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Bright Samurai Soul (2021)

Bright Samurai Soul (2021)

Izo, a Ronin, and Raiden, an orc, work to bring a young elf girl and the wand she carries to the land of the elves in the north.

It's a Netflix anime, of the dying Samurai era. Like Samurai Champloo and Studio Ghibli had a baby. Atmospheric, imaginative, stylish and detailed but also: more proper. Never as suggestive or sensual as Champloo.

It's more fantasy too. More... totally different after all. Elves orcs and all.

I wasn't a fan of the rotoscoping/3D style at first but you get into it in time. Although I do feel like it slows down the fight sequences a bit. They're swift but never instant. More like a continual stream than a barge of slashes.

No unblockable punches. No draws faster than the camera can capture.

But the plot progression's great, and they had me both getting emotional and engaged throughout, and feeling well about the future when it was over. No matter the world we live in we handle things with a power of our own. That's how it's supposed to be. That's how it will be. Yet again.

The movie's based upon the live action movie 'Bright' btw, so you know I gotta watch that later. When the credits started rolling and that notice came up I'd forgotten it wasn't the name of this movie too.

Hope Netflix make some more Samurai movies! Some traditional 2D animation would be nice to see as well, like in the good old days.

Something like Samurai Champloo would be dank/cool. Thank you.

 rated 4.5/5: almost awesome

Kung Fu Mulan (2020)

Kung Fu Mulan (2020)

Disguising herself as a man to take her father's place, Mulan is a wild and rebellious soldier in the army. As a gifted swords-woman, she also dreams about going out and exploring the world. One day, she is sent on a mission and unexpectedly begins an exciting adventure where she discovers a conspiracy against her country, and a man...

I hoped this would've been a live action movie, but it was animated, and not the best animated either, a little choppy sometimes, with elements of war disappointingly much on the sidelines as well - desperation inconclusive, but when it's all said and done it really wasn't bad after all.

I bond with the characters. I grow stronger as they linger. I wonder who the mysterious villain really was - with the power to rule the kingdom entirely. Maybe he really would have steered the world fairly... but I'm glad they overcame him after all.

It wasn't like the original Mulan, not as fluent or majestic, but in some ways maybe better. Brighter. More modern. More worldly.

And definitely with more Kung Fu.

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all

Volition (2019)

Volition (2019)

A man afflicted with clairvoyance tries to change his fate when a series of events leads to a vision of his own imminent murder.

Time travel just makes everything so much better doesn't it? It's proven here once again. And again. And again. And again...

They really chose a worn-looking main character. He's perfect for his role. As is the female lead. Sympathetic and bright. A stark contrast to him.

And it's dark, dark... but with a spark. The adversity we face, maybe it's there by design huh, and then maybe it's not so bad...

The narrative's believable, the plot suitably sci-fi, the method of time travel new, and in line with the design of the movie too - with the darkness.

They have a scene where he pulls out the time travel needle and there seems to be quicksilver coming out of it though, and I hope it's not really quicksilver, or real skin, cause that stuff is pretty toxic, but it looks so real.
If they actually did inject some just for the movie...

I was expecting way more of a B-movie when this all started, but in the end it delivers beyond expectation. With authentic characters and effects, and a chronology that makes sense the further you get.

It's not perfect. Not the best. But a great alternation in our lines of time.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Around The World In 80 Days (2021)

Around The World In 80 Days (2021)

An adventurous frog, a cartographing explorer-wannabee monkey, a buncha hard-hitting, heavy-betting shrimps and a journey around the world in eighty days? It's the classic tale now animated, with animals, and with a twist!

I wasn't convinced at first. Graphics felt kinda simple. But fortunately it gets better rather than worse, and when the movie's over... I'm happy. It's aight.

The cast's good, the voicing's top-notch, the visuals an interesting mesh of 3D and 2D and the plot? Not new but... they manage to make the most of it. Or at least make it atmospheric and fun.

It's not the biggest movie world but it's an imaginative, colorful and adventurous one, with occasionally bumpy music in the mix, and a final dance off that leaves you grooving a little and feeling good.

Cotton Wood Media huh! You're not all bad. Keep an eye out.

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all

Spy Hard (1996)

Spy Hard (1996)

Sexy ladies and Leslie Nielsen as agent Dick Steele! How does he do it? Wouldn't mind living his life when I'm eighty. If he was eighty here.

He looks like he probably looks older than he is, but is also unfortunately getting old. And maybe that's part of the entertainment and appeal too. Maybe it always was. That he's unfit for his role already. Both within the movie and without it. In real life and in film. But more and more IRL as time goes, and that is the unfortunate part...

Though this first and foremost is a clear parody on the Bond franchise - with a wonderful Weird Al intro theme that plays parody on the original too, it plays parody on so many other movies. Home Alone, Jurassic Park, Speed, eh... probably a bunch of others I forget and/or don't recognize?

It stars so many fun people too.

Mr. T as a short-lived helicopter pilot, Tom MacDonald is the villain (or so I thought - it's Barry Bostwick), Ray Charles is a blind bus driver, Fabio's there, the gorgeous women-I-know-not-the-names of are there, and even the one and only Hulk Hogan for a moment! People forget how huge he was.

I've seen this movie a few times already, and for a moment I felt like the comedy was a little repetitive and dated this time around, and the pace a little slow, but once you get into it it's music for your eyes. Aye. They do do it. Before Johnny English, after Leslie moved on from the Police School and the Naked Gun series, there was this, and what a time it was.

It's magnificently absurd and silly, albeit maybe treading a little on the final steps of his comedy career heyday, with plenty of overused elements reminiscent of ones from those aforementioned movies...

It doesn't always feel that new, or intense, but it's a kind of slapstick comedy I just don't see these days, and wish there was still more of.
Simple, silly, wholesome fun. With plenty of prop swaps and what-nots (visual details) to back up the comedy.

And of course a few close-up cleavage shots and suggestive love-making symbolism for good measure.

Classic Leslie.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Eternal Code (2019)

Eternal Code (2019)

Eternal life technology (transferring mind to new body) is developed by 2 companies. Resistance to the merger of the 2 companies is met with kidnapping and murder.

There's a large black girl in the initial intro meeting room nodding out of context and seeming generally misplaced, and the main protagonist in the movie is basically a hobo, hanging our with a bunch of teenage girls who feel sorry for him, and slowly regaining the will to live.

There's a lot of dialog, not much action, and this overly macho and at times misplaced main guy that does slightly resemble Colin Farell - so he has that going for him, but otherwise... it's kinda not that captivating. There's not a lot of action, and the interactions just aren't that notable.

When they do things right they do do them right though - occasionally, and the characters aren't bad, despite occasional hiccups in directing.

I just wish they'd focused more on the eternal code. In the end the main plot element's lost on a generic kidnapping drama.

 rated 3/5: not bad

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