Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Skywalker Mystery

Hello everybody! Guess what? We are BACK. Sorry it took so long, as it has taken a while to catch up on everything. Besides the fact, welcome back to our New Movie Show. I have been catching up on a great slew of movies over the holidays, so be prepared. To get back in the groove, let’s start off with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

DIRECTED BY: J. J. Abrams

STARRING: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Max von Sydow

GENRE: Space Opera, Epic

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: United States

Totally not Nazis.

Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister First Order has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed. With the support of the Republic, General Leia Organa leads a brave Resistance. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy. Leia has sent her most daring pilot on a secret mission to Jakku, where an old ally has discovered a clue to Lukes whereabouts.

It is about time that the newest film to enter the Star Wars saga has been released…but was it worth it? For the most part, yeah…The Force Awakens was a good time at the cinema. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the homages to the original saga, as The Force Awakens seemed very similar to A New Hope. The new cast is for the most part likeable, except we won’t be able to replace Han Solo (Noooooo!) even with Rey. The lightsaber duels actually came across slightly subpar to that of previous films in the saga, but were enough to still be enjoyable. Am I pumped for Episode VIII? Hardly. Although I will still end up seeing it.

Even though I don’t normally like to fall into the crowd with the rest of the Star Wars fans, most of my gripes are the same as with the masses. I disliked Kylo Ren so much as a villain that I felt like the characters were never ever in any real danger. Kylo Ren was just a dysfunctional and emotional brat that would throw unnecessary tantrums in order to get his way.  While this did lead to some pretty entertaining and interesting moments, I felt it could have been easily left out. Now let me address the bullshit “deus ex machina” at the end of the film. *SPOILERS* R2-D2 waking up at the end of the film was complete bullshit. How convenient that he would wake up, which seemed random to begin with, right when they needed the remaining piece of flight map data. It screamed “Quick! We need to wrap up this Skywalker hunt in the last five minutes of the movie!” J. J. Abrams…what the hell.

PROS:

• Homages to original saga.
• Likeable new cast.
• Lightsaber duels.
• Soundtrack.

CONS:

• Kylo Ren.
• Deus Ex Machina.
• Quick wrap-up.

SCORE: 8.5 / 10

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Soaked in Bleach: Suicides Aren’t Always Suicides

Hello hello everybody! We are back with the all important movie club. This time, we take a look at the docudrama around the death of grunge rock band Nirvana’s front man Kurt Cobain. We are Soaked in Bleach.

SOAKED IN BLEACH

DIRECTED BY: Benjamin Statler 

STARRING: Daniel Roebuck, August Emerson, Sarah Scott, Tyler Bryan

GENRE: Docudrama

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: United States

The film provides a look at inconsistencies in the death of Kurt Cobain (portrayed by Tyler Bryan), the lead singer of the American grunge band Nirvana, as seen through the perspective of private investigator and former police detective Tom Grant (portrayed by Daniel Roebuck). In addition to the dramatization of Cobain’s final days, the film combines documentary footage as well as interviews with people associated with the case such as former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper and former president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Cyril Wecht. Grant’s own recorded conversations with key figures such as Rosemary Carroll, Cobain and Love’s attorney and Dylan Carlson—the man who purchased the shotgun used to kill Cobain—are also prominently featured.

Soaked in Bleach appeared on my radar a while back, just in a random article. It was weird, but intrigued me. Now is it actually good? Overall, it isn’t bad. For a bunch of nobody actors, their performances weren’t half bad. This was a surprise as in films like these don’t normally have much in the way of acting. What Soaked in Bleach really has going for it can be found in the technical aspect. The film jumps between actual audio recordings taken between Grant and Love and the actors portraying them on screen. The transition is rather seamless and it actually doesn’t stand out. Take notes.

The major drawback of Soaked in Bleach is its pacing. The film is very SLOW! While the film is still entertaining despite this, I found myself repeatedly looking at the clock and estimating the run time until the film ended. Not exactly the response you would like from one of your viewers. The actual subject matter bothered me as well. Not so much the actual suicide, but the information presented that tried to prove that it was murder instead. Why didn’t they look at it more closely? It intrigues me enough to look into it, but still.

PROS:

• Surprising main cast performance.
• Transitions with audio and video.
• Compelling information.

CONS:

• Slow pacing.
• Presentation.

SCORE: 6.0 / 10K

If you have any suggestions for films/TV/Games/Music/Anime for me to review, drop me a comment!

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All check out my lengthier video game reviews over at Nerd Bacon Games.

Anime Club: Noragami Aragato

Hello everybody! This anime club needs some more Noragami doesn’t it? Well this week we have the second season of Noragami, Noragami Aragato.

NORAGAMI ARAGATO

CREATED BY: Kōtarō Tamura

NO. OF EPISODES: 13 Episodes

GENRE: Supernatural, Action, Comedy

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: Japan

The story is about an Underdog God Named Yato and his adventures. This Yato god, said to be a God of War and Calamity, is down to the earth poor and is not very popular and doesn’t even have a shrine for himself. He does any job from baby sitting to evil slaying for a price of just 5 yen. His goal is to become the most popular God and being famous amongst the humans. In the path to achieving his goal, his fate becomes intertwined with a high school girl called Hiyori Iki, who happens to be the only human with the ability to see him. So what Yato does in order to get rich and famous and what all adventures or troubles he gets into in the process with Hiyori Iki is the story.

All I can say is that I am so glad that Noragami has returned for a second season, even if it was in the form of Noragami Aragato. I am not saying that I didn’t like Aragato, as it is actually quite the contrary. Aragato cemented my fondness for the series as a whole. This is especially the case for Yukine, as his development over the course of the series is what keeps me involved and interested. Yukine is actually my favorite character in anime at the moment, especially since I could throw Hiyori and Yato over a bridge.

Unfortunately, like with an series that I absolutely adore, it definitely isn’t perfect. My biggest pet peeve with Aragato is all of the cliffhangers. There is almost a cliffhanger and the end of every single episode, and it becomes even more ridiculous in the last three or four episodes. The suspense was even worse than normal, as after I thought the episode was the series finale, the producers would update the schedule to include another episode! This was absolutely frustrating. Before I go too much off of a tangent, I do also want to mention that Aragato is split into two separate stories. While it does actually work in the general flow of the story, I was not personally a fan. We spent way too much time dealing with Bishamon and Yato’s feud where it could have been wrapped up in a three episode arc.

PROS:

• Character development.
• YUKINE!
• Awesome opening.
• Well paced story.

CONS:

• Two separate arcs.
• Bishamon x Yato.
• Too many cliffhangers.

SCORE: 7.5 / 10

If you have any suggestions for films/TV/Games/Music/Anime for me to review, drop me a comment!

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All check out my lengthier video game reviews over at Nerd Bacon Games.