Spiderman Into the Spiderverse

Spiderman Into the Spiderverse is one of those superhero flicks that you can really enjoy, maybe even more so than Avengers [fight me if you disagree!]. What makes this movie so enjoyable is that it goes into the human mind, the human framework of the superhero. It turns out that what makes superheroes super isn't their powers, but they're inherently human traits and characteristics, and perhaps even their failings. Here, we have a young black/Hispanic kid [just like me], who ends up getting spidey powers after getting bitten by a radioactive spider underground in some sewers.

Its the same old Spiderman story but this kid is a lot different from Peter Parker. His parents want him to go to this preppy smart kids school and he just wants to go to regular city house school. On top of that, he watches as Kingpin kills Spiderman! [Peter Parker] 

Not only that but it turns out that there's a multiverse which Kingpin is activating with the help of Doc Oc's [famous old Spidey villain] daughter, Liev. Once the multiverse is opened up Miles Morales [this movie's main star and Spiderman], ends up meeting a bunch of other Spidermans, and Spiderwomen. It turns out that Gwen Stacy [young girl, high school] is Spiderwoman. There's a steampunk Spiderman with a trench coat who fights nazi's in his world. There's a fat Peter Parker from another dimension where he breaks up with Mary Jane. There's an anime Spidergirl who uses a mech [modeled after Overwatch's D.Va maybe?] And there's even a Peter Porker, a Loony Toons inspired Spiderman who happens to be a talking pig. [Spider pig anyone?]

So the story here is that Miles has to fight Kingpin and shut down the multiverse machine they're running in order to send all these various Spider people back to their own universes. But there's all these problems along the way. Fat Peter Parker has to show him the ropes. He does this by just shoving Miles out into the fray, learning by doing. This isn't something Morales is good at right away. In fact, all the other Spider people think he isn't ready for a job this big and that in fact, Peter Parker should do it. Miles gets upset at this and tells them he will figure it out and do it on his own. Along the way he ends up fighting a villain named the Prowler, who turns out to be his uncle. When he lifts his mask to reveal himself to the Prowler, the Prowler doesn't kill him. When Kingpin sees this, he fires his gun at Prowler, killing him. This is the catalyst for Morales to become a true hero. Life is struggle and contradiction. You must persevere to get to the good stuff. 

So Miles ends up finding the strength and courage within himself to fight the good fight. This is pretty tough for a high school kid. After all, he saw Peter Parker get smashed to death by Kingpin. It could happen to him too! This is the main story and theme of the movie, and it is a great one. It shows you what it takes to become a hero. Sometimes it can take everything. 

The other great aspect of this movie is the computer animation. The colourful, glowing pixels here are astounding, some of the best in the business using today's current technology. Some other great animated movies come to mind; Rango, Incredibles, Big Hero 6, Coco, Wreck-It-Ralph. This movie is apart of long line of other great animated movies. Those pixels were lush man! And all the other Spider people had their own unique animations. The anime girl Spider had a unique anime look and attacks. The pig Spider had cartoon puns and a funny little hammer that he used to fight. [you have to suspend your belief for that one] Heck, even Peter Parker's fat looked realistic. The art style of the movie had a cartoon 3D look to it but it was still realistic. Certain video games come to mind, mainly Overwatch with its graphics. But to debase the art style down to say that it looks like a video game doesn't do it justice. It looks better than a video game. 

The cool thing is that there's going to be more animated films based off this story arc here. At the end, after the credits we see another Spiderman, this guy is named Miguel. Looks like we're going to start seeing a much different breed of supermen and superwomen in the future. More minorities and more women. Looks like Marvel is changing a lot for the better. 

*Puts hand on shoulder of hot girl* "Hey"

Dragon Ball Super Broly

The new Dragon Ball Z Super Broly movie was pretty cool. It became the best selling anime movie on opening weekend. Although I thought the movie was 'good', I didn't think it was great. However, I don't think one should go to an anime movie expecting something to be great, or for it to change your life. You go in, sit down, suspend your systems of belief for an hour or two, and then move on with your life. I'll explain my problems with the movie as well as what made it good. 

First of all, Broly's origin story in this movie is bare bones basic (b-b-b, anyone?). In the original movies they didn't even try to give him a story, which I almost respect more. Instead they explain how when Goku was a baby, Broly was trying to sleep in his Sayian tank, and Goku kept waking him up with all his whining.Then at some point he broke free, and tried to whoop Kakkarot's (Goku) ass. Pretty simplistic, but it worked well.

Here, we have Broly as a vengeance story. Broly is a baby in his tank and King Vegeta sends the baby off-world because he's seen to have such incredible power, that he might destroy the planet and everyone on it! (surprise, surprise, Frieza ends up doing that anyway) Anyways, Perigues, Broly's father ends up high-jacking a ship to Broly's destination. Once there, he grows up with his son on a desolate planet where everything's trying to kill them. 

Fast forward to Super's time period and all of a sudden Frieza's henchmen (not really lackeys, just peeps doing their jobs as Freiza Force members) find Broly and Perigues on said remote planet. They take them to Frieza, who is in awe of finding more live Sayians. His plan, to pit Broly against Goku. 

Vegeta goes up to bat first. At first Vegeta is beating on Broly pretty hard, even just in base form. Then he realizes that Broly is learning how to fight better the longer the first continues, like a true Sayian warrior! Eventually Vegeta has to keep powering up from Sayian 1-2-blue-god form and every time Broly goes down he keeps getting back up. Eventually Vegeta can't take him on anymore. The power within Broly is immeasurable! 

Next, Goku steps up to fight. Its a brutal battle. In fact, Goku gets thrashed around like a rag doll, screaming in agony, which prompted this writer's laughter in the theater. Super Sayian God form isn't enough to take down Broly, who again and again, keeps getting back up, and powering up even more and more!

Goku talks to Piccolo and they come up with a plan. The only way they can defeat Broly is if they do the fusion dance (embarrassing for Vegeta, a Prince), and become Gogeta! (Gogeta is canon now) Once they combine to become Gogeta, they fight Broly in an epic splatter of cartoon pixels and animation. (the best part of the film) 

Before Gogeta can really do bodily harm or dare I say it, [KILL] Broly, the Frieza Force henchmen steal the dragon balls from Freiza's other henchmen and they make a wish. You see, one of them was a girl that really felt sympathy for Broly, and she even stole and broke Perigues' super strong shock collar that he put on Broly, thus the reason why Broly kept powering up more and more, and he (Perigues) had to just let Broly go on like that. 

Anyways, so the girl wishes Broly to be put back on his faraway planet, away from Gogeta, right before a super strong energy blast is shot at him! This shows you that most fights in Dragon Ball are for the ultimate costs and also for no costs at all. (the true lesson of Dragon Ball) Goku ends up using instant transmission to go to Broly and his two new friends (former Frieza henchmen who saved him), gives them a house capsule, food, and says he will come back to train Broly himself. 

One last thing I'll say is that Broly himself is a simpleton. Although the old Broly movies he was even more of a barbarian who couldn't even speak sentences, here he is still simple minded, like a child. His only friend on the planet was a giant monster that tried to kill him, a play for sympathy that works on the audience. I like the idea of Broly being canon, although I don't think his backstory is very interesting. 

One minor complaint I have about the movie is that the English voice acting isn't as exciting to me, nor did I think it was all that great. Give me Japanese subtitles for any anime or anime movie. I don't mind the reading, plus I think the emotional gravitas (or lack there of) is much easier to accomplish in the native language of the artists themselves.

The animation in this movie is some of the best Dragon Ball I've ever seen, especially in a movie theater where you can really see all the pixels flashing across the screen more easily. Early Super animation wasn't very good but now they've got it down to a t. I'm definitely going to watch this movie again in Japanese and see if I like it any better. 

"We are Gogeta."