Movie Monday: Hancock

This week for Movie Monday I’m covering an often forgotten film. It’s Hancock!

Plot Synopsis: John Hancock is an alcoholic American who possesses superpowers, including flight, invulnerability, and superhuman strength. Whilst performing superhero-like acts in Los Angeles, he is often ridiculed and hated by the public for his drunken and careless acts, and becomes enraged when referred to as an “asshole”. Hancock rescues Ray Embrey, a public relations specialist, from an oncoming train, which he irrationally derails to save Ray. Thankful and seeing him as a career opportunity, Ray offers to help improve Hancock’s public image…

Plot: The plot is pretty okay for the first half, but after that it gets completely ruined. Honestly the only noteworthy things about this movie isn’t the plot, which is why it’s such a poorly rated film and often forgotten.

Casting: The casting is okay, with Will Smith as John Hancock being our star and titular character. That being said the rest of the cast is only okay, so it definitely didn’t help the ratings or memorability.

Cinematography: This is probably the sole redeeming feature of this movie, but even that wasn’t enough to save the film from being completely terrible in most peoples mind.

Music: I don’t remember much, except for a particular song that plays which I never found entertaining personally.

Overall: Skip this, otherwise you’ll be wanting some brain bleach to wipe this from your memory.

For those who like: Comedy AND Drama, Superheroes, Will Smith, Decent Cinematography.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

TNT: Peerless Martial God Chapters 1-40 by Jing Wu Hen

This week for Translation Necessary Thursday I’m covering another Xianxia from China! It’s Peerless Martial God Chapters 1-40 by Jing Wu Hen!

Plot Synopsis: Lin Feng tried to be the diligent and hard-working good guy. He studied hard, did his best to make his family proud and not get into trouble, but when he saw a girl being taken advantage of, he had to intervene. He had been tricked, sentenced to 10 years in jail and framed for a crime he never committed, all was lost. If his life was over he would take those who ruined his life with him…

Suddenly he opens his eyes again. He is not dead, but alive in the body of the Lin Feng of a different world. This Lin Feng had been killed for being a worthless piece of trash…

Plot: The plot starts off similarly to many other Xianxia, but what really sets it apart from others is the fact that Lin Feng truly learned from his past lives and vehemently refuses to take shit from anyone ever again. It’s awesome, we get to see him vocally tear apart foes with words and make them look like fools. I’d totally prefer him as President over certain foul-mouthed orange sponges, but that’s a story for another day. These first forty chapters are all about establishing the foundation for Lin Feng, and while it may start off slow in these forty chapters it’s incredibly worth reading, not to mention it’s a blast to do so.

Characters: Lin Feng is probably tied with Yun Che and Nie Li for being one of my favorite main characters in all of Xianxia, though I haven’t read too much compared to other countries stories.  His father Lin Hai is also pretty awesome, and I really enjoy Han Man, he’s really straightforward, although not necessarily the sharpest tool in the shed. Liu Fei is probably my favorite female character of the series thus far, but I have a soft spot for bad ass archer women.

Overall: Definitely worth reading, it’s one of the better ones out there, and the plot and cast are awesome.

For those who like: Action, Drama, Xianxia, Martial Arts, Reincarnation, Witty Dialogue, Excellent Cast of Characters, Fantastic Plot.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Anime Sunday: Reikenzan Episode 01 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering the series I was most worried about coming into this season of Anime. It’s all about my Reikenzan Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: A comet falling will bring about a great calamity, and in order to choose a child fated by the falling comet, the family of the “Reiken” clan with a long storied history is once again resuming its entrance examination process to find disciples.

Plot: You see that plot synopsis up there? It’s not alluded to at all in the first episode except in the fact that we see the beginning stages of some grand “Test”. I was super disappointed in the lack of world building for the series in this first episode.

Characters: Ouriku is an arrogant fellow and while we haven’t seen him do anything to suggest he’s got the skills to back it up, it’s not a farfetched guess to say he does.  The rest of the cast is incredibly small so far, but the most interesting character is the Innkeeper so far. Which says a lot about the blandness of this series.

Artwork: And while I had hoped Studio Deen had shaped up since I last watched a work made by them, the last one being the original Fate Stay/Night series from 2006, I was severely disappointed. The artwork is terrible and it’s obvious that the animators used every cheap trick in their skillset to avoid effort in creating this work. From the constant use of deformed characters to action happening offscreen I was disappointed in the artwork from the first second to the last.

Music: The only upside was that the music wasn’t terrible. That being said it’s nothing amazing either. But compared to the rest of the components that went into making this first episode you can see that at least a modicum of effort was expended in the musical score.

Overall: A highly disappointing first episode in what will probably a highly disappointing series. My hopes for I Shall Seal the Heavens getting an Anime adaptation have been crushed for the foreseeable future.

For those who like: Xianxia, Action, Comedy, Decent Music.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or wanted an epic story to get an epic adaptation.