13 Episodes

GENRE: Japanese Action Anime

SUMMARY: Super soldier Canaan protects her beloved Marie from the onslaught of a mysterious dark haired woman and her minions. All the while the ties between Canaan, government secrets, a virus, the mysterious woman, and Marie are slowly revealed. Set in modern times.

REVIEW: The art was awesome in this. It was incredibly similar to Baccano! but I checked and it's not the same studio. However, many of the characters and scenes sometimes remind me of those characters (though not nearly as creative or well pulled off). The story was meh, but not bad. The characters were good but forgettable. The action and art are what make this short series worth a look though. I'd say its a well done average anime with incredible art.

ART: 10/10
PLOT & STORYTELLING: 6/10
CHARACTERS: 7/10
OVERALL: 8/10

22 Episodes

GENRE: Japanese Supernatural Suspense Anime

SUMMARY: Three young high school students survive three separate traumatic events in their youths. As they explore their pasts to put together what may have happened they realize that they have strange spiritual powers to explore the hidden spiritual realm. They use this power to investigate the recent strange happenings of their small Japanese village.

REVIEW: The art was good and the characters alright but the real star of this show was the storytelling. The closest show I can easily compare it to is Mushi-Shi. Much like Mushi-Shi, Ghost Hound explores a Shinto-based spiritual realm of forest gods, but has a much more creepy feel to it as ghosts are involved as well. Furthermore, the plot carries from episode to episode instead of being more episodic. I wouldn't call it a scary or horror-driven show, but it is eerily haunting and creepy. The director does a superb job of portraying the thematic world of Ghost Hound and I for one thoroughly enjoyed it. The ending was satisfactory but not as good as the rest of the show. 

ART: 8/10
PLOT & STORYTELLING: 9/10
CHARACTERS: 6/10
OVERALL: 8/10

26 Episodes

GENRE: American Action Cartoon

SUMMARY: Scarlet leads a group of Army soldiers including Duke on an investigation of Cobra Industries on the belief that they are actually tied to illicit criminal activities. The group of regular "Joes" is framed by Cobra and now must go on the run while trying to gather the evidence on Cobra to clear their names.

REVIEW: G.I. Joe Renegades is a revamping of the old show. I hesitated to start it, but after a week of watching and enjoying the original I thought I'd give it a shot. I was very pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a remake that raped the original with no respect for the current fan base like the G.I. Joe movie did. Instead it was an improvement on the original with plenty of inside references to reward the old school fan base for their loyalty. It does a great job of giving explanations behind why the world of G.I. Joe is so eccentric (e.g., why does Destro wear his mask?). It really does a good job of tying it all together. 

ART: 7/10
PLOT & STORYTELLING: 7/10
CHARACTERS: 7/10
OVERALL: 7/10

GENRE: Sci-Fi Movie

SUMMARY: The title and responsibilities of Admiral feel ill-fitting for the recently promoted James T. Kirk as he attempts to hang up his captain's uniform and his desire to explore far-off galaxies with it. They set off on a simple training mission, but with the re-emergence of his past foe Khan, a genetically engineered super-genius, and the Enterprise being the only ship in the quadrant, can Starfleet afford not to have their best captain back?

REVIEW: After finally re-watching Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan I can see why Shane and Ash like Kirk so much. It's also made me realize why Shatner says his performances were better than Chris Pines' (from Shane's post a while back: http://geektyrant.com/news/2012/12/1/william-shatner-says-star-trek-reboot-not-as-good-as-his-own.html). While new Kirk may be dashing, a rebel, and fun, Shatner portrays a truly radical captain who takes command of the scene when he takes command of the ship. 

In Star Trek II, the whole feel of the movie is like a navy submarine battle in space and it's amazing because of it. The crew is called to attention for Kirk's boarding with a electric bosun's whistle, they respond to Kirk with "Sir" and follow his orders, despite the technology being older for the special effects the computer consoles look more appropriately utilitarian and functional, and the uniforms feel right instead of like fashion statements of the future. The mood they are creating is clear and the director's vision is carried out expertly. They even subtly explain why the captain beams down to check something out: Lt. Saavik tries to warn him but he goes anyway because he's Kirk and in command so he does what he wants. When they go they go with weapons drawn like any sensible person would. It really has a true Navy feel to it which should mean something coming from a sailor. It's sad that almost all this feel and awesomeness was lost in the next movie (from what Mere and I could stay awake through). They move away from the military feel and are clearly influenced by Star Wars in an attempt to make the Starfleet universe feel "fresh" and "edgy". Unfortunately it comes of as fitting a square peg in a round hole and they lose all the good parts of their storied landscape (what idiot would put Nimoy in charge of a movie whose whole plot centers on his character?).

This movie meant a lot to me personally because as I've started to finally explore the Star Trek universe as an adult, I've started to grow weary of the direction its taken. It's a world envisioned by those more obsessed with "what ifs" that's grown unnecessarily out of touch with a grounding in the reality of human emotions. It's rather un-compelling intellectual fluff. Thematic and philosophical story lines can easily be gripping as good sci-fi and Nolan's Batman trilogy demonstrate. I keep wondering why Picard's crew is just so soft and undisciplined. Granted they keep using the excuse of "this is a science vessel" but when put in a combat situation there is no reason that Picard shouldn't switch the ship into a military mode and have security that has been through some training. It also always frustrated me how, because of their limited cast due to budget, the command and support officers would beam down to a possible hostile situation without a heavily armed and trained escort. Even a science vessel could benefit from discipline and a well enforced chain of command. Star Trek II is a vindication of everything that frustrates me. It's a coming together of all these loose threads into one glorious 2-hour event. The movie is a glimpse into what the Star Trek franchise could have been and a clear illustration of how they missed the starship on this one.

9/10 DIRECTING, CINEMATOGRAPHY, & STORYTELLING
8/10 ACTING
8/10 PLOT & WRITING
8.5/10 OVERALL (Great great movie!)

GENRE: Sci-Fi Movie

SUMMARY: The title and responsibilities of Admiral feel ill-fitting for the recently promoted James T. Kirk as he attempts to hang up his captain's uniform and his desire to explore far-off galaxies with it. They set off on a simple training mission, but with the re-emergence of his past foe Khan, a genetically engineered super-genius, and the Enterprise being the only ship in the quadrant, can Starfleet afford not to have their best captain back?

REVIEW: After finally re-watching Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan I can see why Shane and Ash like Kirk so much. It's also made me realize why Shatner says his performances were better than Chris Pines' (from Shane's post a while back: http://geektyrant.com/news/2012/12/1/william-shatner-says-star-trek-reboot-not-as-good-as-his-own.html). While new Kirk may be dashing, a rebel, and fun, Shatner portrays a truly radical captain who takes command of the scene when he takes command of the ship. 

In Star Trek II, the whole feel of the movie is like a navy submarine battle in space and it's amazing because of it. The crew is called to attention for Kirk's boarding with a electric bosun's whistle, they respond to Kirk with "Sir" and follow his orders, despite the technology being older for the special effects the computer consoles look more appropriately utilitarian and functional, and the uniforms feel right instead of like fashion statements of the future. The mood they are creating is clear and the director's vision is carried out expertly. They even subtly explain why the captain beams down to check something out: Lt. Saavik tries to warn him but he goes anyway because he's Kirk and in command so he does what he wants. When they go they go with weapons drawn like any sensible person would. It really has a true Navy feel to it which should mean something coming from a sailor. It's sad that almost all this feel and awesomeness was lost in the next movie (from what Mere and I could stay awake through). They move away from the military feel and are clearly influenced by Star Wars in an attempt to make the Starfleet universe feel "fresh" and "edgy". Unfortunately it comes of as fitting a square peg in a round hole and they lose all the good parts of their storied landscape (what idiot would put Nimoy in charge of a movie whose whole plot centers on his character?).

This movie meant a lot to me personally because as I've started to finally explore the Star Trek universe as an adult, I've started to grow weary of the direction its taken. It's a world envisioned by those more obsessed with "what ifs" that's grown unnecessarily out of touch with a grounding in the reality of human emotions. It's rather un-compelling intellectual fluff. Thematic and philosophical story lines can easily be gripping as good sci-fi and Nolan's Batman trilogy demonstrate. I keep wondering why Picard's crew is just so soft and undisciplined. Granted they keep using the excuse of "this is a science vessel" but when put in a combat situation there is no reason that Picard shouldn't switch the ship into a military mode and have security that has been through some training. It also always frustrated me how, because of their limited cast due to budget, the command and support officers would beam down to a possible hostile situation without a heavily armed and trained escort. Even a science vessel could benefit from discipline and a well enforced chain of command. Star Trek II is a vindication of everything that frustrates me. It's a coming together of all these loose threads into one glorious 2-hour event. The movie is a glimpse into what the Star Trek franchise could have been and a clear illustration of how they missed the starship on this one.

9/10 DIRECTING, CINEMATOGRAPHY, & STORYTELLING
8/10 ACTING
8/10 PLOT & WRITING
8.5/10 OVERALL (Great great movie!)