Bippityboo62 Reviews

Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm (2022)

The Return of Everyone's Favorite, Idiotic Food Mascots (for better or worse)

[6/10 · 11 February 2023]

If you had told me a few years ago that Aqua Teen Hunger Force (or Aqua TV Show Show, Aqua Something You Know Whatever, etc) would come back as a movie in 2022, I would've told you that you were full of it, but now, I'm happy to see the iconic trio and their sardonic neighbor Carl back! As for the movie? Well, we'll get to that in a second.

ATHF was one of Adult Swim's longest running shows at the time of its cancellation in 2015 and for good reason; the surrealist humor and shoestring flash budget made for a charming, funny, albeit very stupid show that was thoroughly entertaining. In 2007, they released a theatrical film "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters." I'm probably in the minority of fans that thought, despite my love for the show, it was an extremely disjointed and disappointing mess of a movie. The show's formula of surrealist humor and insanity works well for 11 minute vacuums, but not an 87 minute feature film, especially when it feels like they're still working on the same budget.

Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm seems like it learned from the mistakes of Colon Movie and both improves upon it and falters a bit. For one thing, the animation is VASTLY improved. People no longer look like static png's with moving mouths and actually have movement to them. That may not sound like a lot, but it's a huge thing for Aqua Teen. The opening sequence alone sold me on the improvement and even if there's still the occasional animation style here and there, the new animation helps breathe further life into it. The voice actors also feel like they've jumped right back into their roles and like they haven't been gone for nearly 7 years. There's still love for the IP and I'm glad the cast seems like they're having fun.

The story itself is also a massive improvement...as there actually is one somewhat this time around. It feels like the episode of Frylock leaving the gang, only with a bit more stakes to it: the gang is officially split up, Frylock is in a beat up apartment downtown and working for a corporation called Amazin (a not so subtle nod to Amazon), Meatwad is living at a dog shelter bring in dogs that don't even need rescued, and Shake is a homeless bum who refuses to get a job. Frylock becomes buddy buddy with the CEO of Amazin and begins research into cloning that can allow the vertically challenged boss to be taller. However, things go array when a disgruntled employee uses his new research to create plants and usurp the company. With the world in peril, it's up to the Aqua Teens and Carl to settle their differences and save the world from domination.

The story is very straightforward this time around and doesn't feel like a total, shock value filled, disjointed amalgamation and it works well enough for what it is. You're not going to get anything deep or insightful from this film about food products kicking ass, but it's still a pretty fun time regardless...for the most part. While I think it's a vast improvement on Colon Movie, I do still have some gripes. For starters, the movie feels like a giant middle finger to Amazon. I'm all for dragging them through the mud with their unethical work practices, but nothing really new is added to it and the commentary is already know jokes and critiques about Amazon that have been done to death: the CEO who's full of himself and slightly evil, the underprivileged people being paid nothing and working in grueling conditions, the fact that it's pretty much taking over the world, etc. Another thing that is slightly disappointing is the actual Plantasm part, which doesn't even come into play until the third act. It's fun to see the group fight off a large amount of mutated plants, but it feels like it comes in way too late to have much impact.

But by far the most annoying thing about this movie are the Mooninites. Normally they're alright, but here they are an absolute travesty. Their main purpose here is to break the fourth wall (this movie is streaming on HBO Max) and either mess with the timeline of the movie or just flat out insult the audience with a bunch of meta humor and pop culture references. This is a trend that's become very annoying in recent times, especially in shows like Rick and Morty and most egregiously in Velma, and it's no different here. The pacing is pretty decent for the most part, but these segments bring the film to a screeching halt. One grievous flaw in particular is a sequence involving them insulting the audience as they fast forward through the film as a chase scene happens, with Shake, Meatwad, and Carl talking about the insane thing that happened. It's probably the most cliche trope you could do and does not at all feel like Aqua Teen. While I appreciate them toning down the insanity to make the story more streamlined for a movie format, these segments really sour the movie for me and keeps me from wanting to watch it again, hence the 6/10 score.

All in all, it's a decent but flawed return for ATHF. They've apparently announced they're making another season and I'm excited to see what they bring to the table this time around, especially if they keep this style of animation, though I really hope they don't start to go down the Meta route or make it more streamlined.

The Last of Us: Infected (2023) Season 1, Episode 2

A Tense, Gripping, and Emotional Rollercoaster that Continues to Defy the Video Game Adaptation Curse

[9/10 · 24 January 2023]

Episode 2 Reaction from someone who played TLOU:

In a move that continues to defy my expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by the second episode of The Last of Us and it's continued dedication for the material while also expanding the lore in an intriguing and respectful way. The opening sets the stage for how bleak the situation pre-outbreak is and further explores how this form of Cordecyps (the fungus causing the apocalyptic pandemic) began to wreck such havoc and the horrible situation people around the world were put in to avoid its spread, with some genuinely tense and emotional performances.

Fast forward and we're back with Joel, Ellie, and Tess, who had just escaped the QZ and are on their way to a Firefly outpost in the ruins of Boston to hand off Ellie. I'll admit the pace of the show is both lightning fast and a bit more slow: lightning fast in that we're getting through the intro events of the game pretty quickly, but also slower given the lack of action and firefights that TLOU is known for, but also given more character interactions as well as lore building, such as the revelation of how the infected know where each other are. Despite that, there are nods to the source material galore in terms of set pieces (the skyscrapers leaning on one another, the capital building in the distance) and little touches here and there (Ellie not knowing how to swim, her banter with an invisible hotel clerk, and the simple act of Joel lifting Tess to a ledge).

The two standout moments were the museum and the ending: the museum, through clever use of showing and not telling, introduces us to the clickers, one of the more terrifying infected from the game that have been completely disfigured and use echolocation to locate their prey. The scene is tense, scary, and overall great given how the characters are resigned to communicating through lip movements and hand signals while remaining as quiet as possible to avoid being torn to shreds. And the ending, in my opinion, I enjoyed slightly more than the game. Without spoiling much, the performances were great and it felt like the event had much more weight to it than what there was previously in the game, combined with an emotional, tense, haunting, and heroic scene. Of course, I could be biased in this approach given I know what happens throughout this story and if this remains as faithful as it has been, I know both exactly where it's going and am excited to see how they expand upon it.

I'm assuming we'll be introduced to Nick Offerman's Bill in the upcoming episode and I'm interested to see his take on the deranged survivor as well as see if a bloater infected shows up since they hinted it in this episode (though given spores are no longer a thing, I'm not sure it will), but overall, I'm really loving this show so far. I'm not entirely sold on Bella Ramsay's Ellie yet (I do think she can be a little aggressive and off putting at times, though this was pertinent to game Ellie as well initially), but I'm willing to see how her and Pedro's Joel grow as the series progresses and am excited to see what comes next!

The OctoGames (2022)

We Have Squid Game at Home

[2/10 · 28 October 2022]

When Squid Game came out on Netflix, there was a reason it was a resounding success. Aside from the obvious of great performances, the great cinematography, and set pieces that were unique and inspired awe and terror, there were also poignant themes of greed, betrayal, friendship, and doing what it takes to survive a hellish nightmare through moments of humor, brutality, and dread. There were moments that were tender, thought provoking, terrifying, and downright heartbreaking, one episode causing me to walk away due to the fact that I was tearing up. Plus it did the near impossible and broke the language barrier if Korea and became a world wide success.

So why bring this up? Well, because The Octogames is nothing more than a clear imitator of the show and downright steals the concept of Squid Game, aside from a few differences. While I can't say that for the director's other work as I haven't watched it, this is clear plagiarism at play here.

In this story, a massive influencer named JaxPro decides to hold a competition to see who will inherit his multi million follower account on YouTube, with the catch being 8 different children's games with deadly consequences. The production quality at first seems like it's another youtube video playing on the Squid Game trend, until you realize that this is an hour and thirty minute long movie and once the killings start, it plays out nearly the same as Squid Game. And no, this isn't a parody movie in the likes of Starving Games or the "Movie" movies, this is very much played seriously for the most part; The actors attempt to play off these scenes very seriously and most do not have the acting chops for it (specifically Squish, who is so bland that wheat cereal seems desirable, and Ruth, who's over the top faces and strange delivery is almost alien). I can at least say that Carrie and Walter are without a doubt the best actors in this film, but even their delivery falls flat due to the material and writing. Everyone else is just bland, forgettable, dull, and at times laughably bad, despite the writing trying to get you to think that there's serious bonds and rivalries happening.

And without a doubt, JaxPro is the strangest addition in this movie. This is not a dig at the actor as his performance isn't bad, but the writing and direction is just so strange. I'm guessing it was supposed to play off the current YouTube influencer attitude, but it makes for a very lackluster villain. There's nothing intimidating or scary about him and we're pretty much given everything about him at the beginning of the movie. Compare this to the game master of Squid Game, who was shrouded in mystery throughout the show and who's actions were truly unpredictable, with an intimidating voice to boot. Yes there's a lot of Squid Game comparisons, but it's going to happen, it's literally copying it.

And speaking of which, let's talk about the games, the main draw of these shows outside of the drama. The movie follows the same format with each of the games being based of children's games, but with none of the flair. Where Squid Game had elaborate death traps that got worse and worse as time went on, constantly making you guess what would be next and how gruesome the kills would be, the bare minimum was done here: LED hopscotch in a dark room, Chairs in the middle of a room for musical chairs, woods, and at one point, A LITERAL RENTAL BOUNCE HOUSE. Top that with some AWFUL transition texts for each game and it feels amateur. And whereas Squid Game had brutal deaths unique to each of its games, the majority of deaths involve a fox furry...no, you did not read that wrong. Throughout the movie, aside the guards (again ripped from the show except they have airsoft masks instead of the iconic shapes), most of the contestants are killed off by a psychotic furry in a costume so poor it's laughable. He carries out most of the kills and they usually play out the same with ridiculous and poorly done choreography. What's even worse is when his mask is removed, the character is the perfect amount of psychotic and over the top that it makes the inclusion of the outfit even more insulting.

As mentioned before, there's attempts at friendships rivalries and betrayals, but the writing is so poor and underdeveloped that it falls flat on its face trying to get people to care for the characters, and some dialogue choices felt like they were pulled from memes nearly 5 years ago despite this being a 2022 movie. You can also predict who will live and who will die since some of the poorly imitated relationships end up having similar results to that of Squid Game...and the ending to the film feels both predictable and like it was all for nothing, completely missing the point of why Squid Games' bleak ending, while not perfect, still somewhat worked.

I won't lie, at first, I thought it was comical that this existed. It was clearly a ripoff capitalizing off of a great product while fundamentally misunderstanding what made it great to begin with. I had a few laughs and jokes, but as the run time went on and the realization that I was not finished with the movie sat in, that humor turned to apathy. By the end of it, the text "JaxPo will return" only filled me with anger because it did nothing notable to even dare trying to warrant a sequel. But then again, maybe they'll wait till Squid Games season 2 to completely butcher that concept as well.

There's nothing good about this film. It's a cheap, soulless ripoff that was only entertaining for how laughably bad it is, but it gets old after 5 minutes...and youve got another 85 to go...and you feel every minute of it. Don't waste your time with this film. Run away from it. You won't be entertained, only annoyed. You won't feel joy, only apathy.

And to the creators of this film...stick to original products and stories in the future. I can't say they'd be great, but you'll at least have a leg to stand on in terms of originality.