khelek Reviews

Yu-Gi-Oh! (I) (2000–2006)

I'm a huge fan!

[5 March 2003]

OK, I'll admit it...I am a sucker for the "30 min. commercials". I have been ever since I was a kid back in the, uh, 80's. I would go out and buy all the brand-new cool Transformers featured in the cartoon. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?...I was there. I am every toy manufacturers' ... dream. Yu-Gi-Oh is the continuation of my bizarre fascination with cartoons.

What's so great about this cartoon. Honestly, I can't say what it is I like. OK, I lied. I absolutely love the duels! I'm not a huge Anime fan, so that really does nothing for me. The constant babbling about "friendship" and "love" I can certainly do without. Not that those are bad things, and it's good that kids are taught these values while being brainwashed into buying the game, but it can be *awfully* sugary-sweet, especially when you're, um, <mumble> twenty-eight </mumble>. But I really enjoy the duels and it makes me want to go out and buy the cards and play with other people. Unfortunately, I have no friends, and my wife doesn't have any interest in dueling me. Fortunately, there's Game Boy Advance. I was given Dark Duel Stories for Christmas and recently bought Eternal Duelist Soul...both great games, though EDS is definitely closer to the original game than DDS. The point being, this tv show is really nothing more than an avenue for advertising their games...and I love it!

Now, what I'd like to see is how well Yugi fairs against someone who has some really nasty cards in their deck....how would he handle having Raigeki and Dark Hole being smacked down on his Dark Magician and Summoned Skull????

Spanking the Monkey (1994)

not sure what to think

[12 January 2002]

I must admit, I wasn't sure what to expect from a movie with such an, well, interesting title.

I can definitely tell you what this movie is not: it is *not* a movie shown in Health class teaching young males healthier and safer alternatives to pre-marital intercourse.

Now that that's out of the way, what *is* it? Shocking is one word. It doesn't seem to be afraid of depicting taboo subjects that other movies might sugar-coat or avoid. There were parts of the movie that I felt uncomfortable watching, and I couldn't imagine watching it with someone else. Come to think of it, I couldn't imagine letting anyone else *know* I watched it....

This movie is also sad. Not in an OL' YELLER sort of way, nor the way you could describe Keanu Reeves' acting. No, here you have a glimpse at the summer of the main character who seemed to have everything going for him until he's forced home by his over-bearing, traveling father to take care of his temporarily invalid mother, who seems to have her own set of issues. I couldn't help but feel *really* sorry for this kid. He just can't seem to catch a break.

And lastly, it's a dark drama. I'm not sure why they tried to market it as "outrageously funny", but it's not. And I didn't get the feeling that they tried to make it funny and failed horribly, I just don't think it was meant to be funny. So, if you're looking for a "laugh-out-loud" funny movie about a taboo subject, this isn't for you. Rent BETTER OFF DEAD instead.

I thought by the time I got to this point, I'd be able to say whether I liked it or not. I can't. It was an interesting movie and I would watch it again, provided it was free and no one else was around. And I don't feel like I wasted my time or my money. So yeah, I did kind of like it. If you want to know what it's all about, and you have a strong stomach, you should watch it once. Or if you feel like you have the worst life in the world, you should rent it, just so you can see someone worse off than you. Otherwise, you may just want to pass.