Dead Mount Death Play season 2

 I didn't get the hype after the first season, though I must say the second was better in my opinion.

 

And the reason for this was pretty simple, less comedy, more mystic horror, which was the premises of the series to begin with.

 

The second season focusses more on the battle between criminal organisations and the police force, with Polka (aka the Corpse God) and his band in there as a wild card.  Heck, one might even say that for a large part of the season, he has become a side character...  until all the arcs start to converge, and his friends get threatened as a result.

 

In order to protect them, he must use his necromantic powers to uncover all the connections and be able to save them, resulting in a large threeway confrontation that bridges bot his old and his new life.  The whole Sabaramond arc gets more intense, which also helps phasing out the often comical relief (or attempts at...) that where in the first season.

 

So yeah, this was a good season, though I won't call myself a fan of the franchise at all, it was let's say in enjoyable in between watch.  But as I didn't get hooked like crazy, took way to long to get through the 12 episodes of the season, so for my next series I'll better pick something that grabs me and wants me to binge through it all to get back on viewing schedule for this year.

 

Let's go and choose something from my to large to watch list... 

Vinland Saga season 2

 Time for the second season of the fantastic Viking anime Vinland Saga, following the life of Thorfinn.

 

A young boy taken from his village, he became a ruthless assassin in the first season, but fell out with the king near the end...

 

Now, the studio that produced this changed to MAPPA, but they brought forth a true gem in animation, art and atmosphere, so that is already one thing you will enjoy.  And for me, it was better on the eyes to be honest then the final seasons of Attack on Titan.

 

It's also one of those animes that runs longer then most, having an episode count of 24 instead of the usual 12 of these days.

 

The season takes place years after the first one, and Thorfinn has changed, becoming a pacifist after reflecting on all the death and suffering he caused.  He has become a farmhand slave for Kjetil, and he meets a slave brought in from England, Einar.  They form a strong bond and look to carve a peacefull life out for themselves.  

 

But slowly, Thorfinn's seemingly broken spirit starts to mend through their friendship, even though he still refuses to take up arms, He stands up to the bullies at the farm, but doesn't retaliate.  In the meantime in England, king Canute is on the march as he tries to conquer the throne of England and unite all vikings and people under his banners.  

 

The story jumps forward several years at times, with Thorfinn and Einar continue to work to their goals, while suffering setbacks along the way.  King Canute wishes to requisition farmlands to support his kingdom, but Kjetil stands up to him, marking him as an enemy and the king sails out to claim the land with his forces.  This results in the old friends meeting up again, and Thorfinn manages to convince Canute to stop the bloodshed.  Kjetil's son, as he is now incapacitated, however decides to surrender and merge into the kingdom, as Thorfinn comes to an agreement with Canute that he will vanish.

 

Thorfinn and Einar travel back to Thorfinn's birth village, where he was taken from all those years, and is eventually accepted back into his family.  Here he explains his plans to travel to Vinland and create a peaceful land, and sets out to put his dream in motion...

 

Another fantastic season, with a totally different tone of the first.  While season one was about vikings and their violent ways, season 2 focusses on the themes of slavery and pacifism, and how lives can be influenced by making peaceful choices. Certainly one of the best anime produced in the past decades, it is well worth checking it out!

 

You won't regret it in the slightest! 

Dead Mount Death Play

 Time to return to some action fantasy anime to watch, and that is the first season of Dead Mount Death Play.

 

A 12 episode series that aired in 2023, involving a necromancer god, killed in ancient times and now resurrected as a young boy in modern day Tokyo.  

 

Maybe they should have added the comedy tag as well, as it tries to make funny scenes and jokes, but fails imho, and detracts seriously from the horror intentions...

 

Guess that's a sort of reverse isekai then?  Anyways, Polka Shinoyama is trying to adapt to this new physical body,  and is tracked down by a girl who had just murdered this new body.  Whome he then kills and returns as a zombie in his service.

 

Now, what follows is a series that has some high intensity action, as Polka is part of a criminal family and people are out to get him.  On the other hand, there are two excentric police officers who are trying to resolve crimes caused by people who appear to have special powers, and run amok in the city.  This gives ground for an enjoyable series... had it been only that.  As I said at the beginning, the (attempts at) humour do a lot of discredit for the series in my personal opinion, resulting in my intrest slipping down rather fast on this one.

 

Never the less, there are some intresting arcs in the story, like is the holy crusader who defeated the Corpse God also back in this world?  Why are they exactly so focussed on taking down Polka, and what are those police officers really up to.  Those are questions that will be probably answered in the second season, and I'll watch that as well for certain this year, but it won't be with great enthousiasm I must say, as I found it all rather bland so far.

 

But, who knows, I might be proven wrong in the second cour... 

Yoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers

 One of the most iconic shonen anime's is back after 35 years, with a new series of Samurai Troopers!

 

And it isn't a reboot, it's an actual continuation!!!

 

Though also in the series, 35 years have passed by, but there are references and returning characters from the original (as well as Ryo's original voice actor taking up the role again).  The demon infestation was never fully resolved, the original Samurai Troopers had it contained though, and since then the government has been running a program to form next generations.

 

Which initially turned out to be a fraud, when faced with a human boy that was possessed and now returned from the demon realm, Gai, and who becomes the new Samurai of the Fire Element.  Ryuusei is one of the previous generation and leader and mentor, but sacrifices himself during battle, passing the baton to his friend and former collegue Shion.  Yamato, Kaito and Musashi are the new troopers, drawn into the battle by fate... or weren't they. 

 

The series follows the growth of this team of Samurai Troopers, who, if you don't count the imposter posterboys from the beginning, are the third generation.  The first where of course the original heroes, while the second team, which contained Ryusei and Shion, fell when they entered the demon realm to free the originals.  But they learn that Ryo, the original fire samurai, is being held as the host body of the Emperor and go out to set him free.

 

This succeeds, but as the Emperor still has power, the original team is freed and this allows Ryo to summon the original Armour of the Emperor and nearly defeating him, before the newer generation manages to finish him off, though at the ultimate sacrifice of Gai.  Or wasn't it...

 

A great fun series, and like Saint Seiya Omega did years ago, pays a great tribute to the original Troopers, while at the same time passing the torch to the newer generation.  I can't wait for the next season to air for sure!

The Old Guard 2

 Okay, so I found the original film of a bunch of immortal mercenary warriors actually enjoyable, so when Netflix released the sequel, me and Noshi sat down to have a look.

 

After all, brainless entertainment was welcome at the end of the holiday season and to many busy evenings...

 

And it begins with the introduction of Quyhn, another immortal and seemingly love intrest of Andromache.  Who, like every lover after 500 years, kind off forgot about her and just moved on instead of combing the seabed.  And Booker is also brought back, keeping up our Belgian pride.  Even more immortals join the fray, with Tuah, a sage and who saved Andromache when Quyhn was tossed into the sea.  Inside an Iron Maiden just to keep her down.

 

But of course, the lover has an issue with Andy now, and decided to work together with Discord.  A mortal now, it turns out that Nile can remove people's immortality when wounding them, and that is what happened to Andy.  Luckily, another seemingly can pass his immortality willingly to another immortal, and Booker does this.  Which gives me a loop issue: if when Nile wounds someone, which Booker tried out, and so removes their immortality, then how can he pass it to Andromache a short while later while his wounds don't heal????

 

When they go to stop Discord in a nuclear plant, Booker, now a mortal, sacrifices himself for Andy, who finds an injured Quyhn after a fight with Nile.  Nile and others have been captured by Discord, who wants to reinstate her immortality through Nile's powers, while Andy and her lover reconsile and set out to free them...

 

... and there it ends.  No third movie so far has been confirmed (luckily Matthias is busy getting his driver's license back, bit of a celebrity scandal here in Belgium as he drove without a permit, and Booker is dead now), so no idea if we ever going to learn if they succeed.

 

Was it fun brainless entertainment?  Definitly!  Was it as fun as the first one?  Definitly not! 

Anaconda

 When I saw the trailer of this "reboot parody" of Anaconda, with Jack Black fleeing from a snake with a living boar strapped to it's back, I just wanted to watch this movie!

 

So when it hit Netflix earlier this month, me an Noshi sat down for hopefully some laughs.

 

Now, the original was an okay action horror starring J-Lo and Ice Cube, and this is like the 7th movie in the franchise (meaning I didn't saw the five between the original and this one...), and serves as a reboot that is not a reboot.

 

A bunch of friends are not happy by the way their life has gone, and decide to chase their childhood dream of making a feature film, a reboot of Anaconda.  One of them claims (Paul Rudd) that he aquired the rights to the franchise, so they set out to the amazon rainforest to make a new entry in the franchise.  Which soon starts to go down as their snake is killed during filming, and while searching for a new one things go bad, as the beast is huge!  Add to that a beautiful illegal gold smuggler, government agents chasing her and by extension them, and you have the recipy for some fun hours of laughs and action.

 

Except the movie doesn't deliver at all.  The scene from the trailer is about the only one in the whole movie that I could laugh with, for the rest not even a giggle.  Surely, the cameo's of Ice Cube and in a lesser extent J-Lo are fun additions, but basically the only funny thing for the rest was the end title screen and what happened to the characters, so that is saying something.

 

It does have some nice action sequences, zero horror scenes and near nothing is funny, so it is right to say that this movie failed to deliver on a lot of it's promises, and to be honest, even Jack Black fails big time in this thing.

 

Just avoid it, and let the very first original movie be the only one you might vaguely remember from this franchise... 

War Machine

 A recent science fiction movie that appeared on Netflix, this is actually quite an enjoyable one!

 

And it seems to be setting up for a sequel, which I don't mind at all.

 

Released back in march, the movie follows an unnamed staff sergeant who loses his brother during a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan.  As a promise they made when younger, he joins the RASP to become an Army Ranger, enlisting in the harsh training.

 

He and the recruits that made it through basic training start on the final mission, called a "death march" in which they must locate a downed aircraft.  But during the exercise, they stumble upon a strange crashed vessel, which activates to become a giant robot that hunts them down.  Unarmed, they must get through the jungle to safety, but the recruits, who are unarmed, are easy pickings and one by one they are killed by the machine.  In the end, only he and another recuit (who has been like injured and mishandled as such during the whole movie, I guess that bloke wanted that he was killed in the first contact I guess) make it back, only to learn an alien invasion is on the way.

 

This is just what 90s action movies used to be: pure, heavy metal action without to much morality lessons, and not to much relations and drama.  Just guns blazing of a group of soldiers trying to survive something they don't understand, nor can defeat without going far out of the box.

 

The special effects are well done, and yeah, the movie has some serious gore as the recruits are blasted apart in the most spectacular ways possible.  But at times, that is just fine to watch, no frills, just thrills.

 

A good evening watch for certain! 

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

 Time to scratch another anime of the backlog, and this time it's Dragonball Super: Superheroes, the movie that came out in 2022.

It's a sequel to the Broly movie, and the second in the Super branding, which received high praise from the critics for it's nostalgia factor.

The CEO of Red Pharmaceuticals, commander Magenta, wants to reinstate the Red Ribbon Army, formerly led bu his father.  He and his assistant seek the aid of Dr Hedo, the grandson of Dr Gero, who accepts the offer under the idea that Bulma's Capsule Corporation is out on world domination.  Piccolo, who trains Gohan's daughter Pan, annoyed of the saiyan wasting his potential is attacked by the android Gamma 2.  He manages to evade him, following him to the Red Ribbon Army base and infiltrating it.

He learns Hedo created Gamma 1 and 2, and that they are creating Cell Max, based on the original Cell's schematics.  Going back to Bulma, they are unable to reach Vegeta and Goku, who are training off world with Broly.  Piccolo asks Shenron to unlock his full potential, as Pan is kidnapped to lure Gohan to the base.

Together with Piccolo, he faces Gamma 1 and Gamma 2, but the latter gets convinced by Piccolo that Capsule Corporation isn't evil and that he and his creator are being manipulated.  Magenta activates Cell Max however, and the giant rampaging monster breaks free.  Bulma arrives with Goten, Trunks, Android 18 and Krillin, and all together they manage to bring down the big lumbering brute, with the aid of Gamma 2 sacrificing himself.

So, it was okay, quite fun but also more of the same.  The biggest difference is maybe that there was no Goku in this movie (only briefly), showing off the others some more in the spotlight.  So if you like the franchise, you're going to love this.  if you're not a fan, it's Dragonball: lots of hyperspeed fighting and yelling...

Kaijuu number 8

 Probably one of the most anticipated series for the spring season, I also jumped on the hype train and sat down to give this sci-fi series a watch.

Yes, because big monsters galore!

The Defence Corps is a special unit tasked with defending Japan from large roaming monsters, the Kaijuu.  Kafka Hibino was once dreaming of a military job, but found himself instead a Sweeper, a unit to clean up the mess after the battles.  When 18 year old Reno joins his unit, his dreams are rekindled though.  When Kafka encounters a parasite that forces himself into him, he gains the powers to become a human-kaijuu hybrid and pursue his dream after all.

But the captain tasked with taking him down as he sets a kaiju alarm, is his childhood friend Mina, accompanied by her white tiger. Kafka has to get to grips with his new form and power, and the fact he pees from his nipples...  When they run into a young girl attacked by a huge kaiju, Kafka interferes and resulting in the stories of a "good kaiju" being rumoured, so he tries again for the Defence Force, passing the first round of exams together with his young protege Ichikawa.  On the parking lot he is met by Kikoru, who wears a suit that powers her up immensely.  As they start the training exam, they face the prodigee's of many schools specialised in raising kaiju hunters.  But using his knowledge as a sweeper on the weak points of kaiju, they manage to stay in the exam.

However, an intelligent kaiju that can revive those taken down has snuck into the exam cemter, gravely wounding Kikoru.  As the fields are being evacuated, Kafka saves her, even though this forces him to reveal his secret to her.  But the special kaiju apparently is also someone able to shift to human form, working in Kafka's sweeper unit.

 

 

Kafka is recruited, even though his exams where amongst the weakest.  But lt Hoshina sees something in him, and not only his comical value.  While he suspects something is off with Kafka, he loved his ability to sacrifice his own kill count in order to guide others on how to score better, something not many people can do.  And so his training starts, as he pushes himself everyday more and more to raise his combat power, as he gets out on his first mission.  While he feels initially being a slag to the team, his knowledge of a sweeper once again helps out by finding the core of the beasts, their vunerable spot, allowing the team to effectively fight them.

 

But they run into another sweeper who also has transformative powers, and was behind the assault on the training grounds.   He barely kills Ichikawa, as Kafka arrives and smashes the opponent to pieces, but it regenerates and goes in his battleform to face Kafka.  But just as he is about to finish the other kaiju humanoid off, the Defence Force troops arrive, allowing the other to escape.  During his escape though, he runs into Hoshino, who attacks him as he believes he is the kaiju causing the havoc.  

Pressed back, he needs to hold down in order not to injure the vice-captain, opting to escape instead of defending himself.  They celebrate their succesfull mission back at the HQ, as Kafka witnesses the captain's training, seeing him recreating the battle with him.  But as they wrap up, huge flying kaiju are approaching the city led by another humanoid kaiju.  The vice-captain looks in deeper on the case of number 8, as Kafka witnesses the arrival of the winged beasts.  They attack the base of the Defence Force, as everyone needs to be mobilized for the fight.

Their leader challenges Hoshino as he sees him as the prey, being the strongest human at the base.  Kikoru has received a custom weapon, as she is ranked the third most powerful in the unit after the commanders, and goes about annihilating the wyvern type kaiju together with the other recruits.  Hoshino goes to it's full power to fight the humanoid beast, initially getting the upperhand before it regenerates and transforms in a huge beast of even greater power.

 

But Hoshino is being pushed back, his suit reaching it's maximum limit resulting in the beast overpowering him.  As he gets injured, we learn on how everyone wanted him to quit, yet pushed onwards at the behest of his captain, Mina.   But never the less he is no match, and Kafka rushes to his aid.  But the captain arrives just before he transforms, keeping his secret, as they tackle the monster as a team to bring it down.  But the beasts starts merging, about to create a huge bomb.  Kafka has to reveal hsi true identity to stop it from exploding above the base, launching it into the high skies to reduce the blast.   

Kafka is detained and the higher ups want him for tests, but Mina and the troops try to make sure he gets absolved by filing special reports and accounts of his actions.  Interrogated and tortured by Kikoru's father, the director-general, he must prove he is human.  The director uses technology extracted from kaiju number 2 in order to get Kafka mad at full power, the beast inside him driving him into a frenzy.  He struggles inside the beast to regain control over it, as it keeps enraging and powering up against the director-general's attacks.  Thanks to his thoughts of Mina, he overcomes the beast and regains his humanity, in control of his powers. 

Mina is heard after the examination by the high brass, recounting her experiences with him in the unit and the things he did to help them.  The director general decides that he will be assigned to the unit instead of disposing him, to use his power for the benefit of the nation.

So this was hyped for good reason, as it was both action packed as well as fun as hell!  I for one look forward to the second season to air!

 

 

 

 

Shin Ikkitousen

 Time for some harem fighting girls anime in this 3 part OVA Shin Ikkitousen.

And this time, it is the reincarnated spirit of Himiko, the former queen of Yamatai, that comes to Kanto.  And the ecchi side is a bonus hehehe.

 

When Nanyou Academy is savagely attacked by Himiko's ally Yamada, out to retrieve a sacred sword stored there, Hakufu's sister Chuubou faces them.  She awakens the dragon in her, but falls in a deep unconsciousness state as a result.  Hakufu arrives just in time to stop the assault, back from her trip abroad.

 

Chuubou's Chi has been used up from the dragon manifesting, Hakufu is set out go to a sacred training ground linked to the underworld in order to get her power back.  Meeting an elderly lady, and a female monk called Ganryu she starts training by fighting back the undead, together with another girl called Tamonmaru.  But she sees visions of her friends Mou and Kan'u in the underworld, and goes to save them. 

Mou faces the spirit of Ryofu, who engages her.  Tamonmaru finds an opening under the altar of the abandoned temple, running into Mou who has overcome the spectre.  But as the flood of undead starts streaming the land, the others have to make a run for ut while Hakufu needs to search on to help her sister.  Tamonmaru stays behind to slow down the tide approaching, being grieveously impaled as she fights the mass.  Ganryu also stops the ascend to the exit, passing her sword to Mou before going back to aid her comrade.  But they are overwhelmed, and with the old master buying Mou the time she needs, she escapes with the sword.

And then the story basically ends, with a lot of open ends and arcs to be resolved... hopefully that will actually happen, instead of becoming another Queen's Blade anime.

 

 

Dragon Ball Super: Broly

 With the sad passing of professor Toriyama this week, the creator of Dragon Ball, it seemed only fitting to watch one of the movies I still have to of the franchise.

So I sat down and put on Dragon Ball Super Broly, the movie from 2018 that was a big cinema hit.

 

The movie starts 41 years in the past, with King Cold and his son Frieza approaching the planet Vegeta.  King Vegeta meets them at the courtyard, but Cold ignores him, introducing his son to the Saiyans.  He has come to announce that his son will take his throne, and they bring them Scouter devices, demonstrating the use of them by taking out four snipers in the castle.

 

Later in the nursery, King Vegeta visits his son and his potential, and sees another child there, Broly, son of Paragus.  He notices the immense potential of Broly, and decides to send him to a far off world to train, actually wanting to get him out of the way so his son might be the strongest saiyan alive.  He has send him away already, and Paragus steals a vessel to go look for his son, retrieving him on the barren planet Vampa where he starts training him.  

 

A few years later, Bardock is returning from battle to planet Vegeta, sensing something wrong as Frieza's fleet is in orbit.  He and his wife Gine send of their son, Kakarot, in a pod to a planet called Earth, where he might live unnoticed to Frieza.  His hunch was right, as soon after the planet is obliterated by Frieza.  Vegeta, Raditz and Nappa have survived though, as they where still on a mission far away from the planet.

 

 

In present day, Goku and Vegeta are training on an uninhabited planet, both for their own motivations after the Tournament of Power.  Goku because he met some awesomely strong people there, Vegeta because Frieza is back.  They receive a call from Trunks, telling them the Dragon Balls have been stolen from the laboratory, and using the Dragon Radar set out for the last Dragin Ball before the thieves arrive.  

 

Two operatives of the Frieza Force, Cheelai and Lemo, are searching spqace for strong people to recruit, when they come to the planet Vampa.  Here they find Paragus, but also his incredibly powerfull son, whose level is off the readings of the scouter device.  They bring them back before Frieza, where Paragus explains he had to remove Broly's tail, and he made a collar to control him if he goes out of control.  Paragus is driven by vengeance on Prince Vegeta, as a descendant from his father that banished him, and they join the plan of Frieza.

 

 

Arriving at the Artic just after Goku and Vegeta have, and they immediatly sense the power emanating from Broly.  He straight charges Vegeta, and while never having fought a saiyan opponent, quickly adapts to the fighting style.  Vegeta is amazed by the raw power of Broly, and even in Super Saiyan form he is hard pressed by Broly, frocing him to channel his Ki and transform into his Super Saiyan God form.  He seems to beat Broly at last, but this causes Broly to awaken his Wrathful form, turning him into a powered up berserker, as he now contains the power of the Great Ape in human form.

 

Goku steps in, fighting rather defensively to try and talk sense to him.  But Broly keeps raging, and keeps blocking ans topping Goku's hits.  Telepathically connecting to Piccolo, they realize he is up against someone formidable, and transforms into his Super Saiyan Blue form.  Yet Broly still manages to hold his own, but Goku starts gaining the upper hand.  This causes Frieza to kill Paragus, and in fake distress he calls out to Broly.  Seeing his father dead, he transforms for the first time into a Super Saiyan and batters Goku.  Knowing he can't face him alone anymore, and Vegeta joins in the fight.  They teleport to Piccolo and they try the Fusion technique, and while Frieza changes into his Golden form as Goku and Vegeta fuse into Gogeta.

 

 

Engaging Broly again, they now battle through the cracks of reality due to the power coming from both of them, and Broly changes into... the Legendary Super Saiyan, as he was the one prophetised all those years ago.  But Gogeta overcomes him, and just as he sees to finish him, Broly is whisked away back to Vampa by Cheelai and Lemo using the Dragon Balls and saving him.  Gogeta stops Frieza from killing them, and they acknowledge they will meet and fight each other in the future.

 

Back on Vampa, Goku visits the three and grants them a house and supplies made by Bulma, asking in return only that he can come over and train with Broly in the future...

 

So okay, this was allright I guess.  It is of course Dragon Ball, so it is a long fight with power up after power up, but to say this was more then a visual spectacle is perhaps a bit to much.  But, it was a fun 1hr40 ride for that matter.

 

Rest in peace, sensei Toriyama.

 

 

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

 No no no no no, they should've ended the series with the excellent The Last Crusade, because if The Cystal Skull was bad, this one is downright bland and boring.

And considering a cast with Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas and Mads Mikkelsen, I would say that is quite an achievement on it's own.

It starts in 1944, when nazi's (really, I lost count how many times that word has been uttered by Indy in this movie) capture Indiana Jones and Oxford archeologist Basil Shaw in the hunt for the Spear of Longinus.  The spear is a fake, but the german astrophysicist Jurgen Voller claims to have found Archimedes Dial, which is rumoured to allow for time travel.  It is lost in a river though during the escape, but Indy has managed to claim a piece of the dial never the less.

Twenty five years later, as he retires from his college job, he is visited by the late Shaw's granddaughter Helena.  He tells her her grandfather became obsessed with the dial, but as they go and retrieve Indy's half, associates of Voller attack them.  Helena runs of with the piece, and turns out to be an antiques smuggler trying to sell it off at a black market auction in Morocco.  Indy intervenes at the auction, but Voller and his men also appear and take the artifact with them.  

They chase them to Greece and guided by Shaw's research go dive for the second piece of the dial, but as Voller arrives they flee to Sicily where Archimedes resided during his lifetime.  With the instructions found in the shipwreck, they locate his tomb and as such the second part of the dial.  Voller though takes the second part and activates the dial, causing a time fissure to open.  Following them in, they end up at the siege of Syracuse.  They learn Archimedes has created the dial to have visitor's from the future come to that moment and aid in the siege, and as the fissure starts to collapse they return to their own time, where Indy reunites with Marion.

So yeah, this was a bad movie, period.  The magic of Indiana Jones really has ran it's course, so please stop diluting it with making more of this type of things...

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

 So a new movie came out last year in the Hunger Games series, and to be honest I hoped it to be better then the finale's of that said franchise.

A prequel of the series, it follows a young President Snow, and one can see how he became the man he is in the latter movies: heartache.

Years after when his father died in the first Rebellion between the Capitol and the thirteen districts, Coriolanus Snow is one of the 24 mentors for the 10th anuual Hunger Games, hoping to win the Plinth scholarship that way and restore the Snow name.  Gamesmaster Highbottom states the mentors should look to entertain the viewers though, as ratings of the past years have been dropping.  He is assigned the female tribute of the 12th District, Lucy Gray Baird.

 

She has captured the viewers attention by sneaking a snake down the mayor's dress during the Reaping, as well as singing a protest song, and Snow befriends her by winning her thrust as a sponsor, awaiting her at the train and bringing her food when she is publically caged in the zoo with the other tribunals.  Snow proposes all sorts of new ideas to head gamemaker Gaul, who goes along with his ideas to get the viewing rates up.  

When inspecting the arena for the Hunger Games, a bomb goes off, killing some of the tribunals as well as causing some to escape.  Snow is injured, but Lucy returns to help him instead of running off with the others.  As the games begin, Lucy and her fellow District 12 tribute escape in a tunnel that has been opened by the bombing, hiding there from the slaughter.   When the current president's son dies in the arena as he wanted to mourn the tributes, Gaul unleashes genetically modified snakes into it.  But as Snow sneaked a handkerchief in the tank with her scent, she is the only one not attacked and is declared the winner... now remember in the original trilogy, Haymitch was the only previous tribute from District 12 to ever win the games?  Yeah, I remarked that as well, as now we have another D12 winner, but more on that later.

Snow is confronted by Highbottom with poison he gave to her for the battle, as well as the handkerchief, and as punishment he must serve time in the Peacekeeper force.  Bribing an officer, he is assigned to District 12 however.  He reunites with Lucy and they become romantically involved, even going as far as foiling a planned uprising.  When his excellent performance earns him the promotion to District 2 for officer training, he goes to see her once again.  But as he says something wrong, she loses her trust in him and tries to get away.  He shoots at her, but can`t find her as she seems to have disappeared after she laid a trap for him causing a snake to bite him.  Her fate is left unknown, but in the books it is hinted that she has been erased from the records, and in the original trilogy Katniss hints that there has been another victor bar Haymitch from District 12 in the past.

Snow is pardoned by doctor Gaul, and instead of a life in the military she will train him to become a gamemaster himself, while he is adopted by his late friend Sejanus, whom he actually killed unknown to others, as he visits Highbottom.  The gamemaster tells him the games where originally designed as a joke in a drunken night, but that Snow's father made it a reality, and the blood is on their hands, before succumbing to a poison Snake sneaked to him.

Okay, this was a decent movie, yet I still miss the, for lack of a better term, intensity of the very first movie in the series to be honest.  But never the less, it wasn`t a waste of time to watch, even though the end of the actual Hunger Games felt just to rushed.

Voleuses

 Scrolling through Netflix for a movie in the evening, I selected this french action-comedy movie.

Starring the always beautiful Adele Exarchopoulos, it is the story of two thieves that want to get out.

More then just partners in literal crime, Carole and Alex are specialised in the thievery of art and valuables.  But Carole, who found out she is pregnant, wants to quit the job and talks to their handler about this.  They need to flee, before being forced back into the fold, and she accepts one final, simple job before retiring.

Having to travel to Corsica to steal a painting, they recruit Sam, a young, brash girl that will become their getaway driver.  This instignates at first a rivalry with Alex, but slowly they get to accept each other.  When the heist takes place, a multitude of things go wrong as their planner, Abner, didn't know a videoclip was going to be shot at the monastery where it is on display.  Never the less, they manage to steal the painting, and prepare to deliver it to the  handler.

But when Carole arrives, she realizes she will never be free of her grasp, and has Alex shoot her.  As the police arrives in large numbers, a shoot-out ensues, but Carole gets trapped and as she tells Alex that she does this for her to be free together with Sam, Carole is gunned down by the police.

Four years later, Sam has tracked down Alex who now lives a secluded life.  She takes her on a trip, meeting a young 4 year old girl named Raoelle, the name she and Carole would be giving to their baby.  Carole appears, and it is unveiled it was all an elaborate setup orchestrated by her to both give Alex her freedom, take out their handler, and be able to raise the child in peace.

While not the deepest of stories, this was a great fun movie with nice action scenes and some fantastic humour.  Definitly one of the better films I saw the past months!

Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail

 After the bloody and brutal adventures of the (gorgeous) Revy, the only thing remaining to watch in the franchise is the spin-off story Roberta's Blood Trail.

And in this 5 episode long mini-series, we follow the story of the housemaid slash assassin of the Venezuelan crime family, the Lovelace's.

 

When her master is taken out by the US military, she vows to go out on a vengeance. In Roanapur, the Lagoon company is minding it's business assets.  The young new master of the Lovelace family hires them in order to stop Roberta's rampage though, and bring her back into the family.

As the Lagoon Company sets out to try and find Roberta and what her next target is, Rock still learns more about himself and his friends in this bloody business they are part off.  But the various mafia factions in the area also take an intrest in trying to take Roberta down to ensure the relations with the drugcartel.  

 

As Roberta is chased through the city, she manages to escape time and again (the taking out of soldiers one by one with a cannon-like gun was brutal), but is chased by Revy. They also encounter some other assassin's from the earlier series (chainsaw wielding girl!) on their chase, as Roberta, high on anti-depressants, keeps managing to envade them.  But when the young master comes across her as she beats up an enemy, she loses it completely.  When the marines think they "save" the Young Master from her, she comes after them.

Rock is searching for a backer in the meantime, as he wants to bring down the Hong Kong mafia of Chang that is trying to take control of the situation to their own benefit.  The Russians from Balalayka step in, making sure Revy and her allies are not able to take part in the upcoming battle.  As the americans go to the extraction point, Roberta gives chase even surviving an ambush from the Russians. 

Scheming all the actors onto the stage, Rock brings his plan into motion, as the extraction ship for Garcia and the americans is none other then the Lagoon's ship.  And the scene is set at nighttime in the jungles of the Mekong river.  Roberta hunts the soldiers down, before the Young Master manages to contact her and tell her where to rendez-vous.  A gravely wounded Roberta comes, as Rock reveals to Revy it is all a plan by Chang to keep the drugtraffic between the Golden Triangle and Roanupur secret.  The Young Master takes away Roberta's ultimate chance for revenge, before he kisses her as he is shot by Roberta in a trial of faith.  A setup to bring her out of her mindset of violence, and take on their life together again.  

Now this was one brutal series, and I enjoyed it a lot to be honest, perhaps the most intense set of episodes of the whole franchise and that is saying something!  And of course the topless shower scene of Revy in episode 2 makes this the summon of series ;-)

Lupin season 3

 Omar Sy is back with the third season of Lupin, the story of a gentleman thief Assane Diop, who plans his heists inspired by the books of the french book character Arsene Lupin.

And a year after the show-down with Pellegrini, he lives incognito in Marseille, putting aside for now his ways.

But his ex-wife Claire and his son Raoul are constantly harrassed by media, as he still is the most wanted man in France, as well as having unintentionally become a cult figure.  He contacts Claire, telling her to escape together, but she rebukes him, that the only way he could redeem himself is by turning himself in.

Not planning on doing that, he decides to steal the Black Pearl, stage his own death and use the money to flee the country with his family instead.  He plans the robbery in detail, including staging an accident where he falls of a 16 meters high roof killing him apparently, only to escape from his grave through a tunnel.  But his plan is on hold when he receives a phone call from his long lost mother Mariama, whom he had last heard as she was in prison and he was a young boy.  She asks for his help as she has been kidnapped and her captors want the pearl as ransom.

Guedira and Raoul, both in their own ways, investigate Assane's death, refusing to believe it is real.  Mariama's kidnappers order Assane to steal a painting for them.  Using a tracker, he follows his contact to whom he delivered the painting, finding out that the leader of the kidnappers is a ghost from his past that came back to haunt him.  Keller, the leader, used to be a social worker boxing trainer in his youth, where he and Bruno trained together.  But soon they where used for a robbery during the finals of the 1998 world cup which France won.   However, during the escape, they are forced to shoot a police officer and Keller is taken to prison for this as the two boys made their escape.  

Assane steals a valuable bracelet at a gala for his captors, working together with Benjamin.  However, he frames his best friend to shift the attention away from him, but Guedira doesn't buy it.  He is contacted by Assane, proving the theory he is still alive, and even decides to work with him to sell the painting, in order to frame the kidnappers of his mother.  Claire figures out Assane is still alive, and was near her disguised as Raoul's basketball coach, due to a ketchup bottle put back in her fridge.

With Keller's girlfriend arrested in the sale of the painting, he orders the assassination of Claire and Raoul, while Assane's mother manages to escape.  Claire and Raoul manage to escape a break-in by Keller, and rejoin Assane and his mother in the "Hollow Needle", Assane's studio where he makes his disguises.  They make a plan together to get Benjamin out of jail by confronting a corrupt minister, before setting up Keller for the pearl and having him arrested.  Assane makes good on his promise to Guedira, allowing him to be arrested without having told his family who are waiting at the station for him.  When Benjamin instead turns up with the fourth train ticket, they realise he turned himself in, just as Claire told him to do at the beginning...

But in his sell, he receives an enveloppe containing a picture of him as a youth holding an Arsene Lupin book, send by none other then his fellow prisoner Pellegrini...

Now it is only a wait and see if there will be a fourth season, or that this would be a fitting ending: his family and friend safe, and he doing the time for his commited crimes.  Either one would be fine with me to be honest.

Attack on Titan The Final Chapters part 2

 After 10 years and a gazillion last season parts, it is finally here, the finale of Attack on Titan.

With the length of a full feature movie to boot!

So picking up where we left off, our heroes trying to stop Eren from destroying mankind in The Rumbling, as they landed on his ribcage in order to try and reach him.  Just as Armin is about to transform, unleashing the blast of the Colossal Titan, he is captured in the mouth of a strange, okapi like Titan.  The others in the meantime are beset by empty shells of the various Nine Titans throughout all the ages.

Just as they are about to be overcome, Annie and Gani appear on Falco, who has become a flying version of the Jaw Titan.  meanwhile, Armin wanders the Paths, discovering Zeke in there.  As they have a long conversation about the meaning of life and Armin manages to convince Zeke to see his point of view.  They call on the defeated Titan bearers from throughout the series, and they join in their alliance to stop the Founding Titan on his path of mass destruction.  Zeke sacrifices himself to Levi, stopping the movement of the Rumbling as a result.

Transforming into the Colossal Titan, Armin manages to destroy Eren's Founding Titan, setting free the centipede creature that is the source of all Titan powers from his nape.  The beast however turns all Eldians present into mindless Titans to help defend itself as the others try their best to stop it from reaching and reconnecting with Eren.  Mikasa manages to get inside his titan's mouth, and decapitates Eren, ending his reign of terror and setting Ymir free from the Paths to allow her to pass on.  She, and with her the powers of the titans, disappear from the world, turning all Eldeans into normal humans.

After Eren's death, Armin and the others recall a conversation with Eren prior to his death, where he revealed his true intentions of turning his friends and the Eldeans into heroes, before blocking the memory away until he had died.  Mikasa leaves with Eren's head to lay him to rest at the tree they always lingered as children, before passing on with her life.  With 80% of humanity killed, the Jaegerists form a military force to protect Paradis for future retaliation, as we see how the future unfolds.  Our heroes have moved on, and when dying of old age, Mikasa is buried alongside Eren, an elderly Armin watching over their grave as he was always thelast to reach the tree...

Many generations later, a futuristic Paradis is bombed from the face of the world, and a lone boy and his dog come upon it's ruins, finding the tree the friends are buried at... and has become to resemble the tree that contained the source of the Titan's powers.

So, after a decade it has ended, and while this finale was pretty awesome, it isn't that perfect 10 for me that many sites give it.  It was enjoyable, emotional (that baby scene!) and action packed, yet I never really gotten on the AoT hype train I guess.  The opening track of, and season 2 itself (the one with Ymir and Historia at the center), was for me personally the height of the series to be honest.

But yes, it remains a cultural phenomena, and face it, this was a MECHA series with a twist!