The Legend of Korra - Episodes 9-12 (Finale)

 Kind of good. But had a lot of issues. 

This is where more of the soap opera-level reveals come in. X character is secretly MY BROTHER!!! is a twist you see trotted out in lower-level TV shows. It's basic and lazy unless it's worked on properly. It's what makes me think they just kind of pasted Amon together instead of thinking about where he'd end up from the beginning. 

The thing is, deflating Amon means the entire conflict loses its raison d'etre, so there's no nuance to the conflict, just some idiots who are wrong and the good guys who are totally right. The original was NEVER like that. That's what made it so good! They try to retroactively make him nuanced in later seasons by acknowledging the good intentions, but it would've been great to see it here too. And they also pull a double deflation by suddenly turning Hiroshi Sato into a heat-of-the-moment attempted child murderer, when the one thing that was constant about him is that he wanted his daughter on his side. Like Amon, it's just undercutting his present character for a cheap shocking moment. It just doesn't pop. 

And then when Lin sacrifices herself to let the airbenders escape and then they're immediately captured with NO explanation by the next episode, it undercuts HER sacrifice for a cheap shocking moment. And then when after a season of nothing Korra suddenly knows how to airbend, it undercuts the rules of their UNIVERSE for a cheap shocking moment! Bending NEVER, ever worked because you wanted it, it was dependent on effort and technique.

If I'm totally honest, I think Korra not being able to airbend might never have been a good plan in the first place. It sounds like a good hook, but didn't have a satisfying conclusion. Perhaps a better angle would've been, "she can airbend a little, but frankly, is too immature to to ACT like an evasive airbender, so she can't advance past a certain level." With the season being about her adapting to a new place, adjusting to new people, and building worthwhile bonds, the airbending MO of evasion and outmaneuvering would've been a great metaphor to work with. Then she could've lost her bending, fought Amon in a no-bending fist fight 'cause she cares about her friends that much, and then we still could've gotten the same ending we had. Heck, you still could've kept the Amon backstory, just switch out the source of his bending removal for spirit powers and his point would've still stood. It would've all worked, been very moving, stuck to the rules of the universe, and been awesome. But we didn't get that, we got a bunch of jumbling. 

Writing this helps me realize the real value of the Korra series, which is that it's a great case study in building a sequel series to a beloved and high-production-value property ... and improving substantially when it realized it wasn't landing like the originals did. Look at Star Wars. The people on it worked so hard, but fan reception all over has been variable and frosty, and it's not 'cause the creators are stupid, it's something else. And that something else is what Korra shows us. A sequel doesn't fail because it's TERRIBLE, it fails because it doesn't make a story that evokes the same themes the original did. The original was about fascism. It was about spirituality. It was about how regimes get built up. It was about China and Japan and martial arts and the annexing of Tibet and genocide and respect and balance and cultural responsibility. It was all of those things together, and that's what made it great. But Book 1 of Legend of Korra was not all that. Not enough of that. And that's why it landed so badly. But it landed well enough, 'cause I think it got so many darn views that the series got approved for three more seasons, and that's why I have three more seasons to write about on here! Onward! 

The Legend of Korra - Episodes 5-8

 

I'll give it this - Episode 6 was one of the coolest episodes of TV that year. It was everything the first four episodes was building up to; the rising conflict with Amon, the budding teamwork with her buddies, the roles of Tenzin and co. in maintaining peaceful relations. It all comes crashing together here for a great episode with great action that blows your socks off and also has some awesome music. 

Negatives? Well, the fifth episode was where the entire series fell apart. 

Not indisputably! It was just the episode where everything that DIDN'T pop about the series came to the forefront and was badly executed. Love triangles, soap opera-level reveals, people cheating on other people, poorly scripted relationships, rom-com banter. The original had dashes of these things, no doubt, but this was too much all at once with none of the things people liked. We liked the banter in the original because we liked the characters so much, and the story was building to something meaningful. To make a rom-com plot the hook one-third of the way through (to put it in perspective, at this point in ATLA S1 they were learning Aang had to defeat the Fire Lord in six months) makes you feel like it's not taking itself seriously, and the frankly cringy romantic plot didn't make people laugh. The thing about the original that attracted people wasn't that it was a sit-com or a romance; it was a coming-of-age martial arts fantasy epic with a sense of humor and good characters. Going full rom-com so early in the sequel just felt like a mistake. And it was. 

But the later episodes are better. They really push along the Equalist plot. They have a decent twist with (spoilers) Asami's father and a slightly weaker but still intriguing twist with Tarrlok. It's really here where the season starts feeling pasted together, but it's still mostly good, and the artwork, music, and mood are still stunning as usual. Not the greatest, but far from the worst. All right. 

Moving on. 

The Legend of Korra - Episodes 1-4

I've decided to do a retrospective of The Legend of Korra chunk-by-chunk, because it's such an amazing series, but also because it was such a frustratingly mediocre one at first. I remember when the series was first being released and every week felt like Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap - you know someone is murdering someone, but you can't figure out how or who. Every episode felt like what you wanted, but also what you didn't want, and the fandom went crazy trying to justify or neutralize X point of view. The truth, if we're honest, is that the first two seasons had only two writers (the creators) doing the whole thing, when its predecessor, and Seasons 3 and 4 had the whole team that made the franchise flow together. With just two writers, they were able to get big chunks of it right, and the world was as exciting and magical as ever, but the big chunks of mediocrity hurt that much more. It hurts most of all to see potential wasted, certainly more than to see something that just isn't good. And hence, the mixed bag but still beloved series we got. I'll break it down chunk by chunk. 

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Legend of Korra - Episodes 1-4 

I'll say this - the first four episodes are golden. The two-parter opening is everything you could want from the successor to Avatar: The Last Airbender; the characters have grown up, the world has matured, their accomplishments are honored and treasured, the old problems no longer exist. The past show isn't ignored, but it doesn't take center stage. It's honored, it's respected, and present in a way that understands that the next generation has to take charge, and that the passing of the torch is a joyful thing. Beautiful.

A small plot point nitpick - the only one for these episodes, really. I've always thought it was a little silly that Avatar Aang and Katara only ever had three kids, only one of whom was an airbender, when the whole point of the last series was that Aang was the last one and would have to repopulate them himself. And even laying aside the unfair and pushy genetic imperative that they're under no obligation to overcommit to, Aang and Katara are the most cuddly couple in animation, just went through their equivalent of World War II, and are both deeply nurturing people who play with babies and teach little kids. You're telling me they only had three of them?! They can't even justify it with issues of Katara's health, 'cause we know their world has pretty awesome waterbending healthcare, and we never even hear in passing of a woman dying in childbirth. We see a childbirth taking place in a cave, and she still turns out fine! The issue of them having three kids like a generic midde-class home is a storytelling decision made so there's only one person Korra can learn airbending from, and it was probably made pretty early in the process so they could strap down the story. And that's fine. But I think it's a little silly. 

Nitpick aside, this is a great batch of episodes. The new cast is wonderful - Tenzin feels legit, Bolin and Mako are fun and new, Asami is elegant and fills a good role. The villain is great - like its predecessor, Amon comes across with real menace and a nuanced opponent to the main cast. Like the Fire Nation tried to make everything Fire Nation instead of letting people be distinct, Amon wants everyone to be non-bender instead of letting people be who they are. And he feels very different, too. He's a guerilla, not an overlord. He's a close-up fighter, not a fire-blaster. And his ability to remove bending feels genuinely menacing instead of just a little brush-up. It's almost too good, because the explanation reached for it (which feels like it was thought of after the fact) ends up detracting from his coolness with its mundane nature. But for now, he's awesome, and I love it. There's also the fact that his propaganda and appearance draws a lot from communist imagery of the time, especially Chairman Mao, another proponent of "equality". It's the kind of semi-historical allusion/artistic reference point that the original did so well, and part of why people remember it so fondly! It's not just raising a moral question, it's using actual history to say, 'hey, a version of this really happened, and you oughta think about what that means.' Great. 

There's not really much to say, except to give this a ringing endorsement, so I'll leave it all here and move on to the next batch! :)

August Rush

 

Directed by: Kirsten Sheridan

Screenplay by: The guy who wrote Hook and the original Micheal Myers!

Starring: Freddie Highmore, Robin Williams, Keri Russell, Terrence Howard

The premise is basically magic Oliver Twist. A seeming orphan, the result of a romance between an Irish guitarist and a classical cellist, feels the power of music drawing him to New York City, where he'll learn to play and navigate an unlikely cast of characters. 

Despite that awesome premise, it’s sadly not that great. The script is frankly a mess, and the film feels like it thought its premise was enough and they didn't need to polish the reactions or the pacing or sadly even the music. It's great when there IS music, but when there isn't, it just doesn't hold together. 

If you're trying to get your kid to think this stuff is cool, this isn't the worst example. They'll probably understand it and think it's cute. But if you want their expectations realistic, there's a number of better options. Sing; Sing Street; Raise Your Voice. These feel like proper musicals and show the actual process of learning music, instead of just having magically knowing it. If your kid can't become Batman just by wanting it, they can't become musicians either, so you're better off with something else.

I'd half-recommend, but not really recommend. Now you know.

Fury (2014)

Directed by: David Ayer, writer of Training Day, End of Watch, and The Fast and The Furious

Starring: Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Micheal Peña

“Ideals are peaceful, history is violent.”

This line forms the grim background of Brad Pitt’s 2014 foray into a serious World War II film, dramatized by the ideals of the Allies brought into violent being by the titular tank. It’s also the throughline of the main plot involving Pitt mentoring young rookie Norman - an ideal can have all the good intentions in the world, but historically and tragically, many ideals have been implemented with violence, which puts us all in trouble. 

It’s a message that endures over time, since while we‘ve gained many means to avoid violence in the present day, the truth is we’re closer to it on than we’d like to be. The massive unrest across sections of the country right now is a good example, since it’s bringing out countless moments where people and institutions choose between non-violence and violence in moments of crisis.

Brad Pitt’s “Wardaddy” mentors unprepared rookie Norman (Logan Lerman)

Brad Pitt brings a classic Bradformance in this, his "manly but vulnerable" look on full display. The rest of the cast is all-star, too, filling the runtime with their dialogue and antics. The film really feels like a slice-of-life film interspersed with death-dealing murder bombs, not unlike actual wartime experiences. I poked around online for reception, and apparently U.S. tank crewmen have sung this film’s praises as a version of their own experiences. It also takes a stab at portraying war trauma, since the premise is that the crew is getting more and more haggard the longer they go on, and it hits that sweet spot that some films do where the heroes aren’t agonizing over whether the war is justified, but they DO agonize over having to go out and risk their lives again. One of the more erudite quotes I’ve heard about war is that once it’s over, the guys on the ground actually fighting it don’t feel like dancing, they just wanna get the heck out of there; and it’s nice to see a war film that actually feels that human, instead of being either apologetic, outlandish, or straight-up propaganda.

Overall, this film gets 3.5 out of 5. I’m not gonna lie, it isn’t perfect; the script feels like it’s lacking some parts, and you WILL feel that when certain moments come, but I feel like it's what it was TRYING to be, and that wasn’t terrible. So 3.5 out of 5. It’s also quite violent, as to be expected, and there’s a lot of swearing. There’s no sex scenes, although there’s a scene where they make you worry for a second, but it’s just them faking you out, so stay strong.

If you’re trying to break your kid in with a violent picture of what World War II was, I'd save this for the 16+ crowd in its entirety, but shorter scenes are worth sharing in an educational context.

Since I just mentioned it, here are some of the WWII movies I’d recommend:

- Saving Private Ryan
- Das Boot
- Downfall (German with English subtitles)
- Fury
- Patton

And if you’re trying to understand just how messed-up and wrong the Holocaust was, I’d recommend:

- Schindler’s List
- Life is Beautiful
- And basically any documentary about it; this is worth going straight to the facts for, guys. 

Macbeth (2015)

 

Directed by: Justin Kurzel

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, David Thewlis, Sean Harris. 

        Or, Magneto, the lady from Inception, Remus Lupin, and the bad guy from Mission Impossible. 

So good. Disclaimer ‘cause there’s violence and some sex stuff at two points, but aside from that it’s excellent. 

The premise is the same - Macbeth, a lord of Scotland, is told he’ll be king by three witches and finds himself compelled to murder first his king, and then the people who oppose him as he inherits the throne and begins his rule. He loses, and eventually falls. End show. 

It’s one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, so it’s not obscure or anything. What the production team decided to do with this is make the setting historically accurate! This got nominated for some of the most prestigious awards in all of film, so they did this right. 

Costumes from the film on display.

 L-R: Macbeth’s armor, the garb of the king, and Lady Macbeth’s coronation dress

Macbeth (2015) accurately portrays the real historical era down to accents, clothing, and weapons to give us something Shakespeare never planned, but that works very well for his purpose; creating a world where Macbeth goes mad. Recreating the era - and more importantly, the poverty and violence of that era - dramatizes better than ever, how a man like Macbeth would go mad. 

Michael Fassbender is made for this role, 'cause he's good at two things - being unrealistically good-looking, and crying. He makes sadness look as intimate and majestic as it could be. His supporting cast is great as well. veteran theater actors filling the story with film-friendly, theatre-loyal performances. The drums-and-wails soundtrack is great, and the Scottish Highlands have never looked so magnificently haunting. While there are a few changes made for screen's sake, the film comes across as a unique, powerful, and hard-hitting telling of the tale that doesn't sacrifice text for screen or vice-versa. 

Recommend. It's rated R for violence, and there are two moments where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth get sexy while clothed, but do so in such an unnerving way that you might just want to skip it like I did. I wouldn't recommend watching it with your kids, but I would recommend watching it. It's available for free on Amazon Prime, and for rent for $4 everywhere else. 

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

I'll be tentatively reviewing videogames, but not very often, since I don't buy them that often, and I don't like them as much. But I do like them. My brother and I grew up playing the original Uncharted games, and the multiplayer is still our go-to when we have a few hours. I've still replayed them in my spare time because they're so darn fun, and finally getting to play the fourth entry instead of watching a walkthrough is a fun experience. 

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The best way to look at this game is like a Netflix series. Most games try to make their campaigns last about twenty hours. Subtract minutiae and gameplay and you probably end up with about twelve hours, so we're really just looking at a miniseries that you can play through. Play it in maybe two-hour chunks over the course of a couple weeks, and you're recreating the process of watching a show. 

So, in the spirt of that, what is this show?

Notorious explorer Nathan Drake has retired from treasure-hunting with his wife Elena, but when his thought-dead brother Sam shows up with a sword over his head and a need to find a pirate hoard, Nate jumps back into action to save his family. From Italy to Madagascar, the brothers fight their way through their shady world to seek out the treasure that'll save Sam's life, and start to put together the pieces of their own crooked history.  

It's a pretty good show. Naughty Dog's kind of in a league of its own when it comes to this thing, and they have the signature banter, gunfights, and characters that populate their games. The puzzles are fun, the action is stellar, the graphics are setting the bar, and the characters are all likable. They throw in a new twist - Nathan Drake has a brother! - without it feeling too sudden and retconned, and they use it to make some pretty interesting stories. The reveals of Nathan's childhood, which we had seen only briefly in flashbacks before, casts a whole new light on this Indiana Jones adventure franchise, and it comes to a satisfying conclusion without feeling the need to go grimdark or off-book. It's a fun game, great on a gameplay and technical level, and gets a nine out of ten. 

On a story level, there are some qualms. You could argue the story is a little cliché, and takes too long or does too little to innovate on its formula. The smaller number of locations in comparison to 2 or 3 feels a little disappointing, like they didn't want to travel too much. And while the new, semi-open-world situation most levels have is exciting, it almost feels like it's distracting from the core story. I want to get right into the action, and driving for ten minutes doesn't feel very action-packed. The set-pieces feel underdone in comparison to 3's non-stop action (the Yemen chase, the sinking cruiser, the convoy chase, the airplane fight), although this is a quibble. But considering this was the creators' first title all on the PS4, it's forgivable. Most of the magic is in the graphics, when they let the characters breathe and show you how a-mazing the people and environments look. Giving you space to appreciate the setting is the other thing that makes it like a TV show. 

So, overall, very good. Nine out of ten, if not a nine-point-five, and it's available for $20 or less on everything. Recommend