Change Your Image
tuxxle
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try againReviews
Infinity Train (2019)
Great Show that fell off
The first season of this show is amazing and easily 10/10. However, once the idea of the train and its purpose is revealed, the later seasons begin to lose their magic.
They did a pretty good job adding other very cool mysteries to the later season which still call into question the nature of the train, but it's one of many things that makes the first season feel like it's a few hundred feet above the later seasons. That's not to say the later seasons weren't enjoyable or were outright terrible.
Season two was pretty neat, with the introduction of Grace's cult being the coolest aspect, feeling very real and was a great way to expand the universe. Season four was a refreshing change of pace but felt maybe a little too different from the series as a whole.
But when you look at the protagonists of each season, you get a sense of the quality of that season. Tulip was an amazing and realistic character, with incredible chemistry with her companions and astounding voice acting from Ashley Johnson as always. Lake started out as a somewhat odd protagonist, a plot point I didn't think we'd revisit, but she ended up working well to tell a compelling story that works well both as a metaphor for transness, or without that interpretation. Only issue is she can come off a little harsh in the feminist tones sometimes (and in her treatment of the duaerogonist) but that can be explained reasonably by her personality as being no-nonsense or a tomboy. And I guess the romantic ending with him meant that harshens could've been Tsundere?
Another weakness of season 2 was it didn't have a very good antagonist, but the part when Lake was trapped with half of his body was pretty neat.
The third season, however, took everything interesting about Grace's Cult and threw it away. Grace was an interesting character as we saw her in season 2 that could've had a more interesting arch if they had allowed her to have half as many flaws in season 3 as she was shown to have in season 2. But instead they just made Simon the only toxic one which felt super forced as an antagonist for the season, and the fact that Grace had zero remorse about killing him at the end like the two had never loved each other shows just how 2-dimensional they made such interesting and complex characters, and how almost gender-motivated the villain and hero roles of season 3 felt. Overall, Grace's Cult was the only good thing the series had going for it after season one besides the emotionality of Lake's arc. Season 3 made Grace's cult as boring as possible. HBO acquiring the show after season two definitely made it worse.
Season 4 was kinda mid. It didn't wow me with anything but the characters and their arcs seemed well enough executed for what they were trying to do. Asian representation is always good.
This show is kinda like Stranger Things in that you'll regret not watching season one and wish you could experience it again for the first time, but won't have much of a problem missing the rest of the series. Also like Stranger Things, there are some neat callbacks and good character development here or there if you do watch the rest of the series that could make it feel rewarding. But idk, form your own opinion.
Tonari no Totoro (1988)
Lots of cute Cozy Aesthetic without much plot
I've never totally understood the buzz around this movie, the English dub especially has some rather harsh voice acting from the two kids. Not sure if the original is much better, and the plot and most things relating to the two kids tends to drag. The plot with the kids' mother in the hospital (it's revealed early on and isn't a spoiler) and them worrying about the situation is definitely done much better by other Ghibli movies. If you know you know.
But now let's talk about all the good. I love the family's cozy home and bath, and the forest surrounding it and the dust mites or whatever they were were cute. And Totoro is one hell of a cute bear. He's like THE cute debu character, almost like modern Japanese Bigfoot but friendly (he's what I kinda hope U. S. Bigfoot is like).
I can't imagine a better mascot for Ghibli, so I'm glad this movie exists if for nothing more than that. But the plot is just nothing special.
Alien (1979)
Pretty Good Characters, Stunning Set Design
Just barely got around to watching this movie, and while I might not say much new, I will say this movie wasn't all I was expecting. I suppose I was thinking the classic scene of Ripley threatening the alien with a flamethrower was actually in the second movie, which I'll also have to watch.
More importantly, while the cast of characters was compelling and people site Ripley as a good example of a strong female lead unlike captain marvel-type messes, as they rightly should, I feel some of the other characters were underutilized or not characterized quite enough. Maybe I just thought Dallas was hot but I was sad to see him die so soon.
In terms of the plot, some of it felt like a bit of a drag, though much of that made way for the visual flare, which I'll talk about in a bit. The scenes where the guy was revealed as an android felt like it detracted from the main story and the visual choices during that scene were... disturbing and confusing.
So finally, the thing everyone was likely wowed by in this movie was the monster, but today it's really not that impressive. I found myself more often chuckling at what a goober the alien was, especially after it burst out of the guy's chest. (Poor him). But what really is visually of merit with this movie that holds up even today is the stunning set design. Both the world and ship they visit that gets the alien on their ship and their own ship are both so gothic, and metallically ominous in all the best ways. It's hard to imagine people were dreaming this stuff up only a decade and a half after the moon landing, maybe it was the recentness of the discovery of space that made this more realistic on the big screen instead of the pink ladies we get for aliens and crusty color-fests we get in marvel movies today. Plus the space ship itself reminded me a lot of a factory in some scenes, even making me think to some locations in Bladerunner 2049 which is amazing if an old movie can visually evoke something so much newer.
Star Wars: Visions (2021)
I wish some of these were canon.
When I first heard they were making a book of short-stories style anime series for Star Wars, I was so excited, and this series did not disappoint. Star Wars: Visions is an incredible exploration of Star Wars' roots in Japanese culture through the lens of anime. The first episode especially shows this since it takes a wandering samurai approach to the Jedi, which is what the Jedi were based on.
This series had so much flare and style. Some of the episodes were hit or miss in terms of story, but nothing can express just how much I loved all the unique styles and visual impressiveness each episode held. Plus, every episode had at least something fascinating about the story. Android who wants to become a Jedi; A Jedi in a band who plays to impress Jaba the hut so he doesn't get executed; Twin Sibling Inquisitors turned against each other; I truly wish some of these episodes were canon. Such a masterpiece of a series.
Oppenheimer (2023)
I got the Nolan Chills, but was honestly was kinda bored
I love Christopher Nolan, Inception might be my favorite movie of all time. But honestly this was just kinda boring and I wasn't super interested in the story. My roommate loved it but I miss when Nolan was doing more interesting fiction.
There was far less of the after effects of the bombing shown than I expected, and I was overall disappointed with how low budget this film seemed. I miss the action or at least interest and supernatural intensity and wonder Nolan has accomplished alongside the intellectual rollercoaster in his 2010's films. This was just kind of a documentary, gave me similar vibes to that McDonald's Founder film or First Man, though without any of the action First Man had. Not that I can't appreciate a movie without action, that's just something I miss how Nolan does, and was overall just bored with this movie.
The Sleep Experiment (2022)
Unsettling in a good way, confusing ending
Kind of an odd movie that remains unsettling in the best way. The characters are all pretty interesting though they all kind of come off as average joes at the beginning. You really feel bad for all these men for being subjected to this experiment by the end, it's a bit of a tragic movie. At several points I was asking "Why didn't the experimenters intervene in any way?" but they were said to have been neglectful whole holding the experiment. The whole movie is kinda done in past tense with the main characters being the test subjects of the experiment, though their story is told in retrospect when an investigator interviews the man who had held the experiment a few decades prior. This mode of telling the story works quite well, except for the very end when it's kind of unclear what happens at the end of the experiment. It's not really scary or theater of the mind what's omitted, I just wish they would've shown us what happened during the climax instead of beatting around it, that's the one thing the retrospective mode of telling the story does wrong.
Other than that, this movie works quite well for what it wants to do. Many of the characters are likable despite the aweful things they end up doing, and this movie does a good job, espetially with a few characters, of making it beleivable how they become a psychopath. This movie talks a lot about psychopaths, though it doesn't really say anything original or have much of a clever message like it might try to have.