anubis-x

So.... I've been putting this off for a while....but now seems a good enough time as any.

Echoing the statement from my last review

The sequel trilogy had potential

The cast was a POWERFUL mix of the original cast and promising up and comers

It all seemed like a new generation would get to see the grandeur of Star Wars from opening crawl, to the final credits. And to be fair I took my son and my self to see all three of them in the theater.

And we had fun, but there was something....off

For any major epic to work, characters need to have a balance, a foil, something to interact with, the Writing needs a consistent direction, and above all else, the writer needs to give a shit about the story and the characters so they can relate to us, convincingly why we should care for them as well.

In came JJ Abrams...a man who quite simply lied to get the job directing Disney's newest (at the time) acquisition, and Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm who's hubris was on full display when in 2017 she officially stated that the expanded universe was no longer canon, alienating the majority of the fan base in the process.

The writing was shit, the Pacing was poor, the characters were poorly realized as well as actualized, especially the antagonists. When it was all done, most actors involved moved on, mainly because of professional grievances and online harassment, the Fandom fractured, most just left to be done with it all

JJ was out, Kennedy professionally disgraced, and it looked like Star Wars had finally had it

But then it all changed

November 12, 2019 a new show directed by John Favreau premieres on Disney+ moving in a new direction...it wasn't dealing with space wizards, lightsabers and space battle, but the setting they inhabit and the other people living in it.

Set 5 years after the Return of the Jedi, the Mandalorian follows our title character as he makes his through the galaxy amidst the establishing of the New Republic and Imperial remnants skulking in the shadows. The series so far has run for 3 seasons, with each show an advent calendar of new and nostalgia, a love letter to the fans of sorts, with references spanning the the original trilogy, the Prequels, Clone Wars, and even the "expanded universe" now called "Legends", as many characters make their return, and others their onscreen debut.

Following directly after the second season of The Mandalorian, we step into the gritty underworld of Mos Espa in the Book of Boba Fett. Fett, having survived the Saracc and being captured by the Tusken Raiders, later being adopted into them, during this time, Fett takes stock in his life, no longer bound to the whims of Jabba or Vader, he looks to shape his own destiny. Directed by Robert Rodriguez the series was positively epic in it own right.

Jumping back 17 years earlier we have Andor, featuring the title character that first appeared in Rogue One years before the events on Scariff. Now I will be forward here, this show is difficult to watch because of its subject matter being fairly relevant to current events, so if anything, take your time with this series and I promise you it is all worth it.

Back to the future, and coming in hot off the 3rd season of the Mandalorian, Ahsoka takes place after the Mandalorians took their planet back from Moff Gideon. The title character, when she's not helping her late Master's son re-establish the jedi order, she's looking for a Star Map....a star Map that if in the wrong hands, could return an evil so profound, it could shatter everything the rebellion had fought for.

To say Favreau and Filoni saved star wars is a massive understatement, Iin these shows you can tell these show had a lot of work put into them. Not just work, effort

It's good to see my favorite universe getting back on course, and like any starship of the imagination, it's good to see it flying true. This is the Way.

Say you have a concept...

A really awesome concept, to introduce a really awesome villain and the fantastical setting is a world seen only in the halls of the imagination, or at the very least a well written and illustrated Sci-Fi or Fantasy anthology comic book.

Paul Rudd is Scott Lang, a working class hero and a dad who also works for a semi retired superhero ( a VERY crotchety Michael Douglas) as well as dating his Daughter, Hope VanDyne, as played by the Beautiful and talented Evangeline Lily.

This concept works out great for exactly 2 movies, adding the always Fantastic Michelle Phifer as the OG Wasp, Janet to the cast, only to be derailed AT THE END OF THE SECOND MOVIE by a purple alien with a funky chin and his bedazzled ovenmitt when said MC gets trapped in said setting, causing character decay that only becomes more noticeable in the presence of Robert Downey Jr. And ends up becoming a source of comedy in competition with a depressed overweight thunder Deity channeling the aesthetic of "the Dude" and a Raccoon with the voice of "Face" from the A-Team.

7 years (in universe) an epic battle and I guess a tell-all book later, and Scott apparently has let celebrity get to his head ( until he gets confused for Spider-Man which happens ALOT) only to find in the course of the movie that the multiverse is in danger due to Kang and his multiversal Variants played by Johnathan Majors by way of the Quantum Realm.

This movie should have worked.

The actors were top notch,

The story concept was amazing

But the writing was shit. Too formulaic and at times cringe-inducing. So let's get into it:

The Good:

In terms of character development and interaction

Scotts Daughter, Cassie, (now as a young adult and played by Kathryn Newton ) who not only serves as the lynch-pin of the story but us a surprisingly well rounded character herself. We find out that Hank and her have established a Granddaughter/Grandfather dynamic that on the whole is actually adorable

We find out that Janet didn't sit around while trapped in the Quantum Realm, even lead or participated in a few Revolutions.

Scott and Hope's relationship is still going strong and actually gets stronger by the end of the movie.

Johnathan Majors brings an amazing presence to this iteration of Kang, bringing with it a sense of growing menace to the character as the movie progresses.

BILL F---king MURRAY 'Nuff said.

Hank Pym gets better fleshed out, and is in all honesty better than his comic counterpart in every (fuck wife-beater Hank)

The Bad

Scott's whole celebrity arc in this was....kinda....just shitty, and you're gonna tell me Louis and his friends just disappeared and moved on??

Darren Cross from the first movie returns......and MODOK makes an appearance as well! And yes both events are sadly related in a way I am frankly too traumatized to go into.....(see below)

Where in the actual fuck was this movie going again??? NOT EVERY MOVIE HAS TO BE A PART OF FRANCHISE-WIDE EVENTS, FEIGE!!!

WHERE THE FUCK IS DR.Foster ( as played by always Phenomenal Lawrence Fishburne) and Ava Star (Ghost as played by Hannah John-Kamen)?? They REALLY could have helped and this situation AND found a resolution to Ava's condition

The Cringe

There really had to be a better way to tell us that Hank was mentoring Cassie that didn't sound like it implied questionable relations (especially since he did build her a suit)....that lands squarely on the writers and its not remotely fucking funny

Janet's dirty Quantum laundry ( implied intimate relationships with Kang and Bill Murry for Dramatic effect and comedy). Fucking STOP.

The whole first 5 minutes of the movie with Scott talking and showing his newfound celebrity status and book. (I cringed soo fucking hard my jaw and neck hurt.)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌑🌑🌑🌑 6/10 stars

Marvel needs to step back and re-evaluate their product, and Bob Iger needs to stay the fuck out of their business as the whole messy business with Marvels (re-writes and reshoots and advertising) falls on the absolute cowardice of corporate. Do Better Marvel.

Where to start?

Boy meets cute anime creature, mayhem ensues.

Except unlike Pokémon with its cute little monsters and it's kid friendly styling, these devils literally straight up look like they walked, crawled, slithered, and swam out of the various works of Bosche, and to say the least, they decided to make it everyone's problem ( seriously, the vast majority are embodiments of various fears of the human race that go back as far as time immemorial)

*SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST ISSUE AND EPISODE ONLY, SERIOUSLY, YOU NEED TO READ THIS SERIES...ALL OF IT!*

Our main character is a young man named Denji, a youg man so impoverished, he inherited his father's debt to the Yakuza and works for them as an amateur devil hunter with the help

of his bestest boy, Pochita, a cute puppy-like Chainsaw devil.

After a job goes wrong and Denji is killed and Pochita mortally wounded when the Yakuza boss is double-crossed by the Zombie Devil, a deal is struck "live, and show me your dreams" as Pochita saves Denji by becoming his heart, giving Denji nearly his full power as a Chainsaw Devil hybrid, thus Chainsaw man is born, going full berserk and killing the Zombie devil and minions that killed him.

Enter Makima, a mysterious and beautiful Red-haired woman who offers him a job and a home in exchange for his services as a Devil hunter for Department 4, a branch of the Japanese government that specializes in rooting out and destroying supernatural entities.

In this series, Tatsuki Fujimoto beautifully combines comedy, horror, dark fantasy, and even slice if life with a healthy dose of world building and character development as well as philosophy.

While there are parts that seemingly drag, the story picks up when it needs to and really never disappoints.

As we speak, Fujimoto is currently working on the next major arc of the Manga, and so far, it seems to be coming along well, so again, check it out when you get the chance.

On to the Anime,

As of the first episode, MAPPA seems to have made good on the promises it put forth in the trailers it put out, the cinematic colors are absolutely GORGEOUS, and the animation is smooth, seemingly combining hand drawn animation seamlessly with some computer animation in the fight scenes,

My only gripe is that Denji didn't have the shark-like teeth until after Pochita became his heart, but I digress...

So far I'm looking forward to enjoying this season and it's following seasons to the fullest

5 Stars Mappa and Fujimoto.....keep up keep up the good work!!

To start off...this was by no means a great film, and Disney once again (at least with this property) demonstrates why they deserve some of the consternation and condemnation it receives from the Fandom for its absolute disregard of some of its lesser known properties

**SOME SPOILERS AHEAD**

To start, it was 55 minutes long, and the pacing was absolute shit..

The only recognizable characters of note were Elsa Bloodstone, her Father (who is by the way dead, and apparently also moonlights as a carlival haunted house prop, because why the fuck not, yeah?), Jack Russell (werewolf by night) and Man-Thing (who's name is Ted....and honestly, he's just a nice guy, it's a very nice name for him....) most everyone else was just there to demonstrate how quickly they could die by way of their own rank hubristic arrogance, Elsa's skill, Jack's claws, and Man-Thing's touch (I write as I'm giggling like an immature middle schooler).

Most of the movie was shot in black and white to capture the feel of Universal's old monster movies, or in this case, Ed Woods cult films...which is weird considering despite the subject matter, it's in the contemporary setting with the rest of the MCU....and ends in color to the tune of "Over the Rainbow" as sung by Judy Garland...which to be honest, was was sweet and touching given the context of the ending .

It is worth mentioning however, that Elsa, Jack and Ted were portrayed true to their characterization, as featured in their respective titles, and their interactions towards each other were, at least for me, the only thing that made this "Plan 9 meets Scooby-Doo meets the Wolfman level monster mash schlock fest worth watching

Do better Disney....for the love of the GODS you have Robert Rodriguez on your payroll....please use him for stuff like this...