Arrow "Green Arrow" Review

As we all know Arrow Season 3 was not that great, yet despite that i was still looking forward to the new season. I don't understand why some people have given up on the show. Yeah season 3 was bad but good shows have had bad seasons before, as far as i'm concerned the show is batting 2-1, that's still a winner in my books, so we'll have to see where it goes from here. So in the premiere episode of season 4, Star City is going through a crime spree that the remainders of Team Arrow (Now consisting of Diggle, Black Canary & Speedy) can not handle on their own, thus they turn to Oliver and Felicity for help. Learning that the threat known as Damien Darhk is behind it all they rejoin Team Arrow and now plan on stopping him.

So let's start with the best thing about the episode, Oliver Queen stops trying to be Batman. Okay really it's more of a promise that he's going to stop being Batman but it looks promising. For the first three seasons Oliver Queen has been dark, aggressive and like a ninja, inspiring the villains he creates, basically he's Batman. He even fought Ra's Al Ghul, that's how much they were trying to be Batman. Green Arrow is supposed to be more light hearted and down to Earth, fighting for the little guy and not having a corrupt bone in his body. Which actually kind of makes me glad that they didn't start calling him Green Arrow until now because he never was the Green Arrow. Here, they acknowledge that, Oliver talks about how he's always used the darkness as a tool and it's not who he can be anymore. In fact him as Oliver Queen got to tell a few more jokes than usual in this episode, which is a good sign, especially seeing as for the first time in his life he's supposed to be happy.

As for all the other characters well Diggle is still rightfully pissed at Oliver and thankfully his mask doesn't look as stupid in action (Though the visor being removed makes him look stupid as hell) but that's all that's going on with him. Felicity didn't cry and didn't mope, you know her and Oliver as a couple aren't nearly as annoying as them debating whether or not they should be a couple, maybe it's because it doesn't talk up half the fucking season (fingers crossed). Thea seems to be enjoying the superhero life, which i think is the first time in three seasons she's ever smiled, also she may turn out to be a psychopath. So we have optimism and psychotic tendencies, give em points for doing something new with the character. And then Laurel is just...there.

Then there's the villain, Damien Darhk, who so far just seems to be a positive version of Ra's Al Ghul. But the whole "I want this city to die" thing is getting old. Stop trying to kill this city! It won't work! Literally every villain so far has had that same plan! Though the positive outlook and the magic is a nice touch...Oh yeah they've introduced magic now. I like this, they've already got super powers, why not get magic, especially seeing as this is a good set up for Constantine to show up (Can't wait for that!). Then the final character to talk about is Captain Lance...i don't know what to think of this. On one hand it's an interesting twist with the character, but on the other i kind of hate it. Lance was my favourite character because he was a good cop, and really last season when he was talking about Arrow doing more harm than good, he has a point, he was the only person that i felt was emotionally justified in his decisions. But now he's working with the bad guy...dammit! Even if he says it's to save this city, i don't like the idea of Lance taking risks, that's not who he is, granted he may have to work with the worst police force in history, but he wouldn't do this, no matter how desperate he gets! I just hope this turns out for the best.

The final point to be made is that funeral scene, is it just a tease for a plot device that won't pay off for months? You betcha, but damn if it didn't work. Throughout the whole scene i was thinking "Don't show the name, don't show the name!" and they didn't, and that sealed the deal for me that this is a good set up, because if they did show it and it said "Felicity Smoak" then i would go "right, so Felicity is clearly not going to die because they're not stupid enough to spoil their own show and it's just going to be a bait & switch", not showing adds the level of mystery to it on who could die, why and when. I loved that set-up.

Overall this was a really good premiere episode, dare i say it did better than The Flash's premiere episode, but to be fair Arrow had more to prove so even just being good is an improvement. I'm giving Green Arrow an 8/10.

-Danny

The Flash "The Man Who Saved Central City" Review

Finally, fucking finally The Flash is back! Ohhh boy have I been waiting to talk about this! In the second season premiere of Flash we start off six months after the singularity and see all of the results and consequences of said disaster, the city was saved and The Flash is being rewarded the key to the city but Barry doesn't think he deserves it. Meanwhile a brand new villain the Atom Smasher has shown his face to try and kill Flash as he was instructed by the big villain of this season Zoom.

*Spoilers Ahead*

So let's talk about Barry, like i said he doesn't believe he has earned the key to the city, which is not only humble of him but kind of right, the day of the singularity both Eddie and Ronnie died saving the city, Eddie killed the Reverse Flash and Ronnie destroyed the singularity, it's understandable why Barry would feel he hasn't earnt a reward when two of his friends aren't even going to get recognition for this. Also because of two of his friends dying in the same day he's disbanded Team Flash at the risk of endangering other people, but i'll get to them soon. Something else that I like about where Barry is in this episode is that he's helping rebuild all the buildings that were destroyed during the singularity, which i think is a nice touch because that's something a hero should probably be doing when you know, he's not fighting meta-humans. Just saying, we don't often see Green Lantern help rebuild small businesses after he saves the day.

The next character who i found rather fascinating in this episode is Caitlin. The reason why I say that is because at the start of the first season she was in the exact same state she is now, Ronnie having died. Something i noticed when rewatching the first season is that she was a real stick in the mud for the first few episodes, the wet blanket ruining everyone else's fun. Here she isn't as closed off but she's still clearly hurt and i would even say exhausted from being upset but is still trying to put on a smile, the fact that she has a different reaction in the exact same scenario shows how much she's changed as a character and gone through actual development this past year, it's a small change but i like that.

As for Cisco, not a whole lot has changed for him, he now officially works for the CCPD as a science officer...but that's kinda it, he's still the same old Cisco from before, though to be fair I wouldn't have him any other way. Then Iris shows up, who surprisingly after rewatching all of last season again...I hate her more than ever. Even to the point where everytime she showed up on screen she just put me in a bad mood. Seriously, why is she part of Team Flash? She doesn't do anything! Finally is Joe, who is still pretty much awesome in every way, we get a quick flashback of him taking care of a young Barry and some scenes of him and Flash working together to beat Atom Smasher, basically I love Joe, never change.

A major plot point that was resolved in this episode was Henry finally getting released from prison, Harrison Wells (Great seeing Tom Cavanagh by the way) left a confession to Nora's murder and Henry finally got released (And probably with a really sweet apology cheque too). But then they make a weird choice in having him leave Central City...why? He says it's because Central City needs The Flash, not Henry Allen's son but...yeah i don't buy it. Why would he leave the city? Why would he leave this soon after getting out of jail. You can finally spend quality time with your son without a prison guard looking over your shoulder and you're leaving this quick? I call bullshit, this seems like the writers' lazy way to get him out of the show.


Then the final note, the big cliffhanger of the episode, Jay Garrick shows up at Star Labs, i was a little sad that he didn't do much in this episode, but i just really want to see Barry and Jay interact with each other properly. Overall this episode was a good re-introduction to the show, finding out where the characters are now and tying up some loose ends from season one but only giving us the minimal amount needed for set-ups for season two. I'm giving this episode an 8/10.

-Danny

-Jay Garrick

My Favourite Characters - Rick Sanchez

Whaddup ma Glip Glops! In honour of the second season finale of Rick & Morty, let's talk about the man himself, Rick Sanchez. I love smart characters, the ones that are so smart and so sure of themselves they're a dick to everyone else. The Doctor, Sherlock, Iron Man, etc and now Rick can join that esteemed line up. Except the big difference with Rick is how little redeeming qualities he has. He doesn't care in the slightest about other people's feelings, has zero patience for people stupider than him (So everyone), is very selfish and will put other people in danger with no sense of empathy to be found. Also he's an alcoholic, so there's that. But thing is, he's kinda right in his beliefs, he does often say hard truths that we don't want to hear or believe are true but more often than not he's right.
"Morty, I'm not disparaging the differently abled. I'm stating the fact that if I had used this microscope it would have made me mentally retarded."
"Ok but yeah, I don't think it's about logic, Rick. I-I think the word has just become a symbolic issue for powerful groups that feel like they're doing the right thing."
"Well that's retarded."
Probably the only argument you could make for someone like Rick is that he is always right, yeah he's a dick about everything but he's earned it, he's a genius and has saved the day dozens of times, if not hundreds, the man's entitled to a bit of an ego. I think the episode that proved this to me is the first episode of season two "A Rickle In Time" where the characters are stuck in a Schrodinger's Cat-verse where it shows all the possible answers all at once, and in every universe Rick is always doing the exact same thing, that's how sure in himself he is that he's able to beat the Schrodinger at his own game. You've got to respect a man who is that smart he can literally defy logic.

But even with all of this he's not an irredeemable asshole, he does care for his family but rarely chooses to show it, in particular are his grandson Morty and his daughter Beth, even someone as selfish and talented as he is, he is willing to sacrifice himself for the good of his family, even going as so far in the season two finale where he lets himself get arrested so his family can go home. "What are you in for?" "Everything". It doesn't happen very often, but whenever we do see moments like this it certainly humanises him and let's us actually care about what he does rather than just laugh at how much of an asshole he is.

He follows character archetypes that I'm a fan of, but it's how aggressive he is that separates him from the rest and makes him not only hilarious but also interesting and surprisingly likeable. That's what makes him one of my all time favourite characters.

-Danny

Doctor Who "Under the Lake" Review

Another damn two parter!? Actually looking at the rest of the schedule it looks like every story arc in this season is a two parter. Moffat, we get it, you're trying new things, but seriously what is the point? We get half as many stories and takes twice as long to find out what happens. This is Under the Lake, in this episode The Doctor and Clara travel to an underwater base where it turns out is being haunted by several ghosts, The Doctor, Clara and the surviving crew members must now find out what they want so they can stop them.

*Spoilers Ahead*

This is why I hate two parters, it's so hard to review a story when you're only getting half the story, but nevertheless i'll do best with what i can. The ghosts themselves are just kind of...okay, i don't really care that much for their design or their motives for what they do, so far it seems rather forced and confusing, i was hoping this would be a simple ghost story but now the ghosts are talking in riddles and there's a symbol with co-ordinates and it's oh so big and important. Would it have been so hard to just make a story about ghosts on an underwater base? That's all I need. Now that's not to say the story is confusing to the point where you can't tell what the hell is going on, but even so, it could be made simpler and this is unnecessarily complicated.

The best part of the episode in my opinion is the crew on the base. I can't remember the last time i actually have a shit about the supporting characters in a Doctor Who episode, it's not happened for a fair few years. In this episode i do remember the whole crew and i remember their personalities, i remember one of them being a bit of a fangirl for the Doctor but she still focused on the safety of the crew, i remember the guy with glasses being a bit of a coward, i remember the translator, i remember the deaf woman being in charge, how interesting is that, there's a deaf character in charge and...that's all there is. It doesn't play a big role in the story (yet as far as we know) it wasn't caused by some alien attack, she doesn't have a sixth sense to replace it, she's just an ordinary deaf woman, that's a rather fascinating choice. Though while i may remember all of their personalities, i didn't say i was good at remembering their names.

Apart from that I honestly can't think of that much to talk about, like i said, it's hard to analyse a story when it's only halfway complete and The Doctor and Clara...are The Doctor and Clara, not much has changed with them. Actually there was a weird conversation between the two about Clara going native and getting too involved in the adventures...or something, i don't know it was a strange conversation and i don't entirely get what The Doctor was saying anyway. Does he not want to travel with her? Is he worried about her? Is she getting too addicted to travelling or is she settling down too much? It doesn't make much sense to me.

In the end I think this was a good episode but not as good as the last one, some of the plot elements are forcfully convoluted and it's too early for another two parter, the cast was good and it had some good lines in it but i've seen better. 7/10.

-Danny

Vixen - Cheap Thoughts

Vixen is the online animated series that follows the story of Mari McCabe, a rebellious young woman who wants to know more about her past, she soon learns that the necklace her mother left her as a child gives her the abilities of every animal in the world. So this was a strangely produced series, there were six episodes and each one was roughly 5 minutes long, 4 minutes if you take out all the credits. Because of this i didn't review the show episode by episode but rather waited for them all to be released so i can watch them back to back, and frankly it's a lot better that way, i don't know why the CW didn't just release them all together as one big 30 minute film, it certainly feels like it was produced with that in mind given the jarring endings of the episodes where suddenly: credits!

But regardless of that, is it good? Well, yeah i'd say so. Considering the fact that it's an origin story and it's only half an hour long, there isn't a whole lot of room for doing anything new or interesting with the characters, most of the time is given to hitting the usual beats for an origin story, we see her freaking out over her powers, deny the responsibility, a couple of flashbacks and how she gets her costume. There's nothing bad about that, but it makes me wonder what the point of all of it was. It's rumoured that this is supposed to be a set-up and Vixen herself will most likely appear in either Arrow or Flash. Oh yeah, this takes place in the same DC Universe as Arrow & Flash, but i'll talk more about them in a bit. As for Vixen herself as a character i know very little of, what i can say from what i've learnt from this is that she has a pretty unique origin story and the way how they visually express her powers is pretty cool, but when it comes to DC Heroes with animal powers i'm always gonna think of Beast Boy. Her personality is a little flat and basic, she's rebellious but has a good heart, she has issues with her family but wants to make things better, she denies her responsibilities with her powers but comes around in the end, yeah we've seen all this before. So overall the story is just...okay. It doesn't do anything wrong but it doesn't do that much new either.

Now let's talk about the acting, for the most part I felt Megalyn Echikunwoke (Thank the gods i don't have to say that out loud) did a great job in the role and if she reprises it for a live action version i'd be all for it. For an actress that does mostly live action work her voice acting skills are impressive and she plays a realistic character. I say this because of how Stephen Amell, Grant Gustin & Carlos Valdes play their roles...when people say voice acting is easy i'm probably just going to show them clips of these guys. They're great actors and do really well in live action, but here, you can tell they're trying to make it seem natural and to give a good performance but they all sound as stiff as a board. It's a lot easier to get into character when you're in costume and on a set but when you're in a recording booth saying the same lines dozens of times, it's hard to make it sound as good, and frankly, these guys need more practise.

Finally I want to talk about the animation. It is so good to see DC Shows animated like this again, it reminds me of the Justice League cartoon or the straight to dvd animated movies. The designs of the characters, the fluidity of the action scenes, the dynamic angles, this is everything i expect from DC Animation, nothing but the best. No cheap, flash based animation made over the weekend with the detail and artistic creativity of the 3 year old *cough*Teen Titans Go*cough*, sorry, had to get a cheap shot in there somewhere.

Overall Vixen was...fine, the story was okay, the voice actors were hit & miss but the animation is superb and that's what makes this show worth watching. 7/10.

-Danny

Blindspot - First Impressions

Blindspot is a new television series airing on Monday nights on NBC, if follows the story of a woman wakes up in Time Square New York with no memories of her life and covered in tattoos. She and the FBI soon learn that each of these tattoos is a clue to a crime that will be committed fairly soon, so a small team of FBI Agents plus this mystery woman team up to stop these crimes and solve the mystery of where she came from. Now in all honesty I had no interest in watching this show, the trailer looked alright but I haven't trusted a network drama since Lost. With that being said the only two reasons i watched this show were because of Jamie Alexander as the lead character now called Jane Doe and Ashley Johnson, my all time favourite actress, in a supporting role as a forensic scientist. The premise was interesting enough plus with these two in the cast was enough for me to at least check it out and...well, let's delve into that.

The set-up itself is a strong and promising one, a woman suffers from amnesia and her tattoos lead to upcoming crimes, this instantly sets up a lot of questions that i am very interested in finding out, sadly however this being a network drama i wouldn't be surprised if they dropped the ball, and despite the fact that they're only two episodes in they seem to be giving a way a lot fairly early. We know of at least one man involved, we have several clues to Jane's past and we know she lost her memory voluntarily. Also not to mention the set up is acting as an excuse for the show to be just another procedural cop drama, which is exactly what it seems to be, it hits all the beats of say Blue Bloods or Hawaii Five 0 or NCIS or CSI, basically, think of any cop drama, this show fits the bill (Puns!).

But they could probably avoid this with interesting characters...sort of. Like I said, Jane is inherently an interesting character and Jamie Alexander so far does a great job in the role and I will say she is so far the only thing making this show even remotely interesting. But everyone else is as generic as you can think of, the main character is a scruffy white guy with issues that we've seen a million times, the black guy is the black guy and the woman cop is a woman cop, not really anything to work with there. Even Ashley Johnson doesn't have that much to work with and the chief looks to be the only one who might have an interesting arc. To be fair the show is literally only two episodes in, this could all change within the next few episodes but i have my doubts.

I will say the best thing about the show so far is the opening sequence is absolutely gorgeous but that's really it, actually a lot of NBC shows have really good openings, Constantine, Community, Parks & Recs, The Office, Friends, etc. So i guess it's a good sign? I won't rate the show because...well again, two episodes, but it's looking to be on the path of becoming another typical procedural unless it takes its hook and pushes that into the foreground.

-Danny

Blade Runner - Cheap Thoughts

You know, the idea behind Cheap Thoughts was to review products that I had things to talk about but didn't have to go into full detail like a proper review. I just want that to be kept in mind because Blade Runner is one of those films that people will do 40 minute analysis videos on talking about everything great with it, i don't really feel the need to talk about everything in the film, so let's talk about what does interest me.

The first one and without a doubt the best thing about this film are the visuals, this is one of the best looking movies that I have ever seen. The cinematography, the lighting, the set design, for nothing else you'll remember the imagery of the movie because good god, it's beautiful. This is one of the best realised worlds created in a sci-fi film, which is hard to do, a lot of films set in the future often blend in together, this film has such a distinct look that it'd be hard to recreate. It's futuristic but grounded, cultures have combined but the issues are timeless and even though all of the sets look...well, like sets, that just helps to feed the futuristic setting, as if this is a story that no matter what year you watch it, even 100 years from now it's always going to feel like it's slightly ahead of the curb. The blending of cultures is also very clever because everything in the film is a blend of other things, it's science-fiction but it's also a noir thriller, it's dark but it's also optimistic, it's charming but also cold, it's a traditionally American story but with Asian style and filmmaking, specifically Korean or Japanese. Even though the majority of the film is by an American crew, it doesn't feel like it. Yes there is a strong presence of Asian culture in the diegesis of the movie, but it also feels like it's there behind the camera as well. Something about this movie almost feels like an anime, the use of wide shots of the city, the portrayal of the future, the minimal dialogue and heavy emphasis on thematic storytelling than literal storytelling. Maybe it's because I watched Akira literally 2 weeks before seeing this film but the two felt like they shared a lot of similarities. If you were to replace Ridley Scott's name with someone like Bong Joon-Ho or Park Chan-Wook then i'd believe it would fit their styles.

However, something that the film touches upon, well, more so rubs in your face is the theme of humanity and artificial intelligence. What does it mean to be human? Can you create true intelligence? Can a robot possess individualism? Do they deserve equal rights? Now i'm not gonna bash the film because it handles these questions really well, my problem? I've seen it done a billion times before. I know it was more original when the film came out and it handles the topics better than most, but it looks almost impossible for people to talk about these things in an original way. Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, A.I, Battlestar Galactica, Ex-Machina and a ton of others have all talked about these themes and I swear each one has the same conversations, the same conclusions, the same opinions, the same plot points, really I don't care if this film had these conversations first, i've seen it a million times before so subjectively speaking, I don't give a crap.

Then there's the climax of the movie, Roy Battey's speech about all of his memories, the famous "tears in the rain" quote and all that stuff. Again, my problem with this is very subjective. It's a very good speech, very well written and delivered and if i hadn't been shown this scene 100 times before seeing the actual movie it might have had an effect on me. But more than that Doctor Who had a very similar speech and i think there's was more epic. Again, incredibly subjective, but hey, that's my experience and the entire point of this series is to talk about my thoughts on products.

Overall the actual substance of Blade Runner doesn't really do much for me, but aesthetically speaking, the film is magnificent, beautiful visuals, great score, really good acting and above all else, memorable and i'm very interested in seeing how my opinion will change on a second viewing. 8/10 with a possible 9/10 depending on my next watch.

-Danny