Friday, January 3, 2020

"Wild Cardz" Because Licensing Rights...and "The Twilight Zone" Marathon

*Originally written January 2, 2020.

No complaints from me to start the year.
"You changed the channel?"
I do not know if that reaction from my better quarter (Eva the Cat gets half) would count. It was not the reaction I expected when switching from hour 38 or Syfy's annual "Twilight Zone" marathon to watch AEW. That and her thinking that "Hurt" was a Johnny Cash song, inspirations for resolutions are developing.

So that is one complaint, the lack of Nine Inch Nail knowledge was established before the end of the last decade. But I am now complaining, may as well throw in the weed crowds. After revisiting "The Rise of Skywalker", herbal assistance in writing my proper ending to what should have been a quadrilogy would have been nice (If you want to judge whether or not I could handle that task, ask for a treatment of my zombie-pro-wrestling, B-movie comedy, "Main Event of the Dead". Drop me an email at russthebus07@gmail.com).

Talking about the unsatisfying conclusion to the sequels is redundant. It is "Star Wars". I can watch these over and over again and keep discovering new things to keep my interest and, for the most part, forgive the creative short comings.

My most recent observation about the "Skywalker Saga" is that "Return of the Jedi" was all it could be, hence satisfying. Yoda with a lightsaber is all you could have asked for. Ewoks are not that bad.

The most important observation though is that it has been confirmed that Mace Windu is dead. Motherfucker was featured in the Jedi pep talk, and all of his friends were dead. Save him for my pair of sequels. I did have a fun tweet about it (@mainteventzombie).
Too bad #RiseofSkywalker pretty much confirms @SamuelLJackson's Mace Windu death. I though he survived the fall and his arm landed in @JurassicWorld.
And I came up with that one sober. Imagine what I would say high. My biggest problem with the weed lines was, if you are waiting hour(s) for the legal stuff, you probably kept up on the illegal stuff despite the announced change in law. Did you burn through it before 11:59 pm, December 31? Leave some for those who do not have hook ups.

*Originally written January 3, 2020

The new year has started off busy. I have yet to try catching up on The Ringer or AV Club stories. Between paying bills and Donald Trump acting like a Young Bosnian (or a stereotypical American), my time at a physical keyboard to type is scarse. With "Wild Cardz (a.k.a. Jaja-uma Quartet)" being so brief, it may be easy for me to forget this anime if the ramblings of Bill Simmons, Shea Serrano, and Binge Mode will need to take a backseat.

"Wild Cardz" Worth $5.00

90 min Netflix: "Skin Trade" As Good as the Duran Duran Song

I know I have seen some incredibly sloppy Thai films while flipping through the Starz Encore networks, but if you make it a point to find a flick from this country, it is tough to be disappointed. That is my experience with the food as well. The spice is the action. Yeah, there are a lot of vegetables that I despise, but it is worth digging through them for the hot noodles and meat. It can be a long process (finding the film), but definitely worth a look.

With that said, I have to overlook the critics and give Tony Jaa's sequels a chance. After "Skin Trade", he is batting three-for-three with me (the other two being "The Protector" and "Ong-bak") in terms of potential IP. The latest experience is at least an extra base hit driving Dolph Lundgren, Michael Jai White, and Ron Perlman in. Peter Weller is the sacrifice to bring Jaa home.

Viktor Dragovic's (Perlman) sex trafficking trade has taken a major hit. Not only did his last shipment to Newark end up being just a pile of corpses, but maverick cop Nick Cassidy (Lundgren) ended up killing his youngest son. But with diplomatic ties with Russia and his two remaining capable sons, he is able to claim sanctuary in Cambodia and gain two-times the vengeance by killing Cassidy's wife and teenage daughter.

It is reasonable to think that an RPG to the face would prevent Cassidy from making their grudge match a best of three, but this guy is not Ivan Drago. Waking to a scarred face only motivates him to kill any diplomat and attorney who let Dragovic flee. Shooting up a restaurant is regarded as taking the law into one's own hands, so FBI Agent Reed (White) heads to Thailand to stop Cassidy from creating an international incident that can destroy Detective Tony Vitayakul's (Jaa) efforst to shut down Dragovic's operation at the source. Unbeknownst to Reed, Tony's own experience with the Dracovics may make Cassidy an ideal ally. Viktor is guaranteed to come face-to-face with his karma.