Rebel Moon: Stop Giving Zack Snyder Creative Control

Summary

Netflix doubles down on the 21^st century’s most over-hyped director, Zack Snyder.

Zack Snyder can’t seem to string a story together to save his life, maybe he is one of the few directors that works better under tight studio control, as such here we see some sort of rip-off of Star Wars and the Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai that has no soul or personality. It is Bayian, a term I am coining to refer to the works of Michael Bay, in that it is all style and flash but underneath it is just nothing.

The decision to split this into two parts reeks of Netflix and Zack thinking this was going to be bigger than it was, as it stands it is just a film without an ending, reflecting my earlier point that Snyder can’t put a story together and is an awful writer.

Worse yet Sofia Boutella, who actually is a good actor she just chooses to star in flop after flop as she has the most unlucky agent in Hollywood, clearly has taken inspiration from the Alaqua Cox school of acting and plays her central role with the same look of I am a badass and I’m pissed off for the whole film. There is no attempt to give her character anything more than that, but that can be said also for the other characters who are so thin that you struggle to even call them caricatures.

Then you have the distinct lack of gore, what were they thinking there. Was this supposed to be child friendly, if so who thought that was a good idea considering most of Snyder’s fanbase are angry men, who whilst they may act like children are in fact not.

Overall, a woeful dud for Netflix

1/5

Pros.

It has some good visuals

Cons.

It’s boring

Sofia Boutella is awful

It is far too long

Snyder cannot write

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Orion And The Dark: One For The Anxious Kids

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A young boy realises that the dark is nothing to be afraid of.

I really liked this film for the most part. I thought that Orion was super relatable, and that anyone who was ever an anxious kid will immediately remember feeling his anxieties, it is like a shared collective trauma. I thought it was a bit weird when we stepped away from Orion and it was about his kid and then her kid, I thought this seemed a little confused and messed with the flow of the film it would have worked better narratively if it had just stuck with him.

I thought Orion’s interactions with and friendships with Dark and the other night entities was all quite sweet. You really believed the friendship between Orion and Dark and when they save each other from death throughout the course of the film at different points you can see they care about each other. It is very wholesome. Plus it was nice seeing Natasia Demetriou get some work she is always great. My one complaint on the character side of things would be that the film had too many and as such some of the side characters came off as wanting and lacking in the personality department, we could see them on-screen but knew very little about them.

Overall, a solid Netflix animated film.

4/5

Pros.

The lead is super relatable

The friendship between Dark and Orion is nice

It is very wholesome

The animation is nice

Cons.

The side characters are underdeveloped

Swapping to Orion’s kid and then his kid’s kid is a bit jarring

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Chicken Run Dawn On The Nugget: I’d Rather Have Some KFC

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Chickens are back.

I am going to be up front with you all when I watched this film I was eating the Christmas deals from KFC at the same time, that is my sense of humour.

I like Aardman, I support British animation, but deary me this film was unnecessary. When will the trend of the characters we care about from previous films being called out by their kids end ? So here we see Molly, Bella Ramsey, call out her mum from hiding her from the world and saying how she wants more out of life, Ginger, Thandwie Newton, could have easily avoided the events of the film by saying ‘look if you go outside of this island you’ll die’ but no.

Anyway, the new preachy daughter character saying how the chickens now have a moral duty to go and free the other chickens in the camps at the end is just irritating. We don’t need every character to be an activist.

Maybe it is because I didn’t like the first film but if there was supposed to be any charm here it is just not showing up for me.

Finally, and this may be somewhat controversial, but Molly’s scouse best friend has an incredibly grating and irritating accent and every time she says anything it just goes through you. Having heard many a scouse accent in my time, I was thinking to myself is this someone making an over-the-top impression but nope. It is honestly hard to listen to at times.

Overall, they should make a Robin Robin sequel and stop this.

Pros.

It is short

The animation is impressive

Cons.

It didn’t need to exist

The whole plot of the film could have been easily avoided with one piece of dialogue

The scouse chicken

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Black Mirror: Season Six Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A new season of Black Mirror presents itself, dare you step inside this modern day Twilight Zone.

I thought this season as a whole was fantastic, easily the best season of Black Mirror in years and certainly the best since Netflix took over the show. There were no bad episodes each episode both fit within the mould of the wider season whilst also doing something new and fun, this is highlighted perfectly by the two episodes that book end the season one is an inception like science fiction and the other an end times disaster romp through south Yorkshire.

As I have said in a number of reviews over the years when it comes to anthology shows and films it is very easy for one bad segment to hold back the wider whole of the season or film, however that definitely isn’t the case here. I also liked that though this season had Black Mirror’s sense of dark humour there were enough jokes and lighter moments scattered over the episodes to keep you watching whilst also perfectly balancing the tone.

Overall, this is a season of Black Mirror that pretty much anyone could enjoy.

4.5/5

Pros.

The tone of the episode

The way the episodes play with and interact with each other on a subtextual level

The acting is great

The concepts really come together

The twists and turns

Cons.

There were a few minor pacing issues within some of the episodes.

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Demon Slayer The Movie Mugen Train: The Embers Of A Dream

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Our friendly band of Demon Slayers ride the rails only to come up against one of their toughest challenges yet.

I watched this film in the episodic approach as that was what I had available to me.

I thought this was a great film, perfectly expanding on the ending of the first season and nicely bridging the gap between the seasons. I think what is so impressive about this was the depth of emotional maturity they aimed for with it especially when you consider this series is supposed to be for kids. The scenes wherein Tanjiro went back to see his dead family, though dreams, and had to leave them again as they were begging him not to go, hit hard and you really do feel the emotion behind them.

I am somewhat mixed on the new Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku, on the one hand he has a number of strong scenes that make him a very welcome new addition to the show. However, on the other his ultimate fate is teased heavily in the opening credits, and as such I felt that the impact was lessened at the end when he did die. Though that said I still liked the character and was sad when he died.

The action and the fight scenes are well done and the film as a whole does feel like it has a bigger scope than the first season of the show, allowing it to really tap into the horror and monstrosity more which greatly benefited things.

Overall, a great follow up film.

4.5/5

Pros.

The action

The emotional impact

Nezuko really shines in her limited appearances

It gets me excited for the next season of the show

It widens the scope

Cons.

Rengoku’s death is a little spoiled by the opening credits

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Human Resources: Season Two Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The hormone monsters are back in the office.

So I wasn’t a big fan of the first season of this show as I thought it was confused and overly busy. However, I am a fan of Big Mouth, as many of you will know, as such I wanted to like this show and I can say that I did enjoy this second season far more.

This is mainly because the show really crafts a key group of monster characters and sticks to them, it is not like the first season wherein we were constantly being barraged by new characters in every scene. Moreover, by focusing on a smaller group of characters it allowed for each to get some meaningful development over the season. The quality of this development is somewhat questionable as whilst each character does get progressed this season it at times feels like they are just running through names trying to give each character a scene to show where they are at now and then move on.

Building upon the issue of hollow character development, this season also tries to give a different character focus per episode which in an off itself isn’t a bad idea. However, the issue that then comes with this is that you might care about Rochelle or Maury and Connie and as such want to see their storylines get developed rather than being thrown into another character’s world, who you may not care about, for an entire episode. It slows things down a lot and causes you to stop paying attention in these other storylines.

Overall, the characters shine a lot more this season and it does right a lot of the wrongs of the first, however, the uneven character work and segmented approach to who the series is following on an episode by episode basis mean the series isn’t perfect.

4/5

Pros.

It is funny

The characters are better and more developed

It stops forcing in new characters

It rights a lot of the wrongs of the first season

Cons.

The character work is uneven and the segmented episode approach focusing on different characters takes you out of it at times.

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Demon Slayer: Season One Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Tanjiro must save his sister after she is bitten and turned into a demon, this then leads him on a quest to become a member of the Demon Slayer Corps.

I am aware that this show has been popular for a while and that I am late to the party, but I must say that after having just finished the first season that this is one of the best anime series I have watched in a long time.

To me the series evokes the vibes of classic Pokémon, if you get it you get it, this is especially true after the rest of the traveling companions show up mid-way through the season. However, I think the biggest strength of this show is its emotional core and the fact that the focus is often on the relationship between Tanjiro and his demon sister Nezuko which allows for the show to deliver some gut punches right to the feels.

In addition, I would say that this series does quite a lot with the horror elements considering the series is supposed to be child friendly as well, I thought there were a number of scenes especially during the forest arc where they managed to shock and disturb me. Although it must be said that the same forest arc also points out the major downside of this show, its pacing. For the most part this show moves along nicely, however, in some of the more action heavy episodes the same battle can stretch on for multiple episodes and feel like it outstays its welcome.

Overall, definitely an anime to check out the next time you’re on Netflix.

Ps. The little meta scenes at the end of each episode wherein they talk directly to the camera are frequently a delight.

4/5

Pros.

The end credits scenes

The emotion

The bond between the characters

The horror elements

Cons.

The pacing at times can drag

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The Mother: The Embarrassing State Of Netflix’s Action Output

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Mother, played by Jennifer Lopez, formed a bond with a child she gave away years ago and now needs to save her.

This film was just embarrassing. It was embracing for Jennifer Lopez as try as she might she just doesn’t have the presence to be a believable action hero. I know that the straight to DVD action market is a lucrative thing, with the likes of Ruby Rose getting several nice but small paydays throughout the year for a few sleepwalked performances, but unlike Rose Lopez just isn’t believable in the role at all. They could have maybe helped her along by developing the character out into being unconventional in some way or maybe even having her as a hacker, though I question if Lopez would have fit that role either, but having her as an assassin is laughable.

It is embarrassing for Netflix that this is the quality of action film they are putting out, again very much like something that in the previous decade would have gone straight to DVD and sold at a rock bottom price. When you look at the quality of studio action films with the likes of John Wick then this film looks even more like no one cared enough to make it good or more importantly look good. Then when you further compare it to international action films like The Raid then this film looks appallingly bad.

Netflix as a studio, needs to find their niche of films and stick to it as action clearly isn’t for them, they are throwing away masses of money on films like this, The Grey Man, Extraction and so on and all of them can never get anywhere even remotely above average on their best days.

Overall, a waste of time.

1/5

Pros.

I’m struggling but it wasn’t offensive so I can’t give it less.

Cons.

Lopez is miscast

The action is awful

It is generic

It has pacing issues

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Paradise PD, Was A Man Killing Cats Ever Funny?

Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about the latest season of Paradise PD and the idea of mean spirited humour.

I want to open this up by saying humour is totally subjective so what works or doesn’t work for me might work or not work for you, I am not saying my opinions on what is and isn’t funny are definitive this is simply an opinion piece.

Recently I sat down to watch the most recent season of Paradise PD on Netflix after having watched all of the previous seasons, however, unlike with those seasons I was barely able to make it more than one episode into the new season.

Now why was that? Well though the show has always had mean humour in a similar vein to something like Family Guy and I found with this most recent season that all the characters are just so unlikeable and hateable that I find it hard to watch. There is no reason to watch something when you hate every single one of the characters, is there?

Worse yet in a lot of the cases I find that the characters are hateful for no other reason than to be edgy. That complaint has been levelled against this show since day one and for the most part I ignored it, but now it is too much to ignore, this show is edgy for the sake of it and rather than be cool as the creators probably want it to be it just feels try hardy. Look at a recent adult animation like Little Demon it had a lot of gross out gags and edgy humour but it also had an engaging story, deeper themes and characters you didn’t hate. It didn’t have the character living in the anus of an inbred baby for a joke.

I don’t know dear reader, I don’t know whether this season is any worse than the last few but I do know that it was finally the time wherein I saw the worse side of this show and stopped watching. Maybe I have changed or maybe it is simply the fact that watching a man kill cats and then do a musical number with them isn’t funny.

Hopefully Netflix cancels this show soon.

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The Ridiculous Six: Not Even Trying To Hide The Racism

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Adam Sandler plays a Native American.

Yikes. There was a time when I considered myself a Sandler die hard, I watched all of his films and thought he could do no wrong, then came Jack and Jill and his move to Netflix.

This film feels like it is trying to be edgy, not because the film thinks it is funny, or to own the libs or any other whiney platitude, but rather as a last gasp, as these old timers know that if they aren’t making gross out jokes and objectifying women then people might realise they are wasted up and not funny anymore. Many people can already see that.

I won’t rant at you about the meanspirited nature of this film, or the racial lines it crosses, and believe me this film could easily be labelled racist, but I will say that it is sad to see Sandler and co relegated to this. To me it screams of a group of guys who have given up on themselves and their careers and have realised that their heyday is long since over. It is sad.

I can’t see why anyone would find this film funny, it is just pathetic. It makes even the worst most lazy jokes on current year Family Guy look like comedy masterstrokes, it is just bad. However, maybe that is the point, maybe Sandler and co are just trying to ride the gravy train until they hit forgotten relic status. Sandler at least can save himself with some of the more dramatic work he is doing recently, but some of these guys like Anti-Vaxx ranter Rob Schneider are done.

Overall, Netflix never did get the memo on quality over quantity.

1/5

Pros.

It makes for a good way to entertain your pets when you have to go out for a bit.

Cons.

It is deeply not funny

It is sad to see Sandler reduced so low

It is quite creepy at times, and also racist

It is pathetic in more ways than one

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