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Reviews
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)
Slow, manupulative, felt nothing for any of the characters.
Part 1 was sorta a fun popcorn film/episode/whatever..
Part 2 starts out sloooowww.. remains slow for 2/3rds of the movie while it tries to somehow get us invested in the characters, fails miserably (Kora's response to her companions opening up about why they fight makes me really dislike her.) and then ends with an entirely predictable and fairly boring bang.
I had "Nuke em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure" running through my head right from the start of the movie so the lazy contrivance of having a few piles of grain literally protect a bunch of villagers from a well armed space force, just made it impossible to take anything in this film seriously.
The timing of their "help" showing up was just the chef's kiss of stupidity.
If you're on the fence about whether you need to watch this to complete the set.. don't bother.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Spock Amok (2022)
Just fun
I think some folks are forgetting that many of the original Star Trek episodes were quite silly, but the show also pushed cultural boundaries and sometimes made people uncomfortable. A black female communications officer in the mid 60's and a Russian in the middle of the cold war.
Today it's about empathy, gender roles and work life balance, and ST:SNW has some fun exploring those topics. Some other versions of ST have explored the same topics more seriously, or with more action, or darkness, but I think people are really looking for a lighter hearted approach in today's world. ST:SNW seems to strike the right balance.
And yes, the music Spock's dream isn't just an homage. It is the *same* music. I remember as a kid in the early 80's, we still had a black and
white TV and when it was turned on the sound started immediately but the picture took about 5-10 seconds to come up. I'd turn the TV on anywhere between 10-10:30pm and I usually knew exactly which ST episode it was before the picture appeared just from the unique music and sound effects in each episode.
Don't Look Up (2021)
I feel like this must be a metaphor for something...
... but I can't imagine what it is.
Seriously though. It's the 2nd to last day of 2021 and we've had less than an inch of snow in the Denver metro area this fall/winter. Today Dec 30, 2021, 100mph wind gusts blew a grass fire through the suburban communities of Superior and Louisville, destroying upwards of a 1000 homes and businesses. It's almost like there's something big coming that is negatively affecting the climate, all around the world, that represents a threat to humanity.. I wonder if we, as a society are capable of recognizing, acknowledging, and doing something about it..
So to distract me from the news of the day, I watched this movie.
Ya, we're doomed.
Cowboy Bebop (2021)
Enjoyed about 70% of it, but where could it have possibly gone from here?
Artistically I really liked the show. The live action was mixed with CG seamlessly and the film noir vibe carried throughout. I'd watch more of this style.
On to the story..
I listened to the prequel audio book "Cowboy Bebop: A Syndicate Story" (which I enjoyed), before watching the show, and I think it really helped add context and explain why Viscous feels so utterly betrayed by Fearless (beyond the love triangle introduced in this show), and how it could turn so dark. But maybe it went too far.
I really enjoyed the original Cowboy Bebop (in my top 3 animated series), where we always knew the characters had complicated but hidden back stories, and they masked their pain with irony and humor. There was a little arc of mystery as they pulled on some of these threads, but it didn't prevent it from remaining light hearted in an ironic way. This adaptation had that feel for about 6-7 out of ten episodes. My gripes within those episodes. I felt that Spike's character was almost useless at times, where he came across as a lot more confident and competent in the original. The crew are apparently entirely incapable of ever capturing any bounty alive (how do they survive at all?). And the tag lines at the end of the episode often felt disconnected, where in the original show they either made me laugh, or my heart ache a little.
Just when I was settling into the new vibe, this show went full on DARK. Viscous and Fearless's backstory plays out, in an unexpected and not very satisfying direction. Ultimately I just don't know that I *wanted* to know how utterly screwed or screwed up everyone is, and they made me not like Julia (expected) and Spike (unexpected). In the end I don't see how there can be any story left to tell between Jet and Spike. How would you repair that much damage? Given that the show was cancelled, maybe that's the answer. It can't.
I enjoyed most of what I watched, but I'm disappointed that there won't be any more Cowboy Bebop, because the writer's wrote it into a box canyon from which there is no escape.
Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine (2020)
If the script for 2020 were written in 2019
This is what would happen if a show runner back in 2019 tried to write a script for what was going to happen in 2020. A seemingly random string of unconnected and often horrible events with no apparent plot line connecting them, while media personalities and media consumers more or less try to pretend that everything's fine. It's not plausible and not that funny either. It's like a Black Mirror episode where we go "Ouch, that hits a little too close to home", except *everything* hits too close to home.
I gave this 4 stars (instead of a 1) because I felt like it had all the elements of dark satire, and I smiled at the weather segment, but unfortunately it just never made me laugh. It might have been funnier if the narrator hadn't told us her mental state right up front (I wonder if the narrator was part of the original concept). Maybe it would rate higher if it were not a comedy at all.
Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 (2020)
Don't let the first impression be your only one.
Yes, the CG animation and weird beer drinking, care-free attitude of the characters in the first 10-15 minutes of the first episode is extremely off-putting. I can't really explain the behavior and I don't think this animation style works in bright Palm Springs desert lighting without feeling cheap. I've read several reviews of folks who stopped here. That would be a mistake. It does settle into a much more familiar GitS SAC story and style by the end of the episode and all those that follow. Once things get a bit darker (both story and lightning) there are times it feels very much like the original. The character models can be quite good and sometimes the CG animation allows them to do some very creative things. The only time it continues to annoy me is when the camera needlessly swoops around everyone while they're talking to each other in their private network.
It takes a while to settle into the main story, but it's an interesting one, and I look forward to more. They've got new quarry to keep them busy and as always most of the characters live in a gray area.