zackplog Reviews

The Contestant (2023)

Losing faith in humanity, gaining faith in humanity: Nasubi Endures

[9/10 · 4 May 2024]

Wow.

Wow.

I'm unable to fully articulate my thoughts. I'm stunned. We see how a collective can excuse, and even laugh at, a person being pushed to the edge. We see what people who have been broken can be capable of. We see humans, standing together, and being stronger together. This fascinating dive into a thought experiment gone too far will, by the end, inspire you to act and live.

I suffer from Crohn's Disease and Fibromyalgia. It began back in September of 2001. In my isolation, I learned the deep need for physical connection. How hard it is for an individual to survive alone. From that experience, I can see Nasubi's eyes and find solidarity. But seeing him step into helping others, rather than sinking into a cavern of hating the outside world, he still stepped out.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)

Genuinely enjoyable and empowering.

[8/10 · 1 December 2023]

She Hulk was amazing. I'm fairly positive people haven't watched it all the way through without societal biases in place. The people that have been angry about it have been men.

The difference between male oriented and female oriented stories, men have to earn their way to power. Women exist, in real life, as amazing, and no one acknowledges them. It makes sense that female oriented shows would let them have power quickly and still be discounted because that's how women are treated in real life. It did a lot to point out what women struggle with: Can't have headphones on when walking home at night .

Being wildly powerful but still being seen as a woman first and capable second.

Etc.

I've seen critical reviews talking about her being mean or rude. She returns rudeness to those that dismiss her. Tony Stark, Peter Quill, and Loki are all actively jerks and people simp for them. Tony dismissed and insulted people on the regular, Peter can't handle people that don't immediately recognize his greatness, and Loki is...well, Loki. I'm fairly positive there's a higher bias towards lady leads and that's the biggest problem here.

Enter the show with an open mind and look for what messages are being conveyed.

Onimusha (2023)

If you go into it expecting some cool fights, you'll be satisfied.

[6/10 · 25 November 2023]

I'm not 100% certain his to accurately articulate everything I'm feeling and thinking.

I'm glad I finished it before writing a review, however. Though not as bad as I was originally thinking, it isn't exactly awe-inspiring. There definitely are benefits to have the pseudo-cgi anime style Netflix has been developing for quite some time now. I did make the mistake of watching Blue-Eye Samurai first, which just set the bar so high it would have been impossible for anything other than Arcane to surpass it.

If you're an anime fan (meaning accustomed to anime tropes), and are fine with the cgi anime style thing, I imagine you'll probably enjoy it. Go into it with the expectation to see some cool fights and you'll be good.

Blue Eye Samurai (2023)

As close to a 10 as can be.

[9/10 · 14 November 2023]

Sound effects, music, pacing, character growth, choreography, voice work, all of it. Absolutely top tier.

When animation close to Arcane on Netflix, Blue Eye Samurai delivers constant action in that perfect blend of computers with a hand drawn flare. This is what I hope the future of animation looks like. Action sequences that last half the episode with beautiful scenes surrounding the story telling, just, cripes.

A definite content warning. There was no sexual assault, at all, which is probably a part of why I have it rated so high. But yeah. Power, control, manipulation, hiding yourself, viscera, blood, and all out violence. I'm here for it.

Oh! The inclusivity of having Ringo be handless is amazing.

Dogs in Space (2021– )

A show to watch with the kids that's actually hilarious.

[9/10 · 27 November 2021]

So good. My son likes it even more than me. I adore the fact that there is a story, but you can watch more than half the episodes randomly and not miss anything. The rewatch ability of this is impressive.

The feels, man. Be ready for them.

((P. S. Nomi is amazing.))

Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)

Godzilla Fans: 8-9/10. Standard Viewers: 5-6/10

[8/10 · 18 July 2018]

What people need to remember walking into any Godzilla movie is that the first 45-60 minutes involves talking. The last 30+ are solely dedicated to utterly amazing, feet-flailing excitement. If you consider this, the movie is fantastic: Here's my breakdown.

The art of storytelling is not lost in Japan. They understand the need to lay sufficient groundwork to build your story on. They also understand that conflict drives a story. While it may seem like the story lags, even I had a moment where I had to be reminded of this, it serves a purpose. They could have easily have just presented things to you without offering explanations, but that's a half-hearted story. In Horizon: Zero Dawn, they give you explanations to everything you're witnessing despite its seemingly insane scenario.

The tensions within the first one bubble over now in the second iteration of this three part series. The ideals of each group now reach their critical mass as they begin to question what exactly it is they're willing to sacrifice in order to defeat Godzilla. Not only that, but what it is that they're fighting; the monster, or the idea of it. If it is conflict that drives stories then this truly is a story. Seemingly each scene grasps this concept and seeks to convey it to us.

I'll probably come back and edit this later but this is the best I can offer after just watching it today and without any spoilers. I can say with surety that the efforts of the writers to give us a well-rounded story were felt. If you rate this a 4, I can see that. Much below that and I might call it unfair, even if you don't like the genre. One thing that bothers me is when people toss up a 2* rating with a review that basically says they don't like Godzilla, monster movies, or action in general. If you accept that it is a Godzilla film when you walk into it, at the very least, it won't be a waste of your time.

Devilman: Crybaby (2018– )

Subversing the tropes the 1972 manga began.(We're all demons.)

[10/10 · 23 January 2018]

I'm laughing at the people who are acting like this is ripping x or y off. People. This was made in the seventies. It was the first 'adult' manga. Everything else came after. Now, as then, people are ignoring exactly what it's screaming: We're all demons. That is the message. That is the point. They both directly and indirectly assault philosophical questions about ourselves, how we fight the fact that we are devils, and what it all looks like.

We take notice of demons killing people? But we -don't- take notice of the fact that young girls are sexualized and millionaires swindle their way to the top while crippling the backs of the poor and oppressed? That's messed up. I'm also certain that someone will read this review and say, "You're reading too much into it." ... Most any story is told to convey truth through the medium of paper, screen, stories, whatever. If you look for it, basically every anime follows and holds onto the question of, "What is it to be human and how do you hold on to the good part?" if not something else. That part I'm willing to bend on. Regarding this anime in particular? No. The fact that someone might think 'that's a fine piece of donkey(for filter's sake)' is exactly -why- we need things like this to show us just how terrible these things are. If it takes displaying demon guts and bones and bloods to do so, so be it. (I filtered out any actual spoilers and only hinted at concepts that you see in the trailer anyway. Plus there's an amazing article with a similar title to my review.) Only by accepting and normalizing the fact that we've all got our refuse can we truly move forward as a society. As people. As humans. As devils with human hearts.

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017)

If you love Godzilla, you might be overjoyed.

[7/10 · 18 January 2018]

Anyone that has ever watched anything pertaining to Godzilla has things in it that are simply crazy and you must accept in order to enjoy the film. Everyone should also remember that the writing is almost always sub-par. That being said, this movie should be seen within the Godzilla standard of films. *I can say the same about Star Wars films.

Anyone that has every watched a Godzilla movie within its classical format should expect to go, "Yeah yeah, aliens, vengeful scientist, whatever, get to the battle." Anyone that expects more is deceiving themselves. One of the greatest parts about this film is that it didn't fall victim to one of the greatest anime failings ever which is breaking its own rules. This anime interpretation presented some outlandish laws on nature and space and time, but it then continued with those rules, no matter how crazy they are. Which, if you're accepting a giant, atomic-breath wielding monster, you should be ready for some craziness, especially when it's from a series containing an enemy that was friggin Mothra back in the day. A moth. So go into this movie knowing and accepting it for what it is. Do that and you'll have fun. That is why I did not rank it higher though Because it's a movie that you have to step into the Godzilla universe and know that the first half is basically skip-worthy, it doesn't deserve a 10. Within the universe...without revealing spoilers, I was on the edge of my seat with excitement over just how over-the-top they made Godzilla. He's nearly a demi-god in his own right. So that just made me excited beyond my initial response of telling people, "I'm happy. Can you tell I'm happy? Because I'm happy. This makes me happy. I'm happy."

Speaking to my previous asterisk: *(This part might end in me being called a heretic) Star Wars movies are fun but, let's face it, they're not the greatest when it comes to writing, directing, and acting (with obvious highlights). No one can tell me that Mark Hamill was a good actor, especially in Episode IV. I can, however, accept it within an incredibly intriguing universe that overcomes Leia's spoiler-free, space, force shenanigans in Episode VIII.

Death Note (I) (2017)

Enjoyable film if viewed independently

[7/10 · 5 September 2017]

The number one issue I've seen is that people complain its inability to adhere to the manga or anime. If that's the case, then the anime for Death Note should be mocked for not adhering to the 109 chapters of the manga. How could anyone possibly fit such material into 100 minutes (minus x amount for credits). Are there issues? Yes. Is there a film out there without flaws? No. If inability to adhere to the source then the movie Troy should have the same rating as it absolutely rips my favorite book to pieces. I can, however, appreciate Troy as an independent film within its own universe.

Friends and family that haven't read the manga or watched the anime have all loved this film because they're free of biases. If watched in such a way, one can appreciate the level of humanity displayed by every character. Every character is acted out in such a way as to make each of them human and you can observe their reasoning (mostly). These are my responses to the general rejections of the film: Light is not a wuss for screaming at meeting Ryuk. I would have soiled myself and been crying to Allah and Gilgamesh to save me. The math sheet handed over was, indeed, confusing, as he left the bottom half blank and it would be incredibly obvious to have different handwriting halfway down the page. That may be on the dumb guy trying to pay for a paper or it could be that Light copied the guy's handwriting well enough. I don't know, but it's a fair enough object to 'note', along with Mia's smoking in order to say, "Oh look! She doesn't care about the rules! Rawr!" Ryuk's prosthesis were amazing. Even those that have seen the anime and read the manga have admitted this. The clacks of the spines were creepy, especially when paired with William Defoe's level of creepy. Light and Mia Sutton created Kira as an alter-ego with different views from the start without fully knowing it. Light was limited due to his upbringing, though even this starts to break as the film progresses. Mia is used as the avenue to this end. L and his actor was actually displayed almost with a sense of aspergers and the additional explanation of his background help to solidify why he behaves the way he does and doesn't just throw it out as, "Oh hey, look at this quirky character!"

I went into this movie expecting it to be utter garbage and found myself actually being drawn in. That very rarely happens to me. Yes, there were some poorly done tropes in the beginning but, again, they're trying to put so much content into such limited time (and limited budget). The fact that we're running with human actors allows for far more facial expressions to take place that drawing alone. Truly, though, Ryuk was the number one thing that pulled me in...because holy crap. Stop looking for reasons to try and not like it and just watch the movie.

In summation: If you don't go into the movie expecting to see 109 chapters of a manga crunched into near equal minutes, you'll enjoy it. It's why I give it a solid 7...or 6.7. Whatever. Go in expecting it to be different from the source, while still maintaining a definite presence from the source. (Again. If I can get over Troy, everyone else can get over the differences between the manga and this movie. This is a logical fallacy and I don't care...well I do care...but not a lot.)