As a huge power rangers fan growing up, this film has always interested me. I had no particular drive to see it in theaters, but reveled in the chance when I recently saw it on Hulu.
The film opens with some striking visuals and surprisingly hooks you into the story fairly quickly. The longshot police chase scene at the beginning of the film clearly stated that this film will indeed show off some style, even if its just a highly produced kids show. Over the course of the film though, the characters loose their realism and appeal. Billy Crantson, played by Rj Cyler from "Me Earl and the Dying Girl," and did a particularly good job playing a unique and likeable character. The film could have been a lot better if they went deeper into some of the themes they touched on, instead of harking on one central idea. The rangers cant morph into their armor for a majority of the film and eventually learn they must know and trust each other before they can morph. This is painfully obvious to the audience but seems to evade the characters. I thought the conflict could have been much better if they dove more into why the power coins chose who they did, and did they lead their masters their on purpose. This would have been interesting, because for the main characters to all end up in the same place at the same time, their lives basically had to be destroyed. It would've been interesting to see the team realize that all the drama in their lives had been caused by the power coins. This wouldve been a much more complex plot, with layers and meaning instead of the general "teamwork" message that the film relays. I couldn't finish the film, because it just slowly devolved from an interesting take on the story, to exactly what you'd expect.
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For the last two days I've been watching Overlord on Hulu. The anime focuses on the hardcore gamer, Momongo in a full dive MMORGP on its last day. The servers for his favorite game are going down at midnight and he decides to stay in the game until the last seconds. When the clock reaches midnight, he's transported into another world with all of his items and underlings he accrued in the game. From there, Momongo is aims to conquer this brand new world.
Its good so far, however it falls victim to the same tropes other Anime seem to loose me on. The characters have wildly unrealistic reactions and over exaggerate everything done in each episode. The rules or internal logic of the anime also feel "loosey goosey" at some times. Momongo's inner thoughts are told to the audience in VO format, giving insight to his thoughts and motivation. At first he seems hesitant about his presence in the new world and wary of what information he should reveal to his underlings. But by the fourth episode, hes completely dropped the act and is completely transparent with his underlings. Also Momongo seems a little bit too over powered for it to be an interesting story. Ready Player One released on March 29th 2018. The film wastes no screen time, and sets up the basis of the overall plot in the first few minutes in a simple five minute expositional introduction before the title card. In the world of Ready Player One, the oasis, an online VR connected universe of different locations, worlds, and experiences has consumed all of society. James Halliday, masterfully portrayed by Mark Rylance with only subtle hints at his characters presence on the spectrum, created the Oasis and filled it with his favorite pop culture references. After Halliday’s death, he announces via a pre recorded video that there lies a hidden easter egg within the oasis and whoever finds it will inherit the rights and ownership of the oasis. The film takes place five years after this, where only the most fanatic “gunters” (Egg Hunters) remain and large corporations devote hundreds of nameless drones towards finding the egg.
Tye Sheridan plays Wade Watts or Parzival in the oasis, a very bland yet cringey protagonist. Watts loves the oasis and all that it offers, instead of feeling like a genuine geek with specific interests - Watts reflects of all of pop culture, making him feel very disingenuous. Olivia Cooke plays Samantha Cook also known as Art3mis in the oasis. Samantha instantly falls for Wade, in a very unrealistically developed subplot. The character’s meet in the oasis, while competing for the egg. Castlevania is a cult classic video game with a huge fan base. When it's Netflix adaptation was announced, many fans were filled with a cautious excitement - as film or TV adaptations of video games often fall flat and disgrace their source material. Luckily, the Castlevania series delighted and left viewers aching for more.
Set up as 4 part series with episodes maxing at 20 minutes, the series can easily be watched in a single sitting - and really should be. While the animation might put some people off, Castlevania could serve as a great introduction into the anime genre. The art style allows for creative and interesting visual storytelling. The plot contains multiple different perspectives and takes on the classic Dracula story. I've not played the video games, but apparently the show is incredibly faithful to the source material. |
Joshua DawsonNorth Cobb Magnet Senior. Senior Producer for Tomahawk Today. Secretary of the Senior Class. SkillsUSA State Champion and Chapter Officer. Most importantly and aspiring filmmaker. A couple of other things too. Archives
April 2018
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