Angel's Anime Rating Guide

Today, Mom and I went to see the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker ... While the First Order continues to ravage the galaxy, Rey finalizes her training as a Jedi. But danger suddenly rises from the ashes as the evil Emperor Palpatine mysteriously returns from the dead. While working with Finn and Poe Dameron to fulfill a new mission, Rey will not only face Kylo Ren once more, but she will also finally discover the truth about her parents as well as a deadly secret that could determine her future and the fate of the ultimate final showdown that is to come. Tony took Mom and I to the theater today to see the latest incarnation of Star Wars featuring supposedly the last of the Skywalker saga. Tony stopped by early this morning and we had breakfast at the local golden arches. Then, we headed out the Franklin Mills Mall which for some reason that defies description, wants to be called Philadelphia Mills Mall. Thanks go to Lillian who graciously provided the free tic...

Over the weekend, Mom and I saw the theatrical release of Frozen 2 ... Why was Elsa born with magical powers? The answer is calling her and threatening her kingdom. Together with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven, she'll set out on a dangerous but remarkable journey. In Frozen, Elsa feared her powers were too much for the world. In Frozen 2, she must hope they are enough. We arrived at the theater a bit early and had our usual seats. Mom tried out the hot dogs and they are much better than they used to be. Previously, the theater offered hot dog infused with a spice like sage and had a rather odd aftertaste. Now, the theater is offering Nathans brand hot dogs. We had nachos and pretzel bites and the usual overpriced soda and settled into our seats for the pre-show commercials and trailers. Frozen 2 picks up sometime after the events of the last movie and introduces flashbacks with Elsa and Anna's parents as they tell the tale of a magical forest shrouded in a perpetual mist...

This weekend, I saw the theatrical release of Abominable ... When teenage Yi (Chloe Bennet, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) encounters a young Yeti on the roof of her apartment building in Shanghai, she and her mischievous friends, Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor) and Peng (Albert Tsai), name him Everest and embark on an epic quest to reunite the magical creature with his family at the highest point on Earth. But the trio of friends will have to stay one-step ahead of Burnish (Eddie Izzard), a wealthy man intent on capturing a Yeti, and zoologist Dr. Zara (Sarah Paulson) to help Everest get home. Abominable is a heartwarming tale of love, loss, friendship and family. Join Yi as she seeks to return her newfound Yeti friend to his home and family. Along the way, Yi rediscovers the importance of family and the power of friendship. Standing in the path of our brave heroes is a wealthy and obsessed explorer who has been ridiculed in the past for claiming to have encountered a Yeti and havi...

Today, I saw the theatrical release of Angry Birds 2 ... Red, Chuck, Bomb and the rest of their feathered friends are surprised when a green pig suggests that they put aside their differences and unite to fight a common threat. Aggressive birds from an island covered in ice are planning to use an elaborate weapon to destroy the fowl and swine way of life. After picking their best and brightest, the birds and pigs come up with a scheme to infiltrate the island, deactivate the device and return to their respective paradises intact. I really wanted to get out and see a movie, so, Mom and I headed over to the local theater to see Angry Birds 2 . We arrived a bit early, but, as it turned out, we got there even before the theater opened for business. We wanted to catch the morning showing at 11:25am, but, the theater didn't open until 11:15am. It was a bit closer of a call than Mom and I would have liked. We actually missed the twenty minutes of commercials that are shown before the p...

While researching a handful of Dr. Seuss titles in my collection, I came across a live action trailer for Dr. Seuss' Butter Battle Book . I had to share... The Butter Battle Book, Dr. Seuss's classic cautionary tale, introduces us to the important lesson of respecting differences. The Yooks and Zooks share a love of buttered bread, but animosity brews between the two groups because they prefer to enjoy the tasty treat differently. According to Ben Reyes of Capital Arts Productions , the production company behind the short: [This is] a short trailer created for the Ottawa Public Library. It's a live action rendition of Dr Seuss' allegory to the Cold War: The Butter Battle Book. It also pays homage to Dr Strangelove. A huge thank you goes out the Diefenbunker for letting us film in their facility! ...The wall is part of a picture that I photoshopped into a bigger wall, and then using motion tracking software I was able to composite it into the shot. In the a...

Years ago, I saw a movie about aliens dressed in shiny outfits performing experiments on humans in what appeared to be a cheap motel. After poking around in the depths of the internet for a while, I came up with: Laboratory ... From Robert Emenegger (The Killings at Outpost Zeta), comes a tale of alien abduction. Six strangers from all walks of life are abducted from their homes by aliens and brought to a mysterious LABORATORY to be the subjects of gruesome alien experiments. Circa 1980, Laboratory , not to be confused with the Bollywood title of the same name from 2010, was part of a series of space-themed movies from the early '80s including The Killings at Outpost Zeta and Captive that had rather frequent rotation in the Philadelphia area back in the days when local stations ran all sorts of obscure movies instead of infomercials. Laboratory was as bargain basement, as low-budget films come, but, what stood out -- even today -- was the design choice to dress the aliens in...

Over the weekend, Sammy, Mom and I went to see Solo .... Young Han Solo finds adventure when he joins a gang of galactic smugglers, including a 196-year-old Wookie named Chewbacca. Indebted to the gangster Dryden Vos, the crew devises a daring plan to travel to the mining planet Kessel to steal a batch of valuable coaxium. In need of a fast ship, Solo meets Lando Calrissian, the suave owner of the perfect vessel for the dangerous mission -- the Millennium Falcon. We had made alternate plans for this weekend, but, in the end, events conspired against us and we ended up seeing a movie instead. Upon reflection, I realized that I've seen every theatrical release in the Star Wars franchise since the beginning. It's been a while since Sammy was able to join me, so, he was looking forward to the latest feature. We arrived a little early and found our usual seats waiting for us. There was quite a bit of action and few twists and turns in the story and overall, it was a very nice ad...

I've been a fan of Thundercats since the series premiered in Philly in the mid-1980s. So, imagine my surprise when I heard that there was going to be a new Thundercats reboot with a comedy twist, not unlike Teen Titans Go . It looks interesting, but, I can't say with a straight face, that I'm really excited about this new incarnation of the classic series. I'll keep an open mind, but, I do have some doubts. While the angel on my shoulder would like this incarnation of Thundercats to succeed, the devil on the opposite shoulder doesn't like seeing Thundercats as a comedy and has whispered in my ear that the series should crash and burn. By the way, I can't say that I'm a fan of Lion-O's weird ears. They're not quite elf ears or cat ears... Some people have described them as cow ears. Moving on. The rebooted series is expected to air on  Cartoon Network  sometime in 2019.

Recently, Mom and I decided to head out to our local theater and see Star Wars: The Last Jedi . Luke Skywalker's peaceful and solitary existence gets upended when he encounters Rey, a young woman who shows strong signs of the Force. Her desire to learn the ways of the Jedi forces Luke to make a decision that changes their lives forever. Meanwhile, Kylo Ren and General Hux lead the First Order in an all-out assault against Leia and the Resistance for supremacy of the galaxy. The next installment of the Star Wars franchise picked up where the last feature left off - with Rey standing on a lonely island across from a grizzled-looking Luke Skywalker. The aftermath of the long-awaited meeting between Luke and Rey was a bit disappointing, but, somewhat understandable given Luke's issues with Kylo Ren and his reluctance to see things go horribly wrong with Rey. Meanwhile, the resistance finds themselves in dire straits as imperial forces close in on the last remnants of their ran...

Over the weekend, I saw the theatrical release of Wonder Woman ... An Amazon princess (Gal Gadot) finds her idyllic life on an island occupied only by female warriors interrupted when a pilot (Chris Pine) crash-lands nearby. After rescuing him, she learns that World War I is engulfing the planet, and vows to use her superpowers to restore peace. Wonder Woman  follows Diana's growth from a young girl to adulthood and her fateful meeting with Steve. Trapped on Diana's island home, Steve wants to return to his people to complete his mission and Diana wants to venture out into the world beyond her island home, to go to the front lines of a conflict that has embroiled the entire world and threatens humanity itself. So, Steve and Diana head out into the battlefields of World War I on an epic quest to save humanity. There is some violence, but, the feature is not particularly gory. Overall, Wonder Woman was very entertaining. Even Mom, who doesn't usually get excited about mo...

Today, I saw the live-action version of Beauty And The Beast in my local theater... Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) directed this live-action retelling of the Disney animated classic from 1991. As before, this fairy tale centers on a young woman named Belle (Emma Watson), who is forced to live in an enchanted castle with a prince who is cursed to look like a hideous Beast (Dan Stevens). In time, the pair fall in love as Belle learns to see the good man hiding behind the Beast's monstrous exterior. The film co-stars Luke Evans as Gaston, Ewan McGregor as Lumière, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Ian McKellen as Cosgworth, Kevin Kline as Belle's father, and Josh Gad as Gaston's sidekick LeFou. I went to an early afternoon showing of Beauty And The Beast . This feature is essentially the same story as the cartoon with some extra scenes and even more singing. That being said, the live-action version is a bit more intense in some spots, than the cartoon version, so, the youngest Disney...

This past weekend, I saw Rogue One in the theater... From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves. For weeks ahead of time, I played and replayed the trailers on my phone. When the time came, Mom and I along with Anthony, went to a late afternoon showing of Rogue One in our local theater. We got to the theater a bit early so we could reserve our usual seats. Anthony and I got the snacks while Mom camped out in the theater. As we were getting settled, Anthony carefully folded his jacket and promptly sat on his snacks -- Oops! The crowd was a little rowdy during the previe...

Sometime ago, I heard of a fan effort to produce a feature film set in the Star Trek universe. I let the thought drift away for a while. Then, recently, the project came back to the forefront after a lawsuit against the fan production came to light. Recently, I had a look at Prelude To Axanar ... According to IMDB ... Prelude to Axanar is an independent Star Trek project that tells the story of Captain Kirk's hero, Garth of Izar, during the war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. It is shot as a documentary and is the back story for the forthcoming feature 'Axanar'. Prelude to Axanar received $ 101,000 in a successful Kickstarter campaign and the finished film helped the Axanar team raise $ 638,000 in their second Kickstarter for the upcoming feature film. I've seen  Prelude To Axanar  and it is really quite impressive. Most of the film is in the form of a documentary with interviews from some of the survivors of the Battle of Axanar. Between th...

Over the weekend, Mom and I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens ... Three decades after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, a new threat arises. The First Order attempts to rule the galaxy and only a ragtag group of heroes can stop them, along with the help of the Resistance. We caught a late afternoon showing at our local theater. As usual Mom and I like to arrive a bit early so we can secure our favorite seats and have enough time to get snacks and still catch the previews. We weren't entirely sure what to expect from this new installment in the franchise, but, for better or worse we were going to see the movie. There is certainly a lot of action in this installment, so, those of you who've been living under rocks since the 70's or those of you too young to know any better, you might still enjoy the feature without knowing the background. Of course, if you do know the background, this feature answers some important questions while also creating some new questions. We...

Years ago, I saw a fascinating horror movie about people trapped on an island surrounded by flesh eating creatures in the water. I vaguely recall a scene in which one unfortunate victim appeared to have been eaten alive, but, in fact, this victim was already dead and a recording of the victim's screams was being played. I couldn't remember what the title of the movie was, but, after some poking around on the web, I came up with: The Flesh Eaters ... A hard-bitten, down-on-his-luck charter pilot (Byron Sanders) is hired by an alcoholic movie actress (Rita Morley) and her nubile personal assistant (Barbara Wilkin) to fly them to Provincetown. But mechanical problems and an impending storm force them to land on a deserted island habited by a German scientist (Martin Kosleck) harboring secret experiments and an even darker past. Featuring taut direction by Jack Curtis and punctuated by snappy dialogue from screenwriter Arnold brake. The Flesh Eaters has cemented its cult classic ...

Years ago, I happened to see a movie about rocks that killed people attempting to settle on an alien world, but, I couldn't remember the title. After a thorough search of the web, I came across an article describing exactly what I was looking for: The Killings At Outpost Zeta ... Outpost Zeta is a barren planet on the edge of the Milky Way, but it has strategic importance to the military establishment on Earth. Earth Base has sent several space ships to Zeta, but none have returned. So a top-flight team of six earth soldiers and scientists is dispatched to investigate the fate of the earlier expeditions. What they find are the corpses of the earlier crews, corpses with their insides sucked out. The killers reveal themselves as volcanic-rock monsters who exhale oxygen, and the Earthlings discover that a whiff of fresh air can mean sudden and horrible death. Will the Earth soldiers outwit the space monsters and survive? Slowly the action builds to a pulse-racing climax which will...

Many years ago, before Elmo was all the rage on PBS, there were shows like Read All About It! According to Wikipedia ... Read All About It! was a Canadian educational television series produced from 1979 to 1983 by TVOntario that aired during the early to mid 1980s; It also aired in repeats in the 1990s. It starred David Craig Collard as Chris, Lydia Zajc as Lynne, Stacey Arnold as Samantha, and Sean Hewitt as Duneedon, ruler of the galaxy Trialviron. In the second season Michael Dwyer joined the cast as Alex. The main goal of the show was to try and teach viewers about skills such as reading and writing & history in the midst of an entertaining program... Read All About It! focused on Chris who inherited his uncle Derek's coach house after his mysterious disappearance. The show took place in the fictitious town of Herbertville, where Chris and his friends Lynne and Samantha started a newspaper called The Herbertville Chronicle in uncle Derek's coach house. The coach h...

I picked up the Michael Shayne Mysteries box set yesterday. Why? Because it spoke to me and said "buy me"... This very welcome box set turns up the heat on one of detective films' cold cases. Created by Brett Halliday, Michael Shayne appeared in 31 books between the 1940s and '70s. He is not as popularly known as other screen shamuses, but he's good company. As portrayed by Lloyd Nolan (best known as curmudgeonly Dr. Chegley on the groundbreaking sitcom Julia), Shayne is not as hard-boiled as Sam Spade or as sage as Charlie Chan. But, as one shady character observes to someone whom Shayne has just pasted, "You know better than to mix with Shayne." He's a working-class mug ("His office is in his hat, his home is in his car," he remarks), usually "down on his luck" and short on cash. As Michael Shayne, Private Detective (1940) opens, the furniture from his office is being repossessed. Still, Shayne has ethics enough to turn down ...

According to AnimeNation ... Iconic illustrator & painter Frank Frazetta passed away yesterday in Fort Myers, Florida, of complications following a stroke. He was 82. Frazetta’s work included comics, movie posters, and well-known cover illustrations for pulp fantasy novel franchises including Conan, Tarzan, and John Carter of Mars. Animation fans may be most familiar with Frazetta’s work through his 1983 film collaboration with animator/director Ralph Bakshi, Fire and Ice . I have Fire and Ice on DVD and Wizards , another Bakshi production, Frazetta's name is invoked as an incantation by the lead character. Recently, I also picked up Frazetta: Painting with Fire ... For the last half century, Frank Frazetta has dominated the world of Fantasy Art with his images of fierce warriors, helpless princesses, and fantastical creatures set in the most lavish landscapes. Journey to a place where up until now, only the privileged have been able to witness the man behind the le...

Recently, I picked up Comic Book Confidential ... As Kevin Smith observes in his 2002 introduction to the DVD, Ron Mann's 1989 documentary Comic Book Confidential hasn't lost a bit of its relevance. It emerged as comics were enjoying a popular renaissance, when Frank Miller was redefining the Batman mythos in the mainstream, and scores of independent artists found their unique voices in the burgeoning aftermath of the underground comics explosion of the '60s and early '70s. Mann's irreverent sensibilities are perfectly suited to this graphically kinetic history of comic books from the early '30s to the late '80s, itself presented as a graphic hybrid of comic art, archival footage, and lively interviews. All of the major players are included from each era, and Mann's masterstroke--having latter-day comics innovators read from their work--makes for some delicious storytelling straight from the source. Comic Book Confidential is a documentary that touche...