Bumblebee: The one movie no one can agree on.

Before getting started, due to the upcoming removal of the Google API, there may be a change in the display names for who wrote the posts. Assuming I'm right, this will be posted under the name "Blaster". It's not a different writer, it's the same person as the vast majority of the content here. It's just that this site is no longer going to be connected to the Google Plus account I keep forgetting is tied to it... Also no, the name Blaster didn't come from Autobot Blaster, I started using it before I saw the Generation 1 cartoon, and that Blaster has not appeared in movies or tv shows since the G1 cartoon.


"It's a prequel!"
"It's a reboot!"
"It's a prequel!"
"It's a reboot!"
"Well, this person said it's a prequel!"
"Well, that person said it's a reboot!"
"I'm not supporting this movie because it's a prequel!"
"I'm going to support it because it's a reboot"
 Bloody hell, we could probably start the Cybertronian Civil War with the status of what this movie is!

It's funny sometimes how closed minded some people can be when it comes to media, and I do count myself in that statement too. So consumed with learning everything there is to know about a movie, going to war over it's importance to a franchise and to the world as a whole, but ignoring other aspects to it, such as differing views for more than just a black and white mindset. I bring this up because, during the marketing push for Bumblebee, everything was picked apart in the debate over what it was, if it was a prequel to the 2007 movie or a reboot due to the diminishing returns on the first five Live action films.

My stance on the matter back then? "It was both, because right now Paramount is looking for a safe revenue generator to let them keep funding movies", and the continued debate on the matter, thanks to conflicting statements (to which I say "Paramount, what are your marketing and PR teams doing? It's their job to keep stories straight), the announcement of both a Bumblebee 2 and Transformers 6, and the (to put it mildly) conflicting reports on the "Hasbro Cinematic Universe" have only reinforced this belief for me. I wouldn't deny any claim that this movie struggled in the production side due to the conflicting story angles. It is very likely that this started life as a proper prequel, but was forced to course correct during development into a hodgepodge of the two, it's a sign that they don't know what to do. However, I'm not here to talk about the production side of the movie. I'm here to talk about the movie itself, the end result of its troubled life. How is it? Well, I'll put it this way, I get the feeling I'm not going to make some friends in the die-hard side of the fandom with this one (but what else is new at this point? Why do you think I haven't tried reviewing another fan game... Sonic Mania technically doesn't count). Absurdly long intro aside...

DCember; Justice League: Was anyone expecting this to be good?

I don't really say that as a joke either, this film was in development hell from the start to the point where it was a miracle that it even got to "competently made", and many would argue that even that's a stretch. From rewriting on the fly, to calling in a director with a drastically different style due to loss in the Snyder family, to badly CGI'd upper lips thanks to Mission Impossible, the reports coming out about the film during development was one mess after another. It's safe to say that this movie was released with the expectation that it was going to fail in the eyes of Warner Brothers. Were they right to assume that though?

DCember; The Lego Batman Movie: Ow, the edge

No seriously, stepping on the edges of Lego bricks hurt

Welcome to DCember, the DC equivalent of MAYvel. Because everyone else is doing christmas marathons, so I thought I'd be that hipster edge lord that goes against the norm. And what's more edgy then DC's track record of quality movies? I regret nothing in that, but probably will at some point, depending on what happens first. Anyway, unlike MAYvel, not everything will be dedicated to DC. The main reason being because there are often end of year games that I try to rush reviews of, such as Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee which should be coming out within a week or two, but the large majority of content on this site is going to be dedicated to DC. Starting off with The Lego Batman Movie, a somewhat direct sequel to The Lego Movie, starting that movie's interpretation of Batman and trust me, this movie will love to remind you that you are watching a Batman movie.

Would have been nice if you learned your lesson last time and didn't make Australian's wait 2-3 months like you did The Lego Movie, but you didn't. If you don't like Pirates, stop giving them justifications for existance!

Yu-Gi-Oh; Pyramid of Light: This seems a bit excessive for a card game...

The push to capitalize on Pokemon's fame was a strange time for shows and anime, as many shows tried to tap into that market by making their worlds revolve around their takes on Pokemon. In the case of Yu-Gi-Oh, that included things like making an entire city crawl to a halt just due to competitors in a corporation dedicated to the game's competition, used as a ploy for the owner of said corporation to try and get his hands on three cards, and unintentionally drawing in the attention of a crypt keeper and his servants joining the tournament to try and get them and a puzzle from a kid who has the spirit of a Egyptian pharaoh that shares his body. No really, all of that happens, and I'm even skipping parts of it. Point being, this universe is weird, and it gets weirder when it wants to go cinematic, so let's see how weird it gets with two of the localized movies, starting with the first (to my knowledge) that got released in English, Pyramid of Light. Before you ask, yes I did try a World of Light joke, but nothing worked for me.

Children of the Corn: Is there such a thing as a fear of Corn?

Apparently, there is, it's called Kalampokiphobia... I don't have much other than that as I couldn't sort out a parody of Pinky and the Brain based on the film, what I was hoping to open this with... it's hard for me to think of words that rhyme with Corn ok? Why do you think I'm not a songwriter!

As you may have noticed if you've been paying attention to this site, horror's not really something I gravitate towards. Is it because I get scared easily? Not really, I'm that one jerk who laughs at scary things if I know they're not real. Combine that with Haloween not being a big thing here, and hopefully, that explains why Haloween isn't a big thing here. However, I will try, I will make a conscious effort to do something scary when I can! I may look to Twitter to help... and that's why instead of Saw, we're doing Children of the Corn... Does this count as progress?

Digimon Adventure tri. Chapter 4; Loss: I'd have gone with missing or missed as there's a missed opportunity here

We finally did it! We're in the Digital World! One of the main draws for Digimon and something that not a lot of Digimon series, including Adventure and 02 wasted time to get to. Secrets are bound to be revealed, friendships remade, and more... right?

Well, yes, but the way they handle it is... strange to say the least. We learn why "Ken" is evil, although that was revealed in Chapter 3, I left it for here as it flowed better and it's more important here. We learn Himekawa's involvement in the plot along with another new face for this series, we know who's pulling the strings, and we learn more about Meicuumon's role in all of this, but its not before the kids have to reconnect to their Digimon, as all eight of them have lost their memories. It's honestly amusing to see how the Digimon interact with their partners, how afraid, confused, mad and the like that they all are. I can't help but smile at things like Nyaromon being one of the first to trust their partner thanks to the connection Kari has with the whistle. One of the last ones though is Biyomon, who is mad at Sora until pretty much the end of the film. What brings some stakes into this though is that not only are the team eventually separated, but a villain is trying to take Meicuumon. That villain is... Gennai? You remember that old man that helped the original team in Adventure, then suddenly became a lot younger in 02? Had a whole thing about the balance between the Human and Digital World, was even giving information to the organization Himekawa and Diago Nishijima (I'll get back to him) on the Infected Digimon. Well... Apparently, he's evil now, working alongside Himekawa, and serving King Draisel, an entity those who are familiar with Digimon Data Squad would know of. Turns out, Draisel was behind all of this and is intending to go to war with the Human World. To do this though, he needed the Digital World rebooted so that all the powerful Digimon that the Digidestined have defeated return, including those who fell in the human world, and never became Digi-eggs again.

One of the rare times we see all of them in their Rookie forms together.

I love this idea in theory as it's an easy excuse to bring back old villains, especially if the team have to relearn how to get their partners up to Champion, Ultimate and Mega again. That last part though is a missed opportunity, as not only does Biyomon become Phoenixmon, her mega form, but Tentomon becomes HerculesKabuterimon, and Patamon suddenly becomes Seraphimon... something he hasn't been able to do since the third film that made up Digimon The Movie... Ok? Unfortunately, that is probably down to the release structure of Digimon Adventure tri. What were six movies became 26 (I think) episodes of varying length, which have been turned into films again for the home releases? Because that's not redundant at all! If it was allowed to breath more, we could have seen some interesting ideas, like the return of villains and Digimon that mean a lot to the kids, such as Devimon (the one that gave T.K some strong trauma as Angemon died that episode), Wizzardmon (who sacrificed himself to protect Kari and Gatomon from Myotismon, imagine if he was brought back as a villain), Diaboromon would be cool to see again. We do get the return of Machindramon and Metal Seadramon, but they're relegated to mukes now and lost what little personality they had. The reboot restoring the Digimon who didn't get revived is also a reason why Himekawa is working for King Draisel. She and Nishijima were two of the original Digidestined, the team before the Adventure team we know, and her partner Digimon was killed in a battle against the Dark Masters. Her partner was the only one who died that battle, as the other four, including Nishijima's partner, became the four Digimon Sovereign from Adventure. It's another thing that sounds great in theory, but I get the sad feeling that it's not going to be developed fully by the end of this.

I have no idea why they went back to the Digital World in their school uniforms though. They're on summer vacation right?

So, where do we end this marathon? Seven of the eight digi-destined can reach the Mega level, Meicoomon is about to rip Genai a new one as her anger and Meiko being harmed got the best of her, turning her into one of the two Meicrackmon forms, Himekawa's insane, and Draisel's getting ready to go to war in the human world, intending to use Meicrackmon in the plan. Could I review chapters 5 and 6 now? I could, however, I do stick to English dubs to make it easier to review, and Chapter 5 hasn't hit home media yet, with Chapter 6 not even out yet in English. Chapter 4 only hit DVD and Blu-Ray here last week to the day, so this is another extremely timely review. However, that is the reason why this marathon is being called here. I will try and review Chapters 5 and 6 when they come out, but that is easily going to be a while. The anime content isn't over though because next week, we're looking at a team that fights evil by moonlight, stretches the definition of strong female characters depending on who you ask, and was stupid enough to try and hide a lesbian couple with an incest one... that flew over well! Regardless, I'll leave you here, Sunday will be the Tamagotchi review I promised (that I've been meaning to do since I launched the Toybox...) and next Wednesday will be the start of another marathon of reviews with Sailor Moon.

Digimon Adventure tri. Chapter 3; Confession: Still not going to put any real effort into finding out what happened to the 02 Team? No?

It should be said right at the outset that this is one of the hardest chapters to watch. Not because of quality, but for the story, it's trying to tell. You know how I brought up the Death of Leomon and the D-Reaper arc in Digimon Tamers last week? Well, this is probably up with it. It's brutal if you've grown up with these characters. If you don't want to be spoiled, turn away now. What I can say about it though is that this is a far better chapter then Chapter 2 was, at least overall. If you want to know why, then read on.

Digimon Adventure tri. Chapter 2; Determination:Leomon really can't catch a break can he?

It should be noted that for these reviews, I won't be covering things like the presentation in every review. It would be like reviewing a TV show's art style every single episode, there's no point. I will, however, do things like give a brief summary. What do we know so far? We know the 02 team is basically dead (as far as this story is concerned), we know that Infected Digimon is stronger and more aggressive than regular Digimon, and the original eight are reunited with their partners, and joined by a mysterious 9th member. So, where does the story go from here? It involves a coward learning to be brave, an arrogant girl learning to accept others views and becoming more flexible... Betrayal? A death longtime fans will see coming... oh this is going to be rough...

The Greatest Showman: Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've probably not been waiting for

Like I've said time and time again, if I'm given something on a silver platter, I'll take it.

We've hit a counting down point, haven't we? The number of new, Fox-branded films made by Fox is getting smaller and smaller. Like it or not, we're in a weird time for the movie industry, something like the Fox buyout has never happened before. We might not know for a few more years what the final movie funded and released by them is going to be, movies take a long time to make after all. But one of the movies on that list? A stylized musical pet project based on P.T, Barnum and the creation of the Circus... ok then. Allow me to introduce to you, Ripply's Believe it or Not, the movie... I mean The Greatest Showman. (how many people are going to get that reference?).

Operation M.A.Y.V.E.L Phase 1; Black Panther: Does no one remember Blade? Luke Cage?

The first black-led Superhero film in the MCU? Fine, I can give you that one, first black lead Superhero in the MCU? That belongs to Luke Cage. First black led superhero film made by Marvel? Blade holds that title. Sorry for that General media outlets and people who simplify media stories. You might want to do some more fact checking first. On a completely unrelated note (honest), "Oh goodie, another film that got a lot of political attention and therefore became a politically charged topic to the point where it feels like I'm going to be put to a firing squad no matter what I say!" How many of these things am I going to get away with? On the plus side, this is one of the safer ones compared to Last Jedi and Ghostbusters 2016. So, let's close off MAYvel for 2018 with the newest Marvel movie to get on DVD, so new in fact that it only came out here last week, throwing off my schedule for June! Ok fine it was one of the reasons for the shakeup...

Operation M.A.Y.V.E.L Phase 1; Thor Ragnarok: WE HAVE A CODE GOLD PEOPLE, I REPEAT, CODE GOLD!

We've got full Goldblum people, this is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!

Also, there are moments in this that are not suitable for younger readers or work. Nothing graphic, just words you might not want to talk about yet. Parents have been warned.

In order to recover from what many believe to be the worst of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, it would appear that not only did Thor need to be hacked to the bones, losing his mother, father, his hammer, his eye, half his cape, his friends and his home, but also the Shakespearean style to the Thor movies, and going the complete opposite, a Sci-fi space romp where most of the film is on a junk planet with a little bit of Roman gladiatorial combat. Look, this movie is weird, and its time to take the same drugs Taiko Waititi took when making the film, here's New Doug Ragnarok... I mean Thor Ragnarok.

Operation M.A.Y.V.E.L Phase 1; Spider-Man Homecoming: Yes yes Marvel, very clever name, no one would have ever figured it out,

I don't know if I have the right to talk since this marathon is called MAYvel...

Though you have been getting rather risky with your story ideas. Do you have that much of an ego now that you're willing to put Batman into a Marvel movie while WB still owns the rights? Though to be fair this is the eighth movie with Peter Parker in it, and the third in the MCU (Remember that kid with the Iron Man mask in Iron Man 2? Apparently, that was a very young Peter Parker). Anyway, now that Peter is legally back with Marvel (under shared custody for now), it was only a matter of time before he got his own solo movie, and they did not waste the chance, though they did take every chance they could to separate this movie from the last five solo Spider-Man movies. Did it work though? One way to find out.

Operation M.A.Y.V.E.L Phase 1; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: The word Ego is used 13 times in this review, for 3 different things

A movie where a bunch of assholes comes to grips with the fact that they are a bunch of assholes. That statement could probably sum up this movie, in albeit a vague way, pretty well. Many call this movie one of the best the MCU has so far, and while I can see where they're coming from, there is a big reason why I personally don't see it. Allow me to explain why, as MAYvel starts to come into the home stretch, where Marvel started putting out three movies a year, and this is the first one from last year.

Operation M.A.Y.V.E.L Phase 1; Ant-Man: Ants, lots, and lots, of ants.

Look, if I'm doing this, I'm going all the way with it. And before you ask, yes I am working on an acronym for it. While calling it phase 1 is a small lie, as this is basically the Marvel Movie Marathon version 2.0, this is basically a reboot of it so Phase 1 it is. As for why MAYvel content is starting in April? I'm doing one a week, and Infinity War launches the day this post gets released (I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing as today is also ANZAC day...). Anyway, Ant-Man, the (depending on who you ask) final movie of the MCU's Phase 2, or first film of Phase 3, and the Marvel movie that suffered the most in production hell. Shall we delve into one of the Marvel movies from the mindset of "we can do whatever the f!@$ we want and still make s@$( tons of money!"?

X Men; The Last Stand: Didn’t Eric ever learn to not play with fire in the camps?... oh… wait…

WARNING! This review does tackle a topic not suitable for children, and not suitable for work. The purpose of this is for an explanation of a particular matter of the film and isn’t meant to depict the action. The writer recommends having someone over 18 look over the review first in order to judge suitability. You have been warned.

I would like to take this chance to clarify that this joke is intended to take a stab at a fictional character with strong magnetic abilities, and the potentially distasteful joke isn’t aimed at any real person or culture. If someone can show me that Mutants are real and one with control over magnetism is Jewish and was in a concentration camp, I will take the joke back.

The problem with iconic stories is that a lot of people try to get them in adaptions of the source as soon as possible. Fox had a really bad problem… actually, it hasn’t gone away, has it? Fox has a really bad problem with doing this with the Marvel properties that they own, leading to a large number of problems. We saw it with their desire to have Galactus, a planet-eating villain from the comics, be the main villain in the second Fantastic 4 movie (and for some reason he was a space cloud?) and the signs of it happening again with the Dark Phoenix storyline is happening again with the next X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix. According to many though, this was not the first time they rushed the Phoenix force, for X-Men: The Last Stand, tried that too. How did it go? Well…

Spider-Man 3: A spider’s greatest villain isn't within, it's corporate greed

We come to the end of a time before the Marvel Cinematic Universe stole the talk when it comes to Marvel movies, and (at least at times), superhero movies in general. Unfortunately, many see it ending more with a whimper than a bang. Views on both Spider-Man 3 and X-Men 3 are mixed at best, but do they still deserve it? You’ll have to wait until Sunday for X-Men’s chance, but for now, let’s see how Sam’s Spider-Man trilogy ended, with Spider-Man 3.

X2: And thus, the dominos fall

I hope you're a fan of leather because they're back to try and keep a war from happening to absolutely no success. Because one extremist group often makes another, let's take a look at a film where the extremist is a regular human who knows how to get his way when it comes to politics. Let's look at X2...

Spider-Man 2: Guilt be a two way street dear spider.

Fun fact, one of my earliest Spider-Man experiences was one of the Lego Sets for this movie (aside from watching… I’m not sure if it was the DVD or VCR, of Spider-Man 1 at my grandparents’ house with my cousins. You can blame them (or at least one in particular) for exposing me to superheroes). If anyone is curious as to the set, 4857 Doc Ock’s Fusion Lab. Doubt it will get a review cause I’ll probably have to replace parts (if I can find them), but it’s still a fun fact.

With a hit in the form of the original Spider-Man, it only makes sense that a sequel would be made, not to mention this was a point in time where the number 2 didn’t have negative views if it was attached to a Marvel movie, though Marvel did have a mixed reception at this time. People were still excited for Spider-Man 2, so how well does it hold up over a decade later? (Yeah, the first Spider-Man movie is going to be 20 years old in 2022, and the first X-Men movie is going to be 20 in 2020).

X-Men: #ISupportMutantRights #VoteYesForEquality

Everyone know why that's the title? We're all up to speed with what the X-Men are a metaphor for? Yes? Good. Moving on.

Many would say that the return of superhero movies can come down to two trillogies, potentially more, but most argue at least two. The Spider-Man trillogy, and the first three X-Men movies... even though many like to forget X-Men 3 even exists... along with Spider-Man 3.... could someone give me a list of every movie the internet wants to forget exists, I feel like there's a lot. Regardless of that, the point of these three weeks is to look at where Marvel has been with their movies before getting to the MCU, and what better way then Kevin Feige's first attempts at a crossover between two of Marvel's IP's on the big screen. While yes, the attempt was in Spider-Man, Wolverine had to come from somewhere right? Welcome to the start of the Mutant Revolution.

Spider-Man: No, I won't go into 9/11 here

That's not me saying that the 9/11 attacks don't play a role in how this movie was received, far from it actually. It's more that I am not the right person to go into something like that, the attacks happened when I was 5 after all. There are many, many, many other people who delve into how media has been affected, either in their creation or reception due to the attacks. Me? I'm going to do what I do, review the movie, but look at one other bit of the cultural landscape that this movie helped change. Because this was one of the movies that revived the superhero genre after Batman and Robbin almost killed it. You can trace back the Marvel Cinematic Universe if not many other superhero movies to this trilogy and the other trilogy of films this month taking up the Sunday slots, the X-Men. How well do they hold up by today's standards? One way to find out, starting with Spider-Man.