Ghost in the Shell (2017)

I had no intention to watch Ghost in the Shell in theater. I just felt I could watch something and it was most interesting movie available. I am glad I did see it. It is not great movie but not as bad as I expected it to be. It has same problems many remakes have but it had many things I liked.

Ghost in the Shell has burden of whitewashing. I would have liked to see asian actress as Major but Scarlett Johansson does ok job in the role. Takeshi Kitano was only asian actor in major role. He seems to be Hollywood's go to guy for these roles. I would like to see someone else sometimes. Not that I don't like him. I just like to see other asian actors in these movies.

Ghost in the Shell is science fiction action movie. Action was part I liked the least. Some action scenes felt bit forced and "boss fight" at the end wasn't necessary. I would have prefered Blade Runner style where action scenes happened for good reason. Movie tried to be Blade Runner like. There were slow moments but there was too much of everything.

I would have liked more explanations. Movie concentrated on Major without telling about world it happened. World felt interesting but without knowing the source material I didn't always understood what side characters motivations were or where the characters were. This and action scenes were only things I didn't like. Otherwise I liked the movie. I am not familiar with the source material. I can't tell how the story was ruined.

Story was interesting. Movie looks good even though some scenes had too many visual elements and looks didn't stay consistent throughout the movie. Movie could have taken more time with different characters. With few changes this could have been great movie. Now it is good movie which takes many steps to right direction. I plan to get back to this movie after I have bought it and watched it few times more.

Pandorum (2009)

Mankind has send spaceship to colonize another planet. Two crew members wake up from hypersleep not remembering anything. They realize something is wrong. They don't find anyone from previous shift. I remember seeing another movie with similar name and premise. It surely was different movie since ending was different.

Pandorum is more horror movie happening in spaceship than science fiction movie with horror elements. It was turn off for me even though story is quite hard science fiction. Most of it is survival horror. Science fiction parts are short exposure scenes in between survival horror.I wish they put more effort into science fiction and less into crew members losing their minds.

This was second time I tried to watch this. First time I managed to get to through first 20 minutes. Movie reveals the story too slowly. There isn't much to reveal. Story is quite simple and characters are not too interesting. I need more than characters running and hiding from danger.

I remember seeing review by some horror guy who liked the movie. I am more of a science fiction guy. There wasn't too much for me. Story happened in science fiction setting and had good science fiction elements but they were too few and far between. The twist was good but I don't want to spoil it here.

Wrestlemania 33

If you can't see the video you can find it here. This is bit late. I forgot to upload this video here earlier.

I am not huge wrestling fan. I have on/off, mostly off, relationship with wrestling. WWE offered few free months of WWE Network and I thought I could check what is going on at the moment because Wrestlemania is their biggest event.

I reviewed WWE Network couple years ago. I might do short video review of its current state later when I have checked it more. It still seems to have same problems which made me cancel my subscription first time.

Yes. I know it doesn't sound as good as other videos. I thought I could do this without external audio but I was wrong. Now I know I have to use external audio in future videos.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

I don't get the hate The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen gets. It was Sean Connery's last movie. Since it Connery has only two voice acting credits in IMDB. But I don't think you can say it is so bad it ended Sean Connery's career. It is not good but it is not that bad. It is kind of guilty pleasure for me. I watch it every now and then. Like with other guilty pleasures being too analytical eat away the enjoyment.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is team of public domain 19th century literature characters. They try to stop world war starting at 1899. I am not sure if this should be our world or world very similar to ours. Some inventions are out of the time. I am not talking about Nemo's technology which is few decades from the future or something never happened. Other technologies are also few decades from the future. All is done in 19th century style. This becomes bit confusing when you think too much about it.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has comic book movie feel of comic book movies before Hollywood realized they can make comic book movies serious. They wanted to show they are making silly comic book movie. All this shows in characters, dialog, acting, sets, makeups and directing. There are many plot holes and everything happening Venice is just plain stupid.

I have soft spot for steampunk and dieselpunk. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has enough of both for me to enjoy the movie. It has few interesting characters. It is stupid and have many problems. But I like to watch it every now and then. You just should not think too much when watching this.

Van Helsing - Season 1 (2016)

Is it spoiler to say why this is called Van Helsing? It is one twist in last episode but it is quite easy to guess one of the main characters is Van Helsing in series called Van Helsing. This is zombie apocalypse series with zombies replaced with vampyres. It was done to be cheap Walking Dead rip-off but it turned out to be more than that. It is based on comics but series got made because someone wanted their own Walking Dead.

Van Helsing happens three years after vampyre uprising. Vampyres rule post-apocalyptic world. They have enslaved most surviving humans. Few are still there to fight vampyres. Vanessa was attacked first of the uprising. She felt into near death state. After three years she wakes up into very different world. Her blood turns vampyres back into humans which makes vampyres try to capture her.

Van Helsing is not meant to be binge watched. Each episode is too packed. After few episodes you feel you need a break to let everything to sink in. Fast phase don't give enough time for characters to grow. Some deaths are not impactful because of this. Too many times heroes find easy way out of hopeless situation.

First couple episodes have pointless flashbacks. After them series start to work better. Story has clever writing and good twists.Anything could happen to anyone. Situation could change in matter of moments. Characters are flawed which get them into troubles.

I am not sure what to think about Van Helsing. It does many things correctly and has great things going on. But it feels bit rushed and heroes get out of troubles too easy compared how dark and realistic everything else is. Last episode ends in few big cliffhangers. I surely want to see where this is going.