magicwalnuts Reviews

Sym-Bionic Titan (2010–2011)

The Greatest Action Cartoon Ever Made

[10/10 · 23 October 2012]

You might have thought Genndy Tartakovsky had already achieved this honor with Star Wars: Clone Wars and Samurai Jack, but in Sym-Bionic Titan Tartakovsky tops even those fantastic pieces of animation and creates the greatest action cartoon ever made.

Tartakovsky's trademark action, off-beat humor, and storytelling skills are ever present, but they are so much more refined and mature in Titan. We all knew Tartakovsky was a fan of Japanese mecha and this is chiefly where the show draws it's visual style from and it is truly striking. The character designs in particular for this show are incredible, but still familiar to fans of Tartakovsky's previous work.

The plot is nothing truly unique, but in typical Tartakovsky fashion, it takes its cues from all over the nerd-o-sphere from classic Anime, to American comic books, and even 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ilana, a young alien princess, Lance, a young rebellious soldier, and Octus, a robot programmed to guard the princess at all costs, flee to Earth from their home planet Galiluna, which has just suffered a crippling surprise attack led by a traitor general and an army of psychically controlled mutants. On Earth Lance, Ilana, and Octus must fit in as typical teenagers meanwhile defending themselves and the rest of the humans on Earth from a vast array of mutants the traitor general has sent remotely, to hunt down and kill the princess. Fortunately they have help in the form of Titan, a Voltron-style robot that Octus is able form when all three of them are together. The high school setting mixed with the, "save the world once an episode" structure will probably appeal to Buffy fans, and the action and humor is obviously top notch.

We've seen Tartakovsky do this before, he clearly loves popular fiction and loves incorporating it into his cartoons and for a sci-fi fan, it is really satisfying to see him at work in Titan. The special thing about Titan, however, is how good he's gotten at it. Characters learn, change, and evolve. Mysteries are uncovered and span whole episodes. Plot points are scattered all over the tragically singular season we have available to us and come together satisfyingly in an excellent finale.

I can not stress how quality this show is and how well it comes together as a full package. As of this posting Titan is currently on the 2am Saturday Adult Swim (now Toonami again) anime block, and that is where you can find it, and pray we get another season.

Mutant Chronicles (2008)

Pretty Good Sci-fi Action Film

[7/10 · 27 April 2009]

This movie is chock full of sci-fi action cheese, but it's OK because it ain't so bad. This movie is basically ripped visually from a bunch of different video games, and the end result is something quite innovative. Basically imagine a future (700 years to be exact) where constant fighting has reduced war to endless WWI style battles fought with no mechanization because there are little resources left. Overall this movie has a very steam-punk feel to it.

Visually this movie is more often than not stunning, with EXCELLENT CGI throughout. The life action effects on the other hand woefully show this movie's obviously low budget.

Then kicks in the sci-fi cheese story; alien mutant maker machine uncovered in a battle, yada, yada, yada, and you get to hear Tom Jane whip out some hilarious one liners as well as watch his stereotypically WWII faction styled partners and Ron Pearlman do some serious slicing and dicing.

The story is somewhat simplistic but mildly clever at points, and the movie is paced well with action pretty much not stopping throughout for more than a few painfully terrible scenes. The best thing about this movie is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. I found myself chuckling at a few points both at jokes within the movie and the parts of sheer cheeze. Basically if you like video games, mindless sci-fi violence, or decent but painfully low budget B no-brain action flicks then you'll like this movie.

Codename: Kids Next Door (2002–2008)

Original Cartoon full of Good Parodies

[9/10 · 4 October 2008]

Codename: Kids Next Door is a cartoon depicting a 5 child chapter of "super agents" part of a much larger organization known as "The Kids Next Door". Using their tree house fortresses sprawled across the globe and their handy "2x4" technology the kids are out to stop "adult tyranny" as well as their super nemeses the "The Delightful Children From Down The Lane" with their evil leader "Father". I personally think this rivals anything Gennedy Tarkovsky has put out in terms of originality, excitement, and humor. This show is chock full of parodies from various niches of pop culture that rarely fall flat, and never get tiresome unlike other cartoons that just take it way too far (Robot Chicken and Family Guy to give some examples). Some of the main characters can get on your nerves (they are brats after all) but the premise and the awesome villains often make you forget the minor annoyances. This show recently ended a few months ago, and I was sad to see it go, but the ending was very fitting. I would recommend this along with Avatar: The Last Airbender as two recent cartoon series that appeal to kids, teenagers, and adults as cartoons with good artistic merit.

Battlestar Galactica (2003)

The Grim Beginning

[10/10 · 5 July 2008]

As a huge fan of the show from the second this miniseries aired I may be a bit biased, but regardless this release has incredible merits.

There are two aspects of BSG II that really pull you in, first and foremost, and one of the reasons the series is so incredibly excellent are the characters and their interactions. They are just so darn believable, from the alcoholic second in command to a dying school teacher turned president of humanity.

The second, and the reason why standing alone this is an excellent piece of cinema is the grim atmosphere that is so realistically displayed. The sense of horror and helplessness is almost palpable as you witness the genocide of a race.

As I write this BSG has aired all the way up to season 4.5. Combined with the series BSG is shaping up to be one of the greatest science fiction epics of all time.

We Were Soldiers (2002)

The dollar sign beats the bullet here

[1/10 · 1 July 2008]

I have never seen source material butchered this badly and disrespectfully as it was in this movie. If you read the book which was written by Gen. Hal Moore himself and chronicles his first hand experience with this particular battle and other soldier's stories from another battle taking place almost immediately after this one. I would like to point out that about 80% of the events in the movie are completely historically false, and merely sought to "Hollywoodize" the movie. Scenes where Mel Gibson is charging across the battlefield are complete BS! If Hal Moore had really done that he would have either been 1) killed promptly or if he had somehow survived 2) courtmarshaled immediately after the battle for abandoning his duties as a general. A general's place is at his command post commanding his troops. Hal Moore rarely left his post, but I guess Mel Gibson doesn't really give a damn, he just wants to act all dramatic.

There were some good things about this movie, while once again not keeping in the line with the book, the stories involving the army wives were somewhat intriguing, but since the fates of their husbands were for the large part completely "fictional" affairs, they fell flat for me. My suggestion is, if you want to get inside the head of a soldier, a commander, and a worried spouse at home during Vietnam, read the book "We Were Soldiers Once and Young", if you don't want that, and you just want to see Mel Gibson in another mindless action movie, see this film.

WALL·E (2008)

"I don't want to survive...I want to live!"

[10/10 · 28 June 2008]

Pixar's latest endeavor comes out on top, as should be expected by now from the likes of these animators. While a large portion of this movie contains no dialogue whatsoever, you would be hard pressed to even notice. Wall-E the eccentric but lovable protagonist conveys 99% of his emotions and intentions through movement and electronic sounds alone. Which was wonderfully done.

I'll admit that for the first 40 minutes of this movie I was becoming skeptical about how complex the story was really going to be, but out of Pixar's cleverness you realize that the beginning; which portrays the budding love between two robots is meant to symbolize the simplicity, but importance of such an emotion, and how the humans portrayed in the movie have completely lost touch with the most important and simple things in their lives. This beautiful contrast is a subtle but very meaningful social commentary.

Like many of the great science fiction stories of our time this movie does not slanderously preach about environmental and consumerism issues, but gently conveys a message that we may very well be destroying ourselves as human beings if we continue to be blind to such problems.

This is most certainly an Oscar worthy film, for it is not only a charming and often hilarious children's movie, but a wonderful story that can be appreciated by all ages.

Serenity (2005)

Excellent Movie

[10/10 · 22 October 2007]

Firefly was an excellent show, it had good characters, good story, and great acting, all put into a sci-fi setting. For nerds the setting was a huge attraction, but for most people it was a big turnoff.

Serenity follows the same vein, with an even tighter story and some flashy special effects. It is not entirely necessary to watch the show before the movie (I didn't) but there are a few dramatic notes that are missed without previous knowledge (particularly concerning the captain).

It's a shame this movie didn't do better in theaters because it truly is a gem.