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Wednesday (2022)
A show with flaws that is carried by the titular character
Wednesday is no masterpiece but it is a very entertaining series with a unique main character. I really liked the character of Wednesday and I laughed out loud at some of the things she says and the things she does.
To me, this show is a comedy above all else. I do have a weird sense of humor so perhaps this is only an interpretation relevant to me but I didn't really watch this for the mystery or the drama but almost entirely for the laughs.
The murder mystery and the plot were pretty mid imo. There's a lot of head scratching moments in terms of revelations and quite a few moments that made me question my suspension of disbelief.
I liked some of the supporting cast while others weren't as good. I thought Wednesdays parents and basically every member of the Addams family were interesting. I particularly enjoyed Thing.
I thought the friendship between Inid and Wednesday was pretty good but most of the other kids were kinda uninteresting.
However, I felt the character of Wednesday absolutely carried the show with a combination of good dialogue and an amazing performance from the lead actress.
I didn't take this show particularly seriously but I loved the one liners and the main acting performance. I think it's pretty good overall but definitely not perfect. To me, it succeeds with character and comedy but doesn't do all that well as a mystery.
I did think the show got worse as it went along. The first half of episodes was definitely stronger than the second half. Still, I do recommend Wednesday for people who enjoy deadpan or morbid humor. It's not amazing or anything but it definitely made me crack up a few times.
Gen V (2023)
The Boys without any Memorable Characters -- UPDATE it's better than I thought
(I watched a few more episodes and bumped my review up one star. I'm leaving my original review. Scroll to bottom for update.)
I am not a super fan of the Boys. I like it and I watched most of it but I don't think it's the greatest thing ever. It's a good show. I think I gave it a 7/10. I saw Gen V while accompanying a friend who got free tickets to the theatrical release of the first two episodes. What I found most interesting about Gen V was how it really clarified what makes the Boys good because Gen V is missing that element.
Gen V has a lot of similarities to the Boys. It has the juvenile humor, the explicit sex, and the superpowered gore.
What Gen V is missing that the Boys does have in spades is interesting characters. The Boys actually has some really interesting characters in the cast from Butcher to Hughie to Starlight and most interesting of all, imo, is Homelander. There's a clear antagonist and it's a great antagonist in Homelander. He's a loose cannon and insanely powerful. He's genuinely scary and basically invincible.
Gen V doesn't have an interesting antagonist. In fact, after the first two episodes, which was all I watched, there wasn't a clear antagonist at all.
The characters of Gen V aren't anywhere near as interesting as the characters of the Boys. None of them even come close to matching the interesting dysfunction of Butcher or the idealistic optimism of a Hughie. The characters of Gen V are generic and boring. It's not an acting issue but a writing issue.
Gen V tries very hard to emulate the Boys but falls short because they failed the most important part of many narratives; the characters.
_____________
So I watched a few more episodes and I think I was slightly too harsh. The character development actually got a lot better in episodes 3-5. There was less focus on spectacle and set up and it became more intimate and focused.
There were some good twists and actually the show became almost entirely character driven rather than plot driven and I enjoyed this change for the most part. I felt like the characters were given more depth and became less caricatures and more like real well rounded people. Overall, my rating isn't changing dramatically, because I still think Gen V is just slightly above average but the character writing is actually quite a bit better than I gave it credit for. I wouldn't say it has NO memorable characters. The characters aren't as good as the Boys, I stand by that, but they're not the totally one-dimensional cardboard cutouts that episodes 1-2 lead me to believe.
Isekai de Cheat Skill wo Te ni Shita Ore wa, Genjitsu Sekai wo mo Musou Suru: Level Up wa Jinsei wo Kaeta (2023)
A hilariously awful male wish fulfillment fantasy
This show is absolutely hilarious to me because I've never seen something that is so obviously dedicated to male wish fulfillment. It had me laughing out loud, not because it's trying to be funny, or is a successful comedy, but because it's so utterly transparent and completely ridiculous. Let's catalogue some of what this show has to offer.
You have a main character who starts out obese, ugly, and unintentionally comically mistreated.
You have a main character who gets beat up like 3 times in the first five minutes.
You have a main character who then becomes god level awesome with absolutely minimal effort.
You have a main character who makes multiple women swoon simply by his presence. This includes a princess, a model, a school council president, an assassin, HIS HOMEROOM TEACHER, and basically every woman he meets.
You have a main character who beats a bear and a motorcycle in hand to hand combat.
You have a main character who's not just the strongest warrior around, he's also the strongest wizard.
You have a main character who is amazing at literally everything he does and it's written into the plot. The things he's amazing at include saving people from fires, fishing with his hands, soccer/football, modeling, winning those crane games in arcades, oh and he's an outstanding chef. I'm sure I'm missing some. There's a lot of things he's amazing at. Basically everything he tries.
The protagonist of this show is a gary sue to the max. I've never seen anything come even close. Most shows follow a classic conflict structure of challenge and growth, going up and down, growing more intense with every challenge. This show is just the main character one-upping himself over and over as he does more and more awesome stuff.
I really think this concept could've been interesting if it'd been handled with more nuance. I was actually interested in the very beginning because I've never really seen an anime with an ugly, obese main character and I thought it could be a really cool underdog story. Unfortunately, that character basically dies in the first episode and becomes the infallible GOD CHAD.
After the main character transforms into a super hot "long legged" male babe model who's strong and magical and rich and handsome and also humble and kind, there's almost no reflection on his past at all. It's like there's two protagonists. The original, compelling, human version got tagged out for an unstoppable and unrealistic gary sue.
This is not a good show at all. It is, however, truly hilarious due to how unapologetically committed it is to being a shallow male wish fulfillment fantasy.
The Wheel of Time: Damane (2023)
Wheel of Time is a decent watch but a total failure as an adaptation
I genuinely don't understand reviewers who claim this series is a good or 'faithful' adaptation. The issue is not that the show doesn't follow the source material exactly - everyone knew to expect changes. Wheel of Time is definitely challenging source material to adapt due to the scope and the expansive ensemble cast. Everyone knew to expect that things be cut. No one has an issue with cut content; it was inevitable. The issue is that the show adds and alters details that have nothing to do with condensing the source material.
Why does Nynaeve practice fighting swords with the warders? There's a line in the books, The Great Hunt, where she literally says "I would rather practice swords with the warders" as an example of something she would be extremely reluctant to do akin to someone saying they'd rather watch paint dry. That's not a result of cutting content and making the story more dense. It's a complete fabrication that is directly contradicted by the books.
Why does Lanfear wear black? She wears white almost exclusively in the books. Again, this is not a side effect of condensing source material, it's a sharp divergence and such an easy thing to correct and make faithful.
Why did Perrin use a sword rather than an axe when fighting in an earlier episode? That's such a simple and obvious way to be faithful to the books but the show decided to give him a sword instead. Perrin's iconic weapon is the axe, not the sword.
Why is Moiraine a total betrayal of her book character? Why can't she channel? Why is Moiraine, master of subtle suggestion, running around threatening innocent people? Why is she now a psycho who loves to stab and slit throats? She never once uses a dagger in the books as a weapon. That's not a change resulting from condensing the source material. It's a total departure. Book Moiraine is a master of the great game and an extremely subtle character while still being compassionate and morally good. She never uses a dagger because she doesn't need to. She's that good at manipulating and influencing events. Show Moiraine is noisy and melodramatic while being morally grey, sometimes even veering into evil territory.
Why isn't Ishmael crazy? That's one of his fundamental characteristics and one of the things that makes him interesting in the books. Show Ishmael is a generic villain and fails to be anywhere near as interesting. Again, making Ishmael proper crazy in the show wouldn't have required any extra screen time. He should actually probably be getting less screen time than he is. The issue has never been cutting content it's been adding content or altering content needlessly.
Why was Mat 'born belonging to me' (Ishmael) in the show? There's so much great material for Matrim Cauthon, 100% more than they could ever hope to fit into the show, so why aren't the writers using any of it? Why are they instead making up their own story for him that doesn't have any resemblance to his very good and beloved book story?
I could go on and on with more changes that aren't a result of needing to condense source material, but rather the writers taking the Wheel of Time universe for a joyride, but I think I've illustrated my point.
As for the show itself, it's growing on me. I actually like it quite a bit. I see it as kind of a silly romp with lots of funny moments. My favorite in this episode was the fingernail cutting scene but my favorite in the season so far was definitely when Moiraine road off in the night alone after learning there were Myrddraal around. She gets caught by those myrddraal, Lan and her almost die, but they get saved at the last moment. So what does she do next? Ride off into the night alone again. I laughed pretty hard at that.
Also, in this episode, Rand and Moiraine were hiding from Lanfear but not waiting for her to ride out of sight before stepping out from behind a bush. She's one of the most dangerous people in the universe but they don't even wait for her to ride out of sight before jumping out from behind their hiding spots. All she needed to do was look over her shoulder. Funny stuff! A large part of my enjoyment comes from embracing the campy side of this show.
The OST continues to be a strong point and the set design has definitely leveled up. The costumes look better, the fight scenes are better, the visual representation of channeling is better.
There's some great casting decisions in the form of Elayne, Lanfear, Elyas, Verin, Suroth, Bornhald, and the actors from season 1 continue to do a good job. The actors are absolutely not the problem with this show; they're actually carrying it.
The quality overall is definitely improved from season 1 and I think Wheel of Time might be finding it's stride and developing into a decent show on its own.
I still can't help but feel regret at what could've been if the writers had been more adept at actually adapting the source material.
The Wheel of Time: A Taste of Solitude (2023)
Better than season 1 but still a bad adaptation
Putting aside the fact that this adaptation is really stretching the boundaries of how far a story can veer away from its source material while still claiming to be an "adaptation," season 2 is absolutely, indisputably better than season 1 on its own merit.
Season 1 wasn't just a bad adaptation, it was a bad show. The set design, music, costume design, writing, everything about the production was awful. Season 2 is at least a decent show on its own merit, which it needs to be, because it's definitely not a faithful adaptation.
The music is a big step up in quality and I actually really like some of the OST in season 2. It's good stuff.
The White Tower is portrayed so much better in season 2, they actually did a pretty good job of bringing Tar Valon to life.
There are far less WTF moments in season 2, although they are still there.
The show still has the problem of feeling like bad fan fiction of excellent source material but looking beyond that it's a step up in terms of quality from season 1.
The decision to make Moiraine the central protagonist is still a questionable one and even more questionable considering how they butchered her character. Book Moiraine is a mastermind schemer and planner with an iron will and a shrewd mind. Everything she does and has done for the last twenty years, is all towards the singular goal of ushering the dragon reborn safely towards the last battle. Show Moiraine is an idiot who abandons the Dragon Reborn after finding him and loves the ride off alone into the night, while shielded/stilled, and leaving Lan behind. Show Moiraine is a character who learns Fades are around and then proceeds to tell exactly no one about this crucial information before riding off into the night alone. It's the fantasy equivalent of a character in a slasher movie deciding they need to split up and investigate the basement alone. This is only the criticism of a single character. Every character has changes that make them objectively worse than their book cousins.
However, I truly believe the show, on its own merit, has absolutely improved in quality in season 2 from season 1. I'm just not sure it's improved enough to justify using the Wheel of Time name.
Bocchi the Rock! (2022)
A cute, wholesome, hilarious masterpiece
Bocchi the Rock is a masterpiece. I was raving to my friend about this show and begging him to watch it and he said he wasn't sure because he's not a Japenese teenage girl. I told him that didn't matter because anxiety and music are universal.
This show has one of the most relatable and realistic depictions of social anxiety I've ever seen in any show. There were many small, specific instances where Bocchi expressed anxiety in situations that I have personally experienced. Not just that, but it handles anxiety in a realistic way while also managing to be absolutely hilarious. In real life, anxiety is anything but funny. It can be crippling and debilitating. In Bocchi the Rock, anxiety is shown with respect and understanding while managing to make it laugh out loud funny. A very hard feat to achieve for a piece of fiction.
The music in this show is also very well done. The songs within the context of the show are excellent. The lyrics and sound almost perfectly reflect the characters who created them. Again, the artists struggle is very well done and covers a lot of very relatable and universal situations dealing with feelings of inadequacy, imposter syndrome, and the vulnerability that comes with releasing a piece of art for public scrutiny. But it goes even farther and manages to deliver an incredibly uplifting and inspirational story from a very grounded perspective of a fledgling and insecure artist.
The writing alone would be enough to elevate this show to exceptional status but the animation and production is also extremely well done and exactly on point. There's a lot of very creative animated scenes that I've never seen in an anime before. There's occasional cuts to live action, CG animation, claymation, and many other mediums. These unusual pieces of animation are extremely creative and it's not self indulgent. Every one of these scenes was done in a specific style for effect and they all land perfectly. Most of the show is animated as a traditional anime but I loved that they experimented with completely original mediums.
Bocchi the rock made me tear up in almost every episode while also making me laugh out loud in every episode. Personally, I rate pieces of fiction based on how strong of an emotional reaction I have. That's why I'm giving Bocchi the Rock a 10/10 rating. I don't give many pieces of fiction a perfect score but I truly believe this is a perfect show.
After it finished, I could only wish for more. More seasons are coming, I only wish they would come sooner. Very few shows have made me feel Bocchi the Rock's unique combination of cute, wholesome, touching, funny, and inspirational.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022)
A Hauntingly Beautiful Sci-Fi Dystopian Romance
Edgerunners blew my mind. It's a pretty short series with ten episodes at 25 minutes each so it's really bingeable. I put off watching this for quite a while because I was really lukewarm on the Cyberpunk game and universe. Well, Edgerunners eclipses the game in just about every storytelling metric.
I've been watching a bunch of anime recently so I decided to dive into Edgerunners. I wasn't ready for it despite all the hyper surrounding it.
This show...This show shook me to my core. Even today, almost 24 hours after finishing it, I feel like I could break into tears just thinking about it.
The ending is absolutely heart-rending. I am a bit of a softie when it comes to fiction and I can cry easily but very few shows make me weep like a child for an hour post-ending like this show did. It's the perfect combination of dreams and nightmares, love and hate, innocence and maturity.
The writing is superb. There's absolutely zero wasted time; the writing is both extremely potent and economical. There are powerful metaphors and everything is conveyed perfectly.
The characters are unforgettable. Each of them are distinct and display an exceptional level of depth.
The romance within the show is extremely realistic. Both of them have their own distinct wants, needs, and motivations, and the romance doesn't feel contrived at all. As a result, it's far more immersive and draws more investment from the viewer than the typical fictional romance.
Overall, I highly recommend Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Just be prepared to feel deeply and intensely.
Vampire's Kiss (1988)
A historic acting performance and a meme in film form
Vampire's Kiss is an absolute hidden gem. The over-the-top acting performance from Nicholas Cage is extremely entertaining. I laughed so hard at some scenes my cheeks ached.
The title is a misnomer as Vampire's Kiss is not really a vampire movie at all. It's a movie about rich, shallow, work-obsessed corporate executives in New York.
There's actually a pretty good movie here as well with coherent themes. As much as Vampire's Kiss, on the surface, is a movie about Nicholas Cage acting like an unhinged lunatic, it's also a film about loneliness as a working stiff. It explores the shallow lives of corporate sharks in an absurd manner. Delusion is another major theme. Thematically, it's very, very similar to America Psycho but it's much more funny and not nearly as well executed. Honestly though, at the end of the day, if it were any other actor besides Nicholas Cage, the movie would be lackluster on it's own.
Nicholas Cage's acting performance in this movie was panned by critics but I honestly think it's amazing and carries the movie. Nicholas Cage is electric in this movie where he acts completely ridiculous in every situation.
Worth watching for the laughs. It's a grade A dark comedy. If you love Nick Cage, this is a much-watch film, as this is peak Nick Cage.
Terrifier (2016)
A unique slasher held back by terrible characters
I watched this with a friend last night for laughs. I had seen a youtube essay about this movie and I had only two expectations going in: that it would be funny, and that it would be gory.
Terrifier fulfilled both of my expectations. Art the clown is a very unique slasher killer simply because he is equally silly and menacing. This is a slasher killer who rides a tiny bike, makes silly facial expressions, laughs silently to himself, and honks a tiny horn at his victims. However, he's also a killer who chainsaws a woman in half starting between her legs. I couldn't watch that scene, it was truly disgusting.
Unfortunately, despite making me laugh with it's absurdity, Terrifier is never actually scary. The tension and suspension of disbelief is absolutely destroyed by the character writing. The victim characters are some of the most braindead idiots in any slasher film ever. They take selfies with Art, they explore a derelict warehouse for no reason, they hide in closets and stay there after being found, they refuse to run, and just overall, they are people with absolutely no survival instincts. The completely unrealistic character writing really held this film back from ever being scary. The victims F-tier decision making always reminded us we were watching a movie and that these characters weren't real. It's contrived in the worst way.
There's also other gaffs like a man taking a hammer strike to the head and having a tiny cut afterwards, or a woman getting her ankle sawed at with a scalpel for almost a minute only to run away later. And a later scene showed her ankle as having three thin cuts when the action should've rendered her ankle severed to the bone.
Overall, it's a fun movie to laugh at and be grossed out by but not much else. It's definitely not scary and definitely not a great horror film. However, the unique aspect of Art the clown being both funny and creepy salvages the movie from being a complete disaster.
X (2022)
Sex, gore, and complex characters
X is an interesting horror movie. On one hand, you get a lot of the classic feel of horror films, especially from the 70s. The look and feel of the movie is a fairly obvious (imo) homage to 70s horror films like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Hills Have Eyes. There's sex, obviously, seeing as the plot follows the crew of an adult movie.
The gore is realistic if a little over the top and the physical effects work well. There's some good kill scenes and they're mostly unexpected.
The movie is definitely horrifying and has some moments that are hard to watch in a good way.
What the movie does best, however, is its characters. The characters are pretty interesting and each of them has a good amount of depth for a horror film. The main character, Maxine, has a lot of interesting depth in particular.
That said, I think this movie has a major flaw for a horror movie and the major flaw is very simple. There's next to no tension in this movie. The very best horror films aren't just gory or filled with brutal deaths. They contain suspense and anticipation. The scariest moments for me are never when someone gets brutally killed with gore flying all over the place. It's the charged moments between or before killings where your imagination runs wild out of fear. While X is certainly disgusting and horrifying in terms of gore and death, I'm not sure it's ever actually scary.
Overall, X has some really nice characters and interesting themes but falls short as a horror movie due to the lack of tension and suspense.
The Wheel of Time (2021)
A story of hubris
There's a beautiful painting hanging on the wall. It's been admired by tens of millions of people. The painting depicts men and women working together on an epic scale and there's not very many paintings like it.
A corporation decides to recreate the painting and so they hire someone who professes to love that painting. Once he gets the job, the hireling decides he needs to change the painting. He rejects the classic work of art and picks up a paintbrush. What he creates to replace the original resembles the original painting only by name.
He removes all colour from the painting, instead painting the entire thing one tone. All shading and depth of field are removed in favor of flatness. The subject of painting changes. The interior logic of the painting shifts and no longer makes sense thematically or practically.
This hireling revels in causing pain to those who enjoyed the original. He even plans on removing subjects from the original painting and anticipates enjoyment at the cries of outrage from actual fans.
This new painting isn't like the original - and most people knew to expect that. What isn't expected is that this new painting actively disrespects the original while being a painting of extremely low merit on it's own.
If you're going to remake a masterpiece, at least make sure the new painter has a modicum of skill because otherwise you'll be left trying to claim a rudimentary, primitive scratching on canvas is a masterpiece.
Underwater (2020)
A surprising sci fi horror film
This film surprised me in a positive way. I wasn't sure if I'd like it. The rating is quite low. I think it's too low. The characters are okay. They're pretty good considering there's not really a break in the action at any point. This is the opposite of a slow film. The pacing is lightning quick.
Some of the character motivations and the realism of certain scenes did stir some skepticism in me. These suits they wear must be incredibly tough; far tougher than even the best space age technology because characters are dragged at high velocity over the ocean floor and yet there's never a rip or a break in these characters suits. That seemed to me to be a little oversight.
Despite everything else, this film does one thing very well. Something incredibly important for horror films. This movie has a very strong sense of atmosphere. The set design is stellar. The CG and effects are exceptional. The monster element is a slow burn.
A visceral sci-fi horror movie with obvious inspiration from alien and other space horror films featuring okay characters, decent performances, awesome CGI and atmosphere.
The Invisible Man (2020)
A freaky thriller with commentary on domestic abuse
Crazy that the top user review laments the film fails to explore the abusive sociopathic husband character. There's been too many films with strong females, clearly, we need more insight into abusive men. The film isn't about the husband. The person who wrote that review has a series case of tunnel vision with a bizarre focus.
The film itself is a taut, scary thriller where most of the terror comes from being in an inexplicable and awful situation where no one believes you and no one sees your pain. The invisible man is a commentary on abuse in our society. It's often invisible.
Naruto (2002)
Despite the filler, a fantastic show.
I saw my brother watching Naruto and tuned in. The filler killed me. I thought the show was garbage. Years later I gave it a genuine go. Naruto is an epic saga that will fill your heart with joy and sorrow. A truly fantastic epic fantasy. There's episodes that are 100% skippable, yes, but the good stuff is very, very good. I can't remember a show in recent memory that made me laugh and made me cry like this one.
The magic system is really cool and very in depth. The writing manages to surprise without cheap tricks. The characters are wholesome.
One negative I'd give to this show is that it borders on too wholesome. Even the villains have a backstory that gives them sympathy. There's not a single pure black villain in the show. Overall, I loved Naruto and I'm a grown man. I never expected to. I'm very hard to please. I've read plenty of epic fantasy, watched plenty of great films, and this kind of anime is usually far outside of my interest. But Naruto is a very special story. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves the fantasy genre.
Soupçons (2004)
The very best of the true crime documentaries
I watch a lot of true crime documentaries. None are as immersive, a story interesting, or as divisive as this. The staircase is an epic saga taking place over decades. There's mystery, injustice, courtroom dramatics and a broad cast of interesting characters. To me, the Staircase is the best of the best of true crime docs. Highly recommend.
Black Summer (2019)
Dumb from the first scene
I rated it a five because I literally just started watching and already I feel like noping out. Me, the zombie media lover. Okay, so they get to a checkpoint and military people are using metal detectors. Why? It makes no sense. Why are they using metal detectors? This is a zombie apocalypse, not a stadium event. The concern is zombies and the infected, not if someone has a metal belt buckle, or even a handgun. It's a dumb, dumb detail and gives me the impression the writers are out to lunch.
Second, the army guy somehow knows the husband has been bitten ? Also, the metal detectors never go off? No one wears belts? Plus, why tf are army officers using airport metal detectors? With the US military budget? Give me a break. Terrible, terrible opening scene.
The shaky cam is immersion breaking. It gives the impression a camera man is following the characters in some scenes.
First impression is very, very poor. I dunno why Netflix can't figure it out, but this show isn't the answer to anything.
Oh and now the husband has become a zombie, very suddenly, within literally 2 minutes of being okay. He was good enough to stand in line, had a bite on his stomach, okay, but very suddenly becomes a zombie. This whole show seems contrived in the worse way.
Update : I couldn't make it through episode one. Awful show.
Serial Killer with Piers Morgan (2017)
Awful show, awful host
Man enters interview with Piers. Man convicted of brutal murder, serial murder, and here's the evidence. Man claims he's not guilty. Piers says he is! Man says no, wrongly convicted. Piers says You're evil! Man says no I'm not. End of episode.
Just crap, shallow interviews. This format has potential but Piers is too biased and completely out of his depth. He sucks at his role of interview and sticks to his bias and shallow, dumb questions. Dumb show.
Killer Women with Piers Morgan (2016)
Piers adds nothing to this shallow, biased, weak true crime interview series.
This show leaves a lot to be desired. He's already decided these people are evil, and he asks a lot of the same questions. In one case, a woman was convicted with zero physical evidence, and yet he's convinced she's guilty because the prosecutor said so. Haven't watched any other true crime documentaries Piers?
Every heinous murderer claims they were wrongly convicted. Piers is just the wrong pick for a show like this, he's not asking Good questions and has literally zero qualifications for this role.
Weak, biased, shallow true crime interview series hosted by someone more suited to other subject matter.