right to say they did a little tribute to Stan Lee?!
The Kid-Cosmobile is first unveiled, with a voice that sounds a lot like Stan "The Man" himself (New York and old). It even uses his catchphrase "Excelsior!".
That'd be a pretty awesome way to pay tribute to (what I assume is) one of Craig McCracken's comic idols.
Hehe, sorry, just a little detail I felt really compelled to bring up.
Yep, I'd be surprised if it wasn't a tribute of some sort! Makes sense to reference him with the shows overall comicbook aesthetic and the Avengers/Justice League route they take with the third season.
Season 3 is really running its engines hot. Lots of big reveals, references and cool moments, and it's only 3/6 episodes in!
Freaking Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey guest star! (Must've been a couples package deal lol)
Not to mention the abundance of cartoon regulars they've had so far. Cree Summer, Grey Griffin, Phil LaMarr, etc.
I watched The Batman and I thought that it was pretty darn good!
Robert Pattinson did a great job playing a younger, angstier and less experienced Batman. I love that the movie went full in on exploring Batman's detective side, which is something I don't believe has played much, or any real importance in previous live action iterations. A big part of the movie is him trying to figure out how everything connects, and how he's not always right. He messes up, sometimes in small ways and other times in big ways. He'll miss things and he'll trip and fall. There's still a long road ahead before he becomes the worlds greatest detective. I also have to praise them for keeping Robert Pattinson in the suit for like 95% of the movie. He's very rarely out of the suit. Paul Dano is absolutely fantastic as The Riddler. He's really truly an intimidating and terrifying character. All the casting in general is great. I want to see more of everyone in future movies.
This is also the darkest Batman movie yet. Figuratively and literally. 90% of this movie takes place at night and there are a few moments where I just can't see or make things out lmao. As for its tone, I can see exactly why people are comparing the movie to things like Zodiac and Se7en, especially in regards to how The Riddler is portrayed. The movie does some things that push the PG13 rating, but isn't hindered by it. I wouldn't say that there's anything in the movie that could have been improved by it having an R rating. Sometimes it's best to leave things up to the audiences imagination. The movie is also slow, in a good way (for the most part). Things get to properly build up as you get more and more clues before things start to come together.
As for criticism, you can absolutely feel the length of the movie, and the movie can be slow to a fault. This movie did not need to be 3 hours long and we certainly did not need a minute long scene of Batman slowly grabbing and opening a letter. I think a cool 20 minutes could be cut out of this movie and it'd be better for it.
Overall, I thought the movie was great, and could rival the likes of The Dark Knight. The movie nails the essence of Batman and is a wonderful return to form for the character after the last 6 or so years and I'm looking forward to see what Matt Reeves does with the tv spin offs and inevitable sequels.
Watched Turning Red, an animated movie I was pretty darn excited to watch after having been very impressed by Bao, a Pixar short created by the director Domee Shi. I shall now ramble on about it.
The movie is adorable and full of heart, it's got that relatable cringe, and the humour is energetic, sharp and legitimately funny. It's very apparent that the director drew a lot of inspiration from her own childhood when writing the movie. Mei is a great character, she's smart, goofy, painfully relatable at times and overall just really fun to watch as she develops throughout the movie. The same can be said for a majority of the cast, her friends in particular were incredibly fun to be around. The story goes to some pretty wild and out there places that I wouldn't have expected but I loved it. Of course it was also neat to see some Chinese culture, especially in regards to family.
I've also gotta give big praise to the animation, this is by far the most expressive Pixar movie yet. There's been some people giving this movie shit for its art style but damn, the facial and body animations are so wonderfully expressive and over the top. I love how much they squash and stretch the faces in this. The visuals were also great. The fur especially really shows how far Pixar has come since Monsters Inc.
Overall, I really loved it! This is Domee Shi's directorial debut and in my opinion she did a wonderful job. I will now watch her career with great interest.
Finally got the opportunity to rewatch Spider-Man No Way Home and it made me feel like I was in theater again. Only this time, I heard no cheering and applauses from the audience during the iconic moments of this film. I can safely say this is my personal favorite MCU film but that's only because of Spider-Man himself. He is the main reason I started getting interested in this franchise alone. This isn't a flawless film but the fun factor in it is definitely 100% there and the flaws can be easily ignored.
Turning Red was such a fun, unique movie for Pixar, and if this is how Domee Shi is starting her feature film career, I'm really interested in what she does in the future.
This movie deserved to be in theatres! There's even a "stereoscopic 3D" and "IMAX" section in the credits!!
This movie has so many fun moments in the direction of the plot, and ties in moving themes on overbearing parental guidance (and teenage rebellion), Asian heritage, all set on the backdrop of Toronto, Ontario, Canada... circa 2002.
(Director Domee Shi was 13 in 2002!)
Mmm, gosh, to start it off: I love how much of a comedy this film is. It is a comedy-coming-of-age film first, and I think that's a first for Pixar! The use of teenage awkwardness, close-knit friendship, along some great facial expressions, 2D-3D animation blend, a warm pastel colour palette and engaging camera direction, make this such a fun film to watch!
The choice of rooting the film in the boy-band burgeoning, tamagotchi-playing era of 2002 was also very enjoyable, leading to a great plot of needing to see the latest cute boy-band.
I also really liked how they weren't afraid to show the girls exploring their new hormonal environment and how confusing it can be, doodling romantic pictures of crushes, or obsessing over boys' muscle definition on the field.
Second point: gosh, all that Toronto/Canadian iconography is such a treat to see! We're always portrayed on-screen as the New York or Chicago of Canada, so to actually have the city be treated as itself is always, always fun for me!
The old streetcars! (RIP)
The CN Tower!
The Daisy Mart! (What a throwback!)
The other Canadiana stuff! (OG SkyDome! Timmies! The Blue Jay(s)!
Also yes, blink-and-you'll-miss-it... our province sells milk in bags, as well as cartons.
Third: plot direction. Was a bit surprised in some of the direction the plot took, but I really enjoyed it.
Mei unleashing the panda in support of her friends I saw coming, but using it to hustle some money to go to the concert was a surprise (and was loads of fun to see. The 5$ bills! The loonies! The toonies! Lol.)
I was expecting it to be more about hiding it and being a friendly secret, so the money-hustling angle was a hilarious surprise.
The plot got extra-magical in act 3, really diving into Mei's family's roots, giving us a spiritual ritual in the temple, and a cool mystical element to the panda problem. Then it suddenly became a kaiju-monster movie, and what the hell, I was on-board with it. For what so much of the movie felt small-scale, this was a huge, funny, and still very moving climax. I cried after Mei calmed her mother down from her Panda self, and learnt about her mother going through the same transition.
(Pretty interesting how both Disney and Pixar have gone through the "generational trauma/parental expectations" themes very recently.)
Overall, it's a solid, solid Pixar movie, with so much energy, creativity, and style in a small-scale, slice-of-life package.
I don't know if or how I can compare it to their other films that are way bigger or fantastical in scope and genre, so I'll just say that I really liked this film, and is one of their must-watch, for how unique it is.
I still haven't watched Luca, I'll wait until the summer for that, but I've heard it's also got a lot of slice-of-life vibes. That's cool.
Highly reccomend you check out the making-of documentary on Disney Plus afterwards. It's so interesting to see the team behind it, their research, and what went into making this movie what it is.
I don't know what past me was on, thinking different genres or scopes meant I couldn't quantify the value of Turning Red. Nah, screw that. It's a 9/10 movie for me for sure. Just saw it, again, just now. I guess I was on a hype high after watching it and was in denial of it claiming one of my top spots.¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It's really freakin' good.
[extra note: I recognized the Grandmother's voice on first watch, finally looked it up: it's Wai Ching Ho -- she played the villain Madame Gao in the Marvel Netflix series! Cool.]
Another watch means paying attention to details. Caught a few nice ones.
Love this quick-frame jump she does.
silly pun
[dicaprio pointing meme]
they got the scotiabank building in the skyline!
Also here, tier list.
Yes, I haven't yet seen Coco, Luca, or Good Dinosaur. I'm of the opinion that Pixar's movies are usually good, enjoyable stuff at the least -- or so far.
"THE HOUSE" on Netflix is a stop-motion anthology film, marketing itself as a cross of spooky horror and dark comedy.
Three 30-minute short films that all use the same house location.
It was... fine. The felt characters and animation itself is very technically impressive and artistically expressive.
The stories though, left me underwhelmed. The tone is sufficiently spooky, but it gets less spooky the further into the movie you get. Part 1 is real unexplainable horror. The second is depressing and freaky. But the third feels like it could be part of a totally different film, being this wacky tale of tenants who refuse to leave. Though, its the only one with character development, and introspection on its protagonist.
The music was very nice, offering spooks and whimsy when needed. Gustavo Santaolalla worked on it which is neat!
Meant to check in a few days ago to comment on what three (going on four, which I'm a few minute into) I've seen of Walking Dead Season 4 thus far.
Of Rats and Girls
So, Lizzie...that's a name I definitely remember from previous conversations back during my earlier days. So I already know what set piece that eventually leads to and as you can imagine, her general attire, body type, that reaction where she was seeing her dad off, and of course where Carol said to her as a result hit fucking hell territory. 😑 And yeah, a scroll too many kinda spoiled another oddity from earlier in the episode that I honestly forgot to think about.
The murderer(vaguery or not, read this after the next to avoid spoilers if you're not that far)
And as if that wasn't enough, another thing I didn't think hard enough about in spite of the signs had to do with the little murder mystery. Namely, that the perpetrator could remotely be one of the main characters we've been following since the beginning--yeah, we've seen them have to do some harsh stuff at points, but I don't think it ever got as close to this. And now her rationale for doing it--after all the reckless acting out she did mind--was that "somebody had to [try][saving lives];" you know, when TVTropes mentioned a close resemblance to a Melissa McBride, I had no context for who that was...and now that I do, it's like, "wow, they really didn't try hiding that did they? It all make sense now--an embarrass amount of sense." And like, I get it, she's technically in the right for thinking that way and iscertainly more sympathetic with little comparison I guess, but she also incriminated her own damn self there. I'm not hatin just yet, but not a good a look objectively speaking.
The mystery itself
I must say before that Tyrese's reaction, while justified, was also kind of sudden for how he was characterized previously (which I guess was similar to T-Dog and Oscar) and brings to mind Conrad's arc; sorta makes me wonder why they didn't keep Donna(?) around before if that's what they were gonna do. But yeah, I was honestly under the impression that it was the other doctor they're introducing(what happened with Doc Stevens?)--they namedrop him a few times about investigating the virus, but I don't think we ever actuallysaw him at the meetings. But when he ended up getting sick himself and took the L in favor of everyone's safety, I was questioning what little chance it was a deflection, especially since I noticed we hadn't seen Mika(?) since she coldly called her sister stupid and messed up for basically not liking death (so a little Becca to go along with white Sarah--charming; also, yes I know there's a problem, but they just lost their dad a few minutes beforehand).
The virus' outbreak
Can we talk about how fucked that situation is? Like, a boy just came down with a sickness within an afternoon, got up that night lumbering for comfort in the shower, and just died on the spot; kinda sucks cause he seemed like a good character to have around compared to what we've seen of the sisters and Carl so far. And then he turns, follows not-Donna(I'm sorry, I don't recall her name) into the cellblock, goes into a guys cell, and starts eating at his throat as he's awake through the whole thing--and when he turns in the middle of having his guts eaten, they then get up to continue doing it throughout the block. The world of the Walking Dead is just a special kind of hell, isn't it? And the explanation that it's not even the virus, but the symptoms that does them in? Yeesh
And for a second, I couldn't help but assume it was Daryl who gave it to them.
I'm still watching episode four itself, for the record, so I might have to follow up on what the rest yields afterward.
As we speak, I am currently watching a critique on PragerU, and fuck me, it's maddening to think I listened to that channel during my edgelord phase years ago. So glad I got out of that mindset and woke up
Would much rather watch paint dry than seriously watch and consider anything that comes from them 
Currently up to date with Flash Season 8 (which has been better then the past few seasons), and also up to date with Young Justice Season 4.
Finished watching Centaurworld Season 1.
This is a nice animated series from Netflix, but I think is geared a bit too young for my age range.
In the show, we follow Horse. A, well, Horse in a war-torn realm being invaded by a masked army. After falling off a cliff and being separated from her Rider, she finds herself in an overly-colourful, magical world of Centauri. (Seriously. Everything from the leaves to the bugs to the animals and even clouds can be a Centaur.)
She must then enlist the help of Wammawink, a llama-centaur along with her very (VERY) wacky friends, to find a way back.
The show is mainly a musical-comedy-adventure, with each episode featuring around 3 songs, that usually have some fun hooks, but I wouldn't say many of them really stuck with me.
The musical aspect feels a lot like a stage musical. Characters begin conversations only to resolve it through song, which sometimes also advance the plot. There are also numerous Reprisals of songs the further into the season you get. It's a nice touch, that links the plot together.
The animation of the main group is very interesting, with Horse's design being more straight, having more edges to it, while the Centauri have very round, wibbly-wobbly movements.
The performances by the main cast are all good fun too. Especially for Horse (Kimiko Glenn) and Wammawink (Megan Hilty), being the fearless warrior and the overprotective, fun mother, respectively.
While the VA's for the rest of the herd do a good job, I can't say I was really impressed or enjoyed their character arcs. They usually stay in their own lane and stick with it.
I personally can't stand Durpleton. Just... too much random and fart jokes for me.
The show is also one of those childlike dark-twists as well. Near the end of the season, some dark themes start to really pop up with a gripping final two-parter that has a dark cliffhanger.
Very interested in if Season 2 will be darker as a whole because of it.
Though it's also my headcanon that the show overall is pretty dark if you consider the fact that these Centaurworld characters spend so much time being joyful and energetic, their very weird outbursts in the series give me strong "This person NEEDS therapy" vibes.
Yeah I definitely felt that at moments especially with the fart jokes but then something really dark would happen that would have me raise an eyebrow at the TV-Y7 rating.
Especially that episode with the whale convincing people to commit suicide lol.
Yeah pretty much.
Whoa, I thought the show would be rated PG, since some of the dark stuff can look pretty disturbing, along with dark lyrics and yeah, that one episode that has lots of dark ramifications.
I guess that's the benefits of streaming ratings?
And yeah, there are quite a few dark undertones that pop up now and then that definitely keep me hooked.
The main herd is good, they've got their fun moments, they just feel pretty one-note overall. Most of those notes are pleasing though!
...as I type this I'm also checking out a few songs in the Season 1 album.
It definitely feels like a stage musical. Plenty of songs have music breaks with dialogue, or actions you can't see (as it's a recording)
The songs involving Sunfish Merguy have a totally different actor playing him (non-british accented too) which is very weird. Maybe he was unavailable when they were recording the cast album.
Finished watching the entire Blade trilogy then later saw Choose or Die and continuing watching Sweet Home.
I decided to try HBO Max for the first time since I heard it has a great library of movies and shows that are familiar to the general audience. And the first thing I saw was A Quiet Place 2.
The first movie was really good, I enjoyed it a lot but I don't think it needed a sequel to begin with. That's why it took me a year to finally watch it. Now that I have seen it, it was really good. Cillian Murphy was easily the best part of this film. Correct me if I am mistaken, but this is the second time he has been in a great apocalyptic film, with first being 28 Days Later. The other great things were the development of the characters from the first film, especially the main children. While I had fun watching this film, I don't think it really justified its own existence. There were some cool ideas that had a good execution but it didn't really have much going for.
As for the HBO Max itself, I hate the lack of subtitles. Now I didn't start watching anything else yet but there was no option to turn on subtitles while watching A Quiet Place 2 and I barely understood what the characters were saying. Other than that, I can't wait to see what else it offers. I just learned it has The Leftovers, the show made by the same creators of LOST which I loved and binged the whole thing last year. Hopefully it has the same quality, if not even better.
Strange. It might just be a Quiet Place 2 issue on there.
I did a quick google search, and HBO does have subtitle settings.
I've found that in some digital versions of QP2 on sale, people have complained about a lack of subtitles, or subtitles that turn on for the dialogue, but turn off for the sign language.
So, maybe Paramount forgot to provide a subtitle track for the service? Or maybe fiddle around in the settings.
Just finished watching The Legend of Vox Machina, an adult animated adventure series based on the Critical Role podcast, and absolutely loved it. It's a winning combination of funny, violent, and kinda gross. Love the characters, with pretty much everyone getting their moment to shine, especially Percy, who's the big focus in this season, the action's well animated and incredibly brutal (near Invincible levels of violence), and the writing's also pretty damn good, in particular the comradery between the main cast. A lovable, but kind of fucked up version of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Everyone's voice work is also top notch, which isn't surprising considering the cast consists of some of the best voice actors in the industry.
I think the one real gripe I have with the season is the CG that's occasionally used stands out way too much. Not only is it really obviously distinct from the regular 2D animation, but it's often too smooth and weightless, in comparison with everything else.
Other than that I really loved it. It's a whole lot of fun with some parts reminding me a lot of my experiences playing Dungeons and Dragons, the characters are charming and lovable, and I found the story to be really engaging with some pretty jaw dropping moments. I am very much looking forward to season 2.
finally giving better call saul a shot after finishing breaking bad years ago
honestly definitely enjoy jimmy a lot more as a protagonist, also kim is absolute girlboss and mike is mike moding what more can I say
Finished various things recently, very good things.
Pam and Tommy
The Annapurna Television biopic about the infamous Tommy Lee & Pamela Anderson leaked sex tape scandal in the mid-90's.
With Seth Rogen, Lily James, and Sebastian Stan leading, this is a very well-acted drama about how the tape came to be stolen, and all the fallout that happened because of it.
I'm not totally sure how much of the show is accurate or how much is entirely made-up (I'm assuming many of the scenes with Pam and Tommy are, as neither of them lended their support to this production), but overall it paints a very heartbreaking picture of one person's actions (Rand Gauthier) snowballing out of control because of some simple revenge, that had far-reaching consequences for everyone involved.
Probably one of the first times I've seen Seth Rogen do a dramatic role, and he does it well. With his frustration and (misguided) anger of only taking revenge because of Tommy Lee's vain construction plans, and later his pain and anguish for what he's done at the start. Lily James plays a very fierce Pamela Anderson, and -- from what small bit of Anderson I know -- I think she really morphs into the role. She looks just like her, the accent is very accurate, and her performance in trying to rally against everything regarding its legality going wrong is impressive. I think she did a good job treating the role with care, and respect for what the real Anderson would have gone through.
Sebastian Stan morphs pretty well into an impulsive, obnoxious Tommy Lee rockstar. He gets some downtime scenes with Pam, and offers great believability in his interest with supporting his wife's acting career, that eventually falls apart because of the way they're treated from the tape.
I will say that the show treats the issue of the sex tape itself mostly delicately. There are few scenes shown from it, they all use Sebastian Stan and Lily James as recreations, and don't ever show the act of their sex. Though it is described during depositions, and heard off-screen.
As someone who knew nothing about this controversy, and after some research afterwards, I think it was a good biopic that accurately portrayed enough, and what that situation might have been for all parties involved.
Peacemaker
I still can't believe they greenlit and filmed this thing before The Suicide Squad even came out. Well, they made a great choice, because this is a great companion piece to the film.
It follows John Cena's Peacemaker, and picks up where THE Suicide Squad ends, with him in the hospital, recovering from injuries, and not yet out of Waller's grasp.
As you continue on, you get a heavy fleshing out of his character, his friends and family, the agents Harcourt and Economos from the film, and new addition Adebayo.
James Gunn's wacky (sometimes juvenile) humour fits this character and series very well. With characters doing strange humorous tangents, Peacemaker and his pretty-crazy pal Vigilante being juvenile man-children, and some crazy, sometimes ridiculous violence.
The show also has a LOT of heart to it. Mainly revolving around Peacemaker, it shows a lot of his backstory, his really-easy-to-hate white supremacist father, and provides a great character study on Peacemaker -- someone who is very patriotic and macho in nature and design, has had some very toxic ideals drilled into him, and through the power of friendship and exposure to the outside world, learns to grow, learn, and question himself, what he believes in, and what his father has done to him.
John Cena is a great actor. It took me a long while before I finally said "YES", fully buying into his performance and acting chops, but I believe it. He's got it. Comedic timing, improv skills (the bloopers are really interesting), weight, and emotion.
Can't wait for what Season 2 might bring. Love those characters.
(I am sad that they turned Detective Song into an alien halfway through the show. Damn. She was entertaining, and I was invested into her arc, even if it was against Peacemaker's mission. She played stoic alien pretty well, but I wish it wasn't that. Also Murn died and I really liked that guy.)
Time to talk about THE BATMAN
Awesome film. Like an 8 or 9 out of 10 for me, at least on a first watch.
Ooh, it had a really specific style and theme -- neo-noir mystery, thriller -- and stuck to it very tightly, but pepperring in a bit of funny moments, thanks to Batman's stoic nature or random thugs' over confidence.
Be prepared to see this film in a dark room. Most of it takes place at night, in the rain. They really nailed the anachronistic style of a moden Gotham city, with its very antique architechture, vehicles, but inserting laptops, mobile phones, streaming, etc.
The mystery behind the film is very engaging, and since it'w 3 hours long, it branches off far. There was even one point in the film where I'd forgotten about a major loose end from the previous hour, since this new thread took up so much of the plot.
The Riddler is frightening but also a bit silly, given how seriously he takes himself and his crusade online. Probably the effect that was intended so I enjoyed that
And Robert Pattison. Wow. To think a lot of people were skeptical about his casting. Nope, he did really well here. The costume is imposing, he has a very gruff attittude as Batman, and what little we see of Bruce fits the recluse character.
The Batmobile was especially cool too, given how basic we all thought it would be. It's reveal scene had me giggling.
The climax was especially tense. Going off of what felt like a resolution to a: "oh shit, this villain really does have an evil master plan". I also like how it tackes the running theme involving superheroes -- do their methods or their power specifically cause others to rise to take the challenge?
Overall, it was a really enjoyable film. Definitely deserved its length given how much mystery and action and how slow it likes to take things -- but it's gripping.
Screw rushing into a cinematic universe, DC. Just make good standalone movies like this.
Fun fact: My family and I were the only ones in the theater last night. Wild. So we didn't have to whisper to each other lol
I watched The Bad Guys, which is Dreamworks latest animated movie and I really really enjoyed it, I think it's great! It's like Zootopia meets Ocean's Eleven, with a little added craziness. The animation is exaggerated, frantic, and fantastically fluid, the characters are incredibly charming and funny, especially Sam Rockwell's character Wolf, the visuals are great, and there's also some really good dance/fight choreography. The movie in general is just really fun, adorable and feel good. Also they made Diane Foxington, voiced by Zazie Beetz, weirdly attractive. In my opinion this is Dreamworks best movie in a long while and I wouldn't mind this getting a sequel at all.
My only nitpick is that I wish it was just a TEENY bit longer, literally just like 5 or 10 minutes so that certain things get a little bit more development. Also the rules for the anthropomorphic animals are a little funky, because some animals are fully sapient but others, even if they're the same species are just regular animals. It's a little weird but not a real problem.
I love that this is a straightforward review and you just slip that in there lmao
But yeah I watched it too and I thought it was a fun movie. I love the blend of 2D and 3D animation that more animated movies are doing now.
It's hard for me to not think that Sony and Spider-Verse are the reasons behind the new push for this mix, and with Arcane's recent success, I think it's probable that more mainstream studios will join in the fray.
I finished the wild ride that is Centaurworld.
First off, the choice of having the final episode be a feature-length finale was an impressive and sorely-needed touch. It gave multiple plots time to unravel, have the show reach a dark and epic climax, and give us an uninterrupted triple-length episode that tugged at all the emotions.
Man, this show's rating gets more confusing the further you get into it. Freakin animal drowning, terrifying zombie-corruption of the Nowhere King/Elk, buncha murder and death, a mercy killing, and a visible impalement too!
Hot damn, this show is unlike any other, but it's fantastic the way it flips-flops between saccharine childlike whimsy and dark, ominous imagery. This last episode was jaw-dropping with how far they leaned into that darkness.
(Also a great cut-off moment where Horse nearly called someone a dick!)
And this finale has some great music! Lots of reprisals and medleys, a lot of backstory worldbuilding, ooh, it gives me the shivers. Really liked it.
They also had me cry at Rider's apparent death (halfway through the Last Lullaby Pt. 2 song). Then turns out she wasn't dead, but that was still pretty shocking!
As for the rest of the season, it was great! Really tread the line of zany Centaurworld antics with dark murder and necromancy.
I actually want to say my second favourite episode was EP2, with all the bird-taurs. Felt very weirdly meta, but I enjoyed the jokes and most of the songs were catchy. (Not sure why they had to toss that meta-plot in there though. Was it supposed to mock the Centaurworld fandom, or just fandoms in general? Considering they'd have written this probably before Season 1 came out, it did feel a bit too on-the-nose, and wishy-washy about why it existed at all. Still liked it though, weirdly.)
Favourite character definitely has to be baby Stabby. Wow, finally, a role where Dee Bradley Baker doesn't have to do unintelligible warbles and animal grunts. Such a cute design and great voice.
["I have unquantifiable corpses on my conscience..... Cup-cup, daddy!"]
And, I've gotta say, with Durpleton, that his revealed backstory, and raising of Stabby improves my view on his character. Still think he's a bit too weird and random, but he's okay.
The show overall is very well-made, if feeling a tad shaky at times with how much it can get caught up in its juvenile childish antics, but it's great and the finale really ties it all together with a nice black bow.
Props to Kimiko Glenn, Meghan Hilty, Jessie Mueller, and Brian Stokes Mitchell for carrying this season. Nice!!
To fill this now childish cartoon void, I think I'll waddle on over to Netflix's Dogs In Space. That one's got William Jackson Harper (Chidi, The Good Place) in it so that's exciting enough for me.
I almost wish they went through with it, but I guess it would have been way too dark considering you see the Nowhere King get murked right before lol. Not to mention Rider is literally a kid still.
Speaking of the death of Nowhere King, The Last Lullaby Part 1 is such a beautifully tragic and wonderfully dark reprisal of a song that was already fairly creepy in the first place, and I absolutely love it.
"You will die, and so will all your lies. When I see the life leaving your eyes," is not something I would ever expect to hear in an animated series aimed at kids 7 and up.
According to some people who worked on the show, the Centaurworld crew actually asked Netflix if they wanted to do another season, but apparently Netflix just completely shut them out then later fired them during the animation layoffs a few weeks back.
If you want another Netflix animated series that's weirdly dark I recommend Maya and the Three. It's nine episodes with each episode being 30-40 minutes long and it's a complete story with a proper ending.
Couldn't have said it any better myself. Loved that scene, the twist on the original song, while also being pretty stunned that "Wow, now this is REALLY dark. HOW is this so dark??!"
I don't know if the show needed another season, I thought everything tied up nicely by the end, but that's still majorly fucked up. Why are you the way that you are, Netflix? Ugh.
Heard nice things about that show. (Didn't know it was dark though!) I also didn't know it was a Netflix thing too.
I'll add it to the list.
Yeah I don't mind that there won't be another season but how it happened is pretty terrible. The show implied that there's a bit more going on with Glendale and her pocket universe so it might've had something to do with that.
It definitely goes places and pushes some boundaries, which is always a fun time.
Barry Season 3 is fuckin' tense! Just 2 episodes in but arrrrgh it's making my hair stand on end.
All I can really say about the show itself. This season's gone very dark in one of its central plots.
Its dark humour and surreal humour is still fantastic though. Dark events presented with total funny non-chalance by some characters. Or, totally out-of-touch executives not understanding basic human interaction in a script. Really good stuff.