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Toopy and Binoo (2005)
Teaches more important lessons than mathematics and language.
It may not be educational in the same way other shows are. Sure, it may not teach you how to spell or how to add. On the surface, it may seem completely nonsensical and just a colorful flashy show of some rat and his stuffy playing together.
As a child and youth care practitioner, I find this show an important and bold step toward child entertainment. With homophobia still existing, there are lots of people out there who seem to think this show is some great force of evil trying to brainwash their children into becoming gay. I see it more as building tolerance to people of certain orientations. And yes, maybe your son may want to try on high heels because Toopy did. So what? How many people are going to die because your son put on high heels? None, that's how many. The show has also been accused of romanticizing sexual behavior between men, but there is absolutely no sexuality outlined in this show. Toopy and Binoo take baths together? So what? Is it suddenly a sexual thing? My friends and I have been in a hot tub together, and we're all straight men.
Sexuality and homophobia aside, this show is great. It teaches love and compassion, and it reinforces a positive attitude. There is no promotion of aggression, no children throwing temper tantrums (Caillou), and no negativity. Toopy is an all-around loving character, and he's always looking out for his best friend Binoo. They have loads of fun together, and this is what children should picture when they picture true friendship.
Game of Thrones: The Dance of Dragons (2015)
I can't even wrap my head around how great it was.
I can't even find a place to start. It was just that good. I can sense that people are going to be freaking out about a huge change from the books, but I don't even care. It was just such a good episode. I am shaking from hype. And to think, only one of the three things we're all anticipating happened. Imagine how the next episode is going to be. I don't even know what else to say. The only reason I'm still typing is because reviews require ten lines to be submitted. I thought the episode where Oberyn fought The Mountain would be hard to beat, but I was so wrong.
I don't need to explain any further why this episode was awesome. If you saw it, you know exactly why.
Game of Thrones: Hardhome (2015)
A Damn Good Episode
This season has been a bit of a disappointment to fans of the book, and the directors have been getting more playful in terms of script and action, which for a series like this, is very risky.
This episode brought back the grit and terror we love about the series, and the way it deviated from the book was surprisingly nice. The battle at Hardhome was not in the book, but it was one of the most intense battles of the series, and we got to see the whitewalkers fully in action, instead of the slow-walking horrors we are used to. And in the book, we learn that Valyrian steel also functions as a weapon against the whitewalkers, when Sam reads it in a book. But the show has chosen a much better way to reveal it, and for that I am pleased.
I can't wait to see the battle between mankind and whitewalkers that we are all anticipating for the end of the series. This episode has given us a glimpse of how that may look.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Am I missing something?
When I think of a cinematic masterpiece, Mad Max: Fury Road is not the first thing that comes to mind. I can't say I had very high expectations going into the theater, and when I asked what to expect, my friend said "It's a masterpiece in the same way 300 is." I can't actually pick apart this movie and tell someone what was good about it, because I was honestly very bored throughout it. The movie is severely lacking in any substance, as it follows the stories of very 2D characters who drive around in the dust fighting pale metalheads. Aesthetically, sure, it had some value, but it wasn't enough to compensate for the repetitive action and dull story. Mind you, I'm not the type of person to get entertained by monster truck arenas, so perhaps that's a factor. Either way, I really don't see what all the fuss is about. It was a rather boring movie with boring characters and the action scenes might as well just be the same one played on a loop. It takes a certain lack of intelligence to be entertained by a guy jumping from trucks for 2 hours.
Lucy (2014)
Hilariously bad.
If there are two thing that are annoying, they are pseudo-intellect and pseudo-science. There's only one thing that can make it worse, and that's when it is shoved down your throat in the most pompous and aggressive way. Sure, we can forgive Star Wars for midichlorians, but Lucy is beyond forgiving. It puts forth every debunked myth like it is the most intelligent thing ever said, such as dolphins being more intelligent than humans. And let us not forget Lucy's cringe-worthy speech about how 1 + 1 does not equal 2. And apparently having more brain activity means you lack the capacity to feel emotions, which makes no sense. And does anyone remember how she suddenly knew how the surgeons should be doing their job out of the blue? Even if she was at 100%, that knowledge came from nowhere. I don't think I need to poke out any more flawed logic throughout the film.
Aside from Lucy being a generally unintelligent pile of filth, it is lacking in any artistic quality. The flashbacks to nature throughout the beginning of the movie were so out of place and absurd that it made me laugh out loud. No, it's not that I didn't understand why they were put in the movie. Yes, I get it, she's like a mouse in a trap, but it just didn't work. Scarlett Johansson's performance was hilariously bad as well. How did she go from "Her" to this filth? She spent the entire movie twitching and speaking monotone. The movie had basically no story. It simply existed because the director thought it would be cool to see a person progressively get more intelligent, and that's all that happens. The foundation of the movie is intelligence, yet Lucy never says one intelligent thing in the movie.
This movie is only good if you want a good laugh. All the great scientists are rolling in their graves right now.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Gang Goes on Family Fight (2015)
I've been dreaming of this.
Is there anything you'd like better than to see your favourite characters act like complete fools on a live TV show? Unfortunately, that will never happen, because your favourite characters only exist on TV, but this is the next best thing.
The first thing I thought while watching this is "Dennis better lose his temper." When he started getting frustrated with the buzzer, I was laughing before they even went anywhere with it. Dennis' character is funny in nearly everything he does.
Dee, being Dee, always desperately tries to be a star, and her trying to act like Jenny McCarthy was hilarious as it was cringe- worthy. Not to mention, her desperate attempts at humour. Only "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" could make terrible jokes like fart noises, actually seem funny.
Charlie's stupidity is not always the funniest of running gags if I'm being honest, but as soon as he said "Dragon", I laughed pretty hard. This episode made use of nearly everything good the show has going for it.
This show is great for its inside jokes, and you really have to know the characters, which is one of the things I love most. All this episode was missing was them making a jab at Dee for looking like a bird, and a reference to Mac's latent sexuality.
Interstellar (2014)
A Great Movie Ruined By A Desperate Plot Twist
This movie was great and I loved it. It had some flaws, such as how it sacrifices story for exposition, but all in all, it was an enjoyable experience. That was until the big Shyamalan twist which ruined the entire movie. For a movie that likes to brag about how scientifically accurate it is, it sure took a big deuce on it. The universe library time-line thing was really far-fetched and with the rest of the movie being mostly believable (at least to the common person), it was so out of place.
The sad part is that the writer was probably so proud when they came up with that plot twist.
300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
A Re-skinned 80s Movie
Take a crappy action movie from the 80s, replace guns with swords, space suits with spartan helmets, and you have 300: Rise of an Empire. It has just about every 80s action movie cliché you could have; cheesy one- liners, evil overlords bird-posing on cliffs in front of their armies, banging the femme-fatale, the whole ordeal.
The fights are almost as blatantly choreographed as the fights in Star Wars. Watching this movie is not like watching a war, it's like watching a bloody dance routine. They top off the cheesiness when Themistocles decides to ride a horse through a pile of ships.
The acting was horrid. The only admirable performance was from Lena Headey, while watching all other actors was like watching high school theatre.
It gets to the point where even I'm embarrassed about this movie, and I'm not even the director of it.
Maniac (2012)
Not just a gimmick
I honestly was not excited to see this movie. All the reviews I saw said it was a tasteless slasher flick with excessive gore and the gimmicky first-person camera. After watching it, I honestly have no idea how anyone could say that about this movie.
I'll admit, the first (warning spoiler) scalping that happened almost immediately at the beginning of the movie was not so good with the special effects, and it wasn't very realistic how the woman died instantly while getting a knife through the neck. I would have liked to see some choking or coughing, not that I find that sort of thing pleasant, but it certainly would be realistic.
The rest of the movie is nearly flawless. The rest of the death scenes are very realistic, and you can really feel the protagonist's discomfort as he does it. When the movie was over, I walked away with this real nasty dirty feeling, which left me not wanting to watch it again in all honesty. But the impression this movie made... I had to watch it again. The second time around was less disturbing, and I could really appreciate the artistic value of this film. The cinematography is fantastic, and I could describe how amazing Elijah Wood's performance was for hours and hours. Trust me, once you get past the first two or three minutes of the movie, it is amazing.