MisterX867

Watching this definitely helped me see why it isn't held in high regard among most Super Sentai fans. It turned out to be a lot more sillier than I expected, some episodes were just ridiculous and it heavily depended on some sort of "Kid Of the Week" formula. Not sure why they felt the need to do that, aren't kids the target audience in the first place? I guess that's why the Burai episodes felt like the best, cause they seemed to drop the kid formula more in those episodes. While the Burai arc is good, the story as a whole is unfortunately just ok. It ended up feeling like only Geki and Burai have any development while the rest of the team only serve as filler. One thing that disappointed me was the fact that the mentor character felt nonexistent most of the time, sometimes I would just forget about Barza.

But despite all that I feel like it was worth the watch, it was still quite a fun watch and seeing how much different it is when compared to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was quite an experience. It is rather fascinating to see just how much was changed and some concepts in the show are way more interesting than anything MMPR had. I also enjoyed the villains more in Zyuranger than in MMPR.

I hope it continues to get Power Rangers fans interested in Super Sentai as it did with me.

Before watching Kamen Rider Ryuki the only other series I had watched was the very first one. I chose this one because a friend of mine went on a rant saying that the ending pissed him off a bit which got me quite curious.

The whole premise of this series is exceedingly fascinating in my opinion. I went into this without even reading a single thing about the plot so the growing number of riders caught me by surprise. It’s practically like someone decided to remake Battle Royale (2000) with Kamen Riders. As the more the show went on and more details came to the light, the entire premise just became more and more captivating. I was surprised with how a good handful of the story was actually quite dark and mature for what is technically a kids show.

I found Shinji Kido to be a decent main character, sure his naivety can be a little repetitive and some might find it annoying but I actually thought it was realistic since the dude’s young and just found himself in a bizarre situation he knew absolutely nothing about, it’s no wonder he has breakdowns here and there. Ren Akiyama was a blast, he is the embodiment of what I’d most likely expect a edgy lone rival to actually be like.

I think I’d say Takeshi Asakura and Shuichi Kitaoka were my fav. Riders. Asakura simply due to how exceedingly crazy the dude seemed to be, hell his entire backstory is nuts. Seeing a maniacal guy like him in this show was quite exciting, I just wanted to see how much crazier his antics would get with every appearance he made. Kitaoka never failed to make me laugh and he had an incredibly over the top final vent that I freaking love!

The only characters I really didn’t care for were Nanako Shimada and Megumi Asano. Nanako was only really helpful for 1 single episode in my opinion and Megumi only felt relevant in her debut episode. They were actually the least funny characters in the show in my opinion.

I can definitely see why my friend did not like the ending of this series and I’ve actually heard that quite a number of fans out there did not like it either. I completely understand why folks will say that the ending is just a ‘cop-out’ but despite that I actually do appreciate parts of it somehow. It certainly wasn’t what I expected at all and I even agree with all the criticisms I have seen about it but to me it somehow ended in a way that just felt…poignantly right in my opinion.

Overall I definitely enjoyed Ryuki a lot. It was very fun, had very engaging and well developed characters, exceedingly unique rider designs, a superb atmosphere/setting and a thought provoking plot in my opinion. It’s by no means a perfect series but the positives far outweigh the negatives. So sorry to drag this on for so long but I just really had tons of fun watching this series.

I was pleasantly surprised by Dark Skies (2013). I went into this one knowing absolutely nothing about it and it actually managed to reel me in and keep me hooked. With the way it starts I was 100% expecting it to just be your run of the mill “haunted house” kind of film so what we actually got was a nice surprise in my opinion. Some details in the first quarter of the movie actually left me expecting it to be exactly like the movie Before I Wake (2016).

A lot of moments were surprisingly a lot freakier than expected despite the fact that they were actually pretty darn simple. For example, seeing the youngest son all of a sudden have no eyes, the dad’s face when he’s out alone by the yard or seeing the boarded up doors and windows come loose. I actually really love the fact that we don’t really get to see an up-close detailed look at the antagonists, I think the vagueness and the fact that it doesn't heavily rely on special effects helped a lot in upping the creepiness

Normally I would be a bit annoyed by the fact that a movie is a bit of a slow burner but I think this one used all its time well with great moments of building up tension or the great world building in the scene where we see J.K Simmons’ character. It actually was quite a ride seeing the characters go from being surprised, to scared, to denial and finally accepting the reality that they were in. The great way it was all built up made this a captivating watch.

Just about every main actor in this did a great job, especially Keri Russell. They all really had me convinced that they were truly being terrorized by the end of it. I’m actually surprised that even the child actor impressed me because I usually think they’re the worst.

The only negative thing that sticks out, which I actually found to be cringe-inducing, was the scene where the oldest son is talking to a girl, more specifically the moment where I guess he tries to reenact a scene he saw in a porn movie, it was just odd as hell in my opinion.

Other little random thoughts:

I found Daniel, the dad, to be my favorite character. Some might think he was a bit of an asshole but I just found him to be the most realistic character, all of his reactions were exactly how I would expect an average every day John Doe to react like.

Maybe it’s just me but I actually found this movie to be very reminiscent of the movie 1408 (2007).

It was clichéd as hell but I kinda liked the fact that the couple seemed to have become paranormal investigators at the end of the film.

This started off well, I enjoyed the premise of someone all of a sudden becoming a mage's apprentice while also teaching him about humanity (Though starting it all off by being bought as a slave girl was utterly bizarre). But in the end it didn't really do much with this premise, I was excited to see Chise learn spells and so on but we don't really get to see much teaching at all, a ton of the times she just miraculously just somehow knows what to do.

After about 6 episodes I found myself thinking it was getting repetitive, same formula over and over. Chise gets in some trouble, new character arrives to help her, it ends on cliff hanger and problem is solved in the next episode's first 5 minutes. A ton of side characters left as fast as they arrived not even giving you a chance to learn to like them and making them feel like the "Deus Ex Machina" of the week. After the first half it just ends up being super slow in my opinion which causes it to be unengaging. Some plot points even end up being pointless in the end. For example, we see her spend some time making a wand and I believe we only ever get to see her use it less than 3 times. Maybe it's just me but I actually got the impression that this series couldn't make up its mind on whether it wanted to be episodic or actually carry an overarching plot.

I honestly thought the 3 episode OVA from 2016 was a million times better than these 24 episodes. I have not read the manga, but I've heard from fans of it that this anime series feels aimless without the knowledge of the manga and some viewers may end up confused. In the end this really just feels like Twilight in anime form.

The curiosity of seeing how different Choujinki Metalder is from VR Troopers is what brought me to check it out and just like how Power Rangers pushed me to watch Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. It is incredibly fascinating to see how different the original Japanese show is when compared to the American adaptation. I was 100% sure that there would be absolutely no mention of Virtual Reality (Seriously what was the deal with the VR craze in the 90s…?) but what I never expected was for the series to actually be about a full-fledged war machine, kind of a dark premise when you think about it. I was also surprised at how many dark details pop up in this series, ranging from mentions of war prisoner experiments to prison executions.

I ended up really liking Metalder, he has an incredible design, the detail on the suit is astonishing with all the lights and circuit boards and I really liked those little moments where we see the inner machinations of it whenever he required repairs. One could argue that he ends up being pretty flat personality wise, but you gotta keep in mind that he is a machine that must learn what it is like to be human and I actually really enjoyed seeing him have to learn about humanity and emotions. It helped a lot in building him up to be the compassionate character he is in the end. Seiko Seno did an absolutely magnificent job as Metalder, his shift from completely robotic to compassionate and caring was incredible. One small detail I was impressed by was how good of a job he did at trying to blink as little as possible.

The allies were just ok in my opinion. Mai didn’t really impress me that much, she was just there to be kidnapped in the beginning and later was just there and Hakkou was an idiot at first but at least he became a little humorous over time but they both had some great heartfelt moments here and there. If you would have told me in the past that Choujinki Metalder had a talking dog I would’ve called you a liar and I would have bet all my limbs that Saban’s VR Troopers came up with it, thankfully Springer is actually more useful and less annoying than his counterpart in the Saban adaptation.

I was honestly amazed seeing the villains get so much attention, I would argue that I got to learn just as much about them as I did about Metalder. The way we would see training montages from them, holding up to their sense of honor, mourning each other sometimes or seeing them challenge each other for the right to fight Metalder next was just fascinating to me. All of this helped an army of war machines actually feel human. There were several times where I found myself sympathizing for some villains, and almost wanting to root for them. It also took me by surprise that almost every enemy of the week ended up being revealed in the first episode, which must have been a nightmare for the crew to have them all ready so soon. I hate to be so predictable but my favorite member of the Neros Empire in terms of both design and personality was definitely Top Gunder, I just tend to love anti-heroes in these sorts of shows so I was excited every time he showed up.

Emperor Neros was pretty damn terrifying in my opinion, I think it’s because of how damn realistic his face looked and his nightmare-fueled transformation, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear if parents complained about it. I liked the fact that he tried to think outside the box, like trying to exploit things in Metalder’s programming in attempts to make him put his guard down. I also enjoyed how we got to see Neros actually respect his lackeys, he would often ask for his generals’ approval in some decisions or motivate them with a promotion instead of always threatening them with death.

The action in the show was not as fast paced or as advanced as what I’m used to seeing these days but that doesn’t hold it back one bit, every single battle was very entertaining and held my attention. A magnificent job was done at making the fights feel heavy and powerful, the good use of slow motion only amplified it further. Hell sometimes Metalder would catch me by surprise by pulling off a fatality out of nowhere. The soundtrack also did a perfect job in amping up the action especially with the great basslines in some pieces, some music pieces felt like they were pulled straight out of an 80s action movie.

I don’t really have anything I hated in this series but I guess I do have some nitpicks: I honestly think his bike could have been better without the sidecar, it just saw so little use throughout the show. His civilian vehicle was pretty lame, instead of the Mazda car I thought his civilian vehicle should have just been his motorcycle in a more casual form. I was surprised that Metalder never received some sort of weapon over time, the intro made me expect a sword to be obtained at some point but then again I suppose a war machine most likely wouldn’t need weapons. The only thing that constantly irritated me was seeing Metalder’s shoulder pads flail around like crazy in action scenes but like I said, I’m just nitpicking.

Overall I’m very satisfied with Choujinki Metalder, strong entertaining action, heartfelt moments (last 3 episodes had very strong moments), fascinating characters and designs all around, dark tones with humor to balance it out, I truly think this was a great one.

This is one of those films that I actually think critics were way too harsh on. Reviews made me go into this expecting something terrible but I was pleasantly satisfied.

I thought the movie's premise was pretty interesting, the thought of orcs and elves living modern day lives and having regular jobs in this movie fascinated me and this is what made it a fun watch for me. It actually felt like watching a random one-shot comic as a movie. Joel Edgerton did a phenomenal job and his character was the most interesting one in my opinion. The action in the film was very enjoyable, and it had some pretty good suspenseful moments.

That being said, I can see why some folks do not like this movie, I found a good chunk of the dialogue between the main duo to be rather awkward, like SW prequel trilogy awkward and I must admit some of the humor was a bit hit or miss. Despite the fact that I loved the premise of it I must also admit that it could have focused way more on world building by showing off a whole lot more different species than what we actually focused on or giving us a bit more on the setting's backstory.

Nowhere near perfect but I still think it's worth a watch, it's a pretty standard buddy cop film in my opinion.

I'm not gonna call this one terrible at all, it's a pretty unique horror movie but it just wasn't for me.

I didn't like how much of a slow burner it was despite being a slasher film, took a whole hour for the horror aspects to get a move on. We get 60 mins of sex and about 30 to 35 mins of horror. Like I get it, it's the premise of the thing but Jesus they drag out those freaking scenes for way too long, if I wanted to see porn I'd just see porn. By the time we get to the horror I didn't even care about it anymore, though I will say I found about 2 of the kills to be pretty unique and well executed.

I honestly think that I might have liked it better if RJ ended up snapping and becoming the actual villain and say he's gonna turn the film into his own sick project but instead we end up with "Old gross people are jealous to a crazy level that they can't have sex". The villains also seemed to switch between pathetically weak and strong & stealthy on a dime.

I think I'd rather re-watch The Skeleton Key (2005) or Malignant (2021) than watch this again.