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Reviews
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024)
Good, Could Be Great With Tweaks
The original Avatar the last Airbender series is one of my favorites of all time. I remember watching it live week to week as a high schooler and thinking how weird it was I was so into a "kids show" on Nickelodeon. As I get older I've watched it a few more times and the more I watch it, the more I love it. It holds up in every aspect-the visuals, writing, character arcs and relationships amongst each other, humor, etc.
So when this show was announced I was skeptical because the movie stunk, and because the original series makes it a lot to live up to. I've now watched the whole first season and I have to say it exceeded my low expectations. As others have said, the visuals are incredible and some of the casting is actually very much on point. I thought Yue, Iroh, Zhao and Zuko in particular were all pretty great (However, other casting decisions were not good at all, but that wasn't my main problem that I'll get to later). I appreciated that they didn't veer too far off the path of the first one in terms of plot (although they did rearrange some things that I thought were unnecessary and skipped some story sections I liked). Keep sticking to the source material in the future seasons!
The thing I think they missed on big time though, and hope to see changed in the coming seasons, is the brightness, levity, and humor of the original series. The first one walked the line really well of portraying at times very mature themes, but packaged them in a way that was very digestible and often times funny. The remake ditched that strategy almost completely, and the tone is over the top serious and at times even dark. I really couldn't specifically believe how they portrayed Aang and Sokka as mostly serious characters, it felt wrong. They're both kids, they don't need to force them to act like adults, it's weird. To add to that, Katara is portrayed timid this time, when in the original she was feisty and the voice of reason to two goofballs.
If you watch the original for just one episode after watching the live action version you see how radical the tone shift is, and I hope they don't keep going in this direction, it could be so much better with a brighter and funnier tone, one that doesn't take itself so seriously but still can tackle mature themes. That was one of the pieces that made the first one amazing.
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Very Dark and Heavy, Not a Movie For Me
My wife and I went to see Dune part two after hearing amazing reviews on it and really liking the first one. We watched the first one at home and (not on purpose) broke the viewing up into several parts, so it ended up being easily digestible. The visuals were absolutely stunning, and for that reason we promised ourselves that we'd go see part two in theaters to really take advantage of those.
I won't go into incredible detail as to not spoil anything, but long story short, my wife and I left the theater feeling super heavy and dark. Almost like we needed a shower, or to go watch a nice sunset to cleanse our system of what we just sat through for almost 3 hours. My wife said to me afterwards, "I think we just saw what I envision hell to be like" and she wasn't wrong.
As expected, the cinematography was incredible (even though I'd still give the nod to the first one in that respect), and it really transported you to another world. Both the acting and the casting could not have been more perfect, making the whole thing feel so real. They really sold it and the actors and casting department should definitely be proud.
However, the look, tone, art direction etc just wasn't for me. Too evil, too dark, and by the end of the movie, I honestly didn't even know of anyone I wanted to root for. All the "heroes" that I loved either died or turned into something non-heroic.
It seems like I'm in the minority in feeling this way, but if you're anything like me and don't want to leave a movie feeling gross and depressed, you may want to skip this movie.
BattleBots: World Championship VII -- Round of 32 (Part 1 of 2) (2023)
Great Start to the Championship
The fight nights are always fun to watch obviously, but the real meat of the show is the final tournament. It's always a lot of fun to see who gets seeded where and who makes the tournament who doesn't. It also dials up the intensity and the stakes knowing that each fight matters even more than usual: there's no going back after a single loss, if that happens, it's the end of your season.
The fights this episode had a lot of great moments and none of the fights were duds or boring like they can be on a normal fight night. I also enjoyed the post-fight "show" and interview with one of the bot captains. Always fun to get a behind the scenes look at things we don't normally get to see.
One thing that's always struck me is how much most of the teams get along and support each other. It's really great to see the camaraderie on and off the stage and I think that's a huge part of what makes battelbots a pleasure to watch.
One thing that struck me this season in particular, however, was how much Riptide has seemed to not fall into that category. From what we see at home, the team seems consistently arrogant and aggressive. It's honestly hard for me to watch them sometimes because of the way they treat other teams. I won't spoil anything, but the way Ethan publicly kinda shamed the team he was up against just made no sense to me. It felt like they didn't like getting caught doing something they shouldn't be doing so they took it out on the other team. That seems like bad sportsmanship to me.
We only get to see what is aired, so maybe I'm just completely off on this team and they're awesome to be around in the pits and off camera. That's totally possible and I'd erase all this if I knew that. But on the small chance I'm on the right track, would love them and battlebots as a whole to consider how they affect the rest of the show and culture.
Holey Moley: Where the Herd At?! (2020)
New favorite
Ok, I said the last episode was my favorite but this one was super good too. I'd say these two episodes are just top notch Holey Moley.
This episode had more great contestants, Joe and Rob were again amazing, Rob had me laughing so hard about the surprise cameos. He is so good at being so creepy. I won't spoil who it is but let's just say I would never have guessed that was coming. This episode is definitely worth watching just for that.
Great action, well-thought through holes with a lot of variety. This show probably won't win any awards and you definitely won't want to watch this if you want to think hard, but it's excellent, fun television that you can watch anytime.
Holey Moley: I Think We Just Made History on Uranus (2020)
My favorite one yet
This is probably my favorite episode so far. Last season was great, but I did feel like it got a little repetitive at times, and each episode stood on its own and the season didn't have a lot of connection between the episodes. I love how they switched things up and solved all of those things this season by adding holes, and putting winners into a pool for the finale.
This episode in particular had fantastic contestants, Joe and Rob were in peak form and had me literally laughing out loud. They have great chemistry and definitely make the show.
Interested to see how the finale goes since it seems to be lower rated than I would have liked to see.
You can't find shows like these much anymore that are just fun and accessible for the whole family. Excited for more episodes like these!
BattleBots: BattleBots: The Finals (2022)
Had such promise
This episode had so much promise. This has been a great season and I was looking forward to the finish.
There's not much left to say that hasn't already been said. Hydra owned their fight and tantrum should never have gotten that win. BattleBots Maine want to change the way judges score fights because there's been a lot of bad decisions lately in my opinion.
Interesting that if a bot gets stuck on the battle box, the rules say you can pause the fight and unstick them. Seems like that shouldn't be a thing. If you can get flipped out of the arena and lose, why not lose by getting stuck onto the arena? I think there should be a rule change in the future on that.
Nevertheless, that was obviously a rule this season, so given that, I fully agree with the judges on the witch doctor decision. Minotaur only had one wheel and shouldn't have won. They were being poor sports and bullied the ref into calling it how they wanted it to go.
All that to say, even though there were disappointments, there were still some great fights with lots of surprise moments.
BattleBots: 8 Down, 8 to Go (2022)
Show all the matches
It was a good episode. But this one and the previous one have an interesting way of leaving out fights that I really wanted to see instead of seeing highlights. Like they showed a bunch of lower seed matches but skipped the 3 seed match? That makes no sense to me-that should be the one you show of any. Not to mention this episode (like all of them) has so much talking and fluff. You could easily trim that down and show all fights in their entirety which is what everyone wants to see anyway. Definitely an episode worth watching (Blip vs Valkyrie fight was particularly nuts) but hope they learn from their mistakes for future seasons.
BattleBots: Let the Tournament Begin! (2022)
Good episode with a few missteps
Felt like this episode was a good one with some memorable fights.
Unfortunately it did get tarnished with a really bad call in the P1 vs hyper shock fight. I couldn't believe the judges voted the way they did, and I feel bad for the undeserving losing team.
I also felt like they skipped over a few fights that I would have loved to see in it's entirety, like the fight with uppercut vs huge...those are two of the most popular bots and you took that out and left in other more boring fights?
This episode at points didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but there was at least some points of the episode that made it worth watching and it built anticipation for the rest of the tournament.
Claim to Fame: Needle in a Haystack (2023)
Great finish
To put it simply, this was the finish to the season we were hoping for last year.
Season 1 was ok but mostly a let down for me at the end, so I was afraid of putting in the emotional investment again just to be let down again. Turns out they learned from their mistakes and totally delivered this time around.
Without giving anything away, this episode had everything you'd want, plot twists, suspense, action, and camaraderie. I also enjoyed that they worked in several callbacks to the beginning of the season which was a nice touch.
All in all not a perfect show (does that even exist?) but they did so much better this season that I would highly recommend sticking it out till the end. Sad it's over now but this made me already excited for another season!
Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge (2023)
I'm hooked!
I've been surprised this show even exists. And I don't say that in a negative way. It just seems like a wild show premise to get green-lit: take classic Hot Wheels that you know and love and use them as inspiration to make a real-life version of something no one has seen before.
Granted, it is cheesy, and the actors are a little over the top for my taste. I mean, it's based around a kids toy, what do you expect? But regardless, every episode has kept me entertained, and I liked that every episode revolved around a car that meant something to the "super fan" in their past. Some of their creations have been awesome, I love the creativity and everyone seems to put their own unique personality into their builds. This would be my dream to be on this and do what they're doing, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
I've obviously been living under a rock because I've never heard of Rutledge Wood or the other judges before but I really love how he hosts. He's fun and upbeat while also not afraid to let emotions flow if that's what's called for in the moment. The three have good chemistry together and now that I'm towards the end, they've gotten better at hosting every episode. The guest judges they have every now and then are fun too, loved Joel McHale especially.
As others have said, would love to see these cars actually get driven, and I would also love to see what the heck happens to these things afterwards. Do they get sold? Do they just sit there in some garage? I want to know!
This show is not for everyone as I was surprised by all the hate on here, but if you're looking for something entertaining that will make the 7 year old in you light up again, this is something to check out. Love that it's family friendly and something you don't have to think hard to enjoy.
Bring on a season 2!