Posts categorized “Reviews”

People are strange…

Even though the first two seasons dealt with psionic abilities, extra-dimensional monsters and the like, they still felt basically grounded. It wasn’t hard to believe that Hawkins was a real place and these were real, three-dimensional people inhabiting it. More… »

Move. Away. From the jams. (Yam jam!)

Aladdin (2019): ★★½

Directed by Guy Ritchie

Y’know what? It’s not bad! It’s actually pretty enjoyable. But let’s get the elephant outta the room right off the top: How is Will Smith’s version of Genie? It’s actually pretty good! More… »

He’s baa-aaaaack…

Avengers: Endgame (2019) ★★★½

Directed by the Russo Bros.

Endgame is good! I don’t think it works quite as successfully as Infinity War did, and there are a couple of very poorly-done things, but for the most part it’s exciting, frikkin’ hilarious, and satisfying. Spoilers ahoy! More… »

Avery & Papa Play & Review Yoshi’s Crafted World…

It’s lovely to have a daughter who is just coming into the age to be able to really play video games. Avery & I have several we enjoy a lot, but her favorite used to be Yoshi’s Woolly World for the Wii U. So we were very much looking forward to getting the new Yoshi’s Crafted World for our Switch. And I got it for my birthday last week!

What does Avery think of this new Yoshi game? Watch some gameplay and our video review right here:

More… »

I feel merely Marvelous…

Captain Marvel (2019): ★★★

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck

“Hey, this is fun!”

That seems to be the overriding sentiment throughout Cap’m Marvel. Everybody in the film seems to be having fun. And not just the actors (though that does seem to be the case, too), but the characters. Brie Larson as our amnesiac heroine (who is called “Vers” for most of the movie) is witty and quick with a quip, and seems to have a wry smile curling the corner of her mouth throughout most of the movie. Sam Jackson’s Nick Fury is just a bit more exasperated at times with all this alien business, but he seems pretty darned excited by it all, too. More… »

“I am Adora, He-Man’s twin sister, and defender of the Crystal Castle. This is Spirit, my beloved steed. Fabulous secrets were revealed to me, the day I held aloft my sword and said, ‘For The Honor Of Greyskull! I AM SHE-RA!!!'”

This new She-Ra show is absolutely brilliant at showing the difficulties of navigating interpersonal relationships. It is, however, still firmly ensconsed in a younger “Saturday morning” genre of shows. More… »

Does whatever a Spider-Man… Men… Woman… Pig… can…

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018): ★★★½

Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, & Rodney Rothman

There hasn’t been a Spider-Man Movie (that I’ve seen) that quite so successfully encapsulates the sheer exuberance of swinging through a city as Spider-Man.

Much of that must be credited to the wondrous visual style of SMItSV. Most animated movies nowadays have one visual style, and the whole movie looks like it. But SMItSV has a very idiosyncratic and expressive range of styles; individual scenes are animated with different effects depending on the need of the scene. And indeed, later in the movie when a handful of characters are introduced, they’re all animated in their own individual style in addition to the style of the movie. It’s simply amazing to look at, and extreme care was taken to make sure each shot in the movie looks as gorgeous as possible. More… »