anime_queeny Reviews

Candyman (2021)

Another political, injected film that could have been amazing

[3/10 · 12 March 2022]

I was looking forward to this Candyman and love the original films.

This movie started off amazing and loved the story telling with the paper character cut outs.

I loved both the acting talents of: Teyonah and Yahya. The movie started off really great and starts ramping up in the scare department midway. It's not terrifying but some parts are gory.

Then you get to about the end and you start to realise just how much the director hates the white community and how the story being told is more about getting revenge on whites then about telling a great sequel about candy Man.

It's so obvious that this movie was targeted at one specific group of audience and to be honest I felt rather uncomfortable. Talent amazing, great visual effects, good start, solid middle then a crazy sub par ending.

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Extremely disappointed...like what a wasted opportunity

[2/10 · 4 May 2021]

So, I love the Mortal Kombat movie from the late 90s it is my all time favourite movie and everything about it was amazing.

Fast forward to the current Mortal Kombat and I was ready to leave the cinema.

Pros:

Hiroyuki Sanadas first appearance in the movie and the 10mins of the sequence between him and subzero sets the tone for the movie because the acting, fight sequences and mood were amazing!!

The actual fight scene at the end of the movie between Scorpio and Subzero were flawless. Both actors played their roles amazingly.

Cons!!!

There is no tournament in this entire film that's supposed to be about a tournament.

Kano is annoying throughout the entire film.

Cole the main character shouldn't even be in the movie. He is one of these characters where if you took him out of the movie and left the others in the movie the entire concept wouldn't change.

Because this guy has 1/8th of Scorpios blood in him he is apparently a chosen one... What about Scorpios daughter?? Who was rescued by her father? Wouldn't it make more sense to make the story about her?

Lord Raiden is the guardian of the good guy realm and should have been the one to gather all the fighters but he actually has almost no reason to be there since he doesn't do much.

You have Sonia Blade who apparently knew about Mortal Kombat for 7 years but didn't know where the base was but ironically Kano knows where it is even though he's never b.

Coming 2 America (2021)

Hit and miss; here and there; not as good as the original

[4/10 · 5 March 2021]

So, I finally get to see Coming 2 America and I loved the first movie just like everyone else who grew up with the film did.

Coming 2 America is basically a reversed story of the original film featuring a plot surrounding Akim who has to find his son so his son can take the throne. Pretty basic plot with your cliche family/royal drama attached to it.

I didn't appreciate the white man bashing in the film...found it extremely contrived and unnecessary and felt like that was included to please the African American community.

Some parts of comedy were really forced...the only funny bits was when Eddie Murphy was on screen.

Loved the dancing sequences, loved that in between the nonsense sometimes they would reel the movie in that reminds you of the original movie. Loved the casting everyone was amazing. Loved the costumes. It's a very 50/50 film...great some parts, boring sometimes, drags on too long but overall not bad.

I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it again though.

The Head Hunter (2018)

Had potential but was a snooze

[5/10 · 4 March 2021]

Don't watch this movie with the intent of thinking that it's going to be one big, warrior medieval, dark souls the game vibe kinda film because it's not really what you get.

My favourite genre lately is big monster horror films which is why I picked to watch this movie.

So to summarise quickly...

Pros: amazing background cinematography Great suspenseful music Amazing artwork from the masks you see in the movie Great solo acting Amazing work done to the costumes Interesting plot twist

Cons: Focus on certain aspects of the movie were terrible it was hard to know what was going on Extremely slow paced Barely any focus on action sequences so you're left begging for something to excite you

All in all it was a very 50/50 kinda movie. Not bad to watch but for me too slow placed so it was a bit boring.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002–2003)

A roller coaster of emotions...

[9/10 · 3 July 2017]

This is my first Gundam series that I've ever sat through and it was a pretty outstanding series.

There is a war between two types of humans in this series - the earth forces and then you have the coordinators who were genetically altered to excel at certain abilities.

In comes, Kira Yamato who is in high school; the coordinators start to attack the earth forced alliance and his destiny is set when he meets a young commander by the name of: Murrue Ramues who is defending a mobile suit gundam. Kira is immediately drawn into this battle by using his special abilities to over write the operating system of the gundam and use the machine to his own abilities.

During defending the people involved in this battle at the beginning; he comes into contact with his best, school friend: Athren and from there the story takes off between the battles of 2 worlds.

I won't go into too much detail; the above sums up where it's headed. This is a really great battle, drama, war series that really makes you think. I know I did...

I gave it a 9 rating because the story is very long - it's 50 episodes long but every single episode from 1 to 50 builds up and the very last 10 episodes are bringing you to tears and you are the edge of your seat.

When Japanese animators put their heart and soul into a anime you get stories like Gundam Seed. Nowdays, there is a lot of weeboo type series that are really hard to enjoy but this series is not one of them.

I gave it a 9 also because there are a couple of filler episodes...you can kinda predict it because a series in Japan will either go for 26 episodes or 12 depending on how much screen time they have.

From episode 27 to 50 it's where it picks up a bit. So the first half its really getting to know the characters and getting a fill for what's going on and then the second half of the series is where...things really escalate quickly.

All in all, if you have time to sit down and give a Gundam series a go, this is my recommendation. The series, music, animation and overall feel of the show is well worth.

Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014)

Hector and the search for happiness - tried hard but kinda fell flat

[4/10 · 29 August 2015]

I love Simon Pegg as much as the next person; and looked forward to this film. Recently watched it, and I had no emotional connection towards this film.

Hector, a "psychologist" who is spoiled and rich and is dealing with many patients with first world problems, explodes at how self centered people can be compared to those who are really suffering, decides to go on a journey in search for happiness. He left a beautiful girlfriend who respectfully gave him permission to do whatever he felt right only to go to China and fall head over heels for the first Asian beauty he comes across. He doesn't sleep with her but the very idea of "loving a second woman and having the freedom to do so, could potentially make you happy"...This was so meaningless and horrible - I immediately had doubts about this film.

This film, tried to be a feel good movie, but it didn't leave me feeling very good at all. I thought Hector was self absorbed and was too stupid himself to acknowledge the thing that actually made HIM happy; which was his partner who did everything for him with no complaints. It wasn't until he was kidnapped and had a gun to his head when he started realising how good he had it.

The film drags on for too long and again, there's no real emotional connection that I had with this movie. It wasn't well written at all - I think it could have been less...self absorbed.

By the end of the movie, it was so cringe to watch - I really couldn't care for Hector. I give it 4/10 stars because the film does have some good moments - like how nice everyone is to Hector but overall it was a boring movie.

Gantz (2010)

Tragically dull and awkward...

[4/10 · 24 September 2014]

***Review may contain spoilers***

The anime Gantz - is a brilliant story about a young man named Kei Kurono who has a bad attitude towards society and he's a gigantic pervert. He ends up waiting for his train ride at a busy train station some where in Japan (forgot the station name)only to come across a complicated situation that involves his old school friend - Kato.

A bum falls onto the train tracks - Kato jumps down to help the old fool and Kurono is forced into a situation where he should play hero (something the live action didn't do). After saving the drunken bum - Kei and Kato have no time to jump up the walls away from the tracks so they end up running for their lives away from the train. Before they know it, both friends are struck by the train with the crowd shrieking in horror by the horrendous blood bath!

Kurono and Kato are then teleported into a bare naked room - with other Japanese people and they are all confronted by the merciless Gantz sphere.

Here Kurono and Kato are forced to battle alongside fantastic supporting characters such as Kishimoto, Masanobu Hojou, the beautiful Sei Sakuraoka and many more memorable characters. These characters fight to survive, fight to win points, fight horrendous and arduous battles against their own emotions and their capabilities to actually use the Gantz suits to fight their battles.They all fight at a chance to win enough points to go home together.

What I love about Gantz - is the dramatization of every situation and just how unbelievably cocky Kurono is. Kei Kurono is bad ass in the anime from start to finish - in the live action...this isn't really the case.

I can't say that I've fully enjoyed the Gantz live-action movie. My free-to-air television network allowed me to take a look at the movie and because I'm a huge fan of the anime series; I was more then happy to give the movie a go.

Here are just a few things wrong with the film:

A) The story of Gantz live-action was rather confusing. Like even though I've watched the series, there wasn't enough or anything to reel you into the story. It just starts of as Kei at a train station waiting for a ride - there is one lame ass attempt to make Kei a perv by having him look at a giant poster of a beautiful Japanese girl and then that's it really. And then the plot stutters all the way. If a person never watch the Gantz anime series before - I wouldn't be surprised if those people were scratching their heads going - I don't really get it.

B)I am not sure why it's so hard to replicate a scene from an Anime but the way Kato and Kurono died was completely bizarre to me.

C)The movie was dull 60% of the time with very little dialog...too much standing around and staring and each other like Zzzzzzzz...I was always waiting for a joke or a swear word or a pun or more life from the other characters but none of this happened.

D) None of the characters really kicked ass...In the anime - each character had a moment. Kato was just boring...he just mopped around all the time. He lacked compassion like he did in the anime - like I get that the Japanese love to dramatize their characters in this way but he just lacked something...

E) Not enough character development...in the end I just didn't care about the characters because they all died before we even got to know them lol.

F) The awkward bloody close ups of their faces and the over the top crying again, there wasn't enough character development, not even between Kei and Kato the two "friends" for Kei to be so upset he could die knowing that he'd lost a friend. Like the emotions on the faces of these actors were awkward to watch :S!

Some good points about the story:

The suits are awesome, Kishimoto was pretty hot, Kei came out on top in the end briefly and the computer generated scene of the laser beams teleporting the characters were pretty awesome. The monsters were pretty cool - took me back to the anime.

4/10 Some good points about the movie but it will never ever compare to the anime nor the manga but is was entertaining to watch either way. Give it ago you might enjoy it more then I did.

Maleficent (2014)

A few flaws but overall it was good

[7/10 · 28 May 2014]

So, I had the pleasure of attending the advanced screening of Maleficent and I must say that this movie wasn't too bad.

Basic run down of the movie...a young fairy girl with beautiful wings, meets a young thief boy and together they form a loving bond with Maleficent experiencing her first kiss of true love. As Maleficent grows into a beautiful adult fairy, she awaits the return of her love. When they finally reunite it does not end well and thus the story of Maleficents rage and her reason for becoming the villain of this story, PLUS the story of the Sleeping Beauty story begins.

Angelina Jolie did an amazing and stunning job of Maleficent...When she's on screen she is a joy to watch! But, for me that's all there was to the movie...Angelina made this movie...that and visually the film was stunning but there were a couple of holes in the story and some changes to a traditional story that I'm not so fond of.

Unfortunately, I'm a bit of traditionalist...My all time favourite animated Disney film is: Sleeping Beauty. If you're a gigantic fan of the animated film and expect the live action rendition to be similar (like they've portrayed it through trailers) you might be a little bit disappointed.

Firstly, I don't really get why the King has such a vengeful hate against Maleficent...if you watch the story at the start there was no reason for him to hate her and he basically caused and created what Maleficent shouldn't have been. In the end, there was so much violence and hate towards Maleficent I couldn't bear to watch it was really sad.

Secondly, I'm not a huge fan of the actress that plays Aurora. She's a pretty girl but she just didn't bring anything special to the screen.

Thirdly, there was no "love story" between Aurora and Prince Phillip...In fact, it felt like Prince Phillip was just in the story for the sake of being there because everyone knows there is a Prince Phillip that saves Aurora from her sleeping slumber...or does he?

Finally, many people will disagree with this but I thought Maleficents powers could have been stronger. She does possess great power and uses it well but it's kind of flat. This is just me comparing the animated Maleficent to the live action one. I'm just being picky...

It was a good attempt to modernise and recreate and invent a new way of telling a story about Sleeping Beauty and I absolutely loved Angelina Jolie as Maleficent...But, there are flaws and it's hard to ignore them.

Don't bother watching this film in 3D either because there isn't much excitement or enough things in the film to make it pop out. Enjoy the visuals and story of the film without the need of the silly 3D glasses.

7/10