Zom 100: Vol. 3 – Manga Review

Posted on December 21, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, Vol. 3: Volume 3: Amazon.co.uk: Kotaro Takata, Haro Aso: 9781974720675: Books

I’m really enjoying Zom 100 so far. It’s going from strength to strength. Vol. 3 sees Akira and Kencho finally grouping up with Shizuka. Akira is going to leave Tokyo to find his parents and to do that he and Kencho want to travel in style in an RV. When they are picking out the RV they bump into Shizuka, who is also looking for a way out of Tokyo, so they decide to group up. Unfortunately they end up having an accident and have to rely on Akira’s old boss Gonzo Kosugi to help them get back onto the road.

While up to this point it’s felt like each chapter of Zom 100 has ben stand alone, an overall story arc is beginning to form. The whole of this volume follows one story that is given a conclusion at the end. There’s also a lot less humour in this one than in the previous 2 volumes. It’s still scattered about throughout, but there is a dark tone that wasn’t as evident before. The funniest bit was when they are picking up the RV, arguing about which one to choose.

The whole series is basically about living your dreams and not getting bogged down in work or other mundane tasks that take up our time. Akira is very aware that he’s not going to live long. The bucket list in the title is what he wants to achieve before turning into a zombie. The story is a comedic way of looking at how we spend time. There is a lot of comparisons in this volume between the zombies and workers and how you can’t tell the difference between them. It wears it’s themes on its sleeve, but it works really well and I’ve really connected with it so far.

There is also the more surface level zombie story that I’m really enjoying. While the darkness of death and the apocalypse has been there since book one, it feels like it’s growing in each volume. There was a specific part of this one that reminded me of the early volumes of The Walking Dead. It’s something I can imagine Rick and his gang coming across in their journey. It’s not the same at all, but there’s a similar feel to it that I really like.

Zom 100 is a great manga and I would highly recommend it. It’s a mix of satirical comedy and zombie apocalypse and it’s really entertaining. Each volume has just flown by in no time and I’m looking forward to reading more.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe below:

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Happy Anniversary – Film Review

Posted on December 20, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter
Happy Anniversary (2018) - IMDb

Director: Jared Stern

Writer: Jared Stern

Starring: Noël Wells, Ben Schwartz, Rahul Kohli, Kristen Bauer van Straten, Kate Berlant, Leonardo Nam, David Walton, Isidora Goreshter, Annie Potts, and Joe Pantoliano

Rating: ★★★½

In Happy Anniversary, Mollie (Noël Wells) and Sam (Ben Schwartz) are celebrating their third anniversary of being together, while also struggling with the future of their relationship. Mollie isn’t happy anymore and doesn’t want to waste more time with Sam if he’s not the one, while Sam is convinced that she is the love of his life.

Even though this is about a relationship that is going through a real rough patch, with a chance that it’s not going to end well, this is still a good comedy. It’s not a laugh a minute, but when there’s a joke it always lands. Writer and director Jared Stern has done a great job in making a romantic comedy that’s funny while still having incredibly emotional moments. It would be nicer if there were more jokes throughout, but it’s still funny.  

Sam and Mollie are instantly likable thanks to Noël Wells and Ben Schwartz, who are both great and charming in their roles. The rest of the cast is also great, especially Rahul Kohli, who doesn’t appear that much but always gets a big laugh whenever he does.

The idea of a relationship in trouble is far from original, and while the characters are great, the comedy works, and it’s entertaining there’s nothing about it that really stays with you afterwards. It’s not bad, but there’s no moments that are truly spectacular or memorable. If it wasn’t for the great lead characters, the whole thing would fall flat.

Happy Anniversary succeeds in taking a tried and tested formula and still making it entertaining by adding a more modern and grounded sense of humour and a more realistic portrayal of a relationship that is struggling with commitment.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Death Toilet 4: Brown Snakes on a Plane – Film Review – Monster Mondays

Posted on December 20, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter
Death Toilet 4: Brown Snakes on A Plane (Video 2021) - IMDb

Director: Evan Jacobs

Starring: Mike Hartsfield, Isaac Golub, Evan Jacobs, Brian Howell, and Kathy Brookhouse

With something like Death Toilet 4, you know if it’s going to be for you pretty much from the title alone. It’s a silly over-the-top comedy that doesn’t take itself seriously by any stretch of the imagination. It’s full of toilet humour (pun intended) and special effects that are so hard to watch it’s funny. It’s the kind of film that will have you laughing one moment making you question why does this even exist?  

After a nice relaxing day playing frisbee on the beach Brett Baxter (Mike Hartsfield) and Father Dingleberry (Isaac Golub) discover that there’s been another toilet attack, this time killing a nun in a convent. They travel to the Vatican to deal with the problem, only to be attacked on the plane by a possessed toilet.

It’s completely ridiculous, bizarre and at the same time has some good laughs. Isaac Golub as Father D is so good. He’s so over the top and intense, to the point that you can’t help but laugh. At one point he’s talking to the pope about possessed toilets. The idea of that happening is one of the funniest things about this film.

The effects are gloriously bad, in the best way possible. The actual battle with the toilet looks so cheap that you’re more cringing at it than laughing. There is an overall charm about the whole thing, it looks like this was a lot of fun to make, and that feeling is infectious. Watching Brett being strangled by some kind of mystical toilet paper is just perfect.

It pretty much boils down to whether you like crass humour or not? If you do, then grab a couple of friends and make a night of it, you probably won’t regret it.  

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Matrix Revolutions – Pure CGI Action with Little Substance – Film Review

Posted on December 19, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter
The Matrix Revolutions (2003) - IMDb

Directors: The Wachowskis

Writers: The Wachowskis

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mary Alice, Ian Bliss, Monica Bellucci

Rating: ★★

The Matrix Revolutions was until now the final part of The Matrix series. It’s long been criticised for not living up the expectations of the original. Watching it now, with low expectations, it’s just as bad as its reputation says it is. It’s a shadow of the original and shouldn’t have been made in the first place. Unlike The Matrix Reloaded there are next to no redeeming qualities.

The film picks up exactly where Reloaded left off, with the big battle to decide the fate of humanity on the doors of Zion. All the threads that Reloaded set up are either discarded or given underwhelming conclusions. Smith (Hugo Weaving) is inhabiting Bane outside of the Matrix, except there’s no reason for him to be there and it doesn’t interfere with the plot. In anyway. What about that this iteration of the Matrix is the sixth one and the ‘One’ is a vital part of the Architects vision for the simulation, is that going to be brought up again in a meaningful way? No. Almost everything great about the series is left to one side so massive epic battles can take centre stage, leaving you with a hollow feeling after boredom seeps in and you start to drift away from the action on screen. Then you get to the actual ending, which is the most underwhelming it can possibly be. This isn’t the wrap up to the series that you want it to be.  

The effects and visuals are outstanding and would still stand up today against most releases. The world looks real, and they are convincing. But almost all of The Matrix Revolutions is completely reliant on them. The bulk of the film is humans sitting behind controls of mech suits or ships as they battle against hordes of CGI sentinels. It’s overdone and dragged out to such a ridiculous length that none of it is entertaining. It’s just dumb shooting waves and waves of enemies until Neo saves the day, yet again. There’s no heart to it, the characters that we’ve spent two films with are barely there except to propel the plot enough for another wave of CGI bullets flying in every direction. Neo is blinded, but for plot reasons can see again instantly.

In the same way the close-up fighting isn’t close to the greatness of its predecessors. Instead of there being entertaining and thrilling fight sequences, they’re driven up to the extreme with a flying Neo and Smith battling it out in the sky, that feels like something out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, except there’s no personality to it. There are still some moments that are reminiscent of the originals, but these feel like nostalgia driven call-backs to the first film, which at the time was only four years old. It’s like the film saying to you, ‘remember when Trinity froze in the air while doing the crane kick? Well, here it is again’, ‘remember when Neo beckoned Smith before the big fight? How about you watch it again’. It’s pure trash.

Agent Smith is reduced to little more than an angsty teenager having a teenager. He beats down Neo, only to ask why does he continue resisting? Is for love, which is a construct as artificial as the Matrix itself. It’s just drivel that doesn’t really serve any purpose apart from destroying the sinister image of the Smith from the first film. When the climactic battle first starts and there’s an entire army of Smiths waiting, to the point that it’s almost funny – except the film is completely void of humour and takes itself very seriously, it’s just hard to join in and get invested.

Rewatching The Matrix Revolutions now on the precipice of the long-awaited sequel being released almost destroys all excitement. It’s hard to believe that the same people behind the original are also responsible for this travesty. It may be great visually, but it’s completely soulless beyond that shallow surface and the ending is one of the least satisfying endings to a series ever made.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Matrix Reloaded – A Messy Follow Up to the Almost Perfect Original – Film Review

Posted on December 19, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter
The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - IMDb

Directors: The Wachowskis

Writers: The Wachowskis

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith, Gloria Foster

Rating: ★★★

The second film entry to the Matrix series is an overly ambitious and very messy follow-up to the near perfect original. It takes the original film and expands on it in every way, bigger scale, flashier effects, and deeper lore. It doesn’t have the same heart of the original, but it’s impossible to not admire what The Wachowskis were trying to do with it. This isn’t a safe sequel at all.

Picking up a few months after the original, Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) are still fighting as part of the resistance. They are being called back to Zion out of fear of an impending attack, while in the Matrix, Neo also meets the Oracle again to try and discover the secrets of the Matrix and its origins.

The original Matrix film didn’t really need a sequel. It’s a perfectly self-contained story that works on its own. Regardless a few years later there was not one but two sequels, that had been shot back-to-back and were released six months apart. The Wachowskis went all out in creating the sequels, with new technology being created for the visual effects and the world being expanded upon as much as possible. In some ways it works but it just doesn’t recapture the same magic as the first one.

The film is incredibly uneven, and it just hasn’t aged as well as the first one. The first hour or so is very slow and meandering without much purpose other than to set up the better second half, where things really get going. By the end though, this feels like little more than a steppingstone to the final part of the trilogy. There are loads of really cool moments and thrilling action sequences, but beyond that it’s really lacking in what made the first one so special. It doesn’t have the same connection with the characters and the incredibly detailed lore is there scattered throughout, but it’s not really until we get to The Architect almost two hours in, that it really pays off.

Even if the pacing is off, there are still a lot of things to love about it. The action scenes and fight choreography are all excellent. It’s a visual marvel and still stands up with impressive CGI and incredible moments that are simply pure adrenaline. Neo gets so many great moments, where it’s just awe inspiring to watch. It’s the same with the music, that hard industrial score is on a par with the original.

It’s stylish and sleek and looks great from start to finish. It feels like a bigger and more polished version of the original, just without the mind-blowing plot that the first one had. There are good moments in The Matrix Reloaded but it feels very shallow, especially when compared to what came before. It takes way too long to get going, and while the action and visuals are incredible, there’s not much else there.  

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment