blackbird1048 Reviews

FBI: Most Wanted: Ghost in the Machine (2024) Season 5, Episode 3

Yet again another sci-fi episode

[2/10 · 14 March 2024]

When an AI is capable of winning a game of Blood Bowl such episodes might become plausible. To those unfamiliar a game of chess has a million permutations or 10 to the 6th power per move, Blood bowl has 10 to 32nd power permutations. We're a long way from this being real in any way.

All the way through this was "jump the shark" daft in its developments. I only watched this for the development of the backstories as soon as I saw where they were taking the plot. If the writers dont get changed and come up with some fresh ideas then this is going to get as stupid as FBI international soon. I can only assume the actors are staying for the steady paycheck at this point.

Shōgun: The Eightfold Fence (2024) Season 1, Episode 4

Getting better though still missing key elements

[8/10 · 12 March 2024]

OK talk about the ending first. Well done and solid decisions by the director in showing what such weapons do. All too often its sanitised in media. The only issue is that the reaction of the people. That should have been more stunned, as the lords are well back from such action as noted in the dialogue earlier in the episode.

Goof midway in that Blackthorne only gives one weapon to Koki when it was meant to be two as Blackthorne couldnt see Yabu with his weapons. The game playing scene is also cut out which would have added impact to it.

The whole seppuko scene is missing which is critical to Mariko opening up to Blackthorne. If they've moved it to next episode then they're messing about with the novel to make it more relatable / understandable to Americans. As in making Mariko fall in love with his way of thinking and his competence as a leader & teacher rather than his rebirth into a Japanese. The podcast certainly infers this unintentionally.

The beach troop inspection scene again is missing the impact of both the book and the 80s series. Whilst it had some, the playing with Yabu and keeping him under some sort of control was missing. It would have helped solidify Toranaga's awareness of Yabu and how to handle him.

Shōgun: Anjin (2024) Season 1, Episode 1

Good start though very rushed.

[8/10 · 1 March 2024]

I was full of trepidation when I started this series. Especially given how good the 1980 tv adaptation done by the author himself was. As expected of such a high profile snd calibre cast, it was brilliantly done. The role of Rodriguez has been under played a great deal given its later importance. A large scene is missing which establishes the friendship between blackthorn and Rodriguez. As such the desire of blackthorne to search for Rodriguez's body feels lack lustre and a device. Cosmo does a good job of expressing an arrogant man dumped out of his depth.

There is considerable intrigue missing from what's happening within the village. There were numerous ways to include it, that the writers could have used. Probably trying to keep it accessible to Americans rather than the international audience. Considering they've compacted 8 chapters of a 39 chapter book into this first hour, I'm not optimistic for the next 9 hours of screen time.

The Marvels (2023)

Kamala and Cats steal the movie, cling film thin plot

[3/10 · 11 November 2023]

Even compared to the latest series of marvel movies, this film's plot is paper thin. Body switching, revenge villain. All have been done countless times before and far better than this.

If you havent seen the Ms Marvel TV show then the slap stick and comedy Kamala family issues that cloud over many scenes are highly annoying and will throw you off. The cast of that show are back and just as silly as they are through out that show. It even goes into the semi obligatory training montage part way through.

Like many others out there I had no expectations of anything of quality from Marvel. Yet I was disappointed with how thin this was. Typical Hollywood has to have a Brit as the villain. Zawe Ashton does what she can with the material she's given. She gives a far superior performance with it than Larson bothers with hers.

The cats chasing the crew around the station to "Memory" from "Cats" is the best scene in the whole film which is sad given the end of the universe plot. Then again both DC and Marvel seem to forget their source content material when it comes to making films. How bad would "Nightmare on Elm Street" or "Saw" be if it was a PG-13 movie? Yet what does DC attempt to do, when all their material including the action sections is that dark? Marvel strips out that dark level drama out of their material to make their movies so they end up hollow.

Blue Eye Samurai (2023)

A greatly refreshing change in a sea of blandness

[10/10 · 4 November 2023]

With so much of the anime world being over populated with minor variations of the same stories and themes, this was a really great palate cleanser.

Netflix can certainly commission some great works now and then. An original story with a great female lead. I was expecting this to be based on a manga or light novel, yet apparently it isn't. Also with the title I expected it to be a twist on the life of William Adams an actual blue eyed samurai of the time. Again nope, for that you'll have to watch the phenomenal Richard Chamberlain's Shogun.

The voice cast is fantastic. Kenneth Branagh oozes malicious evil and is completely unrecognisable voice wise. His scottish accent does come and go through out the series which is the only criticism of his performance. If you are going to make a character that make it consistent. George Sakei doesn't have to do much acting wise as he's done this role so many times before. Alas its what people tend to give you when you get to his age, even though his voice still has plenty of energy to it.

This is definitely not for kids with the bloody action of every episode with regular sex and sex themes. After the uproar of how women were treated in Game of Thrones its not surprising the writers felt they had to hammer home the point that women have very little options in that time period repeatedly.

The action is well thought out and stays grounded without going over the top as so many series and films want to. There's a clear arc for each of the characters and the writers have thought it through without making the development seem either forced or the next necessary step. There is one slight exception to that which feels it unless you're aware that such craftsmanship and ingenuity was present, and done in the time period. Just not on the mass production level needed for the plot point. There are some nice twists and turns in it to keep the tale from going stale.

There are some familiar tropes used in the series which are forgivable. The supporting male character who doesn't realise he's fallen for the lead. The comic Ringo who is a genuine delight to watch and you grow to care for. That in itself is a nice change to how such characters are usually done.

Gotham Knights (2022 Video Game)

Horrific script, poor mechanics

[3/10 · 24 August 2023]

As per usual for 2020s WB products based of DC characters this is made for as low an iq as possible. Anything involving batman that's not R/18 rated is going to be terrible.

The combat is clunky and responds poorly.

A plethora of villains to choose from and they chose Freeze, Harvey Quinn, League of shadows, Clayface, and the Court. Hardly surprising that it gets repetitive and dull very quickly.

The script the voice actors have to follow is one of the most cringeworthy I've endured in quite some time. These characters are all extremely intelligent and capable yet they're all made to sound that prepubescent teenagers. None of the specialities of the characters is truly embraced or utilised. You wonder about 10 mins into the main game after all the endless cutscenes if the devs had actually read the source material over the years.

The Flash (I) (2023)

Just when you thought DC couldn't get worse

[3/10 · 16 August 2023]

The flashpoint story is difficult to pull off for so many reasons, yet they tried again. Lets start with the highlights of this movie. Michael Keaton and Sasha Calle. Both pull their sections of the film out from the snore fest that is the rest of this film. Keaton is clearly running on autopilot through out. He doesnt have to dig deep to pull this off.

Sasha Calle does great with the material she's given and adding a sincerity to the emotions of her character at each moment, that the other cast members either arent required to do or dont know how to with that character.

Ezra miller's fanboy Flash has always been irritating an a stupid interpretation of this character. He takes this to the max with the alternate universe Barry Allen. As such every scene he's in grates on your ears.

The cameo's at the end of the story are supposed to bring a sense of nostalgia to the older viewer. When all they do is annoy them further.

DC needs to remember their soource content is not PG-13 or 15 rating, its been R rated for the most part with the odd touch of PG-13. Try and make something to fit the PG-13 market and you end up with a travesty. MCU source material is PG-13 with the dose of R sprinkled here and there. As such they can hide those parts more easily, hence make a more widely appealing product.

FBI: Most Wanted: Chains (2022) Season 4, Episode 5

Twisting you up inside

[10/10 · 30 October 2022]

The acting in this show is so phenomenal they deserve Emmies for it. It hit you in the gut every few minutes. The epilogue should if you have any empathy leave you in tears or close to it. Normally such shows brush over this stuff when or even if they do it, they tiptoe around the lengths gone to, how ordinary the perpertrators appear to outsiders, downgrade the impact and insinuate that the victims just move on with their lives. For a change they don't here. That's what makes it such a phenomenal episode .

Here they start to show the effects that never really leave a victim and the endless questioning and what if's they go through. The writing staff clearly did their research properly and respectfully.

Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy (2022–2023)

Even by henati low standards this is terrible.

[2/10 · 9 July 2022]

The artwork is great and the animation is reasonable. The script is so pathetic I barely made it through this. Netflix can produce good anime, however this is just mud thrown at a wall of ideas and hope something sticks. I lost count of the number tropes used in this. Its such a mess you can't take it as a parody of anime or just a "take your brain out and enjoy" time as the dialogue is so cringeworthy.

The only thing stopping this being hentai is that keep stopping short of sex. Fan service just for the sake of it. There isn't even a plot point to it, apart from once, as is the case of more infamous anime like "redo of the healer" or "goblin slayer".

At several points it does poke fun at the genre, and manga in general as well as breaking the fourth wall. That could have redeemed it if it had happened early in the series. Nope that get saved until the last quarter.

Netflix really threw away their money with thud.

Dune (2021)

Dumbing down of a great novel

[2/10 · 22 October 2021]

Do yourself a favour and go and get the unabridged audio book of dune and listen to that rather than watch this or part two (if it actually happens). Then go watch the Sci-Fi channel's adaptation if you must.

Other than some of the visuals, this is a disaster and it is the fault of the script writers not the director nor the cast. Sci FI Channel actually managed to add to Frank Herbert's phenomenal book when they adapted it. All this does is try to emulate the 1984 disaster of an adaptaion, just with current special effects.

I really dont know where to start with this movie. Visually its different to all the adaptations that have gone before, keeping the extremely basic plot markers however leaving out and not adapting key information. This leaves the audience in limbo in so many places.

This isn't a tale for the low intellect, stop trying to make it that. By trying to dumb it down you screw the tale up.

The cast do a brilliant job with what they're given. Timothee Chalomet is brilliant as is Jason Momoa and josh Brolin. Stellesgard positively exudes malice throughout his scenes.

Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021)

Opportunity to make up for so many failures lost

[1/10 · 13 July 2021]

This could have been so much better than its turned out to be. It's only saving grace is the artwork. The animation is below that expected for video games. Someone needs to teach these folks how to tween rather than stick animate. Its not been properly quality checked or the people doing that should be fired immediately. The plot and villains were predictable even for a resident evil.

As others have said this is a TV movie broken down into four parts to try and milk the franchise. Your better off searching YouTube for a resident evil game movie than enduring this. You'll have longer and better entertainment than this is.

Birds of Prey (2020)

Silly beyond sense and not worth a cinema ticket

[1/10 · 7 March 2020]

This is one film to not spend hard earned cash on. Wait for it to appear on tv instead. Even then its debatable whether to watch or not.

Whilst with Harley its faithful to the batman the animated series, the supporting characters it's a travesty. They've taken the names and butchered the identities ao they dont resemble any of the comic characters at all.

Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors (2018 TV Movie)

Wasted opportunity

[3/10 · 6 November 2018]

Once again this demonstrates marvel studio hacks getting hold of characters, good ideas and destroying them. Marvel once again shows that DC Animated is far superior in it's tales, character portrayals, and it's action sequences. Even when it's doing daft episodes.

If this movie was aimed at 5 year olds or younger, I could accept it and leave it alone. Unfortunately it's not. It's going to be watched by fans of the subject matter. The actors do a good job with the horrific script and dialogue they have to work with.

The problem is that the comedy is too slap-stick for making the characters likeable or realistic. These are meant to be late teens early twenty characters not 9 - 12 year old characters. They all come off as characters from "clueless", not real people.