Uzer_error404 Reviews

Baby Reindeer (2024)

A show with no rewatch value

[6/10 · 15 May 2024]

Seriously, someone would need to come and offer me like $1000 to watch this thing again because while the show began as a dark comedy with a lot of promise it devolved into exploring the depths of two mentally broken people who kept making poor decisions because they're both masochists.

This show is difficult to rate because outside of the acting, I don't have much else to say. It's a timely piece that represents all the ills of society from drug abuse, being emotionally distant, rape, sexuality, the abuse that happens behind the scenes in showbiz, and of course stalking.

I'll never watch this show again. And that's the end of this review.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire (2024)

Morgan's story was eh; Barris' story was the main dish

[8/10 · 5 May 2024]

Honestly, who cares about Morgan Elsbeth.

A one off character of the MANDALORIAN who became a mainstay in AHSOKA, but even then she wasn't all that interesting. Not sure why TOTE wanted to showcase her backstory when we already know it.

The issue with Morgan's three episode arc is that it doesn't tell us anything new about her and it doesn't make any sense.

Morgan states to Thrawn that she "seeks revenge," but revenge against who?? Grievous is dead, Dooku is dead, the CIS has been defeated-everyone responsible for the destruction of her people are dead. Sooo...what vengeance is she seeking? Morgan just becomes some corrupt bureaucrat for the imperials who basically turns a random village into a hard labor camp, but why though? Why is she going out her way to mistreat these people? We don't know. She just winds up running a pyramid scheme and then murders anyone who challenges it, and again, it's never understood why she's doing any of it outside of be generic "I want power," which isn't a goal Morgan states. Again, she's somehow doing this to "get revenge," one day against people who are already dead.

So in the end, we wind up learning nothing new about Morgan and her episodes were largely a waste of time.

I just stuck around for Barris, because we get to see what happened to her post RoTS. Barris' story does what Morgan's should had, which is sbowing us things we don't know, and exploring the depth of Barris herself. It was great seeing the Fourth Sister since we didn't get anything from her out of KENOBI. I won't go into detail about Barris' story because I'd be spoiling, but I do feel that it was better handled than Morgan's.

Fallout (2024– )

What the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy attempted to be

[10/10 · 18 April 2024]

Honesty, this show is really, really good. No joke, by far one of the best videogame adaptations to date. I liked it more than The Last of Us and Halo TV adaptations-two game series I'm far more familiar with than Fallout. No, I'm not a fan of Fallout, I played FO 3 back when it came out one time and that was it. So this review isn't coming from a diehard fan of the Fallout series.

I knew from the trailer that this adaptation would be a hit. What I did not expect was how similar in ways FALLOUT would be to the Star Wars ST. Lucy and Max in particular are practically Rey & Finn, their dynamic and core character traits down to the bone. But they're like a more realized versions of those characters.

It's difficult discussing this show without going into spoilers. It does carry on the legacy of those 1950s pulp horror/sci-fi films. You can render the entire show black & white with that fuzzy audio and it'll be right at home.

The characters are strong. The Wasteland shows how quickly motivations flip on a dime. How much influence people in power have over others under their charge, etc... it's all well done.

Road House (2024)

Waffle House: The Movie

[7/10 · 2 April 2024]

Honestly, it was better than I expected.

Feels largely like a movie that came out in the pre-internet days.

There isn't much to write home about this movie. It feels oddly enough like a rated R live action SpongeBob movie without SpongeBob. I guess you can categories this movie into slap-stick action comedy and you've got ROAD HOUSE.

It's a turn your brain off, sit back and watch the explosions type of movie. The fight scenes are great but oh, man, Mcgreger cannot act lmao. I'm not entirely sure what his character was supposed to be outside of being the guy sent to go fight Jake in the final act.

I did like the movie for what it is. Don't go into this movie expecting anything beyond what is written on the tin. You'll enjoy it.

Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV (2024)

Honestly, nothing new

[6/10 · 24 March 2024]

If anyone's worked in showbiz or in proximity to it, or knew people involved in it, you hear the usual stories. Behind the moviemaking magic is the cutthroat world where stars are made and dusted literally overnight.

You hear the same story in the music business: artists plucked from obscurity are brought into the orbit of a big shot producers who hold the keys to the kingdom, and hold power over basically everyone in their orbit. This power dynamic means producers/managers would do a lot of shady, inappropriate things, but since everyone's pretty much stuck in this position where this gig is the only thing paying their bills-they don't want to rock the boat or else they're out of showbiz for good.

This is the reason the "casting couch" and child exploitation has been rampant in the business-even to this day, not much has changed besides people being more aware of what happens behind the scenes-or how the Mob would put it-"how sausage is made."

At this point it's no surprise whenever a former or current Hollywood bigshot comes out with skeletons in his or her closet like it's a requirement for the job. It's a big surprise when there isn't one who doesn't have any lol.

Honestly, the first two episodes felt more like reaches when it came to accusations against Dan. Yep, he's a bit weird, makes sexual references toward children and is bipolar as heck.

Oh, he made two freshmen female writers share a salary, that seems shady. But then again we've got people who work retail who are paid by commission with no base salary whatsoever.

Oh, he sat in a jacuzzi with teenage Amanda Bynes while she's in a bathing suit and he's fully clothed. Umm...okay?? I feel like I was being TOLD That that scene was inappropriate. But it just wasn't. Again, felt like a reach.

Oh he harped on that one girl who brought a huge birthday cake for her cast to share. Mean spirited, no doubt, but not much of a smoking gun.

He received head massages from just female coworkers on set. Odd yeah, but not much else.

This docuseries sets out to make Dan out to be the Winstein of child entertainment when he ...just isn't.

Yes, he was on some weird stuff and difficult to work with but the heinous accusations of pedophilia weren't even directed toward Dan, but toward two underlying producers and Nick's inability to perform background checks on known sexual offenders being hired over and over again for entertainment projects that put them in proximity to children.

Other than that, the bulk of the series focuses on the usual kids being overworked in showbiz. Similar accusations were made against the recent upcoming Star Wars project SKELECTON CREW and there're bound to be more stories of that coming to light in the future.

Kids that work in showbiz have always been a conundrum. Since they're working basically full time jobs at like age 8 on top of being a kid, and that's a recipe for disaster. But just like the docuseries highlighted, most if not ALL of these child actors and actress were the main breadwinners for their families, and thus, they put them at the whims of producers like Dan.

I'm not sure what this docuseries set out to achieve. We don't learn any new information. Shady producers dude doing shady things isn't necessary anything new, and unfortunately, Hollyweird is loaded with these sorts of people and probably always will be.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024– )

I liked it, but I see why the original creators exited the project.

[7/10 · 3 March 2024]

Honestly, it was better than I thought it would be. In comparison to the 2010 live action take, this adaption at least adheres far closer to the source material while taking the obvious creative liberties.

Pros

Dallas Liu's portrayal of Prince Zuko is spot on. A stand out performance for sure. In fact, I like everything the creators of the live action did with Zuko. They hit the mark every time with this guy.

Joining Dallas Liu in character portrayal and delivery is Ian Ousley, who delivers a pretty good portrayal of Sakka's dry wit humor. Imo, I feel that Sakka is by far the trickiest character to really nail down in a live action adaption. He's largely comedic relief but then he illustrates spurts of brilliance and seriousness here and there. I feel like Ian did an excellent job navigating the nuances of Sakka's character for the most part.

The Bending is fantastic and the fight choreography is pretty good.

The dynamic between Fire Lord Ozai, Azula, Iroh and Zuko was very well done.

Cons

I found the depth between Team Avatar lacking. The actors who play Aang, Katara and Sakka don't have any on screen chemistry, no emotional depth. They feel more like stage actors reading lines at each other than actors owning their characters respected roles.

Oddly enough, Aang and Katara don't have any on screen presence compared to their animated counterparts. Katara's personality is like she's an NPC. She doesn't have any real agency and she feels largely like a background character in her own story. Aang is no different. In this adaptation he doesn't FEEL like the main character and again, his character lacks agency.

Prophetic dreams drive the plot. For some reason Aang's journey is propelled by a random dream sequence of the Fire Nation attacking the Northern Water Tribe... but in the animation, it was a rather very simple reason that triggered Aang, Katara and Sakka to journey up north and that was to find a waterbending master for the BOTH of them to learn from. That's it. That's what started it all. I get for the TV adaption, there is a need to create tension by illustrating certain doom, but this is also a lazy approach. The original animation already laid a simple groundwork that could have easily been lifted into the live action without the need of dream sequences to do most of the legwork.

The Outsider (I) (2018)

Film Noir at its finest

[8/10 · 7 January 2024]

Knew nothing of this movie when I began watching it. Knew it had something to do with the Yakuza but outside of that, nothing else. Tbh, that's all the film is really about. It's a modern film noir set in 1950s Japan. It's dark, gritty and violent. Jared Leto is kind of a hit or miss type of actor. He's like discount Nicholas Cage (because this movie feels like something Cage or Debb would do) in fairness I believe this movie would have been a bigger hit had an actor such as Debb had performed the role. But then again, it may have been redundant since Debb had portrayed gangsters back to back just about recently in his career.

Blue Eye Samurai: The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride (2023) Season 1, Episode 5

One Of The Most Beautiful Things I've Ever Seen

[10/10 · 1 January 2024]

I wish I could give this 100/10 because it absolutely deserves it.

No question. I've watched the entire first season and by far this episode stuck with me the most. Other reviewers have already put into words hoe beautiful this one episode is.

Everything about this episode hit the nail square on the head. You will be left numb after seeing this thin. Numb because it's over. Numb because of the gorgeous animation, the genius storytelling--man, this episode had it all.

The show itself is already perfection but it's things like this, the smaller moments between the big fights that really elevate this show through the clouds.

Thats's all I'm going to say.

Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)

Oh, Yeah, it mostly sucks All right

[2/10 · 1 January 2024]

This film has the same substance as any B-movie flick you've ever seen. This film is so average it's difficult to write a review about it. The film is so dull and generic it makes you wonder how it even managed to get this far into production. Generic isn't necessarily bad, but a stroke of creativity doesn't hurt right?

There's no amount of originality to the script. Keep in mind, originality in art translates to execution. Of course, this is nothing new under the sun-but execution is what makes or breaks anything in life. In this case, Rebel Moon is a movie that a 12-year-old would come up with. Scratch that, that's an insult to 12 years olds everywhere. Rebel Moon is a movie a lazy person would come up with to pass the time.

The pedestrian storytelling and script are severely lacking. The worldbuilding is uncreative--it's like no effort went into to anything here. The characters are largely forgettable--I cannot recall anyone's name lol. We never get to know any of the characters beside the farmer dude and the MFC. Everyone else *shrug* no clue. Why did they even exist in the movie in the first place?

I can say the only thing the movie had going for it are the SFX, but that's not really saying much in the long run. That's the equivalent of saying you like the font a book was written in and the little illustrations throughout, but the story itself was kinda whatever.

In the end, it's good entertainment if you want to watch something that you could laugh and talk through because you aren't missing out on anything noteworthy in regards to plot.

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Tower Of Babel

[8/10 · 16 December 2023]

It's easy to dismiss this movie as a pointless disaster movie. But in my books , this is the most Orwellian thing to come out in years.

Miscommunication/inability and outright unwillingness to help each other out and or listen to what others have to say carry dire consequences.

The scene where Ethan Hawke's character encounters the woman on the road who could only speak Spanish: she literally tells him EVERYTHING that he needed to know in that moment in regard to what was going on...he just couldn't understand her, and he began freaking out when he mistook her for being hysterical. The truth is the woman told him about the deer acting weird, about the drones dropping leaflets from the sky, the fact that she hasn't seen anyone for days.

But the movie also shows that even when we *do* understand one another, there is an unwillingness to hear each other out, or our right dismissal of what others have to say. In fact that's the entire point of the movie and it's repeatedly virtually every ten minutes.

His Dark Materials: The Botanic Garden (2022) Season 3, Episode 8

Can't help but feel that Lyra & Will got screwed over

[4/10 · 8 December 2023]

Bruh... what the heck was that!?

Right away when the angel and witches were "explaining" their "reasons" on why Will and Lyra must separate and rewrite their own worlds, I sensed a lot of nonsense.

I agree %100 that the angles pretty much did not want anyone but themselves to travel the worlds and not the knife bearer. Despite the fact that Will had closed his portals, somehow the issue is that previous knife wielders have left their own portals open, (but I don't get why or how this is issue toward the angles, who admitted that they can close the portals all by themselves and could have been doing that all along anyway, but to do so the knife must be destroyed to make their jobs easier, which doesn't make sense).

Then again, wasn't this the knife bearer's entire POINT. To close the portals of the worlds, but the angles come out of nowhere and go "oh yeah, we could've been doing this all along, but...yeah. That knife's gotta go!"

The truth was that the blade itself was a threat to them and they wanted it out the picture.

So suddenly people who travel to other worlds cannot reside in those worlds, because they're daemons would get sick and die. Okay...somehow this is a rule that's never been mentioned before. And we have little to no evidence to support this being the case.

I can go on but all I've got to say is that this ending felt more like the angles who are in charge after Metatron's defeat are solidifying their own power in the new regime.

His Dark Materials (2019–2022)

Went From Steampunk, gothic otherworld adventure to Stargate-SG 1 CW Edition

[7/10 · 3 December 2023]

I've been aware of the books since they've been published, tried reading through the first one but never quite finished it. Honestly, I never thought twice about the books. I remember the first film THE GOLDEN COMPASS but saw it once and thought nothing of it afterwards. So I gave the HBO show a try, since HBO does have a reputation of capturing the source material in a more accurate way.

Right away, it's easy to tell that this is a faithful adaptation, or the closest you'll get to it. I've seen the entire show. S1-3, and by far S1 is has the best execution.

S2 started out great, but fizzled out with lazy writer decisions that ultimately made powerful, key character useless. I'm not sure how accurate S2 is to the book, but characters like Lee and the Shamon guy were pretty much useless, and the witches were portrayed as incompetent which didn't make sense given their skills and abilities.

Mrs. Coulter and Golden Monkey were by far the only characters I truly enjoyed throughout the series. Lyra was annoying at times, but she reached an unbearable level of stupidness in S3 when she decided to venture to the Land of the Dead just to tell her dead friend Roger sorry. Like... WHAT!? Not only was this decision incredibly selfish on her part, but it made no sense. And of course, conveniently Roger and all the dead people are trapped in sort of WW2 Ghetto or something and of course, Lyra came in the nick of time to rescue these dead people from the afterlife.... Wow, that conveniently made her selfish decision to leave Pan behind less stupid than it actually was.

S3 is the biggest shock, where it feels like you accidently skipped ahead to like S5 of a show. S3 packs in a LOT of content that previous seasons didn't even come close to. At last, we see the denizens of other worlds coming together and its fantastic to see. Yet at the same time, I was a bit confused with the worldbuilding. As a nonbook reader, I was thrown off on how easily Lord Asriel (why is this dude called a "lord" again?) was able to construct an insanely advanced, interdimensional craft in just a few months, and is able to skip between the worlds solely based on your intention alone. So, he basically has the power of angles built into a machine, which again makes you wonder why he had to kill Roger to open a hole in the sky when all he had to do was build this ship in the first place, which can seemingly leave and enter worlds without windows...

But I digress. This show has a lot of weird moments like that, for instance, how Mrs. Coulter was able to not only tame but control the Specters after just one encounter with the beings. Okay... I could suspend my belief that Lyra could read the compass with some innate Dust ability, but for Asriel to MacGyver up a magic UFO in months and for Mrs. Coulter to perform supernatural feats out of thin air, I can't.

Overall, the SFX on this show are immaculate. I haven't seen such clean and polished effects in a while and the cinematography Is crisp and ultrasmooth. But the writing department got worse as the show went on. It's like what one reviewer said, that the show was sort of stuck with an identity crisis. Like it didn't know if it wanted to be a gritty, dark otherworld adventure or remain a kid's quest, fairytale.

This is a show with clear ups and downs, highs and lows, but overall, I'd rate it slightly above average.

His Dark Materials: Æsahættr (2020) Season 2, Episode 7

Mrs. Coulter: Current Guinness World Record Holder for Faster Walker

[5/10 · 1 December 2023]

Man, the writers fell asleep on these last two episode. Where to begin...

Okay, so we learn that the Specters attack people soon as adulthood kicks in, so all the adults fled the city and left the kids behind because...um...actually, now that I think about it, why didn't the kids evacuate with the adults? The ones still stuck in the city were old enough to know that getting the heck out of the city was a better move than staying in it...especially when we find out that the two girls wind up going to an encampment that was seemingly just up the hill.

The witches are so dumb it's painful to watch. They have all this deft defying power, yet they laze around and make sophomoric mistakes that make little sense given their supernatural talents. Somehow Mrs. Coulter wipes the floor with them like its nothing. This was infuriating to watch.

So the Shamon dude could conjure up lighting storms and flocks of killer birds that could take down military grade zeppelins, but he can't do the same for like 30 men on the ground? All it took was one guy with a gun to kill him? If it were that simple, why send an army in the first place. Why not send a skilled assassin to do the same job.

Boreal's character was pretty much wasted. What was the point of this dude?

Lee had a superhuman witch on speed dial this whole time and he only uses it when he's about to die. He could have summoned her like...I dunno, before dying? Actually, scratched that, Shamon dude could have killed all those soldiers with his powers (which for reasons that aren't explained) stops using once they're on the ground being pursued by the soldiers.

Lyra knows her mother, specters and everything in between are after her and Will, so she decides to sleep in the middle of the day instead of you know, asking the compass a bunch of questions about their current predicament.

How the heck did Mrs. Coulter catch up to the group from the city?? Lyra and Will's group have been walking for days yet Mrs. Coulter finds them in like a few hours and manages to kidnap Lyra with some much ease it's laughable.

I'm not sure I'll continue this show.

The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

Would have worked better as a Movie, IMO

[7/10 · 30 October 2023]

I liked it. The performances and cinematography, casting and star power are all topnotch. But on the other side of the spectrum, I feel the storyline itself had been stretched out over the course of 8 hours, whereas the same message, themes and resolution could have occurred in a neat 2 hr, 15 min runtime.

The Usher children's deaths felt completely inconsequential and heavily sensationalized like A THOUSAND WAYS TO DIE. I'm not at all familiar with Poe's work, so I don't know if this was done on purpose, to be thematic in some way, or... what exactly. But when one Usher dies, it's just like... okay, such and such is dead, who cares. Rinse repeat until they all kick the can till you reach the end.

After a while their inevitable deaths was like seeing the same parlor magic trick being performed over and over again, which made me feel like the only crucial episodes were the first and last ones and everything in between was just retreaded filler that can't give the secret away until the very end.

So yeah, that's really all I have to say. This would have done better as a movie rather than a TV show. Pretty much a repetitive narrative till we reach the end, and that was it.

Ahsoka: Part Eight: The Jedi, the Witch and the Warlord (2023) Season 1, Episode 8

The Only Episode I Truly Enjoyed.

[10/10 · 7 October 2023]

Overall, yes, AHSOKA had its misses. I criticized this show previous episodes heavily for lack of any meaningful character development, lengthening out characters' motivations and wasting runtime on nostalgia bait and tepid action scenes.

But for once, this episode FINALLY allowed the characters to shine fully. We finally understand what most of the major characters on either side of the conflict motivations and reasonings for doing what they were doing.

Some viewers have taken issue with Sabine's aptitude to the Force, and to an extent, I sorta agree with their feelings. However, I strongly support Sabine being Force-Sensitive because it aligns 100% with Star Wars canon. Despite Sabine showing literally no apparent connection to the Force during her run in REBELS, we also need to remember that there was 10-5 year gap between REBELS, more the enough time for Sabine to awaken her power. Luke didn't grow until his powers fully until he was 19, and largely due to Obi-Wan training him. Finn didn't grow into his until he was in his 20s.

It was interesting finding out that Ahsoka was reluctant to train her out her fear that Sabine will use her powers for revenge. It was interesting to see Morgan Elsbeth's true loyalties were to get her people to the Star Wars galaxy and not solely just to help Thrawn. It was great seeing Anakin acknowledge Sabine through the Force. These are things I cannot beat this episode up on.

Harlan Coben's Shelter (2023)

I Likes it Despite the questionable acting

[8/10 · 3 October 2023]

It's refreshing to watch a show that isn't super popular with a zillion raving reviews and spammed as a meme online.

I am aware of this author and his work and I'm also aware of the Young Adult novel this is based off of. And yes, the novel and show are different. For one, at least the show attempts to portray teenagers as they are. Yes, 16 year olds curse like sailors, talk about and have sex. Rebellious and aloof.

I prefer the show version of Mickey than the book. It's strongly apparent that book Mickey sounds nor behaves ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like a teenager.

Book Mickey sounds and acts like a former 15 year old FBI agent who stands a freakish 6' 8" tall who retired into high school to play basketball. This is solely because he has been written by a mid age man. This isn't too much of a dealbreaker.

The show has taken some creative liberties of changing up the characters, and including new dynamics that weren't present in the book. Some viewers have taken issue that Mickey isn't portrayed as he was in the books, albeit, he very much is. The only difference is that the actor playing him is mixed race, and I actually lol-ed when one review went something along the lines of "so much for Mickey earning the respect of his fellow pickup ball players in Newark 🙄." Gee, I didn't know being white was a vital trait for this aspect to work.

Other than that, Ema is an overweight goth in the books but that's changed in the show. There're also elements of LGBTQ rep in the show that wasn't present in the books.

As for the show itself, it's good. If you go in expecting SUCCESSION or some other critically acclaimed film, you're going of be disappointed. Adjust your expectations and you'll enjoy this show. It's magical realism with a hefty dose of Scooby Doo. It's corny and wildly unbelievable, just like the books they're based off of.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

Ahsoka: Part Seven: Dreams and Madness (2023) Season 1, Episode 7

You know it's weird when C3-PO is the standout.

[6/10 · 29 September 2023]

Pretty much the title of the review. I oddly found the opening 10 minutes of this episode far more intriguing and entertaining than everything else that followed.

I have...no idea what this episode's was trying to do. You can miss this episode entirely and you won't miss anything. Nothing of any real plot significance occurs beside slightly confirming an aspect of Sabine's character that has been teased since the first episode.

This episode reminded me of the run-of-the-mill rebel episodes where the crew engage in a bunch of rebel hijinks against the empire and then it's roll credits.

I feel like the episode wasted it's chance to pursue what Baylon is after, instead of continuing to lengthen out the mystery only to cram it in the very last episode.

Turns out the night troopers were just...your typical bad aiming stormtrooper. Nothing special at all.

Thrawn-the great strategist waits to the last possible second to load the nightsisters' mysterious cargo. Why? What was stopping him from doing this years ago? Him sacrificing his already dwindled forces on a "oh, I was just distracting the enemy so they wouldn't stop the cargo transfer-that was my plan all along." Lmao. Man, you can sense the butthurt in Thrawn at this scene, because this obviously isn't was NOT the plan. Not to mention Hmm...let's see, Thrawn, if you hadn't gone out looking for a fight against Ezra-who was just minding his own business in the first place, you wouldn't had lost those forces since literally none of your adversaries are aware of your mystery cargo that you're "distracting" them from.

-_-

And this guy's calls himself a "strategist."

In fact, the more I think about it, what's the deal of wanting Ezra, Sabine and Ahsoka out of the picture? Thrawn said it himself, if he up and leaves with his ship they'll be stranded there forever. After sending Sabine on her way to find Ezra he could have just let her go, no need to send Baylon and Shin to go after her on the off chance they'll find Ezra in time before his ship departs the galaxy. This makes no sense. Ezra could have been ANYWHERE-on the opposite side of the planet, and Sabin manages to find this dude in like a DAY?? Is this planet's the size of the Vatican?

Another thing that doesn't make sense is Baylon. His motives are so obscure they could wind up being anything. Is he on the quest for the best tasting French toast? Who knows?

Its seems his goal was to venture to this other galaxy from the jump, but he's never quite clear on why that is. He's searching for a super powerful force being or something.

I would write more to this review, but there really isn't much else to say.

Ahsoka: Part Five: Shadow Warrior (2023) Season 1, Episode 5

Just fan service that doesn't advance the narrative.

[6/10 · 22 September 2023]

Seems like all the 10 stars are purely because Hayden is back as Anakin and we get to see young Ahsoka. Outside of that, what else did this episode do to push the narrative forward?

You can sum up Anakin's lesson to: "if you die/give up, you lose," well duh, Anakin. I see you're still the boy who hates sand because it gets everywhere.

Hera's part of her episode feels like a drag. It's just incompetent politicians being incompetent for the sake of the plot. Hera's a whole general in the New Republic and yet the senators keep treating her rank like it's purely ceremonial and not without powers. In fact, why the heck is she even reporting to a group of Senators to begin with who keep accusing her of being out of order when she's literally doing what she's paid and expected to be doing?

Why is the NR so quick to sweep the threat of the Empire under the rug when the Empire was never truly defeated? They were just reabsorbed into the New Republic. Why is the NR seemingly as weak as the old Republic?

Star Wars-and other Sci fi shows/games what have you always keep up the trend of the "good guys" possessing incompetent leaders/few on resources/ limited support, whereas bad guys (who've already been defeated, multiple times mind you) have super determinate leadership, seemingly infinite resources/manpower. Like how did Morgan Elsbet hire out a small army of mercenaries, ships and supplies seemingly without much effort at all, whereas Hera a whole freaking general with a whole political power at her back, can't field no more than a literal handful of X-Wing pilots and apparently the ONLY New Republic scout pilot in the Outer Rim? Why???

Where tf are Hera's troops? She's a general, yes? LET HER LEAD TROOPS!! You're telling me the NP is so frugal (or so stupid) that they can't spare a garrison of actually soldiers to accompany Hera and Ahsoka on their investigation into Morgan Elsbeth??

I think later on it's explained that the NP demilitarized it's forces-why tf would do this?? A whole galactic society with no standing military force... hmm it's not like that failed before, right guys?

Why the heck did Hera tell Monthma that she had no evidence of imperial activity? They arrested a guy who was running off the book jobs for a known Nightsister imperial supporter, who escaped custody from the NP! Lmao. They have a former inquisitor's body. What else do they need?

Man, if it weren't for the nostalgia bait, this episode would be a 7 on a good day.

Rant over.

Ahsoka: Part Six: Far, Far Away (2023) Season 1, Episode 6

The most Star Wars-y Episode of AHSOKA so far.

[10/10 · 21 September 2023]

Like one reviewer said, and I agree: the best parts of AHSOKA are the parts that don't include her!

This episode, imo, definitely had that classic Star Wars quality to it.

Cute little alien friends.

Epic scenes of massive warships.

Cute little animals.

Sinister bad guys plotting

Old friends reuniting

This episode had it all.

Unlike last week's episode, this episode actually moves the plot forward and into exciting new directions.

I am willing to see how things turn out since this series along with the other live action and animated SW Disney shows are all hightailing it toward the inevitable beginning of the Sequel trilogy.

I'm still a bit mixed about Ahsoka herself. But we'll see how my feelings change on her in later episodes.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Visually stunning, but so many missed opportunities with the script

[6/10 · 11 June 2023]

I'm with every one of the opinions who agrees that the Avatar series would have worked tremendously well as a videogame series rather than a movie. In fact, there is a videogame that is also included in this series, but Avatar from the get-go should have been a videogame series. It would have easily been on par with AAA titles such as Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us, etc... because everything in these movies are essentially videogame cutscenes.

Do not get me wrong, the dedication, production and hard work of the cast and crew are very apparent on the screen. The filmmaking process that goes into creating films like Avatar is easily more entertaining than the movies themselves.

As for Avatar: The way of Water itself, I liked this movie more than the first one. For the most part, the sequel does not really deliver much on worldbuilding. In fact, I'd say that the worldbuilding has been toned down significantly. The water tribe doesn't differ too much from the Tree dwelling tribes outside of just being far better swimmers and navigators of the seas. Essentially, the water tribes have the same exact culture as the Tree dwelling Na'vi, they even speak the same exact language, which I found odd. Worship the same deities and practice the same customs etc... the sea Na'vi just look a bit different but other than that they're very much culturally the same.

The fact that Sully's children are part human was an interesting dynamic that I wish was explored more in the movie. A major emphasis that was missed in this movie was the cultural shock, not just with the Sully family being mixed-species, but also the fact that they come from a totally different place on Pandora. For the most part, it was like the Sully family moved from Chicago to St. Louis. Basically, nothing changed but the location.

It would have been a golden opportunity to see variations in Na'vi culture. Instead of all of them being so in tune with the world, what if there was a culture that saw connecting to the Eway as something that was frowned upon, or a luxury afforded to the elite of their society? Additionally, would have been great to see an armed human faction who wasn't %100 colonist psychopaths, especially one that lived in sync with a Na'vi tribe. There was a 15-year gap between the first movie and this one, that would have been plenty of time for a human/Na'vi alliance to take root elsewhere on Pandora.

In all honestly, the characters were easily the strongest element of this story. Jake is a complex character that doesn't get a lot of love imo. He's the perfect example of a flawed protagonist whose flaws aren't the hallmark of his character like what is seen in a lot of morally gray characters. Jake's decision to relocate his family was one motivated by fear for their safety and attempting to live by what it means to be a father. Jake himself is just a typical jarhead and you see this trait on display throughout the movie, with his relationship with his family. At the end of the movie, Jake comes to realization that running away wasn't the solution to protect his family.

I can go on and on, but I'll end it here. Entertaining movie, but script I severely lacking.

Young Jedi Adventures (2023– )

Gorgeous Animation: introduces the High Republic era in television format

[9/10 · 19 May 2023]

Like most of the top reviewers have said, the show is squarely aimed at children. We're talking under 10. So if you have a child who's a preteen then most likely would not e joy watching this. I am by no means anywhere near a preteen or under the age of 10. I enjoyed this show very much as a huge Star Wars fan. For me I was actually anticipating this show when it was first announced.

Young Jedi Adventures takes place in the Star Wars era known as the High Republic. This was an era recently introduced in Disney's canon and essentially takes place after the Old Republic and about 250 years or so before the Battle of Yavin (so basically before the first Death Star was destroyed).

The High Republic era was first introduced in graphic novel/ and novel format with the book LIGHT OF THE JEDI. Essentially, this era is where the Jedi were at their peak, with a heavy emphasis of spreading their influence throughout the galaxy.

So, no Skywalkers or any familiar characters will appear here outside of long lived characters like Yoda, who does make several cameo appearances.

Outside of the premise of the show being aimed toward children, the animation is very eye catching and the voice acting isn't bad at all. The show is formatted as an "adventure of the week" sort of deal with some inklings of an overall story arc taking shape. For the most part, the first season is essentially just showing the characters engaging in their...everyday Jedi adventures much to what the titles says!

So yeah, kick back, don't set your expectations high and enjoy the show!

The Mandalorian: Chapter 23: The Spies (2023) Season 3, Episode 7

Give it just a bit of thought and this episode is BAD

[6/10 · 19 April 2023]

There were a lot of things that just didn't make sense narratively in this episode.

Let's touch on the main one:

1) Paz Viszla's sacrifice. This man didn't even need to die. He single-handedly defeats an entire squadron of Baskar armored troopers... somehow. So what was keeping Bo-Katan and the others from backing him up? Oh, they were "trapped" you say. Well that leads to point 2.

2) Bo-Katan and the others being "trapped" by two doors when she could've sliced her and her teammates' way out of there at literally anytime she wanted using the Darksaber. Instead of cutting a hole in the opposite direction away from where Din and Paz were, it would have made way more sense for her to slice an opening on Paz Viszla's side so that she and her war party could have backed him up. The Praetorian Guard would have been overwhelmed no matter how well trained they were. The Mandalorians are a warrior people. Them running the opposite way when they were actually winning the fight just didn't make sense. The Mandos lost a few compared to the DOZENS the Empire were losing.

4) Moff Gideon and the baskar imperials weren't even a threat to the Mandalorians armed with blasters. The whole "oh, they're aiming for weak points and joints," is pretty moot, since Gideon is the sort of villain who would absolutely had his forces armed with baskar virboblades and spears, (which mandalorians consider blasphemous) and thus it wouldn't matter where the imperials landed a hit and thus it would have made them a threatening match to the Mandalorians.

5) The Mando warparty was still winning the fight against the imperials even with those imperials decked out in baskar, so why retreat after Din Djarrin was captured when they could have just went after him?

6) Din Djarrin being captured after being "cut off" from his team. He-llo, people! Bo-Katan has a literal lightsaber that could cut through the door and she could have done so a ANYTIME instead do stupidity shooting at it.

Like I said, the more you think about it, the more it makes less sense.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 22: Guns for Hire (2023) Season 3, Episode 6

Cameos. Easter Eggs. 0 Story & Plotholes

[2/10 · 16 April 2023]

The few positive things I can say.

Nice SFX.

Nice character designs.

That's it; hence the 2-star rating.

The biggest reason for the low score.

Nonexistent narrative significance to the overall story. You can erase this episode entirely and it won't change anything.

Inconsequential side story (which is most definitely going to get revisited in some other Star Wars show, maybe the upcoming SKELETON CREW for no reason)

So .... wth was the point of this episode?

Filler defenders will claim that this episode was essential for character building. Only... that doesn't happen here. At all. This episode is very much 100% pointless and did not even need to be included.

This was like one of those DLC side quest in a game.

The whole point of Din and Bo-Katan meeting with Lizzo and Jack Black didn't even make sense at all, mainly because it doesn't amount to anything of narrative significance outside of them just acting as quest givers in a videogame.

Not to mention the glaring plot hole that comes with the whole quid-pro-quo of theirs.

Lizzo and JB claim they needed someone with weapons to investigate their droid problem in their city, but that weapons are illegal on their world due to JB's character's Imperial past. Well, to circumvent this, they enlist Bo-Katana and Din due to them being Mandalorian and thus able to carry weapons due to their religious beliefs.

Okay.... but it's not like JB and Lizzo have an ENTIRE FACTION of Mandlorians just sitting around their world already. -_-Why didn't they just use any of them? Not to mention, Jack Black and Lizzo were clients to Axe Woves privateer band too, so now it makes even less sense.

*SIGH*

The Last of Us: Long, Long Time (2023) Season 1, Episode 3

"I was never afraid before you showed up."

[10/10 · 14 March 2023]

Holy. Effing. Crap...

My friends, this is by far the best TV episode to be televised in a very, very long time.

I'll tell you right now, this episode legitimately made me cry. And I don't say that lightly. It did. This episode gave me chills, man. Like holy cow.

If you have a love and appreciation for the games like myself, this episode will hit you in a way that you didn't think possible. Because this episode exquisitely sums up what the LAST OF US is truly about at its core, and the very reason why millions of fans love the game so much.

The LAST OF US is about love. Not the sappy sort of love, but that light in the darkness type of love.

Bill and Frank's love story is very much a microcosm of Joel and Ellie's story that takes place over the course of THE LAST OF US.

I mean... just look at the juxtaposes here, man! They're everywhere!

So many viewers are downvoting this episode, calling it a pointless gay lovers affair or a love story filler episode. But I feel like a LOT of these viewers, especially those who played the game, are inadvertently hating the very thing that made the games so memorable and emotional hard hitting for them.

Ellie and Joel's story was never about fighting infected, brutally killing bad guys and surviving. It was about the two of them slowly loving one another in a dark, bleak world where love is more precious than oxygen. THAT is and has always been the point of THE LAST OF US.

And it's crazy how a SINGLE episode summed up that bond between Joel and Ellie in such a manner. This episode is gold standard storytelling.

The homophobes will say one thing.

The "it's filler episode" people will have their say as well.

But this was truly a work of art. Something very special indeed.

The Last of Us (2023– )

Episode 1-3 was peak LAST OF US, the rest... eh

[8/10 · 13 March 2023]

Outside of easily being the most accurate adaptation of a video game, I found the HBO's THE LAST OF US to be an above average post-apocalyptic drama. Which is a good thing!

I feel like to truly appreciate this show, you have to be familiar with the games. As a casual watcher, you'll still enjoy it, but you'll feel like it's a reskinned I AM LEGEND/ TWD.

For the most part, episodes 1-3 are easily the best because they have strong respect for the source material. I was looking forward to the Pittsburgh bit (in the show, it's KC) Henry/Sam portion because that was by far one of the most intense aspects in the game. But imo, the show immensely nullified the brutality, fear and intensity from this portion of the game. It was still good but it could have been way, way better done imo. I get it, it'll be lame to get a complete carbon copy or the game. But THIS was a part of the game that I wouldn't had mind it. Glad they kept Henry and Sam's ending the same, at least.

One of the best things about the show is that it gives you an excellent character study on Ellie and Joel. In the games, Joel has superhuman old man strength, but in the show they remembered that he had to act like a jaded guy in his late fifties and not Mike Tyson at his prime. So that was actually good to see play out on the screen.

Yes, Bella doesn't look like video game Ellie, but she absolutely ACTS like Videogame Ellie.

All in all, the show is very very good, but it does have its dry spells here and there, but not too many.