00:00
00:00
Dans-Den
I'm an Artist, Gamer, and memester who enjoys drawing, gaming and overall being a little wacky.

Age 27, Male

Arizona

Joined on 1/30/22

Level:
4
Exp Points:
110 / 180
Exp Rank:
> 100,000
Vote Power:
3.60 votes
Rank:
Civilian
Global Rank:
> 100,000
Blams:
0
Saves:
0
B/P Bonus:
0%
Whistle:
Normal
Supporter:
2y 9m 20d

Dans-Den's News

Posted by Dans-Den - March 9th, 2023


iu_916852_10321089.webp

What's going on everyone?! Dan here and I'll be giving a review on the Cocaine Bear movie!


iu_916853_10321089.png

Believe it or not, I was looking forward to this movie because A. its about a bear on cocaine and B it's Ray Liotta's last work of film before his unfortunate passing. The film looked like a fun watch so I went with my friends to the Harkin's theater and it was a fun time. The movie is based on a real story and it ranges from funny to so bad its funny moments which I will talk about now.


iu_916851_10321089.webp

As I said, this was based off a real story from 1985 where a drug smuggler had loads of cocaine and dropped it all in the mountains while he jumped out but his parachute didn't deploy so he fell to his death. An American black bear stumbled upon the cocaine and got into some of it but it died due to an overdose. The coke was recovered and the so was the bear. The bear ended up getting stuffed and set for display under the name "Pablo Escobear". That's pretty messed up but also a bit funny, no wonder Elizabeth Banks wanted to do a movie on this.


iu_916854_10321089.webp

The plot itself is basically a what if scenario, what would happen if the bear did not OD? How would an American black bear react to ingesting that much coke? This is definitely one of those crazy science experiments you'd hear about on a Vsauce video. There isn't a lot to talk about, a crazy cast of characters come into the woods whether it be family issues, drug dealers finding their coke supply while a detective is on their trail, or some park rangers trying to get lucky while a local gang is just being stupid. It tries to interweave the stories together and it does it alright.


iu_916855_10321089.webp

The cast did a good job, like I said this was Ray Liotta's last film before his passing and he played a pretty good villain in this story. I liked O'Shea Jackson (Ice Cubes son) he was the literal straight man of this wacky cast of characters which was hilarious. Scott Seiss, I've seen his retail worker skits online and it was funny to see him as the paramedic guy in the movie running for his life and getting wrecked, Isiah Whitlock Jr as the detective made me laugh, I liked his skits on the Chappelle show and he looked like he had fun with this movie too, Jesse Tyler Ferguson from Modern Family made an appearance as this nature ranger type guy and it was a blast to watch him trip balls on coke. They should have honestly done away with the plot about the mom and her daughter plus friend (although Christian Convery made me laugh a couple times despite his lines being on the weak side). No disrespect to the actresses and actor but they should have focused more on the drug dealers story more.


iu_916856_10321089.png

Now Elizabeth Banks has said she wants to do more movies like this. I think I heard she wanted to do a movie about a crocodile on cocaine or Heroin? I'm not 100% sure. I mean I'm down for more movies like this for a good laugh, it can be like the Sharknado franchise, get a crazy cast, go hog wild with the kills, do it up! I have a few suggestions to make the movies going forward better. The writing needs work, some of the writing in cocaine bear was a bit over the top like they were reading of the script directly or acting like a high school theater group at times. Another suggestion is focus one one main story, maybe have a side plot but only one side plot if it relates a bit to the main plot where it all connects. Drop the family drama and focus on the drug dealers. Keep up the hacking and slashing in the wildest ways imaginable.


iu_916857_10321089.webp

Overall, the movie wasn't too bad. Its a good laugh to have with friends or family, it ranges from good funny to so bad it's funny at times, the CGI with the bear was decent and the writing was okay but definitely needs work. The cast was wacky and fun but in regards to stories, stick to one main story relating to drug dealing rather than family drama that doesn't serve much purpose.


rating this movie I'll give it:


7/10


It's a fun movie, nothing serious just a fun laugh so I recommend giving it a watch you'll have a fun time. That's all I have to say, I got more reviews coming for the next week and I'll get to them soon.


See Ya!


Tags:

Posted by Dans-Den - February 18th, 2023


iu_900354_10321089.webp

Hey what's going on everyone?! Dan here and today I'll be reviewing Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.


First review of 2023 and what better way to kick off the first review than with a Marvel movie? This movie is a mix bag of feelings, on one hand I do enjoy the humor, VFX (at times) and the actions while on the other hand it lacks in areas such as writing/plot, VFX (at times), and settings. I'm just as mixed on the characters and how they're portrayed so hopefully I can express how I feel about each of these elements.


Warning: Spoilers ahead!


iu_900353_10321089.webp

The Humor, its your typical MCU quirky humor which has bee in these movies for the last decade. However, it works when you give it to someone like Ant-Man who was always established and best used as a comedic character especially combined with the charm and comedic timing of Paul Rudd. I just don't like how everyone has to be the comedic relief. I did not work with Thor: Love and Thunder, was terrible in The Eternals, and it did not work well in She-Hulk due to poor writing. But in Ant-Man, it's not as jarring since Ant-Man has been a comedic character since the beginning. Though they do try to have his side cast be comedic at times too, its more blink and ya miss it quick witted humor rather than a joke every 5 minutes. Though I am upset that were missing some key side characters of the Ant-Man franchise (one we all love in particular) but the actors I'm sure are busy with other projects so I can't be too upset. The humor does work better in this movie though the writing does make it hit or miss at times.


iu_900352_10321089.webp

The action for this movie was decent, let me tell you guys that I don't think anything can top The Eternals action sequences where they were basically waving their hands around thinking that was gonna do something or use energy attacks like its Dragon Ball Super, it was entertaining to see Ant-Man and his team obliterating Kang's army and fighting Kang (for the most part). Scott teaching an inexperienced Cassie was pretty cool to see and watching her get progressively better in the movie especially when she fights MODOK in the movie.


iu_900355_10321089.webp

Now to the Visual effects, I'm very mixed on this area because at times they do a great job while other times they do things that I could have done in photoshop. The Quantum Realm looks visually stunning, It's almost as good as the VFX from the Doctor Strange movies, but then this version of MODOK looks like they just enlarged his head to max. It's bad but its also hilarious I can't take it seriously. Overall the VFX looks nice but I can definitely see some of the areas it either feel rushed or just got lazy in.


iu_900356_10321089.webp

The settings is an area I ultimately felt they feel short in. Like I said the Quantum realm is visually appealing, but this is where 95% of the movie is set in while the other 5% percent is on Earth (or above as they say). I don't have an issue with it being solely in the Quantum realm obviously that's where the movie has to be, it's just the lack of variety in settings in the Quantum realm. I though we'd be seeing various places here but I think all we had were three different settings.


iu_900357_10321089.webp

Now to the Writing/Plot, the plot of the movie is Cassie made a device that can send signals into the quantum realm and unfortunately her signal reaches Modok and sends Scott, Cassie, Hope, Hank, and Janet into the quantum realm where they see entire civilizations that Janet said was deeper in the quantum realm. Here we see Kang imprisoned here and is ruling the quantum realm with an iron fist and he wants Scott to help him escape or he kills Cassie. It's a good plot but the way it's written is questionable to say the least. Cassie had time during the blip to study the quantum realm and when Hope, Hank and Janet came back, they essentially helped her learn more and helped her build the device to send signals. That same device is used in the end where we were getting a pretty dramatic moment with Ant-Man, The Wasp and Kangs final battle. I thought this was gonna be a huge sacrifice moment, a passing the torch moment to Cassie where she works with Hank and Janet while trying to figure out how to save Scott and Hope from the Quantum Realm. But no, They pulled an MCU Peter Parker moment with her where she has her machine suddenly able to open the portal to save those two and it really down plays the big dramatic moment. This also raises questions like how did Janet get to where they could reach her in the Ant-Man and The Wasp movie? Did Cassie find the quantum realm research in the Pym household? Why did Kang suddenly get nerfed in the final battle?


iu_900359_10321089.png

Last thing I'll touch on is the characters, Scott is Scott you know, he's charismatic, he's an average joe and he's Paul Rudd. I made a joke about how Ant-Man and The Wasp should have been changed to "Everyone loves Scott" because it seemed like everyone just loves him even his enemies, Scott just rizzes everyone up the moment he enters a room. Cassie is like every young character in mainstream media now. She's a protester, a SJW, she knows everything and she comes off entitled at times. In endgame she was just glad to have her dad back, now she resents him a bit because she thinks he's a complete sellout. I mean you can argue that but I think after everything Scotts also been through, he deserves some type of break. At least she did have real development during the movie where she did own up to taking responsibility for them being trapped in the quantum realm and saw the real dangers of her dads lifestyle and why he wanted her to stay away from it. It wasn't so much he didn't care about helping fight Kang, it's more that Cassie is his daughter and one of few things that matters most in his life as well as she was inexperienced in combat so she would be in danger. Hope is still the same but now she's trying to connect with her mother but even that side plot felt a bit rushed. Janet is real inconsistent in this movie, one minute she's like "why didn't you ask me about the quantum realm Cassie?" to "I can't tell you Hank and Hope about my time in the quantum realm". I can see shes still trying to function in society again so when this stuff comes back to her she goes into some PTSD but it still doesn't help she's a mixed bag. Hank I felt got the shaft here, he was an integral part of the first two movies, but he's treated here as a side character and a bit of a old joke up until the final battle where he gets his moment to shine with his Ants. Kang is a great Villian in this film, he is a tyrant and he's gonna lead to something big (watch the post credit scenes to know what I mean). Though I do feel he was underutilized at the end. He got nerfed in the final battle and he was defeated twice. Temporarily by Hank and his Ants, then his final battle with Scott and Hope and that was a more satisfying defeat though still felt he was nerfed. Modok is just a henchman to Kang and he's literally a big joke. He was introduced as a real threat but quickly went away as soon as we saw that god awful Photoshopped head which is sad because Modok is a real threat in Marvel. He can be a serious threat but is normally used as a Joke Villain.


iu_900358_10321089.webp

Overall, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania was a bit underwhelming but a fun time to watch. I'm told this is meant to kick off the next phase but so far I'm not sold on the next phase being anything great. Endgame should have been the end of the MCU and would have gone out with a bang. But Disney I'm sure will leech out as much profit from the MCU as it can until they can't. I'd say this movie can definitely be a so bad its funny type of movie which is still better than Black Panther: Wakanda Forever or The Eternals which were more on the boring side.


Rating this I'm giving it:


6.5/10


It's a Mid-Tier movie and a weak start to the next phase but its still a fun time to watch with friends and family if ya need something to do on a Friday or Saturday night.


That's all I have for today and hopefully I'll find some better movies for 2023.


See ya!


Tags:

Posted by Dans-Den - January 16th, 2023


iu_869616_10321089.webp

How's it going everyone? Happy MLK Jr day, unfortunately what I'm gonna be talking about today is anything but happy. Today I'll be giving my review for the...much anticipated disaster that is...Velma.


I honestly did not think I could find something even worse than the Fairly Odder show.....but once again, life finds a way.....to prove me wrong. While Fairly Odder is the worse variation of a beloved franchise in the form of a kids show, Velma is definitely the worse variation of a beloved franchise in the form of an adult show. There is so much wrong with this show that I don't even know where to start, guess I'll dive into this dumpster fire and hopefully come out the other side with my sanity intact.


iu_869617_10321089.png

I guess we should start with how Scooby Doo started. This property goes all the way back to 1969, All the characters have been established since 1969. Now I don't have a problem with modernizing the characters, I honestly don't. There have been several attempts to make them up to date and each decade has had one iteration or another of the Mystery Gang. Now some can argue those old direct to video Scooby Doo movies from the 80's with Red shirt Shaggy and Scrappy Doo is a notable exception where the gang wasn't present and that's true. Some argue that they're great some argue that they go against the source material it's kind of mixed. I personally thought they were entertaining despite that the gang wasn't whole and that it focused on wacky monster adventures rather than solving mysteries. While that is the case, they at least kept the main character Scooby Doo in the movies and they kept in spirit of the franchise. It is a Scooby Doo project that's trying to mix up the formula. Velma feels completely opposite, it feels like it was meant to be something else, but someone at WB decided to slap the Scooby Doo characters names on it because no one had faith in the show. This is the exact same reason the Halo TV Show failed. They made something generic and used a beloved property to make sure its watched to a certain degree. Velma pays no respect to the franchise its "supposedly" based off of. All the characters are different and given either architypes that don't fit them at all like Shaggy (or Norville as he's called in the show. guess they wanna use Shaggy's real name to make him less stoner...idk it doesn't work) or cliché architypes like Fred who of course was given the rich white boy who's dumb and slightly racist. Velma and Daphne are basically self inserts of Mindy Kaling and Constance Wu.


iu_869615_10321089.webp

Now the characters/cast, no disrespect to any of them they're all just doing their jobs. However, it does not excuse how the direction given to them is nothing short of a...not so much a slap to the face of the Scooby Doo fandom, but more of a sledgehammer to the face. Mindy herself is an executive producer and I really feel she wanted to make this show something else but someone told her "Use the Scooby Doo franchise, that'll make your show great!". As I mentioned, the show is so far from the source material that it doesn't feel like Scooby Doo. In fact, Scooby Doo, the main character and mascot of the Mystery Gang, is not in the show. To be honest that is probably for the best so they don't ruin him. How can you have a Scooby Doo show without Scooby Doo? It's not a spinoff it's its own thing. I mentioned what types of characters they are, and each one is just...unlikable, especially Velma. Again, no disrespect to the cast for doing their jobs but none of the characters are likable in any way shape or form. Velma is cocky, know it all, rude, mean spirited, a basic bitch. Daphne is a cliché popular girl who is just inconstant yet has her moments of character development but it feels so forced that it's hard to enjoy it. Norville (aka Shaggy) is suppose to be the opposite version of Shaggy where he anti-drugs, bland personality, he's a literal simp for Velma (who treats him poorly), and is just boring to watch. Fred is the preppy rich white kid who looks down on everyone under him and his gag is that he has a small penis...no jokes its a gag that just doesn't go away. Daphne is by far the least bad but that's not saying much. I can't enjoy any of them, they're just hard to watch and mean spirited overall. As I said, I don't have an issue with reimagining's of characters, I'm not bothered by the fact that they're different ethnicities and backgrounds. It's a bit jarring because why not just make original characters with these designs? If you want representation then created new characters that can set that trail. But even if you change these established characters backgrounds, it wouldn't been an issue if you were able to maintain the key aspects of those characters. This show just straight up replaced their character aspects with something different. All the lovable traits of the gang are all gone, they've all been replaced with just generic high school tropes.


iu_869618_10321089.webp

Damn, I'm barely getting to the actual episodes just now? That should be a telling sign. I tried to watch the first episode and I could not make it pass the ten minute mark. I have not raged out of a show that fast since Fairly Odder last year. The first episode tried to real Meta and poke fun at movies/tv shows tropes but it doesn't land. The humor feels so forced and nothing builds up to it. A show can at least be watchable if the humor makes it so bad its good, but the humor is such a miss 99% of the time and its so bad...its just bad. They make fun of tropes and try to be meta but none of it works, there's no real set up for the humor and the jokes feel more mean spirited like the 420 joke they told in this show, jabbing at adults who like animation. It doesn't feel like it was made for fun, it felt like it was meant to resent the audience and alienate the fandom. The locker room scene with the dead girl had the joke "She has no brain!" that joke felt like it was AI generated or something a 10 year old could have made. I also find it odd how they talk about the nudity tropes while there's high school girls nude in the shower. If this is meant to appeal to an adult audience...why have high school girls naked? This show is trying to be woke and PC yet you went with a cliché that I strongly feel is outdated and unnecessary as well as just alarming. I understand these are fictional characters, but it doesn't make it any less creepy and unnerving. They also make plenty of pop culture references that just feel....lame. None of it is funny or delivered in any fun or funny way.


iu_869619_10321089.webp

Do I think a Scooby Doo show with more mature themes can work?

Yes! It can work and its been proven to work. Mystery Incorporated proved it can work with dark mature themes and fleshing out the characters for modern times. If Velma took a page out of Mystery Incorporated, it could have actually been an entertaining adult cartoon. The Velma show had the potential to be good, I'll admit the animation isn't half bad at times. For the most part it looks average, but the animation has it's moments especially when Velma has her ghoulish anxiety episodes, the animation is actually pretty cool I wish it was more like that style. Even if they didn't want to take inspiration from Mystery Incorporated, I still feel that they could have gone about this show in several ways.

First off, age the characters up. Make them like young adults in college or just in general that way the nudity and raunchiness has more justification to stay rather than sexualizing high schoolers (which has been done to hell and back and is just outdated).

Secondly, there should be more focus on Velma's mom. That may be the one element that could save the show. I don't know if they're saving it for later on or as a finale type deal but I feel that had they established Velma's mom as a main plotline in the show, it would make it more interesting, more of a Mystery/crime solving show.

Third, why couldn't these characters be their own characters rather than the actual mystery gang? I think these guys would have done better if they were a new batch of meddling kids that would be successors to the original mystery gang. In fact there is gonna be a Scooby Doo show about that for preschoolers called Scooby Doo and the Mystery Pups coming soon. It is exactly what I'm suggesting for the Velma show. This should have been new characters brought in to take on the mantle of the mystery gang rather than being cheap imitations of the actual gang.

Final suggestion, DONT MAKE A SCOOBY DOO SHOW IF THERE IS NO SCOOBY DOO!


iu_869620_10321089.webp

Overall, This is yet another show that was trying to build off the name of a beloved franchise and failed completely. This I feel is yet another instant of handing beloved properties to people who do not like or respect the source material in the slightest and made whatever they felt like and alienated the fanbase. Velma is down there with Animaniacs (2020), Powerpuff Girls (2016), Teen Titans Go!, and Fairly Odder. There's talks of a Season 2 coming out and I encourage everyone to not watch it. Don't give it the time of day because if you do, WB will continue making shit like this and the only way for them to stop is to hit them where it hurts, profit. If you wanna give Velma a go then by all means but I'm not gonna keep watching it. If something happens that makes it suddenly good then I'll be pleasantly surprised, but I highly doubt that.


Rating Velma I am giving it:


0.5/10


I know this may seem premature to rate it this early on in its run but I do not believe it will get any better. If by some miracle it does, I will come back and reevaluate it with a firm apology. I'm open to be proven wrong but I stand by that this show is beyond saving and I do not recommend anyone watch it whether its Ironic or Unironic. Never thought there could be a show that would beat out Fairly odder.


First review of 2023, off to a good start....Hopefully the next pieces of media I cover won't be as horrendous.


See Ya!



Tags:

Posted by Dans-Den - December 31st, 2022


iu_854238_10321089.png

Hey how's going everyone? It's Dan here and were approaching the end of 2022 so were ending with my Top 5 best movies of 2022!


I know I was suppose to do it yesterday but I got busy yesterday so I'm doing it now. I'll repeat this one more time, this is all subjective and my opinion, we can agree to disagree, okay? good, lets begin!


iu_854239_10321089.png

Number 5 goes to the Bad Guys from Dreamworks (7.5/10)


This movie is based on the children's book and the book itself is quite popular, even at my job we have one of the books for the kids. When I saw the movie trailer, I was an instant fan of the animation style. It's going for that 2D done like 3D style similar to the SpiderVerse movies and that's what makes it unique. I had given my thoughts about it in the review back in April so if ya wanna see that go check it out. The plot itself is the classic never judge a book by its cover as well as everyone can redeem themselves, nothing groundbreaking but I did enjoy the way it was executed in the film. The characters are what really made this movie memorable. My favorite character has to be Mr. Wolf since he's just charismatic and a likeable guy even when he's committing crime you just can't help but love the guy. The character interactions and dynamics are what sell this movie in my eyes. It's on Netflix right now so I'd say give it a watch, I also heard it has more projects in the work so I think it is safe to say that this movie helped bring Dreamworks back in a big way this year (with Puss in Boots: Last Wish following that momentum too).


iu_854240_10321089.webp

Number 4 goes to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness from Marvel/Disney (8/10)


Wow! a Marvel/Disney movie I'm not disappointed in! I had given a review for this movie back in May so if ya wanna check it out, go ahead. To summarize that review, I love the VFX, just like the first film the VFX are what carry this movie and each one is like a trip. Now keep in mind this is part of the MCU so there are a lot of films and even some shows to watch so that you can fully understand the plot and the characters motivations for what they do. I gave what films and shows to watch during my review so use that as a base line on where to start for story. Even if ya don't watch any of the movies or shows, the plot itself is still rather decent and the characters are still who they are (besides Scarlet Witch) so it'll still be fun time and plenty of magic going on. I still think Spiderman: No Way Home is a better multiverse movie, but this is a good contender with plenty going for it. Though some VFX look a bit lazy at times, it's forgivable compared to what we get a majority of the time. I also wanna point out that Sam Raimi (the director of the Tobey Spiderman movies) directed this film and gave it some of his personal touches even adding Bruce Campbell in for a cameo so I appreciate that too.


iu_854241_10321089.webp

Number 3 goes to The Batman from DC/Warner Bros. (8/10)


This movie is when I knew we were eating good this year when it came to movies. This film much like Morbius was in Limbo due to the Pandemic, Luckily it made it's way to theaters and it was a real banger! This was the first review I did back in march and if ya wanna see it go ahead and check it out. This is definitely one of the better Batman performances I've seen and definitely the better representation of Gotham City. Robert Pattinson gave a phenomenal performance as the Dark Knight and even though I feel his performance as Bruce Wayne could have been better, this is still in the early stages of Batmans crime fighting career so Bruce hasn't quite found that balance and secret identity aspect just yet. He is still figuring out what he needs to be for Gotham City and I do hope that they continue to build on this in the future, I would like to see the character growth and development of Bruce Wayne/Batman. Paul Dano as the Riddler was something I was pleasantly surprised with, this darker take on the Riddler was refreshing to see since traditionally the Riddler is one of the more comical villains in Batman's Rogue Gallery. I felt immersed into the City of Gotham and in the story of Bruce Wayne's family, they did well expanding on his history. The action was gritty and more martial art based (which I love) as well as showing off Batman's detective skills trying to solve the riddles. This film truly kicked off the year and I'd say this is definitely the best superhero film of the year, beating out any movies from Marvel and itself.


iu_854243_10321089.webp

Number 2 goes to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 from Sega/Paramount (9/10)


I've said this once, and I will say it again, 2022 has been the Sonic Renaissance and were living it up, baby! This is the sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie that came out in 2020 and while the first film was pretty decent and it was more of a testing waters phase, it still did a great job and was one of the main reasons people started to lose that "Video Games can't be adapted to good movies" stigma. Now the sequel builds upon that success, I had given my review for this movie back in April but all the points I made still hold up and I'll support that with further evidence now. After the positive reception of the first film, Jeff Fowler and his crew went into the next phase and decided to build upon and dive into the lore of Sonic the Hedgehog. I also appreciate them having the humans take a backseat this time around and having the story more centered around Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Dr. Robotnik (aka Eggman). We got to see settings such as Angel Island and Gerald Robotnik's secret lab where Shadow is in suspended animation (post credit shows Shadow for the upcoming third film). We even saw the Master emerald which was made up of the seven chaos emeralds used in this movie and gave us the special appearance of Super Sonic! As I said earlier, this is the year of Sonic, with a successful sequel, a great game in Sonic Frontiers, a great show in Sonic Prime and the upcoming third movie, Sonic is going fast in the right direction. Hopefully, he continues to rise this momentum into 2023 and beyond, I'm a big sonic fan so it's great to see him doing well after a long time.


Before I get into the number one spot, I'm going to give a few honorable mentions


iu_854242_10321089.webp

First mention goes to Top Gun: Maverick from Skydance/Paramount (7.5/10)


This was a sequel to the nearly 40 year old movie Top Gun, however unlike other random sequels, this one is actually far superior than the original. The original is definitely a cheesy 80's movie, but the sequel manages to build upon and create a real story here making Maverick a mentor with something left to give to the next generation. It's a fun movie to watch and it has plenty of charm to it. All the actors did a phenomenal job and I was pleasantly surprised that this movie was as good as it was.


iu_854246_10321089.webp

Next mention is the Elvis Movie from BazMark/Warner Bros. (7/5/10)


This movie is yet another Biopic of a famous Celebrity/Musician, but what really shoots it up there as one of the better Biopics is the performance of Austin Butler and Tom Hanks. Austin truly did Elvis justice with his performance. His mannerisms, the speech, his moves, I can tell Austin gave it his all and I think we can all appreciate that. Tom Hanks as the Colonel was a true villain and foil to the story. I enjoyed the narration from him which added to the tone of this cautionary tale. I gave a review back in July so if you wanna see more head over there. But this is definitely one of the better biopics.


iu_854245_10321089.webp

Last mention I wanna give is the movie Turning Red from Pixar/Disney Plus (7/10)


This is a true coming of age story I can get behind. I gave my review for this back in March so if you wanna see my full thoughts on it, go check it out. This film is unique for so many reasons and I can say I enjoy this film, I watched it twice and I enjoy the animation style and how it takes inspiration from anime as well. The characters are a fun to watch and the mature themes here are done well and respectively. I wish more Disney films were like this but you know them. Luckily Pixar is doing their best to bring us unique stories and great animation trying something new each time. I may not be the targeted audience for this film, but even I can recognize the passion that went into it and I feel it's a film for young teens and even adults to enjoy.


Now for the moment you've all been waiting for, the Number one movie of 2022 goes to....


iu_854244_10321089.webp

Number one goes to WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story from Funny or Die/Roku (10/10)


I'm sure no one saw this one coming, you're likely scratching your head and asking "first off..Weird Al has a movie on Roku?! Second...Why is this the best film of the year?!". Well stop asking so many questions and I'll tell ya! This film is technically a biopic just like Elvis or other biopics from other celebrities...but its a parody of that entire biopic genre. As we all know, these biopics tend to exaggerate the truth for the sake of the film being dramatic and entertaining, some things in the film are not quite what actually happened in the real life of that celebrity but rather exaggerated. Weird Al cranks that exaggeration and dramatic antics to the MAX! Unlike those other films, this is not meant to be taken at all serious and you can tell. The first half was already kind of exaggerated but was still telling the truth of how Al got his start in music (to a degree). But once we get to the second half of the film....it just goes hog wild and turns the film into full blown insanity and it is without a doubt hilarious! I got some Bohemian Rhapsody vibes from this movie with how Al starts out good but then gets into hard drinking, gets into a toxic relationship with Madonna, confronts Pablo Escobar to save Madonna only for her to take over the drug cartel....You can see why I said this is not meant to be taken seriously. It's all just a huge parody of celebrity biopics and its meant to be a joke and I love it! Weird Al was heavily involved with making this since he's still alive so I'm sure he would want to have a say in how it should be done and he's the one responsible for getting the boy who lived to portray him. Daniel Radcliffe did a phenomenal job as Weird Al being hilarious, dramatic and both at the same time and Weird Al himself actually has a role in the movie as not himself...but parodying an executive at a record label. This movie is just a fun watch, I was laughing the entire hour and a half. Each of these movies on my top 5 have something special, the Bad Guys are the best animated film, Doctor Strange is best Visuals in a film, Batman the best superhero film, Sonic is the best video game adaptation film, but Weird: the Al Yankovic story is not only the best Parody film, but the Best film of 2022!


Thanks for staying till the end, Hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and I can't wait for the content to come out in 2023!


See ya!


Tags:

Posted by Dans-Den - December 29th, 2022


iu_852069_10321089.png

What's going on everyone, it's Dan here and today I'll be going over my Top 5 worst movies of 2022. I didn't want to go with easy one's like secrets of Dumbledore or Jurassic world: Dominion, I wanted to dig deeper and find movies that slipped under the radar or people haven't heard much about and review those.


I've said it twice and I'll say it again, these are my opinions and all of this is subjective. You may agree or disagree with me and that's fine. With that said, lets begin


iu_852072_10321089.webp

Number 5 is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever from Marvel/Disney (6/10)


Right off the bat, I'm making a lot of enemies with putting this movie at number 5. Now keep in mind, this movie had to be rewritten due to the passing of Chadwick Boseman so what we got wasn't the original vision but rather salvaging what they could. I already gave my complicated feelings on a review for it last month and while I gave it a 6/10, I personally did not like this movie. It's okay for what we ended up getting, but I still felt they could have pushed this back and taken more time with it rather than salvaging what they could to make a movie. The first half almost put me to sleep and the second half is where it started picking up the slack. The end credit scene was nice but unlike the old post credit scenes from previous Marvel movies before Endgame, it won't lead to the next film but rather give us a hint at what's to come. Who knows when that plan or if it will ever happen. Overall, I'm glad they gave homage to the late Chadwick Boseman, but as a movie itself, its nothing too special. Shuri is a great Black Panther and I loved her personal journey, but other than that the movie is just lackluster.


iu_852070_10321089.png

Number 4 goes to Lightyear from Pixar/Disney (5.5/10)


Now this was a movie that had plenty of potential to be a great movie based on a beloved character from Toy Story, but it was a mess to infinity and beyond anything I could have imagined. The tone is off, its different from the happy go star commander were all use to seeing. Here it's a more serious and dark tone where Buzz normally gives off this upbeat and somewhat campy space ranger tone like with Duck Dodgers or the Jetsons or even Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, I was hoping that's what this movie would be like. The tone just doesn't fit, in fact this doesn't seem like a Buzz Lightyear movie. It feels more like a generic space commander movie with Buzz slapped on it for marketing. I also wanna address the "controversial" same sex kiss scene...it was a literal peck, not like they full on frenched each other so I don't see how that could have ruined the movie. The movie suffered due to its time travel plot being ridiculous and its tone being more serious than it should have. Feels like this was meant to be a sci-fi horror film rather than a Disney film with a Toy Story character. I admire that they're trying something new, but this is not the way to go about it. Plus the twist with Zurg? Like why? As I said, this movie had potential, but it was just not steered in the proper direction and it suffered for not staying faithful to the character of Buzz Lightyear.


iu_852071_10321089.webp

Number 3 will be going to THE....MOVIE OF ALL TIME! Morbius from Marvel/Sony (5/10)


It's Morbin' Time! I know I complained about Lightyears plot but at least that had a plot. The plot for this movie was near nonexistent! This movie is something else, Jared Leto once again showing that superhero movies are not his best attribute less we remember his....memorable role as the Joker from Suicide Squad (2016) and the Snyder Cut of Justice League (he did way better there than in Suicide Squad). I already gave my thoughts on the movie back in April and while I did give it a 5/10 initially, I feel that the score needs to be brought down to like a 4 or a 3.5 because this movie is just a complete MEME! So much so that Sony saw the meme attention it was getting and had the Megamind idea to rerelease the film again thinking it would do better this time around....but it actually flopped AGAIN! This is the first film to have a box office flop twice! That is an accomplishment in it of itself! While I don't think its a great superhero movie, it's definitely a so bad its good superhero movie, to me this is more of a guilty pleasure movie that you just watch to have a good laugh with some mindless action thrown in. This definitely holds a special place in my catalog of memorable movies and superhero movies, This is a rare distinction on this list so Morbius I tip my hat to you for being everyones....movie of all time!


iu_852073_10321089.webp

Number 2 goes to the direct to streaming Halloween movie Hocus Pocus 2 from Disney/Disney Plus (3/10)


Now this is one of those movies I felt did not need to happen, but since it's Halloween it's time to see what beloved Halloween classics need to be given a sequel for next generation. A sequel that adds nothing but just trying to be hip and with it. I tried to avoid watching this movie but I just couldn't get away from it. My sisters house, My job, even my own house I was doomed to watch and finish this movie. I watched it on several occasions to finish and it was worse than I thought. First off, the original Hocus Pocus was dark, there is no denying that these witches were unapologetically evil draining the youth from children (killing them in the process), turning kids into cats, bringing back the dead and trying to kill more children. The opening even shows them witches being hung, they even showed that in this sequel. Speaking of the sequel, it's just generic Halloween kids movie with the Hocus Pocus named slapped on. This movie tries to give us backstory on the Sanderson sisters which I'll admit is nice but it also tries to make them more sympathetic and seem like they're the real victims. I understand they grew up in Salem during a time when Women had no say in anything and witch hunts happened on the daily, but it doesn't work when we've established that they're ruthless in the original. But here, they act like grandma's where technology is foreign to them and they've become sillier rather than major threats and how in the end, they rest in peace thanks to the power of friendship. It doesn't make any sense, especially when they were destroyed in the previous film, they get brought back again from a candle almost thirty years later? It doesn't make sense and it just seems lazy. I don't think they needed to be made sympathetic, they should have been just as ruthless and threatening as they were in the original movie. I enjoy villain's who are unapologetically evil just as much as I enjoy the one's you can sympathize with. They should have been kept Unapologetically evil from the start. Also the main heroes (if you can call them that even though they brought back the Sanderson sisters to begin with) are generic as can be, I don't remember any of their names. The only part I enjoyed from this movie was when Mary Sanderson used Roombas as broom sticks to fly, that actually got a laugh out of me and that Hannah Waddingham makes a hot witch lady ngl. Other than that, this movie had no reason to exist. It was nice seeing the OG actresses reprise their roles, but this was still shameless nostalgic bait to gain more subscribers for Disney Plus.


After all I said, I'm sure you're asking yourself "what could possibly be worse than Hocus Pocus 2?! I thought for sure this would be the worst movie!" but you be wrong my friends, the worst movie of 2022 is....


iu_852074_10321089.webp

Number 1 goes to The Munsters (2022) from Rob Zombie (1/10)


With everything I've said about these films, I can at least watch them in their entirety even If I gotta do it in short bursts, but this film was so bad I had to stop it halfway through and leave my own room just to reflect on the decisions I've made leading up to that. I was not able to finish this movie and I don't plan to finish watching this abomination. This movie has been distributed to DVD, Amazon Prime and Netflix (which is where I watched it). My god, I respect Rob Zombies work not only in film but his music as well I actually enjoy his music especially Dragula, that's a personal favorite of mine. I've enjoyed his other films like the Zombie Horror Picture Show, 3 from Hell and Lords of Salem, but something went wrong here. I also want to point out I am a fan of The Munsters, I watched the classic tv show as a kid and even now I still enjoy that along with other 60's classics such as The Addams Family and the 1960's Batman TV show. But this film is far from its source material. It get's almost nothing right except the bare minimum. It doesn't feel like The Munsters it feels like a parody of The Munsters if that. It's just impressions and costumes mixed with cheesy rock and roll elements slapped on it. The jokes and Puns feel so forced and the setting is just horror meets old time rock and roll. I guess it's an origin story on how Herman and Lily met but their characters in the film don't match up who they are, it doesn't seem like The Munsters at all. It's set to be in the 1400's but treats it like the 1970's or 1980's and it doesn't really seem funny at all it just looks bizarre. I have no idea what they were thinking taking this 1960's classic and turning it into this cheesy origin love story. The origin story could possibly work, but I think Rob Zombie was the worst choice to do it considering his main works. When I first heard The Munsters were getting a movie this year and that it would be done up by Rob Zombie, I was excited. Unfortunately, the movie did not deliver on anything. It was clever, it wasn't funny and I don't even think cringe is the best way to describe this, it's just unbearable and I will never go back to finishing that film unless I was obligated to or if I get lucky with a lady if I watch it, that's it. It's a shame this happened to a beloved property I grew up watching, this makes The Munster's movies from the 90's look better by comparison and that's why I believe The Munsters (2022) is the worst movie of 2022.


Let's see how many enemies I make today, I'll post my Top 5 best movies tomorrow and should wrap up the year for me.


See ya!


Tags:

Posted by Dans-Den - December 28th, 2022


iu_851129_10321089.webp

Hey how's it going everyone its Dan here and today I'll be giving you my Top 5 best shows of 2022!


Just like my Top 5 worst shows list, this is all my opinion, you can agree or disagree with me and that's okay! are we clear? lets begin!


iu_851131_10321089.png

Number 5 goes to Primal Season 2 on Adult Swim/HBO MAX (8/10)


Now this was made by Genndy Tartakovsky the creator behind classics such as Samurai Jack, Dexter's Laboratory, Symbiotic Titan (that show deserves to be brought back), and the limited Star Wars: The Clone Wars series from the early 2000's. When I heard he was bringing this show out, I was interested and I watched the first season and it slapped! This show will give you unfiltered nuts to butts action and make you sad at the same time despite that the characters don't actually speak, the facial expressions, tone, body language tells the whole story of the show. Season 2 kept that momentum going with expanding on the world and the characters Spear and Fang. Even the introduction of Mira was a great inclusion into the series as she developed a friendship with Spear and Fang, especially with Spear. They gave a lot of side characters such as the Vikings, Celtics, Witches, etc. The end of the season was action packed to the brim however ended with the loss of Spear which honestly made me sad. However, the season concludes with a time skip to where Mira and Spear have a daughter (they conceived one before his death) and with Fangs children grown as well. I don't know if were getting a season 3 for sure, but even if we don't this is an overall good conclusion to our main characters. I'd recommend watching Primal, it's one of the best in adult animation today.


iu_851130_10321089.webp

Number 4 goes to Spy X Family the anime on Hulu/CrunchyRoll (8/10)


This anime was hyped up and it definitely deserves and lives up to the hype. With anime being more mainstream and honestly saturated nowadays, it's hard to watch them all and figure out which ones are good or bad or which you should invest time into. But Spy X Family stuck out to me because of its plot and the main characters. People compare Loid and Yor to Mr. and Mrs. Smith but I feel that it's quite the opposite, I find Loid and Yor's relationship to be wholesome despite their professions and how they have to fake being a couple with a child. Despite the plan being a setup, they do slowly grow to care and love each other as well as Anya their daughter. Anya truly is the glue that keeps them together bringing out the human side of both Loid and Yor and hoswing them theirs more to life than their work. The situations they get into are hilarious and can be action packed at times. I definitely like the Spy and Assassin elements in this show and keeps it from getting too stale or mundane. I'm sure it'll get a second season, in fact I don't think season 1 is over just yet but even so, 25 episodes means were eating good.


iu_851132_10321089.webp

Number 3 goes to CyberPunk: EdgeRunners on Netflix (8.5/10)


Now this is what I consider to be the apology of CD Projekt Red after the disaster that was CyberPunk: 2077. After that games disastrous launch, CD had lost money in both revenue and even made their stock go WAY down! They did fix the problems with the game but the fans were still upset (and rightfully so). Luckily someone at the HQ had the brains to bring CyberPunk into the world of anime and my god, it's a banger! I literally binged this show on Monday and it was quite a ride. It's a ten episode limited series and surprisingly Netflix picked it up (smart move on their part). The show gives me cowboy bebop vibes only more futuristic and a lot more...mature content shown if ya catch my drift. Despite its limited ten episode run, it does an amazing job immersing you into the world and showing you the characters and the struggles of living in such a corrupt city. Reminds me a lot of a Neo Gotham City from Batman: Beyond and it has a surprising amount of Hispanic culture in it which I personally appreciated. I would have enjoyed two more episodes since there's a time skip between episodes 6 and 7 where months pass and Davis goes through character development and appears bigger and stronger than before but it is what it is. It is sad that the main cast gets killed off one by one, reminds me a lot of Akame Ga Kill where it happens to one out of nowhere and slowly one by one, each member gets killed off leaving one of the main characters left. It's a bittersweet end but that's also what makes it a great series.


iu_851133_10321089.webp

Number 2 goes to Demon Slayer Season 2 aka The Entertainment District Arc on Hulu/CrunchyRoll (9/10)


Now I know technically it started in December 2021 even when you cut out the Mugen train movie being chopped up into episodes at the beginning of the season. It still didn't finish its season run until February of this year so I still count this as more of a 2022 season to a show. I love Demon Slayer and Season 2 did not disappoint, it started out with the events after Mugen train, we got more depth for one of the pillars which was Tengen, more depth about Muzan and his plans, battling one of the upper moons and all action in it! The final battle was intense and the animation was on point! it was so beautifully done and while I'll admit some of the battle scenes felt dragged out, it didn't take away from the animation and visuals we were getting. The ending gave us a hint of what's to come next season and I cannot wait!


Before I go into Number One, I want to shout out some honorable mentions


iu_851134_10321089.webp

First mention I want to shout out is Sonic Prime on Netflix (7.5/10)


Netlfix has truly been getting it together if I have more of its shows on my top 5 best shows list than my top 5 worst shows. I wanted to put Sonic Prime on my actual list but unfortunately it only has 8 episodes released at the moment despite it being slated for 24 episodes. This is Netflix still using that binge model that hasn't really worked since the pandemic due to people not being trapped in their houses anymore. It is what it is but despite that, Sonic Prime shows a lot of promise and is entertaining to watch. As a Sonic fan, its great to see him doing well this year with a successful movie, successful game and a potentially successful show! Were truly in the Sonic Renaissance right now. I love the multiverse idea for Sonic, there is plenty of potential for great storylines but again we'll have to wait until the other 18 episodes get released for a real verdict. It said to have three seasons with eight episodes a pop so we got season 1 with a cliffhanger and hopefully we will get the other two complete seasons. But so far, going strong, going fast!


iu_851135_10321089.png

My other honorable mention will go to The CupHead Show on Netflix (7.5/10)


Why can't Netflix just keep giving us good shows like this instead of cracking down on password sharing? I do enjoy this show but it also used the Netflix binge model. This show had all three seasons come out this year and while I do find Netflix's binge model annoying, I still enjoy this show. I love that old rubber hose style of animation used back in the early 20th century. The game itself is fun and they made a great adaptation with the show just like CyberPunk: EdgeRunner and hell even Sonic. I don't know where the show goes from here but I will say its had a great run up to this point.


And now for the moment you've all been waiting for, the Number One Best show of 2022 goes to....


iu_851136_10321089.webp

Number 1 goes to Smiling Friends on Adult Swim/HBO MAX (10/10)


This is how you do adult animation that everyone can enjoy! I've mentioned each of these shows have plots or storylines they follow, but the thing with Smiling Friends is, there is no set story or plot. The main purpose of the show is to make people smile not only in the show, but also the viewers. Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack are internet content creators/animators and they managed to something that no one from the internet space has been able to do, make a great TV show! Many have tried and failed to bring internet content to television, but these guys managed to do it thanks to time, effort, proper budgeting, and overall great understanding of what makes this transition possible. Smiling Friends is a simplistic show with various animation styles, realism, great writing, hilarious humor, and overall is in touch with the audience its going for. It never feels like something huge or complex, its a simple show that makes it feel like you're having a fun and relaxing conversation with your buddies and I think that's where the charm and appeal comes from. The best part about this show in my opinion is how it's able to subvert your expectations. Now people thought the first episode was weird but as they watches it, it grew on them. The first episode came out in 2020 and people were waiting for the full series. The first season came out this year and left fans wanting more. Now the crew gave us a little surprise with the Brazil episode and if you read the description, you'll think "oh it's just a nice beach episode" but when you actually watch it, it throws a complete curveball at you. They spent the entire episode in an airport just arguing with each other and it was the funniest surprise anyone could have asked for. No one saw that coming and everyone loved it. I'm so glad this show is getting another season, this show is a perfect example of adult animation done right as well as transitioning internet content to mainstream television and that's why I believe Smiling Friends is the Best Show of 2022!


Thanks for sticking around till the end, I'll get my Top 5 Best/Worst movies out starting tomorrow.


See ya!


Tags:

Posted by Dans-Den - December 27th, 2022


iu_849935_10321089.png

What's going on everyone? It's Dan here and were nearing the end of 2022 so much like every other degenerate online, I'll be giving my Top 5 lists. Starting off the list, I'll be giving My Top 5 worst shows of 2022 list!


Keep in mind, this is all subjective and just my opinion on what I've seen this year. There will be shows on this list you agree or disagree with and that's okay! are we clear on that? good. Let's begin.


iu_849936_10321089.webp

Number 5 is going to the limited Netflix series, DAHMER. (6/10)


Now right off the bat, I'm sure I'll catch major flack for putting a show like DAHMER on this list because it was actually quite popular for a fat minute. My real gripe with this show is because it's a piece of entertainment based around a real killer. I don't have problems with adaptations based on true events or people, but when it comes to basing them off tragedies or killers, I get real mixed on the subject. I feel as long as its done tastefully then it's fine, but with Dahmer it feels like the series glorifies him to an unhealthy degree and makes Jeffery Dahmer (at least in the show) likeable. It's similar to when Zac Efron portrayed Ted Bundy a couple years back and people found Bundy to be a charismatic and likeable guy despite that he was a real monster much like Dahmer. Now you can argue this is thanks for Evan Peters portrayal which I'll admit is pretty well done, but even so, it feels like the show and its story is making light of the events that took place especially when they exaggerate or alter details for the sake of the story. The show itself is alright, like I said Peters did a great job but the show itself is....meh. The show overall I'd give it a 6/10, but the events and person it was based off of leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth and feels that it altered more than it should have for the sake of entertainment.


iu_849937_10321089.webp

Number 4 is going to another limited series that's on Disney Plus, Kenobi (5.5/10)


This show I had high hopes for and something everyone has been waiting for, An Obi-Wan Kenobi movie or series on his exile on Tattooine watching over a young Luke, but it turned out to be a real disappointment. Now I already reviewed the show back in the summer and gave it a 5.5/10 so if you want a full in-depth on why I dislike it go check that out. To summarize what I initially said, The show is basically pointless filler in my eyes. It doesn't really add anything to the story of Star Wars and we got glorified fighting scenes between Kenobi and Darth Vader which I felt wasn't necessary, they didn't need to meet. Another reason was the characters were all weak, the main bad guy or gal in this case was just poorly written and felt like her actress was just being over the top. Plus the Inquisitor was thought to be killed off so easily and this caused outrage in the fandom since he's a big player in Star Wars: Rebels. The shows saving grace was when they brought in the writer from WALL.E (I'm serious) for the last two episodes and it managed to salvage the series and actually make it entertaining, make the characters sympathetic and bringing the Inquisitor back to life. The show was just a huge mess, even worse than Book of Boba Fett. It is a real shame because I wanted to like the show, it had it's moments where there was something that could have been great if it was handled better. Unfortunately this is what we ended up with and it was a real disappointment.


iu_849938_10321089.webp

Number 3 has to go to the Disney Plus original series, She-Hulk (5/10)


Now this is a show I knew was gonna be met with heavy dislike and major debate. I had no faith in this show and when I watched a few episodes...it further reinforced those feelings. To be fair, the She-hulk show concept could work well but the way it was executed here was just awful. It's no secret that the MCU has treated the Hulk like a complete side character throughout most the MCU's run in cinema and I find that to be a serious injustice since the Hulk is my favorite Marvel character (yes even more than Spider-Man though he is a close second). I honestly hate how they've treated him in every phase after the original Avengers movie and I thought with the She-Hulk series they'd at least give him some kind of reparation for it as this wise mentor since he's professor Hulk now. But NOPE! Jennifer just complains, telling him how she's gone through far worse than him and talks down on him writing off his struggles as nothing. That's what initially made her so unlikeable in the first place, she has this sense of entitlement and just because she's a woman it means her problems are always worse than Bruce's issues. Keep in mind Bruce has struggled with a dual personality he was unable to control for the longest time and even attempted suicide at one point where as Jennifer has mentally more control than he did so it just makes her character unlikeable. In the comics and other shows she's portrayed to be a real charmer and someone who is easy going but in this show, she's entitled, mean-spirited and shameless (in a bad way). I know this is meant to appeal to a more adult demographic since there's sex (Disney's closest thing to that), Twerking, and profanity. All of those could work for a She-Hulk show, but the writing and lackluster CGI/VFX (she literally looks like that one scene in Click where Adam Sandler's character makes himself look like the hulk) is what truly holds it back. It has it's moments with neat Easter eggs and Cameo's like Abomination from the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie, but it's not enough to save the show and all that I've said makes it a chore to watch than entertainment.


iu_849939_10321089.webp

Number 2 goes to the infamous Halo TV show on Paramount Plus. (4.5/10)


My god I don't even know where to begin with this one....For starters one of the producers Steven Kane would go on saying that they didn't play or look at the games the show was based off of. Secondly, They ruined Master Chiefs character by having him remove his helmet in the first episode which is something he would have never done in the games, third it's just space drama when there's no covenant fighting, I could go on and on. I already review this show so if you wanna see that go ahead but yeah this show was just doomed to fail. I don't understand why they bother making adaptations of beloved video game franchises and give it to people who seem to hate video games and make it so generic and almost nowhere near what its based off of. Yeah they said that this is non-canon, but that's still no excuse to make a Halo Show and make it this terribly. Companies always do this where they make a generic show and slap a beloved IP just so people will watch it. They did this as well with the resident evil show on Netflix (which I've seen clips of and will not watch it ever). It's a generic zombie show and they slap the Resident Evil name on it just so it could generate some views. We've seen with things like Arcane, The Witcher, Cyberpunk, Cuphead, and Sonic that prove you can adapt video games into a great show or movie as long as you have the right team behind it and stay loyal to the source material while also making it your own. It's been proven yet there are still shows like Halo that refuse to give any effort into it or hand it off to the right team. The Halo show was hard to watch, the only episodes I genuinely liked were the first and last episodes because they were action packed battles between the Spartans and the Covenant, everything in between was just space drama. Unfortunately, the shows budget was limited so they couldn't give us a lot of the covenant, that's why their appearances were limited. Also I hate Kwan Ha (not her actress) she is the worst character in this god forsaken show and is baby sat by Soren who I felt was the best character in the show. I initially gave this show a 4.5/10 but I honestly regret that score now I felt it should have been far lower.


And now for the number 1 spot! The Worst Show of 2022 goes to....


iu_849940_10321089.webp

Number 1 goes to Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder on Paramount Plus (1/10)


I've mentioned what has held back a lot of the shows on this list, whether it be bad writing, bad acting, low budget, horrible VFX and CGI, decent concept but poor execution, poor adaptation of a beloved property and even controversy because of real people. I've mentioned how all these shows have one, maybe two of these qualities...well this show has ALL OF THAT!


I know I gave my review of this show back in April, but I don't think I fully expressed all my reasons so I'll try to get it all out in this. First off, the concept of this show is just awful. This live action and animation hybrid idea can work if done with proper care but this show half hazardly puts it together with the smallest budget known to man like literal peanuts flicked at the production. The OG Fairly OddParents was done completely in animation which is far better because you're not limited thanks to animation being a far more flexible medium. The animation is so cheaply done and clunky like I've seen better flash animations from 2005 than what I'm seeing here in 2022 how is that even possible!? The characters are all weak like I do not like any of the main cast aside from Cosmo, Wanda, Jorgen, and Mr. Crocker only because they got the OG voice actors back for their roles and even Mr. Crocker's Voice actor actually got to play him both in live action and animated which I think was awesome but that's about the only positive thing I can say. The settings are so repetitive and uncreative, they literally use the same settings and just redecorate them slightly to be somewhat different. The writing is just poorly done and the acting is all phoned in like good god no one was having a good time. The VFX and CGI are done poorly due to the low budget like this is stuff I can make with a green screen, photo shop and my art tablet. But the worst part about this show is the man behind it, Butch Hartman. He was the creator of Fairly OddParents and was one of the best animators in the industry back in the 2000's and even early 2010's. He was truly one of the best but along the way he got greedy and arrogant. He had that Oaxis Kickstarter, he's been accused of plagiarizing art and commissioning it, and he's just become a real unhinged Jerk if I'm gonna be honest. He agreed to bring back the fairies and he did a shit job at it. It's clear he had no real passion or drive to make this show successful...it's just a shameless cash grab and a phoned in check for himself. It's a real fall from grace story here. Normally a series like the Powerpuff Girls or MLP are ruined because the networks take it upon themselves to squeeze every dime out of the existing property when the original creator departs from the show. Here, Butch comes back but just doesn't care about his IP enough to make it good, he only cares about money and this show has nothing to offer. This show is just a hollow shell of its former self and that's why I feel Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder is the worst show to come out in 2022 and possibly of all time.


There you have it folks! the worst shows of 2022 according to me! how many of you have I upset? How many of you agree with me? let me know! I'll be posting the Top 5 Best shows along with the Top 5 Best/Worst movies of 2022 and I'll post those throughout the week.


See ya!



Tags:

1

Posted by Dans-Den - December 5th, 2022


iu_829492_10321089.webp

Hey what's going on everyone! It's Dan here and today I'll be reviewing Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. I'm extremely late for this review but better late than never I always say.


iu_829494_10321089.webp

Now first and for most, This sequel was very much in limbo following the death of Chadwick Boseman aka T'Challa aka the Black Panther. After his death, they had to rewrite the entire script and delay it since Chadwick was no longer able to perform his role. I will say I'm glad they didn't blatantly replace him with another actor like they did with Rhode aka War Machine or Bruce Banner aka Hulk and instead decided to go with the story of Shuri becoming the new Black Panther. I had a feeling they would go this route following Boseman's death which I felt was the right and respectful call. With that being said, it's now time to review the actual movie itself.


iu_829493_10321089.webp

Now the cast for the Black Panther movie have all returned (excluding Boseman) and it's nice to see them all reprising their roles with the addition of Riri Williams aka Iron Heart (played by Dominique Thorne) and Namor the Sub Mariner (played by Tenoch Huerta). Letitia Wright was given more screen time as Shuri since she is the star of the movie, she is now dawning the mantle of Black Panther since her brother T'Challa has passed away due to a mysterious Illness (didn't specify, used to write him off since Boseman is no longer with us). As I said, I knew they would go with this route as Shuri being the new Black Panther.....at least that's how the trailers made it out to be.


iu_829495_10321089.webp

Now the plot itself would have you believe that Shuri has taken on the mantle of Black Panther right after her brothers death right? not quite.....She doesn't really officially become the Black Panther until like the last third of the movie. This movie is like 2 hours and 41 minutes long and we don't see Shuri take on the role until like the 2 hour mark. Now if you've seen the Black Panther movie you'd understand why she can't just dawn it right away, that being said....the pacing is so slow. The first half of the movie I could barely pay attention because the pacing was so slow. After the funeral for T'Challa scene, it was hard to get invested into the story for the first half, it wasn't until the second half of it where Shuri and Namor have their scenes I was actually starting to focus and get invested into the narrative and Characters.


iu_829496_10321089.webp

Now Shuri taking on the role of the Protagonist and new Black Panther is no small feat, She's filling in big shoes since her bother is gone. Now Shuri as the lead wasn't bad, it was actually interesting to watch. I did enjoy her inner conflict and turmoil throughout the film, it made her character interesting, as M'Baku implied, she's no longer a child and I agree. She's not the same happy go lucky snarky genius we saw in Black Panther or Infinity War, she's depressed and is expected to be as great as her brother. Like I said, Shuri did great, but her supporting cast fell a bit flat especially Iron Heart (Her suit looks like a straight up power ranger suit). Shuri was a great supporting character in the black panther movie, but as a lead she did okay, again it's her cast I'm not extremely fond of. M'Baku went from the god damn bad ass warrior to an uncle/godfather role model who's more of a brute than usual which I wasn't fond of. In fact, the cast was kind of like an all female version of the cast from the first film, Shuri is in T'challa's role and Riri is kind of like Killmonger but good.


iu_829498_10321089.webp

Namor was a confusing character, it was hard to hate or love him, I was very mixed on him despite that he was suppose to be the Antagonist of the film. His origin story is tweaked a bit compared to the comics and I don't mind that since he hasn't been utilized in years for any Marvel media besides some animated projects. Though there are some plotholes in his story that I can't wrap my head around. Why was he the only one without blue skin? why does he only get winged feet and pointy ears while his people are just blue and water breathers while he can breathe air and water? I can forgive his clunky origin, but that doesn't help how they wrote his character, again he is the villain. But he's still somewhat sympathetic and doesn't come off as a malevolent type, he comes off more as Aquaman from Flashpoint where he's the King of the sea and leads his people to battle or War. I'm extremely mixed on him and I can't really see him as a villain, feels like he should have been an allie to Shuri. Towards the end, they do end up coming to a peace treaty (after a bloody near death battle) and become somewhat allies and it works well enough. Even after that, they try to make him come off as a devious individual waiting for his time to rise and it doesn't really work.


iu_829497_10321089.webp

As mentioned, Shuri Doesn't take on the role of Black Panther until the end of the movie where she synthesizes up the flowers to give Black Panthers their powers. She even visits the Ancestral Plane and sees a familiar face, someone she didn't expect to see. I always saw her as the atheist of the family and I was right, she did not believe in any of the mystical stuff (at least to the same degree as her family) and she got a big surprise. Due to this, she was influenced to seek revenge against Namor for killing her mother and in the end she chose the noble path her brother would choose when he confronted Zemo after he had killed their father, Justice. I still believe the pacing killed the movie a bit and had they cut it back at least a half hour, it would have been better.


iu_829499_10321089.webp

Overall, the movie isn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. Again, the script was redone because of Boseman's death and I can't blame anyone for that. For what we ended up getting instead was okay, but I think they should have worked on the characters and pacing of the movie. I understand they have a schedule to keep with the MCU, but I'd rather we get a better quality product even if it means taking more time on it.


Rating this movie I'm giving it:


6/10


The first half was slow and clunky, but it picked it up in the second half. It's okay for what we got but I personally don't care too much for it but maybe you guys will like it more. I recommend giving it a watch once.


That's all I got for today, see ya!


Tags:

1

Posted by Dans-Den - November 11th, 2022


iu_801134_10321089.jpg

What's going on everyone? It's Dan here and today I'll be giving my first Video Game Review on the turn based JRPG, Soul Hackers 2!

iu_801133_10321089.webp

This game is another entry from one of my favorite game developers Atlus and Published by my favorite Publisher Sega. I enjoy playing Atlus's other game franchises such as the Shin Megami Tensei series (I've played 3 and 5) and my personal favorite Persona (4, 5, Royal, etc). Both of those franchises have their own distinct personalities in terms of gameplay and theme.

iu_801135_10321089.png

Soul Hackers (much like Persona) was a spinoff game of the SMT series, specifically devil summoner. I find it strange they chose to make a sequel of the soul hackers game 25 years later but it might be due to the success of Persona and SMT back in 2021 with Persona 5 Strikers and SMT 5 doing well. I never played the original Soul Hackers game it was released the same year I was born on the PS1 and by the time I started playing games we had entered into the 6th generation of consoles (GameCube, PS2 and Xbox etc) so I had no clue of this games existence. When I saw Soul Hackers 2 trailer and how this was an Atlus game, I was intrigued to pick it up, I kept an eye on it and didn't end up purchasing the game until last month during Sega's steam sale where I bought the premium edition for about 60 dollars which I consider a decent deal getting the entire game and DLC's.

iu_801136_10321089.png

Now this game has had a very mixed reception and I wasn't sure what it could be. I looked into it and while playing the game, I think I was able to find some of the issues and saw some things I liked about it. I'll start with the theme, SMT is known for being Dark while Persona is more comedic and somewhat light-hearted. Soul Hackers 2 falls more into Persona territory where its theme is more quirky and light-hearted moments with some dark themes mixed into it for the sake of the story, People do die in this game and at times can be graphic. Their gameplay styles also help separate them, SMT is naturally a more difficult game to play even on normal and even easy mode at times. If you mess up once in SMT, your whole turn is done. Persona is more forgiving in that regard though it has its moments where its challenging enough while being able to progress through the story. Soul Hackers 2 is an easier game to play than Persona. Persona still had the turn based mechanics similar to SMT where if you mess up, you only lose a couple turns. It doesn't matter if you mess up in Soul Hackers 2, your turn will be unphased meaning you can complete all four turns whether you mess up or not in battle. That also means that even if you find the weakness, you don't gain a turn, its only four turns. Normally you would gain turns if you find the weakness of enemies, but it doesn't matter here in Soul Hackers 2, four turns is the ruling.

iu_801137_10321089.webp

The characters in Soul Hackers are different from SMT and Persona protagonists since instead of high schoolers, the Protagonists consist of Young Adults in their 20's (assuming mid or late 20's) which is refreshing rather than the typical high school A-team. The characters are alright, they have their own personalities to them and their own stories. Ringo (yellow-green) and Figue (Purple) are two sentient AI's in humanoid bodies sent by Aion to protect the world from the impending doom of humanity all while learning what it's like to be human. Arrow is a Devil Summoner of a group called Yatagarasu who's the straight man of the group who lacks in some social queues but is a determined individual loyal to his friends and what he believes in. Milady is the assassin devil summoner from the other devil summoner group called Phantom Society and is the former lover of the main Antagonist Iron Mask. Saizo (my fav) is the comedic relief of the group who is a freelance devil summoner who workers for both sides and is a smooth talker with a charismatic personality. Each one has their own reason to fight and the chemistry between them are fun to watch I'll admit. Though the writing at times feel like they're trying to be hip and appeal to the younger audience and it comes across as cringey at times. But overall, the characters and their interactions are good.

iu_801138_10321089.webp

The Story itself is not bad, but its also not great either, it's alright. The story is your typical Apocalyptic situation from Atlus where it takes the SMT route by having a big bad guy trying to destroy our current world so that they can create a new world in their own warped image. Our heroes have to stop them from destroying the world. The way its done in Soul Hackers 2 is done decently well where Iron Mask is collecting 5 covenants to give himself the power to destroy the world and create a new one. The story has a twist near the end which I wont spoil but I thought it was cleverly done. Soul Hackers 2 has an area called The Matrix where out heroes go through their souls and fix their souls from enemies invading it and as you keep exploring and leveling up your level for each character, you'll unlock deeper parts of their souls and stronger foes to fight and collect. I have issues with how they structured progressing in the game, I feel they should have made the Matrix a more essential way of progressing in the story and leveling up.

iu_801139_10321089.webp

As mentioned before, the game is easier compared to other Atlus titles, as long as you level up you'll do fine though I do have issues with how you level up. Though there are moments where the EXP you get from fighting enemies doesn't feel like a substantial reward after grinding and fighting, feels like you're cheaped out at times. I also noticed that it has that resting mechanic that Persona 5 Strikers had where you'd exit the portal and rest up immediately which was a complain Strikers got. Soul Hackers 2 has that same mechanic with the Safehouse, you can go to the safehouse and rest up or eat a meal and replenish your HP/MP with zero cost or consequences. This is what I feel holds great Atlus games back, when they make it too easy with these replenish areas you can use whenever you feel like it but again that's just me. I also want to mention how the difficulty in this game doesn't change much. I did this game on all three difficulties and they hardly change. in SMT, the difference is drastic and even Persona has a more noticeable different in difficulty when you change it.

iu_801140_10321089.webp

As mentioned, I purchased the DLC for the game since it was all on sale. The main meat of the DLC is a big side story with the young novice Devil Summoner named Nana. She eats a lot, she's sassy, a bit of a brat and her story was lackluster to say the least. She wasn't anything significant to the game, I wish they had done it like Royal where Violet was added as a main part of the game and it fit well without any real plot holes. This is why I'm glad they went with adults rather than teens or I would have just said "this game is dollar tree persona". I understand she's just DLC and not an actual part of the story, but if you're gonna make a DLC side quest, at least make it where it adds something meaningful to the game. The other DLC's are demons that were obtainable before in other Atlus games but now in this game they're behind a paywall which was another criticism I was seeing and I totally agree with that. I hate it when things that were free and obtainable through skill in the past are now locked behind a paywall which is just anti-consumer. So yeah, DLC's were definitely a flop due to how they handled them.

iu_801141_10321089.webp

Overall, the game is a decent turn based JRPG. I see this as more aimed towards the average gamer or gamers not familiar with Atlus or turn based JRPG's. This game is definitely not meant for the Atlus fans such as myself even though its structed almost the same as SMT and Persona with different endings (which are both cool) and fusing characters (the fusion scene in this game is kinda lame) but its structured to be easier than their other franchises. I still had fun beating the game and collecting demons and leveling up. I still think this is a fun Atlus game to play, just not one I'd play after I played games like SMT or Persona.


Rating this game I am giving it:


7/10


I would recommend this game to someone who wants a fun turn based JRPG or wants to get into the Atlus games, though if you're a long time fan of Atlus, wait till this game is on sale like I did and play it as filler while waitin for the next Persona or SMT game. This game is good, but could have been great if only handled better.


That's all I got, See ya!


Tags:

Posted by Dans-Den - October 24th, 2022


iu_782451_10321089.webp

Hey! Long time no see everyone! It's Dan here and today I'll be reviewing the movie, Black Adam


Sorry If I haven't been on for a minute, got a new job so working two jobs ATM so hopefully after I leave one, I'll have more time for reviews again. With that being said, lets get into Black Adam.

iu_782450_10321089.jpg

This is a movie that's been in limbo for a decade in a half and factors such as covid and poor management did not help. But after 15 years since its announcement, it finally came to the big screen. That's thanks partly to the star of the movie, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He pushed for this movie to happen for years and all that pushing paid off so I gotta give him credit where credits due.

iu_782452_10321089.webp

The cast here did a good job for the most part, though I do have some critiques about the acting and a couple of the characters themselves. The acting is done almost in a rapid fire pace meaning they talk fast at times and barely gives people a chance to process any information without missing the next part like they're speed reading the scripts and other times it feels like overacting where some scenes are over the top and don't feel right. Johnson is perfect for Black Adam (far more than his Krypto role), Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate was my favorite and he is honestly a close second, Aldis Hodge as Hawkman was pretty good too even though I felt at times he was a bit over the top himself but that honestly fits with Hawkman's character so I give it a pass. my real complaints in the characters are with Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone and Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher who honestly served little to no purpose in the movie. They were either the comedic relief characters or the generic teens/young adults in love with each other. They honestly felt more like side characters, they made Isis and her son Amon feel more crucial to the plot than they did. There's also cameos to look out for during and after the movie just sayin.

iu_782453_10321089.webp

I will say that the plot is structured like any other superhero movie, however, its a structure that adheres to the Anti-hero story. This movie is the opposite of the movie SHAZAM! (which isn't a bad thing, I liked SHAZAM!), that movie was more light hearted and wholesome at times being a fun superhero movie. I know of Black Adams origins from the old comics and how he was basically a warrior chosen to be the wizards champion but he became corrupt with power and the wizard banished him for 5,000 years only for Captain Marvel to confront him and ultimately beat him. Though I like the origin they went with in the movie which is more align with the recent revisions of the character. I'm not spoiling anything but you can look up his revised origins on your own time to get an idea. They also brought in the good vs evil tropes and threw that up in the air. It was well executed bringing up that there are different goods, evils and neutrals even. Everyone's methods are different, but in the end they all have the same goals.

iu_782454_10321089.png

As I mentioned earlier, the characters speak at a fast pace and even though this is a 2 hour movie, the pacing can be fast and again barely lets me soak in what's happening. Other than that, I had no issue with the plot and thought it was great and different from all the other comic book movies as of late. There are a couple things I wish they incorporated from the comics into the film such as the fact that Teth-Adam (Black Adams real name) is 5,000 years old, therefore if he said Shazam, he would revert to normal and age rapidly in the process. The movie was done well enough but I still wouldn't consider it perfect. They have slow-Mo effects to show how fast Black Adam is and most of the time its badass, but then other times it can be funny looking which isn't too bad but you know it is what it is.

iu_782455_10321089.webp

Overall, this is a refreshing comic book movie where its not a generic superhero movie or some god entity movie that's just boring like the Eternals. I'm glad Johnson fought long and hard for this movie and I feel it was worth the wait. A shame they likely wont connect the Captain Marvel and Black Adam movies together in a super fight anytime soon (maybe later who knows) but for what it is, its enjoyable and a fun action packed time.


Rating the movie, I'm giving it:


7/10


Its a fun anti-hero action movie, but I definitely see which areas it falls short in. Either way, I still recommend giving it a watch. That's about it, I'll hopefully have more time soon to make more reviews, I actually have a game review in the works and will get that done by hopefully next month.


See ya!


Tags:

1