Tag: Netflix

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TEKKEN: BLOODLINE [Anime Series Review] – What is it that Haunts You?

It’s been about 11 years since the last debut of any tekken visual media, the movie “Tekken: Blood Vengeance” came out in 2011, which is 14 years out from 1997’s Tekken OVA Movie.

“Whose Eyes peer back from the Darkness?”

In years past, story and context thereof have never really been things that Namco (now Bandai-Namco) have ever really properly elaborated upon in their critically acclaimed fighting game series, Tekken. It’s always been a thing that the gigantic community of fans have pieced together, while gleaning information from bios in game manuals, and ending movies after beating each game with about 25 or so playable characters. So the culmination of all that just had to be for Netflix to finally do an animated series on the famed animated brawler… and here we are with the newly premiered Tekken: Bloodline.

Animated by Studio Barnstorm Design Labo, known for the MAGI: Adventure of Sinbad anime, and written by writer Gavin Hignight (Star Wars: Resistance, Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble, 2012 TMNT series, and Iron Man: Armored Adventures). Episode 1 attempts to encapsulate the precursor/primer for storyline in between Tekken, Tekken 2 and Tekken 3. The 6 episode series is obviously short and to the point, with the satisfying feeling that this has been directed by someone who knows how the Tekken lore works.

After giving birth to Kazuya Mishima’s son, Jun Kazama retreats to her home in rural Yakushima to raise Jin for the first 15 years of his life. She’d go on to train him in the ways of the Kazama style martial arts, desperately hoping to suppress the violence urges of the Mishima devil gene within Jin. Those seeds of vengeance are planted once Ogre, a powerful sentient being hailed by ancient civilizations as “the god of fighting”, kills Jun. This also later drives Jin to seek out his paternal grandfather, billionaire magnate and martial artist Heihachi Mishima, who eduates Jin on the family’s brutal Mishima style.

Episode 1 = 5/5

While the second episode is a bit more of the same, it does give us a streamlined time window of Jin preparing for the 3rd KoIF tournament. We also see him acquire a “tool” for luring out Ogre. Heihachi hires mercenaries to steal an ancient pendant that belonged to the family of Chinese/Navajo character, Michelle Chang. He hopes that its mysterious powers, activated by fighting and violence, will bait Ogre and summon him to the King of Iron Fist.

This next 22-minutes packs a lot of Tekken-heavy prep lore, some action here and there and not much in the way of derailing things. A very solid continuation that definitely kept my interest.

Episode 2 = 4/5


My favorite moments of Ep 3, which begins with all participants of the King of Iron Fist Tournament: 1.) The famous rivalry between Hwoarang and Jin, alongside Nina Williams, Julia Chang, and Paul Phoenix, 2.) Craziest thing! Mishima Zaibatsu has not only rigged up the friggin’ Machu Picchu ruins with hologram tech for the fights and cameras to stream it all, but.. also disrespectfully etched Heihachi’s face into the side of mountain overlooking the ruins. What a chad!, 3.) When Heihachi reveals the existence of the devil gene to Jin, and how he had hereditarily received it from his father. Jin’s own devil gene possibly attracted Ogre to he and his mother in Yakushima, ultimately sealing her fate. Rough stuff.

As for the rest of the ep, I enjoyed the fighter interactions, but the stuff around the tournament grounds feels a bit weird and out of character. There’s also no real characterization for Kazuya other than he’s “evil” without real explanations for people that have personal stakes in this tournament.

Episode 3 = 3/5

As the tournament begins, we get some interaction between Ling Xiaoyu (aged up to her Tekken 5 appearance and outfit) and Jin, as well as a formal entrance for Tekken 7 newcomer Leroy Smith, bearing a heavy grudge against the Mishimas and SURPRISE! He’s Jin’s first fight.

Leroy refuses to concede after being beaten by Jin, driving him to regretfully end the match by breaking Leroy’s leg with a well-placed low kick. Admittedly, I snickered instead of gasping at this scene. For someone portrayed as wise and strong, that was very stupid of Leroy. If this was supposed to be a moment where they sell a fan favorite to us, the audience, it tanked.

Episode 4 = 3/5

The tournament continues. If you came here for King; you’re getting King. I also loved that, in Episode 5, they showed a bit more of Jin’s character outside being endlessly poised on revenge. There’s usually not much else to know about Jin Kazama outside of him being a very fashionable momma’s boy that hates his other side of the family.

Sadly due to the stalling story pace, we don’t have the attachment to King and his backstory that we should have. Thankfully, Heihachi makes himself the semifinal boss — a very fighting game move.

Episode 5 = 3/5

And finally, Episode 6. Ogre is finally summoned to Machu Picchu, setting up the fight. Unfortunately the finale is riddled with unnecessary in-depth flashbacks (as if the viewer hasn’t been watching the last 5 episodes), culminating with Jin defeating Ogre in both of his forms.

The flashbacks were plentiful and agonizing. A handful of them were necessary in the driving of Jin’s character, but the rest felt needless and there to fill up time in the episode while everyone watched the Ogre fight go down. Even though it is reminiscent of the original Tekken 3 ending for Jin Kazama, seeing it as the ending for an anime with no epilogue alluding to the events of Tekken 4 or the return of Kazuya feels very, crappy and abrupt, and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

 Episode 6 = 3/5

Bottom line– the series is middling. But thanks to a hot start, Tekken: Bloodline winds up good overall. Here is the low down.

  • The CG animation works well for this series. The fights are great as it seems LABO uses the same cues that Netflix CG shows Hi-Score Girl and Kengan Ashura use for fights, as well as the fire, hit, spark effects, and signature moves native to the Tekken series, which is a great touch. Although I feel their ….uh… “cubist?”/block/pyramid shading style of the characters I feel takes away from the actual detail of the characters’ cool designs, facial features, and outfits.
  • Since I went with Japanese audio I might’ve had a different experience than others who watched this series dubbed. In the dub, Isshin Chiba reprises his role of Jin. Chiba has done Jin’s voice since his debut in Tekken 3 in 1997, and man, you can tell. As a teenage boy in the first episode, Chiba’s voice sounds far too mature and husky. A Lot of the other Tekken voice actors voice their characters as well, save for Heihachi obviously. It’s a bit disappointing that King has a real voice and not a bunch of jaguar growls, lol. Outside of Chiba and waiting for Jin to grow into his voice, not bad at all.

BOTTOM (BLOOD)LINE

It feels like this 6-episode anime tried to cram Tekken 3, 4, and 5 together and throw in Leroy Smith as the cherry on top. A lot of characters that shouldn’t be there are there, as well as the timing screws up Jin’s and others’ own storylines in the Tekken universe. The fourth and fifth episodes have no brakes heading into season finale, as you can clearly tell they’re burning through matches and pushing towards the climax. Also, for some reason, Eddie Gordo, pivotal new character for Tekken 3, and future member of the Mishima Zaibatsu, is nowhere to be seen. Weird; guess they couldn’t find a plausible way to work him into the story, but Leroy was more applicable?

As a Tekken fan since Tekken 2, I totally understand how crazy the video game storyline is. From cybernetic ninjas to karate bears, demons, Egyptian gods, and WW3, it’s a lot. A LOT. That being said, a better timeline and story pacing to fit the timelines of the original games and event happening, while dividing them up through different 6-episode seasons on Netflix could have made this a shining example of how to properly do video game anime productions and their crazy lore-trees; give people who enjoyed the first season something else to anticipate and come back for. Bloodline could have been an absolute gem, but instead it felt jumbled and rushed. 3.5/5 Santori Whiskeys.

-Antonio Hymes

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THE SANDMAN [Series Review]: Bring Me A Dream.

Since its initial publication in 1989, writer Neil Gaiman‘s seminal, lyric The Sandman series has proven not only to be a resounding literary success — one that continues being spun-off and reintroduced to readers for nearly 30 years — but has also proven to be almost maddeningly difficult to adapt to a different medium (or, more specifically, to the screen). After so many false starts, delayed production, and years in development hell, Netflix has finally released its adaptation of the comic series.

This review follows just the first two episodes of the series’ 10-episode first season. Within seconds of the opening, we’re flown into the Dreaming — the nether-realm from whence all of humanity’s collective imagination dwells, and wherein Dream (Tom Sturridge) resides and rules. Some time early in 1900s, Roderick Burgess (Charles Dance), known to others as Magus, casts a spell hoping to imprison Death, and force him to return to life Roderick’s son. The binding spell goes wrong, however (as they’re wont to do!), and instead of Death, Roderick imprisons Dream, rendering him powerless for over ten years. During his time of imprisonment, others are able to usurp his realm, as Dream’s artifacts and tools are lost, stolen, and stray nightmares and entities are free to run amok.

Narratively, the series follows the first couple of issues of the comic almost to a T. Beat for beat, the series hits all the right moments, and seeing these characters in motion was something I’d always hoped for, but never thought I’d actually see. The poignant highs and melancholic lows are recreated here, all the while Gaiman’s imagination is left to grow and be dealt new breaths of life.

Being the first (and as such, only) actor to embody Dream (AKA Morpheus, AKA the titular Sandman) Tom Sturridge brings at first a detached aloofness to the role that takes some time to grow accustomed to. Even from the first episode to the second, he warms up considerably, playing with the role a bit more loosely as he grows more comfortable. He’s a lot to work with: not just with Dream’s other-humanness, but also the unfolding mythology and world-building the series embarks on.

Sturridge is great as Dream, as he has the look down pat, and the way he stares through humans — particularly Charles Dance early on — contemplating us, how alien we are compared to him, is compelling. The only gripe I have with him is his eyes: too accustomed have I become to Dream’s white-in-black eyes, the telltale mark of the Endless and their immortal lives. But understanding what Dream is, and not what he looks like, is what this series is about. And it makes him an absolutely fascinating character.

However.. this series suffers from what I’ve realized nearly all Netflix productions suffer from: a sleekness and cleanliness that is all too common with streaming premiere television shows. The Sandman just looks too damn sleek. I’m not sure exactly what cameras or gamut the show was shot in, but it is sadly no more or less common than anything else on streaming, and I think that that’s a shame. Too often reading the comic did I imagine the likes of Stan Brakhage or Guy Maddin composing shots and directing; the dream-like visages of a fantasy writer as imagined through the dreamy, washed-out, capital-F Filmmaker eyes of directors with something to say with how and with what they shot.

As beautiful as the imagery, and interesting as the story here is, The Sandman looks just like any other comic adaptation streaming in my Apple TV queue.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=83ClbRPRDXU

But I digress…The Sandman is a miracle to watch, knowing how long it took to adapt, how many false starts and hiccups it endured. And if it inspires a new generation of readers and writers, all the better for it. Here’s hoping Netflix breaks its annoying habit of cancelling its series at the end of its second seasons, right when most shows are finding their footing.

4/5 Jessamies.

-J.L. Caraballo

The Sandman is currently streaming on Netflix.

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A TOY KINDA MOOD [Episode 39]: MOTU Revelation Review.

This past week saw geeks on both sides of the Masters of the Universe debate pick up arms against one another and decide to go to war over He-Man. As absurd as that sounds, we at A Toy Kinda Mood could not resist wading into the battlefront of Eternia…

That’s right! Co-Host Bobby is back with guests/co-founder and @the_TravelingNerd Lance Paul and ATKM guest Kevin Wish. We break down the Masters of the Universe: Revelation storyline, the animation and the characters. We break down the pros and cons to all the He-Man, Skeletor, Teela, Man-At-Arms, Orko, Evil-Lyn mythos and storylines and just what we really thought about Kevin Smith versus the manbabies that came out in droves this past weekend.

This is a long episode, so sit back, enjoy and let us know what you thought in the comments!!

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MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – REVELATION [Season One Review]: Manbabies vs. Food.

Kevin Wish “A Toy Kinda Mood”

Alright, so… Wow. Following the first five episodes of Netflix’ new Masters of the Universe: Revelation, I had the biggest.. reve.. discovery. This MOTU reboot is, first, a solid take on the characters I grew up loving. Second, the CGI from Powerhouse Animation (Castlevania) is top-notch…

But you didn’t come here for all the adoration, did you?

Let’s begin right with the social media backlash. The audience scores of 30% Rotten Tomatoes and 2.0 Metacritic come chiefly from those upset that this story, Kevin Smith‘s story, sidelines He-Man (Supergirl‘s Chris Wood) in favor of Teela. Are these fans wrong to think that? Nope. Probably not. He-Man is not a visual central character in Revelation‘s first five episodes, and, frankly, neither is Skeletor (Mark Hamill). And you wanna know something? Thank God! Do I love He-Man and Skeletor? You bet your ass I do. Skeletor is iconic, and He-Man is a hero that many little boys grew up to idolize.

There’s also an argument that these two characters would be nothing without their tremendous supporting cast, which I will get to in just a bit. Because on a separate note, it’s interesting, that if you look at Mattel’s new toyline surrounding this iteration, both He-Man and Skeletor — sadly! — look awful but the supporting heroes and villains are a home run. That’s sorta, not-so-ironically a reflection on the Netflix show so far, too. That said, I’m deeply pleased with Kevin Smith and creative consultant and EP Ted Biaselli for fleshing out these avatars of my imagination…

Teela (Buffy a.k.a. Sarah Michelle Gellar), though I feel was unnecessarily masculinized in this telling, was still a show-stealer. Despite all the heavy controversies, the surplus amount of screentime (in comparison to her buddy Adam), her emotional choices, etc., I still mostly loved her arc, and cannot wait to see more in the next five episodes. It will be interesting to finally see the Sorceress (Susan Eisenberg) reveal Teela’s true destiny at some point, and the begging question finally answered: is Man-At-Arms (Ser Davos, Liam Cunningham) her biological or adoptive father?

Teela has always been a favorite of mine, and though the character design left something to be desired — hey, at least her action figure looks hashtag #sex! — her characterization was flawless. Now that leads me into Evil-Lyn. The showrunners clearly love the longtime Masters of the Universe villainess as much as I do, and Lena Headey voices her to perfection. Was Evil-Lyn just playing an animated Cersi Lannister? A tad. But come on, this is simpatico casting! It’s not hard to glean who is the creators’ favorites from even one viewing of these five episodes: Orko, Evil-Lyn, Man-At-Arms, Teela and Scareglow all shine and even, yeah, glow the brightest.

Here are my issues. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman proved that a character can still look and be feminine and kick ass. Some of the more “woke” crowd will disagree, of course, but hear me out: When we masculinize already established feminine characters, are we really, secretly saying that “you need to look and behave more like a man in order to defend yourself”? I call B.S. on that. Like, why did Teela decide to shave the side of her head? That seemed to be thrown in as a specific political choice and could have easily been left out.

My other issue is with all the murdering and death. While I get that Smith wants to raise the stakes in this series, perhaps you don’t kill off 25% of the cast. Sans the aggressive kills and agenda-driven things tossed in, this MOTU lover has basically no other gripe with the show. But, 5 episodes? We need more. And if production is such an issue, switch to the Disney+ model and air one episode a week (but give us at least 8 episodes not 5).

Now having explained my loves and non-loves of MOTU: Revelation, let’s get deeper into why I believe this show mostly succeeds. As mentioned, I praise the focus on the supporting cast. Who hasn’t waited decades to find out who He-Man’s friends and Skeletor’s minions are?! Furthermore, the amount of fan service in Revelation was akin to eating chocolate covered strawberries; decadent, but you just want more and more and more — from the Eternia playset design incorporated in pre-ternia (heaven, or that Twitter guy who helps us toy nerds hourly), and the use of the rotons with the skeleton warriors, and finally getting to meet Scareglow (the terrific Tony Todd) on screen! This ultra He-Man/She-Ra fan (almost) couldn’t be happier.

In closing, this much-anticipated Masters of the Universe is such a super effort on the parts of the creators and voice actors, that… no, Kevin Smith and company did not kill my childhood; they actually took one of the best parts of my childhood and made it relevant in 2021, and that is a revelation! Good journey. 4.25/5 Whiskeys.

-Kevin Wish

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A TOY KINDA MOOD [Episode 35, Parts 1-5]: The Best & Worst Action Figures of 2021.. So Far.

We have shockingly made it to the halfway point of 2021, so Moody and KJ are back to present A Toy Kinda Mood’s Best (and Worst) Action Figures of 2021– So Far.

Part 1 – We celebrate figures from both The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars, and chat up forthcoming SDCC/PulseCon exclusives, including a Cantina scene, Dave Filoni in action figure form and The Vintage Collection inclusion of Emperor Palpatine and his chair.

Part 2 – YO JOE fans, we hope you’ve learned that collecting is Half the Battle! The other half is getting frustrated with Target and scalpers, but Moody and KJ were able to get their hands on the choice Cobra Island Classified figures. Who made the cut? And, who had to have an “about face” with themselves?

Part 3 – The Disney Plus series took some lumps, but there were some diamonds in the rough while She-Hulk comes across unfazed.

Part 4 – Which Transformers set won? The Netflix Beast Wars or the 86 Transformers line which is awesome in it’s own right.

Part 5 – We break down Mattel He-Man MOTU Origins and Revelation, McFarlane Toys, TMNT (both NECA and Super7) and SDCC 2021 exclusives coming later this month from Dragon Ball Super/Z! We also bring you a few Mezco figures, because what would a “Best Of…” be without Mezco Toyz.

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ARMY OF THE DEAD [Review]: Zack Snyder’s Return to Zombie, Flesh-Eating Form.

Chris Sawin
@evilbutters

Army of the Dead is Zack Snyder’s first film in a decade not based on a DC Comics property (his last was Sucker Punch back in 2011). With a screenplay co-written by Snyder, Shay Hatten (the John Wick franchise), and Joby Harold (Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword), Army of the Dead is set in Las Vegas where the zombies have been walled off in the city and surviving humans attempt to live normally.

Zombie horde fighting veteran Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) has gone into hiding and now works at a diner as a burger flipper as his daughter Kate (Ella Purnell) works as a volunteer at a camp just outside the wall providing for children and other survivors. Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) hires Scott to retrieve $200 million located underneath the Las Vegas strip in a seemingly unbreakable vault.

Scott puts together a team to pull off the impossible for a $50 million cut for him and his team. However, they have a limited time to pull this off since in less than 48 hours an atom bomb will be dropped on the infected part of Las Vegas wiping out the undead masses once and for all as well as anyone who may be within the walls.

This is also Snyder’s return to the zombie genre after his 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake. Richard Cheese returning to sing “Viva Las Vegas” during the opening credits is also an entertaining callback to Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead.

Dave Bautista as Scott Ward in Army of the Dead.

What makes Army of the Dead work so well is that it is an ensemble film that absolutely makes the most of its entire cast. The female characters are strong and resourceful and what Snyder does with zombies isn’t just a rehash of everything you’ve seen in similar films.

Similar to George Romero’s Land of the Dead where zombies learned to communicate with one another, AotD features the undead evolving into something new. The shamblers you’re familiar with are around, but there’s also a new threat; zombies who are stronger, faster, and smarter than the average walking corpse.

Rich Cetrone as Zeus and Omari Hardwick as Venderohe In Army of the Dead.

These new zombies have the ability to reproduce, wear armor that blocks headshots, and ride zombified horses while wearing capes. There’s also a zombie white tiger named Valentine with a memorably gnarly scene that is on par with the bear sequence from The Revenant.

Known for typically being a big brawler or being the go-to big guy for comedic relief, Bautista seems eager to prove that he has more to offer as an actor these days. He still uses the signature moves you recognize him for like body slamming zombies through poker tables at the casino or even wrestling a zombie in a helicopter as it spins out of control to pulse pounding results. But Bautista is surprisingly emotional here and is convincingly torn between the women he loves in the film and doing what’s right for the daughter that currently hates him.

Tig Notaro as Marianne Peters in Army of the Dead.

Specific highlights of the cast include Matthias Schweighöfer as Dieter, the German locksmith. He has this Hans Landa kind of charisma about him. He’s very smart, but he’s also unfamiliar with American tradition and weapon use. His shriek as well as his celebratory dancing of successfully using a gun on a zombie for the first time are two great examples of why the character is amazing.

Tig Notaro is also fantastic as the helicopter pilot Marianne Peters. Peters is mouthy, kind of weird, and unusually loyal. Her inability to shut up is what makes her so memorable.

While Army of the Dead has some unbelievable action sequences loaded with exceptional explosions and massive gore that is this brilliant concoction of practical effects and CGI, the film still has some flaws. The screenplay is lacking at times and has some pretty cringeworthy moments that mostly lie within the opening sequence (road head essentially leading to the vault opening) and Theo Rossi’s Burt Cummings character in particular.

Matthias Schweighöfer as Dieter in Army of the Dead.

All of the predatory and sexually demeaning material towards women in the film feels dated and in bad taste in our current times. It’s dealt with in a way that is essentially satisfying to zombie and horror fans, but the fact that it is included at all is a little disappointing.

The fact that we’re getting two spin-offs from Army seems rewarding since it seems like a waste to see some of these characters in a one and done kind of scenario. Matthias Schweighöfer directed and will star as Dieter in Army of Thieves, a prequel film that wrapped filming in December of 2020.

Omari Hardwick as Vanderohe in Army of the Dead.

We’re also getting a 6-episode anime-inspired animated series called Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas. The animated series will highlight Scott Ward’s origins as well as his team’s rescue efforts shown only briefly during the opening montage in Army of the Dead.

Army injects some much needed vitality into both zombie films as a whole and Zack Snyder’s career as a filmmaker. Dave Bautista is also the best he’s ever been as far as his acting ability goes. Gory as hell and entertaining through and through, AotD is a must-watch for action and horror film fans alike. We really did need more scenes with Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick) using that giant circular saw to tear through zombie flesh though. 4/5 Bottles of Sterilizing-Zombie-Wound Whiskey.

-Chris Sawin

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