Change Your Image
metalman50
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try againReviews
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: The Last Problem (2019)
Worst Cartoon Finale EVER!
What can I honestly say about My Little Pony's 9th and final season? It's become arguably THE worst season in all of animation, much less TV in general, and unless you love the same tropes or ideas of a previous seasonal setting, ranting on this sorry excuse of a final season will never stop feeling satisfying. The redemptions suck. The rehashed morals (that were once good) suck. The newer characters themselves (besides Snap Shutter & Mane Allgood) suck (say for both Wind Sprint & Clear Sky in Common Ground). And the sendoff sucks! Yes, from all that wasted potential, The Last Problem is a horrendously catastrophic episode - hands down THE worst series finale in animation as well (let alone of My Little Pony). And you know what? I'm not surprised in the slightest at how atrocious it turned to be. It's totally incredible how a lot of writers like those of My Little Pony just keep on failing based on not bothering to hear out other fresher ideas us fans have to offer. (And yes, I will admit the end song's catchy - so much so that it's obviously best listened to as another standalone)
This finale is pretty much how Game of Thrones was often described given how pretty much the whole season in general is anti-climatic, whereas it shoehorns in more plot points than I myself would even consider listing in a whole season (if it'd had been me writing for it obviously), which ranges first off from flash-forwarding to too many years in advance that we're clearly not given a brief stamp at how long its been since their present time in Equestria since the series premiere. And another problem does include the plothole of how Twilight became as tall as Celestia as seen in the very beginning of this atrocity. Because this series finale has far too many changes that clearly haven't been told, we're given end results of each of the characters that, while they made sense since most of them were fleshed out in previous episodes, they aren't clearly given real detail in the episode before the newer time period of everypony in the episode, no thanks to tall Twilight only recapping to Luster Dawn the past events, instead of fleshing out the events of how everything in the present time came to the way it did, although it all likely wouldn't have worked in one big rush unlike Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for example which did give understandable supercut recaps of each character who wasn't newbie Spider-Man protagonist Miles Morales. And we have the untold occurrences of every other Mane Six member such as Pinkie with Cheese, and Rainbow Dash the new Wonderbolts leader. And let me tell you about characters who have either vanished into thin air or don't have explained end results; we're not even given a hint at what the former Wonderbolts leaders (like Spitfire and those Rainbow Dash HAS collaborated with) have moved on to in The Last Problem's present time period, nor are we given much detail at how SugarMac or CheesePie each had their own foals, not to mention how both Granny Smith & Grand Pear passed on, or even how Fluttershy's pet bunny Angel started his own family given that THEY TOO haven't been given a decent amount of depth - in other words: They! All! Make! No! SENSE!!!!
So really, looking at all of what I just mentioned, this is what happens when you give up on putting effort into ending a once remarkable series off just for the sake of putting it out of its misery. Even if other fans wanted a series to last for a few years longer, if not forever, so they could stick with the characters themselves and how they remain alive in pop culture and not just in television canon, literally every story that particular series already told will cause even critics and children's programming to turn against it to get it cancelled when the oldest of plots keep secretly repeating themselves onward so even anti-fans don't have to put up with its influence no thanks to the one major point (like a entire season in general) that made it go completely downhill even for the most naive fans. If My Little Pony's 9th season had a major arc that connects so many plot points together (like what it thankfully did with Season 4), its finale could've easily stood out as a more half decent way to end all of the characters' sealed fates on a high and completely logical note for the series itself.
I will admit that, by reading their plot descriptions, other live-action series finales like Dexter, How I Met Your Mother, or Game of Thrones are worse since the characters of those shows either don't get satisfied feelings for themselves (Dexter and Game of Thrones), while others show that while the characters themselves DO feel satisfied, they don't get it with a truly realistic arc (much like HIMYM and MLP in comparison) to end on a high note for fans, but I'll remind you; every cartoon finale is better than Friendship Is Magic's finale! And by what I've heard, a lot of other finales in 2019, like Star vs. the Forces of Evil have also ended on a very low note. So even if anyone can prove me wrong that there's a worse cartoon finale than this, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic's series finale The Last Problem would be a great example to show newbie script writers to show them how NOT to end wonderful television series. Because seriously, what else can you honestly say?
CheesePie, SugarMac, and Fluttershy's own pet bunny each having their own offspring? It makes no sense. Rainbow Dash listed as the new leader of the Wonderbolts? It makes no sense. The fully grown Crusaders becoming teachers of Twilight's old School of Friendship? It makes no sense. Lackluster Dawn's character? It (or SHE) makes no sense. Twilight becoming a Goliath-height alicorn in an untold time period of who knows how long it's been since she's taken over Celestia and Luna's duties in Canterlot as Equestria's new ruler? It makes no sense! The Last Problem?
Well, WHAT THE HECK DO YOU EVEN THINK?!
La La Land (2016)
Best Musical in Cinema History
I saw it thrice in theaters, but Whiplash director Damien Chazelle's La La Land, with good reason, left me totally flabbergasted when I left the cinema all three times. I didn't get to watch it last year, but no matter when I watch a good movie like it, I stick with my clear opinion. It also caught my eye for the reception and cult following it gained among both critics and moviegoers alike so there's more than just a random decision, but let's move on...
When the film acts out as a musical to entertain those of all ages, the audience is easily gripped by all the super catchy songs within its powerful plot that make it seem like the new generation of 1950s musicals. Even for those who aren't fans of musicals, or mainly in my case; romance, the cinematography throughout most of the songs that help make the film live up to its title, like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in an observatory (since this is a love story while also being a musical at the same time after all) give it some of that rewatchable factor since everybody loves good moments like a lovely dance between two characters.
Stone's and Gosling's characters both have their own sides of the story that develop them well enough that will really grip you to them. From Stone's character; Mia's moments of auditioning for films throughout all of her parts, to Gosling's Sebastian playing pianos from building to building and playing the movie's most common theme that is of him and Mia during their relationship, the characterization suits both the leads even if their the only ones that really get it. And I say this because above actors (Emma Watson and Miles Teller who would've been the lead characters original before Stone and Gosling) and characters at times, story and pacing are really more important when it all comes down to it.
The soundtrack is a big step forward for the film's climax, with the one that's destined to receive an Academy Award (which I'm hoping it will) being "City of Stars", or one other towards the end as it's my favorite song of film), but I'm not going to spoil that one here. It's one thing for the songs to be played out, but considering the fact that (again) it's a musical, actors also need to dance out the situations in which the songs that play in them would. My favorite genre of course would be rock n' roll, but the film's trying to be as jazzy as possible - something of which suits musicals more than guitars and sometimes drums, and being all rock n' roll, or techno or whatever really depends on the musical's theme. In this case, since La La Land is trying to be all classical like some blast to the past (like the 50s and 60s), it's trying to be the soothing kind of situation.
Choreography is another thing as to helping all the memorable, and at times soothe tunes that would make one feel good and even imagine different situations he/she would be in. Even if the film's cast seems less interesting than the two leads (with the exception of (Spoiler Alert!) John Legend and J.K. Simmons (an actor who previously starred Chazelle's first film two years beforehand)), what matters is the overall story and how brilliantly its songs implemented, and how it paces itself out. And according to Chazelle and his ideal soundtrack and excellent plot, La La Land has clearly drawn inspiration from other musicals like Boogie Nights and Singin' in the Rain. But that's not a bad thing. As long as you can make a story that's equally as heartfelt and strong in its storytelling, but not the exact same thing in every element of its plot as all of the musicals it was based off.
Of course, there's no denying that the film has heart to it as there are plenty of scenes where audiences will be cracking up enough to feel good about themselves and even choke up at times that they'll really feel for those moments that, with reason, would really melt the heart. So by no means, will you not be having your feelings of sadness and happiness throughout it as it's okay to feel both feelings throughout any good film.
Who seriously needs a couple of DC superhero flicks that are completely rushed and nonsensical or boring and uninteresting romance crap like an overrated, Academy Award-Winning, 1997, boat- sinking, love story (and really, no offense to those of you die hard lovers/fans of them) when you simply have an endearing storyline that blends romance in perfectly with it's well-constructed narrative while also timing wonderfully catchy musical numbers without having its score stand above the rest of story itself, along with strong performances from two beloved actors/actresses, breathtaking and beautiful cinematography, and gripping moments of a fantasized romance? It makes me feel as though I have a cinematic crush on Emma Stone cause (alongside Ryan Gosling) she's just abso-freakin-lutely incredible!
Those who like it will surely be won over, but those who don't probably will just leave it and move on at the end of the day. But considering all of the best things I've mentioned about it, it all adds up to not only one of my favorite films of last year (at this point I can't decide what my top favorite of 2016 is though), but my favorite musical of ALL TIME!
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: 28 Pranks Later (2016)
Seriously, could Rainbow Dash's characterization get any worse?
Rainbow Dash's episodes are fantastic at most. Whilst some like The Mysterious Mare Do Well were just flops due to flaws like poorly handled morals, 28 Pranks Later was supposed to fix it all up as writers Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco did the same with Gauntlet of Fire with Dragon Quest. If you ask me though, this was a shockingly lazy attempt to fix a bad episode up. And the most horrifying thing about it is the show's best writer Meghan McCarthy took part in it for the story, although primarily I blame the teleplay writer who wrote for Littlest Pet Shop F.M. De Marco for utterly destroying Rainbow Dash's true character by ripping both her intelligent brain and near-golden heart out. To put it simply, 28 Pranks doesn't do anything for me but cause Rainbow Dash to grind my gears.
Back in Mare Do Well, I didn't believe Rainbow Dash deserved what she got from the town and her friends while she let her fame and popularity get the best of her, but for 28 Pranks Later, I was thinking the exact opposite and felt completely sorry for any and everyone but her. And F.M. De Marco writing for Rainbow Dash is a bit like combining Scott Sonneborn's writing move for Applejack in Somepony to Watch Over Me and Neal Dusedau's for Discord in What About Discord? at the same time. And her "pranks" are a bit like Discord's inside "jokes" that weren't clearly told. I've obviously heard most of the rest of you all give it praise just cause of things like how it delivered its moral, which I thought was unbelievably lazy and terrible when it was delivered it, but me judging every little flaw within it, it's actually just downright upsetting, cold- hearted, and unwatchable. Of course you can argue with me about it all you want that Sonneborn likely put intelligence into Applejack along with Dusedau putting more kindheartedness and humor into Discord and his "jokes" than Marco put into Rainbow Dash and her "pranks".
So not only was Rainbow Dash completely derailed and unlikable in every conceivable way, but the plot felt rushed like Mare Do Well and switched Rainbow Dash's and Ponyville's (primarily her friends) parts around in which she actually deserved a taste of her medicine unlike Mare Do Well for me clearly. Laughs in episodes are nonexistent when they have mean-spiritedness inserted into them. And this catastrophe has to be one of those cases. Alongside a failed plot and humor, it's moral was delivered equally as awful as TMMDW's and the pacing was arguably just bad. Because for a character like Rainbow Dash (and this goes to all of you who are reading this), if you purposefully pull pranks that are hurtful on your own friends and neighbors (unlike the Crusaders in Ponyville Confidential in which Diamond Tiara was only forcing them to slander and gossip about the whole town) just for the sake of selfishly giving yourself a so-called "good laugh", then you're a sick human-being and don't deserve any friends or neighbors. Did I mention Pinkie wasn't portrayed properly aside from RD herself?
Okay, seriously this is what happens when you reverse antics of wonderful characters in the opposite direction when you try to teach a moral that everyone already knew and learned of differently via its predecessor. Even if it should still be stated illogically, literally the writer behind it (rookie or veteran) will only try and both screw you over and play for keeps just to try and keep you within the fandom to selfishly make more money and be successful to keep going on with something that'll lose more and more potential. If 28 Pranks Later made Rainbow Dash's pranks as harmlessly humorous as her's and Pinkie's in Griffon the Brush Off, it could've easily been a true improvement over Mare Do Well as to learning from its mistakes. I will admit that Newbie Dash is worse for me for how unfair the Wonderbolts and especially Spitfire were on RD as much as What About Discord? was on Twilight, but I'll tell you this; the Wonderbolts are watching this "odd-evening" scene of Rainbow Dash and laughing at it. In that sense, 28 Pranks Later would honestly be great to show newcomer episode writers to show them how not to write an episode, nor a good character. Because really, what else can you truly say?
Rainbow Dash going to far with her "pranks"? It doesn't help. Dashie not using her head when thinking of her "pranks"? It doesn't help. Pinkie's portrayal? It doesn't help. Ponyville only scaring Rainbow Dash as Zombies instead going way too far equally as much as her as to scar her with extreme pain in the REAL exact same way? It doesn't help! 28 Pranks Later?
Well, what the heck do you think?!
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: The Cart Before the Ponies (2016)
Did the writer suddenly just lose his expertise writing skills from Season 4?
With his phenomenal work with both Flight to the Finish and Three's A Crowd, writer Ed Valentine has gained both my hype and my hope for writing more episodes for Season 6. Having writing for the Crusaders in their first Season 4 episode (before Discord's second normal- lengther with Meghan McCarthy), it was simply amazing showing true determination for them (to represent the nation for the win) and developed them really well to deliver a stunning moral across the board. Looking at The Cart Before the Ponies overtime now, it seemed to me that it was only dumb luck that Valentine wrote wonderfully for the Crusaders back in Season 4. Because at the end of the day, this episode just goes to show that some writers just lose their mojo instantly overtime...much like Josh Haber before Season 5.
Unlike Flight to the Finish, The Cart Before the Ponies falls flat on its face due to bad pacing within its mostly predictable plot. It's hard to focus on any of the actual charm of the episode thanks to how Valentine wrote the sisters of the CMCs with nothing going as plan which only made that plot even more predictable after just learning of the episode's description before it aired. With its sound design the voices were suited greatly for every character as with every episode, but it also suffers with a corny script from our main adult characters with the Crusaders. As for the music, eventually I found to be completely forgettable (despite my own strong memory for anything I give more than one viewing or listen to). And don't me wrong with the visuals and design, cause I found it so pleasing that it's practically like the Mario Kart of My Little Pony episodes ever since I first viewed it. But just because something looks so cool doesn't mean you should judge it only by it's cover.
Generally, not all the acting is bad as the Cutie Mark Crusaders were the most mature and Cheerilee's was admirable as well if not quite as powerful as the Crusaders in which, like Bridle Gossip, it seemed that only the kids were intelligent with the exception of her (go figure) in which they weren't blind to how bad the first race entirely turned out. Rainbow Dash's, Rarity's, and Applejack's (which her's has also been done before in Somepony to Watch Over Me) on the other obvious hand suffer heavily from sloppy writing and immature selfish acts like 90% of the episode with a failed and forced moral on the Crusaders from them that most of the time was unbelievably unreasonable with the sisters having a comeuppance that was a little too rushed, not to mention predictable like the rest of the plot. So in the end, The Cart Before the Ponies sadly failed to give its concept a good storyline and just messed up part of the sisters' reputations for their relationships with their sisters, but since he's got at least one more shot at this season before whatever comes of him later on, I'll end this by saying better luck next time, Valentine.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: The Crystalling - Part 1 (2016)
A disappointment compared to the rest of the two-parters
One of My Little Pony's biggest writers Josh Haber hasn't succeeded very well in my eyes when he started with Season 5. In particular though, every episode he's written in Season 4 was admittedly a few steps forward for him as if there was some hope for him later on. The Cutie Re- Mark might be just okay to me for how it's flawed for its rushed plot and redemption of Starlight, but a much bigger disappointment has to be his second two-parter being the Season 6 premiere. And I'm sorry to be offensive, but Haber should be one of the few writers who just aren't needed to write anymore episodes. I will admit that I wanted to be proved wrong with this 9th two-parter, but after one full viewing, I was just instantly unimpressed. And I have no problem explaining why, so, let's get started...
My Little Pony has succeeded very well with all of its two-parters, albeit the mediocre Cutie Re- Mark as I mentioned, but this episode just did not do well for me. Granted, Shining Armor's and Cadence's newborn baby Flurry Heart was pretty adorable, but was sadly overshadowed by both Starlight (who I'm now neutral towards) and her childhood friend Sunbrust. Princess Twilight Sparkle might have proved that you don't need an antagonist to make a great two-parter, or even amazing action sequences as proved by The Cutie Map, both of which were the previous two-part premieres before this episode, but this premiere of this new season unfortunately wasn't proof of either of those two.
Thanks to sloppy execution and overstuffed moments of both Starlight and Sunburst in its narrative, it sadly falls flat as the weakest two-parter and is rather (what I like to call) "badverage". As I said, Flurry Heart may be preciously adorable, but her overpowered alicorn magic didn't really add anything very exciting to the plot. The most interesting thing about the episode had to be Twilight's and Shining Armor's parents finally getting a speaking role at the very end of the second part. I even prefer Re-Mark over this because of a better concept, not to mention The Crystal Empire (that of which is the obvious 3rd season premiere) did this Crystal Empire-centered plot much better.
The episode's visuals and categories in its sound may be the spot on pros of the entire episode, but the rest of the storyline in spite of a few things I liked (like Spike's part with Starlight and how intense it was for the main characters to try and put an end to that immense blizzard) just didn't stand out well enough, especially Starlight's and Sunburst's parts which didn't help at all since Starlight just has not developed well enough with an obvious backstory that's just too rushed. So I won't necessarily call it bad, or one I hate, but compared to the rest of the show's two-parters, I'm just not a fan of it. And I'll end this by saying it's my least "bad" episode, but is fine enough for me to call it "so bad it's good".
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: The Mysterious Mare Do Well (2011)
It's no doubt one of MLP's worst efforts
As most people may know, The Mysterious Mare Do Well has widely been considered to be one of MLP's worst efforts. Having even more experience and criticism under my hat, I now realize more than ever that it's just sloppy, clichéd, and just plain bland. It's not THE worst I've watched in My Little Pony, but it sure is one of them and still holds up in that category today.
Despite writing great ones like Hearth's Warming Eve, Wonderbolts Academy, and even Bats!, it shouldn't be a surprise that the same writer behind Dragon Quest (Merriwether Williams) wrote The Mysterious Mare Do Well before it and it's equally terrible. It might have earned praise among some fans, but the episode undoubtedly made no real attempt to be funny, nor spectacular via the scenes of Mare Do Well (aka the other members of the Mane 6 but Rarity), or any other element of a good episode.
If that's not enough upset you, the moral was forced on Rainbow Dash whereas all of Ponyville turns on her with no true respect whatsoever due to Mare Do Well making her look like a total idiot for her obsession of fame, none of which makes it at least decent either. The message might have been trying to speak to audiences, but it was just bogged down strongly for how bad and upsetting the plot was along with a dull appearance/costume for Mare Do Well. While this wasn't one where the other 5 mane six characters were necessarily hateable, it was one where you'd wanted to give them a super hard slap in the face for how much suffering RD went through from the whole town. Safe to say for me; I have no problem calling it one of my Top Five Worst Episodes of the Show. If there are any small pros it does feature other than the animation and usual spot on voice acting, then I just do not see them clearly.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: The Mane Attraction (2015)
Deserves to be part of MLP's Top Ten Overall Best Episodes
It's really sad to hear that Amy Keating Rogers will be left the crew of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and will no longer writing anymore episodes for the show. So with her final episode of the series The Mane Attraction, let's just see if she pulled it off greatly for a final episode to conclude her library of installments she wrote...
I honestly have to say she pulled it off excellently, meaning that The Mane Attraction is not only one of my favorites of both Rogers and Season 5, but also part of my Top Ten Overall Favorites of the Show. To start off, the plot was just fantastic with one the best backstories of MLP episodes to date (if not the best) involving Applejack and her friend hanging with each other at a camp together, while also showing off one of my favorites songs of MLP:FIM. The writing, coupled with its voice acting has been done greatly with a superb script though the name Applejack gave Coloratura (Rara) sounds a bizarre to me.
Featuring great animation and eye-popping visuals of Coloratura's concert were just awesome for my eyes too so not much else to say about the animation other than its just spot on like every other episode. And what another great job for another episode delivering two messages in one episode and just one like with most others. Choosing between just one moral that was more worth of the episode I have to feel was more for me than the other though both were great has to be Applejack telling her friend of how the real perk of friendship is getting to see your friend being true to their self.
Although the character of Coloratura's manager Svengallop is a very hatable character and does nothing but get on my nerves what with his secretly demandingly and horrible attitude towards Pinkie Pie, the rest of the characters, including Countess Coloratura herself (thanks to Tony award-winning actress Luna Hall) were just incredible too and thanks to her wonderful personality and especially her strongly talented singing, which also makes her song at the very end a beauty that people would (and should) shed a tear for, Lena Hall truly shines in this episode. And the songs were just catchy and fantastic as well. So The Mane Attraction is definitely the textbook example of how to write an awesome final episode by a great writer like AKR, and for very good reasons, you'll surely be satisfied in end after watching it.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: What About Discord? (2015)
(Reduxed Review Take #4) "Twilight Torture Porn; Atrocious Three's A Crowd Rehash"
I can honestly say I hope Friendship Is Magic's crew fired writer Neal Dusedau by now. Everyone has to have at least one small problem with their favorite character. And aside from how unwatchable his betrayal to all of his friends in my favorite episode of all time was, this sadly has to be the other grudge I had with Discord. As every other hater would state it, basically everything minus most of Twilight's portrayal was awful about it. The untold humor, the boring pacing, the sadistically mean-spirited moral, and even Discord himself (he's my overall favorite character of the series). And you wanna know what the worst part about it is? I used to like it just and ONLY because Discord got so much respect from all of Twilight's friends! Now don't get me wrong. That all could have worked, but unfortunately Dusedau wrecked all those opportunities by turning Discord into an unlikable and heartless jerk (alongside all of Twilight's friends), not even bothering to teleport Twilight and us viewers back in time to see just how their three-day weekend went. Even if I was ignoring all of its other flaws, the moral is especially terrible since jealousy (despite that sometimes it can be done right) is one of my most hated feelings! And we all know that Discord's inside jokes would have made sense and made me laugh if he told them a lot more clearly. Not even Twilight's inside joke (that was told clearly) could make me laugh even despite that I changed my views on Discord and Twilight in this disaster nowadays. I will admit the references to Back to the Future and Bob Ross are fascinating (as well as Discord's strange imitation of Applejack), but every other flaw sadly can't be made up for. To best describe this, it's not only an atrocious Twilight torture porn rehash of Three's A Crowd, but also one of those episodes that no longer holds up for me now that I've rejudged my opinion on most episodes. Whereas over the past several times, I've gotten more and more intelligent with my opinion.
All I can say though is thank god for Dungeons & Discords. Cause without it, Discord's reputation and potential for remaining a good character could've very well have been gone and lost throughout Season 6 after just how disastrous this Season 5 installment proved to be.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Crusaders of the Lost Mark (2015)
The best of Season 5 and the CMC, my 2nd favorite by Amy Keating Rogers, and 3rd overall favorite in the whole show...
Magical Mystery Cure was an episode where a character like Twilight Sparkle gets what deservingly came to her; a new form of a regular character starting a new leaf for the rest of the show. So what happens when you do the same exact thing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders? You get Season 5's Crusaders of the Lost Mark by Amy Keating Rogers. Airing on Friendship Is Magic's 5th anniversary as another musical episode like Pinkie Pride (also written by AKR) and Magical Mystery Cure, this episode is honestly the perfect celebration of MLP's 4th generation's 5th anniversary thanks to both its execution and biggest surprise - Its plot twist.
It may seem just like another typical good-quality CMC episode but Crusaders of the Lost Mark delivers the best storyline of both the Crusaders and of Season 5 for redeeming the show's most hated character, heartfelt emotion that the songs provided, fantastic moral of not worrying about your calling in life and just helping others find their's, perfectly spot on pacing, and giving a better plot twist than Magical Mystery Cure - THE CRUSADERS GETTING THEIR CUTIE MARKS!!!! Some might see Diamond Tiara's redemption part as being a bit too rushed but thanks to her scene of standing up to her mother for herself, her part was just fine (for me). The episode might be the show's third musical one after the episode's predecessor and Rogers' Pinkie Pride, but like them, it's just catchy and more emotional than MMC. (Eat your heart out, M.A. Larson!) And as I said, for an episode that aired on Friendship Is Magic's 5th anniversary involving the CMC getting their marks, CotLM celebrated it perfectly with great surprise.
Now I usually consider my most favorite episodes of the show to be the ones where the main characters (of the Mane 6) and my other biggest favorites (like Discord) to rank as the highest of them all. But were they necessary for this episode? Not exactly. But it was nice that the mane characters made minor appearances (whereas Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike were the only ones that had no lines), and that my favorite character was mentioned once (which does give it bonus points for me, though again, it's not necessary).
So the rushing of Diamond's part was the amazingly impressive redemption of herself which I felt was even better than scraping her from the show and to end my opinion on her, I can honestly say I forgive her for her actions now. I can say the same thing for some of the episodes (like One Bad Apple) that she ruined for her old bad-self. It also might be a little too early for me to consider it since it's best to be waiting until the season is over to decide, but this now has to be my new favorite episode of Season 5 (giving even Amending Fences a run for its money), my new favorite of the CMC, my 2nd favorite by Amy Keating Rogers (only behind Pinkie Pride), and my 3rd overall favorite episode (beaten out only by both Pinkie Pride and more importantly Twlight's Kingdom).
There's so much more could I say about this perfect piece of work but I'll save that for my best episodes of the show, but looking past any naive negative comments some people have made about this, and whether or not you're a fan of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and of the show's musical episodes in general, Crusaders of the Lost Mark is a fine achievement over Larson's MMC (from Season 3) and it's guaranteed to be one you won't regret giving a watch.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Live, Die, Repeat...watching it!
With this new decade making numerous Science Fiction films, which at times are either seemingly good but turn out to be unexpectedly bad, like Michael Bay's Transformers films, or ones that some would think would turn out to suck just cause the filmmakers only focus on the concept and action of the film, rather than the movie's actual plot, but turn out to be unexpectedly good. I mean when you look at movies with extremely iconic and eye-catching concepts, like Bay's sequels (as I mentioned) or the prequel Star Wars Trilogy, you'd anticipate them for pure greatness, but instead just turned out to be a mess in the end. But in Edge of Tomorrow's case, it's one where you'd think in the exact opposite way. But when you think about it that way, you'd be wrong. So basically this one just turned out to be an unexpectedly GOOD one.
Edge of Tomorrow's plot centers on Tom Cruise's Major William Cage who's been forced by superiors to fight off an alien race, known as the Mimics, after losing his rank in the United Defense Force (UDF). Although he starts off with no real experience in combat whatsoever, Cage becomes part of a time loop where every time he dies on the next day, he repeatedly starts the whole time-being over in a certain spot at an airport of the UDF's military soldiers on the previous day before he died. And with his ability to learn from his experiences in the next day (before and) after dying numerously to repeat the whole day over and over again, it's now up to him to destroy the alien race of the Mimics, with the help of Emily Blunt's Sergeant Rita Vrataski, as well as many other soldiers in the UDF and help restore his life back to normal by finding and destroying the source to his continuous death loops.
With well-paced action, along with a brilliantly written script and clever originally, Edge of Tomorrow certainly knows how to balance all of these aspects of itself properly. Despite being a blockbuster that wasn't successful at the box office, EoT certainly was by no means not worth watching just cause some might think it would become a disaster for how unoriginal a concept like this might be. But if you look past those thoughts, Edge of Tomorrow offers a gripping storyline what with it's considerably perfect pacing, an awesome (and original) concept of mechanized robotic suits, the cleverly designed aliens, and all of the iconic (and eye-catching) machinery. Think of it like a Mechanized Tom Cruise fighting off aliens version of Groundhog Day, or a combination of Groundhog Day and Independence Day. Even if you're not a fan of Cruise's films, still give this a watch. The end result is not only one of 2014's finest flicks, but arguably Tom Cruise's best film to date.
(Thank you, Liman.)
Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
A Masterpiece!! And, in my eyes, the Best Disney Movie EVER, by far!
Wreck-It Ralph is truly a masterful movie in history. There's absolutely no way it could be horrible. In fact Wreck-It Ralph is the only video game based movie to actually be a "good" one. Other video game based movies (like Super Mario Bros. and Alone in the Dark) are just BAD (Tron and it's remake were just decent). At first it seemed like kind of a joke (cause we all know video game movies SUCK), then when I saw it,
it blew my mind!
Wreck-It Ralph arguably has one of the best story lines in overall history (but I'll get into that a little later), with an incredible and downright funny script and amazing characters. The four main characters were outstanding and completely interesting, even their actors, John C. Reilly, as Wreck-It Ralph; Sarah Silverman, as Vanellope Von Schweetz; Jack McBrayer, as Fix-It Felix; and Jane Lynch, as Sgt. Calhoun. Ralph and Felix were extremely hilarious and had some of the most interesting quotes and lines in the entire movie, if some get cheesy after listening to them a lot. Vanellope was really cute and had quite an attitude for a 9-year old (sometimes being more like an adult or teenager than an actual kid what with her acting and IQ). And Sgt. Calhoun was tough in attitude, but a really charming character in my eyes. Even all of the voice actors were suited perfectly for each and every character, and some of the most notable ones that video gamers might notice from video games, like Sonic the Hedgehog's Roger Craig Smith. And some of the coolest cameos in gaming history, like Street Fighter's Ken, M. Bison, Zangief, and Ryu; Pac-Man & the ghosts; Mortal Kombat's Kano (known as Cyborg in this movie), and even Bowser (yeah, Mario was just TOO expensive
plus the creators just couldn't find anywhere to put Mario into the story, so instead his is just mentioned by Fix-It Felix, as well as Ralph mentioning Lara Croft).
The one noticeable thing about the movie's graphics is that it's like combining the colorful environment of Toy Story 3 and the concepts of other video games in gaming like Fix-It Felix Jr. being based off the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong (Felix can clearly be the Disney version of Mario while Ralph can play a Disney version of Donkey Kong; he's also inspired by other huge VG characters, like Mario arch nemesis Bowser), the first-person shooter genre for Hero's Duty, that also has concept and aspects very similar to the video game franchise Metroid, Sugar Rush's concept is like a cooler and really colorful landscaping of the board game Candy Land, and some other levels involving junk food you'd see in some video games. Though graphics get better and better every single year in computer animation, it's full of amazing detail and color, aside from top-notch animation, and it's one of the best graphical computer animated films, overall (if not as of today).
Wreck-It Ralph's music is fantastic and I happily have to say it's not only my personal favorite, but one of the best ever Disney soundtracks (if not THE best). Songs like "When Can I See You Again?" (Owl City), "Sugar Rush" (AKB48), and even "Wreck-It, Wreck-It Ralph" (Bunker & Garcia) are some of the most memorable creations in music history (And Hero's Duty has an awesome Skrillex song; plus, it's the only I actually song I actually "Like" out of Skrillex), and the soundtrack is, once again, one of the best ever in the history of Disney. Sound effects in the game are suitable for everything in the environment of the movie, even the similar and most notable ones that Disney fans will ever notice entirely, like the ones Ralph finds in the box in a closet in the arcade game Tapper's. When it comes to voice acting, Wreck-It Ralph has one of the best ever in animated movie history (That's it).
The story takes place in Litwak's Arcade were Wreck-It Ralph himself starts to get tired of and complains about his job as a bad guy in his game "Fix-It Felix Jr.". 30 years later he points out and all of his miserable life in his own game at his first ever attendance at the Bad-Anon conference room with most of the other video game bad guys in the arcade (from other cameo arcade games), which is really the Pac-Man ghosts' space in the Pac-Man game, and about that day being the 30th anniversary of his game. Later during the anniversary party in the Nicelanders' building, things go out of control when Ralph accidentally crushes and splatters (or in his case "wrecks") the Nicelanders' anniversary cake during an argument with one of the Nicelanders about being treated nicely, since he's been treated like garbage all his life and having a medal for once to prove himself a good guy to them. Ralph must now set out to find his true destiny and prove himself to be a video game hero in the arcade and a good person (at least once) to the Nicelanders of his game, even if he doesn't have a medal with him to prove it.
Wreck-It Ralph is an animated production that is all about perfection in filming. Sure, it does have a few flaws to it, but none of these ruin the movie at all. Even since the last Toy Story, as well as The Lion King, it can undeniably be called the best animated film of all time, at least to me. It's just what someone would want in a movie involving video games. If you haven't seen it, you have absolutely NO excuse. You gotta watch it. (And a little POA) Don't rent. BUY it!!