First off, sorry everyone for the late review, I had to drive home for the holidays and had to miss the latest episode until now. If it makes any of you feel better, I got into a car accident, so I'm already being punished for being late. Second, I would like to make a retraction on something I said last time, Jed Whedon did not write the last episode, i had gotten my intel from wikipedia and have suffered greatly from it. If wikipedia is telling the truth this time, it is THIS episode that Jed Whedon has written, but that's probably wrong too. In fact, for all I know, JOSH Whedon could be writing this whole show behind hundreds of different pen-names.
Now, onto the episode. This series is pissing me off in the best way it can, by hinting at the idea of one super-awesome-superpower and pulling a red-heron on us by giving us another awesome power instead.
The episode was advertised with Telekinesis being the power of the victim here, only for instead the culprit to be a dimension jumper trying to protect the victim unsuccessfully. (And I just spoiled the plot twist of the episode right away, good job me, your doing great at winning people to your show). I really like this idea on multiple parts, but it all centers to where Tobias (the dimension hopper) says he's returning to: Hell. Now, most would joke and say it's just symbolic or feels like hell, but Marvel actually HAS a Hell, and that means we'll be getting a whole adventure involving Mephito, the Marvel Devil. Of course, even if this isn't the case, it still leads to a second awesome thing that could happen.
In Marvel comics, there's a race of Mutants called Neyaphem that have demonic features and powers. Their leader, Azazel, actually showed up in X-Men: First Class as the Red version of Nightcrawler (you know, the teleporter). Now, first, this is PERFECTLY awesome if they decide to introduce the demon mutants this way. Now, in the comics, they were called mutants, but this was probably just because they wanted a cool explanation for Nightcrawler's demonic appearance. Here, they could just make them a race of demonic people with powers.
Also though, word has it that Marvel is trying to make their Inhumans more influential in the marvel universe since they can't use Mutants in the Cinematic universe. And I'll stop talking about this because nothing has anything to do with todays episode anymore.
The reason I spent this time explaining this whole thing is because aside from the reveal of Tobias being a dimension jumper, the story itself isn't that hard to follow from the standard AoS formula. This episode is actually, strangely enough, a Melinda May episode, where we learn just why she's called the Cavalry and why she is the way she is. It isn't really worth explaining since it's pretty much her being too tough in the line of work and she can't really forgive herself for some of the stuff she's done, but it's also nice in how they dealt with the affair going on between Melinda and Ward.
Normally in shows like this, they'll play it with cheep drama by having them get antsy or too smile-y around one another, but they made Ward and Melinda too professional for that and aside from Ward pausing at a joke about Melinda's sex-life from Skye, nothing was even made clear to the audience what was happening. I mean, if they hadn't of shown the two getting dressed together at the beginning of the episode, and I hadn't seen anything so far, I would have not even noticed really.
Another great thing about this episode is it's work with lighting. There were some moments that genuinely felt like a horror movie, with flickering lights and Tobias's teleporting power being used very well together.
Again, a very good episode, and I'm hoping this ends up leading to a subplot with Hell and the potential isn't just passed over like that.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Rio (2011) - An Animation Review
So, this movie was actually on my list for a while now. There are many American Animated movies but not many that are made by someone other than Disney or Dreamworks in this day and Age. Which is pretty typical, but not really that good. Disney has always been the big Animation studio, always dealing with a secondary, more independent studio. Usually these Secondary ones were made by people who used to work for Disney. Which makes Blue Sky Studios an interesting case. They started as a small animation studio, thought hired by Disney, that worked on the Disney movie, Tron.
After that they made animated shorts until they made "Ice Age". A big hit, they became very dedicated animators and later on made Rio, their second Big Hit. I'm sure a lot of you saw the commercials for this movie and it is actually pretty good. Running at the average Animated movie time of an hour and a half, the movie was actually made by a native Brazilian, which makes me wonder about it. The movie is set primarily in Rio, but almost everything about Rio that is described feels like common knowledge anyone who spent ten minutes of Wikipedia to find. But even then, Rio itself is a very interesting place and the movie does an excellent job of using what they had to set the story.
The movie is technically a Musical, if only because the characters sing, but they don't portray the singing as like a musical. Characters who sing are intentionally singing and giving a performance for the other characters. The songs themselves are pretty general. They make good use of Brazilian Samba music but it is mostly unrecognizable. There were a few catchy tunes, but my favorite song among the bunch is "Hot Wings (I wanna Party)", sung by Will.i.am, Jamie Fox, and Anne Hathaway. The three singers don't blend but rather bounce off each other to show case each of their talents. A lot of people tend to hate on Will.i.am for his over use of Auto-tune and his constant self-promotion, but I've often had a soft spot for him.
The song, Hot Wings, is very corny, with a lot of bad rhymes and jokes, but that's the fun in my opinion. The song was meant, in my opinion, to be a bird version of a generic Club song, and it works. People often feel that songs in musicals need to only be sung good for them to be good. But for me, it is the songs that are intended to not be perfect that come across the most perfect. One of my favorite songs in Quest for Camelot is Ruber's Song, and it is very "bad" with unstable and forced lyrics. But that is some of the best kind. They make the singer feel real. Often times in Musicals, the entire world will drop whenever a song is being sung, and that sometimes feels forced, so when these types of songs come in, that feel like they were being written by non-professionals, it feels more realistic.
The only problem is sometimes the songs are terrible, but luckily Rio doesn't suffer from any bad music. Another good song I like is one of the best examples of a real-life musical number. It has some of the worst lines for a villains song, but it fits so well and it strangely catchy. Not pop-music or musical catchy, more, smile and shake your tush catchy.
Now, onto the characters. The movie stars Jessie Eisenberg as Blue, a flightless Spix's Macaw bird. Taken by Poachers, he ends up being left in Minnesota and taken care of by a little girl who slowly grows up to be the owner of a book shop. This is some of Jessie's best work. True, it's pretty easy to tell who he is behind the CGI, but he brings his usual snark and intelligence to the role. The character feels made by him, with his uncomfortableness but also being very intelligent and socially crippled.
The female lead of the story is Jewel, played by Anne Hathaway as a free bird who hates cages and domestication (something Blue is quite fond of). She doesn't have much in terms of character, but she's likable and quite confident, taking care of herself for the most part.
The best part about this movie in my opinion are how so many of the minor and secondary characters are given so much in terms of personality that no one feels unnecessary. Even Will.i.am plays a good role, even if it's just to act like himself as a bird.
The animation of the birds is amazing as well, they feel so well animated and human, but sometimes the humans themselves get left out of the caliber and skill. Not to say it is bad, it's just, there's a scene where Blue's owner has lost him and she's crying and it looks completely fake. But it's not the animator's fault. Crying in live-action is hard enough for actors, but to successfully animate and show someone crying, especially with their cartoonish art style, it makes it hard to feel the sadness and you just get uncomfortable.
Now, the villain. Played by Jermaine Clement, Nigel is not one of the most complex, but he is a very interesting villain. He is incredibly smart and is a lot more competent than most animated villains. In fact, he's possibly my favorite part of the film. He doesn't have the theatricality of Scar from Lion King or the suaveness of Hades from Hercules, but he is just so smart. I mean it, this movie has him doing some of the best planning out of any animated villain. escaped prisoner in the heart of Rio, hire a hundred monkeys to seek him out (and by hire, I mean intimidate), Monkeys fail? No matter, he knows where their headed now thanks to the monkeys, only have one prisoner, play on the heart of the hero to trick him. He's pretty generic in what he does to be honest, but the way he does it all is just so clever and intimidating.
Now, the plot of the movie. It's a pretty generic plot really. Blue is discovered to be the last of his kind and an Ornithologist from Brazil comes to beg Linda, Blue's owner, to help him keep the species alive. They head there and Blue meets Jewel and the two of them get caught up in a mess with some idiots Poachers and their leader's pet bird, Nigel. The two of them get cuffed together and hilarity ensues with them trying to find a way to get themselves free. They end up meeting Will.i.am and Jamie Fox as a pair of "urban" birds and Rafael, a poetic/romantic Toucan who becomes a great friend to Blue.
By the end, romance ensues between Blue and Jewel / Linda and Tulio and the Poachers are arrested (Nigel get sucked into a plane propeller and de-feathered). The movie is a great flick to watch with your family and there's even a sequel coming in April of 2014. Let's hope Blue Sky does better with the Rio franchise than they did with the Ice Age one.
After that they made animated shorts until they made "Ice Age". A big hit, they became very dedicated animators and later on made Rio, their second Big Hit. I'm sure a lot of you saw the commercials for this movie and it is actually pretty good. Running at the average Animated movie time of an hour and a half, the movie was actually made by a native Brazilian, which makes me wonder about it. The movie is set primarily in Rio, but almost everything about Rio that is described feels like common knowledge anyone who spent ten minutes of Wikipedia to find. But even then, Rio itself is a very interesting place and the movie does an excellent job of using what they had to set the story.
The movie is technically a Musical, if only because the characters sing, but they don't portray the singing as like a musical. Characters who sing are intentionally singing and giving a performance for the other characters. The songs themselves are pretty general. They make good use of Brazilian Samba music but it is mostly unrecognizable. There were a few catchy tunes, but my favorite song among the bunch is "Hot Wings (I wanna Party)", sung by Will.i.am, Jamie Fox, and Anne Hathaway. The three singers don't blend but rather bounce off each other to show case each of their talents. A lot of people tend to hate on Will.i.am for his over use of Auto-tune and his constant self-promotion, but I've often had a soft spot for him.
The song, Hot Wings, is very corny, with a lot of bad rhymes and jokes, but that's the fun in my opinion. The song was meant, in my opinion, to be a bird version of a generic Club song, and it works. People often feel that songs in musicals need to only be sung good for them to be good. But for me, it is the songs that are intended to not be perfect that come across the most perfect. One of my favorite songs in Quest for Camelot is Ruber's Song, and it is very "bad" with unstable and forced lyrics. But that is some of the best kind. They make the singer feel real. Often times in Musicals, the entire world will drop whenever a song is being sung, and that sometimes feels forced, so when these types of songs come in, that feel like they were being written by non-professionals, it feels more realistic.
The only problem is sometimes the songs are terrible, but luckily Rio doesn't suffer from any bad music. Another good song I like is one of the best examples of a real-life musical number. It has some of the worst lines for a villains song, but it fits so well and it strangely catchy. Not pop-music or musical catchy, more, smile and shake your tush catchy.
Now, onto the characters. The movie stars Jessie Eisenberg as Blue, a flightless Spix's Macaw bird. Taken by Poachers, he ends up being left in Minnesota and taken care of by a little girl who slowly grows up to be the owner of a book shop. This is some of Jessie's best work. True, it's pretty easy to tell who he is behind the CGI, but he brings his usual snark and intelligence to the role. The character feels made by him, with his uncomfortableness but also being very intelligent and socially crippled.
The female lead of the story is Jewel, played by Anne Hathaway as a free bird who hates cages and domestication (something Blue is quite fond of). She doesn't have much in terms of character, but she's likable and quite confident, taking care of herself for the most part.
The best part about this movie in my opinion are how so many of the minor and secondary characters are given so much in terms of personality that no one feels unnecessary. Even Will.i.am plays a good role, even if it's just to act like himself as a bird.
The animation of the birds is amazing as well, they feel so well animated and human, but sometimes the humans themselves get left out of the caliber and skill. Not to say it is bad, it's just, there's a scene where Blue's owner has lost him and she's crying and it looks completely fake. But it's not the animator's fault. Crying in live-action is hard enough for actors, but to successfully animate and show someone crying, especially with their cartoonish art style, it makes it hard to feel the sadness and you just get uncomfortable.
Now, the villain. Played by Jermaine Clement, Nigel is not one of the most complex, but he is a very interesting villain. He is incredibly smart and is a lot more competent than most animated villains. In fact, he's possibly my favorite part of the film. He doesn't have the theatricality of Scar from Lion King or the suaveness of Hades from Hercules, but he is just so smart. I mean it, this movie has him doing some of the best planning out of any animated villain. escaped prisoner in the heart of Rio, hire a hundred monkeys to seek him out (and by hire, I mean intimidate), Monkeys fail? No matter, he knows where their headed now thanks to the monkeys, only have one prisoner, play on the heart of the hero to trick him. He's pretty generic in what he does to be honest, but the way he does it all is just so clever and intimidating.
Now, the plot of the movie. It's a pretty generic plot really. Blue is discovered to be the last of his kind and an Ornithologist from Brazil comes to beg Linda, Blue's owner, to help him keep the species alive. They head there and Blue meets Jewel and the two of them get caught up in a mess with some idiots Poachers and their leader's pet bird, Nigel. The two of them get cuffed together and hilarity ensues with them trying to find a way to get themselves free. They end up meeting Will.i.am and Jamie Fox as a pair of "urban" birds and Rafael, a poetic/romantic Toucan who becomes a great friend to Blue.
By the end, romance ensues between Blue and Jewel / Linda and Tulio and the Poachers are arrested (Nigel get sucked into a plane propeller and de-feathered). The movie is a great flick to watch with your family and there's even a sequel coming in April of 2014. Let's hope Blue Sky does better with the Rio franchise than they did with the Ice Age one.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Episode 8 - An Adaptation Review
WOW! When people first heard of a Marvel tv show being set in continuity with the Marvel movie franchise AND that it was going to be directed by the biggest Nerd Director for TV, I think the first thing that came to my mind was WAHOO! My favorite tv director/writer will be writing a tv show that is set in the same franchise as my favorite movie franchise. You can see why I chose this to go alongside my movie reviews.
But the second thing I thought about was how awesome it would actually be for a tv show to stay in continuity and bounce back and forth between Movie and TV, and they finally did it. I know the pilot was technically like that, but that was more like the show collecting everything obvious from the marvel movies and throwing them together as a way to get all their eggs in one basket. This time, they successfully created a great plot around something "related" to a movie tying in to the recent Thor movie, without outright taking writing material from it.
The story is for once, an Agent Ward episode, with the episode discussing some more about the tragic past of his childhood. We see hints to one tragic incident that we believe to be his past (which is by the way some of the best cinematic directing found in television ever), only to pull a twist that makes more sense with his placement in his family.
I'm definitely not going to spoil too much sense I really think this is some of Jed Whedon's best work. That's right, I said Jed, not Joss. For a show advertised as being directed and written by Joss Whedon, the guy has actually only written the pilot episode (though Wikipedia seems to think that the next episode will be co-written by him), and Jed was also co-writing that episode. Now, Jed has actually co-written only four episodes (the pilot, the second, the third and this episode). The fourth episode was actually one of my favorite episodes and it introduced an obscure but interesting villain from the comics in a new and perhaps better light. Jed has written two episodes I don't really like, but he has also written two episodes I really do, so I'm going to give him the same anticipation I gave his brother.
The plot of this episode goes as such: It's the aftermath of Thor: The Dark World and Coulson's team is leading the clean-up crew when a case of "super" has been detected in the Netherlands. It is revealed that an ancient Asgardian weapon, known as the Berzerker staff, has been unearthed and it has the power to unleash untapped rage and strength from the whoever touches it. And a cult of Norse-Pagans are planning on using the power to go to war with the earth.
Coulson enlists the reluctant help of the expert on Norse Mythology, who he consulted off-screen during the events of the first Thor. It is revealed that this so-called, expert, isn't exactly getting his information second hand. He's the Asgardian who hid the Berzerker Staff in the first place and just wants to be left alone.
Ward accidentally touches the staff and it unleashes some pretty unhappy memories he kept buried deep inside and he isn't acting like his normal self, acting like a regular angry jerk. Realizing soon after a quick talk with Melinda May, he tries to correct his behavior and he learns to focus his rage to protect the entire group from the army of Angry Norse-Pagans. Only to be upstaged by Melinda who uses all three pieces of the Berzeker staff at once to defeat the leaders of the Cult.
This is a great episode. I love Simmons being incredibly reluctant to believe any idea of Magic. I love how Fritz's character growth has stayed, with him now being the straight man to Simmons's jumpy-ness. And the ending was VERY shocking and interesting. I wasn't exactly liking the whole Skye-Ward relationship they were making and they've finally gone and pushed Ward in another, more character driving path.
I'm not going to spoil what happened this time around since anything that happens to Ward's character is now worthy of spoilers, but I just have this to say. The only three episodes where Ward got any character growth were co-written by Jed Whedon, so I'd put my money on any episode later including him to have some more Ward growth.
cya guys later, and tah tah for now
But the second thing I thought about was how awesome it would actually be for a tv show to stay in continuity and bounce back and forth between Movie and TV, and they finally did it. I know the pilot was technically like that, but that was more like the show collecting everything obvious from the marvel movies and throwing them together as a way to get all their eggs in one basket. This time, they successfully created a great plot around something "related" to a movie tying in to the recent Thor movie, without outright taking writing material from it.
The story is for once, an Agent Ward episode, with the episode discussing some more about the tragic past of his childhood. We see hints to one tragic incident that we believe to be his past (which is by the way some of the best cinematic directing found in television ever), only to pull a twist that makes more sense with his placement in his family.
I'm definitely not going to spoil too much sense I really think this is some of Jed Whedon's best work. That's right, I said Jed, not Joss. For a show advertised as being directed and written by Joss Whedon, the guy has actually only written the pilot episode (though Wikipedia seems to think that the next episode will be co-written by him), and Jed was also co-writing that episode. Now, Jed has actually co-written only four episodes (the pilot, the second, the third and this episode). The fourth episode was actually one of my favorite episodes and it introduced an obscure but interesting villain from the comics in a new and perhaps better light. Jed has written two episodes I don't really like, but he has also written two episodes I really do, so I'm going to give him the same anticipation I gave his brother.
The plot of this episode goes as such: It's the aftermath of Thor: The Dark World and Coulson's team is leading the clean-up crew when a case of "super" has been detected in the Netherlands. It is revealed that an ancient Asgardian weapon, known as the Berzerker staff, has been unearthed and it has the power to unleash untapped rage and strength from the whoever touches it. And a cult of Norse-Pagans are planning on using the power to go to war with the earth.
Coulson enlists the reluctant help of the expert on Norse Mythology, who he consulted off-screen during the events of the first Thor. It is revealed that this so-called, expert, isn't exactly getting his information second hand. He's the Asgardian who hid the Berzerker Staff in the first place and just wants to be left alone.
Ward accidentally touches the staff and it unleashes some pretty unhappy memories he kept buried deep inside and he isn't acting like his normal self, acting like a regular angry jerk. Realizing soon after a quick talk with Melinda May, he tries to correct his behavior and he learns to focus his rage to protect the entire group from the army of Angry Norse-Pagans. Only to be upstaged by Melinda who uses all three pieces of the Berzeker staff at once to defeat the leaders of the Cult.
This is a great episode. I love Simmons being incredibly reluctant to believe any idea of Magic. I love how Fritz's character growth has stayed, with him now being the straight man to Simmons's jumpy-ness. And the ending was VERY shocking and interesting. I wasn't exactly liking the whole Skye-Ward relationship they were making and they've finally gone and pushed Ward in another, more character driving path.
I'm not going to spoil what happened this time around since anything that happens to Ward's character is now worthy of spoilers, but I just have this to say. The only three episodes where Ward got any character growth were co-written by Jed Whedon, so I'd put my money on any episode later including him to have some more Ward growth.
cya guys later, and tah tah for now
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Mary and Max (2009) - an animation review
http://viooz.co/movies/228-mary-and-max-2009.html
Mary and Max is definitely not a movie for the everyday american. Why? because it is so different, animated or otherwise, that any american studio would ever think to make. The movie is bleak, depressing, and filled with more realism than anything I have ever seen. And is phenomenal. I do not often get to review works with such caliber due to most american movies of my genres not fitting well with the more high-brow works. The closest I have gotten is with Sam Reimi's Spider-man, and that movie is still very campy and silly and could hardly ever be considered "high-brow".
This movie was made in australia, which makes me glad to know that this blog will be getting some more culture and a peek into another world's work. It uses a similar claymation animation style as England uses and I am quite fond of the unique art quality one can get from it. I'm not exactly sure what they use to animate water yet, but it appears to be something like clear glue.
Now, do not consider that because this movie is animated it will entertain your children. The art is very grey with almost no color at all when the setting is in New York City and there are many animations that will make parents complain about censorship (such as nipples getting hard when cold and birds pooping on people in non-comedic fashion). The humor is labeled as Black Humor and it fits. It isn't dark or surreal, but more depressing with some humor being found in the tight cracks.
When I talk about animation outside of this blog, I often discuss how we, as americans, will never be able to create great works of cinematic art like Citizen Kane or the Godfather so long as we consider cartoons and animation only for children and immature humor. And Australia has shown us just what animation is capable of in terms of make a mature movie about life using animation.
You'll notice that I haven't gotten to the characters or writing yet and that is because the movie is not about some great chase or adventure. The movie is about the life and friendship of these two people, Mary, a young australian girl, and Max, an atheist with Asperger's syndrome living in New York City. The two are both very depressed due to having no friends and their respective baggage and problems. I will not discuss much of either of their characters since the movie itself is all about exploring their problems.
I can say that as someone with Asperger's Syndrome, this movie is a great way to show the world about how mental health is often viewed by other people and the many problems that people try to "cure". This is an oscar worthy film and deserves to be shown in all art schools.
Please, for all that is good in animation, don't make this movie slip through the cracks and become the exception to the rule, this is an amazing movie
Mary and Max is definitely not a movie for the everyday american. Why? because it is so different, animated or otherwise, that any american studio would ever think to make. The movie is bleak, depressing, and filled with more realism than anything I have ever seen. And is phenomenal. I do not often get to review works with such caliber due to most american movies of my genres not fitting well with the more high-brow works. The closest I have gotten is with Sam Reimi's Spider-man, and that movie is still very campy and silly and could hardly ever be considered "high-brow".
This movie was made in australia, which makes me glad to know that this blog will be getting some more culture and a peek into another world's work. It uses a similar claymation animation style as England uses and I am quite fond of the unique art quality one can get from it. I'm not exactly sure what they use to animate water yet, but it appears to be something like clear glue.
Now, do not consider that because this movie is animated it will entertain your children. The art is very grey with almost no color at all when the setting is in New York City and there are many animations that will make parents complain about censorship (such as nipples getting hard when cold and birds pooping on people in non-comedic fashion). The humor is labeled as Black Humor and it fits. It isn't dark or surreal, but more depressing with some humor being found in the tight cracks.
When I talk about animation outside of this blog, I often discuss how we, as americans, will never be able to create great works of cinematic art like Citizen Kane or the Godfather so long as we consider cartoons and animation only for children and immature humor. And Australia has shown us just what animation is capable of in terms of make a mature movie about life using animation.
You'll notice that I haven't gotten to the characters or writing yet and that is because the movie is not about some great chase or adventure. The movie is about the life and friendship of these two people, Mary, a young australian girl, and Max, an atheist with Asperger's syndrome living in New York City. The two are both very depressed due to having no friends and their respective baggage and problems. I will not discuss much of either of their characters since the movie itself is all about exploring their problems.
I can say that as someone with Asperger's Syndrome, this movie is a great way to show the world about how mental health is often viewed by other people and the many problems that people try to "cure". This is an oscar worthy film and deserves to be shown in all art schools.
Please, for all that is good in animation, don't make this movie slip through the cracks and become the exception to the rule, this is an amazing movie
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Episode 7 - An Adaptation Review
I really liked this episode everyone. There was a lot of good jokes, some great character moments and this was certainly a well written plot.
This episode has some great moments for both Skye, Coulson, and Fitz (Fitz is becoming one of my favorite characters on this show). There isn't one character that the episode focuses on first, so I figured I'd talk about the new character brought into the mix, Victoria Hand. Ms. Hand is one of Coulson's superior officers who is leading today's mission and has an air about her similar to that of Nick Fury, especially in how at the end, it appears that she had predicted that Coulson would go against orders.
ONCE AGAIN, I WILL BE SPOILING THIS EPISODE FOR THOSE THAT DIDN"T SEE IT: WATCH IT YOURSELF
Victoria is actually a character from the comics, her being the second character to do so. In the comics, Victoria was a member of SHIELD before she was sent to a far off base for sending Fury a letter about how she hated SHIELD's approach to dealing with terrorism (basically america's approach). She later gets reinstated by Norman Osborn as his right hand when he takes over and turns SHIELD into HAMMER (Hammer doesn't stand for anything in the comics and the name was instead used for a rival industry in Iron Man 2 (since so many people didn't care about that movie I figured I'd tell you that), most likely because Norman Osborn is a Spiderman villain and he's owned by Sony). Since Norman isn't owned by Marvel, I'm curious to know how Victoria's character is developed, especially since she's a lesbian in the comics and it would be interesting to know what Joss Whedon will do with her (especially since he's well known for writing lesbians and Bisexuals).
Now, the plot of the episode goes as such, a dangerous military has gotten access to a weapon that can shut down any technology, including hand-guns and airplanes. They can't send a jet in, so they need to send in a small 2-man team. At first it appears that Melinda May and Agent Ward will be going in, but instead it is Ward and Fitz, since they need someone to dismantle the machine when they get there.
At first, when I heard this, I thought Fitz was going to be his usual self, suffering from his OCD and making all his uncomfortableness known, but he's very serious about this. It is revealed that he's still angry at himself and Ward from the last episode as Ward was the one who parachuted down to save Simmons when she leaped out of the "Bus" to prevent her EMP virus from taking everyone with her. Fitz felt inadequate, especially when he had just found out that Simmons is in love with him, so he's going on this mission to make sure he can prove himself.
The two are actually a great team, getting in and disabling the enemy. Now, at this time, Skye is getting really worried for Fitz and Ward (Ward especially since they've got this ting between them) as well as she wants to hack into SHIELD files from the central mainframe to get information on her parents. She and Simmons pull a very risky job of getting Skye's flash-drive into the mainframe so that she can hack in and get her access. She at first appears more interested in finding info on her parents, but when it is shown that she's running out of time, she does the "right" thing and gets info instead on Ward and Fitz's mission.
Skye then learns that the mission Ward and Fitz are on is a suicidal one since SHIELD seems to have no plans on sending a rescue team after them before SHIELD blitzkriegs the base. Luckily Coulson reacts accordingly and goes in to save the day with the team.
Coulson has been getting some more character development as well, getting into a fight with Victoria when he finds out about his men's lives in danger. He also finds out some info on Skye's parents, telling her "what he knows" but deciding to dig deeper into it with Melinda May's help. He also finds out that he's not privy to his own files about how he was brought back to life, making him get very worried about what is being kept secret from him.
I'm really looking forward to the next episode as it really is being made clear to be a tie in to the Thor: The Dark World movie, but I'm also getting interested in knowing if Coulson and the gang are going to rebel from SHIELD.
My only problem with how the show is developing is that our team of six has 3 woman and 3 men and we seem to have two romances blossoming on this team. I mean, I'm glad there aren't any love-triangles, but seriously? 2/3rds of the team is in a romantic relationship? It makes this feel way to compromised. I mean, Fitz and Simmons are clearly in love with each other and are getting ready to make "the kiss" while Ward and Skye are suffering from classic lead romance problems of having feelings for one another but being too different people.
My only hope is that Ward actually gets some character development. I mean, seriously? We've been through 4 episodes since we learned anything about his character. GIVE US SOMETHING! He's so bland that I want to know more about him before he becomes so boring that I just hate him. He's interesting so long as he is in combat, but other than that he's just so lame and robotic.
cya around guys
This episode has some great moments for both Skye, Coulson, and Fitz (Fitz is becoming one of my favorite characters on this show). There isn't one character that the episode focuses on first, so I figured I'd talk about the new character brought into the mix, Victoria Hand. Ms. Hand is one of Coulson's superior officers who is leading today's mission and has an air about her similar to that of Nick Fury, especially in how at the end, it appears that she had predicted that Coulson would go against orders.
ONCE AGAIN, I WILL BE SPOILING THIS EPISODE FOR THOSE THAT DIDN"T SEE IT: WATCH IT YOURSELF
Victoria is actually a character from the comics, her being the second character to do so. In the comics, Victoria was a member of SHIELD before she was sent to a far off base for sending Fury a letter about how she hated SHIELD's approach to dealing with terrorism (basically america's approach). She later gets reinstated by Norman Osborn as his right hand when he takes over and turns SHIELD into HAMMER (Hammer doesn't stand for anything in the comics and the name was instead used for a rival industry in Iron Man 2 (since so many people didn't care about that movie I figured I'd tell you that), most likely because Norman Osborn is a Spiderman villain and he's owned by Sony). Since Norman isn't owned by Marvel, I'm curious to know how Victoria's character is developed, especially since she's a lesbian in the comics and it would be interesting to know what Joss Whedon will do with her (especially since he's well known for writing lesbians and Bisexuals).
Now, the plot of the episode goes as such, a dangerous military has gotten access to a weapon that can shut down any technology, including hand-guns and airplanes. They can't send a jet in, so they need to send in a small 2-man team. At first it appears that Melinda May and Agent Ward will be going in, but instead it is Ward and Fitz, since they need someone to dismantle the machine when they get there.
At first, when I heard this, I thought Fitz was going to be his usual self, suffering from his OCD and making all his uncomfortableness known, but he's very serious about this. It is revealed that he's still angry at himself and Ward from the last episode as Ward was the one who parachuted down to save Simmons when she leaped out of the "Bus" to prevent her EMP virus from taking everyone with her. Fitz felt inadequate, especially when he had just found out that Simmons is in love with him, so he's going on this mission to make sure he can prove himself.
The two are actually a great team, getting in and disabling the enemy. Now, at this time, Skye is getting really worried for Fitz and Ward (Ward especially since they've got this ting between them) as well as she wants to hack into SHIELD files from the central mainframe to get information on her parents. She and Simmons pull a very risky job of getting Skye's flash-drive into the mainframe so that she can hack in and get her access. She at first appears more interested in finding info on her parents, but when it is shown that she's running out of time, she does the "right" thing and gets info instead on Ward and Fitz's mission.
Skye then learns that the mission Ward and Fitz are on is a suicidal one since SHIELD seems to have no plans on sending a rescue team after them before SHIELD blitzkriegs the base. Luckily Coulson reacts accordingly and goes in to save the day with the team.
Coulson has been getting some more character development as well, getting into a fight with Victoria when he finds out about his men's lives in danger. He also finds out some info on Skye's parents, telling her "what he knows" but deciding to dig deeper into it with Melinda May's help. He also finds out that he's not privy to his own files about how he was brought back to life, making him get very worried about what is being kept secret from him.
I'm really looking forward to the next episode as it really is being made clear to be a tie in to the Thor: The Dark World movie, but I'm also getting interested in knowing if Coulson and the gang are going to rebel from SHIELD.
My only problem with how the show is developing is that our team of six has 3 woman and 3 men and we seem to have two romances blossoming on this team. I mean, I'm glad there aren't any love-triangles, but seriously? 2/3rds of the team is in a romantic relationship? It makes this feel way to compromised. I mean, Fitz and Simmons are clearly in love with each other and are getting ready to make "the kiss" while Ward and Skye are suffering from classic lead romance problems of having feelings for one another but being too different people.
My only hope is that Ward actually gets some character development. I mean, seriously? We've been through 4 episodes since we learned anything about his character. GIVE US SOMETHING! He's so bland that I want to know more about him before he becomes so boring that I just hate him. He's interesting so long as he is in combat, but other than that he's just so lame and robotic.
cya around guys
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Chicken Run (2000) - An animation review
Now, I'm usually adverse to reviewing Disney and Dreamworks because everyone always reviews those when discussing animated movies, but I wanted to review something foreign and this was all i could find on such short notice.
Chicken Run is a claymation (Animated Clay) film done by the very skilled Peter Lord and Nick Park. These guys are VERY talented men from britain and have made many brilliant claymation before hand. Usually they stick to shorts like with Wallace and Grommet, but they still showed their skill with this movie as well.
Chicken Run stars Julia Sawalha as Ginger, a very brave chicken who dreams of escaping from the prison-like chicken coop and saving everyone as well. Mel Gibson plays Rocky, an american rooster who is mistaken for a flying rooster. This is actually one of Mel Gibson's better performances and everyone forgets that before he went crazy, he was a genuinely good actor and has played many interesting characters. Rocky, not a completely original character, but he plays him very well and plays the stereotypical american perfectly.
The movie has a very small cast, but none of them are really important. There's Mrs. & Mr. Tweeny a poor couple that owns the farm and a handful of Chickens that play supporting roles. The Tweenys are alright, but they aren't very complex. Mr. Tweeny is a bumbling farmer who's inherited the farm from a long line of farmers and Mrs Tweeny is a greedy woman who hates how poor she is and wants to make a LOT of money with their farm.
The chickens are as such: Mac, a scientist with a very heavy scottish accent (To all the Scotts, I apologize if that accent is wrong for a Scott), Bunty, a very pessimistic and grumpy chicken who still manages to have some fun with the rest of her chickens, and Babs, who is without a doubt one of the pluckiest chickens I have ever heard (pun intended). She's just so innocent and just says the most hilarious of lines.
There's also Fowler, a military old Rooster who's always strutting about and bragging about how the good old days were so great.
And then there's the rats. Played by Timothy Spall and Phil Daniels. This duo is just brilliant in their chemistry. Playing the roll of a couple of crooked but good-natured businessmen who do deals with Ginger to get her supplies to make her escape hatches.
The plot of the movie goes as such. Mrs. Tweeny is sick of being poor and their egg supplies are getting drastically low. So she decides to turn every chicken around into a pie and sell them. So when Rocky comes in, apparently flying in, Ginger believes that he can save the day by teaching them all how to fly. Rocky can't actually fly and is just a selfish "american" but he proves his metal when he saves Ginger from the pie machine and breaks it down. But once Rocky reveals his secret, he bolts and their left on their own. Ginger, left with no options, decides for one last desperate action: Build a giant plane to fly them out of there.
The movie itself is very well written, with a LOT of good jokes and English-American cross-culture humor. And the end, where they put together all the parts to get the plane up and ready is just spectacular. My only concern is just, with the size of the plane they made, they wouldn't even need to fly really. They could just drive out of their, though the whole joke of the film is that Chickens can't fly.
Another pet peeve I have for the movie, has nothing to do with the movie itself, but with the Tweeny farmers. I've lived on a farm and I know how the business is run, and if the chickens are seriously not giving you eggs three days straight, that's not a problems. And you can't just sell every egg you get either. The chickens are clearly getting too old to mass produce chickens. You need to hold back on your shipment and raise a new batch of chickens to start mass producing more. Heck, even if you want to make a pie farm instead from now on, you don't kill every last chicken at once, you need to get more chickens or else you won't be able to make another batch of pies.
All in all though, the movie is great. the characters are hilarious and every plot detail is revealed at the right moment. A great comedy
Chicken Run is a claymation (Animated Clay) film done by the very skilled Peter Lord and Nick Park. These guys are VERY talented men from britain and have made many brilliant claymation before hand. Usually they stick to shorts like with Wallace and Grommet, but they still showed their skill with this movie as well.
Chicken Run stars Julia Sawalha as Ginger, a very brave chicken who dreams of escaping from the prison-like chicken coop and saving everyone as well. Mel Gibson plays Rocky, an american rooster who is mistaken for a flying rooster. This is actually one of Mel Gibson's better performances and everyone forgets that before he went crazy, he was a genuinely good actor and has played many interesting characters. Rocky, not a completely original character, but he plays him very well and plays the stereotypical american perfectly.
The movie has a very small cast, but none of them are really important. There's Mrs. & Mr. Tweeny a poor couple that owns the farm and a handful of Chickens that play supporting roles. The Tweenys are alright, but they aren't very complex. Mr. Tweeny is a bumbling farmer who's inherited the farm from a long line of farmers and Mrs Tweeny is a greedy woman who hates how poor she is and wants to make a LOT of money with their farm.
The chickens are as such: Mac, a scientist with a very heavy scottish accent (To all the Scotts, I apologize if that accent is wrong for a Scott), Bunty, a very pessimistic and grumpy chicken who still manages to have some fun with the rest of her chickens, and Babs, who is without a doubt one of the pluckiest chickens I have ever heard (pun intended). She's just so innocent and just says the most hilarious of lines.
There's also Fowler, a military old Rooster who's always strutting about and bragging about how the good old days were so great.
And then there's the rats. Played by Timothy Spall and Phil Daniels. This duo is just brilliant in their chemistry. Playing the roll of a couple of crooked but good-natured businessmen who do deals with Ginger to get her supplies to make her escape hatches.
The plot of the movie goes as such. Mrs. Tweeny is sick of being poor and their egg supplies are getting drastically low. So she decides to turn every chicken around into a pie and sell them. So when Rocky comes in, apparently flying in, Ginger believes that he can save the day by teaching them all how to fly. Rocky can't actually fly and is just a selfish "american" but he proves his metal when he saves Ginger from the pie machine and breaks it down. But once Rocky reveals his secret, he bolts and their left on their own. Ginger, left with no options, decides for one last desperate action: Build a giant plane to fly them out of there.
The movie itself is very well written, with a LOT of good jokes and English-American cross-culture humor. And the end, where they put together all the parts to get the plane up and ready is just spectacular. My only concern is just, with the size of the plane they made, they wouldn't even need to fly really. They could just drive out of their, though the whole joke of the film is that Chickens can't fly.
Another pet peeve I have for the movie, has nothing to do with the movie itself, but with the Tweeny farmers. I've lived on a farm and I know how the business is run, and if the chickens are seriously not giving you eggs three days straight, that's not a problems. And you can't just sell every egg you get either. The chickens are clearly getting too old to mass produce chickens. You need to hold back on your shipment and raise a new batch of chickens to start mass producing more. Heck, even if you want to make a pie farm instead from now on, you don't kill every last chicken at once, you need to get more chickens or else you won't be able to make another batch of pies.
All in all though, the movie is great. the characters are hilarious and every plot detail is revealed at the right moment. A great comedy
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Episode 6 - An Adaptation Review
Ok guys, after waiting an additional week, I have to say that this is definitely one of the best episodes of this week. It had a thrilling plot and a lot of danger and I genuinely thought they were going to use this as an opportunity to kill off Fitz and Simmons (ooh, spoilers). But anyway, this was a great episode, enough said.
This is a follow up to last episode's fiasco with Skye being under surveillance for what she did and Agent Ward not trusting her and treating her very distantly (most likely because he was getting feelings and everything). The major focus of this episode is one Fitz and Simmons who step out of the comedic side-character to show their genuine characters. We all know by now that Simmons took Fitz with her when she joined Agent Coulson and now we learn why. She wasn't just looking out for him by pushing him into the field, she is in love with Fitz. This is actually more comical in that the episode begins with Fitz trying to hit on Skye and Skye mistaking it for him talking about Simmons, showing that she already saw the chemistry between them.
This does leave a bit of a trope argument in this since it's the stupid boy who never noticed his life-long friend was in love with him. Why can't this be the other way around? because girls are always more in touch with their feelings or something. anyway we're off topic.
Anyway, the plot of the episode goes as such, A couple of volunteer firefighters are found dead and floating in mid air do to an electromagnet wave. It turns out the guys and their third partner had taken an alien helmet from the battle site from the end of the Avengers. It turns out the helmet is carrying an alien disease that infects through static electrical shock and kills them by delivering a powerful EMP wave, leaving them suspended in magnetic levitation.
Simmons accidentally contracts the disease and everyone does what they can to desperately try and get the disease cured. During the desperation, Fritz accidentally discovers that Simmons is in love with him and the two of them figure out a way to get it to work.
Sadly the cure makes the EMP wave go off anyway and it looks like Simmons is going to die, so she decides to jump out of the jet and die away from the crew so she doesn't take them down with her. Agent Ward is successful in rescuing her and everyone is saved and together again.
The episode ends with Coulson making a strange threat to his commanding officer that he won't let them shut down his crew, making me wonder if Coulson might become a rogue agent at some point. I'm also hoping and speculating that since Simmons had to use Alien DNA to cure her magnetic disease, it could potentially give her alien/magnetic powers later on. Which would be cool since Joss Whedon is great with writing Super-Powered women.
This is a follow up to last episode's fiasco with Skye being under surveillance for what she did and Agent Ward not trusting her and treating her very distantly (most likely because he was getting feelings and everything). The major focus of this episode is one Fitz and Simmons who step out of the comedic side-character to show their genuine characters. We all know by now that Simmons took Fitz with her when she joined Agent Coulson and now we learn why. She wasn't just looking out for him by pushing him into the field, she is in love with Fitz. This is actually more comical in that the episode begins with Fitz trying to hit on Skye and Skye mistaking it for him talking about Simmons, showing that she already saw the chemistry between them.
This does leave a bit of a trope argument in this since it's the stupid boy who never noticed his life-long friend was in love with him. Why can't this be the other way around? because girls are always more in touch with their feelings or something. anyway we're off topic.
Anyway, the plot of the episode goes as such, A couple of volunteer firefighters are found dead and floating in mid air do to an electromagnet wave. It turns out the guys and their third partner had taken an alien helmet from the battle site from the end of the Avengers. It turns out the helmet is carrying an alien disease that infects through static electrical shock and kills them by delivering a powerful EMP wave, leaving them suspended in magnetic levitation.
Simmons accidentally contracts the disease and everyone does what they can to desperately try and get the disease cured. During the desperation, Fritz accidentally discovers that Simmons is in love with him and the two of them figure out a way to get it to work.
Sadly the cure makes the EMP wave go off anyway and it looks like Simmons is going to die, so she decides to jump out of the jet and die away from the crew so she doesn't take them down with her. Agent Ward is successful in rescuing her and everyone is saved and together again.
The episode ends with Coulson making a strange threat to his commanding officer that he won't let them shut down his crew, making me wonder if Coulson might become a rogue agent at some point. I'm also hoping and speculating that since Simmons had to use Alien DNA to cure her magnetic disease, it could potentially give her alien/magnetic powers later on. Which would be cool since Joss Whedon is great with writing Super-Powered women.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Robots (2005) - An Adaptation Review
Ok guys, now that the Spiderman marathon is over with I can get back to reviewing Animated movies, which we'll be doing for a while, so you can step away from me talking about bad ways to keep canonicity and instead you get to watch me talk about good and bad ways to do an animated movie.
This movie is one of my favorites to be honest, so I can right away and say that this is a VERY good movie, but that's not just because of bias but because it really is. It's a heart-warming story about how new and shiny things are not always better and that you should always chase your dreams. The movie is only 80 minutes long, quite expected from an animated movie really (seriously, I could watch two animated movies in the time most live actions take nowadays, what's with that?)
The movie stars Robin Williams as Fender Pinwheel, a slightly deranged weirdo trying to make ends meet in the big city of Robot city. But he's not the main character, though he is one of my favorite characters with how cooky he is.
The main character in this story is Rodney Copperbottom, voiced by Ewan McGregor. He's a very intelligent and imaginative guy with dreams and hopes and goals and has to come to terms with the harsh reality of the big city. Luckily, he doesn't break down from it all and instead fights back, kicking and proving his worth among the chaos.
Then theres the Supporting cast and boy there's a lot of them. There's Piper, Fender's younger sister, Crank, a loser/quitter who never sees the bright side to things and is always remarking with sarcasm, Cappy, Rodney's love interest, and a hundred more.
The movie was out for almost a decade now so no spoilers, though there's no twist ending. The plot is such, Rodney wants to be an inventor and work under his idol Bigwell. He even makes a pretty cool invention and heads to Robot City to prove himself. Unfortunately, the company isn't taking new inventors anymore and is being run by a greedy corporate tycoon named Ratchet. Ratchet has an irrational hatred for anything outdated and plans to destroy every poor robot that can't buy his upgrades. Because Ratchet stopped selling spare parts to fix robots because he wants them to die, Rodney takes his place, fixing the robots himself. But he can't keep them all fixed forever, so he tries to find Bigwell and get it all working.
The movie is very well written and works like a short story about the cruelty of the modern day industry as opposed to how we saw it growing up. I also love how the entire world is set up. It's almost like someone made it all out of spare parts out of their room. And also, i see this argument about flying being the best way to show off 3D animation and I have to argue otherwise. Flying isn't the best way, it's just the easiest. This movie showed that 3D animation can also be shown best when using a surfing/roller-blading style environment. With everything sliding and swinging around, it makes it an ideal candidate.
The only problem I see with the movie is that there are quite a few romance subplots and other subplots in this movie and the movie doesn't spend much time on them. I'd love to see Fender and that receptionist girl he picks up get around to seeing each other some more. Or maybe have some other side-plots happen to explore some more character? but for what I got, i got a lot of what I like. In fact, this movie is probably one of the reasons I studied engineering back in high-school.
The story is very simple and isn't intended to be complex at all. But it is VERY mature and VERY well written. The movie isn't just about the story itself, it's seeing how this world works and seeing how the culture works. Instead of drinking hot coffee in the morning, they pour hot grease over themselves. I also love just how much attention to detail this movie does. The characters in this movie actually blink a LOT. People often joke about how in cartoons the characters don't blink, but they do it a LOT here and it just adds to how amazing this movie is.
It also has a very nice assortment of songs that work very well to set the tone of the scene. I especially love Tom Waits's Underground, which is the best song to ever play in a factory/hell setting like it is.
The movie did great critically and even got nominated for a few awards, though some critics argued that the story felt like it came off the assembly line. I don't exactly disagree with that, but the story is still very nice and good and definitely has a meaning that hasn't really been told as of late nowadays. Still, a great movie and you should all watch it.
This movie is one of my favorites to be honest, so I can right away and say that this is a VERY good movie, but that's not just because of bias but because it really is. It's a heart-warming story about how new and shiny things are not always better and that you should always chase your dreams. The movie is only 80 minutes long, quite expected from an animated movie really (seriously, I could watch two animated movies in the time most live actions take nowadays, what's with that?)
The movie stars Robin Williams as Fender Pinwheel, a slightly deranged weirdo trying to make ends meet in the big city of Robot city. But he's not the main character, though he is one of my favorite characters with how cooky he is.
The main character in this story is Rodney Copperbottom, voiced by Ewan McGregor. He's a very intelligent and imaginative guy with dreams and hopes and goals and has to come to terms with the harsh reality of the big city. Luckily, he doesn't break down from it all and instead fights back, kicking and proving his worth among the chaos.
Then theres the Supporting cast and boy there's a lot of them. There's Piper, Fender's younger sister, Crank, a loser/quitter who never sees the bright side to things and is always remarking with sarcasm, Cappy, Rodney's love interest, and a hundred more.
The movie was out for almost a decade now so no spoilers, though there's no twist ending. The plot is such, Rodney wants to be an inventor and work under his idol Bigwell. He even makes a pretty cool invention and heads to Robot City to prove himself. Unfortunately, the company isn't taking new inventors anymore and is being run by a greedy corporate tycoon named Ratchet. Ratchet has an irrational hatred for anything outdated and plans to destroy every poor robot that can't buy his upgrades. Because Ratchet stopped selling spare parts to fix robots because he wants them to die, Rodney takes his place, fixing the robots himself. But he can't keep them all fixed forever, so he tries to find Bigwell and get it all working.
The movie is very well written and works like a short story about the cruelty of the modern day industry as opposed to how we saw it growing up. I also love how the entire world is set up. It's almost like someone made it all out of spare parts out of their room. And also, i see this argument about flying being the best way to show off 3D animation and I have to argue otherwise. Flying isn't the best way, it's just the easiest. This movie showed that 3D animation can also be shown best when using a surfing/roller-blading style environment. With everything sliding and swinging around, it makes it an ideal candidate.
The only problem I see with the movie is that there are quite a few romance subplots and other subplots in this movie and the movie doesn't spend much time on them. I'd love to see Fender and that receptionist girl he picks up get around to seeing each other some more. Or maybe have some other side-plots happen to explore some more character? but for what I got, i got a lot of what I like. In fact, this movie is probably one of the reasons I studied engineering back in high-school.
The story is very simple and isn't intended to be complex at all. But it is VERY mature and VERY well written. The movie isn't just about the story itself, it's seeing how this world works and seeing how the culture works. Instead of drinking hot coffee in the morning, they pour hot grease over themselves. I also love just how much attention to detail this movie does. The characters in this movie actually blink a LOT. People often joke about how in cartoons the characters don't blink, but they do it a LOT here and it just adds to how amazing this movie is.
It also has a very nice assortment of songs that work very well to set the tone of the scene. I especially love Tom Waits's Underground, which is the best song to ever play in a factory/hell setting like it is.
The movie did great critically and even got nominated for a few awards, though some critics argued that the story felt like it came off the assembly line. I don't exactly disagree with that, but the story is still very nice and good and definitely has a meaning that hasn't really been told as of late nowadays. Still, a great movie and you should all watch it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)