Death Note (2017)

I feel like I have to justify my opinion by saying I have not seen the anime or too many similar movies. I liked concept, story, cinematography and soundtrack. Anime might have done this better. Since I have not seen it I can enjoy this for what it is. I only knew what the book was about.

Outcast student finds weird book with several rules. Anyone whose name is written to pages of the book will die. Demon Ryuk follows the book and anyone who owns it. Student decides to use it for good. There are few plot holes and characters make weird choices to get all the pieces to correct places. When everything is at correct place movie start to work better.

There are five main human characters. Student's father connects them together. Movie's problems culminate in him. Few of his key scenes are missing. He is too clearly the guy who makes the story go to certain direction when it needs to go to that direction. Worst of all he doesn't seem to have any personality. His personality seems to be what story requires him to be at that time. His character needed those missing scenes.

Movie needed more time. It has to take few short cuts to get where it needs to be. It has good twists all the way but when movie gets ready for the ending it is really good. I really liked the ending. Script has some issues but everything else works.

The Defenders (2017) - spoiler review

If video is not shown you can find it here.

Here is my spoiler review of The Defenders. I don't spoil the whole thing. There are some spoilers to make a point. Video was shot at Pasila. There is some footage from Pasila Street Art District.

The Defenders (2017)

The Defenders continue stories of Iron Fist and Daredevil's second season. Jessica Jones brings three characters from her series and Luke Cage brings only one who weren't in other series. Iron Fist was only generally disliked Netflix's Marvel series. His character was still problem but it didn't destroy this series.

It was fun to see characters meeting each others when they were investigating same case on their own. Series starts as continuation of Iron Fist but later Daredevil's story arc gets big role. Iron Fist was as problematic here as he was in his own series. I hope he grows in future if we have to see him again. He was still his own biggest enemy and annoying. He was only character with whom I had problems.

The Defenders continue to have great villains. This time it is dying woman looking for eternal life. She wasn't typical one dimensional comic book villain. None of these series have had one yet if you don't count second villain of Luke Cage as one.

All previous series  have had 13 episodes which felt too long. This is only eight episodes. It helps keep the story tight. There is the big twist and some story elements other series used. I keep this spoiler free. I get to those next Thursday on my spoiler review.

The Defender is probably my favorite of these series. Previous series have had their problems. This is not perfect either but shorter length keep it tighter than others. Length felt right for the story. You probably need to see Iron Fist and second season of Daredevil before you can fully enjoy this one.

Ghost in the Shell (2017) revisited

I saw Ghost in the Shell (2017) before I saw any of the animated Ghost in the Shells. I was curious to see how it works now after I have seen animated movies and Stand Alone Complex. I expected I would be comparing it to animes. It didn't do it. I could watch it without thinking about anything else.

However movie's biggest flaw is it takes too much from animes. Many scenes and shots are from animes and it is distracting at times. Some scenes took too much from animes. They contained story elements from animes which didn't make any sense in this movie. First time I didn't see all of these. This time I saw them because I knew story elements from animes.

I still enjoyed the movie. It is not great movie. It could have been if it went bit further from animes. Some scenes show what the movie could have been. Movie is better than its reputation. It may become bigger when people find it on their own without expectations it had when it was released. When I feel like watching some Ghost in the Shell next time I am not sure if I will watch this or Ghost in the Shell (1995). 1995 movie is better in every way but I like how this looks and feels.

Blame! (2017)

Blame! is Netflix original anime. I would like to know if it is standalone movie or beginning of movie series. Knowing it would change how I would rate the movie. Movie feels more like beginning of the series than standalone. It introduces important concepts close to end of the movie and it doesn't end the big story arc. It just introduces big story arc. As a standalone it is quite let down.

In far future mankind has lost control of automated city. There are no humans who have gene needed for controlling the city. City has declared humans as illegals and kills them at site. Small human village lives inside the city in area where robots can't enter. Their time is running out when food is running out and getting more of it is killing more of them and they are losing their equipment doing so. Mysterious traveller finds them and gives them some hope.

As stand alone movie Blame! doesn't work but it left me wanting more. At the end it introduced new story elements I wanted to know more. This movie didn't use the elements. They were there for the next movie or follow up series.

Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 (2017)

If video is not shown you can find it here.

This video is really late. It was late when I uploaded it to Youtube. It is more late here because I forgot to upload it here.

I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 in theater. It wasn't my original plan. I planned to buy the movie when it comes available but there were reasons to go to theater and Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 was most interesting running at the moment.