In Retrospect: The Mandalorian (Season 1)

Never fails to impress.

Even after all this time and so many new things coming to Star Wars, The Mandalorian has not lost an ounce of it's charm, appeal, intrigue, or quality. It was kind of a trip to go back and that's really saying something considering it's only had two seasons but it just goes to show the testament this show has crafted over such a small stretch, and it does still raise questions even though we do have some of the answers. Why did Werner Herzog want the babay, and who is he besides "The Client"? How did Fennec Shand survive and how is she on good terms with the best bounty hunter in the galaxy? Who's that very pretty lady who wanted some hey hey with Pedro, and how was she such an excellent shot? I do not consider these contrivances or plot holes but it makes me want to know so much more about this world that Favreau and Filoni have made together. They do such a wonderful job introducing new characters that have familiar concepts behind them, and the cast hasn't been this well picked since the original trilogy. Pedro Pascal is quickly becoming a man after my own heart, I mean we are talking near Mads Mikkelsen levels here people. I'm so happy Carl Weathers got to expand upon this and wasn't just a small bit character in this series, cause he really is grand. Oh Gina, oh my dearest, I will come to you tomorrow and really say my piece. The attention to detail in the worlds, species, and tech is glorious giving us so much more tidbits in this universe. I just, ohh, it's muy bien. Magnifico. Wunderbar, he exclaimed with great relish. I almost am quite sad I never watched it weekly like I did with the second season cause I know it would have firmly grasped my attention and kept me guessing about what would happen next. Which is odd because like 90% of the episodes are pretty much singular adventures, you could almost watch it out of order and it would still work which is something I greatly admire with shows or hell even movies for that matter when you can just dip in and out but not lose the experience. I actually heard some people give good grief over that but I suppose it's greatly common nowadays in television that shows are neatly tied together with strong continuity. I say that because I watch nothing but old shit, I can't wait to review The Andy Griffith Show when I'm 87 and nobody will know what I'm talking about. Good times! But anywho, still just as great when I first saw it I may just say screw it and bump my rating up to a 9/10 cause why not it deserves that kind of love. This is the May, I mean the way. And if somebody could let me know when that disintegrator Nerf rifle hits, you'd be a darling.

The Mandalorian

It's not The Baby Yoda Show, it's The Mandadlorian because best dad ever. You know in your heart it is!

So I finally watched The Mandalorian over the winter break and I must say I was very entertained but not surprised. To take such a more ground level view of Star Wars that we sort of got in Solo and Rogue One was a wise choice and the fact that each episode marks around 30 minutes, it can focus more on characters and world building and not overblown series arcing situations and battles. This is the show Star Wars fans need, and it sets a good step forward for Disney to make future series of the same caliber. When I first heard of a show focusing on a Mandalorian bounty hunter making his way through the galaxy, I was on board for the idea. Granted we don't get an awful lot of bounty hunting but I don't see that as a bad thing, I was expecting a Cowboy Bebop/Firefly dynamic to the bounty hunting but it goes it's own path and crafts something new. So Mando (yes I know he has a name but I like Mando) is collecting on bounties when he is tasked by our good friend Carl Weathers to bring in a special individual to an Imperial client with ties to a Moff, but once he sees those big bright eyes of the entity that bears no name but a strong similarity to Force users of the past says screw you guys this is my kid now, and he spends the rest of the series making allies, facing problems, and raising a small child at the young age of 50. I have no problem saying best dad, because honestly that is his kid and I'll be damned if he doesn't raise him! I will admit for some reason I kept thinking this series to be during the original trilogy but it takes place 6 years after the battle of Endor and the defeat of The Empire, but it works and is our first gateway into the 30 year gap before The Force Awakens. I think why this show struck so much with casual and hardcore fans is because of the characters and the worldbuilding. It brings several elements of the Expanded Universe into play, thanks to our golden boy Dave Filoni, but the way they introduce and handle each character makes you get attached to them quickly. Something I noticed especially is you can tell so much from a character simply by how they carry themselves, now obviously this comes into play with Mando heavily since Pedro Pascal never takes the helmet off so he has to work with body language and it says a lot about his past and who he is now. The casting is great, I mean it's always super nice to see Carl Weathers in anything, but then you bring in Gina Carano as an ex-Shock Trooper who it took me forever to remember where I saw her but yeah she's the second best part of Deadpool (the first and last part being Colossus)  and she really has a knack for playing supreme asskickers and let's be honest she is a friggin' queen, and I hope to see more of her in the future. We also get a strange but really nice addition with director Werner Herzog in a small role which is odd because you just don't see many acclaimed directors in even a supporting roll, and another director comes into the fray with Taika Waititi taking up the role of an IG assassin droid and best nanny ever which is pretty spectacular to behold, Nick Nolte is great as Kuill and has already cemented a legacy for himself. Plus with episode 6, you get more cameos than you can shake a stick at, I mean seriously it's crazy how many actors they squeezed in that. The production values are high, the cinematography and visual style is all great with a much more old west feel to it which I can appreciate a great deal, and the fact they use practical effects more often than not gets you brownie points and even the CG is done really well. There's a lot to love and appreciate actually through the whole series, whether it be characters, settings, action sequences, bits of lore thrown in from The Clone Wars series to the friggin' Holiday Special, they knew how to craft a show and lay the foundation for a strong first season. In fact I could only really say superficial bad things about the show, like why is the flamethrower the most useless weapon in Star Wars since R2's little taser thing, why are the Death Troopers not a more imposing threat, I don't see people up in arms over the green Mogwai as much as they are Rey. Does it hurt the show? Not at all. Does it really matter? No. There's no such thing as a perfect show or film, but the positives practically outweigh the negatives by a metric ton, and I am very interested to see what's next not only in the next season but the next show. I greatly enjoy this first season, I give it a solid four stars and a 8.5/10. This is well worth watching at least twice, and since the show clocks in at a little over 5 hours in 8 episodes you can easily knock it out over a weekend. Check it out if you haven't already and don't let the memes fool you, it's worth your time. I really hope we get the Kenobi series soon, and I will raze Lucasfilm to the ground with an orbital bombardment from a Star Destroyer if we don't get that Darth Bane series. But I hear tale The Clone Wars is slated to return in a month's time and I am endlessly happy over that. So until next time my friends, this is the way.

Predator

I know, I know. The Predator hit theaters last Friday, I planned around it and that review will get here on Friday. More details tomorrow.

Predator is such an interesting case, I mean it's an action movie first yes, but the fact it juggles action, suspense, with a touch of sci-fi and horror and does it really, really well must be commended because not many movies can do that. So our story introduces us to a crack team of commandos sent to a Central America jungle to rescue hostages but soon discover they are being stalked and hunted by a mysterious figure. I don't think I need to divulge more, because Predator is such a well known and popular film so even if you haven't seen it you probably know a bit about it. And to think though Predator isn't exactly a huge film franchise, the fanbase is strong and has been slowly growing ever since 1987 with no doubt a huge boom in the 90s due to the Alien Vs. Predator franchise that kicked off and has become possibly more popular than either series, and all that came from a well crafted yet humble action/sci-fi film. It's such a good and engaging story, regardless of how many times you've seen it, the enjoyment factor never dwindles but why exactly? Is it the characters and the actors who potrayed them, or perhaps it's just good suspense with a interesting story and great potential for future stories? I can't fully explain how Predator became such a cult film series but I'm glad nevertheless that it's around. I don't think I really need to talk characters cause well, come on. Friggin' Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse 'The Body' Ventura, and good ol' Bill Duke are so easily recognizable and are great in just about anything! The Predator itself is such a unique design and gave so much information about itself without really revealing anything about it's culture or insight and I actually really like that. There is a lot of mystery in this movie and it works very well. The soundtrack though comprising very few tracks does a great service to the movie and really amps that adrenaline and uneasiness throughout. I'm very very happy I finally get a chance to go through the Predator movies, and I find it kinda funny how Shane Black one of the actors from this movie is directing the brand new one that just came out, I look forward to seeing what he brought to the table. But we got Predator 2 before we hit that, so we'll see if it outdoes the first or merely give us another good movie.

Rocky IV

And this is where the crazy over the top scale breaks. Now it gets awesomely ridiculous.

Rocky IV is a fantastic movie, and I am serious. It gets so crazy and relishes in the 80's cheesiness it becomes something extrodinary. This movie takes place a little while after Rocky III, Rocky and Apollo have become real great friends, Rocky's son has grown up quite a bit, and Rocky and Adrian celebrate their ninth anniversary together. Things have been going pretty well for everybody, until the Russians invade. Well technically it's a Russian boxer, Ivan Drago played by Dolph Lundgren who I got to admit is downplayed majorly from something like his Expendables performance in retrospect. He's pretty much an almost silent monster. He has like six damn lines in the whole movie! They used him for just his physical stature and really he is so much more than that. Dude is super smart and even a bit charismatic but here he is a friggin' walking tank. But hey he does a real good job at setting the bar higher than it ever has been before or since in the Rocky series. But let's continue with the plot. Apollo flips his lid and goes after Drago guns blazing and loses. Badly. So Rocky has to take the fight to the Russians, literally. He travels and trains in Russia. And yes, Rocky ended the Cold War. The absurdly awesome moments don't take long to set in, it takes about 5 minutes before your jaw hits the floor in disbelief. I won't dare ruin the surprise but it does not stop there. I love this movie, and what I noticed while watching it again is there are a bunch of montages in this movie set to blazing 80's music that makes you want to rock out to, and it has to be at least 30% of the movie and Vince DiCola's score is glorious. I know the original soundtrack in the first movie is the greatest but dear lord this comes so close! Some people call this a guilty pleasure movie, and I don't see it as that. I greatly enjoy this movie every time I watch it, and it really never gets old. And just like the last movie it keeps raising the stakes and changes the world in which these characters live in. So yes, it is an important and very ludicrous entry in the series and must really be seen to be believed.

Rocky III

I have a theory that this Rocky movie and Rocky IV are in a totally different universe.

So movie starts off the same with a recap, and now Rocky is the champion of the world. And of course when fame is achieved others start to challenge the top dog for supremacy. So Rocky fights contender after contender until he meets this damn beast of a boxer Clubber Lang played by badass Mr. T! Strong as all get out and a big mouth to boot. So Rocky has to defend his title as champ and win. The reason why I think this is a totally different movie is because it gets out there. There's this scene where Rocky has to fight Hulk Hogan, yes I'm serious. It's for charity and all hell breaks loose. Not exactly a scene you would see in the last two emotional, inspiring movies. But this movie takes some big steps nevertheless and it completely changes how the characters interact in this world. Apollo turns ally and helps Rocky train more differently than he has before, telling him he's got the eye of the tiger. Yeah, this is where Survivor started in Rocky movies! Truly amazing 80's music and you better believe the soundtrack was selling like crazy. It's a ridiculous but great movie, and is still an important part of Rocky's story. So give it a watch and I pity the fool who doesn't.

Rocky II

Rocky II is without a doubt just as good if not a little better than the first movie.

It picks up right where the last movie left off with a recap of the last fight, a tradition that would last for the rest of the series. The story picks up after Rocky and Apollo leave the hospital and stuff has really changed for Rocky. He's now super rich and is no longer humble in his surroundings and has changed sadly for worse. But he soon gets back to his roots, and all the meanwhile everyone says the big fight in the last movie was rigged. And this is where we get some great insight into Apollo's character, where we see that he really is obsessed with fighting Rocky again because his reputation has been damged. In fact both of theirs are. And this is the main driving point to get them back into the ring which is really funny because at the end of the first movie Apollo says there ain't gonna be no rematch and Rocky says I don't want one. But whatever, it's a great movie that progresses the characters and story. Everyone is back and I got to tell you, Burgess Meredith as Mickey is my favorite character in the whole series, just his grouchy voice and wise ass remarks make me love him to death. Easily top 3 greatest mentors in film history. Bottom line, if you loved Rocky it is mandatory to see the sequel....and after this the sequels get very different and very crazy.

Rocky

Yeah been awhile. Missed out on Spectre and The Peanuts Movie for now. But we got 6 Rocky movies to review before the new one comes out on Thanksgiving.

Rocky is one of the greatest movies ever made, and it's something you have to watch for yourself. It's a true underdog story with nothing but heart and a glorious cast. Sylvester Stallone became famous for potraying the Philadelphia southpaw Rocky Balboa, playing with huge amounts of charm and love. Talia Shire is perfect as Adrian, a shy pet shop owner that Rocky sees the beauty in and I have to admit she is cute as a bug. Burt Young is Paulie a drunk and a bit of an ass but is a good friend of Rocky's. Carl Weathers who is the second coolest black guy next to good ol' Billy Dee is the champion of the world Apollo Creed, and his son is the real main character of the new movie. The music by Bill Conti is soaring to say the least, and is truly a masterpiece. The setting is entirely in Philadelphia and it really shows, you get some real character from the city and the best part is all of it, I repeat all of it you can still find. You can run up those museum steps and Rocky at the top. It's such a great movie, and I don't care for sports movies but the Rocky movies I will watch whenever they are on. And it's because of this movie I incorporated 'Yo' into my vocabulary. So tune in tomorrow where we look at the just as great sequel.

If you want to know where you can find all the Rocky locations go to our old friend Cinemassacre and they got a video documenting all of the settings in all 6 of the movies. It's called Rocky Jumped A Park Bench, and it's really damn good.