Blue Lock the series sees a group of promising young soccer players enter an intense special program to try and find the best striker to help Japan compete on the world stage. The main focus of the series is from Isagi’s perspective but it features other characters like the one featured in the movie, Nagi. What we knew of Nagi from the series is that he isn’t fully committed to soccer initially, but is still somehow exceptional at the game. This is in contrast to Reo who knows what he wants and strives to be the best. The two work together as a unit, bringing out the best in each other. We know as they progress through the program, their paths begin to diverge as Nagi witnesses what it is like to actually care about the game. 

Heading into BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI-, I anticipated getting to see more backstory for Nagi and Reo before their entry into the Blue Lock program as the two came in together. While there is some of that portrayed, the movie is essentially a concurrent re-telling of what we saw of Nagi and Reo’s time in Blue Lock, and a good chunk of that which we didn’t see before, mainly from Nagi’s perspective. We get to see many appearances from characters we eventually meet in the main series, but during earlier rounds and in different matches. As such, most of the movie is already spoiled by what we know from the first season. There’s a certain simplicity to the straightforward movement through the different games and rounds which really enforces the feeling of a recap. There’s less payoff for each outcome, but it still feels great jumping back into the world of Blue Lock. 

The movie surprisingly has a slightly different feel to it than the main series likely due to the uneven pacing. There is less intensity built up as we fly through rounds, not allowing for more fleshed out moments and true character growth. Part of the charm of the series was witnessing each character leveling up in real time. Through that, we got to know them even more. Nagi and Reo enter the program at such a high level of talent. There are matches and games which see them tested, but there was a certain charm to Isagi’s constant need to improve which is easier to root for. We know Nagi begins to truly level up once he crosses paths with Isagi, so the wait for that moment is well anticipated. The contrast between the two really makes for a compelling story and makes the first season truly come to life as they interact more and bring out more in one another. 

In terms of animation, it appears to be ever so slightly different from the series, but it still retains the feel of Blue Lock. Characters are slightly less detailed, while on occasion some scenes have some impressively animated sequences. There’s definitely more of a cinematic feel to it in terms of the direction and certain angles portrayed on screen. 

The iconic Nagi scenes where he catches the ball midair or changes the direction and momentum remind us why he’s such a memorable and great character. Seeing his lack of true passion for the game turn into the character he becomes is such a great progression. 

As we get closer to the moment we see Nagi meet up with Isagi and his team for the first time, I felt a deeper connection to the movie. When they do show up, there’s something so instantly exciting seeing them in their elements once again. We know how they get Nagi fired up. This is when the movie truly begins to come into its own. 

Viewers of the series know the eventual outcome of the movie’s story, and oddly, Nagi’s “betrayal” of Reo when he wants to reach his own self potential is somewhat underwhelming from his direct POV. Had there been more time to flesh out the movie and get a deeper understanding of their relationship, the second time around could have hit harder. 

Having watched the English Dub version of the movie, it features all of the same cast returning and more. The familiar voices helped bring me right back into the world. You really need to have watched the series in order to truly appreciate the movie as it requires a bit of previous knowledge. There’s a worthwhile post credits scene which will only get you even more excited for the upcoming new season. 

I didn’t really know much about the manga spinoff which inspired this movie and in some ways, I can imagine a situation where the adaptation would have been better served as a separate series. This would allow for more connection to characters and allow the viewer to feel a deeper connection to Nagi and Reo. 

While not vital to the overall Blue Lock experience, the movie provides some new perspectives into the life of Nagi, Reo, and their journey so far. It retains some of the excitement and humor of the series, while not really hitting the emotional highs and intense moments which made the series stand out amongst other sports anime. Even ever so slightly underwhelming, in the end, it did get me even more excited for the upcoming new season, helping to bridge the gap during the wait for more. The series is set to return this October and will consist of 14 episodes.

BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI- premieres June 28 in theaters in Japanese with English subtitles and dubbed in English. Season two of Blue Lock premieres in October.

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Shoyo Hinata and the rest of the Karasuno High volleyball team continue their run at the Spring Nationals, this time facing their fellow underdog rivals Nekoma High in the third round. It’s a fun matchup where the two teams really know the other well. Their interactions on the court highlights how everyone continues to level up due to their rivalry. It is such a fun match to watch due to the respect, admiration, and desire to win between the two teams. 

I especially loved the way Kenma is utilized in the story. His friendship and rivalry with Hinata helps the story stand out. As with past matches, there are some players who have bigger focuses on them than other this time around. We see their struggles, their inner battles, and the way they adjust when the time is needed. Your favorite player may not have a huge role overall, but everyone gets a moment or two to shine. 

The film retains its classic humor. We’re introduced to some hilarious new Hinata faces. It utilizes its humor along with some of its more lighthearted moments to balance out more intense and emotional scenes. I felt like Yachi watching the movie. Endless stress and anticipation, nerves, and excitement all at once. Time flies by fast in the 85 minute long film as the intensity picks up. It is well paced and flows naturally.

The transition from To The Top to the film is seamless as it feels like the previous season just ended and flows right into the next part of the story. One of the best parts was the focus on a whole match which makes the movie feel similar to the way season long arcs played out. When the score kicks it, you really get the sense that this is a movie, not just a new season.

While it may not an ideal place to jump into the series, the film does enough with context clues and flashbacks (Hello nostalgia! Look how far everyone has come!) to provide enough backstory and information to anyone who may not know too much about the series. It’s clearly an important moment in the course of the overall series, but will be entertaining for anyone watching.

Since the animation style changed in the previous season, I’ve become accustomed to everyone’s new looks. The film is just as well animated, maybe even better than some of the scenes in To The Top part two which felt under-animated at times. It’s familiar, yet pushes its limits even further.

Some great new movements and “camera angles” we haven’t seen used often before help the film stand apart. There’s one sequence towards the end that is one of the coolest animated scenes yet in the whole series from an unexpected perspective that builds with intensity and leaves you on the edge of your seat. The audio that goes along with it only enhances it to even greater heights. That scene will stay with you and highlights how a series about Volleyball can be so impressive.

The English dub voice cast does a great job jumping right back into character even with the gap since the last series aired. Some intense guttural screams even made my vocal cords hurt as I watched. The commitment is impressive and provides for a wonderful experience. While I didn’t view the film with English subtitles, I’m sure vocally the original Japanese cast does a wonderful job as well.

It is hard to believe this is the beginning of the end of HAIKYU!! unless there’s something in the works we’re not aware of yet. A second final movie is already confirmed to be coming. It’s going to be a really hard time letting go of these characters when it feels like there is still so much more to explore! 

HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle does not disappoint and will leave fans begging for more. This series continues to show how a sports anime can be so much more than just about a sport. There is real human emotion, imagination and love put into every moment. 

HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle premieres May 31, only in theaters. Run time: 85 minutes. Language: Japanese with English subtitles & English dub. 

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I felt compelled to review this movie because as a friend said Marvel needs no defenders, but the DC Entertainment Universe does. Somewhere along the way, despite the fact that Man of Steel made a boat load of money, critics ripped it apart. #NotOurSuperman became a thing and henceforth everything DCEU gets hated. That’s not to say there aren’t legitimate criticisms to dish out. Suicide Squad is a mess. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is an entirely different film when you watch the Ultimate Edition as opposed to the Theatrical Cut and that’s a problem. When I rewatch BvS, which I do often because yes, I like that film, it’s always the ultimate edition. That means it’s a 3-hour undertaking but it’s worth it. If you haven’t given it a watch, you should. Treat it like the old days when a VHS movie was 3 hours long and you needed two different VHS tapes just to watch it. Break it up, it’s worth it. There’s a story there on both sides between Batman and Superman and you understand exactly why everything goes down the way does.

But I’m not here to convince you to watch BvS. I’m here to tell you why you should give Justice League a chance. The first thing I’m going to tell you is going to be a bit ironic and that’s not lost on me as what it is I’m going to tell you is to not read reviews in which I understand that this is a review and so I’m asking you to read this, but, well yeah.

There are people out, professional and amateur reviewers alike, who have gotten it into their mind that these movies are terrible, and they walk into them deciding that they’re going to be terrible, and so they come out and the review is as such is terrible – nitpicking every single possible thing that you could find wrong with the movie. Here’s a nifty tidbit, you can find something wrong with ANY movie, with EVERY movie.

Perhaps you took note that I referred to Man of Steel and BvS as a film and I’ve been referring to Justice League as a movie. That’s because they are two different things. There are films and there are movies; sometimes they’re the same thing and sometimes they’re not. Justice League is a great movie. It does exactly what it sets out to do and it’s successful at that. I don’t want to spoil anything but honestly there’s not much to spoil. What you assume happens, happens. Batman and Wonder Woman assemble a team, Superman gets brought back from the dead (no that is not a spoiler); they come together, defeat the bad guy, and the Justice League is formed. All of that can be ascertained from the trailer. It’s executed well, the music is great, it doesn’t spend a large amount of time “setting up” the plot. The villain backstory is done via a quick flashback and onward they go.

There’s a fair amount of time spent with The Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman as there should be seeing as we know the other 3 quite well at this point. Even they don’t receive a huge amount of exposition and that’s fine because all 3 of them have standalone movies coming and you can spend all the time in the world with them then.

Ezra Miller is a stand out as The Flash/Barry Allen and when I say stand out, you will love him or hate him, I doubt there will be an in between. I loved him. His performance is different enough from Grant Gustin (CW’s The Flash) that I never felt like he was encroaching on my Barry that’s existed on tv for 4 years now.

Ray Fisher as Cyborg/Victor Stone was another surprise for me. Going into this I thought I would be least impressed by this character and he proved me wrong. Where I wasn’t the least bit interested in a Cyborg stand alone, now I’m all in.

One big surprise came in the vein of Jason Momoa as Aquaman/Arthur Curry. While yes he’s quite easy on the eyes and his dude-bro approach to the role was great, he didn’t end up being the stand out I expected. I was most excited to see this character and while he does a great job, he wasn’t what I walked away gushing about.

Anyone who knows me or listens to my podcast knows Batman is my favorite. Ever. I love Batman. Christian Bale is my favorite Batman. When Ben Affleck was cast as Batman, I led the #NoBatfleck brigade. Ben has, how do I put this nicely, never been my favorite actor. I go out of my way to not watch his movies. His casting is why I never saw BvS in theaters and then one day, after hearing my friend Russ (@russburlingame) discuss how much he loved that movie and respecting his opinion, I decided to watch it. I walked away from that film blown away by the fact that Ben Affleck was my favorite thing about it. After watching Justice League, I had a mini-twitter meltdown over how much I love him as Batman. It’s left me questioning every opinion I’ve ever had about film and actors and the best way to describe it is “shook”. I can wholeheartedly say he my 2nd favorite Batman. Ever.

I’ve had a weird relationship with Superman most of my life. I loved him as a kid and somewhere along the way became disenchanted by him. To the point where I almost didn’t watch the CW’s Supergirl because I found Superman “dumb”. I didn’t love Man of Steel the first time I watched it because it was so “not my Superman”. That film ages beautifully and I like it more each time I watch it. Henry Cavill has completely won me over. When Superman shows up in Justice League, it’s like Christmas. He has 2 big entrances, the 2nd even better than the first and I was crying actual tears. Hope literally radiates off the screen when he shows up and maybe it’s just the way I feel about the world in general at this moment, but he makes me feel like we can have nice things.

Gal Gadot is just as precious, badass, and perfect as ever as Wonder Woman. If you haven’t seen her film, go watch it. Now. No like stop reading this and go watch it, then come back…. done? Ok. She’s everything she was in her stand alone and more. She’s front and center right alongside Batman and she is literally every woman who has ever had a group of guy friends. “I work with children”. Yup. We feel ya Diana.

What wasn’t so great about this movie? Steppenwolf. Ciarán Hinds does a fine job in his CGI role as the big bad, he’s menacing when he needs to be proclaiming world domination and all. Is he a focal point of greatness? No. Is his CGI weird and off? Yes. Do I give any f**** about that? No. He serves his purpose. He creates a threat that the team needs to expunge. There’s a tie in with him, his mother boxes and another team member that’s interesting. He has history with the Amazons and the Atlanteans. And yeah, he’s just there for being there’s sake. He’s not overtly impressive.

This movie exists solely to get the band together so at the end of the day, the villain is a bit lacking, but it doesn’t ruin the entertainment value of the rest of the movie. I could make this villain argument about several superhero movies, DCEU and Marvel combined, so I’m not sure this is the hill to die on in the “this movie sucks” group think for those of you who hate it.

My final thought to you is, if you enjoy these characters, if you like fun and entertaining movies, go see this. Don’t read negative reviews, don’t read Rotten Tomatoes scores, just go make your own opinion. If you’re a comic book lover, Justice League lover, there’s a ton of Easter eggs in this movie. There’s a lot of fan service. I enjoyed it immensely, I’ve seen it twice already. I hope you do too.

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Copyright: © 2017 ALCON ENTERTAINMENT, LLC; Photo Credit: Stephen Vaughan

For those who have watched the original, expect to see a few familiar faces in minor roles. Harrison Ford reprises the role of Rick Deckard, the first film’s hero but his part in the film is different from how trailers presented it. This isn’t a buddy cop movie and Deckard isn’t the wise mentor. While Deckard provides an important connection between the two films, the central character in Blade Runner 2049 is a replicant who works for the LAPD named K (Gosling). Unlike many long awaited sequels, this one doesn’t just drop the same characters in similar situations as the previous film. Instead, elements from the original movie are used to give the current story line a foundation for a new original story to be built.

Like Deckard in the first film, K’s job is to track down rogue replicants and “retire” them. While on a job , he makes a discovery that according to his boss Lieutenant Joshi (Robin Wright) could break the world. Or in other words shakes up the status quo. K is assigned to destroy the evidence and his investigation takes a surprising turn of self-discovery. Nefarious replicant manufacturer Niander Wallace  (Jared Leto) and his replicant minion Luv (Sylvia Hoeks) are the film’s villains.

Copyright: © 2017 ALCON ENTERTAINMENT, LLC; Photo Credit: Stephen Vaughan

This isn’t a typical action flick where the cocky dude bro defeats the bad guy so that he can get with the hot chick. It’s quite the opposite. K is a soft-spoken replicate who is in a committed relationship with his girlfriend Joi (Ana de Armas), a holographic artificial intelligence. At one point another character accuses him of not liking “real girls”, perhaps a nod to Gosling’s role in the film Lars and the Real Girl. However, Joi is real to K and their romance feels surprisingly genuine. Whether their connection is in fact genuine or not is left somewhat ambiguous.

The film is a philosophical character study with K’s journey exploring what it actually means to be human. Is humanity something that we are born with? Can it be manufacture or earned? Gosling, in perhaps his best performance ever, switches back and forth from the hollowness of an android to complex emotion seamlessly as the story unravels. The goal isn’t to tackle the bad guy so much as for K to find his purpose, if he has one.

In today’s world of very real villains, Blade Runner 2024’s examination of what it means to have a soul provides some food for thought. Replicants are designed to be submissive slave labor. They are treated as lesser and dispensable. Condescending remarks are made to them and in their presence with a cruel superiority. People abuse their power knowing there will be no retaliation. It can be frightening just how inhumane humans can be.

Oscar nominated director Denis Villeneuve directed the film from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, story by Fancher, based on characters from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Tim Gamble, Frank Giustra, Yale Badik and Val Hill also executive produced.

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