The American Live Action Death Note movie on Netflix has been causing a lot of controversy and already has this negative stigma from the press and fans. I decided to give the movie a shot without having any previous bias against it and see how it held up as I’m sure the general consensus will be to bash it no matter what so it already had a tough fight ahead of it before anyone even saw it. As I watched it I didn’t want to compare it directly and would be open to changes if it.
Even without being a purist and thinking that the anime has many problems this movie does mess a lot of things up. There’ll be some light spoilers but nothing huge. Light’s character is different but for the most part I don’t think it breaks the character too much, his biggest flaw is how stupid and careless he is, even by normal person’s standard and not Light. Ryuk was handled well for the most part though his introduction was a bit over the top and I would’ve preferred if he was used more subtly. Continue reading Death Note 2017 Netflix’s Live Action→
Miesha Tate, Cris Cyborg, Holly Holm of Mixed Martial Arts fame were in a movie called Fight Valley Knockaround Girls. Being a fan of Women’s MMA and the fighters starring in it I decided to check it out. Quality cinema was not expected from this movie but instead just a kick ass film to pass the time.
You kind of set yourself up for the type of movie and expect different things from different movies. Going in to see Star Wars will have different expectations than say Dinosaur Island and even if one is the better movie b-films can be more enjoyable. Sadly this wasn’t the case with Fight Valley.
I wanted to like this movie and huffed at the terrible scores that it had since they rarely showcase my thoughts on a specific movie. But man did this movie try its hardest to make those horrible scores feel earned. I wasn’t expecting good acting by any means but most lines were just so cringy.
The actual generic plot you’d expect from the movie is somehow worse than what you’d expect since you just don’t care about any of the so called twists that they try to do nor the motivation for any of the characters. The movie tries so hard to make you feel like this is some tough shit you’re watching and that makes it even harder to watch than an 8th grader doing his best to look cool to High School kids.
Normally I can look past most stuff like that if it at least gives us something fun that other movies can’t deliver. In this case the fights, and a well choreographed fight is all I really needed. But even then the movie does no favors to itself and misses the one opportunity it had to have some redeeming value, even the lesbian fan service was poorly done. So while the movie had all the potential to be a great bad movie and failed at least I hope we get something like this done better in the future.
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Back to the Future is one of those franchises that almost anyone has seen and if you’re a new generation that hasn’t seen it well it’s a must. The franchise finished after the trilogy and hasn’t really seen much besides that but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some expanded universe that you can’t check out. So here is a quick review of most of the available stuff for Back to the Future in video form as well as extra video content sequels to the original movies thanks to the Back to the Future The Ride and The Game projects which gave us these official yet unofficial spin-off content material.
I do have to quickly talk about the original trilogy, the first is awesome and a true classic, it’s so good that if you really haven’t seen it then you must. The second film is a lot of fun and crafted very well, and while it mostly recreates stuff from the original, the way it’s done is really creative and a worthy sequel. The third one still hasn’t won me over, I don’t like it no matter how many fans of it it has. I’ve tried watching it with a new understanding but it just feels off.
The actual animated show is alright, I guess. It’s a generic early 90s cartoon with a lot of slapstick. It’s not particularly bad but nothing really special either to win you over. It’s a bit hard to find a way to watch it though which is a shame since even if it’s not great, it’s part of the franchise. We do get to see the real Doc in live action segments before the show which is great. I also like that it actually fits in continuity with the movies since it explains why they are in the present again and actually ends up giving the Doc a better ending than the one the third film did.
Back to the Future also got a game movie sequel which is a bit on the long side and at nearly 6 hours and a half, it’s as long as the whole original trilogy. The story has its ups and downs, it’s actually somewhat interesting and has some nice near paradox moments and small twists like the trilogy has but since it is a game it tends to be on the slow side so it can be a bit of a chore to play through even if it’s not a bad alternate sequel to what happens after the trilogy. Go ahead and watch it below it’s basically a the closest to a new Back to the Future movie we’ll ever get. Definitely better than the cartoon and hey, I guess it can live in continuity with the show as well, no big flubs if you do.
Finally we have Back to the Future the Ride which was a ride in Universal Studios but sadly got taken down. I was lucky to ride it a few times and it was fun. I don’t remember much of it but I guess it wasn’t anything too special, you’re in a cabinet and travel through different eras as the cabinet moves which is in the shape of the Delorian.
You can watch the “ride” on below, which is nice that some parts were archived. Of course part of the experience was oddly enough waiting in line and seeing all the Back to the Future props and references which set up the story of the video and ride.
While sad I guess it also makes sense they’d remove it since no kid would even know what that movie is, when we went to universal as kids that movie was still hot. Too bad there’s no way to “archive” these things outside of the video montages, there should be a retired amusement park for all these old rides. I’m still sad I never got to ride many of the classics like the original Star Tours one last time or even King Kong.
If you enjoyed the article or have any thoughts let me know by commenting below or tweeting at me. You can also share the article or hit me up an email with your thoughts, it’s nice to hear from other fans of this stuff.
Ranma 1/2 in the 90s became a gateway drug of sorts to fans in America since it was one of the first popular VHS titles that you could get with three episodes each since anime was still in its infancy. The show was also quite popular in all of Latin America and Europe where anime was already in the boom period pretty much everywhere else. Was it a great show or just a product of its time?
I loved it as a kid and most of my waifus came from this show as it came at the right time for me to be able to appreciate what was being shown as well as fully appreciate the humor. After watching it all I can say it is just as good as I remember if not better.
We took a look back at the original Karate Kid Trilogy and they really deserve their spot in pop culture. Not to mention in classic martial arts films even if they’re not really fight or choreograph heavy. Now it’s time to go through all the other sequels, remakes and shows that the franchise had over the years. We’re only missing the Youtube Red show which is also a sequel but we’ll take a look back at it eventually as well.
The Next Karate Kid
This is another movie that gets a lot of hate like Part III but I also found it better than what I expected. At least in this movie we get a new Karate Kid, this movie definitely looks like a 90s version of the original so its interesting to see it that way instead of comparing it. Hilary Swank does a decent job and her training is interesting. The bad guy seemed a little too evil for the sake of being bad but so did the other sequels so I can’t complain too much about it. Continue reading Karate Kid Sequels, Remakes and Shows – Oh My!→
I’d never seen the Karate Kid in my life, only parts of it as a child however because of cultural references and parodies I definitely knew most of the iconic parts of it. I was always curious to watch it and many times almost bought the movie collections but never did. A few weeks ago I saw that they were all on Netflix and when I saw the animated show would be taken off in just a few days it was my cue to finally watch the movies since I am a completist. Let’s see how the series does to someone with no nostalgia for it. Today we take a look at the original trilogy and tomorrow at the other sequels.
The Karate Kid
The 1984 movie is definitely a bit dated in some aspects but its a fantastic movie even today. The pacing of the movie actually surprised me since I expected it to be a little more “by the book” and based on the parodies I thought I knew how everything would go but it had plenty of surprises for me. It’s a feel good coming of age movie that deserves the classic spot that it has cemented. Definitely worth a watch for fans of martial arts movies. Daniel-San and Mr. Miyagi are characters that are very memorable. Continue reading Karate Kid Trilogy – A look back→
Planet of the Apes was one of the most successful franchises in its day having 5 movies total in its original run a TV show and even a cartoon. Since then it’s also one of the few franchises that was able to have a reboot as successful as the original but today we’ll only talk about the animated show that The Planet of the Apes had and why it deserves to have that name.
The show is not in direct continuity with the movies, but this is not some Saturday morning kid friendly version of the franchise. In fact it doesn’t really feel at all like a cartoon for kids most of the time. There is an ongoing plot and continuity within episodes as well as complex relationships. Some episodes do fall into the children’s cartoon mold but I was surprised by how different it felt.
