Quick Quips: Aquaman

Quick Quips 
Aquaman (2018)

Buzzword synopsis: Think Thor meets the Little Mermaid, though with a bit of Indiana Jones to extend the plot and Star Wars: Episode 3 to conclude the feature.

Hyper_Blurb:
Long and short this is the origin story of Arthur Curry (they never say his full name), I don’t like origin stories, but this is a well done one, since it doesn’t drag on. The story opens with Arthur’s Mom, the Queen of Atlantis, half-alive and on a rocky shore, saved by Mr. Curry the Lighthouse keeper. They fall in love and have a child, though this happiness doesn’t stay as time moves forward, though life does not, since the archaic rules and regulations of the past come to the lighthouse, with power-drysuits and rifles. Then here’s the part that is really great, the film goes right into the present, meaning that the Aquaman from the Justice League movie in his showboating glory, and in his half-sober vigilantism, saves a submarine from pirates. This is where a major plot point is made in the feature that Arthur needs to make better moral choices and that’s how this character arc begins. That’s where I’m leaving the plot, since it’s totaled with;
Mera: “Arthur you must take the crown”
Arthur: “No”
Orm: “I hate you and all the people on the surface!”
Arthur: “I will take the crown”
Oh spite and magic tridents, also a Kaiju just to throw in some fun weirdness that is greatly needed in Superhero movies that haven’t really been seen. I mean it, the second half of the movie is just a bizarre feature. The one thing that I loved the most was the whole Wire-fu scene underwater, that reminded me of classic DragonBall tournament episodes or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Long and short, this was a fun film, a flick that I hope will make more movies and inspire even more superhero films, or otherwise.

 




Pitch: Washed up hero floating around, unable to feel connected to those on land nor in water, till tradition, morals, and family move him to quest for the one thing that will save all of the World and be the King of legend.

Justice League: Gods and Monsters

A little forward thinking one should set things up in advance to get more done in less time. I sometimes write these when I can and since I'm assuming before diving into this movie that it's going to be another origin story (about the characters we know better than our family) I decided to have some wine. It's an Adult beverage that I enjoy, in retrospect I should not have. Remember the words of Ernest Hemingway "Write Drunk, Edit Sober", though if it's an analytical piece this mantra might not work out so well. Also I don't think the phrase was to be taken literally, though this is the mess we've been giving, it's color commentary, I'll try to explain myself the best I can with the words I wrote. With this little bit about me, and my writing methods, let's dive into this feature film finely focused forefront on this terrific trinity that gives homage to heroic heroes.

The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age Smackdown!

Wrestling and Cartoons, honestly these two need to team-up more often, though the year of 2015 seemed to have Hanna-Barbera connect and make many specials. One special that was a fantastic choice, but a strange way to bring back a series was with this film, was one of the first Animated Television Series, the Flintstones. The last feature or special from the Flintstones franchise was the Live-Action film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000) or the hard to find made-for-TV special The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001). This is more than a decade from the last appearance, unless one counts The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy episode (Modern Primitives, 2006) still the series hasn't see much interaction, even being as world renown and iconic. I'm glad that one of the most famous and celebrated cartoons that Hanna-Barbera created is getting a few more eyes on it's newest animation (especially since I love the way guests are designed on the Flintstones).

shorts SHORT Review: Romie-O and Julie-8

(Runaway Robots! Romie-O and Julie-8) 1979

Directed by Clive A. Smith
Adapted from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Screenplay by Kan Sobol and Elaine Pope
Produced by Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert
Production Studio Nelvana Limited
Distributor CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
Home Movie Distributor Warner Home Video

If there's one thing that you, my readers, my wonderful kith should know is my obsession with robots and cyborg beings. This might be the reason you're here too, you like automatons and animation. Then you're my type of people, but I knew that already, that's why we're friends. Though we gotta talk about another kind of relationship, or at the least a different type of mindset. Love, is an abstraction that's prayed for, created, and related into our culture and minds. A person's understanding changes from definition to definition, though through most people respect and loyalty are a basic necessity. The most famous version of love (or at the least the definition I gave) is in the work of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Star-crossed lovers, yeah lustful teens seem more appropriate, since they never have enough time to get to know one another, but this isn't a fair analysis for the play. During the 1597 there wasn't much time for courting (dating) especially our modern version of it, also one's life was about mid-20's, 30 was old age, 70 was a wizard. Anyhow, androids don't have emotions (nor a clear age limit), unless programed into them, they don't even have a gender, unless installed. This Canadian made TV special breaths interesting life into the 1597 play, at times it feels playful and charming at other times it feel like a short from Heavy Metal. Though let's look a little deeper, let's cut into the thick of this piece and see the nuts and bolts of what makes it a fine cartoon.

Top Cat: The Movie

One thing in my life that I appreciate is the past, what I love about the past is Hanna-Barbera cartoons, also both Joseph "Joe" Barbara and William "Bill" Hanna. This studio and all of their cartoons have been a major influence to my life and my taste in animation and cinema (also Fleischer Studios, Jay Ward, Rankin/Bass Productions, UPA [United Production of America] and Ruby-Spears). At this point in the past I expected all my cartoons to have animals that can talk and an article of clothing, this is when limited animation won my heart. With that I got caught up in the Mystery clones, but there were many gems in the sundry of cartoons created by the powerhouse duo. One of my favorite being Top Cat, a series about a clever cat (with vest and hat) and his gang of alley cats who live in New York City. Simply it's them outwitting the people of the City, a cute and improbable group of rogues dashing around with waggish banter and an undying need to become rich. Top Cat's popularity was huge in Hispanic countries, specifically Argentina and Mexico, also it had a personally better title Don Gato. Enough that in 2011 they made a feature film in theaters and when it was brought to the United States everything was redubbed. Let me give you my opinions on the translation.

Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness

Right off the bat, I'm gonna say it, I'm a Scooby-Doo fan. I have liked for years, now heading toward decades, this character and his friends, my favorite hokey series of this character has been A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. Then there was a shift in power, Scooby wasn't the character he was anymore, this shift is where I became a Shaggy fan, now I'm going towards Velma, it's a weird evolution, but this is the current state of things for the characters. The people responsible for their development are forgetting the spirit of the characters and grouping the Mystery Gang together as one being, it happens with long series, though I'm glad they keep reinventing what makes each member special, not only toward solving mysteries, but to each other. With this recent film for the series, let's see what made Scooby-Doo in Space better than the other cartoons that Hanna-Barbera shot into space or is Warner Brothers following in the footsteps of their predecessors when it comes to making an old idea new?

Justice League War

**** Hey (2018) Cartoon Cyborg Cinema citizens, it's Mister Forte here with an EDIT, that's right, I wanna rework the blog a little, make it more of a positive effort to cinema and books than something that's gonna discredit and harm the passionate project that people have put time and effort into making. I'll be putting small changes into these posts, just making them flow a little better, or correct grammar or spelling errors, but mainly I want you to seek out these features in your own life and enjoy them to the fullest. I'll still critique them on issues and embellish other points, though I feel more can be done then feed negativity. The main goal of this is to bring positivity to reviewing and conversation to topics that don't always get the same amount of love back (more on this topic over here). Thank you for the privilege of your time and enjoy this review. **********

This is a big jump for DC Animation and WB Animation alike, since the Justice League is the Avengers of DC Comics. And on top of that the Justice League (and Justice League Unlimited) Animation Series is a well loved program, so making a movie that updates the characters and plot in a more modern setting is going to be a challenge, then the uphill battle of convincing fans. With that in mind Justice League War is a brash title for an introduction to these new version of old friends.

Let me get this out of the way, I'm an old school fan of DC Comics, though I understand cinematic versions and updated versions (new 52) of the characters are out there and applied to modern adaptions, but their spirit should be placed into all media. What I'm saying is when my memory of the past comes into place I'll give you my nostalgia, then my understanding of the character within the film. Again most creative teams want to make their version of the characters or use their dream team or their favorite characters from their favorite creative team. This can be seen as successful with the TV series X-Men from 1992 and Teen Titans from 2003, so I can't blame them for being ambitious in trying to have lightning strike twice.

That's where this movie comes in, they want to take a good idea, update it and make it something that they can create a film series, that's not too ambitious, since they've done that with many of these characters. Just to name a few Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry, and always Batman, though they saw a trend in the fabric of what was moving in pop-culture and it was teams. With the success of Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers they needed to bring back their heavy hitters, though a little dusty they just needed a new paint job. This is my speculation, and you'll hear more about this 'between the lines' thinking in this post.