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Reviews
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Omashu (2024)
Not a good episode
Why bringing Azula so soon ? And the mashing of at least 3 episodes in one? Come on Netflix! You were doing ok on the first 2 episodes, but this episode, which was supposed to be the intro of the great Bumi, ended up being quite boring and slow. Disjointed stories that don't add up. Jett was already a boring character in the toon, here he goes further lol.
The best part of the episode is the Aang VS Zuko part.
Sadly I am giving it a low rate. I am not blaming here the actors but the writers dropped the ball really bad here.
I am hoping the next chapter is actually better, We'll see, looking forward to episode 4.
The Creator (2023)
"The Creator", a very good movie that people aren't watching
Well, my criteria are obviously mine, and it may not fit with yours or other people's. From the outset I will tell you that since I was a kid I have been a fan of Sci-Fi, and I know that this genre is very vast and rich, since its subgenres can be very diverse, from "Space Opera" (for example Star Wars) to Science Fantasy or Cyberpunk, and pointing this out is important since among SF fans there is a lot of controversy about whether something "is or is not" SF. I love almost all subgenres, but Space Opera is very close to me since I was a kid, but I also appreciate the more purist "Techno Fantasy" of Arthur C Clarke and Asimov since they were the first books I read.
Leaving my preferences on the side, I can tell you that "The Creator" borrows a lot from Asimov's techno fantasy (like "I Robot"), giving it a more updated tint with the fear that exists today to the AI, which has already been addressed before in stories like Terminator, but in this case wrapping it in the controversy it would have if a country wanted to act as "policeman of the world" to make sure that this "threat" is controlled in every country, regardless of what other governments decide, and of course very realistically the country that usually does that is the United States. Many say that this script has "avatar" overtones, but I wouldn't say that, I would say that it has "District 9" overtones rather. And if the work borrows from these stories and mixes it a bit with a movie with scenes of the "Vietnam War", to my taste it does it in a clever and courageous way (when its consumer audience is mainly the United States, it is brave to represent the United States as the antagonist).
Cinematically, the world and its designs are phenomenal, and leaves one wanting to see more. The performances are solid and the characters have a complex arc and background. Antagonists are not just antagonists who want to be doing evil, in their eyes they are correcting something wrong and behind them they carry a lot of pain (as well as the people who supported the invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11 and bought the story that Afghanistan and Iran were behind it).
Blue Beetle (2023)
Had potential, but excess of humor downed it
I liked Xolo as the Beetle. The actual Beetle parts were good. Not the usual soundtrack for DC movies, but a good one. I also liked the connection with the "original" beetle.
Sadly the whole "Latin humor" was too much, and the "familia" stuff was distracting and exaggerated. As a Mexican, I understood all the references, and there were several moments I laughed at the jokes, but got to the point it was just plain ridiculous. Also, the whole thing of the "abuela" acting as a "revolutionary" it's very anachronistic and grotesque.
I like the idea of a "Hispanic" hero in the DC Comics universe , but I hope they realize they over did it.
Yes the Beetle character in the comics was funny, yes the funny gist worked with Shazam, but in this movie it just went too far. If this is how the Gunn universe is starting... I am not very excited about it.
Dexter: New Blood (2021)
Save yourself th disappointment, watch the first 9 episodes
Maybe I was one of the few that found the end of the last series good enough. It was left with the promise that we could have more Dexter in the future at best, and at worst that you could close the story of our favorite vigilante/serial killer any way your imagination wanted to.
This ten-years after sequel, was interesting, it had a good premise and a good promise. Until chapter 10.
Michael C Hall delivers another great Dexter performance, so good that it is ridiculous how the writers chose to end the series. Dexter dies in the most silly, anti-climatic, non reasonable manner. It's like if the writers got "Game of Thrones" disease at the end, and they decided to lazily destroy the character, and his son's character executions. It is not really that Dexter dies, it is how lame'o way to die, and it is not the fact that his son killed him, it is the unconvincing buildup to get there. Episode 10 should be scratched and re-done. Everyone's great work was destroyed in 15 minutes.
In an ending note, what the heck was that Batista's cameo? That last chapter Batista's interaction is barely a cameo.
Antlers (2021)
Fantastic movie of a frightening, yet little used mythical monster
(No spoilers) I love classic horror, monsters and ghosts. This movie has a fabulous ambient in rural Oregon, beautiful and spooky. The characters have enough development to give you a good idea of who they are and their motivations, but the story keeps it short enough to keep your attention focused in the monster.
(Spoilers) A chilling story about a Wendigo infecting the life of a rural town that has fall in dire straits. It is not only a horror story, but in itself a cautionary tale of human degradation.
Little Evil (2017)
Evil Fun with heart...
I really don't know what people expects of a comedy other than some healthy laughs. Done if the reviews seem to expect this to be a remake of "The Omen", for Satan's sake, it's a parody.
And a good one, because while it obviously makes fun of "antichrist" movies cliches, it does develop a decent heart warming story. So I rate it for what it is, not for what it is not.
No Time to Die (2021)
"James Bond will return." Will he really?
Quick review: A close to the Bond story, or at least Craig's tenure as Bond. If this was "The Bourne Legacy", or other spy movie I'd give it a 4.5 stars, but this being a James Bond movie, it was too dramatic, too complex and somewhat boring at times. But I guess the aim was closing the Bond story in a fitting manner for a millennial focused world. I wonder what all time Bond fans think, not the casual moviegoers.
Going deeper (spoiler alert):
The tenure of Craig has been filled with ups and downs. From an unconventional retelling of Bond's origins in Casino Royale, and a deeper exploration of Bond's past in Skyfall, to complex quite slow dramas like Quantum of Solace and Specter, so I guess it's fitting that the fifth and final incarnation of Bond by Craig reflected that ferris wheel 🎡 of emotions. The first half of the movie is very epic, revisiting Bond's biggest regret and reprising Craig's Bond desire for retirement - this Bond tried to retire from service 4 times in 5 movies - and bringing some old characters to reprise their roles one more time. The scenes in Cuba with Ana de Armas were just great, and it is a shame she has very little screen time, Ana's beauty and wit makes her perfect for a "traditional" main Bond girl. The movie aims at being a total closure to the James Bond story, killing allies, wiping out Specter and his main nemesis, and transforming the traditional carefree Bond in anguish father, trying to save his daughter and her mother, and sacrificing himself not because he couldn't save himself, in a maybe quite last minute Hail Mary Bond's style, but because he could never be close to the woman he loves and his daughter. If this had been a Connery, Moore, Brosnan or maybe even Dalton type of James Bond, he could have gone and save himself sacrifice been with his family. But no this is Craig's Bond, buoy for a post 9/11 world, and he had to ultimately die in the screen.
So what now? Other generations watched and accepted a transition of the Bond character from one actor to the next one. In Craig's case we saw and accepted a "reboot" of Bond. Bond had been a traditional male hero and fantasy role. The wise guy, who got the women, the cars, the gadgets and ultimately scaled death defeating the bad guys. Bond at his core was a flawed creature, a functional alcoholic and remorseless killer, created in a Cold War era. But in a world where many accused this character of chauvinism, and bad male fantasy, maybe the aim is to finally destroy James Bond. The movie spent a lot of effort telling us 007 y just a number, and towards the end at credits, we can read the traditional "James Bond will return". But what kind of 007? Will the audience accept (male/female) a character far removed from what James Bond has been?
Army of the Dead (2021)
What a waste!
Good actors, great visual effects, first half of the movie promising a more intelligent plot, and all of the sudden the movie goes down the drain.
The daughter, Kate, goes from a driven character to a stupid brat.
The idea of killing all of the heroes it's not shocking, it's stupid when they die not doing something heroic, but for wasting time saying stupid things when they know their lives are in danger, and they behave like idiots.
Then, I have to say that the totally stupid ending, with Vanderohe walking completely in scattered of the vault, walking through a damn radioactive zone, and flying to Mexico City like nothing, and then converting into a zombie in at least 24 hours after being bitten, when usually they converted in seconds, is totally out of place. I am not sure if by then, Zack wanted us to understand that this movie was supposed to be a parody of zombies movies.
You can spend your precious time doing something better, believe me.