#the problem is that the actual games are a little silly and hammy at times

[hecatialapis-lazuli]

i feel like I've talked about this before but I wish blazblue dipped more into the horror of the situation. Whether you wanna go cosmic or existential both kind of work, though I guess the theme is a bit more despair than horror? Those two feel like they marry together pretty well.

Like. Think of CS. You have Noel, becoming what she always was, something inhuman. Literally screaming and crying after having the truth of the world and the PFDs revealed to her. You have Ragna, also learning the truth, and that he has tried so, so many times and failed every single time. You have Terumi, relishing in the hopelessness that should cause, yet being just as stuck as everyone else, and painfully aware that if he wants out of this hell, he has to claw his way out.

Idk, I just think there's a lot of stuff in blazblue that lends really well to horror. There's already themes about loss of autonomy, just play a little more into that, emphasize the helplessness before the Master Unit, and then the satisfaction of finally being free.

Hell, the Master Unit/Origin still is sympathetic in this interpretation. She's suffering, she's not doing anything out of malice, she just wants to be a person. Not even the Origin is immune to the horror of being a thing, strung up to watch and desperately try for another ending this time. This time, it'll work.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Roman Sionis

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Birds of Prey is a fun, silly movie. So you’d expect a fun, silly villain for such a film, right? Well, we sort of get that… but this is an R-rated fun, silly movie, so the villain is going to cuss a lot and peel people’s faces off and be a raging psychopathic manchild. Roman Sionis, everybody!

Good old Roman Sionis, known to comic fans as Black Mask (he isn’t ever called that by anyone except Harley during his introduction, and he doesn’t even wear his mask until the end), is just an absolute raging lunatic. He gets mad at the drop of a hat, is creepily posessive of Dinah Lance, has a very close relationship with his murderous second-in-command Zsasz, and is just generally unpleasant to every single person who crosses his path.

But that’s par for the course for Roman Sionis, who is never really EVER portrayed as a charming, likable guy. The real question here is, is he an entertaining villain? Well he’s played by Ewan McGregor, what do YOU think?

Motivation/Goals: Roman is a relatively simple villain, but I think this works in his favor. You see, a big issue with Harley’s previous outing, Suicide Squad, is that the mission was way too high stakes despite the cast featuring a group of people who didn’t really have any powers beyond “fighting really good.” or “has weapon skills.” You’re telling me you’re gonna put Harley Quinn, Deadshot, and Captain Boomerang up against Enchantress and her army of ancient Aztec super-zombies? WHAT? Here, we have a street-level threat much more suited to Harley’s capabilities: Roman is just a very powerful gangster, and his goal in this movie is the simple “get this diamond that was stolen back to me so I can make fat stacks of cash.” That’s really all their needs to be here, a simple MacGuffin to drive along the plot to its various setpieces.

Performance: I love Ewan McGregor, so, really, he didn’t have to do much with the role of Roman Sionis to make him great. Still, this man went above and beyond despite having comparatively little screentime to Harley. Roman seems incapable of going a single sentence without cursing up a storm and is the epitome of a psychopathic manchild, tormenting people for the slightest of reasons. He forces a woman to strip and dance on one of his tables because she was laughing too loud when he was upset, and decides not to spare a girl’s life because she had a gross snot bubble on her face from sobbing while he had his crony Zsasz peel off her parents’ faces. As funny and hammy as he gets, the dude is a stone-cold ruthless bastard who has no line he won’t cross to get what he wants.

Final Fate: Cass hides a grenade on him and steals the ring, and then Harley kicks him off the pier while he panics. Before he even hits the water, BOOM! Never would I have expected to laugh out loud at the sight of Ewan McGregor being blown into bits, but this movie was just full of surprises.

Best Scene: I think that the honor has to go to his establishing character moment with Zsasz, as they cut off the faces of a family who crossed Roman, and then when Roman decides to spare the daughter, he notices snot on her face, says “Ew” like a petulant child, and has Zsasz cut her face off anyway. It’s a great way to establish that Roman is an awful human being no matter how you slice it, and firmly establishes that while, yes, he is a misogynist villain in a female-led blockbuster, his misogyny is just a tiny facet of how unabashedly terrible Roman is.

Final Thoughts & Score: So, this is gonna sound weird, but… Roman kinda reminded me of Justin Hammer. Hammer is a villain who I have greatly warmed to over time (mostly thanks to Nando V Movies on YouTube), to the point where I think he’s actually pretty funny but is held back from true greatness by the sloppy nature of Iron Man 2. The film was big, bloated, and didn’t know what to do with itself. And this film is KIND OF like that… but it knows what to do with Roman.

The movie has an undercurrent of female empowerment, so why not make the villain emblematic of things women have to overcome? Roman is creepy, misogynistic, and even a bit racist especially with his condescending actions towards Dinah. And he even throws a fit when she “betrays” him and decides to murder her. But the movie is smart so as to not make this hamfisted; the movie makes it entirely clear that even if you take away his misogynistic elements, Roman Sionis is just an utterly disgusting human being. Everything about him is just so hilariously vulgar and repulsive, but the way he’s performed helps lighten it and help keep him within the tone of the movie. He’s just dark enough and just hammy enough to work.

My big issues with Roman are mostly due to his utilization and the wasted potential, which is a problem that really hits a lot of stuff in Birds of Prey. He is great every time he’s onscreen, but his screentime is fairly limited, and then he dies at the end which robs him of any chance of coming back in the future as an antagonist. He actually functions great as a more grounded threat rather than some larger-than-life end of the world threat, but the fact he dies horribly – before even having his mask burned onto his face, even! - just kind of feels like a waste of a character. To be fair, Black Mask is not the best or most interesting Batman villain crime lord; we have the Penguin for that. But when you cast  someone like Ewan McGregor and he’s clearly having a blast, it’s hard not to feel at least slightly bitter when he gets hilariously gibbed at the end.

Still, I can’t let Justin Hammer’s sacrifice go in vain; he walked so Roman could run, and Roman ran so that perhaps someday Hammer could sprint. Roman gets a nice, fat 8/10, which he definitely earns with the heaping helpings of ham he brings to the table, though he is held back at least a little by the wasted potential of his character.

But hey, if you want to talk about wasted potential…

Psycho Analysis: Victor Zsasz

I really like Victor Zsasz in this film. I really do. The angle they went with, the implied homosexuality, the actor… it’s all good stuff that helps make a disturbing character like Zsasz easier to swallow. But he gets hit with wasted potential harder than even Roman does.

Motivation/Goals: He’s Roman’s right-hand man, so basically his motivation is to do whatever Roman wants him to do. However, there is a bit of an implied thing between his boss and him; Zsasz seems undeniably irritated with the attention he lavishes on Dinah, and is very hands-on and affectionate with his boss. A lot of his later actions in the film and his cruelty towards Dinah does seem to stem from some place of anger towards her for taking Roman’s attention away from him.

Performance: I have to say, Chris Messina does a stellar job at portraying Zsasz as creepy and obsessive, and certainly showcases the fanatical loyalty he has towards Roman, making him something of a dark mirror to Harley’s former relationship with the Joker. I also appreciate that, despite not going with Zsasz’s original psychotic serial killer angle, they still made him a bloodthirsty psycho with a sort of nihilistic edge to him. Frankly, this might be the best possible take on a live-action Zsasz without things getting intensely uncomfortable.

Final Fate: This is probably the worst element of Zsasz: his death. Right before the climax he gets shot out of the blue by Huntress and then Harley just repeatedly stabs him with the arrow. And I have to make it clear here – Zsasz barely got to do anything. He never really poses any sort of physical threats to the heroines, never gets into a fight, and is never mentioned again after his death despite being very close to Roman (to the point where the two may have been lovers).

Final Thoughts & Score: As far as henchmen go, Zsasz is pretty solid conceptually. He’s established early on as a psychopathic enforcer of Roman’s gang, he has an eerie air to him, and he has a lot of elements from the comics you rarely see on Zsasz in other media, such as being blonde. Messina does a fantastic job at making the character seem like a competent killer in the employ of Roman.

But the key word is “seem,” because Zsasz frankly never lives up to his hype. Despite being introduced peeling the faces off of a family, he is just never utilized to his fullest extent. He’s kind of just there in a lot of scenes, and while he isn’t unmemorable or anything he never really does anything that makes him into a worthwhile addition to the franchise. He’s honestly just a glorified mook with a few interesting gimmicks to help set him apart.

I’ve gotta give him a 6/10. While he’s definitely a step above average, he’s really not anything amazing, mostly because the movie refuses to allow him to reach his full potential. He doesn’t have any great quotes, his most memorable scene really serves more to establish Roman than anything, and he is dumped and quickly forgotten right before the climax. He would easily be a 7 or 8 if the story treated him with a little more weight or respect, but he just ends up underwhelming despite having so much going for him, and it’s frankly a bit depressing. It’s just a very sad state of affairs for the character, especially when he managed to be more intimidating in the Arkham games despite the fact that he posed even less of a physical threat than he does here.

Well, while we’re here, let’s go over THAT Zsasz briefly.

Portrayed in the games by Danny Jacobs (who you may know as Sacha Baron Cohen's stand in on The Penguins of Madagascar. Yes, Zsasz and King Julien had the same voice actor.), Zsasz is never really a major antagonist and is, in all honesty, a pretty weak fighter; you can always take him down in one punch. The thing with Zsasz in the games, though, is that it’s always tricky to get to him, because he usually has hostages of some kind. In Arkham Asylum, he appears twice, and you need to use stealth to take him out before he kills his hostages. In City, he gets a much longer sidequest where he requires you to pick up ringing telephones and then glide to another one across the city within a time limit. Once you’ve listened to all of his messages, Batman finds out where his lair is, sneaks through it, and whoops his ass.

I certainly can’t say he’s the best villain in either game he appears in, but he’s definitely scary. His messages and game over screens are really freaky and unnerving, and the Riddler even requires you to find some of Zsasz’s work as parts of riddles… and by “work” I am of course referring to corpses posed in life-like positions. There’s also the horrifying little tidbit that in City, Zsasz actually does kill one of his hostages and there’s nothing that can be done about it; if you switch to detective mode in his lair, you can see a corpse at the bottom of the water in the room.

I think how creepy and intense he is really helps make him stand out among the more colorful characters in those games like Joker, Clayface, and Riddler, so I think giving him a nice 8/10 for his appearances is well-earned. I feel like Birds of Prey could have learned a few lessons from this portrayal; if they wanted to make him more creepy than physically intimidating, that could have worked well and it would have made his anti-climactic defeat a bit more plausible. Instead, they kind of tried this middle ground where he’s creepy enough and intimidating enough physically that it just feels like a letdown when he’s offed.

Oh yeah, did you know he appeared in Batman Begins? He had a brief cameo and didn’t do anything significant and looked like this:

Pretty sure he’d get a low score if he wasn’t just a quick little reference.

[ljones41]

"OCTOPUSSY" (1983) Review

"OCTOPUSSY" (1983) Review While perusing some of the Bond forums, I have noticed that 1983’s ”OCTOPUSSY” is not highly regarded by many fans. Personally, I have always found this hard to understand or accept, considering that the movie has been one of my favorite entries in the Bond franchise for years. But after watching it recently . . . I still do not agree with its low standing among the fans.

”OCTOPUSSY”’s pre-title sequence is merely a little teaser about Bond’s attempt to sabotage a missile system in the Banana Republic (aka Cuba). It was light, humorous and filled with plenty of solid action. I particularly enjoyed the fact that what started out as failure on Bond’s part after he found himself captured by enemy soldiers, ended up as a success partially through the actions of the enemy, when they attempt to shoot down the Acrostar Mini-Jet he used for a quick escape. Although entertaining, the pre-title sequence has nothing to do with the main story, which involves a power-hungry Soviet general, a mysterious and beautiful smuggler/circus owner and a duplicitous Afghan prince. Written by George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum, and Michael G. Wilson, ”OCTOPUSSY” starts out in East Germany with 009 dressed as a clown and being pursued by a knife-wielding villain. The villain turns out to be a pair of twins (Mischska and Grischska) who want something that 009 has – namely a fake Faberge egg called Property of a Lady. One of the twins manages to fatally wound 009 with a knife. But before he can die, the British agent manages to reach the local British embassy and deliver the egg in dramatic fashion. James Bond is assigned to investigate his colleague’s death. The investigation leads to an auction at Christie’s where the real Property of a Lady egg is being sold . . . and Bond’s first meeting with the villainous Kamal Khan, his henchmen Gobinda and the lovely Madga. Bond’s investigations lead him to India, where he makes his acquaintance with Kamal Khan for the second time. He survives several attempts on his life and incarceration at Khan’s Monsoon Palace and eventually meet the mysterious Octopussy, who turns out to be the daughter of a former rogue agent whom Bond had met years ago. Bond’s encounters with Octopussy and Khan provides him with clues that lead back to East Germany and Soviet General Orlov and Khan’s plot to detonate a nuclear bomb on a U.S. Air Force base in West Germany. Fortunately, Bond (with Octopussy’s help) foils Orlov and Khan’s plans. Roger Moore returned for the sixth time as British agent James Bond. At age 55 during the film’s production, he struck many Bond fans as too old to be portraying the super spy. Personally, I had no problems with Moore’s age around this time. He still looked handsome and healthy enough to star in the action-packed spy thriller. And he portrayed Bond with a world-weariness and style that seemed to befit his age. Even better, he managed to retain some of that gritty toughness that he utilized so effectively in his previous outing, ”FOR YOUR EYES ONLY” . . . and retained his sense of humor at the same. Speaking of that humor, I usually have nothing against Moore’s humorous style (unlike many fans and critics). But I can think of four occasions when even I found it a bit too much: -Chase sequence in Udaipur with street performers -Bond focusing short circuit camera on Indian operative’s cleavage -The Tarzan yell during Bond’s escape from Khan’s Monsoon Palace -Bond using fake crocodile submarine to sneak into Octopussy’s estate Despite the extreme silliness listed above, I still found Moore’s performance satisfactory. I enjoyed his sense of humor during his encounters with the West German citizenry, while trying to stop Orlov and Khan’s bomb. And I admired his dramatic skills in scenes featuring the discovery of Vijay’s body and his romantic scene with Octopussy. But I was especially impressed by his acting in the scene that featured Bond’s only encounter with General Orlov. Maud Adams returned to appear in her second Bond film, this time portraying the leading female character – smuggler/circus owner, Octopussy. I cannot honestly say I would consider Adams to be among the best actresses that appeared in the Bond franchise. The nine years between ”THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN” (in which she portrayed the villain’s doomed mistress) and ”OCTOPUSSY” seemed to have shown no real improvement in her acting skills. But she seemed competent enough to carry the role. And her looks and screen presence certainly helped. The secondary female lead – Kristina Weyborn – portrayed Madga, Octopussy’s right-hand woman and personal liaison to Kamal Khan. Like Adams, Weyborn is a tall Swedish-born beauty with limited acting skills. And like the leading lady, she possessed enough looks and presence to carry her role. Although I do wish that someone had given her more lessons in performing martial arts on screen. French actor Louis Jordan portrayed Kamal Khan, an exiled Afghan prince who desire for a piece of the Imperial Russian treasure leads him to take part in General Orlov's plot to bomb a U.S. Air Force base and change the political landscape of Western Europe. Khan serves as the liaison between Orlov and Octopussy, who traveling circus/smuggling operation allows the two men to smuggle a nuclear bomb into West Germany. Like Yaphet Kotto and Christopher Lee before him, Jordan seems to be a doppleganger of Moore's James Bond - smooth, suave and very deadly. One scene in particular - Bond and Khan's game of dice at an Udaipur hotel - reflects the mirror image of the two men in a very effective manner. Not only did Jordan perfectly portray Kamal Khan's smooth style and sophistication, he did an excellent job of reflecting the Afghan prince's darker nature - especially his cold-blooded tendency to betray anyone who stood between him and self-preservation. Including Octopussy and his men. "OCTOPUSSY"'s cast of minor villains include Steven Berkhoff as the bombastic General Orlov, whose desire for completely Communist Europe and a higher position in the Soviet hierarchy sets off the movie's plot. Although I found his scenes with Moore, Jordan and Adams effective and subtle, Berkhoff unfortunately revealed a tendency toward hammy acting in a scene that feature a meeting between the Soviet premier and several generals - including Gogol. And when I mean hammy, I mean . . . ham served with eggs. Indian actor Kabir Bedi portrayed Khan's right-hand man, the silent and intimidating Gobinda. One of the Bond sites - "MI-6" Forum - stated the following about the character: "Kamal Khan's faithful bodyguard, big and tough but none too bright.". I do not know if I agree with that assessment. On second thought . . . I do not agree. Gobinda's flaw may have been that he was too devoted and loyal to Khan - after all, he actually obeyed the Afghan prince's order that he climb out of a plane in mid-flight and kill Bond. But less than bright? No, I do not agree. Gobinda struck me as a very observant and intelligent man. And the very handsome Bedi portrayed the henchman with a nice balance of intelligence and menace. In fact, Gobinda happens to be one of my favorite henchmen. Actors David Meyer and Anthony Meyer portray the knife-throwing assassins who killed 009, Mischka and Grischska. They did not say much in the movie, but both did a nice job of projecting competent and menacing killers. With the death of Bernard Lee in 1980, the character of M did not appear in "FOR YOUR EYES ONLY". The character returned in the form of actor Robert Brown, who began the first of his four movie run as the head of MI-6 in "OCTOPUSSY". Brown portrayed M with authority, but very little imagination. Personally, I think he was simply too young to be portraying an authority figure against Roger Moore, who was six years younger. Not until Timothy Dalton's tenure will Brown show that along with Lee and Judi Dench, he could also be an interesting M. Lois Maxwell returned as Moneypenny in one of the most amusing Bond-Moneypenny scenes in the franchise. The scene involved a 'Miss Penelope Smallbone' and Moore and Maxwell managed to inject a lot of humor and charm into the scene, as befitting two old friends. Desmond Llewellyn had once stated that "LICENSE TO KILL" was his favorite Bond film. Which does not seem surprising, since he had a strong role in it. But he also had a strong role in "OCTOPUSSY" and I could tell that he had enjoyed himself. Especially in the scene that featured his rescue of Madga and some of Octopussy's other followers. It seemed too bad that Q's embellished role in this movie seemed just as unecessary as his embellished role in "LICENSE TO KILL". General Gogol returned in the form of Walter Gotell. And he portrayed the Soviet KGB general with his usual competence. Tennis star, Vijay Amritraj made his screen debut as Indian intelligence agent . . . Vijay. Okay this is not exactly an example of original casting, but what the hell? He did a pretty good job, anyway. And he was rather charming. "OCTOPUSSY" marked John Glen's second time in the director chair. And like "FOR YOUR EYES", he did an admirable job. I have to give the man kudos for once again, bringing a touch of realistic grit in Moore's portrayal of Bond and in the franchise. Although I do feel that he made a misstep in allowing those silly moments I had earlier mentioned, in the movie. But I do wonder who had included those ridiculous little scenes? Was it Glen? Moore? Or were the screenwriters - Fraser, Maibum and Wilson - responsible? If the writers were responsible, it was a misstep on their parts. Otherwise, they created an admirable script. One of the scenes highly criticized by critics was the sight of Bond disguised as a clown to infiltrate the circus where the bomb was located. I never understood their criticism of this disguise. Perhaps they disliked the idea of James Bond dressed as a clown. If so, I find their attitude extremely shallow . . . and rather stupid. Also, I wonder why George MacDonald Fraser had been included in this project? Was it because he was a British Army veteran who had served in India? Or that he had incorporated his experiences in India in his Harry Flashman novels? I do not know what to admire more - the screenwriters' creation of the villains' objectives and Bond's efforts to stop the bomb, or Glen's direction of those scenes. Perhaps both. I wish I could say that I enjoyed the movie's theme song, "All Time High", which was sung by Rita Coolidge. But in the end, it simply bored me. However, I did enjoy John Barry's lush and exciting score. And I must commend cinematographer, Alan Hume, for the film's photography. His shots of India and the English countryside (serving as East and West Germany) made "OCTOPUSSY" one of the most colorful entries in the Bond franchise. Despite the low opinion held by many Bond fans, "OCTOPUSSY" remains one of my favorite Bond films. In fact, I consider it to be Moore's second best film (despite a few stupid jokes) and the franchise's sixth best. I give it . . . 8/10.

[gascon-en-exil]

Joining the Game Late: S1E8 “The Pointy End”

Synopsis

The game gets real for the Starks as everyone rallies behind Cersei. Varys tells Ned that he is in fact an idiot. The Eyrie will not move. Tyrion continues to write checks his ass may or may not be able to cash. Suddenly, ice zombies...again. Tywin and Robb are riding to war, and Robb is too trusting like his father. Direwolves continue to fix problems with mauling. The youngest Stark kid remembers he’s in this for like five seconds. Joffrey enjoys his cronyism, and Sansa is in way over her head. Drogo gets a flesh wound, and he and Dany have an understanding under all the misogyny. Hodor is hung like a very pasty horse, and we are all much richer for knowing that.

Commentary

...Sorry, I’ve still got the image of Hodor dick in my head. Funny that even male nudity gets to serve multiple functions in this show whereas female nudity is always there for the fanservice, unless you count Lysa Arryn breastfeeding her preteen I guess. Moving on.

The stakes have really ramped up with all the Starks having to confront the inevitability of war with the Lannisters. Ned’s on his way to execution, Catelyn can’t get her sister to help out (although Lysa does sort of have a point about how dangerous their enemies are, go figure), Robb’s leading an army as his first extended bit of character development, Arya’s “dance instructor” pulls a heroic sacrifice so she can escape the palace on her own after accidentally getting her first kill, and Sansa is stuck still playing the games of the court as she has to defend herself as Joffrey’s fiancée and plea for her father’s life. Bran doesn’t have much to do apart from talk to that bandit woman the Starks took captive, but then he’s been pretty sidelined ever since he got pushed out of that window so I’m not surprised. What was his little brother’s name again? *looks up* Oh, Rickon. I am probably not going to remember that, unless he actually does something at some point. Seeing Robb playing off someone other than Theon was my favorite part of all this, because you can tell he’s doing his best even though he’s in way over his head even after his mother shows up to back him up. The scene where one of his bannermen argues with him and gets some of his fingers bitten off by Robb’s wolf was too silly to take seriously though; good thing the guy has a sense of humor about getting maimed? Northerners are weird.

Over in the Lannister camp Tyrion’s plot thread rejoins the rest of his family, and even though this is only his second episode Tywin does a really good job of conveying their family’s stakes in this fight and how it’s less about the Starks themselves and more about cleaning up a bunch of political loose ends he left hanging during Robert’s rebellion. Like Cersei he works well as a character who’s obviously an antagonist while not diving headfirst into hammy villainy; Tyrion is the one who feels more like an outlier for showing up to the conflict fifteen minutes late with Starbucks no wait that’s in S8 a tribe of Hill people who might be working for the Lannisters now, but that’s more than can be said for Jaime at the moment who’s being a menace with his own army offscreen. There’s been some nods to the politics of the Riverlands in this episode and the last, but so far it’s hard to get a feel from them since it’s all been told and not shown.

Not so for the White Walkers, who show up again posing a serious threat to the Night’s Watch. I was never a big fan of zombie horror and have always been a bit perplexed about its appeal, so I’ll go ahead and say that I’m not really invested in the plotline at the Wall. It was nice seeing Sam be useful though, in a way that I imagine is meant to foreshadow his eventual role as author stand-in. It’s a more interesting duty than Jon’s BFF (no homo). Daenerys’s plotline on the other hand offers a real ethical dilemma for her, in that she has to face the reality that the Dothraki intend to fund her invasion of Westeros by raiding defenseless villages and selling the inhabitants as slaves. Dany saves a group of women from rape and in the process starts a very tense dialogue involving multiple layers of imperialism, misogyny, and comparative theology that all ends with some guy getting his tongue ripped out through his neck. Must happen all the time, really. This I think is one advantage I have in knowing how this all ends before I went in, because it makes it easier to see where Dany’s desire to improve the lives of people around her with basic moral positions the audience can support (i.e. slavery is bad) can come into conflict with her even greater desire to rule Westeros. I’m not defending the showrunners’ decision to abruptly shift her over to full villain mode in the last 3-4 episodes, but the material is definitely there earlier on if you know to look for it. 

[cureforbedbugs]

Initial thoughts on The Wire

I'm eleven episodes into The Wire, a show I've avoided watching for a full 15 years (damn, it is VERY 15 years old!), and I have no regrets. Contrarian TV Dave is usually right about these things.

I mean, obviously, it's pretty good, and, obviously, it's not as good as everyone says it is -- how could it be? I imagine it gets better and worse through the years like all other pretty good shows, but like, I didn't need to "just get through season 1" of The Good Wife or Friday Night Lights to know that those (to name two) are shows that will end up higher on my all-time list, to say nothing of my actual favorite shows of all time.

On a first watch of the first season, there are a few things that genuinely surprised me, though.

(1) This show has maybe the worst example I've ever seen of one of my biggest pet peeves -- American characters played by non-American actors doing bad American accents.

Not Idris Elba -- Elba's accent is serviceable and occasionally remarkable in a "wow, he must have really studied" sorta way that I still find a little distancing (I don't see him disappearing into this character in the way he should be yet), but it's sometimes distracting -- he slips into weirdly incongruous Noo Yawk flourishes when he doesn't know how to land a problem word, though this tic seems to improve as the series goes on.

But Dominic West might have the single worst American accent I've ever heard from a major character in an American television show. I had no idea who he was when I started the show and immediately knew he was not American. Like, it's literally the only thing I can think about every second I hear him. It is awful. So, just me having the dumb pet peeves that I have makes this a HUGE deal-breaker, sociopolitical whatevers notwithstanding.

(2) This show is, like, kind of funny? There are hammy characterizations that come straight out of Parks and Rec or something -- the old-timer who makes doll house furniture, drunken IKEA furniture assembly, the pick-up basketball game with absurdly incongruous ringers. The wry stuff is wry, sure, but a lot of it is just silly, which I kind of appreciated. You don't expect to find little pockets of junk in your Quality Television.

(3) This show is, like, a show. It's got flabby subplots and weird Storylines to Nowhere and peculiar character actor choices and throwaway strippers. It's not nearly as focused or as clear in its own sense of politics as I expected. I found this somewhat charming so far.

(4) It's a procedural, if a subtle and crafty one, and it makes me think of Truffaut's skepticism of the possibility of anyone making a truly "anti-war" war film. I don't know if there's a great way in this medium to level a genuine critique of the procedures of policing in a procedural format -- there's too much riding on us wanting the case to resolve. So for all of the "three-diminesional non-police characters" etc. (which is such a low bar that it's almost insulting to reward the show for it) it's still hard not to shrug when low-level dealers get shot, say, or to somberly note the police brutality in one scene and then NOT thrill to the next chase all of an hour later. I'm trying to work myself into a position where this kind of whiplash is "commentary" on something and not a failing of the show, and I could probably do it, but it's still a bitter aftertaste toward the end of the first season. We'll see.

[furederiko]

It's Valentine's Day! Since I'm not celebrating (why should I? It's a commemoration of someone's death! And I don't even know the guy ;D), here's the recap-view for "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger"'s debut episode that I've promised two days ago! Hey, I did say that the show felt like a LOVE letter to space opera genre. So it fits! Ahahaha.....

- Our episode begins with a quick shot of Earth. A very quick one. I didn't pay much attention about it before, but now that I've seen again... well, it bugs me a little. We know that Kyuranger cannonically takes place 'after' "Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger". Not directly, but probably years, or at least a decade apart. Problem is, this Earth looks... odd. I mean, putting the ending of Zyuohger into consideration, Earth should've looked... different, right? It's too bad, because TOEI could've easily used this fact to establish some sort of continuity between both series. Of course, this is just a minor nitpick for now, and I might be overthinking stuff (as always). But I do hope this will be addressed later. By the way, the theme of this season is 'GLOBE'. And note what those Earthling boy is playing? A blue ball. LOL. Not very subtle, eh TOEI? But don't mind that, because the setting takes place in an entirely different galaxy. Yep, just like Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy". - If you ask me, this season is promising from the get-go. Why? That shot with all of those constellations is more than enough to make me geek out. To be precise, the "Saint Seiya" fan in me. Hahaha... I'm just kidding, of course. The reason is because it doesn't waste time and immediately gets into action. Space action! Our first planet is Planet Clothos, and the evil Space Shogunate Jark Matter is already hard at work to demonstrate its threat. Destructions everywhere! Civilians in danger! Those spacecrafts... you know what they remind me of? TIE Fighters from the "Star Wars" series. - Champ the Taurus Black (VA: Akio Ootsuka, who is the voice of Solid Snake in "Metal Gear Solid" series!), Hammy the Chamaeleon Green (Sakurako Ookubo), and Sparda the Dorado Yellow (Tetsuji Sakakibara) debut! Respectively, their official numbering and titles are #5 The Ring Star, #7 The Shinobi Star, and #9 The Food Mei-Star. Over-Time chooses to use the official Constellation Names in their translation, instead of its Japanese. Not too sure about "Kyutama" as "Kyu Globe", but I'm totally digging this approach. I'll be using the same format in my recap-view too. - Hammy and Sparda look a bit... nervous, but let's ignore that. The more important thing is that they are ALREADY Kyurangers! I know we'll be getting their individual backstories along the way, that's inevitable. But I really prefer this approach better than having an origin story. The duration of their transformation and roll call are short, but effective. Not to mention, those constellation symbols look amazing too. Why so short? There are only 3 members so far, just imagine how long it'll take when all 9 have been assembled! Oh and yeah, they descend to Clothos' surface using their "Voyagers". The globe-shaped cockpits are comfortably released to land them on the ground. And I'm totally loving this mechanism. - All the while, snarky Raptor283 (VA: M.A.O., who is none other than Gokai Yellow herself!) is guiding them from the Starship Enterpr... I mean, mothership "Orion". She's the pilot of this huge spacecraft. We know that she's a Kyuranger too, but it looks like that's not the case yet in this episode. Orion itself is a huge ship with a statue of a bearded man holding a torch on its front, with 9 ports on the back, globe-shaped part. That torch seemingly serves as the control room, while the ports are likely to store the Voyagers. It has the constellation symbols of our current Kyurangers. - Enter Lucky (Takumi Kizu), who is hovering through space on his... Speeder? Another "Star Wars" nod? Not just that, his costume looks a little similar to... a StormTrooper! And wait a sec... his name, its similarity to a particular "Star Wars" protagonist is just too good to be called coincidence. As suspected from the teasers, this guy is LOUD and well, generally an annoying-type for my taste. He already reminds me of Kai Ozu / Magi Red, and also Takaharu Igasaki / AkaNinger... the latter which is NOT a good sign. Gotta love his optimism though! He came from "Planet Luth", and makes one flashy entrance to the episode. While thinking that true to his name, he's simply... LUCKY. LOL. - Opening Sequence! And this first version (since only 3 Kyurangers are shown together as group) has a nice ring to it too. Maaan, TOEI is REALLY inspired by "The Avengers", eh? I mean, that 360 degrees battle shot? Yep! They even wrap it up with a very cool closing pose. Speaking of music, not just the Opening, this episode has great background music too. It immediately reminds me of "Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger". Which actually makes sense, considering Kyuranger and Dekaranger should technically exist in an era that isn't far off from one another. - Should I be surprised? Sparda is the Orion's chef! He might look nervous before, but not anymore. And great gawd, I'm loving all the cooking-references he makes in his dialogues. Champ is a bodybuilder, eventhough he's a robot who doesn't need one. And Hammy, well... looks like she's a bit sarcastic. So... WOW. We certainly never had a snarky-sarcastic combo for our females before! As for Lucky? This guy boldly proclaims that he wants to join the team... without even knowing anything about who they are, or what they are doing. Just a whimsical action, but a good one. I mean, who could even dare hate this guy, especially when he's spewing out confusions with those 'dumb expressions'? *sigh*. But really, as I've said before, although Lucky seemed annoying at first, his whole 'being lucky' gag, and plain 'ditzy' traits makes for genuine hillarious moments! - Our gang is called the "Rebellion", the sole organization that is resisting to Jark Matter. Aaah yes, another "Star Wars" nod. In order to do so, they need to locate the Nine Saviors chosen by the Kyutam, er... Kyu Globes. Legendary Heroes called Kyurangers, who will save the universe. There are only 3 so far, but Lucky thinks they are in luck, because he's going to be the 4th. Yep, 'going to', because he needs to find a Kyu Globe first. LOL. He even grabs the "Constellation Blaster" (Seiza Blaster) in advance. "What a nutcase", remarks Champ. "Spot On", I say. XD. - The Jark Matter is certainly a force that shouldn't be underestimated! Its Darth Vader-esque prime leader, Shogun of the Space Shogunate Don Almage (VA: Atsuki Tani) doesn't waste time to show how ruthless and terrifying he can be. His general, the Malicestrate of Sagittarius System, Eridron (VA: Takaya Kuroda, that heavy voice of Kazuma Kiryuu in the "Yakuza" game series) is already punished for his failure to deal with the Kyurangers. WHAT. A. GREAT. SIGHT! It has been a while since we last saw a Super Sentai big boss demonstrating his menace right away, huh? A solid improvement over Master Genis. - Second destination, Planet Jugjug. This already feels like "Star Trek", huh? And Lucky is well indeed, lucky. Because his wish to locate a new Kyu Globe is immediately answered as soon as he land... er, crashes to the planet. Its a Blue-colored one, and belongs to a wolfman who doesn't hesitate to give Lucky a piece of his mind! The equally blue-colored wolfman with heterochromia eyes is Garu (VA: Doumeki-kun... I mean, Kazuya Nakai, who is more familiarly known as... ZORO XD). The last of his kind because his clan was annihilated by Jark Matter. Good backstory, but I hope this is not the full extent of it. We still have 40 more episodes, right? We learn here that a Kyu Globe needs to be awaken first, and well, Garu is too pessimistic to do so. Of course, Lucky's sincerety and passion manages to move his sense of justice. - Uhm, scratch that. It works wonder for Lucky first. Attempting to distract the Jark Matter army, Lucky is thrown away to space. Don't you feel this scene looks... similar? Yep, just like what happened to Peter Quill / Star-Lord in "Guardians of the Galaxy". Anyway, this condition luckily awakens his own power. Lucky obtains the firey Leo Kyu Globe! Looks like meteor shower has become his signature item too, as he rides one while transforming into #1 The Super Star Leo Red. "Talk about lucky!", huh? But that's not all. He is also capable to perform a special finisher, "Regulus Impact". And when Chamaeleon Green and Dorado Yellow each summon the Chamaeleon Voyager and Dorado Voyager to help fend the attack on Orion, Leo Red stumbles upon the "Say the Go" function and awakens his Leo Voyager as well. And it has much bigger size than the others! SOOO LUCKY! LOL. - Continuing the trend of rivalry between Red and Blue, Garu is inspired by Lucky, and awakens his own Lupus Kyu Globe. #3 The Beast Star Lupus Blue debuts, and fights together with Taurus Black. The silly thing here, is that the two haven't even introduced themselves to one another. But it doesn't take long for Leo Red to steal back attention, as he luckily stumbles upon the "Say the Docking" function and well, accidentally docks Chamaeleon and Dorado Voyagers (whose pilots are completely dumbfounded about this ability) to his Voyager, and form "Kyuren-Oh". A legless version, that is! Hahaha. This is neat, and I just have to praise that rotating cockpit once again. Because I really love its flexibility! - Doesn't take long for Taurus Voyager and Lupus Voyager to be dragged into the battle. A complete-form Kyuren-Oh is formed, and the Kyurangers have to deal with the giant Jark Matter goon... on the surface of Jugjug's icy moon. Yep, this is the benefit of a Space-themed story. The show's not bound to do the mecha fight on miniature cities anymore. The writers and directors can let their imagination runs wild. Of course, there's got to be an obvious boost of cost for production design and CG. So I hope the show won't run off steam quickly because of it. Anyways, that "Kyuren-Oh! Star Break!" attack looks reaaally good. This mecha battle is sooo exciting, I feel so giddy! XD - New uniform for Lucky and Garu! This once again reminds me of "Guardians of the Galaxy". And also "Voltron Legendary Defender". Five Kyurangers down, that means four more to go. Will we be getting the other chosen ones, one by one in the next episodes? Nope, because two more candidates have already shown up, eating at a Cosplay Caf... er, the Mos Eis... uhm, diner on Planet Jagama. And they seem interested with the bounty of the Rebellions. By the way, who is that on the TV? I wonder why he somehow looks... familiar? Hmmmm. - The ending dance is beyond FUN! I mean, sure, either it's going to be a huge hit, or gets tired really fast, is anyone's guess. But with that catchy lyrics, fun 90s disco tune, the simple, easy to memorize, and highly addictive choreography, along with the funky millenial repetitive format? I think people are going to dig it. Heck, I liked this a lot more than the Opening. LOL. Ninninger had a cool choreo movements, Zyuohger had a puntastic tune, but their whole 'counting fireworks' and 'guessing cube color' didn't work for me. This one's different. Similar to Kyuren-Oh's limb-changing gimmick, I can already see the maaany variations of this ending sequence. Especially if Lucky and Garu (who both made their debut in this episode. Notice how they are taking the highlights in the dance?) are any indication. If TOEI is not holding back, of course. Because similar to the Opening Sequence, this means the Ending will need to be updated each week as well, until all 9 Kyurangers are part of the team. And I'm not counting future members... assuming there will be any *grins*. Also, that fisheye shot gives the sensation of a 3D 360 degrees style. I see what you're doing there, TOEI! Hahaha...

Overall: I enjoyed the episode when I first saw it live, and I loved it even better the second time around. There were clear influences from both "Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger" (the big composition and diversity of the team), and particularly its US counterpart "Power Rangers Dino Charge" (notice the similarities in the plot? powerful items from space?). But I genuinely enjoyed both, so I don't mind. Lucky was initially grating on my nerves, but surprisingly, at the end, I just can't hate him. Let's just hope the writers will pull off wonders with him, so he won't end up disappointing like several past Reds. Not just him, this goes to the other members too. They are all rife with personal backstories to be explored, so I hope this potential won't be wasted aways. The main storyline itself is promising, and I hope it will be utilized to optimum level. Eventhough the mecha looked a bit bulky, this show can play up numerious variations of mecha combinations, since every other non-Red Voyagers can take turns to become different limbs (similar to "Kamen Rider OOO"). To sum it up, it really felt that TOEI is going all out with this season, and I really appreciate it. As I said on my First Impression, this was an excellent first episode. TOEI nailed it wonderfully. Of course, the big challenge had only just begun. Can they keep the hype up, maintain the quality, and even better, make it even more stronger and better? Remember, this is still a year-round show, so things can change and fluctuate along the way. And the Super Sentai franchise isn't actually bulletproof in this matter. Yes, we had seen many seasons that started out bland and dull, but morphed into a great one halfway through. But on the other hand, there were also ones that showed promise, but teetered out as it went along. Which side will Kyuranger place itself in? Let's just wait and see... Next week: The dynamic of the BN Thieves! Han So... uhm, I mean, Balance and Naga-Ray arrive!!!

Episode 01 Score: 8,2 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. As of writing, it's already Version 03! (WARNING: It might contain spoilers)

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

[radicalapollo]

A GBU breakdown of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. Episodes 1-14

It has been a little while now, and we’re firmly past the first act of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, and I thought now would be a good time to record my thoughts on the series to far. Now, I’ve been pretty harsh on it so bar, but I want it to be known that there things about the series that I really do like, so here’s how we’re gonna do it. I’m going to use the GBU method. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. You’ll see how the ugly works once we get to it.

This is gonna be a very long post, so I’m going to put it under a cut, so check it out that way fam!

THE GOOD

I feel like Kamen Rider Ex-Aid has one of the stronger starts for a series. I felt like the first few episodes set things up pretty well, and did a pretty good service showing off our characters. I’d also have to say that I really like Emu. Some people may not agree but I think his character is really interesting, and the story behind his split personality, between himself and M, is one of the big things that keeps me invested.

The story beats so far, while a bit sloppy at times, is still extremely engaging, and I’m really looking forward to where the story is taking itself. One thing that really helps out Kamen Rider series, even ones that aren’t particularly well liked, is a solid mystery, and Ex-Aid has that going on for it in a big way in regards to the nature of Emu’s character, his connection to Zero Day, what the villains are really after, and what the bugster’s true nature is. All of those have yet to be answered and it’s leading to a cool story so far!

While not the best action in Kamen Rider history, I feel like the fight scenes have a unique enough flair to them that I still get really invested in them, and this season has some of my favorite finishing moves I’ve seen in Kamen Rider in a long while. The visual design is ALSO pretty damn cool, and leads to some really cool, dynamic shots all the way through.

The music in the show has been top notch, and while I’m not sure it would beat out Ghost’s OST, it will probably be up there, and you know I’m gonna be JAMMING to Genm’s theme when the OST comes out.

The costume designs, while all stupid and silly looking, are EXACTLY the shit I love, and I think that like... it may actually be one of my favorite sets of designs in a really long time. They’re all really cool and goofy as fuck and just so so good.

I’m also liking much of the villains so far. Graphite was a really cool, if a little generic, and Dan The Game Master Man is turning into such a hammy villain that I can’t help but love him. All their designs are really cool so far too, and that’s helping a lot. I’ll have more to say about the villains in a second though.

And lastly, Kiriya... Poor Kiriya. Kiriya Kujo, shocking as it may be, was probably the best written characters in the show, and while I am really sad that he died, a part of me was also pretty okay with it because they made me like... feel a damn emotion for this show. I was pretty mad about it, but I also just kinda... felt bad about In Universe type stuff going on with it. It made Emu sad as shit and that made ME feel sad as shit. While I certainly wish he hadn’t died, thank you for making a character that I will firmly remember for a long time as a really interesting and well built character!

Now then...

THE BAD

While I’m close to the topic of the villains, I think it’s important to bring up right now that while I really like two of the villains we’ve had so far, Parad is just... nothing. for the next two weeks we’ll be getting focused episodes on him, which I hope fixes him up to be more interesting, but as things go currently, Ex-aid has had this problem of only making characters interesting and have development in episodes that are EXCLUSIVELY about them. I don’t know what it is, but it feels like the writer at the moment doesn’t have a firm grasp on how to properly build all of these characters all at once, and it kind of feels like some, in some cases, Taiga and Hiiro are shoehorned into the plot from now and then, and Parad has had the same problem, only this time on the villain side. He comes in and says something cryptic and then BOUNCES. He feels like a nothing character at the moment, and it’s hard to see.

That being said, I also feel like Taiga and Hiiro are in an extremely poor spot of both of them being extremely one dimensional and bullheaded in ways that don’t make them endearing in the slightest. While they have been having character development, in that we are learning more about them as people, they have not had any character growth, at least not in the kind of way I would hope so. They will seem to be growing softer and learning something by the end of the episodes and in the next, we’ll CLEARLY see them fighting against Emu for what feels like petty and uninteresting reasons. The story at large feels like Ex-aid’s strong suit, but balancing individual characters seems to be it’s weakness.

Speaking of, the overall handling of women characters in this show has been... poor so far. Asuna/Poppy has been handled like a joke despite her implied traits as a bugster, and every woman who has shown up so far has either been a damsel in distress seemingly weak willed in the face of bad behavior on the part of their male counterparts in whatever arc is going on. I’m far from the first to complain about this, but it’s leaving such a sour taste in my life. So far, Saiba Nico has been a ray of shining hope and I’m really glad about that...

But I’m LESS glad that there is another person here to give Emu a hard time. I think one of my least favorite things about the show so far is the fact that it feels like EVERYONE is a dick to Emu and is giving no real reason for it and isn’t explaining their stances on everything and it just feels like... he’s in the same spot Kouta was in Gaim in that he’s being told that no matter what, being a hero is WRONG and doing anything that would make people’s lives better is a waste of everyone’s time and not worth it and it’s better to just be unfeeling and that... fucking SUCKS. That SUCKS it’s a shitty thing to have as the crux of your conflict because it doesn’t do ANYTHING for the characters saying it, namely Hiiro, because YEAH NO NO ONE IS GOING TO AGREE WITH HIM IN REAL LIFE BECAUSE HE SOUNDS LIKE AN ASSHOLE. The biggest thing you NEED for a moral conflict is someone who has reasonable views that they push too far to clash with the hero. THAT doesn’t happen in Ex-Aid, they just fucking have Hiiro be contrarian to everything Emu believes, and lets that be the center of his character, and that doesn’t make for an interesting character, especially for a man that is meant to clearly be the second rider type.

Ugh.

I think the one last thing that’s worth bringing up is that the pacing has been WACK. Everything has moved too fast and has not given the many characters in the show so far have proper time to breathe. Form after form comes out, and more and more gets stacked on, and more and more of the earlier forms become straight up obsolete that it’s giving my whiplash. I’m hoping things shape up soon, now that we don’t have a lot more forms to push like at this point I think we have like... 6 more to show off for the rest of the show, MAYBE??? We’ll have to see. But that’s all that I can really say for the bad.

Now for

THE UGLY

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid has a very weird problem going for it in that it has no way of actually like... making itself NOT exactly like the two series before it We already know, even at this point, that because of the way Kamen Rider works, that Parad, who is gonna be Kamen Rider Para-DX as of this upcoming Saturday, is going to be a good guy. Maybe not right away, but like... some time soon. That’s a problem because that means we’re going to be introduced to The Real Villains not too long from now, meaning these fuckers that have been our rouges gallary so far are small time nobodies, and it BUMS be out because things are already kinda dire, which is leading into MORE dire things, and it’s making the situation feel hopeless, whatever the actual situation is. The Current Kamen Rider Formula is making things a bit too predictable in such a way as to make it that I’m not sure how to feel about Parad going forward because like... how are they going to spin his redemption. I don’t feel like they could do one nearly as good as they did for Alain last season, and having JUST had that happen, a villain rider turning good last season, it feels like we’re retreading old ground, in such a way that it’s too close for comfort.

I hope they can make it interesting, but I have no high hopes so far.

I have HARD mixed feelings on the series so far, but I can’t say I hate it, and I can’t say I love it. I have hopes for it, and I’m hoping they can fulfill those for me.