Reaction & Review | Lupin the 3rd: The Secret of Twilight Gemini

 

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Lupin the Marathon" here on Reaction & Review. Oh boy, guys, I am really excited about this marathon that I'm about to start here! And yes, I am doing another themed marathon right after finishing my previous "Tales of the Longbox" marathon. And this marathon is gonna be dedicated solely to movies centered on the "Lupin the 3rd". Now, I've always wanted to do this particular marathon ever since I covered "The Secret of Harimao's Treasure" several years ago. And I decided for myself that I wasn't gonna cover any more Lupin movies until I had enough for a marathon. Well thankfully, I bided my time long enough, and it's finally paid off now that I'm pulling the trigger on this marathon.

And it's perfect timing, too. Because, not only is this a brand new theme marathon that I'm doing, it's also the 250th episode of Reaction & Review. Which is awesome to hit that milestone. So, yeah, I totally picked the right moment to do this whole thing. And we're gonna kick this marathon off with one of the first movies I ever bought in preparation for this marathon. It came out in 1996. That movie is "Lupin the 3rd: The Secret of Twilight Gemini".

Now, you're gonna hear me say this a lot throughout most of this entire marathon. I don't know a thing about this movie. And I literally do mean that. I know almost jack all about it. Now, there will be a couple of exceptions to all this much later on, but for now, I just want to focus on tonight's movie. And the only thing I actually know about it is, well, it's a movie about Lupin the 3rd, and there's some sort of treasure involved that he and his friends go after.

Beyond that, I know nothing else about it. I'm going into most of these movies as blind as I can, because I really don't want to be spoiled by any of them. I'm hoping this one will start off on a high note for this marathon. But the only way I'll know that for sure is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Lupin the 3rd: The Secret of Twilight Gemini".

14 minutes later

So, this cult-looking group here that we just saw a moment ago, well, I'm now getting a second look at them as they're all together. And for some reason, their attire almost looks identical to the Klu-Klux-Klan. No seriously, guys, their robes are nearly similar to the KKK. Only difference being that they're not being dressed by white dudes, they're all Moroccan. Just felt like I wanted point that out since it's the first thing that came to my mind by just looking at them.

4 minutes later

You know, guys, I think this might be one of the closest times Lupin has ever gotten to doing it with Fujiko. Unfortunately for him, though, and probably Fujiko as well, he ditches her at the last moment so that he could get away from the Russian lady and her forces. At least, I *think* she's Russian. I could be totally wrong there. I'm not the best with deciphering accents.

14 minutes later

OK, guys, you know what? I will say that this flashback sequence is sorta unique, in the way that it's being played out as a silent film, even though there is a narrator speaking through the whole thing. Granted, I'm not totally sure why they couldn't get any voiceovers to do this segment instead, seeing as how you have a speaking narrator and all, but honestly, I'm not gonna complain about it too much. It's just something I wanted to mention is all.

6 minutes later

OK, that has got to be one of the fakest mustaches I've seen in a long time. And considering that it's a Lupin disguise, I'm surprised Zenigata or any of the officials near him are not picking up on this act quicker. I'm just saying, guys, that disguise probably would've looked better, had he not gotten stuck with that incredibly fake mustache. But perhaps that's just me.

9 minutes later

So I just learned something new today. I learned that Goemon can apparently play the flute. I never would've known that. I honestly thought it was just a background piece at first, but then I saw him play it, and I learned that he could do something other than meditate. You really learn something new everyday, don't ya?

11 minutes later

Guys, I just wanted to say right now that the music in this movie is great. Granted, that's a not a huge surprise, considering "Lupin the 3rd" has always had great music. But it's still worth mentioning, because it never fails to sound awesome.

8 minutes later

So, instead of leaving Laura in the quicksand like she told him to do, he decides to jump in with her because he's kind of an idiot that way. Dude, I know it's a girl and all, but you could've found a different way to save her before she drowns in quicksand. Then again, I've thankfully never been anywhere near quicksand myself, so I probably wouldn't know what to do with a straight mind myself in that situation. Either way, it was still kind of stupid of him to do that.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Lupin the 3rd: The Secret of Twilight Gemini". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well, I can start off by saying that I'm definitely gonna be in for a fun couple of months here with this marathon. This movie was pretty good. Now mind you, it's certainly not as good as the other 2 films I've seen in this series, such as "The Castle of Cagliostro" and "The Secret of Harimao's Treasure". But on it's own standards, it's a really entertaining film. And that, to me, is what I care most about in movies is if they're entertaining. And this one definitely fits that mold really well.

So, let's go ahead and start this review off proper by first going into the writing. The writing here is pretty good for the most part. Essentially, there's this treasure in Morocco that can only be opened by a gem called the "Twilight". And as you can guess, it's pretty much a key to that treasure that Lupin gets from an old man who wants him to go find it. Now there is a particular reason as to why he chose Lupin to go find it, other than the fact that he, himself, can't do it anymore, as he's very sick. And from the moment that Lupin lands in Morocco, he has to contend with other groups such as the Geltic's, which is the group that Laura, a supporting character, is a part of. The Secret Society, which is the group that has the KKK robes on them. And, of course, you have Detective Zenigata, who, of course, is after Lupin himself to arrest him. Which, for those of you who have no knowledge of "Lupin the 3rd", he's pretty much the Wile E. Coyote of the series. Mind you, I'm not saying that as an insult. It's just more of an observation as I am typing this.

So, the story here is pretty basic for the most part. It's really not too hard to follow. Though admittedly, it is pretty predictable. Like, when you first hear about the story involving the origins of the "Twilight" key and how it relates to Laura, you can pretty much guess everything else about her. And also, I should mention that there's another character in this movie that's also a part of the Secret Society that is after Lupin, since he has the "Twilight" key and that they want it to restore the Geltic's to their former glory. One of the members, who doesn't wear any ropes, basically looks like a woman, but it's confirmed that he's really a guy. Yeah, it's one of those androgynous characters that sorta threw me off a bit. But yeah, he's only here to kill Lupin, while at the same, also tangles with Goemon, who apparently knows him and wants to kill him. Yeah, that's never really expanded upon in the film, so it's just something that apparently exists just for the sake of existing.

While I'm kind of on the subject here, most of our characters here are establishing characters that you see from the "Lupin the 3rd" TV series and movies. I haven't read any of the comic strips, so I can't say anything about that one. But I will say that the characters are mostly likable. Mind you, characters like Goemon and Jigen, for example, have very short screen time here. So they're not in the movie for very long. Fujiko, on the other hand, definitely has more screen time, and it's also here that I need to mention that this movie has quite a lot of nudity here. There are several scenes here where you get to see Fujiko's boobs hanging out. And it's quite honestly surprising to me, because, I don't think I've *ever* seen this much nudity in a "Lupin" anything ever. The closest to anything like that would be if Fujiko is a wearing a swimsuit. But other than that, most of that was rather tame in comparison to this film. Then again, the version I have on DVD does advertise itself as it being the "Uncut" feature. Which makes me believe that this movie was probably aired on TV and they had to censor the boobs and all. Mind you, that's mostly just a guess from me, but it is something that I wanted to bring up because it's just something I noticed as I was watching it.

But otherwise, guys, the writing here, despite it being kinda predictable, is still pretty good here enough to where you could overlook some of the flaws the movie has with it's story. Now as for the acting, I'm going by what I watched from the English dub. And the dub here is pretty good for the most part. It was dubbed by Funimation, and they usually do a pretty good job with their dubs. This one is no exception. The one I have to give the most credit for is Sonny Strait as Lupin. When I first heard it here in this movie, it sounded a little bit off to me. And the main reason why I say that is because I'm mostly use to hearing Tony Oliver voicing Lupin more. That said, though, Sonny does do a good enough job to where he can match the characteristics of how Lupin is portrayed here. And the rest of the acting is pretty solid, too. But again, the actors from Funimation usually do a really good job with their voice work, so it's not too much of a surprise from me, honestly.

Animation here is mostly really good. This movie, along with most of the other Lupin films that I'm gonna be covering for this marathon, was made by TMS. Most of the time, their animations look great, especially when it comes to "Lupin the 3rd". But admittedly, this one does feel a little bit on the cheap side. Not terrible, mind you, but when you compare it to everything else that they've made that has Lupin's name on it, this one does feel a little bit on the unpolished side of things. The scene I mentioned earlier involving the flashback hits the worst of these notes, because most of the time, the animation there feels like they were cutting some corners when it comes to any of the characters running. That said, I don't know if that was done intentionally for the flashback sequence, or if it was just a budget issue. Either way, though, the animation for this movie could've been a little better with some polish here and there. But otherwise, the animation here is still really good in most of the other areas here. The color palettes are great, too, as everything is very colorful here. So yeah, animation, minus a few mishaps here and there, is pretty solid.

Sound-mix here is mixed very well. The music here is also really good, too. While it's not as memorable as other songs from the previous two Lupin films that I've seen, it's still really good to listen to. Both in score and in soundtrack.

So ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Lupin the 3rd: The Secret of Twilight Gemini"? Most certainly, yes. This movie, while certainly flawed in certain areas, is still very entertaining. And I would totally recommend it to anyone who is a fan of "Lupin the 3rd". Now as for first timers getting into the series, I would say go watch something like "The Castle of Cagliostro", as that, in my opinion, is a great starting point for any newcomers to the series. But as for everyone else who is a fan, if you haven't seen this film yet, go ahead and check it out. It's definitely worth your time, and is very entertaining to watch. I would say that this movie borders on being a popcorn flick, where it's just there to have fun and knows it. So yeah, again, I can totally recommend this film to you guys, especially if you're a fan of "Lupin the 3rd". Now, as for myself, well...seeing as how I mentioned "The Castle of Cagliostro" just a moment ago, I'm gonna go ahead and watch that movie next, because it's, so far anyway, the best Lupin movie I've ever seen. So, I'm gonna go and do that next once I get done with this review.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Batman: The Movie

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, we're closing out this edition of "Tales of the Longbox" with a movie that I've been really curious about for a long time. The movie came out in 1966. That movie is "Batman: The Movie".

Oh yes, guys, this is the film that I've been really anticipating the most out of this entire marathon. Which is funny to say, considering that I haven't really covered a lot of DC Comics films throughout most of this marathon, outside of that "Wonder Woman" animated movie. And while I will admit that I had thought about switching the placement of this movie with "Ultimate Avengers: The Movie", I ultimately stuck to my guns here and decide to end the marathon with this movie instead.

Now, for those of you unaware, this movie is based off the Batman series from the 60's starring Adam West. Now while I haven't seen any episodes from that show, I am aware of certain aspects from it, such as it being a campy, goofy comedy series rather than the straight-up dark and serious stories we have with the Dark Knight today. And while I do enjoy some of the serious aspects of Batman, I'm also somebody who really enjoys campy humor, as long it's done properly. And considering that this film is based off the Adam West series, I think this will cover all of that perfectly.

So, I'm really looking forward to seeing how all of this will play out. I'm hoping for it to be amazing, but I would also be shocked if this thing somehow, someway, ends up sucking hard! I have a feeling that it won't, but you never know with this series. Really, guys, the only way I'm gonna find out how good this movie can possibly be is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Batman: The Movie".

4 minutes later

So, apparently there exists a Bat Copter at the airport for anytime Batman and Robin need it. I gotta say, that Bat Copter looks really fucking cool. Hell, now that I'm looking at it more, I kinda want one of those of my own. Whether it's the real thing or even just a model of the copter would be perfectly fine with me, either way.

2 minutes later

OK...I love how when they drop the "Bat Ladder", there is a *literal* tag on it at the bottom, telling you that it's a Bat Ladder. Holy shit, that is so stupid, and yet so lovably awesome at the same time! That is just fucking hilarious as shit, guys.

4 minutes later

Wait, so that shark really did explode after being sprayed with the "shark repellent bat spray"?! OK...well, I've now learned that shark repellent bat spray is fucking deadly as shit. You learn something new everyday.

12 minutes later

Oh my god...there's a *literal* penguin submarine, and it even has little webbed feet acting as the rotors! I am *loving* this movie, guys, more and more with each passing minute. This is just amazing!

18 minutes later

I'm sorry, guys, if I'm not saying a whole lot right now, I'm really just kinda getting sucked into the story here. I'm really enjoying it so far and I'm hoping it stays this way throughout the remainder of it.

6 minutes later

OK, you know what? Out of all the vehicles I've seen so far in this movie, these, uh...parasol-looking vehicles, I guess, are probably the goofiest thing I've seen so far in this film. Mind you, it's funny as hell, but still, did you *really* need that many for all of the villains to ride on? Just something to ponder a little bit/ on, you know what I mean?

12 minutes later

So, this new weapon is able to turn people into literal ashes...O...K. Granted, it is really creative. Odd, and kinda morbid, but still, I gotta give some points for creativity.

18 minutes later

Once more, guys, I'm awfully sorry that I haven't been really saying very much. I know I should be commenting more on the movie itself. But I honestly have been so enamored with the movie that I just want to see where it's going to go next.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Batman: The Movie". And, uh...wow, what a film indeed. Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Sorry, guys, I had to take a moment away from my laptop here to digest everything I had experienced for myself. I know, for some people, that may not seem like I took a little time away for myself, but, then again, this is the kinda thing I have to work with when writing reviews rather than doing a video of them.

But anyway, let's talk about this movie, shall we? Now, I don't want to be those kinds of people who reminisce on how movies were made back in the day are so much *better* than how movies are made today. Because honestly, that isn't really fair to all modern movies. There have been some good ones out there. Granted, I haven't really seen a whole lot of them, but I do know that they exist. You just have to look for them yourself instead of just calling everything "slop" or "cape shit" online for the sake of bitching. That being said, I will say that this movie does something, at least when compared to other superhero films in the last few years, that I don't see very much of anymore. It knows how to have fun with itself. And, unlike certain superhero films where they are going through extensive reshoots and rewrites to their movies, this film knew what it wanted to be right from the word go, and it stuck by it all the way through. Which is something that, again, I don't see a whole lot of superhero films, let alone certain big blockbuster movies do anymore. And I think that more recent movies should take a cue on how this film was able to have fun with itself, while also knowing what it wants to be, rather than trying to rewrite and reshoot everything just for the sake of it.

Now, with all that out of the way, I should probably get back on track here and actually talk about the movie itself. I'm gonna start with the writing. And honestly, guys, the story in this movie is absolutely ridiculous. But then again, seeing as how this movie is pretty much an extended episode of the Adam West "Batman" series, it's to be expected. Now again, I know I have never seen any episodes of the show before, but I'm also aware that this series has been referenced in other movies and TV shows of the like, so I have a better grasp of it thanks to that, and also having seen this movie. As for the writing itself, well, it's more of just Batman and Robin trying to stop our villains consisting of Penguin, Joker, Riddler, and Catwoman from taking over the world. And that's the best way to simplify it. And you may have noticed that I didn't really react a whole lot to the film, other than the beginning bits of it. I was really invested into what was going on in the movie that if I tried to explain every bit of detail about the story, I would be spoiling it for you guys. Now granted, there really isn't much of a plot here, but I still feel like not spoiling any of it for you guys. Because I feel like this is one of those movies that you have to experience for yourself to show how overly ridiculous and fun this movie truly is.

That said, however, I will say that while the story here is completely ridiculous, it's not overly stupid either. There are some threads of logic here that make some level of sense. For example, Penguin has disguised himself as a pirate captain that they kidnapped way early on in the film, and is trying to gain access to the Batcave to find out where it's location is. Batman and Robin easily discover that it's just Penguin being a terrible disguiser, but they still go through with it anyway. But, instead of just blindly following Penguin's suggestion, they actually have a can of sleep bat spray to keep him knocked out, so that way, Penguin won't know where the Batcave actually is. And also, when they reach the cave, long after they knock out Penguin, they also wake him up by using "wake spray" to wake him up. Yes, seriously, that is an actual thing that Batman and Robin apparently have. But still, though, it actually does make some level of sense, since they already saw through Penguin's disguise and are taking extra precautions before going through with it. The only bit that I would say is sorta weak is how Bruce didn't discover that Kitka was easily Catwoman in disguise. Though honestly, I would just chalk that bit of logic up as a case of Superman Syndrome in this case.

As for the characters, well, it's obvious that all of these characters are from the Adam West series. So naturally, all of them are goofy and over-the-top, as is the tradition of it being from a campy series. I do want to mention the villains, though, for a moment. Because, I noticed something peculiar about one of them. Now again, the villains in this movie range from Joker, Penguin, Riddler, and Catwoman. And of all the villains in this movie, Joker is the one who feels like he has less of a presence here, unlike the other villains. Which is interesting, because when I think about how over-exposed he has been within the last number of years or so, him being just one of the gang is actually a really refreshing take on him, because I'm one of those people that is just sick and tired of the Joker entirely. So him taking a back seat here in this movie is honestly a *huge* breath of fresh air here. Now oddly enough, the one villain who gets the most screen time here is Catwoman. Which makes sense, considering the amount of time she spends with Bruce in this movie. Penguin feels like a second in command of the crew, while Riddler is there to give out his riddles through a missile. And no, I'm not kidding about that either. That's how he is able to give out his riddles while Batman and Robin try to solve them. It's incredibly stupid, but still very charming at the same time.

And that's one of the best words I can describe this movie's writing. It is so filled to the brim with campy charm that I loved every moment of it. Nothing about this movie feels boring. In fact, after watching this, I really want to see if I can track down the series on DVD at some point, because this movie was just so good to where I want to see *more* of it! That's how good this movie's writing is. And to top it all off, the acting here is also fantastic. I'm talking everyone from Adam West, to Burt Ward, to Cesar Romero, to Burgess Meredith, to Frank Gorshin, and to Lee Meriwether as Catwoman. All of these actors are great here, and I'm even going to include all of the supporting cast members that didn't have as big of a presence in this movie as the others did. All of them turned in fantastic showings. If I had to nitpick at all, I would say that Burt Ward's holy-insert pun here could possibly annoy some people. But honestly, that's not really enough for me to ding on his performance here. All of the acting here is great, and again, considering that they were reprising their roles from the show into this movie is certainly a huge treat here.

Special effects are the one thing that could potentially turn some people away from this movie. I say this, because a lot of the effects in this movie are on the cheaper side. For example, the shark that is biting onto Batman's leg is totally fake as shit, and the fight sequences are laughable at best. But I also have to remember that this movie is, again, apart of a TV show that was pretty much living on a low budget to begin with. And for those people who haven't seen it, if you're someone who has never seen anything related to the Adam West series, then it's possible that you may be turned off by these cheap effects. However, as someone who's into these sorts of films to begin with, I love it. Everything about this movie looks cheap, but it's also very charming, and I could tell that there was a lot of thought and love put into this movie. I got a huge laugh out of that submarine that looks like a penguin, and the fact that they even gave the rotors webbed feet is such a nice attention detail that even I wouldn't have thought of something like that. It's really cool to see that in action, plus all of the Bat vehicles are really cool, too. Same with the costuming. All of these costumes are great and iconic. Guys, special effects in this movie, while on the cheaper side, are great for the standards of the 60's show.

Camerawork here is really good. The lighting is also really good. Sound-mix is also mixed fine. The score is great. In fact, looking at the credits, the music was done by Nelson Riddle. He's also the same person who did the score for one of my favorite John Wayne movies called "El Dorado". So yeah, I can tell you guys that the score here is fantastic just based on that alone.

And ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Batman: The Movie"? Well, what do you think? Absolutely, guys, you bet your ass I can recommend this movie. This film is, quite possibly, one of the best superhero films I've ever seen. It really is that awesome. It's also really funny, too. But then again, we're talking about a movie that's based off a really campy TV show, so that's sort of a moot point. But yeah, guys, this film is fantastic. It may even rival some of my other favorite Batman movies that I've seen and own on DVD and VHS. I'll probably have to rewatch some of them to give my full assessment on it, but either way, this movie is going to have a *very* happy spot on my DVD shelf next to them. Hell, I may even watch it again at some point very soon. Although now that I think about it, I kinda want to see if I can track own the series on DVD somewhere. It shouldn't be too hard to find, possibly for cheap. So, I'm gonna go see if it's running online somewhere for a cheap price. If not, then I can just wait and buy the series at one of my local video stores. But yeah, guys, I can totally recommend this film to both fans of Batman and comic book movies in general. The movie is absolutely amazing, and I can't wait to watch it again soon.

And so, we come to the close of this year's "Tales of the Longbox" marathon. And speaking of marathon's, the next one is right around the corner. Where in it, I'll be taking a look at a group of movies dedicated to Lupin The 3rd. Oh my god, I seriously cannot wait for that one. But until then, guys, take care, and I'll see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Ultimate Avengers: The Movie

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm checking out an animated film from 2006. That movie is "Ultimate Avengers: The Movie".

Now, I do happen to remember a little bit about the Ultimate universe that Marvel ran from the mid-2000's. And when I say a little bit, I do mean that literally. It was essentially a different timeline separate from the main canon of Marvel Comics, which was also an attempt by Marvel to make the Ultimate universe well...somewhat more realistic and edgy, I guess. I don't remember all of the stories that happened in it, but I do remember stuff like Peter Parker was going out with Kitty Pryde of the X-Men instead of Mary Jane. I remember storylines like "Ultimatum", which turned out to be pretty fucking stupid. And I also happened to remember stuff like cannibalism, which happened quite a bit in the Ultimate universe. Don't ask me why, it's best you go read them for yourselves if you're really curious about that kind of thing.

But yeah, that's all I remember about the the Ultimate universe. Now admittedly, I don't know how much this movie is going to borrow from the Ultimate universe, if at all, or if it's just another origin story of how the Ultimate Avengers unite together. I don't know what this movie's going to be like, but I am still curious to find out. Now, on the off chance anyone may ask, yes, I have seen "The Avengers" MCU film that came out long after this movie, and I do remember mildly enjoying it. So, I'm hoping this movie is going to be unique in it's own way and, perhaps, maybe it'll turn out to be good.

That being said, though, I am setting my expectations low on this one. Because after watching "The Invincible Iron Man", I'm not expecting this thing to be amazing, let alone being good. In short, guys, in case you never read my review for "The Invincible Iron Man", it sucked massive throbbing dick. And this movie could possibly tread those lines of sucking as well. Now, I'm hoping that it doesn't, but considering that this thing came out a year before "The Invincible Iron Man", I'm not holding my breath on that. However, if there is any good news here, this movie is really short. It's only about an hour 10 minutes long. So, if this thing *does* suck, I can at least say that my pain will be short and sweet. Granted, I've said that about a couple of other films in the past, such as "Assault Girls" and "The Girl In The Shell", and, well, they were so awful that they ended up being on my Bottom 5 lists.

But hey, who knows? This movie could still somehow surprise me and wind up being decent. The only way I'm gonna find out, though, if it is decent at all, is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Ultimate Avengers: The Movie".

4 minutes later

So, not only are there mutant lizards working on this secret missile weapon with the Nazi's, the general commander is also himself a mutant lizard as well, who apparently has regenerative abilities. You know, somehow, I think certain groups of people would find that to be historically accurate in some way. And while I'm not gonna give out my politics here, I am gonna say that these mutant lizards look sorta cool, at least. So, I guess that's something.

17 minutes later

I didn't think this was actually possible, guys, but somehow, Tony Stark's actor sounds just about as wooden, if not more so, than how he did in "The Invincible Iron Man". And again, I should stress that this movie came out a year prior to "The Invincible Iron Man". And yet, his actor sounds almost no different than how he did before. That is a fucking accomplishment that I don't think this movie ever intended to go for, but somehow, they succeeded. That is fucking sad and depressing, guys.

12 minutes later

Guys, I'm already loving Thor in this movie. I don't know what it is exactly, but god damn it, it's already oozing with charm, and I'm hoping it stays that way with him for the remainder of this movie.

10 minutes later

Wait, so in this movie, Hank Pym is called Giant Man instead of Ant Man? I mean...it does make sense, what with his ability to grow bigger and all. But last I checked, the guy can still control ants, as has been demonstrated earlier. So, if that's the case, then who the hell is Ant Man in the Ultimate universe? I understand that it's mostly a trivial point and that it really doesn't matter here, but I'm still really curious about it.

16 minutes later

So, it took the movie almost half an hour to reintroduce Thor, after how I mentioned earlier about how much I loved him in this movie. That is...honestly, really fucking disappointing about how under-utilized he's been throughout this entire movie. That's really fucking sad, when you really think about it.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Ultimate Avengers: The Movie". Let me go ahead and shut the film off here...OK. So, what to say about this movie? Well honestly, guys, it's kind of a tough one here. I will say that the film did live up to being decent, which what I was hoping for anyways. But at the same time, it still leaves a lot to be desired here.

Why don't we start this review off proper here by first discussing the writing. Now, I mentioned earlier about how this movie has a very short runtime of 71 minutes. And that really is the biggest problem with this movie, as a whole, is that it's just really short. You only have so much time to introduce all of our primary characters, along with our story, which is really bare bones at best. Where a bunch of alien ships invade and Fury has to assemble a new team in order to stop this threat. That's really it for plot. And honestly, I'm perfectly OK with this. Because, honestly, when you're working an origin story, be it as a solo hero or team, you don't necessarily need an overly complex plot in order to introduce your characters. As long as you have a story that's easy to follow, then the build-up to your hero should also be decently developed as well. And for the most part, we do have that here. However, the short runtime is what dampers this film the most because, had this movie had gotten about 10-20 minutes more to work with, the film could've been fleshed out a whole lot more.

Now I'll get more into this as I go into the characters, but I do want to start with the positives here involving most of them. Most of our characters are very well developed and have quite a bit of personality. The best developed ones are a tie between Bruce Banner and Steve Rogers. For Banner, it's mostly about him trying to control his inner rage as the Hulk. While with Steve, aside from him being assigned to lead the Avengers, it's mostly just him trying to adjust to life in modern times after being frozen for many decades. The best moments involving him is when he goes to see Bucky, or "Buck" as he's called in this movie, as he's grown older while Steve looks the same as he did from the 40's. And we also learn that he's married to Steve's girlfriend, who's also grown older as well. This stuff is honestly the best thing about this movie, because it really shows how much things have changed with Steve being out of commission for so long. And it's especially notable when he's visiting the grave of all of his fallen soldiers and that he's the only one still active. That stuff is really powerful, and it really makes me appreciate Steve even more than when I did back when I wasn't a huge fan of him. It really shows, at least to me, how far he's really come as a character.

Now as for the other characters, most of them, like I said, are very well developed and have quite a bit of personality. Our team consists of Nick Fury, who's character design would later be used as the basis for Samuel L. Jackson in the MCU films. Then there's Black Widow, who actually speaks Russian in this movie. We also have Tony Stark who's unfortunately still poorly voiced here, but I'll get into that once I cover the acting here. We also have Hank and Janet Pym, the latter being the Wasp. Hank though, admittedly, I'm still not sure when or how he ever got the name "Giant Man" in the Ultimate comics, or who took over the role of Ant Man during that time. Which again, I know is a very trivial point, but I still find it really strange that he would not use the "Ant Man" name for this movie, even though he can still control ants here.

But then that brings us to Thor. Good lord, talk about a disappointment! I mentioned earlier about how much I was loving his character in this movie. Well, shortly after his introductory scene ends, he himself just disappears for a good portion of the entire movie, up until the last 10 minutes of it. Which makes no sense at all, especially when you consider that every other character here has some semblance of screen time to work with. But Thor, for whatever reasoning, doesn't get that luxury. My theory is that, again, this film was working with such a short runtime that they could only work with so many characters at once. And had it not gotten stuck with only 71 minutes of runtime, then Thor would've definitely gotten more of a chance to shine here along with the rest of the Avengers crew.

But, besides that, guys, the writing here is still pretty decent for what they had to work with. So yeah, I'm not gonna sit here and dwell any longer on what could've been expanded with a longer runtime. Though with that said, that leads me straight into the acting. Now, for the most part, the acting here is really good...with the one exception being Marc Worden as Tony Stark. Yeah, he's back again. Although this is technically his first time voicing Tony, with the second being "The Invincible Iron Man". And I'm just gonna tell you guys straight up that, just based on the two performances I've seen from Marc Worden, the man cannot act. At least, not as Tony Stark anyways. The acting from him is the same wooden garbage that he gave out when he voiced Tony in "The Invincible Iron Man". Nothing about it has changed, and it makes me wonder who in the casting department thought he was a good choice in voicing a character like Tony Stark? It doesn't make any sense to me, but it just goes to show that this guy was a horrible choice to play Tony Stark.

But aside from him, guys, the acting is really good from the entire cast here. Same goes for the animation. Everything here is colorful from the palettes, and the art-style is very good, too. The animation itself is very well animated, and there's very, very little usage of CG here. Which is great, because when I compare this thing to "The Invincible Iron Man", I'm left wondering what the hell happened between that film and this, where the animation in that film looked absolutely horrible, while this movie's animation was really good? And mind you, both movies came from the same studio, which is Lionsgate. So it begs the question on how drastically the animation took a dip in quality from "Ultimate Avengers: The Movie" to "The Invincible Iron Man"? I really want to know this, and quite frankly, I don't think I'm gonna get an answer for that. But, regardless of all that, I should just stick with what we did get and be happy that the animation is really good here.

Sound-mix here is mixed fine, and the score here is pretty generic and forgettable. Not terrible, but noting you're gonna remember this movie by.

Ultimately, guys, with all that said, am I able to recommend "Ultimate Avengers: The Movie"? Yes, I can still most certainly recommend it. While the writing is pretty safe and Thor's character depth is severely lacking, the rest of the movie is still definitely worth checking out. Granted, I'm not totally sure if it's worth watching on repeated viewings, but I might give this film another watch at some point, if I'm in the mood for it. And if you, yourself, are a fan of Marvel, and you want something that's different that isn't from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then I can certainly recommend this thing to you. Now, I am aware that there is a sequel to this movie. One in which that I won't be able to cover this marathon, as I have one more film from DC to finish off the marathon, but who knows? I may consider reviewing the second movie for next year's "Tales of the Longbox" marathon. But in the meantime, I think I'm gonna continue this animated superhero trend by checking out something from DC Comics. And I think I'm gonna go watch "Justice League War". It's been a little while since I last watched that movie, and I think it needs another viewing from me. So, I'm gonna go do that next once I get done with this review.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Tokyo Ghoul

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be checking out a horror movie from 2017. That movie is "Tokyo Ghoul".

Now, I do happen to remember watching "Tokyo Ghoul" on Toonami a few years ago, and I did wind up up enjoying it for what it was. Mind you, when I say that, I mean that I enjoyed only the first season of the show. Season 2 came around and, by the halfway point of the season, I wound up giving up on it. Because the story was not making any sense, and the way it ended, from what I remembered watching it anyway, was basically just trying to be art house bullshit, and ended up sucking because of that.

Now, setting the anime series aside, I was kinda surprised to discover that there was a live action adaptation movie of "Tokyo Ghoul" that existed. And I'm kinda intrigued by that concept alone, because I'm wondering how someone is able to turn a halfway decent series into a live action movie. Now, I know some people are already souring on the words "live action", because nowadays, there's been a bunch of those being released on streaming services. In other words, shows that were originally animated series getting turned into live action movies or shows, mostly for the sake of adding content. However, the good news here is that at least this one was made in Japan, so there is a possibility that it could be good.

Now as for what I know about "Tokyo Ghoul", all I know is that the main character is named Ken Kaneki, and he ends up turning into a vampire/human hybrid. At least, that's what I sorta remember about the series anyway. Again, it's been quite a few years since I last watched the series, so I may be missing out on some details there. Hopefully, the movie will be able to refresh my memory here, and maybe it'll end up being rather good. But the only way I'm gonna find out for myself is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Tokyo Ghoul".

8 minutes later

All right...well, that certainly took a left turn there. Mind you, it's not often that I see someone taking a bite out of someone's shoulder while hugging them, but this is one of those rare times that it happens. And it's *also* rare to see your girlfriend's eyes turn blood red, too. Yeah, I think it's safe to say that it just hasn't been Kaneki's day at all, hasn't it?

15 minutes later

OK, I have a question here, and it's sort of a stupid one, but I still want to ask it. So, we've just learned a moment ago from some scientist that says that ghouls can't eat the same kind of food humans can, because their tongues have a different taste and it's gonna end up being disgusting to them. Now if I remember correctly, Kaneki does end up working at a cafe, where they serve coffee and such. And I'm going to assume that he does end up drinking coffee there as well. Now, assuming that is the case, and I could be totally wrong here, because, again, I haven't seen the show in quite a long time, what makes coffee so special to ghouls? Is it like, the taste itself, that intrigues them? Does their tongues have some kind of natural born ability that makes them immune to coffee or something? Again, I totally understand that it's been a long time since I last watched the anime series, but I am really curious about that, and hopefully, this movie will provide some kind of explanation for it.

17 minutes later

OK, I have another dumb question here, but is anyone gonna ask why Kaneki has his eye bandaged up like that? I know the reason why Kaneki himself is covering it up, but it's strange to me that neither his best friend nor the other guy, who is also a ghoul, has asked him that. It's just kinda bugging me a little bit, you know what I mean?

19 minutes later

Wait, hang on a second here. So, Touka is trying to, well..."stomach" the food she had eaten a little while ago. And now, she just drank water to help alleviate some of the pain. So, am I to assume that water is also another kind of a liquid that they can just somewhat tolerate? Now, perhaps I'm misinterpreting this in some way, and she's using the water as some kind of medicine in case she was forced to eat human food, but it still leaves me wondering what exactly they're OK on digesting.

12 minutes later

Wait, so these two detectives have dug up the grave where Kaneki went to, to pay respects to Hinami's father. And inside his grave, they find a mask. Now, the mask itself is not really what I wanted to bring up. What I'm bringing up is the fact that they *never* checked the cloth that Hinami had wrapped up for Kaneki, which contains coffee beans. Coffee beans, I should mention, are from the same cafe that Kaneki works for. Wouldn't they be able to trace that information back to the coffee shop, which is essentially a safe haven for ghouls? Granted, I'm not sure how well that would work out, but the fact that they never checked that first seems kind of like an ass-backwards decision, you know what I mean?

18 minutes later

You know what, guys, I've been holding this off for quite a while now, but I think now is the perfect time to mention this. The CG in this movie is, uh...well, it leaves a lot to be desired. I'm gonna get more into this later when I eventually review this movie. But just to let you guys know now, I'm *very* on and off when it comes to the CG in this movie. I'll just leave it at that for now.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Tokyo Ghoul". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well...what to say about this movie? You guys probably noticed that I've been asking a lot of questions about this movie. Some of those I'll get into later on, but I am gonna say, first and foremost, that this movie isn't terrible. In fact, I wouldn't even call this a bad movie at all. It's actually pretty good. Mind you, when I say it's "pretty good", I am in no way saying that the movie is great or anything. But as it is, it certainly is a decent movie. Both as an adaptation of it's anime/manga counterpart, and as a pretty decent standalone horror flick as well.

So, why don't we start this review off proper, as I usually do with a lot of these reviews, by first discussing the writing. Now, as I mentioned at the start of this thing, I haven't seen the "Tokyo Ghoul" anime series in a number of years. I've also tried reading the manga at one point in time, but I don't really remember my experiences with the manga all that well. Most of that is gonna come from the anime. And like I said, I really only enjoyed the first season, and season 2...well, let's leave that aside, since it has no bearing on this movie. But anyway, since I haven't seen or read anything from this series in a long time, my memory of it is not gonna be as strong as it was back when I first watched it on Toonami all those years ago. That said, though, as I've established many times beforehand, I review these kinds of adaptations as it's own thing, rather than try and compare it to whatever source material it originally came from. So, any details I may have potentially missed from my time then are not gonna really play a factor here now.

With that said, though, I do think the movie has plenty enough to be able to stand on it's own merits. To begin with, the movie is about 2 hours long. And for the first hour or so, they spend that time delving into Kaneki's origin story about how he ended up getting bitten by a ghoul, and how he eventually ends up turning into one himself. And from there one, it's mostly about him trying to slowly adapt to his new lifestyle where he can't really eat the same kind foods that he normally would, thanks to him being a ghoul. He has to feast on human blood in order to survive, much like any other ghoul. And you can tell that it's eating him up inside, knowing all this, which shows a lot of humanity to the character, especially knowing that he had gotten into all this by accident. In fact, if there's one thing I can definitely give this movie is that they really do a good job of making you care about our main character. Most of the other characters are mostly just kinda there, but there is one more exception to this, whom I'll get to in a minute here.

But as for the rest of the writing, there is a couple of things that I wanted to discuss here. First of all, you guys probably noticed that I asked a lot of questions about certain things. Some of which don't really ever get properly answered. For starters, I brought up the whole thing about Kaneki getting to work at the coffee shop shortly after getting a sip of coffee himself. I asked why is coffee so special to ghouls and why the taste attracts them? Well...they never really say why. In fact, the owner of the coffee shop even admits that himself. So, that little detail never gets properly explained at all in this movie. Another thing is that there's another story going on where we focus on a group of investigators going through a case involving a ghoul that wears a certain type of ring around their finger. The only real problem with this whole thing is that the movie just jumps you right into it, and you're left wondering if this anything to do with the film itself. It does, of course. but to be perfectly honest, it's probably the weakest part of the writing here, as you're not gonna be as invested into it, unlike the character depth that our main characters have.

Speaking of which, there is one other character, besides Kaneki, that I wanted to talk about. It's a character that I was the most curious about, because it was a character that I really liked back when I was watching the anime. The character I'm referring to is Hinami. For those of you who don't know, Hinami is a young girl that is also a ghoul, along with her mother, whom she lives with. And the thing that made Hinami the most likable character for me was that childlike innocence to her, and, without going into any spoilers about her, despite everything she has gone through, she still maintains that innocence to her character. And I was wondering if this movie was gonna be able to adapt her character depth well enough here. And well...yes, I can safely say that they did. Now, I don't think it's as good as it was in the anime, but again, this movie did a good enough job adapting her character arc, to where I can say that it makes her character just as good as Kaneki's is here. So yeah, again, the character depth in this movie is really good, when it comes to both Kaneki and Hinami.

So, as a whole, the writing here is pretty good. Though there are some slip-ups here when it comes to the story, most of it can be ignored, as long as you don't read too much into the missing details. Fans of the series might say otherwise, though I wouldn't really know for sure since I haven't met anyone that knows about this movie. But anyway, regardless of all that, the writing here is still pretty good. And as for the acting, well, I ended up watching the subtitled version with the Japanese audio, because that's what I got when I first pushed play on the menu screen. And I can say that the acting from the cast here is great. No matter the role, everybody turned in 110% with their performances here. Nobody phones it in, and I couldn't detect any signs of phoned in acting either. Which is great, because it shows me that everybody in this movie gave a damn about turning in an awesome performance, and they did. So, props to the entire cast here for turning in the best performance that they did here.

Special effects...oh boy, um...well, I can't really get around this subject without mentioning the CG. The best way I can describe this movie's CG is that it is *definitely* a mixed bag here. And the one effect that's gonna either make or break this movie for you guys is how you feel about the tentacles, each time that a ghoul unleashes them from their body. I'm gonna tell you, guys, the first time I saw this in action, it really didn't look that great. It wasn't completely awful, but it just seemed somewhat off-putting to me. And the rest of the movie's CG is like that too. Some shots look OK, but then there are other shots involving the tentacles that just look kinda terrible. And I can't really pinpoint any particular scene in the movie because, like I said, almost every shot involving these CG tentacles are like that. So really, it's something that you're either gonna really get use to, or it's gonna pull you out of the movie entirely. For me, it was something that I eventually got use to, but I obviously can't guarantee that it'll be like that for everyone else. There's also a few cases of CG blood, and, well...it's also kinda terrible as well. Granted, it's not the worse case of CG blood I've seen in a movie, but that's not really saying very much, so I'll just leave it at that.

Camerawork here is pretty good. Lighting, in most cases, looks really good, but there are a few shots where it could've been better. Now admittedly, there are a few shots in the movie where it'll attempt to hide the CG tentacles. Probably because those shots, in particular, are some of the worst in the movie. Though whether that was actually intentional or not is something I can't say. But anyway, the sound-mix here is mixed pretty well. And the music here is just OK. Nothing about the score here is great, but it's nothing horrible either. It's just there, really.

So yeah, the technical stuff here works fine for this movie. And with all that said, am I able to recommend "Tokyo Ghoul"? I would say yes, especially if you're a fan of the series in general. As for non-fans, well, I would say it's still worth checking out, if at least just once. Which is probably the camp I'm sitting in right now, because I really don't see myself watching this thing a second time. Now let me be clear again: The movie *is* good. But as I mentioned before, I'm not really the biggest fan of "Tokyo Ghoul", and this movie didn't exactly win me over as a die-hard fan. Now I do know that there is a sequel to this movie, though I can't guarantee that I'll ever cover the sequel. It just depends on the timing, really. Right now, I don't see myself covering it anytime soon. But as for this movie, by itself, I would still recommend checking it out. And who knows, maybe as a non-fan, you'll probably end up watching it more times that I did. But as for me, I'm just gonna stick to the once-over in this case. And on that nte, I'm gonna go and watch something different. Perhaps maybe I'll watch my copy of... "Wicked City". I haven't seen that one in quite a while, so I'm gonna go do that next once I get done with this review.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | The Invincible Iron Man

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox", here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering an animated movie from 2007. That movie is "The Invincible Iron Man".

I don't know what it is about Iron Man, but for some reason, he's always had some sort of a presence around this series. He's been in almost every one of my "Tales of the Longbox" marathons, with the exception last year's one. I guess, maybe, it's because I've always had some sort of attachment to him in some way. Part of that would have to go the first "Iron Man" movie from the MCU, which I still believe is the best MCU movie that has ever been made.

So with that being said, I've decided to actually take a look at one of his animated outings, which is kind of a rare thing for me, considering I've only ever covered two animated movies that featured Marvel characters. But yes, I'm gonna be taking a look at this one, plus one more animated Marvel film, which I'll cover later on this marathon.

Now as for what I know about this movie, well...it's not really much, honestly. All I know is that it's an animated movie centered around Iron Man. And as for the actual content, I have no idea what it is at this time. However, I'm gonna cut that short, because I really just want to get into this one. I'm hoping for it to be good, however, I don't really know if it will be. The only way I am gonna find out for sure is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "The Invincible Iron Man".

10 minutes later

Wait, so Tony's Dad is not only alive in this movie, but he's also one of the board members of Stark Industries? And I should mention that Tony himself is a full-grown adult, yet his Dad is still alive. O...K...that's definitely gonna take some time to getting use to, I guess.

19 minutes later

So, let me if I understand all this. These guys just killed the monk that helped save Tony's life. And in exchange, they tell him that he must reverse the damage that was done from raising this ancient temple by defeating the 4 elemental guardians before they resurrect the Mandarin. Otherwise, they'll kill Rhodes within one week. I should mention, by the way, that the elemental guardians are on a mission to collect the 4 rings that they need to bring the Mandarin back to life, and that they've already found one of them already. Don't you think that, by giving Stark only a week to try and come up with a strategy, that the elemental guardians will have already have found all 4 of the rings by then? I get that this is all part of Tony's origin story in becoming Iron Man, but I still think you're giving him a rather small timetable in coming up with a strategy, you know what I mean?

16 minutes later

All right, I have a question here, and it's really starting to bother me a bit. What accent is Pepper suppose to be giving out? I can't tell if she's trying to act like a snooty British woman or what, but it's really starting to bother me a bit because her accent is just throwing me the fuck off here.

5 minutes later

Well, guys, I think now is the perfect time to mention this as any. The CG on these elemental guardians look horrible. Like, they genuinely look awful, when they're in motion. I'll get more into this later when I eventually review this thing, but I just wanted to let you guys know that right now because it's something that I couldn't ignore mentioning.

8 minutes later

You know, guys, I don't claim to be an expert on Iron Man, but I don't recall his trademark suit ever being immune to lava. So, if there's anyone out there who's reading this, could you tell me whether or not that happened at any time in the comics, where he delved into a pool of lava with his suit and came out looking fine? Otherwise, that's just kinda stupid and somewhat overpowered to me.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "The Invincible Iron Man". Let me go ahead and shut the, uh, movie off here...OK. Dear lord, what the fuck happened here...? Yeah, I'm just gonna cut right to the chase and tell you guys that this movie was *really* fucking stupid. OK, sure, it's a superhero film. And superhero movies have a tendency to be stupid at times, but at least most of those are self-aware of how ridiculous they can actually be. But this movie is stupid for completely different reasons, and they're not really for the better either.

Let's actually start this thing off here by first discussing the writing. Now, for the most part, this movie is essentially an origin story for Tony Stark becoming Iron Man. And for this being an animated film, I'm perfectly OK with that. Because, outside of having a couple of animated series dedicated to Iron Man, I do believe that this may be one of the very first animated movies that tells his origin story. I could possibly be mistaken here, but I'm gonna stick by that for now. And it's pretty much almost beat for beat how it was in the live action movie, with the only real differences being that the origin story takes place in China, while the in the live action film, it was was set somewhere in the Middle East. So, in that sense, I'm perfectly fine with the writers wanting tell his origin story here for this movie.

Unfortunately, almost everything else in terms of writing here is just a fucking stupid mess. Now, the premise itself, outside of Tony's origin story, is essentially him trying to stop the Mandarin's resurrection from happening, after Rhodes and a team of workers try to raise an ancient temple from underground for, I guess, the sake of research. However, they eventually get ambushed by a group of costumed terrorists known as the Jade Dragons, who are trying to stop the temple from ever being risen because it's part of a prophecy in order for the Mandarin's resurrection to be fulfilled. The other part of the resurrection prophecy comes from the rise of these elemental guardians, who, once they get risen, are out to search for the 5 rings that are essential in restoring the Mandarin to life. Now as for the Jade Dragons, they do eventually capture Rhodes, which forces Tony to come out of his soapbox and come to China in order to find him. And afterwards, well, it eventually leads into Tony's origin story, and, well, at this point, you probably already know what happens there with him, so I won't go into too much detail there.

OK, so the premise itself is pretty easy to follow. But now let's get into the actual problems with the writing itself. First of all, I want to show you guys something.

Now, on the back of the DVD case, one of the things that I noticed about it was this promotional artwork piece featuring Iron Man fighting the Mandarin. Why am I showing you this exactly? Well, as I watching the movie, I happened to notice this artwork piece on the back of the DVD case, and I find it to be really sad and laughable. Because you notice how you see Iron Man wearing his trademark yellow and red armored suit while battling the Mandarin? Yeah, this battle never actually happens in the entire movie. And also, you never see Tony wearing this suit either as well, while fighting him. The only time you ever see him wearing his trademark suit is during the lava scene, where he's trying to prevent one of the sacred rings from being retrieved by the elemental guardians. And then shortly afterwards, he abandons it in some unknown forest in China. Yeah, great job there, Tony. Shows how much you actually care about the fucking suit! Because instead, he abandons it later in favor of his bulky grey suit, which is what allowed him to escape from his imprisonment in the first place.

And do you know what else is very deceptive about this artwork? Aside from it being a complete and utter lie, it also undermines a very important plot-point in the movie. Because, we are told that when the Mandarin does rise from his grave after getting all of the rings together, an "Iron Knight" will show up from the ashes to do battle against the Mandarin and stop him once and for all. And that's all part of the actual prophecy! But instead, that doesn't happen, because this woman named Li Mei is the one who actually ends up defeating the Mandarin. And without going into spoilers as to how this happens, it ends in a very anti-climatic and cliche way that I've seen done many times beforehand in other movies and TV shows. Difference here is that it's not handed in a very well mannered fashion. Believe me when I tell you guys that it's *that* badly handled.

Speaking of which, all of the characters in this movie are flat and fucking lifeless. There is not a single character here that has any depth or personality to them. The one character I want to focus on most is Tony's father Howard Stark. Now, I can overlook the idea that he's actually alive in this movie. In fact, if this thing were written bitter, it would probably make for some rather decent melodrama. Unfortunately, that's not what happens here. Instead, Howard is being written as some self-centered asshole with no emotional attachments towards Tony at all. The thing that still baffles me is how the hell did he know that Tony was alive, after Tony and Rhodes escape from their imprisonment? I ask this, because after Tony and Rhodes escape and land somewhere near homeland, they're suddenly greeted by members S.H.I.E.L.D. and try to place Tony under arrest for selling his weapons to terrorists, AKA the Jade Dragons, in China. And while all this is happening, Howard Stark is behind all of them, not saying a word to Tony. And it leads me to think for a while on whether or not he was actually going to be a villain for this movie or not. Now, there *is* something of a reason as to how this all happens, but again, it's so haphazardly written that by the time you know the reason, it just comes across as really stupid and poorly put together.

And that's the best way I can summarize this movie's writing. It is just so poorly written that I could be here for hours discussing all of the failings that this movie has, when it comes to it's writing. But there are other issues here that don't just plague the writing. The acting here is also pretty bad as well. The worst actor here easily goes to Marc Worden voicing Tony Stark. Every single bit of dialogue he gives out here feels *incredibly* wooden. At no point does he put in any sort of effort into making Tony sound interesting or believable as a character. Now admittedly, this is the only time I've ever heard him voicing a character here, so I'm not gonna entirely blame his performance just based on this movie alone. I'm mostly gonna blame his poor performance on the writing because, as I've mentioned so many times beforehand, you can only do so much when you're given a script that is this poorly written. The rest of the acting isn't all that better, though, in all honesty, it's not as horrible as it could've been, so...I guess that's something of a positive, though that's not saying very much at all, really.

Now let's get into one of the big problems with this movie, besides the writing, which is the animation. Oh dear lord, where do I even start with this one...? Well, I will say that the art-style is fine for what it is, but the color palettes on this movie feel really bland and lifeless, almost as if there's barely any color to this movie. I mean, the most color you get in this movie comes from the elemental guardians. However, what ruins them is the CG, which I'll talk about in a second here. But for the most part, most of the color palette in this movie looks really bland and uninspired. It almost looks like a prototype for an animated series that never came to pass. Which, I'm gonna be honest, after watching this movie, I'm thankful that we never got an animated series out of this. Because this thing was just so bad that this thing would be a poor fucking introduction to Iron Man, as a whole. The animation is just OK, though it's not great, and, at times, looks really cheap.

Speaking of which, that transitions greatly into the CG. Oh dear heavenly fuck, where do I even start here?! Well...how about we start off with the elemental guardians themselves? Now, as I already mentioned a moment ago, the most color you'll get out of this movie comes from the elemental guardians. And I will also say that their designs don't look too bad either. But it's when you see them moving is when the problems start to arise here. But to start with, the CG, as a whole, looks as if it was a pre-rendered cutscene from an Xbox 360 game. And when I say pre-rendered, I'm talking, like, *early* Xbox 360 standards. Which makes sense, considering that this movie came out in 2007, and the Xbox 360 was still relatively new at the time. And in most cases, I would give this movie a pass for bad CG. However, I can't really do that, because if I had to seriously compare this movie's CG to an early Xbox 360 game, I would compare it to something like Sonic 06. Because as rushed as that game was, it had better in-game cutscenes, and better CG, when compared to the garbage CG that was in this movie. It seriously does look *that* bad.

And the biggest kicker out of all this is that it feels really unfinished, too. To give you guys an example, there's a scene in this movie where Iron Man is trapped underwater, and he's desperately trying to escape his situation. And I swear to you guys, I'm not making this up, his arm actually *skipped* a frame as he was moving it at one point. I thought, maybe, it might've been my poor eyesight at first, but it really did skip a frame of animation! I genuinely didn't think I would ever get to experience something like that in an animated movie, but holy shit, this movie found a way to pull something like that off. And mind you, a lot of DC's direct-to-video animated movies have had their cases of bad CG, but again, they didn't look *nearly* as horrible as the CG that was presented in this movie! And it's not just the elemental guardians that suffer from horrible CG, all of Iron Man's suits are rendered in CG, too. And as a result, all of them bulky and ugly as shit! It doesn't matter whether it's his trademark yellow and red suit, or the big bulky suits he uses, *all* of them are horribly rendered and horribly animated as well. This is, by far, some of the worst-looking CG I have ever seen produced for an animated movie of any caliber. This animation, mostly the CG anyway, is complete garbage. The traditional animation isn't all that better, mind you, but the CG is what kills this movie's animation the most here.

Now...setting aside the horrible animation, the sound-mix here is mixed fine. And the music here is a very generic score that is completely forgettable and not even worth listening to on repeat. Serviceable, sure. But ultimately, just forgettable.

And yeah, I think that's the best way I can describe this movie as a whole. So, with that all said, can I recommend "The Invincible Iron Man"? No. Even if you're a fan of the character, there's no way in hell I can ever recommend this movie to anyone. With all of the problems I discussed about this movie, there's almost nothing I can say that's even considered a positive about it. The only thing I could say that is a positive is the fact that we actually got a better introduction to the character thanks to the live action movie that came out a year after this one. So, if anything else, I guess I could say that much about this movie. But aside from that, there's nothing else that I could say is even worth checking out for. Even with this movie's $3 price tag that I bought at one of my local video stores, it's not worth picking up at all. And to be honest, I feel a little bit ripped off, knowing now how terrible this movie was. So, I'll be happy when I eventually trade this thing in, because I'm kinda sick of looking at it to be honest with you guys. So now, I'm gonna go and watch something better. And seeing as how I was mentioning how superhero films can be stupid at times, I'm gonna go and watch my DVD copy of "Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D." Because that is a stupid superhero movie done right. Or, at least, done better than how this movie handled it's stupidity.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Conan The Destroyer

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be checking out a fantasy film from 1984. That movie is "Conan The Destroyer".

Now, at the beginning of this marathon, I reviewed the first, and only other, Conan movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. And I wound up being rather surprised by how good it was. I seriously was not expecting to like it as much as I did, but I still ended up liking it quite a bit.

Which now leads us into it's only other sequel, which is what I'm gonna be watching tonight. And this one is sort of a polar opposite here. Where with the first movie, people had a lot of positives things to say about it. This one, however, not a lot of people seem to have liked very much. Now, I'm not totally sure as to why that is, but hey, that's what I'm here to find out.

So, I'm hoping for this thing to somehow surprise me, like the first movie did. However, I could end up being disappointed by it as well, seeing as how many other people seemed to have not liked this movie as much. But the only way I'm gonna find out if this movie is good or bad at all, is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Conan The Destroyer".

6 minutes later

So, guys, for the second straight time, Conan has just punched another animal in the face. And instead of being drunk like he was in the previous movie, this time, he actually punched a horse to knock the rider off of it, while completely being completely sober. Gotta say, it's still really funny to see. Granted, it's more of just rehash of a joke they've already did, but still really funny.

5 minutes later

You know, I didn't really know how much continuity was gonna carry over into this movie, but the fact that they brought back the camel, who Conan, who I should mention by the way, just punched the camel *again* here, is honestly kind of an interesting touch there. Granted, I don't really know how his merchant friend knows about the camel, but still, it is interesting to say the least.

19 minutes later

So...I'm not totally sure what this bird creature is suppose to be that this king turned into a moment ago. But I will say that the effects for it look really cool. Almost like if it was hand-drawn or something.

20 minutes later

You know, guys, this movie started off kinda interesting, but now, it's starting to get a little bit dull. I see that there's tons of action going on right now, but I'm honestly not finding much of a reason to invest myself in it. I'm hoping, maybe, that the film will pick itself up sooner rather than later, but I'm not totally sure if it will or not.

7 minutes later

You know, guys, out of all the things I was expecting from this movie, a drunk Conan teaching this princess how to use a sword is not one of them. I mean, granted, I could totally see Conan being drunk and all, but teaching someone how to fight with a sword, while being drunk, is totally not what I was expecting.

9 minutes later

OK, I have a really dumb question here, but I really want to ask it. So, this is the second time that Malak has taken some kind of jewelry and such, and he just completely swallowed it inside his mouth. Is that, like, a thing thieves did during the fantasy age? I know it's probably not worth looking into, but I don't really think that's very healthy, or wise for that matter, to swallow something that is completely made up of some kind of stone. Just thought I'd ask it, because it's really starting to bug me a little bit.

20 minutes later

You know what, guys, I'm just gonna say this right now, I'm kinda happy that the movie is almost over. It's honestly been starting to drag now and I've been losing more interest as the movie goes on. Just wanted to share that with you guys now, so that way I'll have more to talk about when the movie is actually finished.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Conan The Destroyer". And uh...yeah, that was "Conan The Destroyer". Let me go ahead and shut the film off here...OK. Good lord, where to start with this one? Well, I guess I should answer this question first, even though it's completely obvious as to what my answer is on it. Is this movie as good or even better than than the first one? No. Not even remotely close. This movie is just a fucking disappointment and a half, and that's honestly the best way I can phrase it. Just...good god, this movie really sucked.

Why don't we just get right into this here and first talk about the writing. And I first want to start with the movie's tone. And just to let you guys know, I'm gonna be comparing a lot of this to the first movie. Just bare that in mind as I go through with this. Now, if you'll recall, the first movie had a lot of dark fantasy elements to it. Which was Conan is mostly known for. But at the same time, the movie was also able to dish out a lot of character and lore to Conan, which made it a lot more interesting to watch. And also, the movie was able to balance out the darker moments with a hint of some of it's quieter, and, sometimes, lighter moments. Which was also really well done. Basically, guys, that movie had the perfect balance of setting it's tone. And it was great stuff, which made the film really unique in it's own way.

Which is why I can't say the same thing about this movie. This movie goes in, almost, the entire direction and tries to aim for more humor. Which, while there was some semblances of humor in the first movie, it didn't completely overshadow the overall tone of it either. This movie, on the other hand, tries to go for more jokes. Which, I probably would've been open to that, if any of the jokes were actually funny. The worst of these moments comes from Malak, one of Conan's allies in this movie. I'll get more in depth on him in a moment, but to summarize, guys, everything he says when it comes to jokes is unfunny as shit. The only bits of humor I was able to get a laugh out of is when Conan punches a horse in the face. And well, the camel, too, as it makes a brief return here. Yeah, it was more or less a rehash from the first movie, but it was still the only thing that made me genuinely laugh. I wanted to include the bit where Conan got drunk during one scene, but I honestly didn't find it all that funny. It was slightly amusing, sure, but it didn't really get me to laugh at all.

As for the story itself, well, guys, it is essentially a basic, by the numbers fantasy movie. Where it's really not trying anything new or different in it's fantasy setting, and is ultimately just playing it safe. And in most cases, I would be fine with that. Because, you know, that's just how a lot of fantasy movies play out. And admittedly, the first movie was sorta like that, too. However, what made the first movie interesting was the character dynamics and the depth that they all had. Mostly Conan, sure, but the characters were all very interesting. This movie, however, doesn't have any interesting characters. And that, unfortunately, applies to Conan, too. Conan in this movie feels a little bit watered down here. Not for the violence, mind you, that's still there with him. But as like a character, he really doesn't show any signs of advancements here. Most of that was done in the first movie, and this one doesn't really do anything to enhance him in any way. And the worst part about this is that, by the end of the movie, it's told through Mako's character that Conan eventually did get his own kingdom and wife, which also teased for another sequel. And spoiler alert, that third sequel never happens. So, to end it in this fashion is a huge slap in the face to Conan, because he's never gonna get that "true" ending that they were going for. If anything, that first movie gave him the proper ending that he already had. At least, to me, it did.

Now I've talked a lot about Conan and how his character has been downgraded, but what about the other characters? Are they any better to carry this movie? Well...no, they aren't. Almost all of our characters here feel very flat and lifeless, with the one exception being Mako's wizard character, since he's the only one, outside of Arnold, who reprises his role for this movie. The new characters that join him don't really add anything new or interesting to the cause. Zula is some female warrior that has no real character to her outside of her being a fighter. Whoopie. And as for Malak...oh good lord, Malak...I don't know what Conan saw in this guy, but he is easily the *worst* character in this entire movie. Basically, guys, he's this movie's comic relief character. And I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you, guys, I mostly despise comic-relief characters, and, very rarely, do I ever like any of them. And for a movie about Conan the Barbarian, there was no need to include that kind of thing in here. I mean, could you imagine Malak being in the first movie? I could just imagine that he'd be in it and fucking ruining the tension because it would've made that first movie worse if he *was* in it. And this movie proves that his character had no reason to exist here. Especially since he goes back and forth about not continuing on Conan's adventure when it gets more dangerous.

So yeah, guys, it goes without saying that the writing in this thing is a massive downgrade, especially when compared to the first movie. By itself, it's just a basic fantasy movie that ultimately plays itself safe, along with no interesting characters to back it up. And as for the acting, well honestly, most of the acting was actually pretty good. I'm even going to include Arnold here because, even though his character suffered a downgrade, the acting from him was still rather tolerable, especially given the script that he was forced to work with. The worst actor, though, by far, would have to be Tracey Walter as Malak. Not surprising, honestly, considering that his character was given some of the worst dialogue that he had to work with. And he phoned it in as a result. There was no point in this movie where he turned in a good showing, and it makes me wonder why they couldn't get back the guy who played the thief, who first befriended Arnold, from the first movie? I don't know, but since he doesn't come back here, you're stuck with a character with horrible dialogue, along with terrible acting to boot. Now aside from him, the rest of the acting is perfectly fine, since they were able to work with what they were given. But Tracey Walter's acting is what definitely brings this movie down the most.

Special effects in this movie are pretty good, from the blood effects, to the animation involving the bird, that stuff looked great. The costuming, though, I do have to comment on one thing. See, there's a moment in the movie where Arnold has to fight this monster in a room filled with mirrors. And the suit-work on the monster is ridiculously fake. Like, I'm talking about how cheap this costume really looks. The face looks OK, until you notice it up close when you realize it's just a cheap-looking mask. And the rest of the body is a mixture of scales and a human. And I don't know if that was done deliberately or if that was just a case of terrible costuming, but either way, the suit-work on that monster looked terrible. The one that they show later towards the end of the movie looked really cool, though, so there is that. But that first one you see will look noticeably fake and terrible.

Camerawork here is pretty good for the most part. Lighting here is also pretty good for the most part. The sound-mix is mixed fine. The music is, honestly, one of the only things that is consistently good from the first movie to this one. Why? Because it's done by Basil Poleouris, the same guy who did the music for the first movie. Mind you, it's nowhere near as good as the first movie's score was, but it's still pretty good for what it is. So I can at least give the movie that much.

But aside from that, guys, there's not much else I can really say about this movie. So, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Conan The Destroyer"? No. I honestly can't do that, because this movie fails to deliver as a sequel. And even by it's own standards, it's a really boring, by the numbers fantasy movie. Which is funny to me anyway, because this movie came out during a decade where fantasy movies were a huge thing in the 80's. But this movie really doesn't age all that well, when compared to most of the ones that came out during that time. If you guys seriously need to watch a movie about Conan the Barbarian, though, just stick with the first one and you can pretend that the sequel doesn't exist. You're better off not seeing this thing, since the movie doesn't really have a lot of things worth rewatching for again. Speaking of which, though, I'm probably just gonna go and rewatch the first one again, because I genuinely really liked it enough and this thing kinda made me want to remind myself how good Conan had it back then. So yeah, that's what I'm probably gonna go do next once I get this review done and typed up.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Wonder Woman

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering an animated movie from 2009. That movie is "Wonder Woman".

Now, in a matter of speaking, I've kinda already covered this movie. And what I mean by that is way back when, during my second "Tales of the Longbox" marathon, I reviewed the live action "Wonder Woman" movie from 2017 which had the exact same title as this one. And just to let you guys know, I really enjoyed that movie. So, while both this movie and the live action film have the same title, I have yet to cover this one yet, so I'm gonna be doing that tonight.

Now, I don't really know much about the movie itself, beyond the fact that it's another one of those direct-to-video animated movies that gets put out by DC Comics and Warner Bros. And for those of you reading this for the first time, I really do enjoy a lot of these particular movies. Even the ones that I wasn't a huge fan of are still very watchable. So, I'm hoping that this movie is going to continue that trend of being really good, or at least end up being watchable.

Now granted, this movie is centered around a character I'm not all that big a fan of, but like I said, these particular animated movies usually have really good quality to them, so there's a really good chance that the quality is going to continue strong here with this one. But the only way I'm gonna find out how much quality this movie really has is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Wonder Woman".

2 minutes later

OK, you know what? I've never seen a tiara decapitate anyone like that before. It's certainly new to me and, well, it was certainly cool to see.

6 minutes later

All right, I have a question here, and I know it's gonna be a stupid one, but it's something that just came to me. So, I am aware of how Diana was born through clay, well in this case it was sand, but what I want to know is how do the Amazon's procreate if man doesn't exist in Themyscira? Do they just do what Hippolyta did just now by creating babies through clay, or is it just, somehow, they mate through lesbianism? I'm hoping its *not* the latter option, but I really do want to know how exactly they procreate, since I know female children do exist on Themyscira. I'm really kinda curious here.

11 minutes later

Well, guys, I think I just learned a new amazon method in battle. If you are facing off against a male, simply kick them in the nuts and they're guaranteed to go down. Granted, that's not really a "new" method per se, but it is still very effective.

2 minutes later

OK, there is something legitimately funny how Steve Trevor just tells Diana's mother that her daughter has a nice rack, especially since he says this right in front of her mother and a bunch of other amazons. That is an incredibly ballsy thing for him to say there.

15 minutes later

You know, guys, I'm really loving Steve Trevor more and more as this movie goes on. There's just something really charming about his character here that I really do like. I'll try to explain more about it when I eventually review this thing, but I'm letting you guys know that I really do like how Steve is being portrayed here in this movie.

13 minutes later

Is that suppose to be Hades? OK...you know, out of all the appearances I was expecting, him being incredibly obese was definitely not one of them. It is certainly... different, I'll say that much.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Wonder Woman". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So, where do I begin here? Well, I did say earlier that I wanted this movie to have the same kind of quality that most of the other direct-to-video animated films from DC usually have. And for the most part, it does have that quality here. Now, mind you, it's not as strong as a lot of the other DC animated movies that I've seen, but it's certainly nowhere near the worst either. And this is coming from someone who's not a huge fan of the character to begin with.

So with all that said, let's get into the review here and first discuss the writing. Now, one thing that could be considered a huge setback for this movie is it's runtime. This film is only 74 minutes long. And because of it's short runtime, it would normally not have enough time to boil itself for it to flesh out it's story and characters. But I am gonna say that, while this movie does run with such a short runtime, it does tell enough of a story here to where you could watch it and not worry about any pacing issues. Because the movie does have really good pacing, and it doesn't really let up on slowing itself down very much. But then again, I am speaking from someone who has seen a lot of these particular animated movies, and I've gotten use to the fact that a lot of them have such a short runtime. So really, I'm just speaking from personal experience here. That said, I still stand by my statement that the movie does have very good pacing, and that it's able to flesh out enough of it's characters and story.

Speaking of the former, I want to talk about the characters in this movie. Mainly, I just want to focus on Diana and Steve Trevor. I want to start with Steve first, because his character is definitely the best thing about this movie. And I say this, because when I think back to the live action "Wonder Woman" movie, Steve's character in that film was, admittedly, a little bit on the bland side. Now that's not to say that his character sucked or anything, far from it, but when I see his character in this film, it is just filled to the brim with charm and personality. Essentially, guys, Steve's character in this movie is just him being a womanizing smartass. And that, to me, is what makes his character all the more charming. And every remark he gives out is just so lovably stupid that I can't help but laugh at it. It's just incredibly hilarious to me, and if he didn't have that charm here, than I think it would've made his character less likable. Which, to some people, would see that as more of a positive. But for me, I find his personality here to be very charming and rather likable.

And that's not to say that Diana isn't likable here, either. In fact, she displays a little bit of personality, too. And to be honest, I prefer this Diana over the version that's seen in the "Justice League" cartoon. Because in that thing, she came off as rather boring for most of that series. Which I know may not be saying much considering that I'm not a huge fan of her and all, but at least here, she kinda shines with more of a slight flair to her character. Granted, the whole thing involving her getting used to mankind's culture outside of Themyscira and about the debate on whether or not man has changed at all does get kinda old after a while, but at they very least, she and Steve are able to find some common ground and are able to set aside their quarrels for the greater good in order to stop Ares.

So yeah, the writing here is very good, at least on the standards set for Wonder Woman. Again, I'm not too big on the character and all, so it's just something that you have to take for what it's worth. And as for the acting, well, it's also really good, too. And that's another thing I usually like about these particular animated movies is that, even though the writing can vary at times with it's quality and content, the acting is something that I've always given praise to, no matter the film. This movie is no different, the acting here is great from the entire cast. Nobody here phones it in, which is also great. So yeah, without sounding more like a dead horse, the acting here is excellent.

Animation is also really good, too. In fact, I would say that this art-style that's used for this movie almost resembles the art-style that is seen in the "Justice League" animated series, just on a slightly bigger budget. In fact, I'm kinda wondering if, had Wonder Woman gotten her own animated series that they would use this sort of art-style and animation? I don't know, and I'm kinda surprised Warner Bros nor DC ever considered that possibility either. Or they might've did, but it didn't come to pass. Either way though, it doesn't stop the movie from looking great. The color pallets are really good, and the character designs all look great, though I am still 50-50 on Hades design here. Again, it's just a design choice that I wasn't really expecting here from him. There's also a little bit of usage of CG in this movie, mostly in regards to Diana's invisible plane, which honestly looks a little bit dated for 2009 standards. However, I'm gonna give the dated CG a pass here because, like I said, there's not a whole lot of it here.

Sound-mix here is really good, and the score here is also pretty good, too, though honestly, it's not really memorable at the same time. But overall, it is still serviceable for this movie.

So, with all that being said, when it comes down to it, am I able to recommend "Wonder Woman"? For the most part, yes. If you're, somehow, a big fan of the character, then you'll most likely enjoy this movie just fine. Now, when compared to a lot of other animated movies put out by DC and Warner Bros, it's obviously not the best, but it's still very good on it's own standards. So, I'm not gonna make that too much of an issue here. I'm also not gonna bother comparing which movie I like better between this or the 2017 movie, because both have their strengths and weaknesses to a point where I can't really pick which one I like better anyways. But yes, guys, I can still recommend this movie overall. And as per usual with a lot of these animated movies, there's also a couple of bonus cartoons added onto the DVD version of this movie. I don't know which ones they're advertising, but I'm going to take a guess here and say that it's from the "Justice League" cartoon. And I have a pretty good idea as to which ones were chosen. So, I'm gonna go watch those episodes right now and see if my guess on those episodes was right.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.