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Reviews
Tasogare Seibei (2002)
A beautiful ode for all the fathers and husbands out there,
Who try their best to fulfill their duty to protect and cherish their family, a mission which might be the most meaningful and difficult to accomplish in this troubled world.
A true gem which can tell you deeper stories than before each time you visit again, especially when this world wants to overwhelm you.
It's like Seibei tells you, smiling, that you just keep going till it ends.
So we keep going today too.
P.s. It's my guess but this story has a lot of semblance to the now famous manga/anime 'Spy Family', not only the use of name, Tasogare, but with the twist of the unexpected mission to keep his family together with a new mom and a daughter. Just my guess.
Asakusa kiddo (2021)
Brilliant
Kurt's performance was so good that at the first scrne I thought Takeshi himself was appearing.
It was nostalgic and heart warming.
It'll give you a good cry so take a chance.
It'll worth it.
The Martian (2015)
Simply put,
The best Ridley Scott film ever made.
The only Scott film in which he does not put any unnecessary weight on his direction of making the tone, mood, action, etc.
Pengin haiwei (2018)
Was a great twist and surprise for me while watching with my two kids
Your life is just once, so enjoy it like riding with penguins, till you'll meet yourself again, yourself who is still young and with endless wonders for this world.
P.S. kids also loved it, and mysteriously, they also got the same message: Let's ride with penguins!
Dragon Quest: Your Story (2019)
No, the ending is that DQ5 will be always with you
What a surprise.
The ending is a smash on old fan's face?
No, it wasn't.
It was the most moving finale for me, an old fan who played the game on Super Famicom.
Wish I will be able to play the DQ5 VR Remake sometime in the future. :D
Great movie it is.
Extinction (2018)
Why the girls kept crying and making stupid decisions?
Because they already lost their human parents!
Because they already had gone thorugh this hell before!
Because all of these memories had been kept in their memory banks!
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Possible Explanations for this Fiasco
Below are my speculation and not actual events:
1. Kasdan's script was there as an adequate sequel to the episode 7 (of which Kasdan was a main writer) which was to provide some of the rightful answers like the background of snoke, Rey, and Kylo.
2. Disney, especially Kennedy was hurt by the negative review of episode 7 on its similarity to episode 4 and the lack of 'new elements.'
3. Rian was hired to provide this 'fresh perspective' to the series.
4. The set-up in the episode 7 was firmly there, so there was not much room for Rian to prove himself as a capable director to secure his future in the mainstream Hollywood.
5. Meanwhile, some of the fan theories actually found out the secrets (although nobody will confirm this officially).
6. Emergency meeting held: whether to stick to the original script or to revise it (It could be possible that at this point, quite much of actual shooting had already been done--maybe the reason for the poor pacing and illogical plot problems?).
7.Here, Rian got his moment. He proposed much needed 'freshness:' Episode 7 was mediocre; it was just a copy of an old episode; new audience need a fresh start.
8. First of all, let's kill Snoke to make Kylo a main villain to break episode 7's set up of new master and apprentice plot (another copy of the original). Episode 7's negative reaction will continue if we follow the old convention of trilogy. It is too late to make Kylo turn to light side and kill Snoke in episode 9. Applause!
9. Second of all, we don't need some special lineage to make a main character. It's the 21st century! Democracy! Chances for all! Let's make Rey just a common person with a sad background! That's fresh indeed! Bravo!
10. Thus, Luke should not live on through this trilogy. "The past should be killed completely for a fresh start." Let's kill him in this episode. Break the legend to give more opportunities to ordinary brave souls in the new franchise! Good idea!
11. And here Rian comes up with more ambitions: how about we making this 'fresh start' thing real? New trilogy! No more comparison to Lucas's original trilogies! OMG!
12. So, we need a bridge to legitimize this new trilogy in episode 8 (which was Rian's only shot to the so-called 'canon' story). So he came up with this Casino planet with new set-up reflecting current situation of our time on this planet Earth. Oppressed vs oppressor, have vs have-nots, war vs peace!
13. The new protagonist is this boy who happens to meet legendary heroes of the Rebellion: Fin and Rose! Let's make the ending of episode 8 with this boy!
14. Plus, we need another Han Solo for this new trilogy! How about this broker/hacker of ambiguity between good and evil! Let's cast Del Toro! He will take care of this new boy!
15. Ok, then for this new trilogy, Rebellion must be ended, too! Sure, let's mix out new trilogy ideas with episode 8! Let the rebellion become just another myth in episode 9!
16. Last problem: how we will end this trilogy? we still need episode 9! Let's call J.J. again. He safely started this trilogy, he is sure to end this safely, too! Fantastic! We finally have this 'new start' for this old franchise! Rian, just begin writing right now!
Below are some additional comments:
1. The main problem was this. In the OT, at least George Lucas had this story structure fixed for episode 5 and 6 before employing other talented directors than himself. On the contrary, in this third trilogy, it seems that there was no fixed story structure for the entire trilogy or the producers agreed to demolish one to support a new franchise idea.
2. Rian should be ashamed. There are certain movies that audience want to see for themselves even though they already know the whole story like the Lord of the Rings. It is ok to twist stories to surprise audience in his previous low-budget movies. He was really good at this surprise part and people loved it. However, in a franchise like SW, you shouldn't try that cheap trick to twist a plot just to surprise. It is even worse if your intention is just to deny all the great fan theories. Even if you decided to boldly go, you could have done it in more respectful ways. but.. oh yes, you already have your own new SW trilogy!
V (2009)
You killed John May too early, Anna.
Just finished the season two. As the time of the end of the season comes near, only one question kept popping into my mind: Can this series keep itself safe into season three? So I came to IMDb and found out that this series was canceled after all.
The first season was promising. One of the clever moves of remaking old series.
V stands for Visitors, not for Victory. Visitors are not a military type of cult, but a civilized one-mind union whose tactics are mainly on the diplomatic side. The leader is not a male anymore but a strikingly attractive and charismatic female. Visitors are not new in this planet, but have been here for a long time already.
The John May plot was really good, a very refreshing twist, and the fifth-columns too, not a powerful resistance but only a group of few people who are not starting as heroes but rather public enemies harming the new harmony between the two races.
Season One finale was impressive. It sure made you looking forward to season two.
But. Alas. The season one was all that this series can show. And there was nothing good left for season two.
I could see the endeavors by the writers to make the season two one of their best works too. Actually, the starting of the season two was promising as the season one. Until the new leader of fifth-columns took charge.
Something happened in the midway. Don't know what. But the entire plot started to collapse rapidly. I've been thinking over the possible reasons of this plot disaster and my own answer was in the season one itself.
It discarded the John May plot too early.
John May plot was the gem of the season one's story. John May was the force of the whole fifth-columns plot. Who is this John May. What has he done in the past? Why does Anna have this great fear of him, what kind of threat to them? What will John May do in the future with the resistance? Lots of questions raised in the early episodes of the season one. The answer was great indeed. John May is already dead and you have to fight your own fights. Great plot with great twists but they revealed this twist too early. If John May had been kept a secret through the entire season two, not to mention of the early season one, it would have been a major force to keep this series gallantly move forward even to season three or four. It's so sad that this great twist for a possible grand ending plot was wasted too early.
And It didn't need a heroine really.
The first season was very good in introducing many good characters who will be united in the fifth-columns. The characters of the season one was alive with his or her own story to tell. And with their own secrets to be revealed 'gradually.' Season two blew up all of these by making Erica the only center of the resistance. It's finally made the whole series as Erica vs Anna, making all the other interesting characters as just props to make only those two stand out.
As other characters' importance wears out, all the nonsenses begin.
A traitor is resurrected who was already fated to be corrupted by the human emotions. Human emotions are feared by those aliens who already showed us splendid varieties of emotions. Seeing all these emotions all the time, even Anna doesn't know the difference between emotionless states and emotionlessly pretending faces. Getting in and out of the mothership is becoming so easy that at one point you can't tell the difference of those two spaces: the mothership and the downtown NY.
You can't do multitasking in this kind of plot.
The greatest blunder of the season two, the very reason of this series' self-implosion. Twenty-nine ships. Twenty-nine boys. Twenty-nine local resistance. But you have only one Anna and Lisa. Why not Beijing or Tokyo? Why should this series be focused on NY? Ty is expandable so what suspense is left there to watch? Even Erica is expandable, right? for a better leader among the proved candidates of the fifth- columns.
Finally, one of the few delights of the season two: seeing old faces back into the series. Even this should have been tried earlier, I hope, in the season one. These relief pitchers were too late to save the losing game.
Anyway, nobody can't save this series back. The final episode of season two was too fatal.
Ty is dead, a new lover parted, Lisa is useless, Diana gone, Ryan dead and Amy is another super Queen calling Anna mommy. Suddenly a new clandestine group. But the entire human race is now slave to the aliens.
Sigh.
It just sounds like a fanfiction written by a really imaginative twelve-year boy or girl.
Only John May still feels like a real person in this wonderland, but you killed John May too early, Anna.