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Reviews
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Better than I expected.
No adaptation of A Christmas Carol can compete with the one from 1951, but this one exceeded my expectations. Michael Caine gave a solid performance as Scrooge, and throughout the film the Muppets were very well used and their character choices made perfect sense. A Christmas Carol is never as good as a musical, which this movie was, but the use of musical numbers was just right - not too many and not too few.
A Christmas Carol: Scrooge's Ghostly Tale (2006)
Bad Adaptation
A Christmas Carol is my favourite Christmas story, so it always disappoints me to see a bad adaptation like this one. It was bad primarily because ...
1.) Too many unanswered questions. These include why Scrooge's dad was so cold, how Scrooge became as mean as he was, and how Tiny Tim turned into a scrooge instead of dying like in the real story. And that's only three of them.
2.) Too many unnecessary moments that didn't happen in the real story. These include Scrooge seeing Marley at the end of his time with the Ghost of Christmas Future, and after becoming nice. Neither of those moments added value and they both had me asking, "Why'd they include this?".
I'm pretty sure this adaptation was for kids and early teens. I first saw this movie at 13 and even then I didn't find it memorable. So I would recommend staying away from it.
Let It Shine (2012)
A good change on Disney's part, but too predictable
I liked how this movie was different by making all the main characters black. That was a good change considering how many Disney Channel shows and movies starred white characters.
However, other than that the plot was too predictable. When you watch the trailer and/or the first part of the film you'll immediately know how it ends. Because of that, I was barely able to watch the whole movie.
Arrow: Star City 2040 (2019)
The most pointless episode in the show.
First of all, the flash forwards have been unnecessary from the beginning of the season. The flashbacks from past seasons always led up to something in the present, but the forwards don't lead to anything in the main part of the show.
Now they've decided to focus an entire episode on what happens in 2040, which again, doesn't lead to anything. "Star City 2040" was not only the show's biggest filler, but the perfect example of how the writers are out of ideas and why the Arrowverse seasons need to shorten.
Legends of Tomorrow: Séance and Sensibility (2019)
The Flash musical crossover was bad enough.
By now I thought the Arrowverse would have learned three important lessons.
1.) Musicals in these shows are a terrible idea - like Flash episode 3x17.
2.) Episodes that go into too much depth about love and romance are hard to watch - like Arrow episode 4x16, Supergirl 2x13, and Flash 3x17.
3.) Musical and romance episodes are nothing but fillers and examples of why the seasons need to shorten.
This episode of Legends was not only a filler, but hardly watchable because of the Arrowverse ignored the three above lessons. They really need to improve this season because before this episode it was already boring. Now it's a lot worse.
Legends of Tomorrow: Legends of To-Meow-Meow (2018)
Since when does the Arrowverse let fillers be mid-season finales?
This episode had some funny moments, but was clearly just a filler that had no meaning. Why? Because it was just John trying to fix the timeline that he carelessly broke, which was a waste of an episode. It was like the beginning of Flash Season 3 but not as watchable.
Titans (2018)
Awful live action version of Teen Titans
All it took were three episodes for me to stop watching this show because it was such a disappointing version of one of my childhood cartoons, Teen Titans.
The story felt slow and the ideas for events were dragging on too long. While 11 episodes is typically a short season, this story could have been told in less than 10 because there were plenty of parts that weren't needed.
Compared to Teen Titans, there were bad portrayals of the main characters and no one stood out in a good way like in the Arrowverse shows.
Basically, if Teen Titans was one of your favourite childhood shows, watching this show will make you say #ChildhoodRuined.
The Flash: Duet (2017)
Worst and most pointless episode ever.
This season of The Flash was hands down the worst for so many reasons. Though I liked the four episodes that came before Duet, so I thought the season was finally improving. Then Duet happened.
First, it was a filler that had no meaning for the Flash or Supergirl. It was the perfect example of why 23 episodes is too long for a season. To me it looked like the creators ran out of ideas and thought, "Hey, Grant and Melissa used to be on Glee, so let's do a musical."
Next, in general everything that happened in the musical made me think, "Why am I watching this?". I still don't get how I was able to watch the whole thing.
Finally, the worst thing about this episode was why the musical was happening. I won't spoil it but basically even if you like musicals you'll find this episode pointless.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Awesome but didn't meet all standards.
I enjoyed this movie. There were great acting, action, effects and lines. But putting that many heroes into one movie didn't quite work as well as anticipated. It wasn't much of a story because for most of the film it was just the heroes teaming up against Thanos and his armies.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Felt more like a fourth Iron Man movie
I enjoyed this movie, and as I expected from most movies in the Avengers series, there were great acting, action and performances. But the idea for the story kind of felt like a filler in the series, and like it should have been named "Iron Man 4".
Passengers (2016)
J-Law and Chris Pratt deserved better
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt's performances were great. As were the effects and graphics. But besides those, this wasn't the best idea for a movie. I found the story boring and predictable and there were parts where something different should have happened. So overall, a love story starring Pratt and J-Law is a good idea, but this wasn't the right movie for it.
Suits: Good-Bye (2018)
Good but not the best ending.
I was really excited for this episode because I was looking forward to see Harvey fight for Jessica, everyone else fight for the firm, and of course, Mike and Rachel's wedding.
To me the two fights in court happened and ended in the best ways possible. I especially liked Mike's last battle in court because it showed how far he'd come throughout the series.
Unfortunately I was kind of disappointed by the ending. First, the way Jessica's situation was left was not a good cliffhanger - assuming it was a cliffhanger. Then Mike and Rachel's exit from the show happened way too fast. After the wedding there should have been a scene of them leaving the firm.
Gekijouban Yuugiou: Chouyuugou! Jikuu o koeta kizuna (2010)
Didn't live up to the hype.
The original Yu-Gi-Oh! was one of my favourite childhood shows. Because of that, I continued watching it as is went on to GX an 5D's. So when I first found out about this movie I was really excited. My friends and I were looking forward to seeing Yugi, Jaden and Yusei team up against the bad guy. But when I finally saw it, I was pretty disappointed.
First, the movie was way too short. It basically dove directly into Yusei chasing the bad guy and quickly teaming up with Jaden and Yugi, and then the big duel of the film. The movie should have been 80 to 90 minutes. That way the story would have had time for development, and the characters from the three generations would have spent more time together. Before I watched the movie, these were the two things I expected the most, so I ended up feeling let down.
Second, the duel against the villain was also too short. You would think that a duel with the three protagonists teamed up would be just long enough for people to enjoy, but it wasn't. It should have been a fair amount of turns, like when Yugi and Kaiba teamed up against Dartz in the orginal Yu-Gi-Oh!. That way we would have seen a lot more famous cards we remember from our childhood.
So for those two reasons, I wouldn't recommend this movie.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Good sequel, but made some very big mistakes.
Overall, I thought The Last Jedi was better than The Force Awakens. There were three things I particularly liked.
1.) Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver's performances as Rey and Kylo Ren. It was a lot more enjoyable than in The Force Awakens because they both portrayed characters who were becoming stronger and deciding their own fate.
2.) Big plot twist. When we least expected it, Kylo Ren killed Snoke. At first it looked like Rey had gotten through to him when he was really taking the First Order for himself. This was a nice surprise that made Anakin Skywalker becoming Vader in Revenge of the Sith look lame.
3.) Diverse cast. This trend in Star Wars movies began in Rogue One and continued in this movie with Finn and Rose's relationship; a black man with an Asian woman. It's great to see that the franchise is becoming more diverse than in the originals and prequels.
This movie had so much potential, but ended up making some big mistakes.
1.) Luke Skywalker's situation. After Ben Solo became Kylo Ren, Luke felt guilty, so he disappeared on an island to give up and die. He turned into a person no one liked, and who lost everyone's respect including mine.
2.) Snoke. Before he was killed off, we didn't get almost any information of who he was, how he knew Luke and seduced Kylo Ren, etc. His death left us with questions that will never be answered.
3.) Luke vs Kylo Ren. This wasn't even a duel. It was two family members doing dramatic poses to try to intimidate each other. Plus it was very unclear how Luke could have used the force to create a ghost copy of himself, and how he could have died from it.
I hope the franchise learns from these mistakes so Episode 9 can be better.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Absolute Masterpiece!!
This was one of the most well made movies I'd ever seen, and it totally deserved the Oscar wins and nominations it earned! If you want to see a good story with superior cinematography, visual effects and production design, then this is the film for you!
Yûgiô: 5D's (2008)
Better than GX but not as good as the original.
Overall, 5D's was fun to watch, but no spinoff Yu-Gi-Oh! series will ever be as good as the original. It had some really good ideas regarding characters and the story. It also had some room for improvement, but nothing too serious.
What I liked:
I really liked the idea of the story. In the future, Domino City has been destroyed, the way it was rebuilt separated the rich from the poor. The less fortunate, including the protagonist, Yusei, are treated very unfairly by the rich. Yusei's journey starts off as taking back what his old friend took from him, but then turns into a mission to save the world, making him more of a hero along the way. This plot was a big improvement over GX, which was very basic.
5D's also had a lot more memorable duels than GX did. Some of which ended up surprising us. Sometimes it felt like the supporting characters would lose and then Yusei would have to finish the job, but in the end they managed to get the job done.
The show's biggest improvement over GX was that a lot of characters other than Yusei got a fair amount of spotlight. This was GX's biggest problem because Jaden dueled too many more times than the supporting characters. So it was nice to see the supporting characters like Jack, Crow and Akiza in action, especially because they had some really entertaining duels.
What I didn't like:
5D's also focused on a new way of dueling: turbo duels, which was dueling on special motorcycles called duel runners. The show first aired when I was 13. At that time turbo duels seemed like a cool idea, but looking back at it, not so much. If turbo duels happened in real life, there would probably be a lot of car/motorcycle accidents caused by distracted driving.
Although the story was good, it really felt like there was more development in the supporting characters than Yusei. Jack went from being selfish to selfless, Akiza learned to control her psychic powers and challenged herself by becoming a turbo duelist, etc. Besides Yusei becoming more of a hero and saving the day, there wasn't much else to his story.
Lastly, the outcomes of Yusei's duels were pretty predictable. The only time they showed him losing was in a flashback, which didn't really count. Showing the protagonist losing once in a while always helps them develop as characters, which is why in the original and GX, Yugi and Jaden lost a few times.
In conclusion, as I said before I enjoyed 5D's. However, because of the room for improvement mentioned above, the only version of Yu-Gi-Oh! I would ever recommend is the original.