New In Review: Peacemaker

Peacemaker is an action-comedy series and the spin-off of last year’s The Suicide Squad created by James Gunn, it features John Cena, Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee reprising their roles from the film. It also stars Danielle Brooks, Chukwudi Iwuji, Freddie Stroma, Annie Chang, Lochlyn Munro, Elizabeth Ludlow, Nhut Le, Christopher Heyerdahl with Dee Bradley Baker and Robert Patrick.

Warning: The following review will contain Spoilers for both the series and The Suicide Squad

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Season Review: The Book of Boba Fett

The Book of Boba Fett is the latest Disney+ series from Star Wars and a spin off of The Mandalorian with Robert Rodriguez as the main showrunner. It stars Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett, Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand and Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin. It also stars Robert Rodriguez, Matt Berry, David Pasquesi, Jennifer Beals, Frank Trigg, Collin Hymes, Sophie Thatcher, Phil LaMarr, Carey Jones, Xavier Jimenez, Joanna Bennett, Wesley Kimmel and Corey Burton.

Warning: The following will contain SPOILERS for both this series and The Mandalorian.

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New In Review: Catwoman: Hunted

Catwoman: Hunted is DC’s latest direct-to-video movie, written by Greg Weisman and directed by Shinsuke Terasawa, it stars Elizabeth Gilles as Catwoman and Stephanie Beatriz as Batwoman. Rounding out the cast is Jonathan Banks, Keith David, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Lauren Cohen, Zerah Fazal, Kelly Hu, Steve Blum, Jaqueline Obradors, Andrew Kishino, Eric Lopez, Ron Yuan and Jonathan Frakes.

After stealing a priceless jewel, Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman, finds herself on the hit list of a conglomerate of crime bosses known as “Leviathan.” Having been forced to team up with Kate Kane a.k.a. Batwoman and Interpol agents Julia Pennyworth (Cohen) and King Faraday (Frakes), Catwoman now has to help take down this cadre if she wants to avoid prison or death.

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New In Review: The Matrix Resurrections

Once upon a time, The Matrix blew audiences away with its cerebral story, crisp action and masterful special effects. Rapidly becoming the jewel of the Wachowskis, it carved itself into the minds of the public and became a touchstone of early 2000’s cinema. But as time went on and with each entry into the trilogy, the flaws became more and more apparent. The story and action felt more at home in a videogame, the special effects drowned out near everything else about the films and Keanu Reeves’ wooden acting dropped his career opportunities like a rock, only recently coming back with his John Wick series. By the end of the trilogy, The Matrix was parodied and ridiculed into oblivion. And now it’s back.

Written and directed by Lana Wachowski, The Matric Resurrections stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathon Groff, Christina Ricci, Toby Onwumere, Max Riemelt, Eréndira Ibarra, Priyanka Chopra, Andrew Caldwell, Brian J. Smith, with Neil Patrick Harris and Jada Pinkett.

Warning: Spoilers for both the movie and the previous trilogy are to follow.

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Season Review: The Witcher Season 2

The Witcher season 2 is a continuation of the Netflix dark fantasy epic and stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer the sorceress, Freya Allan as Princess Cirilla and Joey Batey as Jaskier the bard. It also stars MyAnna Buring, Mimi Ndiweni, Eamon Farren, Anna Shaffer, Royce Pierreson, Mecia Simson, Tom Canton, Wilson Mbomio with Kim Bodnia and Lars Mikkelsen.

Previously, I wrote that The Witcher was certainly ambitious and it was clear that the cast and crew were working to make something akin to HBO’s Game of Thrones. But the first season was hampered by the anachronistic storytelling for each episode and a disconnect between the various characters because of that. Has that been fixed for Season 2? Well….

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Season Review: Arcane

Arcane is a Netflix animated series based on the online multiplayer game League of Legends by Riot Games. Set in the game’s world of Runeterra, the show acts as a prequel of sorts to the game. Detailing the conflict and rising independence of undercity Zaun from Piltover as viewed through the growing conflict between sisters Vi and Jinx. It features the voices of Hailee Steinfeld, Ella Purnell, Mia Sinclair Jenness, Kevin Alejandro, Katie Leung, JB Blanc, Toks Olagundoye, Remy Hill, Mick Wingert, Harry Lloyd, Reed Shannon, Yuri Lowenthal, Roger Craig Smith, Josh Keaton and Jason Spisak.

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Season Review: Cowboy Bebop

When Cowboy Bebop first came out some twenty-odd years ago, no one expected the anime to have quite the impact it did. An odd blend of sci-fi, western, noir, comedy and tragedy, Cowboy Bebop connected to audiences in ways that are difficult to put into words. Combine that with a stellar English dub that launched the careers of several actors and a eclectic soundtrack by Yoko Kanno which featured a spectacular list of rock, R&B, soul and plenty of jazz… Well, there’s a reason that show is not only considered one of the great gateways to anime but one of the greatest animes period.

So when Netflix announced their own live-action adaptation of the famed series, excitement and apprehension was to be expected.

Cowboy Bebop stars John Cho as Spike Spiegel, Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black, Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine, Elena Satine as Julia, Alex Hassell as Vicious, Tamara Tunie as Ana, Mason Alexander Park as Gren and Eden Perkins as Ed.

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New in Review: Dune

Dune is the latest adaptation of the Frank Herbert space opera and was directed by Denis Villeneuve. The story is about the futuristic, political intrigue as the house Atreides is granted control of the desert planet Arrakis, nicknamed “Dune”, where Spice is mined, the substance that allows for space travel to be possible. But there, house Atreides find themselves the targets of both the Empire and their sworn enemy house Harkonnen, the previous controllers of Dune. And the young scion of Atreides, Paul, now finds himself in the middle assassination attempts, the machinations of a mysterious sisterhood connected to his mother and an ancient prophecy from the inhabitants of Dune. It stars Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck and Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat. Rounding up the cast, Stellan Skarsgård as the villanous Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Dave Bautista as “The Beast” Rabban Harkonnen, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam, Chang Chen as Dr. Yueh, David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as a gender-swapped Dr. Liet-Kynes and Zendaya as Chani.

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Super Smash Bros. and the Crossover Fighting Game

Well, that’s the end of it. With Sora from the popular Kingdom Hearts franchise having now made his way to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the DLC for the game is complete. With it ends nearly three years of support, the most of any Nintendo game so far and thus closes the chapter on what may very well be the most ambitious crossover fighting game to date. There’s certainly a lot unpack about who got in, who didn’t and whether the ones who got in deserved it over the ones who didn’t. There’s a lot I could talk about when it comes to what this series means to me. About first playing it on my cousin’s N64 in what seems like a bygone era. Of the heady days playing Melee through junior high all the way through high school.

But I’m not going to talk about that, heck I’m not even going to focus solely on Smash Bros. Instead I want to reflect on the game’s ambition and think on what comes next for the massive multiplayer fighter genre as a whole.

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New In Review: The Suicide Squad

Way back in 2016 when the first Suicide Squad movie came out, some little issues were noticed. The incomprehensible editing that made scenes look out of order, the rather obvious reshoots and new scenes added in after test audiences weren’t impressed, little to no characterization for several cast members and what characterization there there was for some turned out to be pretty nonsensical. Combine that with a huge amount of meddling from the executives, subpar acting and a unnecessary amount of licensed music and the movie looks like someone at DC saw Guardians of the Galaxy said, “We can do that.” and then decided to do that while drunk.

Thank God this movie was done with actual competence.

The Suicide Squad was written and directed by James Gunn and is the latest entry in DC’s Extended Universe and acts as a sequel/soft reboot of the franchise. Viola Davis, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney and Joel Kinnaman reprise their roles of Amanda Waller, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang and Rick Flagg. It also stars Idris Elba, John Cena, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Peter Capaldi, Alice Braga, Juan Diego Botto, Juan Cosio, Michael Rooker, Nathan Fillion, Flula Borg, Pete Davidson, Mayling Ng with Sean Gunn and Sylvester Stallone as the voice of King Shark.

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