Ahsoka

Holy shit. Holy shhhhit!

I am so sorry this was as late as it was and I'm desperately gonna attempt to keep this coherent, but there is so much to talk about and not tread into spoiling everything so with that let us begin. We knew this show was coming, we knew it would be all about finding Ezra and Grand Admiral Thrawn, and still and STILL it gave us fans so much to be entertained by and love! Son of a krayt dragon, where do I even start? Literally before act one scene one I was a happy boy seeing a red Lucasfilm logo and red text crawl. We are quickly introduced to our principal protagonists and antagonists, Ahsoka and Sabine after a falling out in jedi training reconvene with hopes of finding Ezra Bridger and stopping Thrawn's return after retrieval of an ancient map, while Morgan Elsbeth hires two...I have no damn clue what to call them cause they're not mercenaries and they're not sith and I dare not even call them dark jedi, Lord Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati who are looking to traverse to a galaxy far far away to retrieve the Chimaera and it's captain as heir to the Empire. Now I actually only have one singular qualm with this show and even then it really isn't all that much but I wonder how does Ahsoka know the map she finds leads to the precise location of Thrawn? I know it's a simple Macguffin and there is indeed a time gap between when Din met Ahsoka and now so whatever, just a nitpicky thing. And for a show that's only 8 episodes long with varying runtimes for each episode, what it juggles and how the story progresses ain't half bad. It's quite tentative how each link gets Ahsoka and Sabine closer to Ezra but far from plot breaking, and I can see that some might claim the show to be slow and it is indeed far from action packed but I feel that's necessary for the story that needs to be told. There's a lot of character backstory and baggage that gets sorted, and yeah it's damn near pivotal to see Star Wars Rebels to fully get the picture. You can still watch this show uninitiated but I don't feel like it would have as much of a draw or impact, it's essentially a fifth season of a television show just swapping from animation to live action. I mean they do a competent job getting across what each character is like and their history with one another but it's one thing to infer from it and another to experience it. Now that being said they got some fuggin' GOOD actors to play these roles, and I'll tell you something right now I can't imagine being the casting director for this because not only do you have to pick the best candidate but you also got to get the right looking person to be this animated character come to life. That is unbelievably difficult but they pulled it off in spades for my money's worth. Rosario gets to finally spread her wings and explores the boundaries of this fan loved character and delves into her psyche a bit, you see an arc with Ahsoka as she gets some very much needed closure and acceptance of her past. Natasha couldn't be more of a dead ringer for Sabine Wren if she tried and effortlessy captures the still rebellious sassy attitude that masks some grief and pain, she was an easy sell for me. Mary Elizabeth Winstead did take a hot second for me to get as Hera but once we were there all was well, she takes way more of a mom stance and while she does have her son Jacen around you can tell she wants to get Ezra back after so long too, and she ain't taking no nonsense from certain republic senators, so I say rock on. Okay this is gonna go on for a minute but fuck it, Ray Stevenson...good God. This is a greater tragedy than Darth Plagueis, the fact he never got to see the fans adore his character and even greater the fact we won't see him again continuing the quest of Baylan Skoll, it just hurts man. Del Rey books, Pablo Hidalgo, whoever I need to make a case to, please for the love of all things grand and amazing make a book on Baylan Skoll, either his break off from the Order and how he found Shin or a continuation of where we see him last or friggin' both! Baylan Skoll jumped up to my second favorite Star Wars character of all time in just 8 episodes (sorry Kylo I still love you) and I'm pretty sure I could write an entire character study on him but to keep it brief, he is a strong enigma but the best way I can describe him is he seems to put the emphasis on knight in former jedi knight, we really don't know what his endgame is though we get hints and breadcrumbs but he was perfect from beginning to end. I fell so head over heels for this character I fashioned my Halloween costume after him. Just wow, 12/10, 200/100, goddamn it I miss you Ray. Ivanna Sakhno though we don't get a firm grasp on her character's standing in the larger scale of the story, was an effective villain and my lord the eye acting of this woman was nothing short of phenomenal and pants wettingly terrifying. And I know a good sect of the internet who wants Shin and Sabine to be an item, I hold no grudge against that so I'm rooting for your dreams over there you romantic oddballs. Big time plot twist with Morgan Elsbeth played by Diana Lee Inosanto, turns out she got some Nightsister blood in her even though we had no inkling to believe so beforehand, but they fiddle and change stuff all the time in Star Wars you get used to it. But it's really damn cool to see her have such a prominent role from basically a cameo in The Mandalorian, she even gets to flex her sword fighting skills and I'm just happy to see her back in this role. Now if you go back and read my Mando season 2 reviews there was a little breakdown moment over the mention of a Chiss strategist by the name of mothertrucking Grand Admiral Thrawn so you would think I'd practically launch myself from my chair into the stratosphere upon his arrival but I kept quite a icy cool demeanor like the man himself, mainly because it was just a given. Of course we're gonna see Thrawn, of course we're going to see the star destroyer Chimaera, everything is proceeding as I have forseen, so it wasn't a matter of if we're going to see Thrawn but rather when are we going to see Thrawn. I mean can you believe it took over 30 years for this character to make the jump to live action? Heir To The Empire came out in 1991, we've had Thrawn in games, in comics, in animation, damn near every medium except live action until this year. Of course I'm utterly thrilled they got Lars Mikkelsen to do the performance rather than just dub his voice, and you can indeed see he is having the time of his life playing this role to the max in person and it's everything you both expected and wanted from it. I barely have to talk about him because you know it's great, I know it's great, the New Republic is gonna get wrecked and that's great! I genuinely do hope we get a second season of Ahsoka, I know Dave is gearing up for a film and that's wonderful but there clearly is some things to resolve by the end of this season, so please and thank you Lucasfilm. It's kinda mental how good the production is here, it really does seem like each show just keeps getting better in quality of effects to where you kinda forget it's supposed to be a TV show, the costumes are beautifully realized, the sets go from intricate to sprawling and look grand, the fight choreography feels in touch with each character and has some directorial flourishes which I love, we get a lot of emphasis on ships and space so obviously they excel at that over at ILM, it's just proper good production. Plus there's just a lot of new ground that was broken that I never thought Star Wars would do, I mean they have the balls to push the setting to a galaxy even farther away and yet it still feels appropriately Star Wars. If I had to pick favorite episodes, there's no bad episode for sure, they space each one out to where nothing ever feels like filler, that's a tough decision because there are solid candidates and I'm split on episode five and the finale for two very different reasons but I will go with the finale because they throw a lot of cool stuff at you and you want to see how it all ends and it leaves you with ample questions for next time. Regardless you're in for a treat with this show, I have no friggin' clue what the next Star Wars show will be, my want for The Acolyte is unrivalled so fingers crossed for that! Final scores I give it 4 stars, 8.5/10! And I shall return next week for a historical drama so stay tuned. Long live the Empire.

Wonder Woman Bloodlines

No surprise what the next review is going to be.

I very much was surprised when I learned Bloodlines was not a sequel to the 2009 film which I reviewed way back, even though I should have been clued in that there was a decade between the two releases. This follows the main animated DC universe, which I've touched upon oh so briefly but it works so easily as a standalone movie you don't even need to worry about it. The film starts very predictable, hi Steve, but goes big and broad quick. We jump a bit forward in time as we see Diana be fully in her Wonder Woman persona and is asked from a friend she met not long after arriving in the U.S. about helping her daughter out of a pretty sordid company of characters who comprise Wonder Woman's rogue gallery. We see Cheetah, Giganta, Dr. Poison, Dr. Cyber, and Silver Swan. Now I will admit even to a big DC fan such as myself, there were some names I was not terribly familiar with, specifically Silver Swan and Dr. Cyber, but you grasp the concept and personality of the villains quite quickly so it didn't pose problems for me. But all does not go well for Diana and Silver Swan is birthed, with Dr. Cyber leading the charge from behind the curtain to attack Themyscira and use their power. So we get fair amounts of both settings, and while I do take slight issue with some elements of the film I think the plot is handled well. Positives first, they got Diana perfectly in this movie. Absurdly compassionate, kind, thoughtful of others, doing the right thing to the best of her ability, I have zero issue saying this is the best version of Wonder Woman I've seen and that is coming from someone who loves Gal Gadot, and treasures Lynda Carter, and grew up watching the Justice League show. Rosario Dawson brings that perfectly balanced performance of, Wonder Woman fearless hero with high morality and values, and Diana kind person who has a bit of humor and wears her heart on her sleeve. I very much liked all the cast, Jeffrey Donovan did great work with Steve, and Marie Avgerpoulos did quite well with Silver Swan. The animation still has that distinct style of that series of films, but is handled well and looks really really good in places. Now for negatives, the reasoning for certain events in the film could have been handled better, they're not shit but it wouldn't have hurt to re-write it. Silver Swan's creation into villainy seems incredibly quick and a touch nonsensical, Diana essentially does have to go obtain a McGuffin for the plot, I personally do not subscribe to the Amazons having advanced technology I see them much more mythical but I know that's just my stance so it's not horrible, Diana forgets where Themyscira is located after she leaves which raises many a question to me, it's more brief moments and details that make me just go, "Wha?" more so than big important plot details. I think it's a totally fine, okay movie, it's for the audience who watches the animated DC stuff (Though it's still good to know they're still doing the kinda sorta nudity and cuss words, thanks I still want it to die.), it's by no means essential viewing but if you want a proper comic book movie that embraces comic book stories you can have fun with it. 3 stars, 7/10. Life is good with this movie, but it can be better.

In Retrospect: The Mandalorian (Season 2)

Mmm! It's a bit special.

I do not envy the people working on season 3, cause they did such a good job here. I know people will just shriek this season is nothing but fanwank and quite frankly you can get off my planet, because there is no way in all the circles of Hell itself that the creators and writers took these steps lightly. I mean this is the season with Bo Katan, Boba Fett, Ahsoka Tano, and Master Luke, you do not bring in such heavy hitters willy nilly and I find they did a good job incorporating each throughout the season. I mean yes I called Boba popping up, cause no one else in Star Wars has the sound of spurs when they walk, but I didn't know how they would handle him. Quite well is the answer. Temuera Morrison never lost his touch in the role of mandalorian bounty hunter, and they give him good action beats without overusing him. I'm beyond happy him and Rosario Dawson got to do these parts, because she lobbied hard for Ahsoka and did the character proud taking a more subdued but even more powerful iteration of a fan treasured character. You have to show a lot of tempered restraint with such characters, even though Ahsoka got an entire episode whereas Bo Katan got parts here and there it never once felt like it was there just to have that big gasp reaction from fans. Nor does it take anything whatsoever from Din Djarin's tale, searching for any answers he can about mandalorians, Jedi teachers, and the safety of his son. You can keep lying to yourself all day it makes little difference to me, but Grogu is his heir, his son, his reason for living. He shows in just one scene, where he takes the helmet off he would do anything for his kid and that he could not be more determined to get him back. It was striking, kinda powerful, and showed good emotional writing. And I will fully admit how they handled Grogu made sense as to where this season ended, you don't get a lot of cute baby moments like you did in the first season, granted he was still there but a more laxed focus was on him, gauging the audience for that moment. I noticed that about midway through the season but it didn't bother me. Yet I do fear somewhat for the third season, they took the kid out of the picture which could have been the most fan upsetting thing since whatever nonsense they were bitching about 5 minutes before, it took guts to remove a very big reason why people watch this show. And now I must speak on Gina. I am here without witness, without hope, without reward, devastated she isn't on the show anymore. I don't even fully know why, just something to do with a tweet, and frankly Twitter is the most toxic shit pit that is rivalling 4Chan in terms of f*** off and die horribly. I really have no idea why she isn't there anymore, and she was a solid reason for me to stick around. I digged the hell out of her character and knew she could be an ass kicking auntie for little Grogu, and my admiration and shameless crushing on Gina Carano didn't hurt at all either in that equation. So that's two big losses on this front in my eyes, of course I'll still watch the next season to see where the story and characters go from here because I do love the show, but that is like a strike and a half in my books for Disney. I was fine with 95% of the movies, besides small squabbles that quite honestly were nitpicks mostly, and really liked what they did and enjoyed it. But here, I'm not terribly happy about that. Will it affect my views on the show? Not much, but it would be nice to have her back. All that aside, the writers, directors (Love you Carl, you did great.), actors, and effects crews brought top form for this show, and it truly does deserve the love from fans. I still say to this day Star Wars is still my favorite thing in the world, in so many of it's different aspects and mediums, I love it and hold a lot of appreciation and respect for it. I'm happy it's still here and we're still getting cool new stuff from it. This is the way, and I have spoken.

The Mandalorian: Season 2

That certainly was a season. So....yeah. Season 2! Easily a better season than the last, I would say! I actually have to admit I like that the chapters are continuous and rightfully so since we follow up immediately with Mando and the Child as they search for not only other mandalorians but also Jedi to train the young baby, leading to quite an enormous series of events. Needless to say we meet with several familiar faces, and I'm arguing whether or not to divulge here so we might as well give the best of both worlds. Spoiler free, this series is excellent. The production values somehow look even better and the story goes in a satisfying and incredible direction. I love we get a bit more of the bond between the baby and his poppa, I think the adventures are paced incredibly well, the inclusions of further previously Legends material has nothing but love from me, this is a grand season. But...is this really a review? When it comes to something this immensely popular, am I changing anybody's mind when I say go watch it? Possibly, but most people who got hooked on the first season are of course gonna stick around for the second, and really when we talk about Star Wars here it's more of a discussion than a review. I don't have to tell you to go watch it because chances are you were there from the start, and great job on that! Usually I detest having to wait week after week for a show, and really only this and Gotham have made me watch a show weekly but yeah. So let's get into spoilers now. Loved the first episode, I thought the Krayt Dragon was more Tremors than actual reptile but I digged it, I liked the Jaws style climax, I kinda flipped when I saw the pearl, and Timothy Oliphant proves he can be a gunslinger in any genre. Second episode was good, but boy howdy was the baby a handful in this one, on a lighter note it was cool seeing those weird spiders from Rebels and it was a decent adventure. Episode three kicks off this season truly, seeing Bo Katan in live action was a great treat, and I always enjoy any episode with Imperial elements. Episode 4 was a great adventure, and as far as my knowledge goes this is the first thing I've seen directed by Carl Weathers and he did an outstanding job, giving that well shot action with my forever Star Wars beloved Cara Dune. Brilliant. Episode 5 was a bit dull, nothing seemed to happen except the fact that Ahsoka Tano was in live action and they name dropped motherf***ing Grand Admiral Thrawn, and I think I screamed like a ten year old girl at that little moment! Episode 6, what an appropriate episode title, glorious but a shocking end. Boba Fett and Darktroopers what more do you need or want, and directed by Robert Rodriguez?? Yes please, I'll take it all! You my have triggered me something fierce at the start of epsiode 7, but you gave me some triumphant and wholesome Imperial moments and for that you have my love forever. Final episode.....wow. I mean yikes. Will however say, because there never can be too much positivity in the world, I am willing to hedge my bets season three's viewership is gonna drop a bit. It's bullshit but you took away half if not 75% of the reason people watch the show, so it is possible to happen. I don't hate it in the slightest but others will. But then again, they have proved their salt at this point and can take big risks like that not just for the story but the experience of watching the show. And before I go I would like to go on the record once more, by laughing in the faces of the dipshits who said Star Wars was dead and I would further like to give them this holiday greeting, may the yuletide log slip from your fire and burn your house down. 4 stars, 9.5/10! There's so much more goodness to come out of Star Wars before I'm dead and buried, and I am here. I am waiting. See you next year everybody!

In Retrospect: The Lego Batman Movie

Yep, still awesome.

I am soooo happy I finally got this sucker on DVD! Now I can pause on nearly every shot and scour for more easter eggs to feed my batmania! But yeah, The Lego Batman movie is still just as entertaining and hilarious as when I first saw it. Special honors go to Will Arnett for being awesome and Zach Galifianakis for being one of the most entertaining Jokers of all time. I still have no idea how they make these Lego movies, I mean it looks like stopmotion but it moves so fast I can't quite say that. It's just such a fun movie and no doubt will be rewatched time and time again like every other Batman movie I ever owned. Is it the best? Well, it all depends on your point of view. Storywise it's not, but in terms of an overall experience it almost definitely is! There's just so much to love about it, from the animation style, to the characters, to the humor and situations. It's just great. Buy it now. That's all there is to it, if you love animated movies, if you loved The Lego Movie, or you're just a diehard or casual fan of the Batman then by all means get it!

But the rest of this week.....put a friggin' fork in me. I had to do it sooner or later, but I don't want to do it. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to review it. But it's like a needle, it might be unpleasant but once you do it you'll be better off. This week, we do Transformers. Not even the cool 80s Transformers movie, the horrible ones. The first 3, then next week we do the other one leading to (hopefully) the last movie. Pray for me.

The Lego Batman Movie

Best...movie...of the year.

What a treat this was, now you may be saying Dude how did you see this movie so early? Because I'm Batman! Nah, I just got tickets to an early screening. So The Lego Batman Movie is the epitome of a love letter to The Batman, with references galore, a great story, wonderful voice actors, and gorgeous animation. Now the plot is a little thick but still engages you so I will sum it up for you. Batman is being Batman fighting crime, saving the day, and all his usual buisness when a series of events happen both fortunate and unfortunate. Jim Gordon retires (Awww....), and his daughter Barbara takes over as the Comissioner, Bruce adopts young Dick Grayson, and the Joker has the grand schemes of grand schemes to take over Gotham. Oh my God, the sheer nautical tons of easter eggs were so vast and plentiful, my eyes were darting all over the screen, I friggin' loved it with it's sheer brilliant art direction and animation style! The characters were a blast as well, Will Arnett is hilarious as Batman and yet can still give some good serious performances, Michael Cera who I don't fully like played Robin awesomely, Rosario Dawson was fun as Batgirl, and Ralph Fiennes was a darn good Alfred. In fact I was surprised the emotion Will Arnett gave in this film, with almost Mask Of The Phantasm style scenes concerning his crimefighting and his parents. The movie was almost too good, I don't have anything to gripe about but for a hardcore Batman fan such as myself, this movie could not be more perfect. Check it out next week, and enjoy your stay in Gotham City.