Tag: Netflix

The Witcher Season 1 and Season 2 Review

Geralt, Ciri, and Jennifer on the cover with the words: A Netflix Series, The Witcher. Destiny is a beast. Dec. 17. Netflix
Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5180504/

I’d intended to do a review of each of the seasons of The Witcher independently. However, I recently (last week) finished both seasons, so I should probably just go ahead and talk about them both so as to get them out as I am writing this blog too sporadically to be sure that I’l be able to get my thoughts down on both seasons in separate posts. There’s a lot to like about The Witcher, but there’s also some stuff that I don’t like, so I’ll try to touch on both.

Now, this is coming from someone who has played the video game, but not read the books. I’ve played nearly 300 hours of The Witcher 3 (276 hours), but not yet completed the main quest. I didn’t play games 1 and 2 in the series for one simple reason: CD Projeckt Red chose not to develop/release those games for the Playstation console. While I don’t consider myself an “expert” in The Witcher universe by any means, that 300 hours was more than enough of a “crash course” in “The Witcherverse.”

Season 1

So, right off the bat, the show lives or dies on the strength of the actor portraying Geralt and the character of Geralt. I have to say that Henry Cavill does a great job of embodying the gruff, rough, course witcher that is portrayed in the game. He is very much a younger embodiment of the character (by design), but he really does manage to capture all of the various aspects of Geralt’s character. I think I like this season the best so far, as it sets up some of the conflicts and origins of the characters that were already well established by the time Witcher 3 comes around. I liked Ciri and the actor who portrayed her (I liked all the actors in their various roles, truth be told), and I also liked the “story” of Ciri as well, although since she could only “run,” it did seem a bit much to have her constantly “running away” over the course of the season. My only complaint with Season 1 is the adult content/language. Yes, I know that’s what is in the game (and I would assume the novels), but it just seems so out of place to hear the “F-Bomb” all over the place, for instance.

Season 2

In Season 2, Ciri has much more to do and we get more answers about her past. I think this is both a good and bad thing. It is good that it gives the actor playing Ciri much more to do and the focus isn’t always on Geralt being a “heartless SOB” which is the way they write him whenever he’s not dealing with Ciri. The bad is that there is something “off” with the way they write Geralt once Ciri joins him. It is as if he is trying to be more “compassionate” but this isn’t the way he was written in Season 1. There is a definite shift in tone, specifically when it comes to Geralt. It isn’t the actors, or the even the writing necessarily, but almost a shift in “creative vision” as to how the show should look/work. I didn’t look to see if they changed show runners/producers, but to me, that’s kind of what if feels like–that they changed their conception of the show from the way it presented in the first season. This tonal shift is something that I found jarring and hard to square with my time with the first season. While the language was still present (unfortunately), at least the adult content was toned down this season (no, it’s not gone completely, but it isn’t nearly as “in your face” as in Season 1).

Good, But Not Yet Great

Rating: 4 out of 5.

If Netflix does a Season 3, I think that this show could really move into the “great” territory. Right now, I think that the next “season” is a “spin off show” (or something similar), with a (probable) 3rd season rumored to happen/expected to happen based on the release strategy of the previous seasons late in 2023. If it does end up happening, I will more than likely check it out as I’m “invested.” However, I can’t say that I believe that this is the “best” fantasy series I’ve seen as there are both good and bad elements to the show. Still, I find it to be a good show that is better than average and I did enjoy my time watching it.

Sidney

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Wakanda Forever

A picture of Chadwick Boseman in a black suit with silver designs standing in front of a white wall with golden Oscar statues with his arms cross in front of his chest in the "Wakanda Forever" salute.
Image Source: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/08/28/chadwick-boseman-who-embodied-black-icons-dies-of-cancer

Like others, I would like to take a moment to remember Chadwick Boseman, the actor who played the role of T’Challa/Black Panther and who tragically passed away from colon cancer a few days ago. While I never met Chadwick Boseman in person and only saw him in his Marvel Universe role, I have to say that I was impressed by both his on-screen persona and his off-screen demeanor.

Chadwick Boseman, The Actor

It is no secret that my favorite movie in the MCU is Black Panther. While I’ve not updated my rankings for Marvel movies in a while (I need to go back and do that now that I’ve finally seen all of the movies to date), Black Panther is still my favorite (spoilers: yes, Infinity War and Endgame were fun, but I don’t think they had the same narrative cohesion that Black Panther did and so I rate them slightly lower). I like quite a bit about the movie, but it was Boseman’s quiet intensity that I found so captivating. While not given to outbursts of emotion, the quiet dignity found in the character was refreshing when compared to traditional Hollywood portrayals of African Americans (or even most Anime portrayals). Boseman allowed T’Challa to be funny (“I never freeze”), angry, or sad, but never in the overly bombastic way that is stereotypical in many films. All these emotions, Boseman filtered through the lens of the character’s quiet reserve. Even a vengeful T’Challa/Black Panther in Civil War was still in control throughout and able to see through Zemo’s ultimate plot to destroy the Avengers. His character was a major reason why I believe the movie worked so well and his talented portrayal of the character will be sorely missed.

Chadwick Boseman, The Man

I watch YouTube a lot, or rather, I should say that I watch a lot of YouTube content. One of the types of content that often gets posted are interview segments with celebrities (usually from the longer, full length show that is shown on air). I remember seeing quite a few of the interviews back in 2018 when Black Panther was released and I remember seeing some of the more fun things that he did, such as surprising fans who had stopped to “record” a message thanking him for all that he’s done. I remember watching some of the outtakes of him from the Black Panther movie, and I can dimly recall some of the other fun stuff that came out about that time. Chadwick Boseman appeared to be both genuine and fun-loving. Again, while I’m watching from afar, some of the things that I remember were laugh out loud funny and were really awesome. I just saw a segment in which Chadwick was telling a lady who had stopped to record a thank you to him for his T’Challa/Black Panther role that she was genuinely funny and had she considered working in show business. Even there, where the event was focused on giving his fans a surprise “treat” to see him live and in person, he took a moment to encourage a kindred spirit who, in his eyes, had talent enough to be in show business. He seemed like a great guy, and while I’m on the outside looking in, perceptions do matter.

Chadwick Boseman, The Inspiration

While I’ve only really seen Chadwick’s Marvel movies, I’ve been inspired to try to seek out some of his older work. I knew of 42 (Jackie Robinson) and his other movie about James Brown, Get on Up, but I’ve not yet seen those films. I tend to go for Science Fiction and Fantasy films first, with Action movies and Thrillers, second and third. However, historical movies, while I don’t actively avoid, tend to get less attention from me and I see them when there’s little else to watch or I make myself watch them. I fully intend to see 42 in the near future, and I had intended to watch Chadwick’s latest movie, Da Five Bloods, on Netflix this past weekend, but moving out my Murfreesboro apartment before the last day of the lease took precedence. However, I’m older than Chadwick was when he passed away, and he was able to accomplish so much in the time he was given, and he has inspired me to try accomplish my dreams as well–even if they are ridiculously high, because Chadwick was able to scale to heights I never dreamed possible and he was a gracious person while doing so.

I also have to say I feel the loss particularly keenly as my own uncle also died from colon cancer. Unlike Chadwick’s long struggle with the disease, my uncle felt ill in the Spring and Summer of 2000 and finally went to the hospital in the late fall time-frame. By the time my uncle was diagnosed with colon cancer, it was already too late and he, too, died of colon cancer a few days before Christmas in 2000.

However, the best way that I can honor the memory of both of these fine people is to work hard, finish my education, continue to write, and teach with empathy, and do the best that I can, every day to be and do better, so that I might be, someday, even half of the bright shining lights that both of these men were while they lived.

Sidney

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Double World Mini-Review

Picture of the main characters from the movie Double World on a blue background with gray and white clouds.
Image Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/double-world-review/

After missing watching a movie on the Saturday that I was released from the hospital, I wanted to get back into the movie watching habit, so I decided to forgo my plan of watching movies from different streaming services and just watched a movie on Netflix. I was looking for something fun and breezy, in the same vein of The Forbidden Kingdom movie starring Jackie Chan. A while back Netflix had a movie called Monster Hunt (a martial arts takeoff of Monster Hunter, I believe) and while I thought about watching that one, I saw a featured movie on Netflix that looked similar: Double World.

Chinese Martial Arts Movie

Double World is a fantasy martial arts movie that plays it mostly straight, except there are a couple of fairly major fantasy elements. While in no way Game of Thrones, there is a light fantasy element to the movie that, in addition to light “unreality moves” (a la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), lend the movie less realistic bend than most martial arts movies, which was what I was looking for.

After a little research, I seen that the movie is based on a fairly popular MMORPG in China. This makes sense, as there is a bit of Warcraft to the proceedings–a sense of a fully realized world in which only part of it exists on-screen and the audience should know more about what is happening in the world and is able to fill in the gaps because the movie never explicitly explains the world or the relevance of all the players.

Suprisingly Dark Movie

So, did I enjoy the movie? Surprisingly, no. Or at least, not as much as I was hoping I would. Unlike other movies in the same genre, this one has a completely different tone. I was hoping for a movie more like The Forbidden Kingdom or the Detective Dee movies or even The 14 Blades, but the movie’s tone is much darker than those movies. Death is rampant in the movie and not just heroic death, but also capricious death and violent, visceral death. I can’t go into too much detail here without spoilers, but suffice to say that this movie is more in line with movies like Ip Man and Kung fu Killer that are more intense and more contemplative about the nature of death and honor than what I was hoping to watch.

I really just wanted a fun, breezy martial arts movie–and it is that (mostly), for the first half of the movie. The second half, however, devolves into the nature of revenge and vengeance, of characters finding out their heritages and it isn’t what they were expecting, and characters doing silly things, like going off on their own, which we all know from the horror movie icon Scream, that that is a sure way to not survive to the end of the movie.

Not Sure that I Understood Everything in the World

As I mentioned above, I’m pretty sure that I missed quite a bit of the world/world-building. I originally intended to talk about this in relationship to Chinese history/mythology, as it always seems like I was missing part of the puzzle of the world. The world never quite felt “complete” to me, and I thought it was because I was lacking in enough knowledge of Chinese history (of which I have a pretty good foundation, but I’m no expert/historian) or Chinese mythology (of which I only have a passing knowledge).

However, in looking up articles about the movie, I see it is because this world is built on a video game property that I’ve never heard of, let alone played. That is why the world seems missing or incomplete as I’m sure the director and screenwriters believed that their audience would be familiar with the game world and, by extension, would be able to fill in the gaps with prior knowledge. However, like Warcraft, the movie world ends up feeling incomplete in some way as if you only have a partial grasp of what’s happening in the world of the story. Compare that to something like Brandon Sanders’ Stormlight Archive series where the world is an integral part of the story.

Overall Rating (C + 78)

Rating: 3 out of 5.

So, I think this one could have been something special as I really like the characters and the story (especially the first half). However, the fight scenes, while inventive for the fantasy world, weren’t the best ones I’ve seen in a martial arts movie. Also, the dark turn in the 2nd half of the movie was at odds with the fairly light, happy-go- lucky beginning of the movie. I think this movie is one that, while not a wasted opportunity, could have really been something special. The Forbidden Kingdom was one that had an American who was center stage–I think that without the dark tone to this one, Double World could have been as impressive The Forbidden Kingdom.

Sidney

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Avatar: The Last Airbender: Book 2 — Earth Review

Aang in the Avatar State surrounded by Katara, Prince Zuko, Toth, and Sokka with a sandy desert in the background.
Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender_(season_2)

During the the past two weeks, I’ve managed to finish the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I thought I’d take a moment to talk about my thoughts. This will be a shorter blog entry, but I wanted to try to slowly get back on schedule for my blogging.

Favorite Character – Toth

Again, I must emphasize that I’ve seen many of these episodes before (but not all of them). In season 2, we get introduced to Toth and she (spoilers) joins the group. I’ve always liked Toth’s character. While the biting sarcasm sometimes grates, she is always such a “can do” character who refuses to let herself give up because of her “blindness.” She’s a character who has adapted to a new way of seeing and goes about her life, once she joins the group, with a pluckiness that is at once normal and inspiring. It also helps that her humor, while sometimes course, is also funny. There are times where she rivals Sokka for the title of top “funny” character. However, her determination is also a match for Aang’s and Katara’s when she’s truly focused. I also like the way the voice actor portrays her voice–it is very distinctive and can go from “rough” to “sweet” in a heartbeat.

Much Darker in Tone

I didn’t always enjoy Season 2, however, as the story has a much darker tone. Many of the stories are not resolved happily and it deals with some of the baser emotions of the characters, especially in the Oppa storyline. Anger, rage, regret, and recrimination are all a part of the season, and while I expect that from Prince Zuko’s storyline, the fact that it also happens inside the storyline of the protagonists make this season feel much less joyful and happy than the first season.

I understand why this is, deepening of the conflict and all, but there’s something almost dour in the storyline when you see Sokka as the “level-headed” person of the group while everyone else is dealing with their own version of the ever darkening events of the story. I have to say, I was mightily glad when the season finale came around, not because of the ultimate resolution of the season’s story arc, but for a chance a eliminating some of the unrelenting gloom that had settled over the storyline during Season 2.

More and Less (Story Arcs vs Episodic)

I think, for me, much of my dissatisfaction came from the fact that there were more story arcs in Season 2 than in Season 1. Season 1 felt more episodic and more liberating. I understand that in Season 1, Aang was still “running away” from his responsibilities and wanting to have fun above all, but in Season 2, they show him coming to understand his purpose as the Avatar, and the conflicts that he must face. However, my point is that they used more stories that referred back to previous stories in order to do this and if you liked those stories, then it was great, but if you didn’t like the stories, it made the season seem to drag on. For example, I didn’t particularly care for the Oppa storyline, especially since Oppa had been shown earlier to be canny and smart in terms of evading hunters (the Swamp hunters). I know why the creators did it–to show how much Oppa meant to Aang and to show various (hitherto unseen) facets of Aang’s personality–it just felt a bit manipulative (but this is from hindsight).

Overall Rating: B

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I’m giving it a 4/5 rating (or B = Above Average). I probably would give the storytelling/storyline a 3.5 stars or C+. but I like Toth so much as a character and as an addition to the team, that I feel the bump is justified. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this season. It’s just that I enjoyed it less than Season 1, mostly because of the darker tone that happened because of the story choices made by the writers and because of the multi-story arcs that those storylines were told in. Had there been a few more one-off episodes, I think this might have a stronger season for me, but the introduction of Toth’s character and her subsequent joining of the “team” really made up for a lot of the storytelling deficiencies that I felt Season 2 had overall.

Sidney

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Avatar: The Last Airbender, Season 1 Review

Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Momo standing on a stone wall looking out to the audience.
Image Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/avatar_the_last_airbender/s01

I finished Season 1 of the Avatar: The Last Airbender a couple of days ago, so I thought I’d take a quick moment to talk about Season 1 of the show. I’ve seen the entire series, but this will be the first time that I will have seen every episode.

65% – 75% of Season 1

So, when the show originally aired, I felt like I’d seen most of Season 1, and now that I’ve seen the entire season, I feel like that is mostly accurate. There are episodes that I did not see (like the 2 part season finale) that were crucial to the plot and to the development of the characters, but on the whole, I do feel like I saw more than enough episodes originally to have a fairly good context who who the characters were along with their motivations.

Aang The Airbender

One of the things that I don’t think that I saw/understood was how much Aang would be affected by the decision of the Airbenders of his temple and how their decision caused his own actions which ultimately lead him to vanishing (I’m being intentionally oblique here to avoid spoilers), but I think this is what George Lucas was trying for (and, unfortunately, ultimately failing) when trying to show the trauma that a young person goes through when they are forced to “grow up” and “train” at the cost of their “family.” Basically, I feel Aang’s pain and anguish in this season where I never felt it in Anakin in Star Wars through any of the 3 prequel movies. I think this might be because Aang is an older character than the version played by Jake Lloyd and younger than the character played by Hayden Christensen. Based on what I’ve seen this season, Lucas seems to have gotten his own character’s age and temperament wrong in order to accomplish the pathos that he wanted to show. Here, however, I feel the pain and anguish of Aang’s character.

Water

While the name is in the episode titles, I don’t think that I really picked up the through line trajectory of the show. Obviously, I assume each season will show Aang learning more about the element that is featured in the title (including the culture associated with it), but it goes deeper than just the plot “through-line.” It also serves as a thematic tie into the show and we see how water and water bending is a preservation. There are a lot of stories dealing with water or have a water-related aspect to them. I really like the way it is integrated into storyline.

Doing it this way allows the show to use continuity at a time when most children’s shows were still episodic. In many ways, this show was ahead of its time by creating a longer narrative and trusting that its audience would follow even if they missed episodes. This is not the first children’s show to do this, but it one that mixes both a episodic and longer form narrative. There are many other shows that have tried this (children’s), but they rarely have been planned this way from the beginning. For instance, Pirates of Dark Water have a similar type of story (finding the 13 treasures), but the show didn’t last long enough for the crew to find all 13 treasures.

I really liked Season 1 and I feel like I have more context for the story now that I’ve seen all the episodes. Looking forward to season 2!

Sidney

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Rewatching: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Image of Sokka, Katara, Aang , and Momo.
Image Source: https://www.indiewire.com/2020/04/avatar-the-last-airbender-netflix-1202227257/

Netflix is currently showing Avatar: The Last Airbender (as of July 2020). I’ve seen many episodes of the show, but I’ve never seen all of the episodes that have aired, so I’m hoping to rewatch this series with an eye to seeing the complete series.

The Ending

So, there won’t be any spoilers here. I just want to talk this in general. I’m watching it again, and I’ve seen (at least part) of the ending episode. Crucially, I don’t remember the outcome of the episode (please, don’t tell me). I’m usually really good about retaining stories and I know that I’ve seen at least some of the episode, so I don’t really know why I can’t remember the ultimate resolution of the story. So, at this point, I think this is why I’m interested in it–not just for completion’s sake, but because I’d also like to know the ending.

Season 1

I’m currently on season 1, about half-way through (episode 15 or 16 or so). I will hopefully do a season review when I finish it. I really like the characters and the humor of this season. While I hate the couple of episodes which focused on “love” (you know the ones), I still think that the seasons has very good mix of humor and seriousness. One thing that I think I’m noticing this time around is how episodic the series is at this point. I guess because it is still introducing characters–I think where I am, Toph (a major character in the show, and one of my personal favorites)–hasn’t yet been introduced, making the team feel incomplete. Again, I’ve not seen every episode, so please don’t tell me if Toth goes away from the team before the ending episode.

Why Have You Not Seen These Episodes?

In a word: work. Yes, that most mundane of human activities. I’m older than I look and when this aired on Nickelodeon originally, I was already an adult and member of the workforce. As I recall, these came on originally at night and I was probably reading or playing video games after a hard day’s work (2005-2008). I worked at the Reference Desk from 1996-2013. Later, probably around 2010 or 2011, Nickelodeon started putting this show on in the afternoons–you know, long multi-episode blocks to fill time. My off days were normally Wednesdays, so if it happened to be on on Wednesdays, I generally watched TV in the afternoon, before dinner and then went off to play games and/or read.

I just remembered another reason for me not seeing these during the first run–school. Starting in 2005 or 2006,, I was working on my 2nd Master’s Degree (in Education) for teaching certification. So, both work and school kept me from getting a chance to see this show as I tended to take night courses on my off days whenever possible (Wednesdays, 5:30 – 8:30) and use 1 hour of vacation time during the semester per week to leave work early to be on time for class (I usually worked an 8:45am-5:45pm schedule)–and I would have taken just 30 mins of vacation time, but the rule was that you had to take them in 1 hour increments. So, all that to say, that both work and school kept me from seeing the entire run of this show, so I’m really glad to see that it is back on streaming, and maybe this time I can finish it before it leaves again!

Hope you have a good day!

Sidney

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Streaming Services that Work (for Me)

A rectangle listing some of the major streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, Sling, Showtime, CBS All Access, HBO Now, Acorn TV and Disney+
Image Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/explore/shop-northwest/how-many-streaming-services-are-too-many/

As a Science Fiction and Fantasy reader and writer (and a lover of most things of a speculative nature), I find myself (Pre-Corona virus) browsing bookshelves in libraries and bookstores for the Sci-Fi and Fantasy offerings. Not surprisingly (I guess), is that I end up doing the same things for various streaming services. The first thing that I do when I look at a service or assess as to whether I’m going to sign up, is to take a look at the offerings for Sci-Fi and Fantasy. While not the only criteria (price plays a role as well), I often decide on what streaming services to subscribe to, in large part, based on what offerings they have that appeal to my as a speculative fiction afficianado.

Netflix

I subscribe to Netflix because (initially) because, originally, it was an innovative way to rent movies affordably. While I didn’t always love the “DVD/Blu Ray” by mail system, even then I thought the movie companies should have had an online streaming licensing clause available to Netflix — similar to what Hoopla has for libraries now–even back then I found Netflix to have a strong back catalog in Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Even now, with their original programming, I find that, in many cases, Netflix has more Sci-Fi/Fantasy shows and movies than I can reliably watch. While I wish Netflix would work on beefing up their licensing deals with Hollywood content–there’s rarely a a movie in the speculative genre that I haven’t seen on their service, I still find they do a pretty good job with content for a reasonable price.

Amazon Prime Video

So, Amazon Prime Video is a mixed bag for me. They have some really good content and my current favorite spaceship show–after a rocky start as I didn’t like it at first, The Expanse–is exclusive to the service. However, while not as expensive as Netflix, it does come out of my out in a large one-time sum. Now, Amazon Prime Video has other services that make this a fairly compelling value (2 day shipping on orders, a watered down “free” music service–there’s a paid version of the service as well, and other benefits at the time of this writing), but their movie offerings leave much to be desired. Amazon Prime Video has a few big name Hollywood movies, but they’re ones that I’ve seen before–rarely do they have new ones that I want to see (they currently have Knives Out, which, while not speculative, still is a pretty high profile “get”) and one that I hope to see soon.

Disney + and AppleTV+

I almost forgot these two, and since I got them from the same source, I’ll talk about them together. These are two that I got as a part of my needing to get a new iPhone after the old one broke–with a free 1 year trial. While I use both services, I find that I use Disney+ the most as I’m catching up on the Star Wars animated shows that I wasn’t able to watch before they left Netflix. I’m also catching up on the Disney live action movies, such as Aladdin which I enjoy. I own pretty much all of the Marvel content, so while a big draw for some, it isn’t really as much a draw for me. Apple TV+ has been mostly a “wash” for me as I’ve not yet seen any of the shows. I keep marking shows to watch, but I never seem to get around to them–and because of the way the interface works, I only notice AppleTV+ when I actually go looking for it (I may need to move the icon around and put it next to Amazon Prime and Netflix on my screen to “remind” me that there are shows that I’d like to watch before the free trial period is over. While I’m not sure I’ll keep either after the 1 year trial–although Disney+ does have my attention, Foundation for AppleTV+ is looking awesome, but that doesn’t come until 2021 after my trial is over, so we’ll see.

Hulu

This is one that I get because I’m a student and I get it through the student offer for Spotify. Technically, I also get Showtime through this as well, but since I rarely log on to Hulu, I’ve not taken the time to really set up the Showtime account (yes, I know I’d find a lot more Hollywood movies there, but as a student, there’s already way too many distractions for my time–the last thing I need is another streaming service competing for it). Hulu is the service I use the least and currently has the least amount of speculative content (that I’ve not yet seen, especially for movies). For television shows, they do have a fair amount of speculative fiction (for me) that I’m interested in, but they don’t have an original series that has really set me on fire the way Netflix and Amazon Prime does. Once I’m no longer a student and have to pay full price for the service, I’m sure how long I’ll keep it as it is justified at the current price point along with (Spotify and Showtime), but not by itself.

Tubi

This one is free and I actually like it quite a bit. It is on par with Hulu for me, but instead of a subscription fee, it requires you to view ads during the movie. For that reason alone, it is my least watched service. But, I thought you said you liked it, I can hear you ask. I do, because it has a fair amount of Speculative fiction on it in terms of Hollywood movies that I’ve not yet seen. Appleseed Alpha and The Last Witch Hunter were both movies that seemed to be made for streaming, and yet, none of the other services picked them up–not even for a 6 month licensing deal. There are tons of Hollywood movies released every year (well, maybe not this year), that would do so well on a streaming service just to recoup some of their investment, yet they end up only releasing for sale or stuck on some cynical corporate streaming service (CBS All Access, anyone?) which makes no sense. Tubi has a surprising number of speculative works. Now, it doesn’t look like they refresh their content as often as the others, so once I go through that content, I may find it all a bit stale in 6 months to a year from now, but as of now, if not for the ads, this service would probably be used more than Hulu for movies (ad and all)–although Hulu would still win out for TV content.

Well, that’s all for now. These are just my experiences with the various services, looking in general at what they offer in terms of speculative content, for me personally. I’ll be sure to let you know of any major changes (like, if I get Showtime up and running–probably won’t happen, though) and I see they have a major speculative presence or the like. Anyway, have a great day!

Sidney

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Currently Working On (7/2020):

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Mini-Movie Review: Extraction (Netflix)

A picture of a bearded Chris Hemsworth in military gear looking to the right off-screen against a yellowish background of an Indian cityscape with the words" Netflix Extraction Official Trailer"
Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6P3nI6VnlY

This past weekend I watched a movie produced by Netflix. While not my first Netflix movie, I generally pass them up in favor of seeing “studio” produced movies as I’m trying to catch up on movies that I’ve missed theatrically. As an individual, I’ve seen a lot of movies; however, as a film student, I feel that I don’t have the same repertoire as some of my colleagues (one of my friends at school who is also a film student and working on his dissertation watches a movie a day on his phone! I sometimes struggle to keep up with the movie a week paradigm that I’ve set for myself.) This movie was written by Joe Russo (Avengers Infinity War/Endgame) and stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor & Avengers movies). So, did I like it–yes, I did, for the most part.

“The Protector”

This story is very much in the style of films made famous by Keanu Reeves in the John Wick movies. However, there is a difference, story-wise. While those are about “revenge” in some way, this film owes much more to films like Liam Neesom’s Taken movies (which I’ve not seen) and the BMW short film The Escape (which I have seen) in that there is more an element of protection than revenge. While different in tone, the plot actually functions a lot like other movies in the action genre–I’m specifically thinking of 16 Blocks, Special Forces, and Mile 22 (all of which I’ve seen–see, I do have a pretty good film knowledge base to draw on 😉 for my analysis). Chris Hemsworth’s character is tasked with “extracting” a target from a rival faction. I won’t go into the specific plot elements–but suffice to say, if you’ve seen any of those movies, then you’ll have a pretty good idea of the story progression. While not always the most original of ideas or execution, it was still an enjoyable and had enough novel elements to set it above many others in its genre.

“Gun-Fu”

Your enjoyment of the movie will depend largely on your tolerance for “gun-fu,” which is the combination of gun-play, martial arts, and ultra close-in gun-play in which the shooting all happens at extremely close ranges–sometimes right up in a character’s face (literally). This type of fighting and choreagraphy was made famous by John Wick. If you hate that style of action/combat, then chances are good you’re going to hate this movie.

There are also other set pieces in here besides the Gun-Fu that are really well done. There is a car chase scene that is really complex and visually interesting (check out the camera placement during the chase). This scene is NOT shot like traditional Hollywood action set-pieces and (for me) that really made it come alive. Is it the BEST chase scene I’ve ever seen? No, some of the Bourne/Bond movies hold that distinction, but check out the way this movie is shot vs those and you’ll immediately see a difference. Also, the ending sequence has to be mentioned–tense and climatic, I really think it rivals some of the best moments of other “protector” like films referenced above.

What I Didn’t Like

Okay, this isn’t a perfect movie. The story, some are going to argue, is fairly predictable. While you can’t see all of the “turns” coming, you can probably spot most of them.

Going beyond the story though, the sound mixing on this one was rough. The dialogue, in some parts was mixed too low to hear without me having to turn up my system, but then when the action got going, I would have to turn down the system as the gunshots rang out to loud and I didn’t want to disturb the neighbors. I personally couldn’t find a perfect setting–the dialogue always seemed too low and the action always seemed too loud.

Lastly, there’s a lot of violence happening in this story. I know its “Gun-Fu,” but the amount of people being shot in the head, especially, is high. People lose digits, are stabbed in multiple places/ways, and in one case, I kid (ostensibly a drug runner) is thrown off a roof. If violence makes you squeamish at all, this movie may not be for you. Most of it is justified by the story, but you can tell there was a little one upmanship happening here with other films in the genre.

Overall Grade: B

While definitely not a novel story or characterization, there were enough new elements (stunts and set-pieces) and enough articulation of the overall theme, that I didn’t find it tedious or a retread of something I’d already seen. Also, while the violence was a bit over-the-top for me and took me out of the story sometimes, I thought that the actual “action” of the story delivered for me what I was looking for in an action movie. It was fun, but had a heart, and wasn’t a pessimistic, dark, gritty drama that so many films in the genre try to be.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

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Unlocked: Mini-Movie Review

So its been a while since I’ve written a blog, but I’ve still been progressing on many fronts. A couple of weeks of go I was in the mood for a spy action film. I’d seen this trailer, but I didn’t actually go to see Unlocked. When I saw that it was on streaming, I immediately put it on my list to see. I watched it a couple of weekends ago and thought that it was good. Not horrible and not great, but good.

The Action is What Makes This Movie

So, it is the action and action sequences that really make this movie. I really like the action sequences (reminiscent of the Bodyguard BBC TV show that I didn’t really care for except for the action sequences). There’s a lot of hand-to-hand combat, gunplay, and spycraft that makes up this movie. Even in the action sequences, one can still see the characters and the interplay between the characters and that is also very good.

The Script Really Lets the Movie Down

So, it is the script that really hampers the movie, particularly the plot. Good characters and good action, weighed down by seeming reversals that can be seen a mile away. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the events play out EXACTLY as one expects they will. This is one of those times where film critics (which I have a love/hate relationship with) are right: being derivative really hurt this film. The film makes (or wants to make) a statement about terrorism and peace and warmonger/warprofiteering, but wants to have everything fall into place in such a way as to “hide” the identity of the ultimate bad guy, but (slight spoiler here, so skip two paragraphs if you don’t want ANY spoilers):

. . . if you’ve seen The Fugitive, then you know exactly what’s going to happen. Same essential structure. And that’s just for starters. I can’t recall their names, but I can think of two more movies (oh, just remembered one: Broken Arrow) that do much the same as this one does.

Overall Rating: B

So this is probably overly generous (it should probably be a B-/C+), but I found the lead character played by Noomi Rapace and the male character played by Orlando Bloom to be a strong presence. I also liked many of the other actors (& their characters) in the movie and thought that the set-up to the movie was the strongest I’d seen in a while and with the action it seemed poised to be a good one, but ultimately, the derivative script let it down and I didn’t like the last 2/3rds of the movie nearly as much as I did the first 1/3rd.

Anyway, I hope that everyone’s week is an awesome one!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

  • The Independent  (Sci-Fi Short-Story)–
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Goodbye Star Wars: Clone Wars, Hello Farscape

Image Source: https://reelgood.com/show/star-wars-the-clone-wars-2008

So, I’ve been away from the blog for a while due to school and reading for the tests for this semester. I’ve been consuming media on the weekends, but I just haven’t really had a chance to blog about it. There have been several major video game news items that I’ve wanted to blog about (& with luck, I still will), but basically, today I wanted to talk about the “streaming future” and the way it will work in the future.

Goodbye Star Wars: Clone Wars

After trying to get through the series when it was first released and not being able to due to the erratic nature of its broadcast schedule originally, I tried to get through it on Netflix when it first appeared. There was an episode that I couldn’t get through–the one where Padme and Annakin have to use Padme’s former boyfriend to get information on the Separatists–and so I dropped it. This was when Star Wars: Clone Wars (SWCW) had first entered the Netflix catalogue. I recently (this year) finally got past that odiuous episode and was making my way through the series when I got the notice that SWCW would be leaving the service on April 7th. As I was in the midst of studying for tests, there wasn’t really anything I could do about it–no major binges or anything like that–so I was only able to get to Season 3 (first episode) before the show was pulled. Now, it isn’t gone forever–more than likely this show is going to appear on Disney’s new “Streaming” service.

Obviously, I don’t really like this. To the best of my knowledge, Disney’s new service will not be “free.” If it costs money, then I have to decide whether I need Disney’s service over Netflix’s service, or whether I can afford (notice I didn’t use the word need as I don’t need either service, but I want them for entertainment). I don’t really like this idea of starting new services when there are already market leaders in the market. I’ll explain why in a moment. For the moment, the point is moot as Disney’s service hasn’t actually premiered.

Hello Farscape

Farscape is a early to mid 90s Sci-Fi show that, like Babylon 5 (B5), I saw a few episodes when it first premiered. Afterwards, it was one of the first shows on streaming. I managed to see approx. the first 2 seasons before it went away (again, much like SWCW where it went away before I could finish it). I’m starting over again. It has been long enough that I really don’t remember the characters or the relationships well enough to try to pick up where I left off. I will try to finish this series this time around (again, like B5), and if I do so, I will post a review of the series on the blog.

Streaming: Hello and Goodbye

So the thing about streaming is that it is almost a lot like broadcast network: you are at the whim of the providers and licensors as to what you can watch when. It takes away choice. The providers go out and acquire the content and you watch it. However, not all providers have all the content, meaning subscriptions to multiple providers to get a good coverage of old and new content. Now, content provider sees these subscription fees as way of guaranteeing revenue (hence, CBS All Access, Disney’s upcoming streaming service, and the myriad of others who want in on the act, like NBC Sports). However, the market cannot and will not support all these services, so just like all other markets, most will fail until an oligopoly has been established of the main players (usually 2-3, sometimes more, but rarely) and equilibrium will be established. There will always be smaller players (a fair amount), but in the end, there will only be a few major players. The problem is that everyone, no matter how late they are to the party (I’m looking at you Apple) wants to be a part of the oligopoly. And while the consumer may ultimately win through competition, we’re about to enter a phase where the consumer will be the ultimate loser since the only way to get all the content will be to buy as many services as one can afford–not great on the consumer’s bottom line.

Until the shakeup happens and content providers stop there own services and partner with larger companies, the consumer loses. And will this happen? I point you to the immenient shutdown management platforms like VUDU and the like. They wanted to be a place where you dumped all movies that you purchased so as to diffuse the power and domination they felt Apple had in the marketplace. Now they are going away and Apple still maintains its dominance in purchased content, but has seceded its in content to the “streaming” platforms.

My point is that capitalism is NOT always good for the consumer, especially whenever there is market upheaval. The market doesn’t always work in the consumer’s favor and we need to stop gushing over capitalism as if it is a “perfect” system. Like all human inventions and endeavors, it has its flaws, and the fact that I no longer have access to watch a show through no action of my own that I hadn’t finished highlights just one of the many flaws in the system.

I guess I’m writing about this, not to gripe or to propose a better system, but in the hopes that by pointing out the flaws, someone (an economist or theorist) many be able to implement ideas that can correct these flaws.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

  • Current Work-in-Progress–February 2019: Project Dog  (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 1st Draft — Character Draft “Finished”)
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