Movie Review: Mortal Kombat 2021

 

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.

From last year, i've covered Sonic the hedgehog on the big screen where it went from ugly to good one, which i enjoyed it for the most part, from Sonic's journey on Earth to Jim Carrey's fun performance of Dr. Robotnik. Aside from other movie based on video game that wouldn't able to touch at like Monster Hunter movie (because i never heard of it), there is one that i love it in a fighting genre next to Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat. You know the drill, a fighting tournament between Earth, NetherRealm and others with finishing move to kill your opponents, and it also brought us our familiar characters like Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Lui Kang, Sonya Blade, Raiden and Johnny Cage. But of course, like any games, its no secret it will be adapted from theaters and streaming service.

"Mortal Kombat" is 2021 martial arts, fantasy and video game adaptation produced and directed by Simon McQuoid, co-produced by James Wan, Todd Garner and E. Bennett Walsh, then written by Greg Russo Dave Callaham (for screenplay) and Oren Uziel (for story).

Before we have one, we used to have the 1995 version with the same name. Though the film itself is pretty average, it has some nice actions, some good characters, but some other characters aren't as good, the writing is messy, the presentation is ok, but the violence is pretty much missing which i considered a film with missing identity. Despite how average the film it was, it was succeeded the box-office to having a sequel "Mortal Kombat Annihilation" and its one the worst film ever made with the budget went lower and worse, the writing is even worse and the presentation with the CG are disgusting to look at, leaving the series being halted with the third film attempt being cancelled due to negative impact and commercial failure.

Thankfully for decades later, Warner Bros bought the rights of Mortal Kombat (even though they have their video game publishers, "Warner Bros Entertainment") in order to not only make the third MK film, but also a full-on reboot of the series with one missing content what Mortal Kombat needs, the violence to be Rated R, which is exactly what we wanted for MK series.

So, with all that said, will this bring us back to the fighting tournament with more brutal and violence than the 1995 version, or is this film that we'd rather die in NetherRealm?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

Since Mortal Kombat has plenty of characters, you think its gonna be of one character or group of good guys or anti hero story with Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sonya Blade, Jax, Raiden, Sub-Zero, Johnny Cage and many others, right? Well, its kinda like a group of good guys story, but rather thrown out of window for the writing.

It started on the 17th Century where we meet Hanzo Hasashi, who's being targeted by an assassin of Lin Kuei named Bi-Han (aka Sub-Zero), they both fighting each other, but Bi-Han murdered Hanzo to put an end of Shirai Ryu ninja clan. However, after Hanzo's family are both killed (minus the baby), the baby was rescued by the thunder god named Raiden. Fast forward to present time, a deadly tournament called "Mortal Kombat" is brought for a battle between Earthrealm and Outworld, but Outworld was out-beaten Earthrealm nine times out of ten in Mortal Kombat. We introduce our main hero named "Cole Young", an MMA fighter from Chicago, after losing one match, he was introduced by a Special Forces member named Jax Briggs, who tells Cole that he's the chosen one, but they got attacked by Bi-Han as Sub-Zero, as Jax lost the battle against the ice ninja by disarming him, Cole goes on his own to finding Sonya Blade from Jax's order, which Cole, Sonya and a captured Australian A-Hole named Kano are traveled out of nowhere until they found a temple from Raiden with his champions, Liu Kang and Kung Lao, but Raiden told our hero that the evil threat of Outworld with an evil warlock named Shang Tsung, its up to Cole to not only trained to be stronger in order to deal with Outworld.

For the story, its rather good as we can tell, its another underdog story who's been chosen to be part of Mortal Kombat, but i felt the writing is just comes off as either mixed-bag to questionable. Because while the story is good, but it just comes off as pretty cliché with some elements that has been done before, like being the chosen one for tournament without mercy. But one thing im disappointed is that the movie is more focused on Cole than some familiar characters in Mortal Kombat, which it disappoints me so much that i just wish it could've focus on either Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sonya or even Kitana, but all we have a bland protagonist, but il will explaining the characters later on. Not to mention, the movie also has a plot element from the dragon mark tattoo called "Arcana", which is meant from being chosen from Mortal Kombat with special power, but how does it came from in this movie? Well, they never explain about it what-so-ever...!

While the story is good for say the least, but the writing really ruined it for poor execution.

The Presentation

As far as i can tell, the budget is more on film's presentation than the writing. But i have to admitted, it looks pretty damn good.

For the filming location, it looks pretty cool looking from MMA arena, to street then to temple, since they're filmed in Australia (since the production is done in Adelaide Studios) and in the desert, i though its from USA, but its actually the Outback in Australia. Not to mention, they uses two cameras (ARRI ALEXA LF and Mini LF) with the use of Panavision Anamorphic lenses, which i gotta say, they did a pretty good work for their filming.

For the costumes, they're not bad, especially with the outfits of Sub-Zero and Scorpion, they look pretty good as in the game, for the new suits of other characters like Raiden, Shang Tsung, Mileena, Kabal and others, they're mixed bag, some are fitting nicely (especially with Kabal, he looks pretty damn cool, even though at first, i though its Smoke, but close), while some others, not so much (Yes, im looking at you, Mileena, like where your hot-pink color on your outfit?).

And of course, since this is Mortal Kombat, there's always gotta be a fighting scenes and i have to say, they're pretty cool and thankfully, pretty violent with blood and gore much like in the game (Take that, 1995 version!), and its no wonder why this film's rating is R for... Obvious reason. And their fighting and some elements are referenced in the game (if some of you are familiar with MK) like Liu Kang's bicycle kicks, Jax's Head Clap, Sub-Zero's ice blast, Scorpion's chain spear (aka "Get over here!!"), Kung Lao's buzzsaw hat (aka Razor's Edge) and Shang Tsung's stealing soul (along with "Your soul is MINE!"). So nice touch, guys.

The presentation of this movie is pretty good, especially with fighting scenes, the violence and the faithfulness of MK series, for the most part.

The Characters

As i said before, i just wish some characters in MK should've been the main focus than the main protagonist.

Lets easily start off with Cole Young (played by Lewis Tan), who's an MMA fighter from Chicago. I can honestly said that he's just forgettable in the movie, mainly for being an underdeveloped protagonist for being chosen fighter. Sure he can fight, but not good fighter enough for his personality, he's just boring as Tavern in Mortal Kombat Armageddon. Cause again, it should've been either Liu Kang, Scorpion or anybody than Cole Young...!

So what about the familiar faces in MK? Well they're not bad. 

There's Sonya Blade (played by Jessica McNamee) who's a badass member of Special Forces that we all know and love, Jax Briggs (played by Mehcad Brooks), who's the muscle member of Special Forces as MotherF***er, even though i can't help but he looks like if he's played by Terry Crews (even though its always my dream), Kano (played by Josh Lawson) who's an Australian Douchebag that he's probably likable for being a Dick to anybody around (like he easily made me chuckle that way he delivered), Raiden (played Tadanobu Asano), the thunder god who's more like giving us a plot device for our heroes (though i will say this, he's probably better than Christopher Lambert's role), Lui Kang (played by Ludi Lin), a Shaolin Monk champion who's almost act like a sensei for our heroes, Kung Lao (played by Max Huang) who's more like Liu Kang's sidekick, but also likable, Bi-Han/Sub-Zero (played by Joe Taslim) who's a ninja assassin of Lin Kuei and probably served as the main antagonist from his boss of Outworld, Shang Tsung (played by Chin Han) who's a warlock for souls and shapeshifting, but served as a big boss who cannot fight (well this sucks) and Hanzo Hasashi, aka Scorpion (played by Hiroyuki Sanada) a ninja clan of Shirai Ryu who got killed off early, but coming back, but only in final act (talk about a waste of time that i;ve been begging to see him coming back from the dead).

Although there's some other MK characters, but they're more like a after though ones, like Mileena (played by Sisi Stringer) who looks like she has rashes on her cheeks as loosely looking like in the game, Kabal (played by Daniel Nelson and voiced by Damon Herriman) who like i said, i thought its Smoke, but its Kabal all along, but no longer as good guy, but he's also likable, Reptile who's more like a first henchman, but he looks pretty cool, but not acting like a human ninja in disguise (Aw well), Goro (voiced by Angus Sampson) the prince of Shokan who's more like a sub-boss (much like in the game) at our main hero, Nitara (played by Mel Jarnson) who's a flying vampire for obstacle fight for Kung Lao and Reiko (played by former pro-wrestler Nathan Jones, though his wrestling performance was pretty embarrassment) who's a next gen of Shao Kahn (Too bad Shao Kahn isn't in the movie).

While the characters from MK are nice to see in the movie (some are faithful, while others didn't doing well), but its safe to say that Cole's appearance is unlikable.

And now for my final opinion of this movie.

Overall, the 2021 Mortal Kombat isn't as flawless victory as we expected. The story is ok, the actions are pretty good, the blood and gore is there for good reason and the characters are also ok. Its mainly the writing is pretty dreadful for its execution and Cole Young purpose has zero reason to being forgetable main role. Even though its not the worst movie based on video game, but they're still out there.

For my recommendation, i'd say its only for die-hard fans of Mortal Kombat who really want to see the bloody and gory version what we wanted. 

And does this film is better than 1995 version? Well, i'd say yeah, since the first one is the most PG-iest film ever for the lack of blood and gore, but more of typical martial arts film with some fun and silly moments.

For my rating, its a tough one, since as a fan of Mortal Kombat, i wanted to go higher, but due to some execution that ruined the film in somewhat disappointing result, i gotta give this film a 6/10.

So this ends of my movie review, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.

Movie Review: Godzilla vs Kong

 

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my Movie Review, now with 2021 movies.

From many years ago, i've talked about Godzilla, i've talked about Kong and both of them are in Monsterverse series that we all know. Ever since we love Godzilla and Kong, its definitely no secrete that they're gonna make a movie of these guys in combat on the big screen.

"Godzilla vs Kong" is a 2021 Kaiju film is directed Adam Wingard, produced by Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Brian Rogers, Mary Parent, Alex Garcia and Eric McLeod,written in screenplay by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein, then story written by Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty (Yup, the same guy who did Godzilla: King of the Monsters) and Zach Shields.

Ever since we heard the announcement of Godzilla facing against Kong, we're highly anticipated with the battle of two icons, its another crossover of East vs West. However, the movie got delayed a lot, ranging from changes and even the outbreak from the virus, so they chooses for not only release the film in theaters, but also available in renting digital download and streaming service like HBO Max.

Of course, its not the first time we have the battle of two icons, there's the 1962 "King Kong vs Godzilla" by Toho that its nice to having those two fighting each other for the first time, even though before we have a CG, we have a fun and silly battle between to guys in monster suits. Though the ending is debatable for who win the battle, its more like "You decide" conclusion element.

So, with all that said, will this movie bring us a epic battle of these two big monsters, or is it a waste of potential to having other monsters?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

For the plot in this movie, its surprisingly interesting, while the human plot that despite its improved, but its still flawed like before.

It picks up after "King of the Monsters" five years later, where Kong was monitered by the Monarch with a giant dome on Skull Island, which they were told that the citizens in Skull Island are wiped out from the storm, except for one deaf girl named Jia who only speaks with sign language. Meanwhile a cybernetic company called Apex are creating secret experiment, not before Godzilla came out nowhere and going rampage at Pensacola. Meanwhile, a geologist and cartographer Dr. Nathan Lind was told by Apex CEO named Walter Simmons about the plan of going a secret world called "Hollow Earth", Nathan was hesitant at first due to his brother's death, but he accepted the plan, but only he needs one monster to going in there, which is Kong. So its up for the Nathan Lind with other members like Dr. Ilene Andrews and her adopted girl Jia to bring out Kong to Hollow Earth without the risk and the secret truth of Godzilla's rampage.

Story is surprisingly good and curiously creative for expending world in Monsterverse, mainly with the Hollow Earth element for the origin or possibly why Godzilla is posing a threat like you know, like any Godzilla films out there, even though i still consider Godzilla as an anti-hero, appearing what he wanted, rampage or facing against evil monsters. Not mention, i also like the chemistry between Kong and Jia, since with Skull Island's citizens are all gone from the dangerous storm, they treated like a father and daughter figures with their sign language, which is nice and kinda cute at the same time.

However, like King of the Monsters, the story with the humans are pretty underwhelming for its execution. Despite that i appreciated the chemistry between a little girl and a giant ape, but the human plots with finding the secret in Apex with conspiracy theorist Bernie and the same girl from the previous movie Madison. Sure, i do appreciated of the expansion world where we're going to Hollow Earth, but again, the human elements are pretty underwhelming. I think its no secret this movie's main focus is either Kong or Godzilla. However, the movie is kinda miss the mark of the identity that Godzilla is the main focus in the title "Godzilla vs Kong", when in reality, the main focus is Kong, i mean it would've been ok to put the opposite of the title of the movie as "Kong vs Godzilla", either that or to avoiding confusion from the 1962 version's title.

Despite some problems of who's the main focus and poor executed human plot points, but the story is fascinating for say the least.

The Presentation

Aside from the writing flaws, i think it safe to say that the production of this movie is pretty good.

For the filming location and the setting, they're quite nice looking and rather a nice fit, since they picked a locations for the setting like Hawaii for Skull Island and Australia for factory and other locations like city in Brisbane. Though we though its their two locations, but they also filmed in Hong Kong as their final shooting.

Of course, aside from the real locations, there's always a CG background and i find them to be fascinating, especially the setting design of Hollow Earth, which i though its gonna be looking like hell with demons and stuff like DOOM, but it looks pretty different that i've never imagine. But im not gonna explain what it looks like for avoiding spoilers.

As for the action scenes, well its surprisingly all over, raging from Godzilla's threatening rampage, the presentation of Hollow Earth and the famous round 1 of Godzilla and Kong beat themselves up both in and out of water with battle ships and aircraft carriers. Of course, the final battle is pretty cool, but also brutal as hell, but again, no spoilers.

For the monsters appearance, its no secret that Kong and Godzilla look remain the same, sure they have some update appearance like Kong with scars and Godzilla's upgrade skins. As for the other monsters around, sadly, they never brought them back like Rodan, Behemoth, Scylla, MUTO number three, Methuselah nor even what happen to the new egg from Mothra, which is pretty disappointed that i just wish they could've give us more Titans from the previous films than just Godzilla and Kong. What we have instead is a flying cobra-like dragon and possibly a small version of The Giant Claw (but at least their looks aren't as ugly like the original flying battleship). Btw, before the film was released, there's a rumor that this movie have MechaGodzilla, which im easily hesitated in the first place based on its purpose, but again, no spoilers for conformation. Oh, they also brought back Skullcrawlers, so... Yay??

While the presentation gave me my nitpick with plot holes like the lack of Titans from "King of the Monsters", the presentation of this movie is pretty good, for the most parts.

The Characters

I think it safe to say that the Titans have better development than the underdeveloped humans, for the most parts.

When it comes to Godzilla, from before like "King of the Monsters" or even his Monsterverse debut, he's more like an anti-hero where he fought numerous evil Titans like MUTOs and even Ghidorah, which many people might considered him as like a god. Here in this movie, his anti-hero goes chaotic that he went into a threat at the humanities, for what reason he does that is just beyond me or even the fans.

As for Kong, he's also sorta being good towards humans, even if they pushed the line at the big ape. But this time, thanks to Jia like a daughter figure, it seems that he's somewhat giving a respect at the humanity, especially to giving a sympathetic element that he wants home after his Skull Island being taken by the Monarch with dome.

As for the humans, with the exception of Jia (played by young Kaylee Hottle) being the last person on Skull Island and a daughter figure from Kong which i appreciated, they're pretty forgettable foe their lack of purpose or anything. Despite their acting are fine.

There's Dr. Nathan Lind (played by Alexander Skarsgård) who's a reluctant cartographer and geologist for his study of Hollow Earth with Kong, Dr. Ilene Andrews (played by Rebecca Hall) who's a Monarc member of Linguist, Bernie Hayes (played by Brian Tyree Henry) who's an employee in Apex with his conspiracy theory that nobody cared, Walter Simmons (played by Demián Bichir) who's a typical evil big boss of Apex organization against anybody on his lay (let along Monarch), Maia Simmons (played by Eiza González) who's a top tier executive and daughter of Walter, Josh Valentine (played by Julian Dennison, aka Russell Collins from Deadpool 2) who's a cowardly nerd about Godzilla and Ren Serizawa (played by Shun Oguri) whos the son of Dr. Serizawa who sadly served by purpose what so ever in this movie.

But for whatever reason, Madison Russell (reprised by Millie Bobby Brown) and her dad Dr. Mark (reprised by Kyle Chandler) returned in this movie, but again, they're pretty much forgettable since "King of the Monsters" based on lack of context on their appearances.

While the monsters and Jia herself are fascinating, but its just that the humans are involved felt like a cardboard cutout crowd for pandemic sporting events.

And now for my final opinion of this film.

Overall, Godzilla vs Kong is a pretty good film to having two icons in ultimate fight. The story is pretty good, the presentation looks fantastic, despite the dark cinematography have some problem that i almost forgot to tell and the writing is not bad. Although i like the development of Jia, Kong and Godzilla, while the rest of humans, despite they may have some developments, but its their writing purpose is pretty much poorly executed in the final result and some other monsters from previous film like King of the Monsters don't make any returns.

If you're a fan of Kaiju film involving two iconic monsters, this is definitely for you, like it won't disappoints you. Or maybe watching the 1962 version by Toho if you love guy in monsters suits.

Sadly, this movie has a controversy, its not just the movie itself, but rather a war between this movie and the Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League, mainly because when Godzilla vs Kong came out, the film was well-received by critics and audience like myself included, but then army of Snyder's cut went after GvK with review bombs in order to destroy this movie. Look, i like DC superheroes, but there's no excuse to make war against either critics or a movie competitor (which GvK is distributed by the same company with Snyder's cut, Warner Bros). So for the love of god, DC community or maybe Kaiju community, please stop making war to picking side for who's better or else...!!

Sorry for my ranting, its just that whenever there's a controversy that pinched my nerve, il point it out.

Anyway, for my rating, im gonna give this one an 8/10. I would've gave it 7, but as a fan of Kaiju film, il give it a bit high.

So this ends of my movie review after my long hiatus, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.

Movie Review: Wonder Woman 1984

 *comes out chamber* Ok, after a long months of hiatus, i finally decided its time to do a movie review...! Except i gotta going back in 2020 to see one film that i rent in digital download, i hope its gonna be a good one, right?

(two in a half hours later)

Uhhh... Right... Not a good way to coming back to my review...

(Review Starts)

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my Movie Review.

And yes, its about time to finally going back to my business, since i pretty much being losing my passion of my review that i wrote a journal for my confession, but now, im now back in business to checking movies from the reopening theaters.

Anyway, from several years ago, i've talked about DCEU's take of Wonder Woman, it is a pretty good film i might say, even if it would've been perfect before we have Shazam. Though its about time to having her own sequel that it came out last year.

"Wonder Woman 1984" is a 2020 DCEU film that was directed/produced/written by Patty Jenkins, co-produced by Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, Gal Gadot (Yup, the actress is also working as a producer) and Stephen Jones, then co-written by Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham.

After the success of her first film, its no secret there's gotta be a discussion of sequel that takes place in the 80's, though it was originally to be released in 2019, but they decided to push to adding some new elements and new shooting to summer of 2020. But of course, due to the virus that spread all over the world, it was pushed again to Christmas day of 2020 for not just a theater, but also in HBO Max. And no, i don't have HBO Max subscription to see this movie, so i had to going to the theater in my home land Canada, even though the movie's retail and digital download are coming in March 9th as im working this review.

So, with all that said, will Wonder Woman gets a second chance of success, or is this film's wish deserves to flipping upside down?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

For the return of Wonder Woman, i find the story of this movie is pretty cool, but if the execution could've worked.

The movie just strangely started on Diana's childhood competition of obstacle course, but ended up being disqualified for taking a shortcut. But she does got an advice from Hyppolyta in order to be honest with the truth. Fast forward to 1984 (hence the title of the movie), she lives as a crime fighter to save anybody in Washington DC. But outside of superhero, Diana is working on institution, not before she meets a newly hired Barbara Minerva to not only working together, but also as a friend. But after they met Maxwell Lorenzano and witnessing a valuable item what they called "Dreamstone" (which is a stone that if anybody holds it, it will granting one wish. Though it makes Barbara wishes to be like Diana, while Diana wishes to see Steve Trevor again), Maxwell secretly steals the stone from Barbara to granting his own wish to save his oil company, but he also wishes that he can granting anybody's wishes, making him as a super human with infinite of wish granting. Its up to Wonder Woman to stop Maxwell Lord without making the whole world changing into a huge mess from Max's wishing power.

I find the story of dealing with a man with granting wishing power is a pretty interesting idea whenever if it doesn't going on the way from anybody who wants to change the way it used to be or even wanting something to be real, but of course, the granting wish power could make a huge risking result based on acceptance of wishes.

But despite the story is pretty good idea, if the execution would've work. This movie is obviously about honesty and maybe "be yourself" elements that ended up becoming pretty cliché in this movie. Its always gotta learn if more granting power you get, the worse it gets. Not to mention they even including Diana's flashback, which we get its to learning the honesty, but i find it to be unnecessary to going back at her childhood in the opening in my opinion. But of course, there's the inclusion of Steve Trevor in the movie that im gonna make a big complaint, but il get to that in the characters section to pointing out.

The story is a pretty good concept, but the execution just comes off as an obvious cliché that its easy to predict from beginning to end.

The Presentation

Despite the writing problem, i think the budget goes for the presentation, for the most part.

With the film takes place in the 80's it looks pretty impressive, im sure some of you who're the 80's people have a nostalgia feel. Its colorful and cheesy. 

Not to mention, some filming locations is quite nice to go, including Landmark Mall, which it looks pretty cool that it makes us wish to going there, but the place is closed since 2017. Even though they filmed this place one year after the mall's closing. But as im working this review, they're going to redeveloping new mixed-use development with a hospital, but only time will tell when its reopen in the future.

For the action scenes, its kinda minor in the movie, especially from the beginning to second act, mainly with the whole story development of Dreamstone and a build up from Max Lord's power. But some of action scenes are pretty cool. Especially with the aforementioned mall scene, the road and in the white house.

For the superhero/villains appearances, even though Wonder Woman is pretty much the same as before, but her color details are changed to make it a bit brighter for you know, 80's color style. But of course, the highlight of her outfit is she wears a golden armor that was found from Asteria, it looks amazing from its design. But like any superhero films the usage of powerful suit will never happen until the third act, despite her new armor was shown in numerous posters! Which isn't fair to keeping it at the near end...!

And yes, we always like to see Barbara Minerva turning to Cheetah, which i got scared if she ended up turning into an abomination like one of the worst movie ever called "Cats". But thank goodness, she looks surprisingly pretty good with fur textures and some makeup on her. Though yes, her early presentation looks awkwardly bad as early design of Sonic the Hedgehog movie, which i guess it explained that this is another film that it needs to be patched for the audience's criticisms.

While the effects and production are pretty good for 200 Million dollars of budget, but it doesn't mean its perfect, because there other times that some effects is kinda botchy, like one moment that one character got thrown in CG then it changes into real actor while landing, which really makes me wonder if they could've using either an invisible harness outside of studio, or the most obvious, using a green screen. Im just saying what i've noticed when i watched.

Even though the production isn't as 100% perfect, but it looks pretty good. But hey, at least they don't do something cringy like Superman's CG mouth.

The Characters

For the characters in this movie, i find many of them are quite fascinating, but of course, it also has some problems that i will get to Steve Trevor later.

First is Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman (reprised by Gal Gadot), of course, she's still being pretty badass as an Amazon who lives outside of her home island to doing her business in Washington DC. In this movie, despite that she has to accept to moving on from her ol friends and her late love, she became somewhat wiser, mature and of course, being fish out of water hero. As always, Gal did a great work as our favorite DC female hero.

Next is Barbara Minerva aka Cheetah (played by Kristen Wiig), she's a timid and somewhat clumsy geologist and gemologist when she's hired in institution. But of course, as the movie progress, you can probably feel she's gonna be the new villain to becoming Cheetah, but like Wonder Woman's golden armor, she only showed at the third act in her transformation. Im sorry for the spoiler, but its rather unfair that i really like to see her transforming in the second act. Im just saying. But i will give a credit that having her as a friend of Diana Prince before becoming villain is a fascinating development, sure its been done before, but i appreciated this version. Of course, Wiig did a good work of her role.

Speaking of villain, we have Maxwell Lorenzano aka Maxwell Lord (played by The Mandalorian himself, Pedro Pascal), man, i find him to be... A rather good villain, he has a fascinating motivation that despite his struggle of his business for money, but he has a power of granting wishes for anybody for acceptance. Despite of his life risking with nose bleed. Even though im aware he's pretty different than the comic version, but i find him pretty good, even though his origin is pretty cliché, just a person who got bullied pretty often that he wanted to becoming a billionaire owner of his oil company. Of course, Pedro did a pretty good on his role. And yes, i do watching some clips of The Mandalorian (especially when i finally got a subscription of Disney+, but i digress).

And them we're getting the one that i've been waiting to pointing out the movie's biggest problem, its mainly the use of Steve Trevor (reprised by Chris Pine, aka Captain Kirk in Cinematic Star Trek series), if anybody who haven't seen the first Wonder Woman movie, consider this a SPOILER WARNING. 

In the third act, Steve had to sacrifice himself from a detonated bomb from the plane in order to not only saved her, but also convincing her to kill Ares the God of War. But for whatever reason, they decided to bring him, but instead of using him as a ghost or a resurrected being, they made him as a possession at some random strange on Diana's wishful vision. Not only there's no reason to bring him back, but its also creepy and disgusting when Diana is having a fair with a stranger who looks like a soldier who sacrificed from God of F***ing War in WWI!! And yes, it probably spawning controversy about this scene is so wrong, but director Patty Jenkins that despite she's aware of the controversy, but she defended it that this isn't the only film has that element like "Big" (a 1988 comedy film with Tom Hanks) and "Freaky Friday" (a 1976 live action Disney film with Jodie foster), its understandable, sure, but not with the inclusion of Wonder Woman, it just comes off as creepy and completely unnecessary...!!

The rest of the characters aren't much else to say, Antiope and Hippolyta (played by Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen), which they're both used in Diana's flashback to be honest advice, Alistair (played by young Lucian Perez) who's Maxwell's sun who's concerned over his insane father, and the "Handsome Man" (played by Kristoffer Polaha) who's being used as a puppet by Steve Trevor for... Diana's wishful reason...!

While the characters are pretty good, but the usage of Steve Trevor is the easily the biggest weakness of this film.

And now for my final opinion of this film.

If this film is supposed to be my review comeback, this ain't give me a good start, its nothing but pretty average film. While the production is pretty good, but its just that this movie has so many problems like the cliché of "Be honest" and "Be yourself" elements. Not to mention, when you have a fascinating villain, but why he's just like another one of villains who got bullied to becoming evil? And of course, the biggest weakness point of this movie, its the inclusion of Steve Trevor appearing from stranger's body for no reason to reuniting Diana what so ever.

Despite the problems it has, but il give a credit that the settings and story of facing against the granting-wishing billionaire man is a unique idea, the action scenes are pretty good and Wonder Woman's golden armor is damn impressive.

This is the film that im not so sure if you wanna like this movie, it has some promising concept, but ended up with a poor execution. If you surely want, got get it in limited theaters or even renting it in digital download store like i did.

For that, im gonna give this one a 5/10.

So this ends of my movie review after my long hiatus, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.

(Review ends)

*sigh in relief* Im glad i finally got this out of way. Even though i've been focus on my drawing, maybe i wanna finish some reviews has hard as possible for my mood. I wonder how much movies i have on my shelf...

*Anthony goes back to the chamber to checking his cabinet that he has SO... MANY... DVD films...!*

Wow...! I've got plenty of movie reviews to do...! 0_0

Mini Review: Doom 1993

Warning: The following review contains violent, blood and gore content. Readers discretion is advised.

Over the years, we used to play the game that are fun, colorful and entertaining. But when the 90's kicked in, the video games went into a new level, mainly, the ultra-violence and sexuality. It became a big deal from the senators to setting up a congressional hearing between the late 1993 to early 1994, right before he have an indie rating system like ESRB to save the video game industry to keep the kids safe. But sadly, in current time, the video game industry are becoming a punching bag, due to a multiple mass shooting in 2019, despite it has nothing to do with, its more likely from either racism and hatred, but i digress.

So today's mini game review, i decided to go back in 1993 that its not the first time we have a FPS game, but it also became a mainstream that we all know and love, and perhaps controversial.

The original "Doom" is a 1993 FPS game that was developed and published by id Software (unless we counted Bethesda, who currently own the franchise in nowadays). It was written and directed by Tom Hall and most notably, designed and programmed by John Romero.

As i said, its not the first FPS game, the first one we heard is a 1992 Wolfenstein 3D, the game was considered to be the grandfather of 3D shooting game, but the original Doom is what many considered as one of the greatest game of all time. Specially it was recently released on PS4, Xbox One and Switch for the 25th anniversary.

So how did this game brought the new genre of FPS in the early 90's?

Lets find out.

For the story, it didn't tell you what to do, its just you as DoomGuy (or Doom Slayer in nowadays) hearing about the invasion of the demons of hell and rampaging the places, its up to DoomGuy to kill them and thats it. Yeah, the game doesn't have a focus of story, it only focuses on Gameplay, while the story is rather simple, at least according to a programmer John Carmack. However, the game does have a plot, but its one of those games that it is only in the manual for the story. Anyway, in the story, DoomGuy was punished that was sent to Mars after disputing at the superior officer, not only that, but he's working as a security guard of Union Aerospace Corporation (aka UAC), when they're doing their experimental plan to creating a portal of two moons of Mars (Phobos and Deimos), but three years later, the project went into a chaos when not only Deimos was considered "disappeared", but also open the portal of hell to summoning demons for rampage, its up to DoomGuy to kill them all from hell and make sure to close the portal to stop invasion.

Despite of simplicity, but i find the story itself is fascinating, even though its a typical plot about a project went loose from the disaster, but it has a nice execution that it takes place from either two moons and finally to hell. Even though it does have a text to know what's next after chapters, but like we all know, it mainly focuses on the gameplay.

Speaking of the gameplay (though i played on Nintendo Switch version), what more can i say about it? Its a typical FPS game where you picking up various weapons to kill zombies and demons. But back in 1993, it was considered a big game-changer, with two times detail and two times quicker than Wolfenstein 3D. you move forward, backward and side in typical control but what you can't do is looking up and down, you only look and left right, which is understandable before we can fully looking around in later games. You can hold down the other trigger that you have the ability to running after. You started with a pistol and a fist, pretty standard start like we all know when you shooting at possessed soldiers, that is until you'll able to grabbing some later weapons like shotgun, minigun, rocket launcher, plasma gun and one of the best and the most powerful weapon in the video game history, its the Big, F***ing, Gun, 9000!! Oh yeah, how could we not love the BFG 9000, its the weapon that makes an instant kill at any monsters around, but it requires 100 energy cells, so better not wasting if you wanna using it if there's too much enemies and against the boss like Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind.

Speaking of the enemies, they look rather creepy at the time, from weaklings like possessed soldiers and imp to downright powerful like Baron of Hell and maybe Cacodemon. Though yes, in nowadays, we could make fun of them for how silly they look, but then again back then, they look pretty cool and creepy in the same time. But of course, since this is an action FPS game, there's always gotta be a blood and gore whenever you kill these monsters with blood and guts falling apart when you shoot or blown up with your rocket launcher, which is the part that we understand that everyone are pointing out back in the 90's, though in nowadays, it may or may not as ultra-violent, but still back then, it looks pretty cool if you're a fan of blood and gore like Mortal Kombat. Even though this could take a lot of bullets, energy and rockets in order to kill those beasts, otherwise you get screwed over that if you die, you start over in the level without your weapons, so you might as well start over from the beginning.

That's the main nitpick that we all know, no matter how many times you die, you gotta do it again without your trusty weapons, you might as well reset your saving. Speaking of saving, yes, you can save your game whenever you get stuck or even take a pose for a while to keep your weapons safe like i always do, it maybe unfair for your punishment, but you can save before moving on. 

Another problem i have its the navigation of the level stage, i know that not only if focus on action, i kinda also focus on puzzle to find the keys to the exit from many apartments or even being lost that some stage looks like a maze. But when you open the map, its gonna be pretty hard either since its just black with colorful lines, like i spend for either 50 minutes or even an hour to figured out where i supposed to go to collecting keys, weapons, secret room (kinda, since its a nice adding in, but pretty hard to find some of them) and finally to the exit door for the next stage. So you better get used it for the tricky rooms and mazes.

And of course, what better way that has a controversy for not just the ultra-violent, but rather the use of DRM from Bethesda, which means that when it first came out, the game was locked from DRM that you're forced to creating your Bethesda account before you can play the game, this is one of the stupidest movement i've ever seen since EA's 2013 SimCity. Thankfully after receiving a backlash, they eventually not only apologized, but also patched the game that you can play it without being locked for being forced to signing up, its as if they knew they F***ed it up that she shouldn't add in the first place. And i do mean, Shouldn't ever happen...!

Spoiler Alert if you haven't play the game (or if you don't mind)

The final act is pretty tough one to get through.

As we reached the third and last chapter(?), you're ended up living in hell after discovered the second Mars's moon Deimos being floated above hell. Once after killing more monsters from hell, you're reaching to the final who's involve of demon invasion, The Spider Mastermind. Unlike Cyberdemon, he's quite possibly the toughest boss i've ever struggle, you better have to hide in the tower or behind the wall when it has a powerful machine gun from its chest, so you better takes a lot of rocket launcher (hopefully if you don't waste them before the final stage) or even the freakin BFG (again, save your ammunition before dealing with the giant demonic spider). But once you do, you're free from hell.

Or do you...??

Because after you destroyed Spider Mastermind, DoomGuy found a hidden doorway to bring you back to Earth that at first, you're in a happy ending. But, it was only just the beginning, not only the demons are invading Earth too, but also killing his favorite pet rabbit Daisy, which means not only seeks revenge, but he has an unfinished business.

Even though i like to play the original Doom (then again, i played on Switch), this port i played is "The Ultimate Doom", not because it fixed the game mechanic (i think), but it also add more detail for the story and even an extra level that takes place before Doom 2. Though its nice the way they put, but i like to finishing it with three episodes, not a bonus prequel chapter of Doom 2.

Overall, its pretty good and classy game, and its no wonder why it revolutionized the FPS game, though not the first FPS game (which it goes to Wolfenstein 3D), this game has a lot of attention for its genre and it makes you look like a badass hero to kill the demons with the coolest weapons. For me, i enjoyed this game, it has a nice setting, the monsters looks great and creepy, the weapons went from impressive to "WOW!" and the gameplay works pretty good. Even though it has some flaws like a maze level, some enemies are OP that really need to save your weapons without dying and sometimes the presentation could be limited, especially with the sound effects that you better get used to it, but hey, its the 90's game.

If you like an FPS and killing monsters from hell, i'd say play this game, it will make you look badass as DoomGuy.

For my conclusion's rating, il give it a 8/10.

Movie Review: Arctic Dogs

 Hey guys, before we're going into the movie review, i want to start off with my confession of my review. In early 2020, i had a good start with three movies, especially that i was planned to take a look at Bloodshot, but as you already know, we got hit hard, very badly from the virus from China, which we're forced to shut down, but not for me, cause i really want to see it on the big screen, despite the awareness from the virus, but due to the panic with outbreak, not only my Bloodshot is cancelled, but so does nearly every films in 2020, due to either being pushed to one year later, released in digital download or even in stream like Netflix and Disney+. And i got very pissed to put the blame for not only China, but so do to everyone for shutting down and im always calling "End of the World" virus due to numerous bodycounts as we know.

So, i want to say, im very sorry for my meltdown and my hiatus of my review without telling. Not to mention, i have so many review plans, but ended up put them in halt. So lets hope for the best to going back in my review business with either my holding plans or even plenty of movies in 2021,

So now im done with my confession, lets get started of my review.

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.

As i said in my top list of last year, 2019 is so-and-so, despite some messed up moments with bad remakes, an inexcusable ending of my favorite series like Star Wars in sequel trilogy and sad ending of the series for box-office bomb like The Lego Movie series. But it does have some great stuff like Ford V Ferrari, Joker, Godzilla King of the monsters (aside from bad human stories) and Avengers Endgame that it changed the movie history for not only its one of the best film we've ever seen, but also topped the history of highest grossing film of all time.

That is, until we have a film that it came out for no reason before i was anticipating to see Ford V Ferrari a few weeks later, i've witnessed a film that came out of nowhere that i won't even touching it, until i rent it to see this.

"Arctic Dogs" is a 2019 animated film that was written/directed by Aaron Woodley, produced by Monika Bacardi, Andrea Iervolino, Joonbum Heo, Youngki Lee, Jae Y. Moh, and Jae Woo Park, then co-written by Matt Lyon, Bob Barlen, Cal Brunker and Bryan Thompson.

When i heard this movie, i was all like "What the?! There's a movie was announced and released immediately in the first day of November 2019?! How did it get here in wide release?!". I mean if you ever seen a trailer, let along the reviewers, this looks like you wanna see it from either Animat's Review or SaberSpark, which they already reviewed it last year before me?! And what's with the cast in the movie, i have no idea how did they brought our familiar faces like Jeremy Renner (aka Hawkeye), James Franco, Heidi Klum, John Cleese and Alec Baldwin. I mean this sounds something straight out of rejected MCU or Dreamworks movie, but not like this!

Ok ok, i know im getting exaggerating for why this movie came out abruptly before any films like Ford V Ferrari or Doctor Sleep, but this is something that no matter i looked it, it has to be seen that either is typically bad or very bad as "FoodFight!".

So, how bad can this movie be?

Well, lets find out...!

The Story

I can easily believing that the story is just too generic for this movie of underdog in arctic.

The plot is about Swifty, who started as a boy who has snow camouflage for his appearance and enjoyed to see the three experts delivery named "Top Dogs", as time went on, he works in ABDS (Arctic Blast Delivery Service) to believe he's part of Top Dogs, when in reality, he's just an arctic fox that he's not good enough to be like them and forced to work with the machine to bring out boxes to the Top Dogs, but one day while attempt to do his delivery by himself, he stumbled upon the evil genius named Otto Van Walrus where his goal is to dig to spreading a dangerous gas at the village and kidnapping Top Dogs, its up to him and his friends to save the land without the dangerous heating gas.

Granted, the story of being a dreamer to be the next expert delivery is ok, but the execution was a total embarrassment with all the bad writing, mainly due to Swifty being an over exaggerated dreamer that he believes to be best ever, but in reality, he just comes off as too desperate to be likable, possibly didn't follow the rule or even being a jerk.

Don't even get me started with the writing, the writing just comes off ridiculously poorly written and immature. This movie is obviously predictable for break next speed, pointless romantic and everything about it is just boringly bland. Not to mention, it also tries to give us the meaning with messages of "stepping up the dreams", "Be yourself" and the obvious environment message. Its as if the writer is trying to do the combination, but its al over the place and again, they don't know what they're doing.

And the jokes... Oh god the jokes...! The humor is just so bad that its just way to desperate too to be funny, instead, these jokes are either plain childish and probably had no idea what to do for the use of pop culture references.

Not to mention, as a one in a half hour movie, it also going to slow down with some calm moments and in the action movies that i've been begging to say "Stop it and get going!".

The story is messy to follow along with the messages, but the writing is atrocious with poorly written jokes and losing its meaning.

The Animation

Despite the writing is a joke, but the animation itself of this movie is... Lets just say, cheap, but not the good kind of cheap, i mean something that it looks nice for small budget, but in reality, it feels like it should've been came out in 2010.

For starter, the presentation looks soo early 2010, the background looks pretty typical to taken place on North/South pole, snow village and a lot of mountains of snow and a generic evil vehicle from Walrus. They look ok, but with a cheap budget, its not as good.

As for the character designs, i admit, they look not bad, just a generic anthrophobic animals like anyone that we likes, but its just that sometimes they look rather unsettle, even for a cheap CG animated movie, sure most of them that i find them cute, while others looks bland.

And as for the movements of animation, the renders works fine at the times, but for some reason, they don't even bother to verify some problems that we may easily witnessed at various moments, which is something that i wasn't joking when i've seen some errors. Like this is something it needs to be patched before it was released, but instead as we know, they rushed the animation and im easily guessing the budget is for the familiar celebs than the film itself.

If they don't know what to do for the writing, maybe they also don't know how to process the animation properly than rushing up!

The Characters

If you though the writing of the story was poor, well i hate to say, so do to the characters.

First is Swifty (played by Jeremy Renner, aka Hawkeye), he's the obvious dreamer who wishes to be like the Top Dogs, but he's just a douchebag based on his selfish and stubborn personality that he wanted to be the big deal of ABDS. Which is pretty obvious that he's focused on his ego that he doesn't know how the business works for his "dream". And no, Jeremy deserves better to be staying in MCU than being involved with this film.

And there's Otto Van Walrus (played by veteran member of Monty Python, John Cleese), i find him to be not bad, John did a nice work of his role since we're familiar with either Monty Python or other films out there. But Otto's role is just very bellow based on being a typical evil genius walrus to destroying town with his drill with his forgettable motivation. Not to mention, i think they're clearly ripping off Mr. Waternoose from Pixar's Monsters Inc, mainly because of the villainous character design, like mainly the obvious use of spider legs and maybe the motivation. Not only Monsters Inc, but he also ripping off the minions from "Despicable me", thanks to the puffins are acting like... You know, the minions?? (Now i think of it, maybe i should watch Despicable me series in the future...)

The rest of the characters aren't as talking about, mainly due to their one-dimensional personalities, like PB (played by Alec Baldwin) who's a pessimistic and introverted co-worker/best pal, Lemmy (played by James Franco) who's a stupid idiot with immature jokes and culture references, Magda (played by Anjelica Huston) who's a serious big boss, Bertha and Leopold (played by Keidi Klum and Omar Sy) are the European conspiracy theorist that they're so bad that they made me feel offended and uncomfortable (as a French-Canadian autistic person), and Jade (again, played by Heidi Klum) who's the obvious love interest and the engineer with the brain.

These characters are just obnoxious for the bad writing and bad jokes. And not mention, i feel sorry for our familiar celebs for being involved with this stupid film.

Spoiler Alert or if you don't give a S*** to see the rest of this crappy movie

The final act of this movie is as i said before, it just dragged on for the poorly written dialogue to made us feel emotional and even the cringe inducing jokes.

After the reveal of Otto Van Walrus's evil plan, Swifty and his friends are coming in to not only rescue Top Dogs and Jade, but also dealing with Otto to prevent the gigantic drill, but they got into the cell at first, after successfully survived from deadly boiling water (i think...), our heroes reached to their town where Otto is activating his giant drill to destroying the land, so Swifty (thanks to his camouflage appearance by taking off his clothes in his tighty whities) has to going after Otto by himself to self-destruct the drill, after the beaten up with humiliation ways, Swifty eventually deactivates the drill and made it into self-destruction.

Everyone is saved and they lived happily ever after and except for me for being regretful for renting it...!

*sigh* And now for my final opinion of this film...!

Overall, Arctic Dogs is the film that it has no reason to be existed, cause again, they introduced the movie without a teaser or anything, they just quickly released the film in the first day of November, with broken down writing, immature jokes that it feels like it was written from a different world, the presentation is so bellow average, the characters are not as likable or relating and the voice acting is just sad for our favorite celebs to make a money.

Speaking of money, its no secret that they released the film in a very bad timing that again, they never teasing this movie, which they earned only $9.9 million that it barely going over $50 million of budget, which il be very appreciated to never having it as a franchise than any other bad ones out there!

With this embarrassing film, im gonna give this one a 2/10 in a WTF level.

So everyone, please, do yourselves a favor and learn from my mistake since i renting it, do not, and i do mean, DO NOT Watch this movie! Its not worth of your time and money spending of this cheap-tastic film, otherwise, i am sorry for your regretful movement or your curiosity. Like geez, review this movie for my curiosity and joking with is a terrible mistake in my career...!

Either way, so this ends of my movie review (thank god...), if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out

Movie Review: The Wrestler

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.

Last year, i've reviewed a film called "Fighting with My Family", a film that was based on true story of Paige's origin to becoming the most famous Diva in WWE where she quickly won a champion belt after Wrestlemania. Aside of use of comedy (for the most part), its a pretty good film based on true story that i recommend to watch as a fan of WWE, biographical or for pro-wrestling fans like me.

Since i love wrestling, i figured "Why review another film about wrestling, not just that, but all about survive without risking a life or even being a respectful outside of square-circle?".

"The Wrestler" is a 2008 wrestling drama film that was produced/directed by Darren Aronofsky, co-produced by Scott Franklin and written by Robert Siegel (The same writer who later wrote "The Founder", another one that i reviewed).

Like i said, im always fascinating to hear some movies based on real life for the origins, the re-imagine and follow the element to be accurate. But when it comes to "The Wrestler", it wasn't feel to be real life, its a fictional story for how the wrestler feels after wrestled for the past decade of his life and such, which im quite curious to know in the whole movie, as a fan of wrestling.

So, with all that said, will this movie could bring us back in the ring that we know and loved, or being in current generation of wrestling will never be the same since the 80's?

Well, lets find out.

The Story

As i said, this isn't a movie based on a true story, its a fiction and can feel that it's almost real and rather understandable that we might relating.

The plot focuses on one of the most familiar wrestler from the 80's named Randy "The Ram" Robinson, who's been wrestling many times since his past. Fast forward to present time (specifically 2008), he's been in indie wrestling for weekends, working on Supermarket in part-time and hanging out with a stripper named Cassidy. But one day, after getting intense work out with steroid he injected, he was in hardcore wrestling match (let me tell ya, even though wrestling is fake, but with hardcore one, it got too real with violent, just saying) and after the match, he fell flat on the ground in pain that he was taken to the hospital, which the doctor tells him that he has a heart attack due to his age, which Randy (or his identity name "Robin Ramzinski") has to retiring his wrestling without any risk, but despite he likes to have a conversation with Cassidy (aka Pam outside of strip) and his short-lived reunion of his daughter Stephanie, he has a hard time for his life changing to either stay retire or going back to wrestling, due to a anniversary rematch with "The Ayatollah".

I find the story of this movie is pretty good and probably understandable when we always having a health problem to stay away from wrestling of perhaps getting chaotic outside of wrestling, even if Randy was a familiar face in the 80's. Where many films back then is all about conquering the dream, but this one all about trying to survive and trying to move away from wrestling for different life, but bounced back for life struggling reason. I mean we all know when you're over the 50's that you like to wrestle, but not too much with life risking for injuries and substance abuse, which i guess it explained why we've seen plenty of wrestlers who're younger in different and new generation level in wrestling industries, but i getting ahead of myself for the older life of wrestling. Surprisingly, the movie doesn't have a subplot through out the movie, since its mainly focuses on Randy's life, but it's also worth to say that it was well-written, especially with the scene where Randy reunites with his daughter in the walking to explain why he's not just in risk, but also why he's left alone that he's trying to focus on family, which is exactly what he's trying to give the advice with Cassidy, but as always, it bounced back. Even though it got bored for like a long minutes, but as an 1 hour and 50 minute film, its not bad.

Despite its a little bit slow and the lack of subplot, but with a movie dealing with health problem and a difficulty option of either wait to going to wrestling or retiring is impressively well-written.

The Presentation

For the movie's look and setting, it looks pretty good for say the least.

For starter, the filming location is quite nice to looking at, especially the filming between Randy and his daughter Stephanie walking together in Asbury Park boardwalk and an abandoned place, just to give a fond memory together. The rest of location are pretty good and somewhat beautiful, since it was filmed in New Jersey, though they also filmed other than Jersey like New York and Philadelphia.

Though the movie has a chemistry between Randy and Cassidy, since she's a stripper, its not secret it also filmed strip club with gratuitous nudity and pole dances. I mean i know its an R-Rated movie, but the use of strip club is kinda unnecessary for distraction, though i also understand that its for Cassidy's development where she is at the start.

But of course, the highlight of the movie is wrestling for the title suggest. Though most movies with main actor are replaced by a stuntman or actual wrestler, in this movie the actor Mickey Rourke (played Randy Robinson) was trained to wrestling with real pro wrestlers to working out such as Jon Trosky (better known as Supreme Lee Great), Tom Farra and even retired wrestler named Afa Anoaʻi (who's best known with "The Wild Samoans"). The wrestling scenes are pretty good to look at and not to mention feels like a real pro-wrestling and where Mickey was wrestled, he did a pretty good job, even if i feel bad for him for nearly risking his life with a headbutt dive (aka Ram Jam) or even been in extreme match, since he's more than 50 year old back then.

Not to mention, i wonder if anybody got seriously hurt in some wrestling scenes, specially with hardcore wrestling style, its pretty risky and rather painful to look at, i guess it explain the reason why im not a fanboy brutal hardcore match with the use of barbwires, staple, thumbtacks and even glasses.

Not to mention, there are several moments that are done with improvisation for good reason, like there's the locker room with real wrestlers chatting and socializing and even in supermarket with real customers, which they wanted to make realism and it showed for good reason as i said.

And one little bonus, there's a scene with Randy and a kid playing with NES with a game called "Wrestle Jam '88", even though its fictional game and im pretty sure its an inspired from WWF Wrestlemania on NES.

Aside of use of strip club and my least favorite type of wrestling, but the movie's presentation is pretty good to watch.

The Characters

For the characters in the movie, i find them to be also well-written, relating and have a sympathy.

First is Randy "The Ram" Robinson (played by Mickey Rourke), a wrestler from the 80's who's living down from hill due to his heart condition. He's a very fascinating protagonist in the movie that we feel sorry for him, we like to see him in good time of wrestling or even see his daughter more, since he's trying to stay positive without causing trouble on his way. And not to mention, with Mickey Rourke's performance of Randy, it was a nice fit for how we feel, routing and enjoyed his acing ability. I guess its no wonder he was nominated for the Oscar's best actor.

Next is Pam, aka Cassidy (played Marisa Tomei), a stripper and Randy's good friend. She's may or may not as memorable as Randy, but she's also pretty good, being lovely and even helping our main wrestler for advice without any risk, such as reuniting with his daughter, since she has a son, but live with him connective without separation. Like Rourke, Marisa did a pretty good work of her role, and once again, its now wonder she was nominated from various rewards back then.

And lastly there's Stephanie Ramzinski (played by Evan Rachel Wood, aka Queen Iduna in Frozen 2), Even though she may not be unnecessary for the story, but she was used in order for a reunion attempt from Randy, even though she's no longer cared about her father since she's being abandoned when she was young, which is a not the best way as a father who's completely gone for wrestling. And as always, Rachel Wood has also did a nice work whether she has a changing heart or careless about her father.

The rest of the characters aren't as anything else to say such as Lenny (played by Mark Margolis) who's a neighbor, Wayne (played by Todd Barry) who's the boss of supermarket and The Ayatollah/Bob (played by Ernest Miller, not only an actor, but he's a former wrestler too) who's Randy's historic opponent back in the old days with evil Iran gimmick. And lastly, there are several wrestlers cameo that you can recognized if your a fan of pro-wrestling, one of them that i noticed is Jay Lethal and Ron Killings (better known as R-Truth in WWE).

Spoiler Alert, for those you haven't seen it or didn't care

The final act gets rather interesting and heart warming in the end (little bit).

After his poor attempt of dinner with his daughter Stephanie for messy reason, Randy had enough for being a failure that he's moving on from his daughter, rage quiting his job (Damn... No need to be overreacting for quitting when you get recognized) and of course, going back to wrestling for a rematch deal with The Ayatollah, since Randy only care about going in the ring in front of his fans and good respect from fellow wrestlers in the locker room, despite he was begged by Cassidy to stay home based on his heart condition that he ignored. As he enters in the show "Ring of Honor", he's giving a speech for his return and why he cared so much and finally going to wrestle against his familiar The Ayatollah, despite his heart condition that he has to be careful and finish him off with "Ram Jam".

It was quite unexpected for his change to going back where he always like, since i think we can agree that wrestling is his life-blood since his golden age. Its not the request from the promoter of Ring of Honor, it came from his heart that he wanted to going back, even though it could be risky for his life, but it was satisfied to getting his rematch one last time.

And now for my final opinion of this film

Overall, "The Wrestler" is a pretty good film to watch, as a fan of pro-wrestling. The story is well-written, the presentation is nice for the sets and wrestling, the characters are fascinating and the acting are pretty damn good. Even though the movie could be a little bit boring and the eye-distracting gratuitous nudity, but its still a good movie.

If you're a fan of pro-wrestling and being familiar with some great actors, i'd say check this film, but hopefully you won't cry by the end of the movie. I mean, i actually didn't cried while watching, i was happy and satisfy in conclusion.

For my rating, im gonna give this a 9/10. Its a little bit of perfect film (no pun attended for Mr. Perfect or Chris Jericho's meme), but i enjoyed for the most part.

So everyone, as a fan of pro-wrestling, i've seen some that i enjoyed like not just "The Wrestler", but also "Fighting with my Family". Though there are other movies with wrestler that are good to utter crap, like its not if im watching something to giving me even more eye-distracting and maybe uncomfortable to look at.

And lastly, if you love wrestling, please, don't try this at home. Unless if you're one of those numbnuts with Backyard Wrestling...!

Either way, So this ends of my movie review, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.

Movie Review: Onward

Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and welcome back to my movie review.

You know my friend, we living times that we love hearing about fantasies, fairy-tales and many others that we like to talk about or even grew with when we're kid. Though we never have fairies, unicorn, elves nor everything, cause we're living in modern life with cars, TV, video games and more technologies around the world, but sometimes we question ourselves, why not both with modern (aka suburban) and fantasy together?

"Onward" is a 2020 animated urban fantasy film by Pixar. With written/directed by Dan Scanlon, produced by Kori Rae and co-written by Jason Headley and Keith Bunin.

Though when we first heard about this movie, it was quite unexpected or even unheard of having a fantasy world in suburban theme. Personally, im quite fascinated and curious what this one going for, specially for a surprised cast choice that they brought two members of MCU. However, the movie has a very complicated start that one, there's a controversy involving one character that il talk about it later, and two, the movie will probably have a low reputation at the box-office, mainly because of the outbreak of Coronavirus that it made me sooo much anxious that it seriously needs to stop the virus quickly before the end of the world. Sorry for my panic, but this is something im very concerned if we're still not saved.

So, with all that said, will this movie bring back magic from Pixar, or was the film's idea won't work for the spell.

Well, lets find out.

The Story

Since this is a movie with mixed between fantasy and urban, you'll think if this movie could be be creative and promising what we like, right?  Well, it kinda did, but would've been.

It started on the origin where we begin with mythical creatures and magic for great respect and challenging. But the challenging of mastering of magic started to get harder and harder, as they found something new, it was called "Technology". As a result, everyone started to get interested on systems than the magical based on the difficulty. Fast forward for several years later, we introducing two elves teens, Ian and Barley, where they live with their mother Laurel and their centaur father Bronco since their late father Wilden  died from severe illness. But at one day during Ian's birthday, Laurel brought a gift to Ian that happens to be a staff from the late father, which Barley was anticipating that it also including a Phoenix Gem. That is until Ian accidentally calls upon the magic to bringing his father back, but the resurrection wasn't as good enough that Wilden only appears with legs. Its up to Ian and Barley find the way to get another gem in order to bring their father back for 24 hours limit.

When it comes to the setting, im very appreciated what they came up with modern theme with fantasy, its nice and rather creative that i mentioned before. But story-wise, it isn't that perfect, its basically story about finding the way bring back the old days and even Ian is gonna be the future magician in  New Mushroomton. Its basically another movie where a kid from the late father is trained becoming hero, but despite the cliche, it has a nice execution where Barley helping his young brother to teach to becoming a magician like his father did before, so i though, since i assuming Wilden worked as an accountant. Despite the adventure, but the movie is probably mainly focus on Ian himself, since we like to rooting for him since his unlucky start since he grew to 16, which is understandable for his character development, even though it's kinda done before, which il get to the characters later on. The movie also has a subplot to having Corey the Manticore for the help of location or even the curse, which is rather unsure if its on purprose at the plot or not, which i won't spoil for more detail for the purpose of Corey. As for the humor of this movie, well i gotta say, it has some fun moments in the film, specially for some moments that i always laugh, despite the humor works well (because come on, its Pixar), but it does have a heart with father and twin relationship, since they hope to see him again, but pretty difficult due to his unfinished appearance. But yes, i am aware that idea was based on Dan Scanlon's life when he really missed his father, which is sadly understandable that his father's might be haunting him before he got the idea.

Even though the story aren't as good what we expected, but the execution sometimes work with creative setting and having a big brother as a mentor instead of either a teacher or part of parents like mother or father.

The Animation

Since this is Pixar movie, the animated movie's presence is always look good right? Well, i think so.

For starter, the background setting is pretty fascinating thanks to its creativity of mixed between modern and fantasy, which again, i like the idea, it makes looks fascinating and imaginative, sure it's kinda cliche for some other concepts like say, the use of mushrooms as a house, which it kinda looks like they borrowed the idea of Smurfs, but that's my own nitpick of ideas.

Another fascinating of the movie is of course, the animation of the visuals and quality, it looks amazingly colorful with fantasy elements, an impressive effects of magics and some nice character designs. Even the character's animation are also pretty for the movements where some are move like human being or some moves like animals, like the obvious centaurs with move like human and horse. And lastly, the soundtrack of the movie is well-composed, some nice beat and even beautiful, which is nicely fit for modern fantasy themed movie.

Even though the characters looks pretty good, but i have another nitpick, some of the character designs feels like they're borrowed from either previous Pixar movies or the other animated movies outside of Disney/Pixar, such as some of them has a similar look with nose designs or perhaps the most obvious is Ian looks like the elf version of either Walter Beckett from "Spy in disguise" or perhaps Arthur from "Arthur Christmas".

Even though it may have some issue of its presentation, but it still looks pretty good as a Pixar film.

The Characters

With the characters in the movie, we expected that its gonna be another Pixar film with likable characters that we can related, right? Well, its somewhat close.

First we have Ian Lightfoot (played by Spider-Man himself Tom Holland), he's easily the main focus that he wanted to starting his new life during his 16th birthday, by spicing his life be like a real adult, like getting a new friends, driving or even sharing, despite he's unprepared for his lack of confident. But as i said before, he was being a big deal to becoming a new magician like his father what his brother like to helping him to bring back the old days. Even though he's rather flawed, but il give a credit for Tom Holland that he did nice work for his voice acting.

Speaking of brother, we have big brother Barley (played by Star-Lord himself Chris Pratt), even though he maybe used as a comedic character, but he's more believable elf, since he always like to bring back magic from the old days thanks his passion of RPG game. I find him a very fun and related character in the movie, since like him, many people love RPG so much to becoming a RPG Geek they like to show us the elements, whether we like it or not. With Star-Lord as a passionate RPG brother, its pretty fascinating and likable in the same time.

Although its obvious the main focus as Ian, Barley and maybe Wilden (partially voiced by Kyle Bornheimer), the rest aren't as mainly deal and less appearance, for the most part.

We have Laurel (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who's a widowed mother she somewhat cared and good respect to Ian, Corey (voiced by Octavia Spencer), who's big and kinda badass Manticore when she used to, and Colt Bronce (voiced by Mel Rodriguez) a police centaur and a new father.

Although the one that i might like to talk about is Specter (voiced by Lena Waithe), who's another police officer with an interest development that she lives with her girlfriend and her daughter, which is quite of surprised that she's in fact Lesbian. But of course like the remake of "Beauty and the Beast", the movie suffered a controversy with homophobic reaction yet again, they several countries as either rewrite in the dub or just straight up banned in several countries. I mean im so sick of hearing the homophobe reaction, this is so old and sickening to me over and over. Like come on guys, its 2020, its time to bring the acceptance LGBT, instead of jumping the same BS for many decades, as always, enough is enough, people...!

Aside the controversy that i just can't take it so hard, the characters are rather fascinating, despite that the rest aren't as very good enough, and not to mention, its another film that there's no villain, which is disappointed that i would've expected to see another RGP geek, but as a scavenger, but thats just me.

And now for my final opinion of this film.

Overall, Pixar's "Onward" is  pretty good movie, but i don't consider as a perfect film, it just comes off as rather weak like "The Good Dinosaur", the story is good for say the least, with some execution is impressive, the animation is always great looking, for the most part, the soundtrack is beautiful and the characters are fascinating and kinda related, even if the movie has a small list of the characters.

For my recommendation of this movie, i'd say you guys just give a watch once if you're curious if you're a fan of Pixar like me. But if your a fan of fantasy with modern theme, i'd say its for you. But like i said, its not the biggest embarrassment that Pixar has ever done, but at least they tried for another imagination.

Oh wait!! I almost forgot about the short! Surprisingly, this is the first time we have a short before the film that was not made by Pixar. It was called "Playdate with Destiny" by 20th Century Studio (Yeah, they get rid of "Fox" name from the studio, but thats a different story). I gotta say, its a pretty cute short i've ever watch featuring Maggie Simpson who really wanted to have a love interest, especially in silent. Even though its been a long years since i was away from "The Simpsons", but nice touch. Il give it a 8/10.

For my rating, im gonna give this one a 7/10.  Man, three movies to go that i gave above average ratings...

Anyway, so this ends of my movie review, if you guys have your opinion or any suggestions, let me know at comment bellow and support me on KO-FI.com/blackevil.

Thanks for reading, and im Anthony, signing out.