James Corden always has some funny bits, but this poor guy calling for It instead of IT is pretty great. Please watch won’t you? I mean I guess you don’t have to, and I can’t force you to entertain yourself, but I think you should. Because honestly what else do you have going on right now?
Someone At Marvel TV Needs To Watch DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow!
For the most part Marvel’s Netflix shows have been pretty great. Yes there have been some downer moments, but most of the time Netflix/Marvel has delivered a quality product. However, the fight scenes on the shows have started go down hill, and nowhere was this more apparent than The Defenders. This should have been the show where they pulled out all the stops, but instead it was generally just four people fighting in the dark next to each other. There were a few decent one on one fights, but the group together was pretty meh, and getting the gang together was the whole point of this show.
Now on the other hand DC’s Legends of Tomorrow can sometimes have some pretty meh storylines, but holy heck, a few times a season the fight scenes are just crazy awesome. Granted on Legends of Tomorrow there are a lot of heroes with different fighting styles and powers, while The Defenders mostly just kick stuff, but still, they could have found a way to feature them all in a better light (or just in the light).
Look, I believe in the writing team behind the Marvel Netflix shows, but they need to find a new fight coordinator, or at least one that watches some of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. I just want the action in the shows to be as good as the story telling.
The Tick Is Strange Fun!
The Tick in its previous TV incarnations were off the wall slapstick fun. The new Tick however is sad and strange, but in a good way if that makes any sense. It is still funny, but it is more awkward humor instead of slap stick. Though sticks are still slapped from time to time. It is like a direct response to the Netflix Marvel shows. The Marvel shows are dark and gritty and show heroes in ‘real life’. The Tick holds up a mirror to that and shows how real life heroes would really work. It turns out, not well.
Right now you can only watch the first half of season one, so six episodes, and they deal with Author (Griffin Newman) meeting The Tick (Peter Serafinowicz) and accepting his destiny. The Tick obviously has some things to say about his best friend destiny. Author is not keen on becoming a superhero due to personal trauma and mental health issues, so he needs quite a bit of convincing. Right off the bat the show is swimming in different seas story wise.
Peter Serafinowicz’s Tick is perfect. He is dumb, sincere and unwavering in his quest to rid the city of crime. Even if he doesn’t know who he is. His random monologs will no doubt make long time Tick fans very happy. Author of course is the exact opposite, and Griffin Newman captures Author’s nervous unease perfectly. The rest of the cast is quite good as well.
The main complaint so far is that there are only six thirty minute episodes to watch, and that they need a bigger budget. While The Tick has always been more about the comedy than the action, its limited cash flow is very apparent any time anything superhero-y is going on, and that is a shame. Come on Amazon, give the big dumb blue guy a little more green!
If you love The Tick, you have already watched the two and half hours of new content Amazon has produced, and if you are like you me, you enjoyed yourself. For everyone else, if you think the Netflix Marvel shows need to get made fun of a little, The Tick is well worth watching. Even if it is a bit more melancholy than I was expecting. Another thing to note, if The Tick were a movie it would be rated ‘R’ for language and at times graphic violence, so it is not for the kiddoes.
Season Seven Was Game Of Thrones’ Most Satisfying And Frustrating Yet!
Season seven of Game of Thrones was the season that answered all the questions, pulled back all the curtains, and heading in to season eight, I am not sure how many twists the show has left. This has led to some of Game of Thrones greatest moments, but it was in such a hurry to get to those moments it lost a lot of the long percolating intrigue that made the show so great in the first place.
Some people have complained that the show was in fast forward, and for me, that is not quite right. Because in that scenario we still would have seen all those inter-personal moments, but just glossed over. No, this was more like we were watching a story told people who read the CliffsNotes of the last two books. As if they were trying to add some meat to the bones of a very small skeleton. Which if the writers are to be believed, and they did indeed get their ideas for the last two seasons from George R. R. Martin, I guess that is exactly what they were doing.
However, those glorious moments the show did deliver, were worth the plotting issues, and having the questions we have been asking answered has been great. It just seems that the show should have had thirty episodes left at the beginning of this season instead of thirteen. Oh well, there are now only six episodes left, and I can’t wait for the real battle between fire and ice to begin!
Shmee Enrolls To Little Witch Academia!
Have you been wanting an anime that isn’t full of fan service, preachy dialog, and is just sweet fun? Little Witch Academia might be what you are looking for. It follows a young girl, Akko, with little to no magical ability on her quest to become a witch so she can be like her hero Shiny Chariot, and I have been enjoying watching her struggle to become the best.
I find it refreshing that none of this comes easy for Akko. She doesn’t instantly become the greatest witch of all time just because she is the hero, like so many other magical kid anime shows. She has to work hard and study to just stay in school let alone perform any magic, and the ‘B’ plot of magic slowly depleting from the world and how it connects to the witch that inspired her is actually interesting.
If you are on Netflix, you may also see a thirty minute mini-movie with the same name and a slightly longer Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade. While those ‘movies’ feature the same characters acting pretty much the same way, the series is newer and reboots everything, so while those short films are good, they are not required viewing for the TV show.
Little Witch Academia is a fun show, and it has been refreshing to watch after the slog that was the second season of Sword Art Online. Will Akko become the greatest witch of all time? Probably not, but her show is easily one of the best anime series on Netflix.