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Movie Reviews, movies

YouTube Movie Reviews: The Sandlot

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I’ve been avoiding this movie for a while now. I loved this movie as a kid, I have very fond memories about it, but I was afraid that time might have been too kind to one of my favorite movies. There are a lot of movies from my childhood that I can’t bring myself to rewatch because I don’t want to ruin my memories of them. I know they were always bad movies, but I cherish the experience. I am happy to write that The Sandlot still holds up.

The Sandlot is told by an adult reflecting on events of his childhood. He is unreliable. Details might be misremembered, others might be embellished for the story, but it works perfectly for this narrative. Some of us look back on our childhood with a fondness that distorts our retelling. What might and might not have happened ultimately doesn’t matter because it is the emotions that exist within those memories that cherish. The games we played, the friends we made, and the adventures we had are all pieced together into an epic we carry with us. The actual events might not have been anything special, but the memories are. That is what this movie captures very well. 

The Sandlot does a great job of showing the grandeur of childhood. Before the big reveal at the end, the beast is portrayed as a giant blood-thirsty monster. A lot of the interactions between the kids and the best are these epic missions to retrieve the ball. It is only at the end, when they get the full story that the beast is no longer a monster but a sweet giant dog. This is what childhood is. A period full of wonder, urban legends, and adventures with your friends. I remember playing with my friends until the street lamps came on. I remember sharing a cigarette behind my middle school because we all wanted to look cool. This is why this movie still holds up. 

You can watch this movie for free on YouTube.

Watch it here!
Movie Reviews, movies

Movie Reviews: Turning Red (2022)

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Turning Red is the perfect coming-of-age movie. It has fun and quirky characters, a cute story, and the song will get stuck in your head. Turning Red is a wonderful story of dealing with the changes of puberty and the pressures of clashing cultures. Mei has always been the ideal daughter, doing what she is told and working hard to make her family proud, but Mei also has desires and likes outside of these traditions. This movie does a great job at showing this constant struggle as Mei comes to the age where she wants to find herself. Is she the traditional little girl her mother wants her to be, a quirky Canadian teen, or is she a mixture of both? It is a wonderful exploration of identity accompanied by catchy boy band music.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I urge you to stop what you are doing and watch it now! Turning Red is an excellent example of how great Disney movies can be. Plus cute Red Pandas. Turning Red is available for streaming on Disney+.

Movie Reviews, movies

Movie Review: Lantern’s Lane (2021)

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Do not waste your time on this terrible movie. The camera work, the plot, the acting, and the big reveal are irredeemably bad. There is nothing worth watching in this movie.

Lantern’s lane is about a girl who returns to her rural home town where she reunites with friends from high school. Bitter that she hasn’t returned, her friends attempt to play a prank on her by scaring her. Things turn sour when a killer starts hunting them instead. The mom and daughter from the opening scene are the killers. This movie spoils its ending in the first five minutes of play time with its terrible acting and camera work. Lantern’s Lane is a great example of a filmmaker who is trying way too hard to be symbolic. This movie is full of obvious foreshadowing that ruins any tension that this movie could have had. Not that anything of note ever happens. It takes a whole hour before the horror element comes into play, but it doesn’t matter because you already know who the killer is.

Instead, you are forced to sit through terribly read high school drama no one asked for. I don’t know which is worse, the acting or the writing. I don’t think anyone involved with the making of this movie has ever talked to a real person before. The dialogue in this movie is unreal. You can mash your keyboard right now, and the outcome would be better dialogue.

And the editing of this movie? I don’t think there is a single scene in this movie that isn’t a collection of shots lazily pieced together. There are more cuts in a scene of simple dialogue than there are in an MCU fight scene. Disney cuts fight scenes to hide the fact that the actors can’t fight. This movie does it to hide the fact that they can’t act. There are moments of dialogue where there is a 5-second delay before an actor responds to what was just said. I wouldn’t be surprised if the actors weren’t competent enough to remember simple dialogue. 

Don’t waste your time with this movie. Even if you like watching bad movies for fun, there’s nothing here for you. It isn’t worth sitting through because nothing happens. You don’t even get to see anyone die. But if you don’t believe me, you can watch it on Hulu.

Movie Reviews, movies

YouTube Movie Reviews: WarGames (1983)

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This will be less of a review and more of an analysis. If you haven’t seen Wargames, you need to watch it. This movie is a classic for a reason. The cast is great, and the story is fun. Best of all? You can watch it for free on YouTube! Don’t waste your time on the sequel. It’s not bad, but it isn’t anything special.

I’ve been watching a few movies from the ’80s and something that stood out to me this time around was the use of video games. WarGames hinges on the idea that computer games can be used for learning. The first time we are introduced to Matthew, the main character, he is playing at an arcade. Matthew was looking up unreleased games when he found the AI that sets the plot in motion. Video games were also a subtle way to show character traits. Matthew playing video games is a way to show that he was intelligent and good with computers. Video games in these movies are a test of skill, but they are also a call to action. Look at movies like Tron or The Last Starfighter where video games start the plot. They are also an integral part of their storytelling.

Video games still play a big part in cinema today, although they have become less of a novelty. Gaming has become such a big part of our culture that it is embedded itself in our language. You hear it when people use words like “Epic” or “Noob” in their daily conversation. The morphology of words has shifted to cater to gamers. You watch movies like Free Guy that are loaded with gaming references, and we understand these references because they are so integrated into our culture. Things like the Fortnite dances or the Zelda shield don’t need context. There are Twitch streamers who share the same screen as big named actors. Gaming in movies has taken on a lot more roles and has helped tell a lot more stories. It is interesting to see where it all started and how much it has grown. That is if you ignore the commercial aspect of it.

Anyways, go watch Wargames!

Watch It Here!
Movie Reviews, movies

YouTube Movie Reviews: Battle Beyond The Stars (1980)

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Battle Beyond the Stars is a Sci-Fi movie I didn’t know I needed in my life. YouTube has been recommending this movie for a while now, and today I finally decided to give it a try. I found it delightful. Fans of Sci-Fi or Fantasy, this is the movie for you. There are space battles, an evil warlord, unique characters, and an epic journey. This is a fun film, and I recommend it to everybody. 

I will say that some modern audiences might find the pacing a bit slow. I believe the pacing to be fitting, but it is something to keep in mind. The movie is also very cheesy, but the cheesiness is part of the charm. For those of you who love cheesy 80’s, you should at least consider Battle Beyond the Stars.

My favorite aspect of this movie is the creativity. From the different aliens to the space ships, the filmmakers build a universe that feels diverse and expansive. You can tell this movie was low budget, but that doesn’t matter because the story is worth it. I didn’t care that some of the spacesuits were cardboard and duct tape. I didn’t care that the space battles were toys. I didn’t care because the story was so compelling. I admire how much suspense this movie creates with such a small budget.  Battle Beyond the Stars proves that a good movie doesn’t have to have a million-dollar budget to be good. All it needs is a good story.

For those interested, you can watch it on YouTube for free.

Watch It Here!
Movie Reviews, movies

Movie Review: I Want You Back (2022)

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Despite what you may think about romantic comedies, “I Want You Back” is one that you should at least consider. Jenny Slate and Charlie Day work spectacularly together! This movie is well-written, well-acted, and delightful at its worst. If you have an Amazon Prime subscription, you need to see this now.

Something to think about before going into this movie is that the characters’ morals are a bit hazy. This movie features two heartbroken characters who find comfort in each other’s company. They have recently gone through a hard breakup and are learning to cope with being alone. This movie does a great job of showing how difficult heartbreak is to overcome. The two plot to help each other break up their ex-partners. This plot is problematic because the main characters are set to ruin relationships and lives for selfish motives. This genre tends to have these problematic immoralities because love makes people do crazy things. In this case, I can excuse it because the journey is well worth the immorality.

The best part about this movie is watching the relationship between the two leads blossom. The chemistry they share is the reason you should watch this movie. The supporting cast is nothing to scoff at. Together they tell a very entertaining story that I must recommend to everyone. As a bonus, this movie has a great musical number. It is beautifully performed and perfectly woven into the plot. I enjoyed it thoroughly. If you have little interest in this movie, that moment is very much worth your time, but it makes more sense in context.

Watch this even if you don’t like the genre. This brings new life to a genre that has been a bit stagnant as of late. It is a nice date night movie, but I would argue that it is a fun anytime movie.

Series Reviews

TV Series Review – The Tick

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I want to try to sell you on a show that isn’t going to be for everyone. The Tick is a superhero show that is available with your Amazon Prime subscription that isn’t your typical MCU cash-in. The Tick is a parody of the genre and a good one at that. The show follows the crime-fighting duo, The Tick and Arthur. The Tick is a neigh-invulnerable super with a strong and unwavering sense of justice, but he isn’t very bright. Arthur is a nerdy accountant with a super-suit. Together they fight crime and make friends along the way.

The show is cheesy and over the top. It is a tone that won’t resonate with all audiences, but it is one that I found delightful. I cannot see this story told effectively in any other way. There are random dance parties, meaningless monologues, cheesy catchphrases, and lots of silly moments that grant this show its charm. Think of it as a live-action cartoon that leans heavily into its cartoonishness.

If you are a fan of the original comic or cartoon, this is a completely new narrative. I haven’t read the comic and I only have vague memories of the cartoon so this review is based on the show. I do not know how they compare, but I did enjoy this retelling.

The Tick has a great cast with tremendous chemistry making for memorable characters and interactions. it tells a unique story that hasn’t been told before and one that is told effectively. Finally, it is a lighthearted and wholesome comedy that is accessible for the whole family. What more can you ask for in a superhero parody?

As a comic book fan who doesn’t care much for the MCU/DCU, I found this show refreshing. When comic culture started to become mainstream, I was excited and then quickly disappointed by how generic all the stories ended up being. I am delighted to have stumbled on a story that is both different and entertaining. It might not have epic battles or world-ending events, but it has a charm that should not be overlooked.

Series Reviews

The Legend of Vox Machina (2022) – Revisited

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The second set of episodes have just been released for The Legend of Vox Machina; I would like to take this time to revise my initial review. I was correct in assuming that it was too early to tell whether or not this show was any good, but I was right in saying that it was heading in the right direction. With this new set of episodes, the writers show important moments of character growth, and I for one am here for it!

This show is casual fantasy. It has enough fantasy elements to satisfy any hardcore fantasy enthusiast, but it doesn’t isolate those who just want something else to watch. As of now, you do not need to know and follow different tribes or houses. You do not need to keep track of different races or their languages. You do need to know who the main characters are and track the subtle nuances of their character development: their backstory, goals, and how they change over the adventure. This show does a great job at creating these moments of character growth without making members of Vox Machina overpowered and boring.

The strongest aspect of this show is its main cast. Vox Machina is crude, imperfect, and they struggle a lot. This struggle is important this early because it is in their failures and what they learn from them that the story happens. Despite Vox Machina’s poor reputation, the show does a great job establishing that they are still above average. There are moments in the show where an enemy easily overpowers guards or heroes, yet somehow Vox Machina holds its own. This helps establish Vox Machina as heroes without making them overpowered. They still struggle to win against these enemies, but just barely. They still have much to learn, which is perfect because it means more story for us!

I still believe that some knowledge of the Critical Role and D&D would help with the experience, although it isn’t necessary. There are a few inside jokes only accessible to fans of the show, and I as a fan enjoyed them thoroughly.

Lastly, this show also does a great job at translating tabletop to animated series. I like the way they handle skill checks and magic., but I can see it going over people’s heads. It helps to understand why a spell doesn’t go off or why a scene ends the way it does.

Movie Reviews, movies

YouTube Movie Review: Black Sheep (1996)

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Chris Farley and David Spade make a great duo. The chemistry and charisma they share always make for a great experience. However, I do not think this is one of them. This movie isn’t bad; there are worse comedies out there. The problem with this movie is its pacing. This movie moves slowly, and although the jokes are funny, you have to wait a long time to get to them. Your time is better spent watching clips of the best moments. Watch Tommy Boy instead.

I don’t think this movie uses its actors efficiently. Farley isn’t as big or loud as he should be, and I forgot Spade was in this movie. There are moments in this movie where you get a taste of this movie’s wasted potential. There is a scene in this movie where Farley is put on stage at a rock show and the way he commands the stage, his charisma, and the energy he puts forth is proof that he was a treasure and wasted in this movie.

If you are a fan of this movie, it is free on YouTube. If you
want to watch a classic comedy, watch Naked Gun instead. I don’t believe that this is a movie that most audiences will enjoy.

Watch it Here!
Movie Reviews, movies

Movie Reviews: The Watch (2012)

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“The Watch” is one of those movies that is more about the actors than the plot. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it helps to be a fan of the main actors. As far as buddy comedies go, this one is fine. The chemistry between the actors is infectious, and there are some funny bits. Each of the actors plays to his strengths and they create some delightful characters. The problem with this film is that it doesn’t have much replay value. Essentially, this is a collection of funny moments woven together by an alien invasion plot.

I enjoyed this movie the first time. I cannot deny that it has a certain charm about it. Unfortunately, that charm wears off on the second viewing. Once you know all the jokes and have seen all the bits, you are just waiting around for meaningless plot development to get settled. It isn’t bad for what it is. God knows I have seen a lot worse, but you won’t remember watching this movie. Instead, you will remember specific bits and moments you think are funny.

I do not think this movie is worth paying any money to see, it is not entertaining enough to be worth any money, but as a free movie, you can do a lot worse. It is free on Amazon through IMDB, but I recommend you watch it elsewhere without ads because the ads do affect the viewing experience. If you do have to pay for it, I recommend watching “a best of” on YouTube instead.