Jack is Back! Samurai Jack

It’s been 12 years since Samurai Jack has been graced us with his presence on screen, and today, March 11 2017 marks his return!

Samurai Jack arose in an era of animation that us 90’s kids know far too well. It was a very interesting time back then in the early 2000’s for us. We had so many shows across so many channels to look forward to. Many of those shows had heart and soul to them which often taught us lessons as well as kept us entertained. Samurai Jack was a show that had very few words but spoke to the heart and mind. The animation was different, the tone was different, the story was mature, and the cliffhanger was heartbreaking for so many of us to endure. Our favorite tv show as kids just disappeared off air…Until now.

Season 5 kicks off on Toonami with an epic bang!

The newest episode starts off with characters that look familiar to my cloudy memory getting ambushed and surrounded by mechanical bugs that obviously want to kill them. When all hope is lost, our title hero shows up with quite a new look for him. Last we saw Jack, he was a samurai in a white kimono and clean shaven. This new Jack is shown with all new weapons and attire.  He is now brandishing traditional Japanese samurai armor, an electrically charged baton with blades at the end, a gun, and a cannon (he lost his sword). Jack also rides on a motorcycle. Instead of being clean shaven, he now has a ragged bearded look with unkempt hair. Also, 50 years have passed by and Jack has not/can not age.

As usual Jack saves the day and then rides off. We see him stop at a river to have a sip of water only to be met with ghosts from his past. I took this as Jack’s PTSD from not being able to return to his time period as quickly as he wanted and now memories of his family and people haunt him. This was super sad for me to watch personally. Jack’s only goal was to return home and rescue his people from Aku’s evil reign and now he feels stuck and trapped in a time where he never belonged.

In the midst of this, there was further development into what Aku has been up to. Now, we all know the line by now “I – Aku- the shape shifting master of darkness…” which basically means that Aku can become whatever his heart desires, but I’m not sure if Aku possesses DNA to have children with a human/whatever species of woman. I’m not sure if Aku is a full deity and did an immaculate conception type of thing with a woman or not, but how he has little hellions roaming the earth in the form of well trained teenage girls. Their only purpose for being birthed is to basically kill Jack. Did I mention there’s 7 of them?

They are apart of some weird cult of women who worship Aku. One woman birthed 7 daughters who were put on an stone alter which is in the shape of Aku and the leader said that they are his to do as he wishes and to do his bidding. As much of a stone cold baddie Aku was, I don’t understand why he would need minions to kill Jack. If none of his other minions could, what makes him think these 7 teen girls can?

It should be noted that these girls were through severe training and if they stepped a foot out of line they were met with extreme consequences. To me it looked like total child abuse. There’s a really cool battle scene between Jack and one of Aku’s assassins who uses music to fight, but he is defeated by Jack. The episode ends with the girls finishing their training and then being tasked with killing Jack.

This episode was such a great trip down memory lane for me and I know other original fans of the show are going to love it also. Check it out if you have not!

WATCHA!

 

Reel Review: Legion 1×3 Review

 

Wow, so before I begin I watched this episode the week it was released and i actually watched it like 2 or 3 times to really digest what I was watching, but for some reason I didn’t review it earlier. So, here goes!

Disclaimer:  Since the show is really gaining ground, so am I. I’m going to reveal MAJOR spoiler in this review so read at your own risk.

As the show progresses I am absolutely loving it with a few small exceptions. This episode further divulges into David’s mind to unlock his mutant abilities. We see several memories and 1 new one which I will talk about that in some way explains what he’s experiencing mentally.

The beginning of this episode starts off with a sequence of real time cut scenes featuring David, Melanie, and Sydney. It begins with this super coffee machine – who is revealed to be voiced by Melanie’s late husband  Oliver- telling the story of the Crane Maiden .

For those of you wondering what the crane maiden is, it’s basically the story of a maiden who’s really a crane who makes beautiful fabric for a woodcutter and his wife. Once they find out she’s really a crane she leaves them never to be seen again. IN A NUTSHELL.

During this story, the cut scenes are of Sydney is an open showroom and David sitting on a dock eyes closed and focused. I took this as David psychically watching Sydney shower since he can’t touch her let alone hold her hand.  As the crane story concludes, the shower scene is over and David opens his eyes. The coffee machine then asks Melanie how her coffee is and she pours it out and asks for another and the crane story is repeated.

I’m not sure if Melanie herself is a mutant of some sort, she really hasn’t shown any type of mutant abilities. I think that when the crane story scene was taking place, she was relating the story to David. He’s the crane who’s true form is hidden, yet like the crane and her abilities to make beautiful fabric when no one is watching, his powers come out when no one is really watching. Then again, maybe the story was referencing Sydney? 

Onward, we learn that since Amy (David’s Sister) got kidnapped by Division 3, they have to fast track his therapy to unlock his powers faster. However, Melanie is afraid that she’s doing more harm than good by tampering with tightly locked away and frazzled memories. Melanie pretty much believes that the key to unlocking his mind is to go through his memories since they spark his powers the most. In the next couple of scenes Melanie, Ptonomy (or Paul), and David go through his mind and try to straighten it out. During these scenes they run into the creepy fat guy… Meet Mojo.

I think it is time I properly talk about Mojo and what his purpose is…

WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW.

 

 

This is Mojo. He’s basically the ruler of an alternative universe separate from the one David and co. live in. Basically, imagine a world full of very very fat blobs who are aliens and none of then can really stand because they don’t have spines. However, they create an exoskeleton in order to stand but they’re still fat…

Okay, then imagine that even though they’re in a separate world their brain waves can pick up Earth’s television signals and they LOOOVE our entertainment/media culture. Like, they live for it but they also fear and hate humans. Weird love hate relationship.

What does he want with David? It’s very simple. SPOILER ALERT 

David is an Omega Level Mutant.

What does that mean? Here’s a breakdown of the Mutant Power Levels

Mutant Power Levels

Mutant power levels can be broken into six broad categories: omega (5), alpha (4), beta (3), gamma (2), delta (1), and epsilon (0).

Omega Mutants

Omega mutants are the most powerful class of mutants. An Omega-level mutant is one with the most powerful genetic potential of their mutant abilities. Some abilities depicted by mutants described as Omega-level include immortality, extreme manipulation of matter and energy, high psionic ability, strong telekinesis, and the potential to exist beyond the boundaries of the known physical universe. Mutants that have been confirmed as Omega-level include Jean Grey, Vulcan, Rachel Summers, Iceman, Legion, Elixir, and Franklin Richards. Storm is a possible Omega-level mutant. Blur is an Omega-level mutant.

Alpha Mutants

Alpha mutants are some of the most powerful and most feared mutants. Alpha mutants have extremely powerful mutant traits without any significant flaws. Less than 10% of mutants are Alpha mutants so they are very rare. Some of the Alpha mutants include Cyclops, Gambit, Professor X, Havok, Colossus, and Emma Frost. Phantasma and Mustang are Alpha-level mutants. Vortex is a possible Alpha-level mutant.

Beta Mutants

Beta mutants may have powers as impressive as Alpha mutants, but their powers may not be as versatile, or they might not have the raw power of an Alpha mutant, or they might have some kind of weakness. Some examples of Beta mutants are Beast, Wolverine, Mystique and Sabretooth. Prism and Surf were Beta-level mutants. Bast, Blindfold, and Panzer are Beta-level mutants. Medic is a possible Beta-level mutant.

Gamma Mutants

Gamma mutants may have powers that are versatile, but without much raw power and with an obvious weakness (often physical). Alternatively, a Gamma mutant’s power might be powerful, but not very versatile and with an obvious weakness. Lastly, a Gamma mutant might not have any weaknesses, but might have an ability that isn’t very powerful or versatile. Some examples of Gamma mutants would be Angel, Cypher, Pixie (before her souldagger), and so on.

Delta Mutants

Delta Mutants have powers that aren’t versatile, don’t have much power, and have obvious weaknesses. These would include mutants that can see in the dark, breathe water, or have other minor abilities.

Epsilon Mutants

Epsilon Mutants are unfortunate mutants. Epsilon mutants pretty much have no chance of having a regular life in society due to their major flaws. If that isn’t bad enough, Epsilon mutants usually only have minor superhuman powers. A good example of Epsilon mutants would be Beak or the Morlocks.

 

David is an Omega Level Mutant, Mojo purposely seeks out mutants for his entertainment pleasures. The stronger the better. David’s mind with his multiple personalities is a goldmine for Mojo.

 

Okay, BACK to the episode review – after the scene with Mojo  David and co. return back to reality. Lots of little sequences happen, but the main scenes are basically the final ones where David and Amy astral project themselves to where Amy is being interrogated. We finally have a name for one of the weird guys in Division 3 and his name is Walter annd he pretty much evil. Melanie’s words not mines. In the very last scenes everyone including Sydney goes into David’s mind and each of them experience something different. Sydney sees very personal memories, Melanie is attacked by Mojo, and David is being mentally harassed by a swarm of people with his hands covering his face.

A few things I want to point out in summary:

• The angriest boy in the whole world manifested into a real person during David’s childhood. I’m not sure what purpose this character serves yet because nothing has really given me any incentive to believe that David had abusive parents or a rough childhood. The angriest boy character is an angry and evil little boy. Childhood David seems to be a normal and quiet child.
• Lenny is very annoying to me, but somehow her consciousness attached itself to David’s mental. I’m almost sure her attachment which has become a personality of his controls Astral Projection/Teleportation.
• Sydney’s powers may have come from her mother since her mother was very smart and wrote what I believe are scientific papers.
• Carey, Oliver, and Walter founded Summerland.
• David cares very much for his sister despite her putting him in a mental ward.
• Sydney can now see Mojo.

 

Well, thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed!

Reel Review: FX’s Legion

Reel Review: FX’s Legion 1×2

 

Reel Review: FX’s Legion 1×2

 

Welcome BACK to Reel Cinema Review! This week I’m going to give a quick recap of Legion’s Episode 2 and my thoughts about it!

So, in my last review of the season premiere episode I basically gave the show a good review but mentioned that I felt as though the opener was a bit rushed. This episode was way better than the first in my opinion. It was slowed down just a notch that really gave me more insight of the characters.

Within S1E2 (Season 1 Episode 2) we learn more about David and his early childhood memories with the help of Melanie and Ptonomy the Memory Worker. It is apparent that Melanie is the headmistress of a facility for helping others like David reach their potential wit their “powers”. Ptonomy  himself can remember his time in is mothers womb and even his birth – he remembers everything and has telepathic abilities to see a persons memories in real time. He, along with Melanie and David, venture into David’s mind in order to iron out mental wrinkles that are affecting his ability to think “straight” and control his powers.

• I believe that because David and his powers were misunderstood by regular people, the medication and misdiagnosis distorted his mind even more than the actual voices he was hearing.

During their time in his mind, they come across 4 main memories. In the first memory, David and his older sister Amy are seen running through a field of flowers laughing and playing. This shows us that he did have a somewhat normal childhood and actually had a relationship with his sister before his powers developed. The next scene is of David and his mother planting a flower and also of him and his mom measuring how tall he was.

• I have a feeling that something terrible happened to his mother and that he was very attached to her. This attachment and sudden loss may have caused a mental shift in Young David.

The next scene can be broken up into 2 different memories, I’ll only cover the first version for now then the second version later.

Next, is the scene where David is still a child and his father is reading him a bedtime story. It is during this scene where things get interesting. David is seen as a child in bed and his father – who’s face we cant see – is reading a very graphic book called The World’s Angriest Boy in the World. During this scene, adult David is telling Melanie and Ptonomy  that his father was an Astronomer and that he died a year prior while he was in the mental hospital. The scene then shows child David listening to his father reading a graphic page of the book with the narrative: “The boy’s mother said of to bed, the boys face turned red, and with a cry he chopped her head.”

• Also, during this scene there’s a brief moment where child David turns into adult David in the same memory as he’s listening to his father read. Melanie and Ptonomy pick up on these strange occurrences in his memories.

The memory is disrupted by voices and the three are taken back into the real world. During the rest of the episode we see tiny bits of David’s life before he got admitted into the mental hospital. They’re important to some extent but they really only give a build up to the last couple of scenes.

In the latter 3/4ths of the episode, there’s a scene where David revisits the bedtime scene . It is during this scene where his father is not is present this time. Here,  Ptonomy and Melanie are trying to rewind a bit within David’s memories for clues to help solve what caused him to mentally break. As Ptonomy tries to enter deeper within Davids mind he is blocked and Melanie tells David that he has to open his mind and trust them. He exasperatedly claims that he does then the door of his childhood room slams shut and the whole room begins to shake. During this time, The World’s Angriest Boy in the World falls from his room’s book shelf and child David along with adult David are seen with their hands covering their eyes.

At the very end of the episode, David is with in a MRI that is scanning his whole body. He hears and sees his sister Amy in real time trying to visit him at his previous mental hospital. The receptionist claims that they never admitted her brother. There’s a disagreement between Amy and the receptionist. Amy is then taken to a doctors room where I presume she will be interrogated. David realizes this during his vision and wants to rescue her before being stopped by Sydney and encouraged to learn about his powers more before leaving to save Amy.

A couple of things that I want to point out during this episode:

• David has telepathic, telekinetic, and transporting powers. He’s able to read thoughts and communicate mentally as well as levitate objects and transport them.
• He started having “visions” around age 10 or 11
• He may have PTSD and thus his memories are fragmented

 

Reel Review: FX’s Legion

Welcome Back To Reel Cinema Review! Today, I’m going to be reviewing FX’s new show Legion!

Now for those of you living under a rock and not watching TV or at least ADs online (Facebook informed me of the show), then you probably missed this premiere. The show is called Legion (no it doesn’t have anything to do with the 2010 movie – which I actually enjoyed). It is basically about Professor X – Ya know, from the X Men- son, David Haller. For me personally, I figured that this had something to do with the X Men from the title logo alone. The x-ed out ‘ O’ kind of gave it away for me. However, my mind didn’t automatically travel to Professor X’s son.  If you aren’t familiar with this character I’m linking his Comicvine information here for you to read about.

I am personally familiar with this character, or at least I’ve heard of him way before now. However, I don’t believe he’s a very major character like Scott Summers or Laura Kinney ( X-23). I don’t read the comics but I frequently check the universe to see where it’s at and what’s happening. Maybe I’ve missed the huge arcs with Legion included, but to my knowledge I don’t believe he’s a main character in the current arc (S). DON’T ROAST ME OVER AN OPEN FIRE.

With that being said, It kind of baffled me how Legion of all characters would get his own title series. If someone watched this show without any previous knowledge of this character then they would probably think this is just another weird FX show and not link this to X Men or even the idea of any of the characters being mutants. While the comic Character seems cool, the first episode fell just a little bit flat to me and here’s why:

• It was visually beautiful while at the same time a little overwhelming at times.

I really liked the look of the show. It had an 80’s sort of feel to it. The visuals were just so eye engaging, but I kinda got a sensory overload at times. I’m the type to look all over the screen to try and find easter eggs and references and while this had a few, it just felt like too much to try and take in in general. Like, the studio really wanted this to be a mind cluster but pushed the “mental” feel. As though they really wanted to get in your mind but because it was too much at times, my mind kinda shut down at times.

• The story was too “broken” at times. A little hard to follow.

It’s a story about a mutant who’s mental, that’s enough. I really don’t need to be flipped back and forth all over a storyline in the FIRST EPISODE. It started off fantastic in the beginning with Happy Jack by The Who trailing his life from infancy to adulthood. I enjoyed those visuals, but SPOILER ALERT – I wanted to understand what caused him to really “snap” as in – what caused his telepathy/pyrokinesis/mutant powers to actually occur. I know they’re going to answer that later in the series and they don’t want to give too much away now, but just a little more backstory would have been great.

• Are they going to introduce other mutants?

I’ve read beforehand that this story takes place in an alternative world from that of the X Men. Since that’s the case, is anything from the ‘main’ world going to crossover into the Legion world/universe? Some of the ‘mutants’ in the show reminded me of  an ALT UNI versions of Rogue *wink* *wink*.

 

From my notes above, the show fell kinds flat during certain moments. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the show and will stick around for the later episodes. Now, portions I did like:

• The Music! The music did it for me, each song that play represented each scene very well.
• Loved the intro, even though it felt rushed. ( Is it just me or did it remind anyone else of Watchmen? It had that kinda vibe to it also)
• I loved the scene where he’s lying in bed sleep and there’s a book besides him on the nightstand titled “Robots”. Mind you, robots are mindless and emotionless creations not capable of feeling. Basically they have no conscious. David is trapped in a mental hospital. I’m pretty sure he wants to be conscious-less as possible.
• Sidney (ALT Rogue) is the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but there’s a group therapy scene and Sidney walks in the light and her appearance is being overshadowed by the sun shining in behind her. Later on in the episode she saves David after he sees the light above him. Hmmm. During this scene “She’s a Rainbow” is playing by The Rolling Stones.
• That short fat man with the yellow eyes is SCARY AS H-E DOUBLE HOCKEY-STICKS! My internal level of being creeped out was raised to the max when he would appear on camera, especially in the last scene when David saw him before he left the mental hospital. The shot fat dude was in the background subtly watching.

 

If you have seen this show, drop me a comment down below and let me know what YOU think! I would love to know!

 

Reel Review: Star Trek – Beyond

Woowza, welcome back to Reel Cinema Review! Today I’m going to be reviewing Star Trek Beyond!

To start, let me be honest and tell you guys that I fell asleep twice trying to watch this movie! I finally watched it all the way through, and overall I was pleased with the movie. It brought back all of the original characters from the first two films (although, I have never seen the first film). My journey with Star Trek actually started when I was a kid believe it or not. Me and my mom would always watch the tv show, but I believe that because I was so little I don’t remember too much about the series. Just memories of watching it with my mom.

Beyond takes place a little after the second movie with KHANNNNN! (I just needed a reason to type that! ), Captain Kirk is trying to give a “peace” offering to a group of these big-little aliens and they basically don’t want it. Onward, Captain Kirk and his crew basically rescue this alien woman who sent them a distress call ( Ol’ damsel in distress moment) and they find her and she says that her crew was kidnapped yadda yadda yadda…a bunch of lies… and Captain Kirk and the entire Enterprise gets blown OUT of space and crashes onto this alien planet. They find a future new member of their crew, Jaylah, who’s whole family was killed by a former soilder, Krall. Per usual, Krall is an anti hero and believes that his cause is most noble and wants to bring destruction. Blah , blah , blah, Krall dies, and Kirk saves the day. Typical Action Movie.

HOWEVER.

 

My favorite part of this movie, was the very end, when it paid tribute to Anton Yelchin and Leonard Nimoy. I could tell where they were going with it and it was very bittersweet to watch. Seriously, the ending was sweet.

Overall, the FX Makeup was gorgeous! Jaylah’s character makeup was absolutely beautiful, Krall’s makeup and transformations were epic. I really enjoyed the visual aspect of this movie and thought the environment and special effects were well done. The movie itself is very solid IMO.

 

New Show: Taboo on FX

 

Taboo

ta·boo

təˈbo͞o,taˈbo͞o/

noun

1.

a social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.

 

Welcome back to Reel Cinema Review, today I’m here with my first ever TV show review and what a way to start this series off! Taboo is a TV show that airs on FX a channel known for its TV shows that pushes boundaries are are just down right creepy (American Horror Story, anyone?). I first saw the trailer for Taboo on my Facebook feed and was immediately drawn to it. It looks weird and creepy which is a plus for me and also its on FX which means I probably wont be let down. I am a huge fan of AHS and i enjoyed all seasons with the exception of season 5. I happily skipped that season.

To begin, I am not going to spoil the entire episode but I will drop some spoilers so be warned.

The show stars Tom Hardy (BANE!) as James Denaley. He spent ten years in Africa and finally returns to London upon the death of his father.This causes a stir since his father (and mother) are basically loony and so if he. He has a built in reputation among people in his hometown among other things. He also has a weird relationship with his half-sister and her husband basically hates him… Okay, basically everyone except his childhood butler hates him. This exchange of hatred that he has for everyone and everyone for his is quite funny to me because he doesn’t care at all but how others around him feel. Although, he does seem to care for his step sister. However, their relationship isn’t all that explored in the first episode.

I will say that there’s this one moment when he’s in a morgue and basically a very tall corpse rises and he basically commands it to get away from him. Epic Moment.

Overall, this show is definitely creepy and I’m definitely enjoying what I’m seeing thus far!

If you haven’t seen the official trailer then check it out below and let me know what you think!

 

Reel Review: A Most Violent Year

 

I forget which DVD I was watching before this movie was released on DVD, but it made this movie look much more interesting that it actually is. Talk about a waste of my 2 hours…I could have watched another movie on my list and probably been more satisfied with the cinema. Okay, to start, I thought this movie was going to be a slight Godfather rip off – I mean c’mon, doesn’t the main character look slightly like Michael Corleone – but thankfully it wasn’t. Now, I’m not thankful at what I watched because again, it seemed like a waste of time over all or rather it lasted way longer than it should have.

The main character is Abel played by Oscar Isaac and wife Anna who is the supporting character played by Jessica Chastain. Neither one of these characters drew me to to them. Abel is a businessman who owns a heating oil business and basically he’s expanding his business but he has a secret competitor who’s trying to knock him off the map. This turns out to be a make it or break it type of story where the main character is trying to succeed but has obstacles in his way and he manages to win in the end by a long shot…

Yawn, Yawn, and Yawn again.

This story offers the same archetypes we sometimes see in a crime movie :

• The businessman who’s riding the fence with his business and doesn’t really want to cause drama and tries to still do good
• The wife who’s oh so determined and a little bit ahead of herself
• A rouge employee who falls in the mix and ends up getting the short end of the stick

Yeah, we’ve seen these types all before. And really, it’s not so much that we’ve seen these characters before, it’s really how long the movie is that makes you realize this movie is so so. The length causes you to reflect on  the characters in a way that makes you tired of them and then you realize that you’ve seen them before in other movies. Although, I did enjoy the aesthetics of the film and thought Chastain’s characterization was beautiful and I really liked the house Anna and Abel lived in. Other than that, I enjoyed it in the beginning then got tired of it by the fourth quarter. Also, I’m not sure why this was called “A Most Violent Year” ; there wasn’t that much violence to me…I expected more.

 

 

 

Reel Review: Inside Out

 

Isn’t it funny how “kids” movies sometimes have a much better story than “adult/teen” movies?

Hello, and welcome back to Reel Movie Review. Today on the review board is none other than Inside Out is a 2015 animated movies from Pixar/Disney. Now, I had been meaning to watch this movie for some time but because of other films that had my interest I kept putting this one off. I’m a little sad to say that I wish I’d watched this sooner!

I absolutely love movies that take a difficult concept and put a simple spin on that concept and presents it in a story that seems very light but is honestly more heavy that others realize. Inside Out does just that! Like most Disney/Pixar films that are presented as being family movies or rather kid movies. I’m not sure any adult if you have them the choice between this movie and Kill Bill would opt out of watching Kill Bill in favor of this one just from looking at their DVD covers. However, most animated movie fanatics like myself who just love to find realism within movies can easily watch this and dissect it for what it really is.

The movie is about a young girl named Riley and her parents who move from Minnesota to San Francisco and her psychological changes that occur because of the move and other things. It starts out by painting Riley as a newborn baby who’s first mental emotion is Joy. Joy is personified as very hyper, optimistic, and is the leader of the other Emotions. As Riley grows older other Emotions (and really the only ones we see) – Disgust, Sadness, Fear, and Anger – are introduced. All of the Emotions work together to navigate Riley since they are in her mind and are her literal moral compasses.

One thing I like to point out is the apparent ages of the Emotions. All of them seem to be of adult age but varying. Joy seems to be mid to late 20’s, Disgust is a typical 20 something with a Posh/Valley attitude and accent, Anger and Fear are around mid to late 30’s, and Sadness seems to be the youngest, maybe in 19 or 20.  I think this is important to note in terms of how they act versus Riley’s actual age and how it relates to humanity.

Anger and Fear is an emotion many face in life, but these two emotions have fueled so many debates, wars, propaganda, and so forth in reality. Because of fear this group of people begin to hate this group of people because of that fear which produces anger. This pattern is evident throughout history and even now in current times. Disgust is personified as having an uppity personality is seems to be generally unimpressed. I think she represents the current age we live in where people are unimpressed and disgusted by things that they don’t perceive as impressive. Sadness is honestly my favorite because she’s so mellow and quiet. She doesn’t seem to be sad, but just not as happy as Joy. This caveat represents the duality of Joy/Sadness.One cannot truly exist without the other being present.

That point is highlighted at the key pivotal scene that sets the movie off. As Riley starts her first day at school in San Francisco she is asked by a teacher to introduce herself and to tell the class something interesting. Fear freaks out and gets nervous which causes Riley to act nervous, Joy swoops in and plays something called a Core Memory – It’s basically a childhood memory – that is Joyous and Riley begins to talk about “the good ol’ days” in Minnesota with glee. During this, Sadness touches the Core Memory which turns the memory into a sad one as Riley becomes sad since she misses her life in Minnesota. The other Emotions start to panic.

It is very interesting to see how the Emotions and their responses actually affect Riley’s behavior in the real world. The memory becomes completely sad and Joy scrambles to fix everything only to make a bigger mess, resulting in her and Sadness being thrown out into the rest of Riley’s mind. (The key Emotions stay in what appears to be a tower which i assume could be dubbed as Riley’s Moral Compass. From here on out the rest of the movie takes place which is basically an adventure filled with twists, turns, and interesting takes on Psychological Developments that can occur when problems occur in our lives.

Here are some key points/questions that I want to point out:

1. I’m not an expert or anything, but was Riley experiencing early stages of Depression? Important centers of her personality were beginning to mentally crumble and her attitude changed with each one.
2. Random – But why did Riley’s parents have brown hair and eyes but she had blue eyes and blonde hair? Are those genetic traits that skipped her parents? If so, could that trait also hold genetic depression? Or was she just experiencing the difficulties of going through extreme changes?
3. Were her parents almost on their way to a divorce? Watch the movie and tell me what you think.

Overall, I was very pleased and impressed by this movie. I thought it was cleaver and sent strong messages about Mental Illness and how to care for someone who’s going through mental changes.

Tell me what you think below in the comments!

 

 

Quick Review: Trolls

Colors, Glitter, Gleeful Singing, and oh yeah – A Fire!

 

Okay, this is gonna be a quick and fast review! Trolls is an animated musical by Dreamworks. Its based upon the creepy little dolls of the same name (thats my mother NEVER let me buy for that very reason). This movie is definitely a family friendly movie that you watch when you want simple worry free entertainment. The comedy is mild and the songs are cute. The main characters are very predictable and so is the story line, which is why I wont discuss the story line here. You can gather what’s going to happen in the movie for yourself since it is so predictable. I did enjoy the qualities of the characters such as their features like extendable hair, glitter skin, and the detail work on the Bergens.

Overall, this is a good movie for everyone…except the ending where the chef is sat on fire along with another troll… but yeah, its a great movie still! Check it out!

Reel Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

I am Groot!

Hello, welcome back to Reel Cinema Review! Today I’m going to be reviewing the new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer! Now, I have to be honest, I don’t remember where the first one left off exactly but I do remember that I really enjoyed the first movie. The trailer features an assortment of characters and a lot of action. I expect that this movie will further the progress in setting up Thanos and his Infinity Gauntlet. To my knowledge Guardians of the Galaxy is in the same MCU as The Avengers and Dr. Strange and so forth. I’m not entirely sure if in the future once all chapters are laid out if all of the key characters will be in one single movie. However, WHO CARES, RIGHT? We’re here for this movie trailer!

 

Isn’t Baby Groot adorable? Groot and Drax are my two favorite highlights of this whole entire trailer! I’m so pleased with this movie trailer because it didn’t give too much away about the plot or the villain besides that giant creature that looks like a work with tentacles. Overall I am happy with the trailer and cannot wait for the movie!