Reviews

The movie follows Otto, the grouch of the neighborhood, as he goes through his daily routine like clockwork.

The odd part is that a character like this tends to push people away yet you see half the neighborhood gravitate towards him due to various reason. From his interactions and flashbacks we get a clearer picture of this person. It's this that gets you invested in all the little things that happen to both him and the people around him.

The movie doesn't shy away from darker themes either. Also I'd like to note that this kind of "grumpy grandpa" character tends to be old fashioned so it was nice of them to soften him a bit when an LGBTQ character appeared.

Emotional, sweet and memorable. This movie hits hard.

The film follows a young wonka just starting out and attempting to open his first shop just to be foiled by the chocolate cartels... no, really.

It's a little telling when the very scene of the movie is a musical number so flat it belongs in the beauty and the beast live action.

Timothee Chalamet in the role of wonka was ok but so very avarage, I realize he was to play a young Wonka but the character had no personality what so ever. The side characters shined in comparisons.

The most memorable part of the movie is the ending and that's only because they redid the songs from the Gene Wilder version as well as an updated visuals of the chocolate factory.

Overall the movie is average, it just lacks a spark. Everything is flat and even the "magical" parts are treated like they're mundane with zero reaction from the cast bringing the tone down.

This aired once and only once when I was around 8 years old and yet it haunted me for over three decades.

The concept and premise is very unique. Time as currency. You pay by the minutes, hours, days and even years of your life. And yet that's not the message of the film but rather how different people choose to use that time.

Some squander, some give it to their community, others rock back and forth listening to the seconds tick by.

Rewatching it, I think it's because each character was allowed to make his or her own mistakes was why it stuck with me. It's made very clear what path each person is on, you know where this is going, but in the end that's life and each has to live their own.

I'm removing a star for the ending, it always felt foreign to me though now as an adult I can identify it as "the American dream". Pull yourself out of the gutter and hustle hustle hustle. The rules apply to the poor, the rich make the rules and all that jazz, the underdog story...etc.

I'm pretty sure the movie "in time" ripped it of but decided to focus on the /time is currency/ premise and all the technicalities that come with it instead of actually trying to say something like this movie did.

The movie is surprisingly well written. Yes it is a fluff piece, it's called Barbie after all, but for what it was a lot of thought went into all the little details.

Fun both in barbieland and the real world, the jokes were surprising as quite a few of them were at Mattel's expense.

It tackles real world issues but in a fun and light hearted way. It is however 100% targeted at women, I'd say middle aged since that was the majority of the theater and the topics not really suitable for young girls.

I do wonder if it was a bit harsh on men as it did lean way too much into He vs She debate in the second half.

Margot Robbie was amazing as Barbie but Ryan Gosling very much stole the show. He owned every second of his screen time.

Yoshihiro Togashi is the mind that brought us Yu Yu Hakusho.

HxH is, ironically, the more refined and mature version of that! Because the protagonists here look like middle schoolers, the art bright and colorful, the brutality always seem to come from left field. The death toll is staggering and nobody is safe.

One thing that is both a credit and determent to the show is how it's made up of arcs. Mr. Togashi seems to get bored fast so the story is always moving, no fillers here, and it's so fluid that you can easily be in an Isekai with an RPG-game setting in one arc just for the next episode to introduce the concept of giant ants that are literally what they eat... and yet within context it all makes sense and ties together perfectly.

HxH is a classic for a reason, the story telling is on another level and nobody here is safe. A must watch.

K-dramas have a problem with trying to be both modern and traditional at the same time.

Here the premise is modern. Our Cinderella is independant, tough and takes no lip from anyone.

....except when it's her step-mom and step-sister, then she's as meek as a lamb and happy to place the doormate on her back. I might accept it for the step mom but why would you kowtow to a sister the same age as you?!?

Our women are proud and self reliant... execpt in every romantic scene where they are ALWAY AND WITHOUT EXCEPTION the damsal in distress and need to be rescued by one of the "knights". Hell, sometimes they force the distress part just so she can get rescued, I think the romatic track refuses to play otherwise.

Another tradional stereotype thrown into this modern take is that it's up to the woman to change the man. Our Cinderella is litterally hired to live with the four knights and "change them". I'm not even going to touch that one.

This isn't a bad show but it does step on it's own feet quite often. Our heroine is graduating highschool during the course of the show so she's 17-18 correct? Nope! Can't have a minor alone with adults, she's 20... she's graduating highschool at 20. Two people get into a car and drive off on a shopping spree while someone saw them? That someone arrived at the same shop just behind them... on foot. My guess is teleportation.

I wish it stuck to either a traditional or modern take. The show is cute but a lot of the situations feel forced or none sensical.

A love story at it's core the show manages to get you invested not just in the main premise but in the side characters as well.

Whimsical and a little quirky the characters are what shine here and the actors really breathed life into them with little human moments here and there that are just endearing.

While this is a drama it is a light hearted one with a dash sprinkling of Chinese mythology.

I am lowering the score by one star because I did like part 1 way better than part 2 even if the series ended with a bang. Forcing the story to completely stop for three years seemed unnatural.

Overall though this one is very much worth a watch.

The black organization is at it again. Now with a sub... well, kindda.

It's funny, the sub is literally there just because it's in the title. Might as well be some random cruise boat they rented out for the role it played.

The movie centers around a new facial recognition software that can find a person regardless of age or how much time has passed from the on-record photos. Who in this movie is aged down I wonder, hmmmmm.

Plot wise it's fine, the murder mystery was barely an after thought and rather weak, characters were practically omnipotent, animation was ok but scenes tended to have a slideshow quality to them transition wise. CGI... not too bad but noticeable in a few scenes.

As a whole this one is very middle of the road and paint by numbers.

Remember when you were 14 and self inserted as a half demon, half angel? As in... a human?

So this is this show only boring. The MC is half and half meaning both powers zero out and she's the most average human in the world.

Why is that important? It's not, the writer is 14 apparently. Anyway the whole show is her doing nothing and "gods" acting silly because. Just because. The gods have nothing better to do apparently.

The show is low effort, aimless, framed as a gag show but too stiff for that so the jokes fall flat.

Boring, tedious and pointless. I Have no idea why this even exists. Skip it!

It was beauty that tamed the beast.

In the land of Chinese fantasy and myth the old story repeats itself. The innocent and lovely Orchid (played by the charming Esther Yu) Places the worst of the worst under her spell, literally, and for the first time in his life Dongfang Qingcang experiences emotions and starts caring for this little flower.

The visuals are gorgeous, costumes stunning and even the CGI was pretty good. Plot wise it's a very romantic show with a lot of touching moments.

With all this praise though I feel the need to address the elephant in the room.

Dylan Wang nailed his character, playing him as the jaded soulless devil that has reached the peak of his profession.

Esther Yu in contrast played her character as the innocent and VERY young little debutante.

Meaning that the relationship on screen is an older man, early 50s, and his teenager wife. It doesn't help that the first dozen or so episodes are about her preparing for her finales either!

This is saved by the actors being closer in age to each other but them harping on Orchid being a baby 1,500 year old just makes it seem like she's 15 with an older man (over 30,000 years old) read over 30 but really over 40 interested in her.

Ben Falcone is mister boring who works in IT. One day he is chosen by God as -insert title of the show here- and the show takes off from there.

The Premise is good, there are some good ideas bouncing around here... but then comes the actual execution.

Every joke is stretched out until it's no longer funny, Melissa McCarthy needs to be the star of every scene to were she comes off as unlikeable. Side characters are fine on their own but then she steps in and bulldozers them.

Ben Falcone is miss cast here as even as a main character he ends up as a side.

If you're curious about the show just watch the first episode. You'll know immediately if this is for you or not, it very much reflects the entire show.

I went into this one cold out of nostalgia for both the original Addams Family show and the movie.

Episode 1 however set my expectations. This is not even adjacent to that one let alone a spin off, sure some of the characters share the name and aesthetic but that's about it. It's a show for grade schoolers only packaged in a dark aesthetic. Think the new Sabrina mixed in with Riverdale.

Jenna Ortega (as Wednesday) was amazing and the saving grace of this show. She killed it every second she was on screen, most of the humor worked because of her delivery.

The costume and set designs were also striking... but then you have the actual plot and writing.

The character development is nada. The world building is so simplified that it's down right childish. Some of the lines were good but that was only because of Jenna Ortega delivery, more often than not the show dipped into cheesy and cringe territory. The CGI monster... was something else.

Overall this show is a 4/10, it gets two extra stars for the acting alone but that's about it.

The songs in Encanto are ear worms for sure, you're going to find it hard to knock these out of your head.

Plot wise however it very noticeable that this had it's teeth and claws filed off. Conflict is resolved within minutes of it's introduction, there are no real stakes and no Omph factor.

Oddly enough for a movie about a family with magic it somehow lacked it. Maybe because the characters tended to stay in their "rooms" so to speak. Each had his or her own specialty and never interfered with the other's business... which is very unnatural for a multi-generational household.

The character and attire designs however were gorgeous.

Overall, it's an ok movie with a really amazing sound track. Not bad but low tier for Disney.

The elements of the board game "clue" or how I knew it growing up "Cluedo" combined with the best actors and comedians of their time.

Every second of screen time is pure entertainment, almost all the jokes land and Tim Curry is practically vibrating with energy throughout.

My one regret is how criminally under-rated this movie was when it first came out, it's basking in the after glow now as a cult classic but deserves so much better than just that.

If it had a flaw it would be the infamous ending. As in, the director couldn't decide on just one so you got three as a "what if" scenario with the last one being the closest to one of Agatha Christie's classics.

If you've ever watched the Movie Sleuth (or the play of it by Anthony Shaffer) then this is the upgraded version of it with all the same twists and turns.

Here however there are very clearly two acts to this play and the introduction of three additional characters (five in total) creates far more intercut dynamics and interactions between them.

There are however always two main characters in each act. In the first that's Sidney Bruhl (played by Michael Caine) & his ever screaming wife Myra (played by Dyan Cannon). To preserve the mystery I will not mention who are our mains for act 2.

Just remember, this is a movie about turnabouts. Nothing is as it first seems.

Sleuth is based on the play of the same name written by Anthony Shaffer.

Laurence Olivier & Michael Caine, playing an aristocratic jilted husband and the wife's new young Italian lover respectively, decide to play mind games in an attempt to one-up each other and feed their own bruised egos.

As mentioned this was adapted from a playscript and it REALLY shows. Aside from the opening scene the entire 2 hours and 18 minutes of the movie take place in one of two rooms of the house. The two actors had to carry this throughout, thankfully both were BEASTS and not a second of screen time was wasted.

This was an oddball of a movie, clever and completely fluff free yet entertaining from beginning to end.

The Menu is probably the most original movie of the year. A group of snobby critics and foodies are invited to an uber exclusive dinning experience by the world's most renowned chef.

It's not what you think it is, it's actually so much better.

The cast sells this one. Chef Slowik (Played by Ralph Fiennes) tells a story through his facial expressions alone. Anya Taylor-Joy was amazing as Margot, she was clearly given the role of "straight man" that was just not taking any of this. Half the fun was watching her react to those around her. Hong Chau was her amazing self and every second she was on-screen was a delight.

One interesting thing about this thriller is the humor. This movie is genuinely funny, not accidentally but intentionally funny and yet they never break the suspense or tone.

Warning, if you're going to watch this sneak in a burger. You'll need it.

The show is divided into two halves.

Episodes 1 - 6 is introducing Dream, the world and his quest to get his three items of power back.

The second half 7 - 10 is the vortex story from the comics.

I've read the comics & listened to the audiobook, which is why I have mixed feelings about the show.

The effects are grand, especially for a TV series. A lot of money and effort was poured into the show... but the writing, I struggled to get past the first arc and that turned out to be the GOOD part of the show!

Neil Gaiman's writing is razer sharp, his world building is mind-blowing complex but easy to follow. Yet the writers of the show thought they could make it "cooler" by dulling the edges and dumbing it down!

I see people complaining about lucifer being a woman, who cares! I'm more annoyed that the RULER OF HELL themselves is taking orders from a minion of his! You entertain a king, a king does not put on a performance for you. Same with Dream, his own creations are bossing him around. Someone thought "wouldn't it be cool if this happened! I always thought if this character said or did this it would have been even better." and just went ahead with it regardless if it made sense within context.

I can't say this isn't Sandman, I can say this is a lot of subpar Sandman Fanfic though. When they keep in the lines and actions from Neil Gaiman it's amazing, more so compared with the very next scene of bland writing.

This one is a sample of what the real thing is. Get the audiobook if you want a good show with characters that larger than life.

The premise here is that Sad boy is sad. He meets Manic pixie dream girl and she pulls him out of it by allowing him to "save her". The End.

It's dressed up in Otaku culture but that's the premise, in fact it's so much the premise that sad boy keeps flashing back to the reason he is sad (at age 5 some random girl thought his obsessions with dolls was creepy). A premise so important, so vital... that the manga itself forgot about it for 70 chapters. Yes seriously, this is just an excuse for him to be sad.

That's the out-dated part, sad boy + Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a late 90s cliché, so much so that the anime itself feels trapped in that time period. Marin has money, like all Dream Girls endless supplies of it. Why not just buy the costumes or order them? Cosplay is a popular hobby in japan, you can have an entire outfit tailor made for whatever your budget maybe. They act as if this was in the early or mid 90s when this hobby was more underground and you had to make everything yourself or bleed money.

The Creepy part is how Marin is handled. There is a youtuber called Sydney from the channel Sydsnap... That is who Marin is. Not just in appearance but her body language and some of the lines are taken directly from the youtuber, it's also why although the character is 15 she looks and acts like she's in her 20s. Which makes it uncomfortable when they go for fan service in such a blatant manner! Episode two is infamous at this point as (the bikini scene). What you might not know is that this isn't a scene, it's 19 minutes of the episode. 19 minutes of jiggle mechanics, foot fetishes and intrusive camera angles. Because Marin is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl she never feels real. Her one and only role is to respond to sad boy, whatever he needs at the moment is her personality and response. She's smart so she won't burden him but then dumb at times just so he can have a role and "help her".

The Manipulative part. The majority of each episode is spent either on fan service or making you feel sad for sad boy. This, each and every episode, is followed by a finger wage. Always lasting less than 40 seconds of the run time (yes, I checked) Marin will suddenly blush and look embarrassed or burst into tears just to then act as if nothing has happened. This is the author wagging his finger in front of your face and saying "my waifu, don't treat her like that!". Then back to fan service because that's honestly all the show has to offer.

This is a popcorn movie that you're not meant to take seriously, while I'm fine with silliness a lot of it here is in very poor taste.

The infinity gauntlet that caused half of humanity to just poof for 5 years? Yeah lets make fun of that tragic event that people are in-world are still recovering from as a one-time gag in an ice cream shop name.

Our heroine has stage 4 cancer and dying, because that works so well with none stop silliness and fifth grade level humor. Cancer.... and they keep reminding you of it. Cancer and chemo is supposed to be funny to anyone?

Thor is now a parody of himself and all the personal growth he got from the past movies is gone, he is now a clown that happens to have some powers.

The screaming goats meme from 10 years ago was funny though. I laughed at that. Also the boat goat vehicle was creative but that's all the credit I can give the movie. All the key moments like Jane realizing her powers, gods dying...etc all of them are off screen, all you get to see is the silly fluff.

For the longest time the MCU has been churning out shows and movies that fall under the umbrella of "not bad" rather than "good" and tend to fizzle out after a dramatic start.

Moon knight however is the odd duck of the group. It's an American/British guy with Egyptian powers and signs of mental illness... Oh and he's jewish. Hard mode has nothing on what this show was up against.

The start had my attention, the mystery was great with a decent mix of action and quiet moments. Got a bit shaky in the middle but picked right up after that.

For once I feel like the show wasn't given enough time to flush the story out and the finale was rushed trying to get the arcs completed and tying the current loose ends.

Great show and for once a stand alone instead of feeding into the bottomless MCU universe. Was too short and hurried, 6 episodes are just not enough for such a complex character arc.

The base of the story is this. Our two leads are both passive and prideful so each is hoping the other will make the first move.

And that's the show. It's mostly visual gags and cheap laughs so sit back and don't take it too seriously.

Sadly because the leads are so passive it's the side characters that shine. Chika is the only pro-active character which is why she's so popular among fans.

The Narrator (yes, he's an actual character) is very hit or miss. Like that one guy talking over a movie thinking people are more interested in his commentary than the movie itself.

Sadly suffers from poor writing and inconsistent characters so I can't rate it higher but it's an entertaining show.

There is a bit of bait and switch in this anime. The first two episodes play with your expectations setting you up with a light-hearted rom-com and cliched side characters.

Then it turns around and adds layers to said characters, good writing that mocks anime cliches, arcs that force character development.

It does drag in the middle with all the drama but it's the somehow rushed and forced ending after that that lowers it's rating for me.

Make no mistake, this one set the standards for romance anime going forward and with good reason. A must see and never forget anime.

Classic Mike Myer comedy. At times the jokes are... dated and the humor style is about as subtle as a hammer to the head.

Over all though it's still an entertaining show with a few cheap laughs along the way.