Hmm, surprisingly I haven’t watched too much stuff this month.
Eigasai
I watched a Japanese film at Eigasai in UP Diliman for the first time ever, upon the invite of some friends. We saw One Cut of the Dead a comedy zombie film. It was great and it was hilarious, although you must make sure not to lose patience with the first thirty minutes. I went in blind not knowing anything about it other than “Japanese comedy zombie movie”, so you should too! Easily one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in recent years.
Young Justice
Back half of Young Justice Outsiders finished this week. I’ve honestly been a bit whelmed for this half of the season as I feel like they’re all over the place and there’s too many plot threads going on at once. Still an enjoyable watch especially for DC fans of course. The thing about having such a large cast is that it’s difficult to focus on any one of them too long, but this season was all about Halo, Geoforce and Cyborg so the arc endings pretty much revolved around those three. It feels like so many status quo changes happened in the last episode though, felt a bit crammed. Also, some spoilers:
(Spoilers)
- I feel like the Light declaring at the end that their gains were sufficient vs Luthor’s original plans seemed ridiculous (i.e. controlling Markovia vs controlling and registering all superhumans). They already had one puppet nation under their control (Queen Bee is right there!) and they’re literally planning to go against Darkseid, how does controlling Markovia help? Feels like a very post-facto justification.
- I did like that they chose not to complete their Judas Contract re-telling in a similar manner and we get a “redeemed” Tara to contrast with the “fallen” Geoforce
Fleabag
I didn’t know anything about this Amazon Prime series going in either, only that it was a comedy and it was well-reviewed. I did enjoy watching it, although it’s more of a tragic comedy than anything else. Basically about how people deal with absurdly difficult situations in their daily life. The story is well-told, but I’m not sure I get all the hype.
The Boys
Another Amazon Prime series. I hadn’t read the source material, and I was a bit turned off by the first episode, but I powered through. I knew it would be dark going in, and possibly gratuitous in terms of the sex and violence at some points, so not many surprises there. The plot seems in my head to be “What if superheroes were driven by a greedy corporation”, which certainly doesn’t help address my misgivings about capitalism. The plot also reminds me of Sanderson’s book Reckoners, which was also a story about a resistance trying to oppose a superhuman regime led by a Superman-like figure.
Looking over the Wikipedia entry for the comic book series, it seems the TV show had some significant divergences, which is understandable, so I don’t think I’ll be seeking out the comic books. The series was enjoyable enough to binge over a few days, although some parts are a bit predictable. I did like the treatment given to Hugh and Annie/Starlight. The cast is pretty good too, I almost didn’t recognize Simon Pegg (because it was such a serious role) and Elisabeth Shue (because…I haven’t seen her in anything in a while?). Oh and Gus Fring is also here!
I think I ended up enjoying the season overall, as it tackles a lot of issues I relate with. I will probably be watching Season 2.
Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling
Netflix tried to bring Rocko into the modern era, although strangely none of the characters have aged at all. Although they are cartoon characters so I guess that makes sense? The special is about as ridiculous as the old cartoon was, unsurprisingly, although it does try to convey a message about how change is an inevitable part of life. I did like that they had a reference to my favorite episode, R-E-C-Y-C-L-E Recycle~
More next month! Maybe!
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