Julie Guin – Google

Almost incredible. I really enjoyed it. I just don't know that the moral of the story is the best one or necessarily earned by the events of the movie. Not that I don't like it so much as trust isn't always a virtue and treating it that way isn't really realistic towards either real life or the world of the movie. It's like we needed some sort of bittersweet acknowledgement for the story to feel... Idk grounded? I would give it 4.5 stars if I could. The movie was really, really well done, just not perfect.

I couldn't finish it. I'm really easy to please when it comes to Disney movies. This was so weird. It was like watching someone who decided to make a movie out of a dream they had and they decided that they wanted to stay true to every single detail of the dream. The plot was all over the place. And some of the songs had nothing to do with the plot? They were just thrown in for funsies? Idk it was really terrible.

I don't know if it's nostalgia or the fact that most Disney Channel movies were trash, but I genuinely think this is a good movie. It has some cringey, early 2000s teen movie scenes but for the most part it has substance far past what you would expect from Disney Channel originals. I rewatched it recently expecting it to be enjoyable but admitedly bad and came away thinking even more highly of it than I did as a teen myself. 10/10 recommend, 4 stars for the occasional cringe.

Man, I've been playing pokemon since I was 5 years old starting with pokemon blue, but let me tell you, pokemon fans can seriously be the worst. All of these terrible reviews telling you not to purchase or to return your game and what's the big issue? The graphics. Seriously guys? It's a pokemon game. The graphics in every single game to date have consistently been 10+ years behind the times. Why are y'all reacting like the bad graphics are the worst thing to ever happen in a pokemon game? Anyways, yes the graphics are terrible. But, if you've been playing pokemon for a long time and are honest with yourself, it's par for the course and has a very minor impact on your gameplay experience. It's the reason people can still claim that gen 1 games were the best, the graphics have never been why we play the games. And the glitches? There must have been more glitches when it was first released because I havent experienced anything that would remotely impact game play. If you've played skyrim and know the glitches in that game, the glitches in this one aren't even half as bad. Let me again go back to the fact that many people still claim gen 1 games are the best, pixely glitchy messes that they are. Did you guys forget what those sprites looked like? Did you forget the glitches? This is nothing new. There are some people complaining that the world isn't actually open, yes it is. It's open and explorable in the way Botw was, which I really like. They did definitely cut corners to release the game in time and it shows in places like the graphics and the lack of buildings and true caves to explore. All of that said, it's my favorite pokemon game to date. The story is actually decent. The battle mechanics are back to how they were pre-Arceus with a fun new mechanic akin to megaevolution or gigantamaxing. It's clear that most of the heart and soul spent in development went to the pokemon themselves. The sprites look great (you can see fur and scales!) and I love the behaviors they included that you can see in the overworld. This is the first game (besides maybe Arceus) that I really feel like I'm living in a pokemon world. As someone who was obsessed with the games and anime growing up, that's all I've ever wanted. Another positive is that the open world allows you to fight pokemon at a much higher level early on. Since pokemon games have been mindnumbingly easy since gen 6, it's really nice that some areas can actually be challenging. Yes, that does mean that when you go back to areas with lower level pokemon later it'll be ridiculously easy, but at least it's ridiculously easy like 60% of the time instead of the 100% of the time I've grown used to. They desperately need to include a hard mode for what must be the vast majority of players who also find the story mode in pokemon games to be a maddening cake walk. Basically, if you're a fan of the series and have always wanted a game to really feel like you're living with pokemon, you'll love this one. If you want cutting edge graphics, why are you even playing pokemon? If I'm rating it as a video game as a whole, I'd give it an 8/10, very enjoyable. If I'm rating it as a pokemon game, easy 10/10, I get to travel round a pretty region with my pokemon friends and will have competitive battling (really excited about the terastallizing mechanic) to look forward to when I'm finished exploring to my heart's content. I wouldn't even need better graphics or fewer glitches to get it to 5 stars. All I want is for them to fill out the world a little more. (Buildings and caves please!)

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

I thought about giving it 2 stars, but I realized that was just my pro-potter bias talking. And that I find the actors for Newt and Dumbledore REALLY charming. It's not that the movie is confusing, it's that it objectively doesn't make sense, nor does it appear to try? Note that I have seen all the original movies and read all the books several times and really enjoyed the first fantastic beasts movie. I'm no hater. SPOILERS How is it objectively nonsensical? Well, we start with the reveal that Dumbledore was behind Newt's trip to New York in the first movie, no real explanation given. K. Then we meet up with Queenie and Jacob, and Jacob still has his memories... because we say so. K. Then we find ourselves at some magic side show where Credence is, no explanation given. K. Oh, also Nagini is there and they're friends and they escape. No explanation given. K. Everyone and their mother is searching for Credence the whole movie, and that explanation is given at the end of the movie. Ssssppppooooooiiiiiilllllleeeerrrr Dumbledore thinks Credence is a long lost Lestrange half brother but he ends up being Dumbledore's long lost half brother we've somehow never heard about. Mmmkkkaaaaayyyy. Queenie and Credence both join Grindlewald because we say so because that's how the plot goes. Alright. And throughout the movie, the pacing is horrific and we just randomly show up in different scenes where other characters just happen to be. Sometimes, we are not told where we are. We're in one scene and, oh what do you know we're somewhere else and look, another character is there too because plot point! It's a mess.

By far the most fun Pokemon game I've ever played, and I've played them all. It brings such a refreshing change to the series. The worst part is probably the graphics, they look more than 5 years old, but they're still a big improvement over SwSh and the art style they chose makes the imperfections more forgivable. The main conundrum is where the games should go from here. This game really feels like the game Pokemon has always meant to be, but the batting system is so radically changed I don't even know how you would have competitive battling. The competitive battling scene is by far the best part about SwSh and it's been a staple of the games, and official events outside the games, for so long, I have to imagine they're going to go back to their old formula in the future. I would love to see a split into a "main" series that continues the old formula with competitive battling in mind and a "prequel" series of games that play like Arceus.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time, but it appears to be incredibly polarizing. After reading the reviews, I think I understand why. If you are someone who likes more traditional characters and plots, like plots that have straightforward, black and white moral lessons and clearly defined protagonists and antagonists, you'll hate this movie. If you need to root for a character or characters to enjoy a movie, definitely don't watch this one. If, instead, you like movies with more out of the box story telling, actively enjoy deeply flawed characters and don't feel the need to have someone to "root" for, you'll love this movie.