Anime review: Knights of Sidonia (seasons 1 and 2 available on Netflix)

Knights of Sidonia is a show I want to like more, but don't. With elements borrowing from Battlestar Galactica, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Robotech, to name a few, it's on the solidly serviceable side, but falls just short of truly compelling.

Having watched it last year, I don't particularly remember the first season - I recall it seeming a bit slow and uneven, with an initially-odd-but-grows-on-you animation style. However, there was something interesting about it and it progressed nicely, building out the world, characters and general plot/story.

The second season is a more "complete" season. It didn't progress the story a whole lot, but was a very enjoyable character-building season; it felt very much like a Netflix-style show (although they apparently only commissioned the localization), where they took their time to tell the stories they want to tell and everything flowing together well; granted, that's typical for good anime and its serialized storytelling.

One of my big gripes with the second season (besides the lack of major storyline progression) is that while watching the fleshing out of the characters and growing relationships, I noticed a strange dichotomy on how the show is strangely both misogynist and feminist. The show has a LOT of fleshed out female characters, but a strong portion of them fall into the trope of falling for the male lead. In this case, the male lead is an amazing mech fighter, but awkward human. Granted, there's lots of awkwardness abound, which does help play with the ideas of the characters being slightly a-human due to their situation, but it lessens the show to a degree (must EVERY lead female develop feelings for the sensitive lead male?). It feels quintessentially Japanese, in both good ways and less so.

That said, it does a very interesting job of showing people falling for someone who clearly is not paying attention/still not over their ex. I found that take on the story to be more interesting than the repeated awkward romance attempts and lesser plotlines.

Recommended as a casual viewing for people looking for an interesting space-faring mech action romance sci-fi show that could only come from Japan and is easy to consume. Just brace yourself if you're expecting greatness (or closure, as at least a third season is necessary, which I welcome).

Inside Out review - Pixar is Growing Up

The very quick review is that, as of right now, it didn’t work for me.

Inside Out has a lot of great ideas and is a very interesting interpretation on the inner workings of the mind, but as a movie, it fell flat due to its choices of characters and stories. To start, here’s what I liked (minor spoilers ahead):

1. The overall idea that sadness is OK and something we should accept and embrace

2.The general representation of depression being a lack of emotions and mentally shutting down

3. Bing Bong’s arc and emotional climax (favorite character, by far)

4. Riley’s emotional climax

5. One-off gags (e.g. facts vs opinions, catchy songs, most of the end credits), though I do have issues with these explained below

6. A lot of the psychological research that went into the movie


What didn’t work for me was the following:

1. The story of the Emotions taking away from the actual depth of characterization - Riley has less agency as she’s controlled more by her emotions than being an actual “being” (elaborated in #3 below)

2. The Emotions themselves being fairly one-dimensional as characters, though they have a small degree of emotional range; sure, they may gain a wider spectrum as they age, as evidenced by the parents, but what is their actual growth and development journey? Joy seemed to be the same from her day of conception to when Riley’s 11/12 and borderline annoying. Shouldn’t the emotions be more simple with younger age?

3. Similarly, the rules of the world are very, very strange. Pixar made an inventive take on the inner mind, but their consistency for the world at large appears lacking, particularly as other characters’ minds are reduced to stereotypical gags - the dad daydreaming about hockey, the mom daydreaming about the man who got away, teen boys freaking out about girls (which admittedly was VERY funny), the truck driver, the dog, the cat (particularly with the animals, why don’t they have sophisticated emotions like the humans had in their heads? Pixar went for obvious jokes). While they did show an interesting take on the mind expanding with age, it still leaves much to the imagination of how people grow and develop; not to mention why some people have different genders in their head or a different balance of emotions. Also, Bing Bong clearly had emotions - what’s going on inside his head?

4. On a minor note, if the story was about growing up and leaving childhood behind, the Toy Story films did a better job of this, particularly Toy Story 3.


Possibly my biggest irk is that, while this is a semi-autobiographical tale from Pete Docter based largely on his daughter, the story did not feel like his to tell. What should have been a really poignant coming of age story for Riley was reduced to this really adult take on what’s going on in her mind - the emotions were too smart, the humor was geared more for adults (reference and intelligence-wise) and the overall concept may have been too highbrow. As well, it felt rather disingenuous for Docter to tell this really personal story about someone else, when it would have made more sense for his daughter to tell THIS story.

On the other hand, had Docter made the story more about his own journey, that of the Dad’s, as he moves his whole family and ventures into a new land and new creative endeavor, while still figuring out how to balance his family life, particularly his inability to connect to his developing daughter, that would have been much more fascinating. A story of people coming of age together and learning to emotionally connect, especially when they have no idea what’s going on in the other person’s mind feels much more befitting of this than what actually happened.

Or a movie about a person learning to CONTROL their emotions, rather than letting their emotions get the best of them would have had a better message. I’ll easily admit my thoughts are judged by my own experiences and perspective, where I consider the world to currently be too emotional (particularly the US) and emotions getting the best of us causes us to disconnect from others. While the movie’s message of it being OK to accept emotions is a commendable one, a better message for society would be to also learn how to control them as we learn to relate to and communicate with others.

Because the movie only touched on one dimension of emotions in a disconnected-from-character-depth way, it fell flat for me. It was a great first stage of what could have been a more fleshed-out story as mentioned above. As it was, this felt like a gimmick that was best displayed by the dinner scene (which was a trailer).

I’m happy to give the film a rewatch and re-evaluation, but as of right now it gets only an AMBIVALENT RECOMMENDATION, as the artistry and technical prowess behind it is commendable. Also, Richard Kind’s Bing-Bong is just freaking amazing.

Last, it was known there were issues with the film for awhile, so if they were able to create this in a limited time and with limited sources, then that definitely deserves much applause.

Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem review - Animated Metal Opera Done Right

I didn't regularly watch the show, but Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem is a highly enjoyable metal/rock opera. It has an excellent blend of both musical genres and art directions. While it's best to have someone familiar with the show provide some context (or perhaps find a video online), it's pretty easy to respect what they've done. It's probably the top-notch entry in its genre (animated metal opera). Great narrative themes, great visuals and great music.

Highly recommended.

Jurassic World Review - A Successful Modernization, But Nothing New

Jurassic World was probably the biggest and best example of a "been there, done that" movie, but it was surprisingly enjoyable after going in with low expectations.

There was good humor and interesting characters, but there wasn't so much a story as things "just happened" and character arcs were ho-hum. Bryce Dallas Howard had the most interesting story (a mix of Alan Grant and Richard Hammond from the first one - genius scientist playing god/obsessed with control and not understanding kids/family, learning the value of the opposite over the course of the movie), but the film was neither built around her nor gave her the right focus or beats. As well, Chris Pratt didn't entirely work as the action expert due to his comedy getting in the way, despite some good banter/delivery of his lines with BDH (although BDH lacked chemistry with him).

Speaking of which, the meta humor was cheeky, but somewhat distracting. While it was fun seeing and hearing the references to the original Jurassic Park, some early humor about the situation took away from a later point in the movie, as well as raising overall questions on the logic and world building of Jurassic World.

Most disappointing, Michael Giacchino continued his streak of uninspired scores by creating another fairly generic big orchestra score, which may have been a commentary on the movie itself - reusing old cues and trying to be bigger, but the end result being rather generic. I hope studios take note to try and find someone else to follow in John Williams' footsteps (suggest either Thomas Newman or David Arnold).

All that said, the film earns a  RECOMMENDED for those wanting to revisit the world, but don't expect the intelligence, intrigue, excitement or awe of either of the Spielberg versions.

Mad Max: Fury Road - aka George Miller slapping every CGI-heavy action director in the face, ever

I'm jumping on the bandwagon and giving Mad Max: Fury Road a HIGH RECOMMENDATION for an action movie. Awesome choreography, excellent cinematography (some seriously gorgeous visuals), an exciting and dangerous universe. Yes, the movie has a serviceable story and isn't the best for character development, but there are some rich characters and lots of great themes to make up for it.

We seriously missed out by WB/DC not letting George Miller direct a Justice League movie. I'm guessing I'd rather rewatch Fury Road than any of the DCU movies.

This is the best event movie so far of the year. See it in theaters with big crowds. Go in only with the expectation of great action and you should be pleasantly surprised.

Scott McCloud's The Sculptor review

I'm a bit conflicted on Scott McCloud's long-awaited graphic novel "The Sculptor," although it's probably actually disappointed. I respect the craftsmanship, artwork, vulnerability and love that went into the graphic novel, but the characters... Though they felt very real and human, they came across as selfish, immature and egotistical (as expected for people in early-mid 20s). I often wanted to slap some sense into them.

On the whole, while I like its overall message - that art is important and can change the world - to a certain extent, it's rather self-indulgent, but not necessarily enough to detract from the overall book. There are some cool ideas and very sweet moments in the book, I just didn't enjoy all of the choices, particularly with regards to the characters themselves.

Rating: Recommended. I enjoyed it more than Bryan Lee O'Malley's Seconds, which is similar in concept, but different in execution. Funny how both are about very talented selfish flawed people (borderline assholes).

Musings on Life, Success, Happiness

Life is an RPG, structured with progression and the lessons of the WWE. One will be more successful with a good party, as this is a team-based experience.

There are plenty of cheat codes to life, which makes it feel like one big joke (in a good way), so find the humor in everything.

The challenge is to become an Influencer and happiness is decided based on which level of influence you are willing to work towards and either achieve or are complacent with.

Your industry of interest doesn't matter. The challenge is all the same.

Rashomon quick thoughts

Rashomon is an interesting movie. A bit dated now for it's narrative structure, with the first half or so kinda meh, but definitely picks up steam in the second half. There are a lot of great themes and elements that are contextually important, but my modern day entertainment lens just gives this an "interesting" rating.

The Godfather (1972) 2015 review - Modern Storytelling Has Evolved

The Godfather does NOT hold up as a great movie.

It's good on the technical aspects and performances are OK (Brando's actually pretty hokey, with his nuanced ticks feeling more like something to cover up the fact that he didn't memorize his lines), but the narrative lacks solid emotional connection and good character development - the movie is all plot. Yes, there's the "story" of the business being handed down the family and trying to prevent an all-out mafia war, but the relationships between the characters are poorly, if at all, developed. Vito and Michael's relationship is weak and Tom Hagen barely feels like a brother; the entire family dynamic is strange. Not to mention the time jumps detract from narrative - it should have been more contained to help stress the development, particularly for Michael's descent. Also, the women in the movie are given "damsel" roles.

When is there ever good banter to show the relationships? It's a weak "family" movie.

Game of Thrones is what The Godfather wishes is could be. While The Godfather obviously paved the way for a lot of things in modern cinema (whether film or TV), it unfortunately doesn't hold up from a storytelling perspective.

Admittedly, I'm not a drama guy. It's very hard for me to enjoy a movie that's pure drama or always serious. My biggest issue is the film grossly lacked humor and comedy (humor doesn’t mean slapstick, it can be dramatic). To me, comedy is truth, comedy is life. If I don’t find humor in something, it rings hollow.

The Godfather is always serious.

Again, humor doesn’t always have to be about a “joke” or slapstick. Humor can be simply relating to something or a character having an honest reaction. There are maybe a handful of moments that actually felt human to me:

1. “Take the cannoli”
2. Sonny coming to the aid of his sister
3. Apollonia driving in the car
4. Tessio asking to be spared (specifically Tessio, not so much Tom)

Nearly all other moments in the film are serious, as there’s very little brevity or banter between the characters and ESPECIALLY no humor, which is very strange for an Italian family, as Italians are probably the best example of running the full gamut of emotions (or at least the anger to happy spectrum). Granted, this may be an aspect of Italians of the 40s, as Joseph pointed out, whereas I'm familiar with modern Italians, actually being one.

Let's address the two main characters, Vito and Michael Corleone. For their arcs and emotions, here’s what I saw:

Michael Corleone, as played by Al Pacino, has the arc of being the good boy of the family, who wasn’t supposed to get involved in the family business, actually getting involved and ascending into power while descending his humanity. He debuts in the wedding scene and starts at about an ambivalent/neutral 5 on the emotion spectrum, where 10 is manic Robin Williams and 1 is angry Pacino.

At no point do we really see Michael as the happy guy away from the family business. Sure, he’s a war hero, which assuredly changes him so he probably won’t be as happy-go-lucky, but at no point in the movie does it ever feel like he’s not in the business. As well, if his arc is about his descent/loss of humanity and his big turning point is the restaurant assassination as his means of getting involved, the setup prior to the moment wasn’t enough to justify his turn (again, he’s always been present in the film and with the family to that point). They tried to show his humanity and confliction of the assassination by closing up on his eyes/face, showing his eyes darting around, but his arc to that point wasn’t strong enough to justify his nervousness. Also, what did he do in the war? Did he kill anyone? If so, why is he so nervous now?

From there, he descends on the emotion spectrum to a 4, possibly a 3, as he moves to Italy to avoid the fallout. He sees a girl that he “falls in love with” which equates to staring intently. Staring. Intently. She comes across more like a possession he needs than someone he’s falling in love with. The whole point of his time in Italy is to further the idea of keeping him out of the business by establishing him falling in love, so that when Appollonia is assassinated he further descends down the spectrum, he comes back to America for vengeance.

Back in America and rising to power, Michael is at a 3 or 2 on the emotion spectrum. He’s more aggressive, conniving and ruthless. He’s asserting his power by re-organizing the family, as the family has been falling apart over time. By the culmination of the baptism-assassination, he’s taken control as the new Godfather, where he’s at a solid 2 on the emotion scale. During his last scene with Diane Keaton, he has a flash of 1 as he briefly pulls out angry Pacino. You can see in his eyes that he’s pretty gone and lost his humanity.

The big problem with Michael, for me, is that nowhere during that spectrum or arc do I care for him. At no point has he ever shown any humanity worth attaching to:

1. He has no real love for Diane Keaton
2. He has no innocence as he was never actually away from the family business
3. He has no real love for Appollonia

Why should I care about Michael besides the fact that he’s the main character? He’s not a badass rising to power like Scarface. For someone going through horrible events, he’s not nearly as relatable or has as wide an emotional range of, say, Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave, who starts at a happy 8 and descends to a darker place (a 3, maybe a 2), only to come back to a happier side by the end, but clearly still an affected person.

As for Vito and Brando, he starts the film on the serious side, around a 3, and pretty much hovers there for most of the movie (getting closer to a 5 or 6 towards his end, after he’s dethroned). He’s serious and trying to do business. He’s shown only focusing on business. He never talks about family or anything human, it’s just business, business, business, nothing personal. Then again, perhaps Vito was never about family and it's a false assumption on my part, as I don't recall him interacting in his daughter’s wedding much and barely ever with his wife. His personal side doesn’t come out until the end, when he becomes the “old grandpa.”

Because of that, Vito’s big emotional reveal of not wanting Michael to not be in the business falls completely flat – it was barely ever established. It was a falsely emotional scene. They never had heart to heart conversations, it was rarely established that Vito didn’t want Michael involved. Michael was pretty much always present.

Now, if that is the point of Vito’s story arc, in which he’s a guy who never had control of his family despite having control of basically an entire city, then that seems like a bit of a stretch. Half of his family is working with him, how hard would it be to check on his wife, daughter and “favorite” son? I find it hard to believe a guy that powerful wouldn’t be checking in on his own family and people. Speaking of which, his daughter is a complete farce as a character – by no means does she seem like either a mob daughter’s boss or an Italian woman. Italian women are strong as hell. She’s a princess/damsel. She is a plot device.

Speaking of which, the way the story presents itself, the characters rarely felt like they had any agency. Every character largely felt like they were going through the motions of the writer/screenwriter, rather than having things organically happen to them. The writing came across as putting the characters through these scenarios in order to make me FEEL, but the pacing and flow didn’t match. There was little character pathos, just manipulation.

Oblivion review - Shoots for the Stars, but Falls Short

Oblivion (2013)

One liner review: Not bad, but far from great sci-fi action romance.

With beautiful cinematography, amazing production design and a solid soundtrack, there's a lot to like in Oblivion. Director Joseph Kosinski did the rare feat of creating a sophomore outing that's better than his first (the visually striking, but incredibly boring and flawed Tron: Legacy); Oblivion is significantly more refined and better paced than Tron: Legacy, but it also has a lot of the same flaws for story and character.

Kosinski falls into the same boat of directors, that includes Ridley Scott and Zack Snyder, who go for style over substance (the degree of both is up for debate). It's particularly annoying because they often set up their films to seem like they'll have lots of substance, but just fall flat (looking at you, Scott).

Kosinski's biggest flaw is that he's not an actor's director, or at least not a character's director. Based on his two outings thus far, he doesn't seem to understand or care about good character arcs and how to have a really emotional audience connection. He lacks the storytelling prowess to put a character through certain beats of a plot to earn the proper emotional reaction, which is unfortunate because he actually knows how to create a nicely emotional scene (melding music and visuals). To put it another way, he tells the audience how they should feel, rather than showing them through the rest of the movie; there's no proper tension or buildup leading to release, resulting in some flat reveals.

On that note, Oblivion loftily tries to make an interesting futuristic sci-fi action-romance story, but because it tries for both with an underdeveloped script, it fails to achieve success on either front. It's not a particularly convoluted movie, but it does present a good number of plot holes. Once Kosinski learns how to create and work with a great script, he'll easily be on my list of must-watch directors, but I wouldn't give him another $100+ million for a movie to gain that experience.

Bottom line:
RECOMMENDED for those looking for something passively enjoyable with interesting ideas, good action, great production design and a melodic soundtrack (the credits track is almost worth the price of admission).

NOT RECOMMENDED for those expecting a more active experience that's intelligently scripted on either the story or character fronts.