Streaming Reviews

I have been a fan of Gamera ever since seeing a photo of him in a pamphlet for a local exhibition on dinosaurs. That image of the fanged giant turtle just captivated me after thinking for years that Godzilla was the only giant monster around. Eventually I got my hands on the Gamera movies and became a fan and as Gamera fan I wholeheartedly recommend this anime GAMERA: REBIRTH. It is the perfect distillation of Gamera for both new viewers and old. If all you remember about Gamera is the corny late 60s/70s movies and the MST3K movies then good news, this isn’t like that. The corny kid protagonists, long since the main point of ridicule for Gamera movies, have been greatly improved upon. Here they are a homage to classic kid character movies like The Goonies or Sandlot. It’s very nostalgic; summer vacation pals, secret tree club house, innocent hijinks, confronting bullies, overcoming personal fears etc.  The monsters and battles are also very well done. The designs themselves give ...

  Short Review What I liked more: Beautiful animation, superb voice acting, focused narrative, intriguing plot that sets its own direction unique from the previous Trigun anime What I liked less: brisk pace that did not allow much time to get to know the characters, seemingly shallow villain motivations, plot reveals to the viewer but not the characters. Recommendation : Worth following as the story intrigues me and I wish to see how it proceeds. Long Review I have been a huge fan of the original TRIGUN anime so when this remake was announced I was stoked. Premiering on Amazon Prime video, TRIGUN STAMPEDE features gorgeous animation, great voice acting, and a story that respects the original while taking its own unique direction.  As of posting this review, 5 episodes have been released and that is usually the number I give a show to hook me and I form my initial impressions on whether to continue with it or not. For TRIGUN STAMPEDE, I can safely say I am hooked. Now this woul...

This animated miniseries popped up on Netflix with little fanfare and I was quite intrigued by its premise. In the far future, humanity is headed to a new world to colonise. To prepare the planet for the colonists, a terraforming vessel is sent out years ahead crewed by 3D printed copies of just 5 essential individuals each with their own unique skills for the sole purpose of terraforming.   What immediately struck me was the animation. It was CGI, but done in a way that somehow looked like those retro sci fi novel covers that graced books by Issac Azimov or Frank Herbert. I later found out that the designs were done by Yoshitaka Amano of Final Fantasy and Genesis Climber Mospeada fame. The animation was done by a few studios most notably Tatsunoko (macross, Genesis climber Mospeada)  It’s just such a striking and unique looking visual style from the characters and clothing to the devices and ship designs and tech designs, it really drives home this far off future that wo...

3 October 1982 was when the Japanese anime series SUPERDIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS premiered in Japan. It launched the popular Macross franchise that has been going strong till this day.  Here in Singapore I couldn’t find it on any of the major streaming platforms so I had to rely on YouTube  This was the third Macross production I was exposed to, having first watched Do You Remember Love, and then Macross Plus before watching this in both its original Japanese and it’s Robotech adaptation.  My honest opinion is that I found it a little slow at times and needlessly melodramatic. There were times it felt like a Shojo romance anime with transforming mecha thrown in. Maybe it’s different cultural things but what visually looks like just a heated conversation would sound like the most tragic breakup argument committed to audio. Sure to the native speaker maybe that’s normal or even emotional but I just found it over done at times. And I for the life of me still cannot stomac...

Hi there readers. Hubby here and I have just (as of 25 August 2022) finished watching COMPANY OF HEROES on Netflix. This is a 2013 direct to video movie that is seemingly based on the squad based strategy game franchise with the same title.  Short review:  What I liked more: intense action, battles from the earlier part of the movie, Vinnie Jones’s character, tightly paced plot, oh look it’s SGT Horvath from Saving Private Ryan! What I liked less: cheap looking visual effects, barely memorable characters,  loses the “identity” of the games after the first act. Recommendation: it’s ok. A decent time waster. But not something I would go out of my way to watch.  Long review: Company of Heroes is a strategy game where you control squads of soldiers and equipment, carrying out missions in a world war 2 setting. Basically it is a distillation of any battle scene from any world war 2 Hollywood movie. What does set it apart from other strategy games is its focus on the squad...

Hi readers! It’s the hubby with my first post on our blog! I have just finished season 1 of Netflix’s RESIDENT EVIL and this is my review.  Short Review What I liked more: the 2036 post apocalyptic portions, Lance Reddick’s and Turlough Convery performance , better than expected visual effects, enjoyable action, nice mystery element  What I liked less: cutting between two eras almost at random, filler scenes of rambling dialogue, some inconsistent performances, occasional obvious production errors.  Recommendation: Check it out if you have time to spare  Long review   It is 2022 and Netflix seems committed to adapting more video games for their streaming service. Castlevania, League of Legends, Cuphead, DOTA and with more on the way like Cyberpunk and Assassin’s Creed as of this writing. Part of this slew includes their live action adaptation of RESIDENT EVIL as a series; season one out now with 8 episodes. While divisive among the fanbase, and certainly h...