Mr. Brown Versus

I think it's fair to assume that a lot of us were very skeptical upon hearing that Masmure Shinrow's cyberpunk manga Ghost in the Shell  was being updated for mainstream audiences, in the form of a live-action film. We've seen how this business has handled manga/Anime properties in the past, and the track record, outside of the Wachowskis' Speed Racer , has been dismal, to say the least. When it was revealed that Scarlett Johansson was chosen to play Major Motoko Kusanagi, the Internet went ablaze, the cries that studio suits were whitewashing a beloved Anime character, as well as petitions making the rounds to remove the actress from the role in favor of an Asian actress to carry the role. When the first trailer dropped in mid-November of last year, I think most of us were blown away with just how, on a surface level, it looked like the live-action version might do the original source material justice. Then, the actual film was released. It's hard to talk about...

I can't very well talk about some of the most rewarding films of the year without putting my $0.02 cents on the ones which rewarded the least; the ones that left a bitter taste in the mouth, months after first watching them on the big screen. Transformers: The Last Knight  - I was going to review Bay's latest toy commercial during a week-long retrospective on each of the installments of the Transformers  franchise (and I will end up finishing said retrospective soon, I promise...), but here's the cliffnotes version on what I've got to say for movie no.5: It's still the same mindless junk he's put out since the surprise 2007 hit, just even more tedious and uninteresting than before. I'm tired of Optimus Prime and his cohorts, the Autobots, in yet another attempt to tell us stupid humans that the Decipticons are bad news and that they'll never leave our world alone unless they work together to stop them; I'm tired of the unrelenting obnoxious comi...

Ah, so where was I? Ah, yes - Day two tackling Michael Bay's Transformers series..... Wait.... It's August?! The Summer Movie Season is just about wrapped up and we're heading into Award season??? What do you mean a woman single-handily saved DC's interconnected universe??? Nolan made a war film how short??? Who the fuck is Tom Holland??? Transformers 5 was a box office disappointment in North America??? Fuck yes! And Sony really made a cartoon which featured the shit emoji??? What's next: the President of the United States defends white supremacists live, in front of the press? So, as you can see, I hit my annual writer's block, this time last over most of the summer (including most of 2017), which means I am extremely behind to the point I'm up to my damn neck in stuff I want to talk about. Good thing September is just around the corner and there's not too much to go out and seek in that time frame, but that doens't mean I haven...

A bit of backstory here: I was at a bar last Saturday night, chatting with fellow film fan Mason Daniel via social media when an ad for Michael Bay's latest Transformers  flick, The Last Knight , appeared on television, in which I had said that I would talk about each of the last four films before I (eventually) pay to see the fifth installment of the franchise. Also, I need to get back into writing and reviewing movies, because given everything that's happened in the world, and everything that has yet come to pass, I could use the distraction and escape. What better way to do that than to revisit the site's original whipping boy (before Jimmy Dore took the crown recently) and his soul-crushing franchise of noise and destruction? Oh, Michael Bay. You and I have had a long, contentious relationship - most of it (extremely) negative. However, I do think his talent, purely from a visual aspect, is to be commended: every last one of his films has a slick Hollywood feel and ...

Sometimes you find something so incredibly stupid and so utterly irresponsible on social media that you have to address it. Last weekend was the Peoples' Summit in Chicago, where a coalition of Sanders supporters and left-wing activists flocked to a three-day event to discuss about where the movement, which started back in 2016 behind then-candidate Bernie Sanders, would and should go in the Trump era, including whether the Democratic Party can be (or should be) saved, or if the time has come to abandon the party and start a new People's party instead. Enter The Young Turks correspondent Nomiki Konst and her thoughts on why the Democratic establishment should accept and embrace independents who don't lean either with the R's or D's in primary battles. "No open primaries for Democratic Party equals voter suppression and racism with young independent voters" @NomikiKonst #PPLSummit — Holly Mosher (@FilmsForChange) June 10, 2017 *Rolls eyes H...

............You know what? I'm just going to throw this line out there for everyone to hear: Anastasia: "Here I am, trying to be all romantic and you're distracting me with your kinky fuckery." In the five years that I've been reviewing movies for this site, I've never come across any line in any movie this jaw-droppingly stupid. This line came out of Anastasia Steele's mouth post-coitus when Christian Grey began probing her belly button with his tongue. There was no reason for her, or the writers, to commit to that sentence! And yet, somehow, Fifty Shades Darker  seems to sink lower from there. This sequel to 2015's snorefest picks up....I don't know, days after Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) leaves Mr. Grey (Jamie Dornam) for being "fifty shades of fucked up"? Being the creepy, abusive and aggressive stalker he is, our rich prick wants her back, but this time, he wants a normal, vanilla relationship. Okay, not really because he st...

In the era of Donald Trump and the rise of the alt-right, a movement took shape which pledged fierce opposition against the President's xenophobic, racist and misogynistic agenda. The day after Trump was sworn in, protests around the country and around the world sprang up like wildfire; the message being the same: #resist!. Since then, The Resistance have banded together to protest Trump's Muslim ban and disrupt town hall meetings; in particular, when the Republican-led Congress tried to implement Trumpcare. Because of the efforts to raise the public consciousness about the severity of Trump's dangerous to-do list on his agenda, the administration's attempts to block refugees from entering the United States has hit road blocks from the lower courts and Speaker Paul Ryan was forced to remove the American Health Care Act from bringing the massively unpopular bill to a vote in the House of Representatives. In short - The Resistance has scored two major victories against ...

On Oscar Sunday, I had the honor of doing a podcast with Al Robinson, Write Out of LA's Robin Write and the other half of Awards Daily, Ryan Adams; along with fellow film fans Julia and Joel, and spent over 5 1/2 hours talking about the telecast, from host Jimmy Kimmel bringing in civilians to the show, to an ending which will be talked about for years to come. Needless to say, this will become a trend. That's right - you can now hear me now talk about movies with fellow movie nerds!

Of all the complaints I would've expected to hear from people about the live-action adaptation of Disney's Beauty & the Beast , questions about its star flaunting her sexuality was at the bottom of the list. Sadly, that's where we are, as two items are taking center stage ahead of the March 17th wide-release of the classic story of bestiality between a young woman and a hairy beast that makes John Holmes look more attractive by comparison. Jokes aside, the first part, where star and eternal crush of mine Emma Watson posed nearly topless for Vanity Fair, leading to questioning whether or not she's a hypocrite for posing half-nude while promoting feminism. The photo in question, lensed by British shutterbug Tim Walker and styled by  Vanity Fair  fashion and style director Jessica Diehl, features Watson in a cape, sheer shirt and lace skirt from Burberry's February collection. It has sparked debate on social media about whether or not the image, which casts Wat...

Here are just a few personal thoughts about the list of nominees for the 89th annual Academy Awards ceremony I'd thought I'd share (the full list of nominees can be found here ). * Amazing What a Hashtag Can Do: It shouldn't come as a surprise that three movies - Hidden Figures , Fences  &  Moonlight  - all centered on African-American leads which do a terrific job telling stories about the black experience in America have now been nominated for Best Picture today. All three deserved the praise and accolades they have been showered with, but let's also acknowledge that the Academy would have been slaughtered by the press and by Twitter if they went a third straight year with a lineup that was all lily white, and rightfully so. Hell, I think Twitter would be screaming bloody murder had Moonlight  not made the cut for Picture, along with its writer/director Barry Jenkins if he wasn't nominated for Director. * Oh, Amy....: I'm ecstatic to see the sci-fi dra...

Sometimes, in order to move on and forward, you have to look back and reflect. All this month and the next, thanks to January & February being the dumping grounds for terrible movies, I will be doing exactly that. There's dozens of stuff I've missed out on during the holiday rush, from Award-fare, to mainstream blockbusters everything in between, as well as my list for both the best and worst of 2016 and the Oscar race coming to its inevitable conclusion. I'd also love to announce that I'm now a registered contributor for Write Out of L.A., the home of my film friend across the pond, Mr. Robin Write. If you haven't gotten to read his pieces on his site, please do. There is a good chance that I won't start reviewing new material until March, but that doesn't mean that (hopefully) I won't be writing. There's still my segment of The Netflix Files I need to revive from the doldrums as well as my editorials about current events, which I feel (and fe...

The last time I talked about a film critics and audiences loved over but I couldn't get behind was George Miller's apocalyptic action-thriller Mad Max: Fury Road . In a nutshell, I referred to the film as one overlong, extended chase through the desert which got very repetitive, very quickly, in addition to me dubbing it as the most overrated movie of 2015. Now, in the year of our lord 2016, I must put my foot down on another movie critics are fawning over, but I couldn't fully get into: Disney's Moana . Before, I go any further, let me state for the record my views on calling something "overrated" and what it means to me: When I call a film "overrated", I'm not saying it to stir the pot or to deliberately hold a contrarian point of view (that's Armond White's job!); I'm saying that there are aspects about it I feel other critics have glossed over which have stuck out like a blister from my perspective. When I write reviews like t...

I don't have the heart to write up what just happened three weeks ago. I don't have the stomach to hear from the far left about how Bernie Sanders would have clobbered the newly-elected President. I don't have the strength to voice all of my disgust about how a campaign built on exploiting the fears of white America and a rapidly-changing landscape and culture. The ugly reality that's staring us in the face is that come January 20th of next year, Barack Obama will exit the White House and Donald Trump, an unapologetic misogynist, xenophobic and racist man will become the nation's 45th Commander-in-Chief. And honestly? I don't want to write that sort of piece. I'll leave that to better, more intelligent writers than myself. What's done is done, and the toothpaste can't be put back in its tube. Instead, I'd like to quote two characters who are speaking to us now in the coming storm that is Trump. "Dark and difficult times lie ahead...A...

I'd like to contrast two videos which talk about how John Oliver criticized Green Party candidate Jill Stein's platform on last week's Last Week Tonight  segment on 3rd party candidates, and if you haven't watched the segment, I highly suggest that you do in order to understand the arguments both folks are saying. ( watch here ). The main arguments that Mike from The Humanist Report and current whipping boy for this site Jimmy Dore are making is that Oliver's piece was shameless propaganda to make the audience vote for Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election. Now while I disagree with both gentlemen about how to take Oliver's skit, I'm highlighting how both guys go about deconstructing the British comedian's claims. The first video from the host of THR breaks it down point by point and explains why he has this opinion. Again, I may not agree with the overall viewpoint, but I enjoyed watching his take because the host didn't resort to acting like...

WARNING!!!! This review will contain spoilers regarding the show's twist ending, as well as most of the plot. You have been warned. I'm exhausted with the last few posts where I went political, so here's me taking a break from all that shit and making another venture into the land of the small screen. Unfortunately, I'm not recommending about a good show - no, this is me ranting about one of the worst Anime programs I've ever encountered in the form of School Days , a romantic drama/teen soap opera in cartoon form. Yes: in addition to film and TV, I like the realm of Japanese Animation, primary because of the various sub-genres and avenues it covers, from science fiction/dystopian settings like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Outlaw Star , to slice-of-life comedies/harems such as Tenchi Muyo!  and Love Hina . There's a genre for every sort of taste, and it's interesting to dive in and see what's there. However, in the case of School Days ,...

For the past year, Donald Trump has gone out of his way to offend anyone and everyone in his path in his quest to obtain the White House. Donald Trump has insulted and dismissed John McCain, a celebrated and decorated Vietnam War veteran, claiming that being captured didn't make him a hero. Donald Trump made fun of a disabled journalist while the cameras were rolling. Donald Trump openly accused a judge of Hispanic decent of bias due to his heritage. That judge was hearing a lawsuit against Trump's latest scam, Trump University. Donald Trump accused Ted Cruz's father of conspiring to kill JFK during a primary debate. There is no evidence of this claim being true. Donald Trump attacked Khizr Khan and his wife, Ghazala, two Gold Star parents who lost their son, Humayan, an Army Captain, serving his country. The patriarch spoke at the Democratic National Convention and attacked Trump for his his hateful attitude towards Muslim-Americans. Donald Trump attacked...