'High & Low: The Worst' Is Fire

At last.   A year after I got into High & Low, I finally got to watch the film whose trailer enticed me to check out this awesome franchise in the first place – High & Low: The Worst.  And, as anticipated, I relished it.

Technically a crossover between High & Low and the Crows and Worst manga series by Hiroshi Takahashi, the movie features a clash between Oya High School and Housen Academy – the former being the “O” in S.W.O.R.D., which is the five main gangs of High & Low; and the latter being the most prominent rival of Suzuran High School, the central gang in Crows and Worst.  And as usual with these crossovers, after the two parties engage in the obligatory battle, they eventually team up during the third act to take on the true bad guys of the story.

Live-Action 'Kaguya-sama: Love Is War' Gets an A for Effort

So, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is the latest anime that got a live-action film adaptation.  The movie retells the most notable events of the first season of the anime series.  Moreover, it also borrows some plot points from the second season, but takes them toward an entirely different narrative direction.

Just like most live-action film adaptations of anime, it is significantly inferior to its source material.  But even though this fact was already expected, I still chose to see it.  It’s because I really love season 2 of Kaguya-sama – it’s even my favorite anime of the year so far – and the high I had from it spilled over to fuel whatever “push” was required for me to watch this movie.

'Sound! Euphonium the Movie: Oath’s Finale' Is an Utter Delight for the Eyes and Ears

Sound! Euphonium the Movie: Oath’s Finale – alternately titled as Sound! Euphonium: the Movie - Our Promise: A Brand New Day – is set after the events of the second season of the anime series, and concurrent with the events of Liz and the Blue Bird.  It was released last year by KyoAni (a few months before suffering a horrible arson attack), but I’ve only got to see it recently.

'Lupin III: The First' Is Spectacular

I couldn’t wait to see Lupin III: The First ever since I first saw its trailer.  I had never been that much excited for a Lupin the Third movie since the crossovers with Detective Conan.  It was because it’s computer-animated this time around, and it actually looked spectacular.

'Ip Man 4: The Finale' Delivers the Usual Amazing Martial Arts Action

Ip Man 4: The Finale is, as the subtitle suggests, the final installment of the Ip Man film series, which tells the life story of the Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man (played by Donnie Yen).  Just like with Ip Man 3, I hoped Ip Man 4 would primarily center on the relationship of Ip Man and his most famous student, Bruce Lee (played by Danny Chan), and how the latter developed Jeet Kune Do.  Unfortunately, while Bruce does have more screen time here than in the last movie, he doesn’t really play a big part in the main storyline.

'In the Shadow of the Moon' Is a Gripping Science Fiction Mystery Thriller

The critical reaction for In the Shadow of the Moon was mixed.  But, flawed as it is, I like it.  Such kind of low-key science fiction movie is my jam, and I can’t believe it flew under my radar last year.

The film follows a detective named Thomas Lockhart (Boyd Holbrook) through the course of decades as he resolves on stopping an enigmatic serial killer.  It starts in 1988, when Lockhart, still a beat cop, first encounters the remarkable case which will consume his life ahead.  Several seemingly unrelated victims spontaneously hemorrhage to death, and the sole suspect is a young black woman with a hoodie and a wounded hand (Cleopatra Coleman).  Since then, every nine years, during a blood moon and within one day, the same kind of murders occurs, and the same hooded woman pops out.  As he becomes more obsessed with the case, his sanity, hygiene, career, and relationship with his family deteriorate further.

The 'Charlie's Angels' Reboot Is Terrible

The 2019 Charlie’s Angels movie serves as both a reboot of the franchise and the continuation of the lore of the original 70’s TV series and the 2000’s movies.  In it, the wild, happy-go-lucky Sabina Wilson (Kristen Stewart) and former MI-6 agent Jane Kano (Ella Balinska) – two of Townsend Agency’s new generation of Angels – team up with a computer engineer named Elena Houghlin (Naomi Scott) to stop a conspiracy that aims to weaponize a revolutionary energy conservation device that Elena helped build.

'Doctor Sleep' Entertainingly Satisfies Both Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick's Visions

Doctor Sleep is a film adaptation of Stephen King’s 2013 novel of the same name, which is the sequel to his 1977 novel The Shining.  At the same time, it’s also the sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film The Shining – which is based on that aforementioned King novel of the same name, but which has many significant narrative deviations from its source material.  Kubrick’s The Shining ended up being deemed as a horror cinema classic by many cinephiles and critics, but it’s also widely known that Stephen King hated it because of the changes Kubrick made to the plot.

Thus, although he already has an experience with adapting a Stephen King novel into film (i.e. Gerald’s Game), director-screenwriter Mike Flanagan must have found making Doctor Sleep a daunting task.  For not only did he need to follow up on what is widely considered as a cinematic masterpiece, but he also needed to craft Doctor Sleep in a way that would make it work as a sequel to two fundamentally different stories – King’s version and Kubrick’s version – and satisfy the fans of both.

I just saw the film very recently, and taking into consideration the complicated challenges that it entailed, I  think Flanagan did a pretty good job.

KyoAni Bounces Back from Arson Attack with 'Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll'

Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll (alternatively titled as Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll) is a gaiden (i.e. side story) feature-length film of the Violet Evergarden anime series.  I actually thought, at first, that this was already THE Violet Evergarden movie, which everyone has been looking forward to.  But this was actually different from that.  Although it’s a movie that was screened in theaters (back in 2019), Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll is only a side story.  This means that, while it’s definitely well-made, it’s presumably unessential to the saga (kind of like how movies of shonen anime series are usually non-canon).  On the other hand, the actual Violet Evergarden: The Movie is slated for a 2020 release, and will serve as sequel to the anime series.

As Expected, the 'KonoSuba' Movie Is Comedy Gold

Instead of a season 3, the continuation of the KonoSuba saga is through a feature-length, theatrically-released film, KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! – Legend of Crimson.  In it, Kazuma and his party, along with Yunyun, pay a visit to Megumin and Yunyun’s village – the home of the Crimson Demon Clan.  While they’re there, the village gets attacked by the Demon King’s army, which is led by one of his Eight Generals, the chimera Sylvia.

'Jumanji: The Next Level' Is a Step Down from Its Predecessor

Jumanji: The Next Level is the sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.  In it, the group of friends from the first film (Alex Wolff, Ser’Darius Blain, Morgan Turner, and Madison Iseman), having gone to different colleges and now leading different lives, has decided to catch up over the Christmas holidays.  However, this reunion eventually catapults them back to Jumanji for a brand new adventure.  And this time around, Spencer’s grandfather (Danny DeVito) and his estranged friend and former business partner (Danny Glover) are brought along for the ride.  Moreover, upon entering the game, they discover that most of them no longer occupy their original avatars (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillian), as these got shuffled around and new ones (Awkwafina) were assigned.

'Lego DC: Batman – Family Matters' Somehow Went Under My Radar

I’ve grown really fond of the Lego DC Comics Super Heroes franchise ever since my first encounter with it.  Its movies aren’t necessarily great, but as far as consistency in entertainment quality is concerned, I feel that it’s the most rewarding among DC’s ongoing non-comicbook shared universes.  For while the DCAMU, Arrowverse, and DCEU have managed to produce content that can be deemed “great”, that isn’t always the case.  The quality of their respective products varies, ranging from great to disposable.  On the other hand, while Lego DC Comics Super Heroes movies are only clever and enjoyable at a kiddie level, you can bet on it that each installment will entertain by those standards quite wonderfully.

Thus, I’m always on the lookout for a new Lego DC Comics Super Heroes movie, so I usually get to see it around the time of its release – give or take a few weeks.  However, the latest one, Lego DC: Batman – Family Matters, which was released mid-2019, somehow went under my radar last year.  It was only recently that I got to know about it and see it.

Top 10 Memorable Moments in 2019 Cinema and TV

There’s no longer enough time for me to make separate “most memorable moments” top tens for the movies, TV shows, and anime of 2019 like I did for 2018.  It’s in the middle of March already.  Still, I want to do at least one such list  So here are what I found to be the top ten most memorable moments from all the stuff I saw from both the big screen and small screen in 2019.

Honorable Mentions: Batman’s “Illuminati” is revealed to be pulling the strings from behind the scenes (Young Justice: Outsiders; Mandalorians rescue the Mandalorian (The Mandalorian); Tanjiro (with Nezuko) vs. Rui (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba); Ash finally wins his first ever Pokemon League championship (Pokemon: Sun and Moon)

10.) Kristoff’s “Lost in the Woods” Song Number (Frozen II)

One can argue that, by itself, “Lost in the Woods” is a beautiful song that wonderfully encapsulates the emotion and state of Kristoff’s arc at that point of the story.  Maybe.  That’s one way of looking at it.  But the lyrics and style of the song are really reminiscent of old-school, over-sentimental rock love songs like Peter Cetera’s “Glory of Love.”  The filmmakers might have realized this, and thus, proceeded to present the song number, tongue in cheek, as a cheesy, overdramatic 80’s-style music video.  Thus, it ended up being the most hilarious – and most memorable – scene in the movie.  What makes it funnier is that Kristoff’s voice actor, Jonathan Groff, took it seriously.  In one interview, he said, “We were completely genuine when we were making that song.  There was nothing funny about it at all and then the animators did such crazy things.” LOL!

'Terminator: Dark Fate' Fails to Save the Franchise

Terminator: Dark Fate is the sixth movie installment of the Terminator franchise.  It totally ignores the events of the last three movies, operating instead solely as a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day.  Essentially, it aims to establish its narrative to be the “true continuation” of the saga, implying in the process that the previous three movies occurred in alternate timelines.  This way, it’s supposed to “clean up” the mess that those movies had made.  I appreciate the thought, but still, at this point, the continuity is already an utter dumpster fire that I now honestly can’t care less how these movies fit together.

'Promare' Isn't Necessarily a 'Fire Force' Derivative

Promare is the first ever feature-length anime film of Studio Trigger (co-produced with XFLAG), which is known for the anime series Kill la Kill, Darling in the Franxx, and SSSS.Gridman.  It is directed and written, respectively, by Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima, the tandem who basically laid the groundwork for Trigger with Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill.

The film’s premise and lore are uncannily similar in the basics with Fire Force.  Most probably, there’s some form of copying done by one on the other.  Regardless of which ripped off which, both ended up with imaginative and wonderful execution.  Each one can be enjoyed and appreciated uniquely.  In other words, Promare is not necessarily derivative of Fire Force, and vice versa.

Top 20 Movies of 2019

This is the latest an annual movie list of mine has ever been.  But I wrote before that there were films I wanted to see first before I could comfortably assemble my top 20 movies of 2019, and I’ve just recently finished that task.

So, without further ado, here are my favorite films of 2019… 

Honorable Mentions: Booksmart, Us, The Art of Self-Defense, Ad Astra, The Irishman

20.) How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

“…for me, the runner-up… for greatest animated film trilogy ever is How to Train Your Dragon.  The Hidden World has made sure of that.”

Click here for the full review.

2019 Movie Catch-Up Roundup: 'Ad Astra', 'The Irishman', 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire', 'Midsommar', and More

I caught up with a bunch of 2019 movies in the last couple of weeks, but I haven’t written reviews for all of them.  Now, I did prioritize reviewing those that I liked the most, so that I could finally finalize my picks for this blog’s annual “top 20 movies” list – which I will be posting next once I’m done with this article.  Meanwhile, as for the remaining unreviewed films (there are 11), I decided to cover them in one go by doing another roundup article, just like what I did for most of the movies I saw in December 2019.  That should take care of my movie reviewing backlog (and maybe, just maybe, I can finally start addressing my anime reviewing backlog).  However, unlike the previous one, which arranged the movies in the chronological order of when I watched them, this list is ordered from what I liked the most to the least.

Ad Astra

Brad Pitt won an Oscar for his supporting role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.  He was definitely amazing in that movie, but it can be argued that his best performance in 2019 was from Ad Astra.  In it, he plays a fearless astronaut named Roy McBride who sets out on a perilous mission to Neptune, where the Lima Project, an antimatter-powered ship that was supposed to look for intelligent life in far space, had mysteriously stopped and lost communication with Earth 16 years ago.  Its malfunctioning antimatter power source has been causing deadly power surges in Earth, and it ultimately threatens mankind with extinction.  Thus, McBride hopes to reach his father (Tommy Lee Jones) – the legendary astronaut in charge of the Lima Project, and who seems to be still alive – before it’s too late.

The slow-burn space epic is mesmeric and pensive, and ultimately cautions us from pursuing grand dreams, which in retrospect are actually foolish and unmeaningful, that we fail to actually pay attention to the things that really matter in life.

'One Cut of the Dead' Is Absolutely Awesome; Deserves More Hype

Written  and directed by Shin'ichirô Ueda, One Cut of the Dead – which was initially released in 2017 in Japan, but only got released in the West in 2019 (hence, I’m counting this as a 2019 film) – is one of the most impressive films I’ve ever seen.  It was made in just over a week with unknown actors, and within a budget of just around $25,000.  Still, it ended up becoming the greatest zombie comedy film of all time – yes, I think it’s better than Shaun of the Dead – and grossing more than $30.5 million (a whopping 121,900% return on investment).

One Cut of the Dead centers on a production for a zombie film that occurs in an abandoned water filtration plant.  Frustrated that the shooting is going badly so far, the director throws a fit, and calls for a break.  Then, out of nowhere, a real zombie apocalypse breaks out, threatening the film crew and cast.  However, the director is only delighted by it, and insists that they continue filming.

'Jojo Rabbit' Is a Satirical Masterpiece

When it comes to making hilarious, clever, refreshing films, Taika Waititi is – no question – a master.  What We Do in the Shadows.  Hunt for the Wilderpeople.  Thor: Ragnarok.  Those films are effortlessly pleasing.  However, his latest one, Jojo Rabbit, could be his best yet.  Brilliant and extremely enjoyable those aforementioned films may be, but they don’t quite have the depth and substance that Jojo Rabbit has.

'Little Women' Is a Delightful and Worthwhile Film Adaptation

I already mentioned before in this blog on a few occasions that I’m a Little Women fan boy. I’ve re-read the original novel and its sequels countless of times over, and I’ve seen almost all of its screen adaptations.  Thus, I was definitely not going to miss Greta Gerwig’s film adaptation of it.  And I might be biased here, but I thought it was pretty good.