In age of Netflix and other streaming services it feels odd to follow series which has new episode every week. I watched Legends of Tomorrow in three session. Every session to point where there were no new episodes available. I binge watched Daredevil's season 2 between first and second session. It made Legends of Tomorrow feel really stupid.
I am more of a Marvel guy but I have tried to get into DC from time to time. I don't feel I have to hate the other if I like one. My attempts with DC usually end when I realize how childishly characters act with each others. They are always fighting each others. I mean good guys who should work together fight each others when there is no bad guys fight against.
Legends of Tomorrow have same problem during first half of the first season. Legends should be team but they rarely work like team. Guys leave the team mates on their own devices when ever they feel like. Team's bad boys steal things because they need to steal something to be bad guys. They have big mission but everyone is ready to do something which endangers the whole mission just because they feel like it.
Arthur Darvill is rogue time master who wants to stop immortal villain. He and legends travel in time trying to stop the villain in different times. He is first Doctor Who regular who plays good guy in superhero series or movie. Christopher Eggleston was main villain in second Thor movie. David Tennant was Purple Man in Jessica Jones and Karen Gillan was Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Time masters are some kind of time cops. They want to keep time unchanging. Arthur Darvill's character is like The Doctor without any humor and dislike of weapons. I always wait him to say time lords instead of time masters. You can find similarities between time lords and time masters. Show is bit like very serious and more violent Doctor Who in DC Universe.
16 episodes long season felt too long. There were too many filler episodes which felt like they only wanted to show characters from other shows. Writer didn't always know when they had good idea in their hands. Instead of using good idea they used something predictable and what we have seen several times before.
Season finale is spread over four episodes. You can guess what happens in each episode when you know how many episodes there are still left and see what they are currently doing. The big twist don't feel anything when you know it has to happen to spread story over rest of the episodes.
Legends of Tomorrow have one moral debate episode over should they kill a kid who will become future Hitler. However there is much more interesting moral debate over the twist. They don't study that at all. The twist is X is on Y's side. You can see that coming from long way but reason why X is on Y's side is very interesting. I wish they used the reason more. Later seasons probably get back to the reason. It felt really odd when character didn't react the reason at all. It brought much more interesting moral debate than should they kill a kid or not.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Monday, May 23, 2016
About superhero movie fatigue and movie going experience
Last Thursday's post was a joke but it holds some truth. I am starting to feel superhero movie fatigue. This year we have already had Deadpool, Batman V Superman and Captain America: Civil War. Addition to that we have superhero tv shows and Netflix originals. Some of which are on my queue waiting for me to feel like watching them.
Some of them are good and some not so good. When movies come so close to each other watching them start to feel like work. I just can't get excited of every cgi heavy action movie where someone wants to destroy the world because he is evil. Previous X-Men movies haven't fallen into this but this time villain is Apocalypse and trailers I have seen show him as evil who wants to destroy everything.
I just don't want to see another movie with long cgi destruction ending. Best superhero movies this year have toned down destruction. X-Men: Apocalypse seem to go all out on cgi destruction. I am X-Men guy. My favorite comics were X-Men.
I got fatigue with X-Men comics when things went overly complicated and action was more important than the story. During Chris Claremont's run there were issues where there was no action. Those issues made his run so good. Best superhero movies and tv shows concentrate on characters and stories. Worst concentrate on action. When best also have action you don't care ones that are marketed as concentrating only on action. And you can't be sure which one it is before you see it.
Superhero movie fatigue is not only reason why is skipped X-Men: Apocalypse premiere weekend. I checked length and price. Let's start with price. I don't know if this is only local issue. If I want to see movie during premier weekend I have to pay as much as I have to pay few months later get my own copy of the movie which I can watch as many times as I want. It is not a lot of money but you start to think why you should pay now and pay later if you want to watch movie again.
You are paying for movie going experience and for seeing it earlier. When you think about movie going experience big screen and good sound system come first to mind. But some of us have those at home. Movie going experience also includes half hour of commercials and trailers.
Trailers can spoil movies you want to see and you don't know what you will see. Commercials may be boring or take you out of the mood. Worst was with Deadpool where we saw long heartbreaking commercial of real life disease that can ruin your life. Just what you want to see when you go watch Deadpool. You don't have to deal with this when you watch the movie at home.
X-Men: Apocalypse is almost two and half hours long. First you have sit through half hour of commercials and trailers. Then you get to two and half hour movie. If movie is bad you ave wasted three hours plus the time it takes it to get to your seat and back. What happened to time when one and half hours were considered as good length for movie.
With one and half hour bad movie you only lose one and half hours if you watch it at home. I am reconsidering if I will review movies as they premiere. I though it would make my blog and channel more popular but I have not seen the difference. I am not sure if it is worth all the problem.
Some of them are good and some not so good. When movies come so close to each other watching them start to feel like work. I just can't get excited of every cgi heavy action movie where someone wants to destroy the world because he is evil. Previous X-Men movies haven't fallen into this but this time villain is Apocalypse and trailers I have seen show him as evil who wants to destroy everything.
I just don't want to see another movie with long cgi destruction ending. Best superhero movies this year have toned down destruction. X-Men: Apocalypse seem to go all out on cgi destruction. I am X-Men guy. My favorite comics were X-Men.
I got fatigue with X-Men comics when things went overly complicated and action was more important than the story. During Chris Claremont's run there were issues where there was no action. Those issues made his run so good. Best superhero movies and tv shows concentrate on characters and stories. Worst concentrate on action. When best also have action you don't care ones that are marketed as concentrating only on action. And you can't be sure which one it is before you see it.
Superhero movie fatigue is not only reason why is skipped X-Men: Apocalypse premiere weekend. I checked length and price. Let's start with price. I don't know if this is only local issue. If I want to see movie during premier weekend I have to pay as much as I have to pay few months later get my own copy of the movie which I can watch as many times as I want. It is not a lot of money but you start to think why you should pay now and pay later if you want to watch movie again.
You are paying for movie going experience and for seeing it earlier. When you think about movie going experience big screen and good sound system come first to mind. But some of us have those at home. Movie going experience also includes half hour of commercials and trailers.
Trailers can spoil movies you want to see and you don't know what you will see. Commercials may be boring or take you out of the mood. Worst was with Deadpool where we saw long heartbreaking commercial of real life disease that can ruin your life. Just what you want to see when you go watch Deadpool. You don't have to deal with this when you watch the movie at home.
X-Men: Apocalypse is almost two and half hours long. First you have sit through half hour of commercials and trailers. Then you get to two and half hour movie. If movie is bad you ave wasted three hours plus the time it takes it to get to your seat and back. What happened to time when one and half hours were considered as good length for movie.
With one and half hour bad movie you only lose one and half hours if you watch it at home. I am reconsidering if I will review movies as they premiere. I though it would make my blog and channel more popular but I have not seen the difference. I am not sure if it is worth all the problem.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
I won't review X-Men: Apocalypse... ...next week
It seem to be big thing to announce not reviewing a movie. I want to jump into the bandwagon. I won't review X-Men: Apocalypse next week. I will review it week after next or week after that. I just have other things to do during weekend and didn't feel like paying premiere prices and fitting two and half hours of sitting in the movie theater to otherwise tight schedule.
I am not making a stand on this one. There is another franchise with which I will make a stand this year. Wise man said you should not mention things you make a stand against at this day and age because it promotes the thing you are against of. So I just say I am going to see Star Wars movie but I am not going to see the movie from another franchise which starts with word Star. If they get back to what made franchise good in first place I am happy to praise them. This year's movie is not that.
I am not making a stand on this one. There is another franchise with which I will make a stand this year. Wise man said you should not mention things you make a stand against at this day and age because it promotes the thing you are against of. So I just say I am going to see Star Wars movie but I am not going to see the movie from another franchise which starts with word Star. If they get back to what made franchise good in first place I am happy to praise them. This year's movie is not that.
Monday, May 16, 2016
Appleseed: Ex Machina - Appurushido: Ekusu makina (2007)
Ex Machina was my favorite movie last year. It is also one of my all time favorite movies. How ever this has nothing to do with it. This came years before Ex Machina. Similar name made me watch it and endure when movie didn't work.
Appleseed: Ex Machina is sequel to Appleseed. I have not seen the first movie and am not familiar with manga movies are based on. This made me wish to know more about the world. It seemed interesting. Maybe things I wanted to know more were explained better in first movie or comics. This movie expected us to know the characters and the world. It didn't study subjects I found interesting. It felt many things were left out to make this cool action movie.
Movie happens in utopian post-apocalypse city called Olympus. Olympus has taken role of world police. It tries to bring peace to world. Counter terrorist unit member Deunan loses her cyborg partner due injury. She gets new bioroid partner who looks like his former partner. Movie follows these three and shows tensions between them. I wish more time was given to them.
Main story is interesting but movie leaves some philosophical points out. Best scene is when what is actually happening and why is revealed. After that movie goes down hill. Before that scene there were problems between humans, cyborgs and bioroids in Olympus as were with our heroes who also were human, cyborg and bioroid. I wished movie spent more time explaining dynamics between these three groups. Maybe first movie spent more time on this or maybe it was action movie like this.
After the scene everything gets resolved because of reasons. Our heroes find common cause and fight for humanity as human, cyborg and bioroid. Appleseed: Ex Machina spends too much time being cool action movie and too little time slowly showing this interesting world. Action is weakest part. Long action filled ending may make you forget stronger moments which happened before.
Appleseed: Ex Machina is sequel to Appleseed. I have not seen the first movie and am not familiar with manga movies are based on. This made me wish to know more about the world. It seemed interesting. Maybe things I wanted to know more were explained better in first movie or comics. This movie expected us to know the characters and the world. It didn't study subjects I found interesting. It felt many things were left out to make this cool action movie.
Movie happens in utopian post-apocalypse city called Olympus. Olympus has taken role of world police. It tries to bring peace to world. Counter terrorist unit member Deunan loses her cyborg partner due injury. She gets new bioroid partner who looks like his former partner. Movie follows these three and shows tensions between them. I wish more time was given to them.
Main story is interesting but movie leaves some philosophical points out. Best scene is when what is actually happening and why is revealed. After that movie goes down hill. Before that scene there were problems between humans, cyborgs and bioroids in Olympus as were with our heroes who also were human, cyborg and bioroid. I wished movie spent more time explaining dynamics between these three groups. Maybe first movie spent more time on this or maybe it was action movie like this.
After the scene everything gets resolved because of reasons. Our heroes find common cause and fight for humanity as human, cyborg and bioroid. Appleseed: Ex Machina spends too much time being cool action movie and too little time slowly showing this interesting world. Action is weakest part. Long action filled ending may make you forget stronger moments which happened before.
Monday, May 9, 2016
He Never Died (2015)
Henry Rollins is inspirational person to me. I wouldn't go so far as say role model but that would be close. From his first interview I have found him to be very inspirational. I will never be able to live up to his standards. He is not best at anything he does but he keeps on doing what he likes and saying clever things doing it. He has shown how hard work can get you far.
Henry Rollins is starring He Never Died. He was reason why I watched it. I don't regret it. Movie has problems and some of my liking may be liking Henry Rollins but I like it. Henry Rollins is immortal who is tired of all social situations. When he tries to be social he don't know how to be. He is not only anti-social, he don't care about anything and he turns out to be crazy.
He Never Dies follows only Henry Rollins. At times it provides great black humor while other times it feel boring art movie. At beginning Rollins' interaction feels hilarious. At middle movie start to drag. We start to learn what Rollins really is. Then things start to resolve and movie becomes interesting again.
He Never Died is tagged as horror movie. Is it depends how you define horror movies. It has elements of horror movie but it doesn't use them like horror movies do. Henry Rollins' acting may feel weird but by the end you understand why he is like he is. They went all out to make his character be like someone in his situation without thinking too much about if the movie is entertaining. Sometimes this work better sometimes worse. If you compare this to movie like Machinist, which also has quite extreme main character, this one doesn't have as interesting mystery.
Henry Rollins is starring He Never Died. He was reason why I watched it. I don't regret it. Movie has problems and some of my liking may be liking Henry Rollins but I like it. Henry Rollins is immortal who is tired of all social situations. When he tries to be social he don't know how to be. He is not only anti-social, he don't care about anything and he turns out to be crazy.
He Never Dies follows only Henry Rollins. At times it provides great black humor while other times it feel boring art movie. At beginning Rollins' interaction feels hilarious. At middle movie start to drag. We start to learn what Rollins really is. Then things start to resolve and movie becomes interesting again.
He Never Died is tagged as horror movie. Is it depends how you define horror movies. It has elements of horror movie but it doesn't use them like horror movies do. Henry Rollins' acting may feel weird but by the end you understand why he is like he is. They went all out to make his character be like someone in his situation without thinking too much about if the movie is entertaining. Sometimes this work better sometimes worse. If you compare this to movie like Machinist, which also has quite extreme main character, this one doesn't have as interesting mystery.
Friday, May 6, 2016
Video review of Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Monday, May 2, 2016
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
When you write these far in advance you might not remember when movies are released. So this week's review is about superhero movie. There will be video review next Thursday. Something else will have to wait until next week.
Marvel Studios still make good movies. Lately they have made only ok movies. Age of Ultron showed signs Marvel could do wrong. There was too much stuffed into one movie. It referenced older movies and tv shows and there was too much build up for upcoming movies. Marvel learned from Age of Ultron. Unlike Age of Ultron Civil War takes elements of comic with same name.
Captain America: Civil War continue where Age of Ultron ended. Some people are not happy all the destruction we have seen in previous movies and beginning of this one. Avengers are wanted under official control. This divides Avengers into Team Captain America and Team Iron Man. This is not as big deal as Superhuman Registration Act in comics. This is where Bucky and Captain America story comes into play.
Marketing has made the movie feel like Avengers 2.5. Movie is Captain America movie with Avengers involved in secondary story arc. Main story arc is Captain America's and Bucky's story continuing from Winter Solder. This was original story for this movie. It is similar to what we saw in Winter Solder. Civil War story was added when Warner announced Batman V Superman team up. Marvel wanted their own team up.
You can see these two story arcs but they work well together, Bucky's story arc being main story arc. Batman V Superman showed what happen when movie makers don't understand the characters. Captain America: Civil War understands the characters and their history in comics. It feels Civil War shows how this is done correctly. Civil War is not as good as reviews say it is. Compared to Batman V Superman it is masterpiece. Coming so soon after Batman V Superman makes Civil War look better than it is.
I would put Civil War right after first Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. It is on level with Winter Solder. It is good and entertaining movie. It begins serious and dark. Then at some point it turns to action blockbuster with constant run of jokes. Jokes work but contrast to serious main story arc is on the limit of being too great. Civil War arc has few stupid elements which would be ok if main story arc wasn't as serious. Spider-Man is best Spider-Man we have seen in big screen but is bit out of the place in this movie. He steal all scenes he is in. If his solo movie works as well we could have best superhero movie so far.
Marvel Studios still make good movies. Lately they have made only ok movies. Age of Ultron showed signs Marvel could do wrong. There was too much stuffed into one movie. It referenced older movies and tv shows and there was too much build up for upcoming movies. Marvel learned from Age of Ultron. Unlike Age of Ultron Civil War takes elements of comic with same name.
Captain America: Civil War continue where Age of Ultron ended. Some people are not happy all the destruction we have seen in previous movies and beginning of this one. Avengers are wanted under official control. This divides Avengers into Team Captain America and Team Iron Man. This is not as big deal as Superhuman Registration Act in comics. This is where Bucky and Captain America story comes into play.
Marketing has made the movie feel like Avengers 2.5. Movie is Captain America movie with Avengers involved in secondary story arc. Main story arc is Captain America's and Bucky's story continuing from Winter Solder. This was original story for this movie. It is similar to what we saw in Winter Solder. Civil War story was added when Warner announced Batman V Superman team up. Marvel wanted their own team up.
You can see these two story arcs but they work well together, Bucky's story arc being main story arc. Batman V Superman showed what happen when movie makers don't understand the characters. Captain America: Civil War understands the characters and their history in comics. It feels Civil War shows how this is done correctly. Civil War is not as good as reviews say it is. Compared to Batman V Superman it is masterpiece. Coming so soon after Batman V Superman makes Civil War look better than it is.
I would put Civil War right after first Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. It is on level with Winter Solder. It is good and entertaining movie. It begins serious and dark. Then at some point it turns to action blockbuster with constant run of jokes. Jokes work but contrast to serious main story arc is on the limit of being too great. Civil War arc has few stupid elements which would be ok if main story arc wasn't as serious. Spider-Man is best Spider-Man we have seen in big screen but is bit out of the place in this movie. He steal all scenes he is in. If his solo movie works as well we could have best superhero movie so far.
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