MFKZ... Reviewed!

Characters: The characters in MFKZ are somewhat diverse and interesting, adding to the overall story. The two main characters, Angelino and Vinz, are a perfect odd couple, and their dynamic carries the movie throughout. The voice acting is spot on, featuring Kenny Blank as Angelino, Vince Staples as Vinz, Danny Trejo as Bruce, Dino Andrade as Willy, and so many others. There was even a member of the Wu-Tang (Rza) lending his voice to the film.

Story: MFKZ is an action-packed thought-provoking anime movie that takes the adult audience on a thrilling journey through the dark and gritty streets of a dystopian metropolis. From the very beginning, the plot is engaging and full of cool sequences that lock you in. The themes of corruption, urban decay, and social inequality are explored in a really cool way, making MFKZ stand out.

One of the things that resonated with me during MFKZ was the way the movie explored themes of identity and belonging. The story tangles Angelino's ignorance of his true heritage, and Vinz as they attempt to make ends meet and fit into a world where everyone seems to be human. It makes for a poignant and emotional journey that will leave you thinking long after the movie is over. One drawback is that there was a strong stereotypical element that the creators played on. I didn't find the creativity in this, and one of the bigger fight scenes could have been assisted by other characters but it should have been Angelino's fight to the finish. I found this to be disappointing.

Animation: While MFKZ is presented in a 2D animation style, it's clear that the filmmakers paid great attention to the intricacies of each scene. The cinematography and production design are both stunning and immersive, with the art style perfectly capturing the gritty, neon-infused atmosphere of the city. Moreover, the action sequences are dynamic and intense, with the use of slow-motion and other creative techniques taking the excitement to another level.

Audio: The movie's soundtrack is an eclectic mix of rap, rock, and electronic music, with standout tracks like "Vengo" by Ana Tijoux and "Truth or Dare" by Powerflow adding even more energy to the already high-octane scenes. The movie's editing and pace are also top-notch for the most part. The movie is skillfully cut, and the action sequences are perfectly choreographed to keep the audience engaged.

Overall, MFKZ is a visually stunning and entertaining, animated movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat. While it's not perfect, with a few minor pacing issues and plot gaps, it's still a must-watch film for adult anime fans looking for an entertaining, ride with an ending that justifies a follow-up.

Watch MFKZ on Amazon Prime for free until August 2023!

Characters 5

Story 4

Animation 5

Audio 5

5 out of 5 Cool Points

Sophima | Guest Contributor

                        

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Babylon 5: The Road Home... Reviewed!

Shout out to Warner Bros for providing a copy of this film for review. My opinions are my own.

Babylon 5 is back with an all-new story... and it's in animated form. Babylon 5 celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. To be honest, whenever I see a franchise celebrating its years of existence, I can't help but ask... "Has it really been that long?". Nevertheless, Babylon 5: The Road Home... brings back stars from the franchise to lend their voices to their characters from the original series, but does the film hold up? Let's find out!

Story: Babylon 5: The Road Home is more on the mature side for fans of animated sci-fi films. It covers the story of John Sheridan, the newly elected President of The Interstellar Alliance and new ex-captain of Babylon 5. His role changed after his leadership proved successful in taking down a dangerous threat during the... Shadow War. So the story literally starts off at the birth of The Interstellar Alliance with him as the President.

The film tucks in some charm as John and his wife Delenn talk behind closed doors just before he goes out to meet the crew ahead of his farewell to Minbar. Ahead of his jump to arrive on Minbar, they showed him exhibiting signs of... hearing things after the fact, and then he begin to see things before the fact after landing on the planet. I won't tell you what happened next, but it only made matters worse and sent him on an adventure through various times in space (after becoming... unstuck)... including the times of the Shadow War.

The adventure takes him to various points in time that are fitting to the film and delivers both informative and action-packed portions of the film that collectively make sense. I can't lie when the solution to his time sliding emerged... I gave it a slight side eye but isn't a bad thing.

The film also attempted to tuck a little humor in there, but... to me, it sorta fell flat outside of certain scenes where it may not have been an intentional attempt to get a chuckle.

Overall, it's an interesting film with a pretty good storyline... they just to work on the situational comedy a tad bit (the news reporter bit was a thumbs up). According to J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5: The Road Home is... "Classic B5: raucous, heartfelt, nonstop, a ton of fun through time and space & a love letter to the fans." So if you're a fan of sci-fi, aliens, spaceships, a good story, and animation... this film might be up your corridor.

Parents: For the most part this film doesn't contain anything questionable, but there is a scene involving a lever that showcases a couple of characters biting the dust from lasers. It's nothing graphic, but it's in there.

Visuals: When it comes to visuals, Babylon 5: The Road Home is a 3D shade-based animation with 2D elements. The cel-shaded animation isn't bad, and it certainly has its moments where it looks great, but other times... I wasn't exactly crazy about it. There was a point in the film where the President was flown down between the rocks of a planet to go see the infamous Zathras... (or at least one of them), and the shot looked beautiful. Other times I guess I wasn't crazy about certain scenes because they were on the plain side.

Speaking of visuals, don't miss out on the current Fire TV deals!

Audio: In terms of the audio, it's solid. Nice sound effects (especially the time jumps). The dogfighting delivered some lovely booms, and overall the sound was clean. Audio is served up in DTS-HD MA: English 5.1, Dolby Digital, and sounds good on headphones... surround sound + standard speakers weren't bad either. There is one scene where you're really going to get that boom on a massive scale as things come to a head, but it's not the only one. Just remember the 8-ball in the corner pocket.

Price + Extras: Babylon 5: The Road Home... comes in at the following price points: 

$19.99 | Digital Version

$29.99 | Blu-ray + Digital Version*

$39.99 | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack + Digital Version*

Special Features Include:

Babylon 5 Forever (New Featurette) - Join the cast and filmmakers as they reveal the process behind creating the first state-of-the-art, animated adaptation of Babylon 5. They say the "first" because... they plan on delivering more original animated films from the Babylon 5 universe.

Audio Commentary with creator/writer/executive producer J. Michael Straczynski, actor Bruce Boxleitner, and supervising producer Rick Morales.

Story 5

Visuals 4

Audio 5

Price + Extras 5

4.75 out of 5 Cool Points

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Shazam! Fury of the Gods... Reviewed!

I don't know how I feel about Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The first movie was more organic and felt true to Shazam, but with all the other Shazam heroes it felt like there was too much going on. It made for an interesting action movie, but the main actor slips away to a degree. I get it, the sequel is the 'Fury Of The Gods' because of what happened after they defeated Doctor Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins, but the delivery could've been different.

Am I wrong in that I feel like this should've been a high-quality limited series in order to make it more digestible? I wasn't turned off, but more could have been explored with a series because this gave me those Fast & Furious vibes. Sorry, but it just does.

There was a lot of action to please any junky in need of smashing and bashing, but also when the Gods showed up they were underwhelming. I've seen Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren a number of times, and they just felt like they were on screen cosplaying for a portion of the film. I relaxed after a while and enjoyed it for what it was but I still couldn't ignore the pace of the film.

The sets were amazing, and the dark horses were beautiful in the scene with the cutest actor in the film, Faithe Herman. The part where she avoided being attacked by a dark horse seems like they sold it a bit much in the beginning because she would've naturally gotten pulled out of harm's way. Perhaps someone should've tripped to really sell her being left there while attempting to grab her. Don't get distracted by that because the magic actually happens in this scene when little Darla (Faith Herman) stops the attack in an unforeseeable way. The feeling that I got was one that really warmed my heart, and I think they nailed it perfectly because it's something that an innocent little sweetpea would do. I loved that so much, and I believe that there were missed opportunities where the real could've been inserted.

Shazam's meeting with Hespera felt pretty authentic to the hero, and I was looking for moments like those that didn't oversell. We're not dumb, and sometimes it's good to allow your audience to actually watch a movie a few times before they actually understand something. I didn't understand certain things in a movie until I was older and experience gave me a clue.

It wasn't all bad, there was enough comedy to make me giggle, and my girl Meagan was amazing. I can honestly say that I don't know what type of movie I would've wanted this to be, I would still give it a 4 out of 5 because it was good but I think it would've been better as a limited series.

Shazam still has the opportunity to have a limited series if you ask me, and it would help develop the fanbase for a new audience. Thank you so much for reading my review and stay tuned for more!

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods | Rated 4/5

Sophima | Guest Contributor

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