The War Of The Rohirrim

Hmm, okay.

I'll admit when I first heard about this project it certainly had my attention, but sweet Jesus Lord Of The Rings is already a niche, anime even more so a niche, so combining the two is a bold move shall we say. Set roughly 200 years before The War Of The Ring we follow the rule of Helm Hammerhand and more importantly his daughter Hera, who when confronted by the son of a rival clan to claim the throne are pushed beyond both's limits in a quest to reclaim a homeland and slay a few Mumakils along the way. And for a runtime of over 2 hours they don't really rush any part of it, however I can absolutely say that the overall writing in all aspects needed some work. Not that it's bad exactly, but just needed some extra polish. Obviously I'm an easy ass sell for redhaired badasses, and Gaia Wise as Hera is a good lead that is both easy to understand and easy to cheer on but what surprised me was she's not action hero all the time, she gets beat, she gets kidnapped, she has moments of sadness and distress but when push comes to shove she ain't backing down. Brian Cox as Hammerhand does indeed command respect and to see any adaptation of this famed figure of the expanded history of Middle-Earth is damn cool to see and a plot point regarding him once they reach Helm's Deep was easily my favorite part of the film. Luke Pasqualino as Wulf, oh my God this is zero percent the actor's fault but this antagonist is so one note and completely uninteresting, always the relentless warmongering mad dog when I genuinely thought the relationship between him and Hera would have added some much much needed dimension to get better invested in the story, but alas. Also shoutout to Miranda Otto for being our narrator, you still friggin' rock! The animation is...interesting, often combining 3D backgrounds with 2D characters leading to the result being a sometimes janky but serviceable style, that still lends itself to some gorgeous scenery and can lean into more visually striking fights than live action could deliver. The score is decent, and I won't lie hearing the Rohan theme on theater sound systems after 21 years was beautiful. But yeah, the story and characters while decent didn't pack nearly the punch the trilogy did and just to piss off a select few of the fandom, I'd rather watch Rings Of Power again though that is highly unfair comparing a series to a singular film, it is unequivocably true for me. And doing a pinky finger's worth of research to learn this movie was made entirely just so New Line Cinema wouldn't lose the Lord Of The Rings rights really doesn't do this movie any favors in the long run. It absolutely leans into the visual style of those films from the Oliphaunts, to another Watcher in the water, exact copies of Edoras and Helm's Deep in terms of architecture, Orthanc popping up at a point, some lines of dialogue are similar but not exact to quotes from the trilogy, may or may not be a welcome surprise cameo from one of the classics, and that's all cool to see do not get me wrong. I'm a fucking nerd for this stuff and have been since I was 6 or 7 so trust in me when I say I did not walk in to slash and hack this movie. It's decent, it's okay, undoubtedly for megafans of this series to even watch in the first place, and hey man it is entirely feasible for many to walk out of this more happy than I was. I give it 2.5 stars, 7/10! What a week, and thankfully next week will be much easier with just an In Retrospect and new release to a highly anticipated video game series.

X-Men 2

I'm not calling it X2, it's never happening.

Hot damn this was really good! I expected the quality to go up just a smidge but son of a gun, this was a really good comic book movie. Every single aspect of production, story, character, and effects have been improved significantly. Great camera work, even better performances, the story worked very well for me, I genuinely think this will be my favorite of the trilogy. So the film picks up not long after the first movie with Logan searching for answers of his past, while a military scientist named Stryker hits the X-Men hard and forces them to retaliate. Good solid story, has easily one of the best openings to any comic book movie like ever, even I'm shocked to say this but when I stack it up to opening scenes for other superhero movies it's pretty grand! It kept my interest from start to finish, never got dull, never made me ask volley after volley of questions, they did it good and they did it right. All the cast does mighty good work in this, and you might be saying well of course they do, the main cast gets to spread their wings and build upon their performances but shit man, even Alan Cumming and Brian Cox are so good in this movie. The script is leaps and bounds better than the first in terms of character interactions and plot. The action while more sparse than the first, got a rise out of me from time to time, it looks really cool whether it be Magneto busting out of prison or the standoff between Logan and Deathstrike which was a great fight and appropriate that the stakes are raised. I have got to shout out to Alan Cumming and Rebecca Romijn, oh my God. Are these actors amazing or what? Alan is effortlessly perfect as Nightcrawler, and I may or may not ship him with Storm. But Rebecca man. I almost want to say she gives the best performance in both these movies. Did she even speak a line in the first movie? She barely speaks in this but I cannot believe how great she is as this character through sheer body animation, expressive eyes, and some good attitude in her tiny bit of dialogue. It's hard to think of anyone else as Mystique besides her and God bless her for putting up with that much makeup and prosthetics. Hugh has gotten more comfortable in the role, Ian is somehow more awesome than before, Famke gets some good stuff to work with, and Brian makes a good villain. Effects were handled just as well, good balance of practical effects and improved CG, the fights may be less than expected but it really didn't bother me at all. They played their cards right, and what an improvement over a 3 year period so they had a lot of time to iron out what they wanted to do and make it proper entertaining and very good. Back when movies took time with sequels, Jesus H. Christ I feel bitter about that to be honest. But jaded perspective aside, I very much liked this movie and it was genuinely truly better than I expected. 3 stars, 7/10! The funny part is this is the least watched of the X-Men movies I've seen, it was always either the first movie on video or the third on FX back then that I watched. If I was being brutally honest, pretty sure I've seen the third the most....and that includes Logan. I apologize for that. But I'm making up for it I swear, so see you tomorrow for The Last Stand.

Trick r' Treat

I am genuinely surprised I've never talked about this movie.

Trick r' Treat is a necessity to watch every Halloween season. I have never seen a Halloween themed movie of this magnitude before, the closest thing to come to it was Halloween 3 and even then it was more background than front and center. It's an anthology movie, with 4 seperate stories tied together not only with background cameos of the other characters but with a character named Sam who is pretty much the mascot of Halloween, the same way Santa and the Easter Bunny are for their holidays and he is awesome. So the stories range from, kids going to the scene of a terrible crime to pay respects, a principal with a dark secret, a group of girls looking for fresh dates, and a grumpy Scrooge like character who learns to appreciate Halloween the hard way. The film's true power is in it's visuals, there is so much Halloween scenery to an almost gratuitous degree, from costumes, to pumpkins, to decorations and candy, it really gets you in the mood for Halloween day! And not a lot of people know about this movie, it had a modest budget and an adequate release, but it's a staple of the season just as much as Charlie Brown and more famous horror movies, so it's important to spread the word and hopefully get this film to be a Halloween classic. I've been so busy this month, I plan for October more than any other month both in terms of reviews and personal life so it's almost to the point where I won't know what to do with myself come November 1st. This month has really been my life and it's ending tomorrow. It's sad but I'm excited nevertheless. I highly urge you to check this movie out either today or on Halloween night after you've went to some parties, gotten some candy, and need a perfect send off to the most wonderful time of the year. I'll be out tomorrow before the sun rises and won't be back until after the sun has fallen and then some, so I want to wish you the happiest of Halloweens and I will see you guys soon.