Reviews

Starting with the pro's - art style, voice acting, sound production.

Now the Cons, storyline and characters, very odd and just no build up or character building, I can only remember Fujimaki (main character) the rest were small foot notes, the storyline itself is weak, never really heading anywhere at all, occasionally mentioning a couple of tournaments but they draw in excitement but then let you down as it is just a drab affair, it never really draws in any excitement when they start.

Finally the animation, while some parts are brilliant, gorgeous to look at, the fighting animation is beyond poor, it reminded me of something I couldn't quite put my finger on...then it came to me - Prince of Persia on the Amiga, sounds odd but it's clunky, slow and turns off the polish that the rest of the show had, a couple of close up shots look fantastic but it follows a poor animation punch that looks like a slow and weak attack to the cut scene that ripples the opponents face, it just doesn't make sense between the two animations.

Overall the series is forgettable, a great premise to give Baki, Kengan & even Record of Ragnorok a run for it's money, but it falls so short off the mark that it can't even be classed in the same genre, won't be disappointed if season 2 is scrapped.

4/10 - Can't say I didn't enjoy the movie, I can't say the casting was paticularly bad or that direction was of poor quality, the reason for a lower than average score is because of the movie and what it attempts.

It seemed to try so much, comedy, martial arts, heart felt, struggles, tackling adversities but it ended up failing on all.

Genuinely If they'd have taken out the poor comedy or the attempts of heart felt moments, it may have been a much better movie.

The lead without fully explaining why was a coward, it never explained how he went from a revered martial artist to a middle aged, out of shape, unreliable coward.

If they went serious with this movie (karate kid style) they obviously had the talent and fight direction, they had the cast, they even had the story line for a comeback path but they again tried so much and it felt like an unsatisfactory mess that just ended.

Might have even been great for kids but with clear racism (the n-word) being shouted out, it doesn't even qualify really for that.

All in all, a frankenstien-esq movie that never realised what it was, so it tried everything and achieved next to nothing.

First off the animation as expected was incredible, definitely didn't short change on making this look incredible, the two biggest reasons where it went wrong for Kung Fu Panda 4 were:

1) Lack of passion by the writers, they had the exact same team of writers as previous movies & yet by the end it whimpered across the finish line, the 3 previous movies were spectacular endings, this was like an abrupt end with no major epiphany added for a fireworks finish.

2) The cast, was this a cost cutting exercise not bringing in the furious 5 voice actors? Or was this a strange attempt to make Kung Fu Panda relevant for today's audiences? Regardless the cast was wrong and without the 5 it didn't feel like Kung Fu panda, it felt like one of those weird spin offs they make at Christmas.

They could have done so much more with this movie, they could have created a bad guy in the shadow realm, they could have reused Tai Lung or a corrupted master Oogway, they could have made the main protagonist even better but evidently they cashed in and marketed the hell out of it.

A real shame as I think that's it for the magic of Kung Fu Panda, if they make more...they've already made their bed with the latest and weakest addition.

Some bizarre reasons stated for people not liking this series, his southern accent?...nothing wrong with it and quite easy to understand, boring writing?...we watching the same series here? Similarities to a certain ex president?...well those particular voters are nothing but petty but determined.

The series itself is fully entertaining & while their are similarities to a certain ex president...I can't help but want him to pull through, it's really odd, Jeff's character is everything we should hate, ruthless, entitled, almost sociopathic and yet I found myself rooting for him.

The other reason which is painful in today's society for low scores, is the highlighted subject of racial discrimination...so we've got a perfect mix for certain voters to hug their 'Merica flags while crying over a fictional series.

The original road house felt like a place that could have easily existed, yes it was cliche with the escalation to a boss that rivalled Dalton but it was smooth.

This adaption is like Road House for teenagers, you had Jake Gyllenhaal leading & instead of tapping into his undeniable talent and backing him up with rivalled talent, they hired a whole host of amateurs, a washed up UFC fighter, a couple of controversial cult TikTok dancers & an embarrassing script.

Gyllenhaal did what he could but the movie felt like it was a network and favour event, agents calling in favours, casting agents more concerned with collaborations than hiring talent fit for the Characters.

Nothing stuck out in this movie, the only thing that was worse than the script, the awful castings, the glaring networking hires...was the cgi, it was like a bad video game.

Going to watch the original now to try to erase this awful memory of a parody.

Has everyone not seen The movie version? The snappy dialogue? The sharp script? The top tier acting and cast? That was the bar in which this is being judged upon.

The acting is surprising good, I can't knock some half decent performances, the issue really is the script itself, The movie focused on introducing the different factions, all unique, all memorable, all likable and made them intertwine by the closing credits. They all had their quirks, strengths, weaknesses, personalities & that's why the movie was so intelligently made.

This follows, more so, a bunch of privileged posh people trying to negotiate millions of pounds as if it was a few quid, it's slow, it's rigid, it's forgettable, it's like a false version and no amount of profanities thrown in to emulate the movie is going to cut it.

For those rating so highly, I suggest you watch the original movie once more, remind yourself what the premise was and how well it portrayed it, come back & re-evaluate the rating for this poor, sell out imitation.

First off, I'm a super-fan of Gervais, listening over and over to his old XFM show through YouTube videos, watched all his TV series, movies and stand up's, loved the Golden Globe host gigs he did but this...

...it's tired & smacks of not true Gervais material, it feels like he's pandering to a knuckledragging crowd with the most basic of material, he reminds me of a class clown that needs the attention of the wrong crowd but deep down he's a decent bloke.

To see Gervais sell out and punch down consistently on basic minorities is a sad sight to see, it's a comedians easy way out path that sells to the awful side of humanity.

At the moment Gervais is slowly becoming this generations Roy Chubby Brown while holding up his hands screaming "Its only a joke! I'm acting!"...the issue is, Jokes are meant to be funny & real comedy punches up from society, let's hope he reinvents and comes back stronger than before.

Like so many others, this really did look like it was going to be a special edition in the world of Action movies, such great talent hired, a huge budget and the director who has pedigree...what went wrong?

I honestly believe out of everything it was the fight scenes, why can no one fight well? No one can shoot well? Even the most skilled took multiple hits & the only one that landed an impressive shot was the robot.

When you put this next to the script? It can be wrapped up in minutes as it's a generic premise that's been done hundreds of times.

The effects were the best thing about the movie, clearly see where most of the money got spent but effects don't save a poor movie.

It's odd, it feels, looks & sounds like Groening but it's like the cheeky undertones that Simpsons & Futurama have aren't in this.

Forced scenario's to keep a volatile young generation happy & in doing so the show is disjointed, it didn't need pandering, this could have hit the highs of Groenings other projects but it seems he brought in a team of Oat milk Latte drinkers to make sure boxes were ticked.

Shame, I can see the raw foundation for a great show & yet pandering put this show well below expectations.

Something to watch still but when it's up against the likes of Archer, Paradise PD & various other animations on the Netflix platform, this show sticks out like a sore thumb in a bad way.

If there was nothing else like this it might have been treated as an original concept, a pleasent teenage piece of niceties, a high budget but with shallow but smooth storyline...the issue is not only has this concept been done, its been done recently, House of Dragons circled around the same storyline when the princess had come of age to be wed, the fact it's been copied but not only poorly and with a bad attempt at humour.

It can't be taken seriously as a film, its poorly written, the acting isn't bad but the script let's all those involved in the project down, a shame when the calibre of acting talent was this high.

So the first outing for the studio Violation on next gen consoles, this is about to get wild! (I thought) inventive, crazy & pushes the limit on destruction, gameplay & script...except they made a game about 4 nerdy students who start a gang, the worst part about the game though I not the rehashed 10 year old ideas, it's not the poor script, it's not even the gameplay that's repetitive, what really gives the game away that Violation didn't really put effort in is the graphics, the rendering is abysmal, the graphics look straight from a 360, they've hopped on to a new era of powerful consoles with a bag of old tat.

It is a generic American series, some decent twists in the storyline, the fight scenes are quite odd always focusing on counter punches, if someone throws the first punch its getting blocked.

The sex scenes are wildly unnecessary, frequent and dare say it almost feels like they're superglued in and don't really fit into the whe series, the aim of perking up a series but it didn't need it, should have trusted the script and show. Now we're verging on Bridgeton tactics and that was awful.

When did Disney lose its ability to entertain adults and children in the same show? This is so cheesy it makes Stilton look mild, it's like day time Nickelodean.

The whole script is laughable, it's direction amateur, the acting so ridiculously over the top.

Disney is creating more misses than hits...weirdly since Disney+ started.

Let's start with the positives, as always the movie was as polished as any other Marvel movie with a ridiculously high budget.

The negatives, firstly it was drenched in P. C garbage, the lesbian parents (didn't need stating but just to throw that in with nothing) the Mexican new hero (again not an issue but so little was focused on her that there was no backstop, just a frail Mexican who didn't know her powers) the multiverse illuminati (got to have women and black alternatives in which they nerfed them completely (1st avenger!? And black captain Marvel!?) & of course the odd Tim Burton-esq sound in every scene.

The movie in other words was a mess...but not a good multiverse mess but in a virtual signalling mess in which they cast & then completely destroyed & weakened the alternatives. Very disappointing.

There's two reasons why this movie is rated low, 1st is the appearance of bats, DC fanboys losing their minds that its not the worlds greatest detective flicking a switch, the 2nd is the universal hatred of Leto for no reason.

Not an Oscar winning movie but certainly higher than the average rating its got.

Another vain Essex product funded by halfwits with a few quid but lacking an actual education.

It's laughable the pretend gangstas and drug dealers playing the big I am.

I actually got the downfall of this movie wrong, I got what I thought the rating of this movie would be wrong (average but went in with an open mind) I honestly believed Patterson would be the poison to an otherwise ok movie but after renting it...it's not Patterson, no he's not particularly good but Pattersons acting skills (while I don't rate him anyway) are better than this & that's all down to the direction and dialogue, the whole movie is takes place during a flood (or with at least the amount of rain we see) it's extraordinarily long (directors shot at trying to be Nolan) the cast are ex comedy and young guns which again is another nail in the coffin, the shots are 95% close up shots which unlike Nolans (which gave a hugely atmospheric feel) this feels like a box within a box, I can confirm this portrayal is 100% overhyped by the new generation that want their Batman to be best...it's not by a long shot, but it's biggest crime against the best comic book character? The dialogue, its awful, truly awful and hides behind excuses of "It's 2nd yeah batman though!!"

It was fantastic for the first 2 seasons, well written, brilliantly acted and amazing direction...that being said the 3rd episode was atrocious, clearly pandering for the urban youth, the current London setting, the adulterous storyline, it was like a really bad episode of black mirror, the fearless youth "not scared of anything" ridiculous notion, it could have been infinitely more, they could have cut the nonsense youth side cast out completely and focused on Draculas journey in the new world, a real shame as while it takes up about 20% of the 3rd episode its knocked its score from a solid 9 to an average 5.

Alan Ritchson just isn't a good fit for Reacher, nothing is portrayed as it was in the books apart from his size, the reserved & confidence bravado he had is gone, this Reacher is almost smug but just an odd mix of being incredibly intelligent & a frat boy rolled into one, there's absolutely no intensity in the character, there's no dark past that he usually keeps close to his chest but fuels Reacher, all in all it was just an Americanised TV show that's been overhyped.

The acting talent they had at their disposal & this is what they came up with?? Absolutely awful, the script was ridiculously bland along with just an odd aura of trying too hard.

Just can't believe my subscription paid for this.

The series has so much to brag about, it's direction is flawless, the acting superb, the sets mind blowing even the script is brilliant & thought provoking but sadly what let's it down is it's structure & it's ability to move the story along, it's almost like if the series was an actual human being it would be smug, full of itself & it would love the sound of it's own voice.

The reason the series has comparisons to art is because it carries the same crowd, art critics would heap praise on a painted white canvas making up various odd analogies to boost their own ego & stature, unfortunately looking at the ratings for this it follows the same pattern, don't get me wrong it's insanely beautiful but each scene drags its beautiful heels for the sake of dragging it's heels, the story never really moves along & when it does, it's at a snails pace, some episodes just focus on a singular bizarre aspect (like the multiverse) in which they go into insanely high detail but it never really says anything...much like so many of the episodes.

A shame because if this did move with a gripping storyline, it would have been unstoppable, alas this person "didn't get it" not because of a lack of intelligence but because I was just honest.

What Turning Red did was shine a spotlight on the worlds short comings when it comes to girls 'coming of age' the exploitation of children going through puberty, fake, autotune models singing provocatively to make young girls & boys buy into what ever trash they pump out, it's a sad shame this was done to put the exploitation in positive light.

Why people can't take this show for what it is, a zany, well written, stupid & silly low budget but highly entertaining show, it completely rips off other superheroes but it's crazy entertaining.

Apparently people need to be rolling on the floor in fits of laughter for 30 mins or its "nOt FuNny" first season was finding its stride, some funny bits but season 2 they've ramped it up into a good entertaining show.