There was a lot of buzz about this at SDCC, so I had to check it out. It’s hyper anime, self parodying the genre in an adult way. The demons are disturbing and comical. The rooster is like a wandering ronin, battling his past failures and fucking hens. It’s absurd on so many levels. Short eps, under a half hour. It kinda had me at hello because the first kid who was about to be eaten by a demon was named Yuki and it made my dog’s ears perk up.

I will watch more.

Matchbox! It's about the cars! Sort of. Kind of. Not really. It could just have easily been called Chase Scenes.
 
Jon Cena plays CIA agent Sean tasked with delivering a nuclear bomb to the CIA. After the mission, he goes back to his home town to reconnect with his buddies who he used to play Matchbox cars with 20 years ago. He also gets to see the girl he had a desperate crush on back in the day, Jessica Biel (Olivia Wilde? Are they the same person) Things go awry. The bomb goes missing. Sean is accused of the theft. Now, he and his friends have to go and get the bomb back in order to clear all of their names.

There are plenty of fistfights and car chase and louds. There is no blood except for the occasional dribble down John Cena's face after a brawl. Most of the characters act like they have had no emotional growth since their teen years. But this film is directed at those kids so I'm sure the actions of the adults seem appropriate to their minds. Even the relationship between Cena and Biel seems like a chaste teen crush.

A lot of the bigger stunts look like they came out of an AI generator. I don't know why they look different from CGI crashes but they do. Please crash big trucks for real in future. There are lots of allusions to boxes.

Not really a film you need to rush out to see.

Oh damn

Another curve ball I didn’t see comin

I watched Cupertino. No actual locations in Cupertino spotted except for one process shot of Apple Headquarters. 

The show was fine but laughably inaccurate about how courtrooms and judicial proceedings actually work. The characters were likable. There are some over the top running gags. It's soft typical TV fare.

(10-02-2024, 09:01 PM)Drunk Monk Wrote: Mononoke The Movie: The Phantom in the Rain

 

Anthony Bourdain wrote a comic book where cooks are the most important part of society and they are all battling for supremacy in a future Los Angeles. The reason cooks are so important is because eating is one of the few real experiences left.

Enter Jiro, the mysterious Sushi chef poised to upset the status quo in the city. There are plenty of echoes of Yojimbo in here. Protestations otherwise, Jiro does have a board with famous chefs on it hiding in his office. 

The chefs at the center of the conflict so far are Bob and Rose (WAIT A SECOND! BOB ROSE!) Bob controls one side of the city. Rose controls the other. They both want Jiro to help them. It gets bloody.

Not captivated by this. It's kind of silly. Might watch more if I get bored.

Ahnold and Reacher together - isn't that what you wanted for Christmas?



--tg

Based on the books by Patrick O'Brien, this movie tells the tale of Captain Jack Aubrey of the HMS Surprise and his friend Dr. Maturin as they chase a French ship around the Galapagos Islands.

Yes, Peter Weir can direct and he does an excellent job with this. Long before the CGI craze, this grimy look at life at sea during the Napoleonic wars seems to be all practical effects. Probably why they never made another despite the fact there are dozens of books. It's kind of a slow build as we watch life aboard ship. There are three encounters with the French ship with the final one being the most dramatic and must be seen. If you like swords fights and mayhem and carnage, that's the battle to watch.

Even if you haven't read the books, you can still follow along. I recommend.

(09-08-2025, 12:20 PM)Drunk Monk Wrote: Samurai Fury

A new documentary about the life of Rush's drummer. They did a final tour and stepped away from the limelight (pun intended), but then Neil got a brain tumor and died. This was right when covid hit and bandmates Geddy and Alex felt they never got to honor him properly. At the memorial for Foo Fighter's drummer Taylor Hawkins, Geddy and Alex reunited and played some Rush songs. That was the spark for them to think about playing again. In this documentary, they bring in 4 drummer friends of Neil's: Stuart Copeland (The Police), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Danny Carey (Tool), Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree), each individually. They reminisce about Neil, talk about they songs they're going to do together and then play. The performance part of the doc is serviceable, but the stories are more interesting to me. I knew he had a few tragedies in his life, but I didn't know the details. I had a couple laugh out loud moments, like when Geddy kicks off the opening synth intro to 2112 overture and Alex mimes lighting up a joint. Epilogue introduces Anika who is filling the Professor's seat on the current tour. I'll be seeing them in a few weeks at the SAP center with my high school friend Antony who first got me into Rush way back when...

Recommended for any Rush fans (I'm talking to all you ladies out there...)

Available for streaming on YouTube
(full movie below)




--tg