Conclusion: 30 Rock is a really funny show. Almost all the jokes work and the characters are interesting. It's also a very unique setting for a show. I personally like it better than Parks and Recreation and I definitely recommend this show. So in conclusion, 30 Rock is a great show that I recommend if you like comedy. Let me know what you think of the show.
Sunday, 15 May 2016
30 Rock
Conclusion: 30 Rock is a really funny show. Almost all the jokes work and the characters are interesting. It's also a very unique setting for a show. I personally like it better than Parks and Recreation and I definitely recommend this show. So in conclusion, 30 Rock is a great show that I recommend if you like comedy. Let me know what you think of the show.
Monday, 11 April 2016
Little Door Gods
Plot: The story of this movie is that the Door Gods Shen Tu and Yu Lei are facing unemployment as Gods. After hearing the story of a beast called the Nian Yu Lei decides to release it so that he can defeat it and the humans will remember the Gods. Yu Lei leaves to the human world where he has to destroy three seals in order to release the Nian. Shen Tu follows him into the human world. Along the way, Shen Tu befriends Raindrop and even helps out at the restaurant. I don't want to get too far into the plot because of spoilers. Overall I like the plot some bits I had trouble following. Although that probably has something to do with me not being able to read subtitles fast enough rather the plot itself. So overall the plot is pretty solid.
Conclusion: Little Door Gods is a great movie filled with memorable characters, an interesting plot, and great animation. I really don't have too many major complaints about this other than the subtitles go by a bit too fast. But that might just be me. So I do recommend this movie. So, if are in Toronto go see Little Door Gods. Remember, I will be reviewing more of these TIFF movies for the rest of the month. See you all next time.
Sunday, 3 April 2016
Oddball
Hi, everyone. So once again I have been contacted to review movies for TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) Kids. And so for the next few weeks, I'm reviewing several of their films. First up is the movie Oddball. A movie about dogs and penguins that takes place in Australia. Sounds pretty good. Let's get started
Main Characters: The two main characters of the movie are a chicken farmer named Swampy and his granddaughter Olivia. Swampy is a good protagonist, he's ambitious, loyal, and he is a good father figure for his granddaughter. Speaking of which let's talk about Olivia. Well, first off it turns out that Austrailian child actors aren't much better than American ones. But looking past that I do like Olivia. She seems to care a lot and is also written like a realistic kid. We also have single parent, penguin researcher, and Olivia's mother: Emily Marsh. I like Emily, she cares a lot about her daughter. And the last of the main characters is Bradley Slater, Emily's new boyfriend. At first, he looks like a bumbling dad type character but as the movie goes on he turns into a sort-of-villain. I like him and despite being a villain he's still likeable. Lastly, there's Oddball. He's a dog who really likes penguins. He's pretty adorable. Overall we have got a great main cast of characters. But how do the side characters hold up?Conclusion: Oddball is a great movie. It has characters that seem like real people, it is really funny, and it makes me want to go to Australia. Despite having a twist ending that doesn't have too much set up to it I still recommend this movie. Don't worry folks this is just the first TIFF film I'm reviewing and there'll be more all throughout the month of April. See you next time.
Thursday, 17 March 2016
National Treasure
Conclusion: Nation Treasure is a great adventure movie. Nicolas Cage does a great job of acting like a crazy person (Although I'm not sure how much is acting) and the other characters aren't too bad either. The real best part of the movie is the action sequences and the sense of danger and adventure. So I do recommend National Treasure.
Thursday, 4 February 2016
Parks and Recreation
Last year the hit NBC television series Parks and Recreation ended. In my opinion, it was a good show. What made it good you may ask. That comes from a number if factors. So let's take a look at it and see what it had to offer.
Protagonist: The main character of the entire series is Leslie Knope. In all honesty, she's kind of boring. This isn't a bad thing. She still has some really good moments. Usually, the main character of any TV show or movies is the least interesting. The supporting cast is usually the best part. Leslie's main love interest is Ben Wyatt. He's the straight man to play off all the craziness around him. He's a pretty funny character and love interest. There's Leslie's boss Ron Swanson. His character is just an over the top "Manly Man" character type. He's one of the funniest characters in the show in my opinion. There's Leslie's other boss Chris Traeger. He's an overly positive health fanatic and a foil for Ron and they both work off each other really well. There's Leslie's best friend Ann Perkins. She has a similar role to Ben and works off the insanity around her. There's Leslie's friend Tom Haverford. He's an over the top egotistical business character and I think he's pretty funny. There's also Leslie's other friend April Ludgate. She's a sarcastic jerk. Occasionally she can become a bit too jerkish but that can be overlooked most of the time. And last but not least there's musician/shoe shiner/TV show host/FBI agent Andy Dwyer. He's the goofy idiot type of character and I think he's very funny and makes a good foil to April. So overall a good main cast. But let's see how the villains stand up.
Antagonists: For a comedy show this has a lot of villains. But I'm only counting the villains that make more than one appearance. One of the weaker points in the show is the villains. But let's get to the ones I like. First off is the main villain of season five and six Jeremy Jamm. He's an obnoxious jerk who exists to make Leslie's life miserable. Despite being a terrible person his actor really plays it up and I honestly really like him. There is also Bobby Newport. He wasn't much of an antagonist despite opposing Leslie in season four. He didn't really know what he was doing and that made everything he did funny. There's the two radio show hosts (Whose names currently escape me). Like Jeremy, they're written to be intentionally annoying. Honestly, I have heard radio hosts like them in real life. And one of the two hosts is actually shown to be quite intelligent. With them, their annoyance annoys the characters and not the viewers. In the middle of the spectrum is Joan Callamezzo. She's the host of a morning talk show. She's less interested in news and more interesting in mocking people. Unlike with Jeremy and the radio hosts, their annoyance annoys both the characters and viewers. But they aren't the most annoying. On the end of the spectrum is Nick Newport and Jessica Wicks. They basically serve as the evil corporation that controls the town. They're a pretty overused character type and overall not very interesting. And last but not least my least favourite villains in the show: Macia and Marshal Langman. They are what the website TVTropes.org defines these types of characters as Strawmen. They only serve to be the opposite of the writer's beliefs and have the main characters deliver the moral of the episode. All they want everything they disagree with to be censored. They are like Ned Flanders from the Simpsons minus any likeability. I get that it's a comedy show and can't have villains as interesting as say a crime show but other shows have had antagonists that had something to them other than "The writers oppose this issue and I am here to represent it badly". So overall the villains are just "Meh".
Other Characters: Here are some more characters that can't be considered major but are worth mentioning. There's Jerry Gergich. He's the guy that works as the goofy character that nobody likes him. I like him and think he's a good example of an unfortunate character done well. There's Tom's best friend Donna Meagle. She's very fun-loving and one of my favourite side characters on the show. There's Tom's friend Jean Ralphio Saperstein. He's like an even more over the top version of Tom and I like him. In the first two seasons, there was a character named Mark Brandanowitz. He was like a prototype version of Ben. In that, he was the straight man only with anything that made Ben interesting. He was just kind of boring. Not much else to them other than boring. Craig was a character introduced in season six. He was constantly shouting no matter the situation and always in an over the top manner. And of course, there's the best character in the entire show.... Li'l Sebastian the Mini Horse! Actually.... He's just adorable. Not much else to them. So overall it has a strong supporting cast..... And Mark.
Plot: Each season has their different story arch. For the first two seasons it focuses on the Parks Department filling in a giant pit outside of Ann's house. The first season is boring and I skipped to season two after three episodes. Season two got better but was still finding out what the show was about. Season three is the main characters getting used to the new management of the government by Chris and Ben. It got a lot better in that season. Season four is Leslie running for city council against Bobby Newport. This is my favourite season in my opinion. Season five and six is Leslie working on the city council. I like it but I personally think the show should have ended after season six. Season seven is set in the distant year of ... 2017! It mostly shows what the characters are doing in the: DISTANT FUTURE OF 2017! I like the season but I think it should have ended after season six.
Conclusion: Parks and Recreation is a great show. One of the best parts of the show is the main cast. I remember a lot about the characters like Ron, Andy, Tom, April, Chris, and many more. Some of the characters are like real people that exist. Of course there are some characters that aren't so great like Marcia and Mark. But the good outweighs the bad in this situation. It also teaches some good morals which are also a bonus. And of course, the show has a great sense of humour. So I do recommend that you watch it if you haven't.
Protagonist: The main character of the entire series is Leslie Knope. In all honesty, she's kind of boring. This isn't a bad thing. She still has some really good moments. Usually, the main character of any TV show or movies is the least interesting. The supporting cast is usually the best part. Leslie's main love interest is Ben Wyatt. He's the straight man to play off all the craziness around him. He's a pretty funny character and love interest. There's Leslie's boss Ron Swanson. His character is just an over the top "Manly Man" character type. He's one of the funniest characters in the show in my opinion. There's Leslie's other boss Chris Traeger. He's an overly positive health fanatic and a foil for Ron and they both work off each other really well. There's Leslie's best friend Ann Perkins. She has a similar role to Ben and works off the insanity around her. There's Leslie's friend Tom Haverford. He's an over the top egotistical business character and I think he's pretty funny. There's also Leslie's other friend April Ludgate. She's a sarcastic jerk. Occasionally she can become a bit too jerkish but that can be overlooked most of the time. And last but not least there's musician/shoe shiner/TV show host/FBI agent Andy Dwyer. He's the goofy idiot type of character and I think he's very funny and makes a good foil to April. So overall a good main cast. But let's see how the villains stand up.
Plot: Each season has their different story arch. For the first two seasons it focuses on the Parks Department filling in a giant pit outside of Ann's house. The first season is boring and I skipped to season two after three episodes. Season two got better but was still finding out what the show was about. Season three is the main characters getting used to the new management of the government by Chris and Ben. It got a lot better in that season. Season four is Leslie running for city council against Bobby Newport. This is my favourite season in my opinion. Season five and six is Leslie working on the city council. I like it but I personally think the show should have ended after season six. Season seven is set in the distant year of ... 2017! It mostly shows what the characters are doing in the: DISTANT FUTURE OF 2017! I like the season but I think it should have ended after season six.Conclusion: Parks and Recreation is a great show. One of the best parts of the show is the main cast. I remember a lot about the characters like Ron, Andy, Tom, April, Chris, and many more. Some of the characters are like real people that exist. Of course there are some characters that aren't so great like Marcia and Mark. But the good outweighs the bad in this situation. It also teaches some good morals which are also a bonus. And of course, the show has a great sense of humour. So I do recommend that you watch it if you haven't.
Tuesday, 19 January 2016
A New Hope vs The Force Awakens
So there's a new Star Wars movie out. Well instead of reviewing it like I would normally I've decided to compare it to the original. Because it actually has some similarities. Sort of like when I compared Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. So without further ado here is A New Hope vs The Force Awakens. Also before I start I would to announce that this review has a lot spoilers in it. So if you've seen the movie or just don't care take a look. If you haven't seen the movie.... Sorry.
Protagonists: The main character in A New Hope is Luke Skywalker. He's a lot more whiny in the first movie than he is than he is in the sequels. And that's really kind of distracting. The other main characters are Han Solo, Obi Wan Kenobi, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, R2D2, and C3PO. Han is my favourite character in the first movie. Probably due to how cool he plays it. Chebacca doesn't have any actual lines but he's somehow still pretty interesting. Obi Wan is basically every other old mentor character ever. Princess Leia is also a pretty strong character. R2D2 really doesn't have much personality do to only being able to talk through beeping noises. But they're harmless. C3PO is kind of annoying but it's not too noticeable. A lot of the characters from the first movie are in the Force Awakens. They mostly remain unchanged. Han is still overly confident, C3PO worries a lot and so on. The main characters introduced in this movie are Finn, Rey, BB8, and Poe. Finn and Rey are actually pretty likeable and have interesting characters with Finn being and ex-Stormtrooper and Rey being a down on her luck scavenger. BB8 is a droid and he doesn't talk. They're not interesting but harmless. Poe is kind of boring. He's just the generic good looking, talented, nice guy. But he's barely in the movie. There's actually a fake out in the beginning that I thought was pretty funny where they made you think he'd be the main character. Both the movies have a pretty solid cast. But due to Luke whining in the first half of the movie in the original I'll give the point to the Force Awakens.
Antagonists: The main antagonist in A New Hope is Darth Vader. He's a classic antagonist. He's threatening and an interesting character..... He's also Luke's father. It's not a spoiler everyone knows it! Anyway that about does it for the antagonists in the first movie. Emperor Palpatine wasn't introduced until the Empre Strikes back. Don't worry there are many more antagonists in the Force Awakens. First off is Kylo Ren, he's Han Solo's son (Spoiler) and actually a pretty good antagonist. Probably the only complaint I have is that without his helmet on he isn't very intimidating. The other antagonists are General Hux, Captain Phasma, and Supreme Leader Snoke. The only thing I remember about General Hux is that he speaks with a British accent. Not just any British accent an evil British accent.... Trust me there's a difference. The only things I remember about Captain Phasma is that she's a girl and wears a really shiny outfit. Snoke is sort of like..... Um.... He's not very interesting. But he may get more interesting in the next movie. But a New Hope has the more interesting villain and the Force Awakens has the uninteresting villains weighing it down.
Special Effects: The original was made in the 70's. But surprisingly the effects hold up. A lot of the puppets and models are pretty good. Sometimes you get a really dated effect but for the most part it's pretty good. The second movie came out recently so the effects are of course improved. It integrates the CGI and practical effects like puppets really well. So yeah, I'm going to give the point to the Force Awakens.
Plot: Both these movies have similarities. It starts with a character hiding something inside a droid, a poor character on a desert planet finds the droid, and it ends with a giant evil base blowing up. The main difference is the pacing of the plots. The original movie has a much slower pace than the new one. On one hand a New Hope was better at explaining things but too much explaining started to get tedious at times. On the other hand if the plot moves too fast you might not be able to explain things. But personally I prefer the Force Awakens.
Conclusion: I think the Force Awakens is better. Being made now gives it better effects, and less dated acting. But a New Hope is of course still a classic and is the movie that started it all. But in the end I think the Force Awakens did a better job. I'm glad to have compared these movies and let me know what you think.
Conclusion: I think the Force Awakens is better. Being made now gives it better effects, and less dated acting. But a New Hope is of course still a classic and is the movie that started it all. But in the end I think the Force Awakens did a better job. I'm glad to have compared these movies and let me know what you think.
Saturday, 26 December 2015
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Well the new Star Wars movie came out. But I'm not reviewing it yet. That review needs some more time. But for now I'm going to review a show I liked when I was a kid and see if it still holds up. That show is Yu-Gi-Oh. The show was based around a line of merchandise sort of like G.I. Joe or Pokemon. Just a side note I'm reviewing the version of the show that was dubbed into English instead of the Japanese version because I hate reading subtitles and it's the one I grew up with. Let's get started.
Protagonists: The main character of the series is Yugi Muto. He's your basic nice guy protagonist character. He isn't the most interesting but there isn't anything bad about him. One of the other important characters is his alter ego Yami who possess him to play card games (It'll makes sense later). Yami is some sort of all powerful entity and he's a bit less bland than Yugi but not all that interesting. There is also his best friends Joey, Tristan, and Tèa. Joey is the most interesting, Tristan doesn't have much of a reason to be there (Seriously you could cut him out after season one and almost nothing would change) and Tèa is the generic love interest character for Yugi. As you could have guessed by the way I described them they aren't all that interesting.
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Antagonists: Each season has their own separate antagonist. I'll go over each of them. Season one's antagonist is Maximilian Pegasus. He was actually pretty threatening what with his ability to steal people's souls. But the more I watch him the more comically over the top he becomes and the harder it is to take him seriously. Season two's main antagonists is Marik Ishtar and Bakura. They were less silly than Pegasus and actually managed to do some evil things. On a side note Bakura comes back in season five. They were the most interesting antagonists. The main antagonist of the season is Noah and his henchmen Gansley, Crump, Johnson, Nesbitt, and Leichter. He's actually pretty creepy and not as silly as Pegasus. His henchmen are kind of just forgettable and gimmicky. The one downside to them is that their entire story arc is just filler. Seriously they are never brought up again. You could cut them out and almost nothing would change. Season four's main villains are Dartz and his minions Alistair, Raphael, and Valon. Dartz is kind of bland; he sort of comes out of nowhere. On the bright side he's a lot more threatening than some of the other villains. The main antagonist for the first half of season five is Zigfried von Schrouder. He was basically a more campy German version of Pegasus. And like Noah and Dartz he is never mentioned again after he is defeated. So overall the show has a good rogues gallery. Too bad most of them are inconsequential.
Minor Characters: Here are some of the characters that aren't as prominent as the rest but still pretty important. First off is Kaiba; he is Yugi's main rival. He's actually quite enjoyable. There's also Kaiba's younger brother Mokuba who is kind of just there to get kidnapped by whatever the season's main antagonist is. There's Not-Evil- Bakura. He isn't very interesting in his non evil form. Another minor character is Mai Valentine...... Get it.... It's a pun. She's kind of just a generic love interest for Joey. Marik also has a brother and sister named Odion and Ishizu. They are both pretty bland. There's also Joey's sister Serenity; she's only in the first season to give Joey a reason to be there and in the second and third seasons to wrap up her plot. There's also Yugi's grandpa Solomon Muto. He's only in the first season as a damsel (Or duke?) in distress before becoming a background character. There's also Rebecca Hawkins who at first is a one off character before becoming a main character in season four. There's Duke Devlin who invented some sort of dice based game. He could have been cut out and not much would have change. And last but not least there's Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood.... They kind of just show up from time to time and follow the protagonists. They're annoying end of story. The supporting cast is mostly okay with the best part being Kaiba.
Story: Okay so the story is as follows: Many years ago ancient Egyptians played a game involving monsters. The Egyptian Pharaohs sealed their spirits inside mystical items which have recently been found. The main story involves Yugi and Yami trying to find out the secrets of the items known as the Millennium Items. Before I start talking about each season I should address that every time there's a conflict it's always resolved in a duel. Not a duel with weapons but with playing cards. This is where the commercial tie in comes in. The game they play is Duel Monsters. Don't ask me to explain the rules I'm not exactly sure myself. And yes it is pretty silly that a children's card game is what resolves everything. Each season has a different story arc. I'll talk about each of them.
Season one features Pegasus trying to steal Yugi's Millennium Item by stealing his grandpa's soul to get him to sign up for his card game tournament..... It's kind of a stupid plan.
Season two has Kaiba starting his own tournament and Marik trying to win it and steal Yugi's Millennium Item. It's basically the first season's plot re-hashed.
Season three has Noah and his henchmen trapping the main cast in a virtual world and trying to possess their bodies. It's actually a pretty creative plot.... Too bad it's mostly filler and ends up sidelining the main plot of Marik.
Season four has Dartz and his weird motorcycle riding cult trying to summon the Leviathan. It's actually pretty dramatic..... But just like with Noah's plot it's mostly filler and is never brought up again. Not to mention Dartz himself is never foreshadowed.
The first half of season five is Kaiba hosting another tournament and Zigfried trying to win and expose Kaiba as a fraud (Long story). However, like the last two plots it's all filler.
The the second half of season five has the cast travelling back to ancient Egypt and trying to stop Bakura from destroying everything with a beast named Zorc. It's the most action packed season due to it probably having the least card games in it. Overall it has some pretty decent stories but way too much filler.
Conclusion: Yu-Gi-Oh is not a good show by any means. The leads aren't really very interesting and it has literally entire seasons of filler plot. But the strange thing is despite it not being great I still remember it years later. It's sort of like my generation's version of Transformers or the Adam West Batman. A show that's silly and not all that well written but very memorable with it's silliness. Let's be honest, if you watch the 60's Batman these days it's probably not for the story or characters it's for the campiness. In addition to the silliness some characters like Kaiba, Marik, and Noah are pretty entertaining. So whether you're in it for the silliness or just like card games I recommend this show. Keep in mind this review is for the English dub. I haven't seen the Japanese version and I'm not sure if that version is better or worse.
Protagonists: The main character of the series is Yugi Muto. He's your basic nice guy protagonist character. He isn't the most interesting but there isn't anything bad about him. One of the other important characters is his alter ego Yami who possess him to play card games (It'll makes sense later). Yami is some sort of all powerful entity and he's a bit less bland than Yugi but not all that interesting. There is also his best friends Joey, Tristan, and Tèa. Joey is the most interesting, Tristan doesn't have much of a reason to be there (Seriously you could cut him out after season one and almost nothing would change) and Tèa is the generic love interest character for Yugi. As you could have guessed by the way I described them they aren't all that interesting.
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Season one features Pegasus trying to steal Yugi's Millennium Item by stealing his grandpa's soul to get him to sign up for his card game tournament..... It's kind of a stupid plan.
Season two has Kaiba starting his own tournament and Marik trying to win it and steal Yugi's Millennium Item. It's basically the first season's plot re-hashed.
Season three has Noah and his henchmen trapping the main cast in a virtual world and trying to possess their bodies. It's actually a pretty creative plot.... Too bad it's mostly filler and ends up sidelining the main plot of Marik.
Season four has Dartz and his weird motorcycle riding cult trying to summon the Leviathan. It's actually pretty dramatic..... But just like with Noah's plot it's mostly filler and is never brought up again. Not to mention Dartz himself is never foreshadowed.
The first half of season five is Kaiba hosting another tournament and Zigfried trying to win and expose Kaiba as a fraud (Long story). However, like the last two plots it's all filler.
The the second half of season five has the cast travelling back to ancient Egypt and trying to stop Bakura from destroying everything with a beast named Zorc. It's the most action packed season due to it probably having the least card games in it. Overall it has some pretty decent stories but way too much filler.
Conclusion: Yu-Gi-Oh is not a good show by any means. The leads aren't really very interesting and it has literally entire seasons of filler plot. But the strange thing is despite it not being great I still remember it years later. It's sort of like my generation's version of Transformers or the Adam West Batman. A show that's silly and not all that well written but very memorable with it's silliness. Let's be honest, if you watch the 60's Batman these days it's probably not for the story or characters it's for the campiness. In addition to the silliness some characters like Kaiba, Marik, and Noah are pretty entertaining. So whether you're in it for the silliness or just like card games I recommend this show. Keep in mind this review is for the English dub. I haven't seen the Japanese version and I'm not sure if that version is better or worse.
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