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Reviews
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024)
"Ok" adaptation, but a poor show on its own
Leagues better than the movie, but still riddled with problems.
Lot of the little moments of enjoyment were just from "hey I recognize that from the cartoon".
However, by including cameos and plot elements from future seasons (of the cartoon) it also eliminates the purpose/function of them, since they serve more important roles in their original appearances: the Owl, calendar that predicts the comet & eclipse (will the library even be in season 2?), Ty Lee & Mai (with the audience not even being told who they are), etc.
Appreciated the Appa redesign (compared to the movie) but the cast gets very little connection to him. Even less so with Momo, he appears and then is gone throughout the show, aside from his "near death" in the final episode.
Props to Gordon for giving a good performance, but holy cow Aang is so one dimensional now. Condensing the plot gave him no growth as a bender, and very little in his character. Gyattso giving him guidance as a spirit was a new and interesting touch, but it makes Aang severely less independent. Same with the constant past lives consultations. Not only was making them locked to the shrines a strange choice, but practically every interaction with the past avatars is just them telling him "You're really important in case you haven't realized that yet". It seems every episode has him sadly mention how he "failed to be the avatar" MANY TIMES.
Katara really the short end of the stick too. She gains power really quickly, barely trains, and her grief about her mom takes over a lot of her personality. She declares herself a master at the end, but we get to see very little of that development. Also Aang gets no water bending training.
Another notable change is Zhao. Honestly, I'm mixed, because I do appreciate how they made him more of a pathetic clout chaser instead of a threatening individual, but the sometimes the events surrounding his character don't make sense. Making his death extremely underwhelming (being one shot by Iroh) instead of being consumed by the water spirit monster plays into that pathetic-ness, but it's very unsatisfying. (also what was point of the spirit world dagger?)
Saving grace is that the acting is good, and the portrayal of Zuko and Sokka's character (even the changes to them). Fights were decent, visuals (specially environments) were amazing. But dialogue and rushed plot distract you from all of that. I understand they wanted to make the live action more serious and less cartoony, but it clashes greatly with the original flow of the show. The adventure and world building appeal of the cartoon simply cant present itself with the limited episode format.
Night Sky (2022)
Compelling, but the sci fi is lacking
While the story and characters are well thought out, they really should've advertised this less as a sci fi show and more like a drama. For a show about a portal to another planet, they only show anything sci fi related aside from it in the finale. The backstory with Irene and Franklin's son was heartbreaking, but it really drew too much attention away from the secret societies, alien civilizations, etc.
Shame it got cancelled. Seems like it was really going somewhere at the end.
Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
6.5 movie, suspend your belief A LOT
Obviously a ton of issues with the movie. None of the baddies saw Owen, Alan, or the rest of the gang on the security cameras (except Ramsey). A sustainable ecosystem with dinosaurs, where they don't instantly devour the horses and whales around them? But, it's a film series about genetically modified dinosaurs, so you're already suspending your disbelief.
A big highlight was seeing the original trio from the original movie. If you're looking for a fun movie with crazy visuals and a nostalgia factor, this is the one.
Like Father (2018)
A simple and wholesome tale
The story's just a tad slow and the Royal Caribbean advertising is pretty in your face, but the movie is still worth a watch. It tells a nice story emphasizing the importance of family, forgiveness, and moving forward.
Sleight (2016)
Potential, but delves too far into the sci-fi genre.
The movie started out fairly well with a engineering decent background for Bo, with his technical skills causing him to go to dangerous depths to better his street magic and provide for his sister. The conflict with the drugs and gangs is decently executed and the acting is good, but they really should've focused more on the actual "tricks" rather than ending with such super powered/fantastical flair.
The Boondock Saints (1999)
Entertaining enough, quality varies throughout the film.
Roughly a 6.5/10. Willed Dafoe's performance was hilarious and well executed at the same time, although his character, like most of them, was shallowly fleshed out and rushed. Basically, decent acting, weird structure, childish plot and "unique" scenes make for a fairly interesting film, but not a great or good one, definitely not one I'll watch again.
Utopia (2020)
Haven't seen the original, but this is still mediocre
The concept itself is unique and interesting, but the characters feel so empty to be memorable, despite their fairly interesting backgrounds, resulting in a boring story overall. The content and delivery of the dialogue is too weird and misplaced to be considered "witty" like I've heard the original is. Basically, a waste of time, should've just seen the British version.