I had to ignore a whole bunch of plot holes to do so. As much as I would like to put what plot holes I have found, I would not deprive the casual viewer of a decent series with a post-apocapytic theme that is more than just the protagonsist a wide variety of weapons and killing everything suspicious--and even allies--on sight.
Reviews
10 Reviews
Tatte aruke. Mae ni susume.
2 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The title (Stand on your own feet. Just keep moving forward.) is a quote from another anime, but it is a common enough theme. This anime starts out as an anti-thesis to that, with the protaganist being close to being certifiably paranoid about being cautious than he would question almost everything. Possible spoiler alert: the concept practically pokes at the common theme. Sure spoiler alert: it's all part of the story.
Best episode in the series (thus far)
11 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I've been binge-watching the series. With only 20 more episodes left, I don't think there's much left that can top this one. The only thing that kept me from adding that last star on the review is that Batman had all the chances to make things quick, but didn't. But I'll charge that to the writers' desire to make things even more dramatic. And it can be argued that zombies moving faster that they are generally portrayed to do should have been a hint of some twist in the story.
Daria
(1997–2002)
People should stop comparing this to where Daria came from
2 December 2019
Sure, Daria was first introduced in Beavis and Butt-Head (1993). Sure, in that series, she was only a supporting character. But, this is totally independent of B&B.
For one thing, B&B focused more on the moronic exploits of two moronic characters (Don't get me wrong, I love B&B. But in a totally different level.) while Daria focuses on someone whose brain actually functions.
For another, this series can easily stand on its own, with practically nil reference to its "origin" series.
A third reason is that the characters are not as predictable as they are if we are to compare them to other similar series (that is, if we can take any other series to have a similar premise).
Fourth, most of the characters are not as one-dimensional as could be expected of a cartoon. I mean, even the characters generally portrayed as dim-witted actually provide have some sensible insights every now and then.
Fifth, you have to enjoy the not-so-subtle socio-econo-political commentaries that abound the episodes.
I'm one happy viewer that the creators/writers decided to have Daria move from Highland to Lawndale, and to eradicate (or at least minimize) any connection to the B&B series. Daria can easily hold her own, as a character, and as a series.
That unfilled star in my ratings? Just a jack-ass comment that Daria's own series should have at least used different animation styles for the backgrounds. Otherwise, this is a 10/10.
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
(1985 TV Movie)
7/10, unless you're using adult eyes
10 November 2019
Cute little girl, talking "teddy bears", an old man who looks like Santa Claus, and a helpful monkey-looking creature; then you have bad guys in the form of ugly ogres (?) and a witch. How can this not be a great movie for kids? But like I said, if you use the eyes of an adult to view this, this would probably fail for a bunch of reasons. Perhaps even the same ones that make this great for children.
Terminator: Dark Fate
(2019)
Cameron did right by ignoring everything else
8 November 2019
Here's the thing: the '90s seem to be the "hey, let's play around with time travel" era. And it is this bandwagon mentality that has caused a lot of damage to various franchises across various media platforms. Terminator just happens to be one of those I would consider as victims. This is precisely why I agree with James Cameron's decision to disregard everything that occurred between T2 and this one. And it's for longing for a sensible continuity that prompts me to say this, but that the other titles that got involved with the franchise have been no more but eye candy (i.e., making use of better special effects technology) instead of focusing on the story.
It's not to disparage the other movies/series that are part of the franchise, but all of those would probably work better as side-stories (or stories under the context of "what if"). If we were to look at a somewhat-coherent continuity, this is actually good.
Forget about the nostalgia of seeing the actors from the original movie, and focus on the story. Had they hired different actors, the story would still have made sense. Linda and Arnold being here is more like the icing on the cake.
Piranha 3DD
(2012)
They couldn't have pilfered any more...
3 November 2019
I haven't seen Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1982) just yet, but it's highly likely that this took some scenes from that as well (i'll keep my fingers crossed).
Apart from upping the gratuitous nudity and gore, there's practically nothing that would have added value to the film series, not even the small jabs of comedy.
Seeing as how they still have not explored the ending shown in Piranha 3D (2010) (probably the implied super-sizing hasn't done well in those years), this one implies a different possible storyline, if another even gets made. Who's to say, maybe they'll combine the two endings, along with supersizing its two selling points.
Piranha
(1995 TV Movie)
Near identical with the original, and yet...
2 November 2019
Well, it IS near identical.
A lot of changes from the original had been made (the doctor minding the piranha testing center being just one of those). Still, I prefer this one.
One: it provided more character detail into Paul.
Two: this remake's Maggie isn't as "bumbling" as the one in the original (although she's still far from being a decent gumshoe).
Three: the circumstance behind the piranhas' poisoning (just in the pool) is more believable than the original (an entire water system in Vietnam).
Four: the usage of stock from the original aside, the fact that they left bones after piranha attacks makes it more believable than the original.
Five: because they made this look more serious than the original, it actually made it funnier.
It's still a bad movie, but, at least the way they changed it made it a tiny bit better.
It's still a bad movie, but, at least the way they changed it made it a tiny bit better.
Street Fighter
(1994)
25 years, still disappointed
31 October 2019
So, okay. We're still a few months from its actual silver anniversary. But I think it will be more like "charcoal" anniversary.
When I went to the movies to watch this with my friends during its cinematic release, I was excited for a number of things: (1) van Damme was quite a hit in my country; (2) I had started playing and enjoying the game upon which this movie was based; (3) My preferred character when I played was Guile, played by van Damme in the movie; (4) our literature teacher just made us "The Joy Luck Club" so by this time I had a crush on Ming-Na Wen--i didn't really who Kylie Minogue was; and (5) Raul Julia, whose performance as Gomez Addams was something I really enjoyed.
At that time, I probably would have rated this an 8. When we watched this again during college years, I'd have rated it a 6 (we still had fun playing the game). A few more viewings in the next few years and it's become an even more blah movie. A throwback gaming event made me borrow my friend's DVD collection of Street Fighter movies.
Oh boy. It's gotten worse. We can chalk it up to that adage about becoming wiser as you grow older, but the movie just didn't take me to that excitement when we watched it in the movies.
Sure, it's not the worst movie ever. But, franchise-wise? Very good chance that it is.
Fullmetal Alchemist
(2017)
good enough condensation
29 October 2019
Even a relatively long runtime of 135 minutes isn't enough to condense the entire story, which is why the makers of the film kept only until the prison lab. Not only that but a lot of characters and the humor within that arc had been left out. But even with the various changes, the film was coherent enough to deserve watching. If this is your first exposure to Fullmetal Alchemist, and you enjoyed this movie, you'll definitely enjoy the anime series (both the first one and the "Brotherhood" version), and most certainly the manga.
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