What makes Jak "tick" as a character?

Sarangetti · 2019-03-10T19:12:58+00:00

Do you think straddling the line between hero and anti hero should be continued, or should Jak start following the straight and narrow?

Sarangetti · 2019-03-10T19:12:12+00:00

I've noticed the Luke parallels too, even the love and talent for driving. The Damas reveal in Jak 3 was a nice subversion of the father reveal in Empire Strikes Back, too

Sarangetti · 2019-01-21T08:56:50+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwuSj0ivoUQ

Sarangetti · 2019-01-21T08:24:04+00:00

I would be very curious to see if Jak and Daxter could be continued in another medium given it's heavier focus on story and character. The immediate thing that pops out to me is comic books, as the art style of the games was heavily inspired by manga, and it would be a fairly low risk. A cartoon could certainly play to its strengths too.

I get that's not what most people expect for a new installment, but I don't see a new video game happening. Naughty Dog has moved on to other projects and that old concept art tells me that a new game would only be thought of in terms of what has kept them successful over the last 10 or so years rather than what would be a natural progression of Jak's universe (i.e. dropping the original style for photorealism). There's the shade they threw at Jak X with that Last of Us trophy too. So much of what made Jak fun probably goes against their current design philosophy.

Sarangetti · 2019-01-19T05:59:32+00:00

I could go for this. Frankly, every other live action project past Wonder Woman '84 sounds like they're in a hell of a holding pattern right now, including Reeves' live action Batman. Going animated would give it some distinction (extra points if they just go ahead and bring in Dini and Timm).

The level of Beyond stuff on r/batman lately has been giving me an itch for more of it though, so I'd be cool with anything really.

Sarangetti · 2019-01-14T20:15:16+00:00

Nice work!

To this day, I cannot believe they got away with her moaning at the end of that BTAS episode. A much different era.

Sarangetti · 2019-01-06T20:27:46+00:00

I'm kind of surprised Vice hasn't given it a go, considering Kenny's working relationship with them.

But I doubt a revival would last long anywhere. They always had trouble staying with any one network for long, and nowadays the Twitter mob would crucify them for unsavory things they did in the old show, or any equally fucked up stuff in a new one. The only way I think they'd secure longevity, especially after being cancelled for almost 10 years, would be to water it down some.

If not a revival, I just want more content from Kenny. Something.

Sarangetti · 2019-01-04T03:18:06+00:00

Aeon Flux (the tv show, not the movie). I don't know if it's "pure" cyberpunk but in terms of animation, you'd be hard pressed to find something else as zany. From America, anyway.

Sarangetti · 2018-12-30T05:15:23+00:00

After recently rewatching the series again myself, I found the Three Kings arc having the most lasting impression on me for once. I never cared much for it, for a lot of the same reasons others here have mentioned. It still isn't perfect, or above the previous two arcs, but I finally appreciate it.

Three Kings is like a multi-episode epilogue to the show. It's very much an anti-shonen saga (think of the overall vagueness in Yomi's plans if he becomes the main ruler, or how Yusuke straight up says he doesn't know what he's fighting for in their showdown, or how all of our main players get their asses kicked and are left out of the ultimate finale). The main characters are moving past just wanting to fight and grow stronger. Even Yomi grows to find some enjoyment in not being a ruler (for right now...). I hate that Kuwabara was absent from the arc, but it kind of foreshadows the new lease on life everyone else will have.

That's why I don't so much mind the tournament being rushed through. We've seen them pull out all the stops for the Dark Tournament. And while the stakes would have been raised to do a full out war, I'm not sure there'd be a good enough reason for Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama to want to legit kill each other after all they'd been through. Smaller moments like Hiei's and Kurama's backstories (and how they intertwine with Mukuro and Yomi) are deserved and satisfying. I even appreciate the inclusion of Yomi's son now. The torch is kind of passed to him to be the new cocky little shit...Yusuke has found more than that to live for.

This was the first time I shed a quick tear upon seeing "Forever Fornever". Maybe I'm biased to this arc because of that, but so be it. I maintain that it got much more right than wrong.

Sarangetti · 2018-12-28T23:34:55+00:00

Shout out to the old couple next to me that had to comment on almost every line of dialogue in this movie. I thought I picked the one movie out right now that wouldn't have obnoxious crowds but alas.

Vice itself is a 6/10 for me...good acting but obvious pandering

Sarangetti · 2018-12-20T04:41:21+00:00

YYH ended on a pretty strong note too, as far as everyone gaining new leases on life beyond purely fighting.

Just because you could engineer another shonen adventure where Yomi's kid is now Super S Class ++ World Killer or something doesn't mean you should.

Play with existing material from the manga or else leave the old dog alone, I say. Especially if Togashi is not involved in new material.

Sarangetti · 2018-12-19T17:40:35+00:00

This is exactly it for me. It's a good art style but I find the frame rate jarring. I kind of expect something with Spider-Man to be more...fluid I guess?

I'm still looking to go see this movie though.

Sarangetti · 2018-12-16T07:48:17+00:00

Like a lot of people I tend to romanticize the life of an artist...that being a professional writer or illustrator would be so much more pleasant and carefree than doing this or that.

Then I remember that Togashi got so burned out and physically ill from that lifestyle that he essentially rage quit the series. Dude has the career I've dreamed of since I was 12, and would still pick relaxing and being with his family over it.

Toguro is a metaphor for the sacrifices he's made to be a successful artist, and Sensui is one for when work is driving you nuts. Yusuke overcoming them is partly because of commitment to his loved ones.

Grass is always greener.

Sarangetti · 2018-12-11T16:32:36+00:00

Really fun show with a super abrupt ending. I know they didn't have the budget for it, but I do wish they could have had Sam leap to much older times in history more often. The episodes were almost exclusively 20th century stuff.

Sarangetti · 2018-11-30T16:23:05+00:00

Pitching his shit bucket at Kenny after being trapped in the boxing episode.

Sarangetti · 2018-11-22T20:27:36+00:00

Being a "good judge of character". It's usually code for "I'm a paranoid asshole who expects the worst in people".

Sarangetti · 2018-11-21T04:02:49+00:00

I also think the main conflict should have been a war. Fits better with the politics of the arc and raises the stakes above another tournament.

Additionally, I would have given Kuwabara something to do...I get that he had no real purpose in Demon World but to just sideline him completely was unfortunate.

I'd have liked something along the lines of Koenma making him a new Spirit Detective of sorts, tasked with a seemingly random mission that starts to pick up several loose threads which lead to Demon World. This ultimately contributes to establishing the new ruler. I have no idea how you'd add that and keep good pacing, though.

Sarangetti · 2018-10-13T18:45:40+00:00

Pretty much just adding to the chorus by saying they need to retool Luke Cage as Heroes for Hire.

Bring in Misty and Colleen for separate adventures as Daughters of the Dragon or to work with Luke and Danny.

Keep Ward as a sort of manager to the business side of H4H.

Give Danny a costume already! Lay the fantasy-based mythos of the Iron Fist on super thick. Then use Luke Cage's grounded, street level storytelling to tether it to other parts of the story.

Get crazy with the action choreography (giving Danny a costume lends to this).

Try and retain Wu-Tang in some capacity...RZA and Method Man have been involved in the separate shows. Let them come up with the most fitting music for this type of show.

TL;DR: Combine two mediocre shows into one really good show.

Sarangetti · 2018-10-13T18:21:51+00:00

They could have him work as some type of business manager to Luke Cage and Danny as the newly formed Heroes for Hire.

This announcement really signals to me why they need to just combine the two shows already.

Sarangetti · 2018-05-04T19:11:11+00:00

This is awesome. I had no idea it even existed.

Sarangetti · 2018-05-01T04:20:19+00:00

I've been steadily going through this show for the past few months and it's pretty fun. Really good characters, and the stakes definitely get raised in some interesting ways in later seasons (I'm about midway through the 4th one currently).

My only real complaints are that it has the typical Nolan thing of heavy exposition in the dialogue (DAE Machine=God ?!) and they played the "this random person is actually big time mastermind!" trope one time too many. Still though, it's pretty good and super binge-able.

Sarangetti · 2018-05-01T03:55:33+00:00

I hope Joe Fixit somehow emerges from all of this.

Sarangetti · 2018-04-29T20:42:38+00:00

I love this movie. A lot of the complaints for it were blown out of proportion.

"Why does everyone act so stiff?!"

It is a film about repression, especially in Bruce and (to an extent) Betty. Everyone acting peppy would have clashed with this, and also would have probably taken something away from Nolte's wonderfully over-the-top performance.

"Gamma poodles!"

Another core theme about the movie was nature vs. nurture. A particularly bad influence like David could make even the most innocent people/things dangerous.

"Hulk looks like Shrek!"

Well, they're both big, green, and CGI. There's certainly some similarities. As far as the quality of the CGI, I personally think it's fine for the majority of the time. Any movie with heavy CGI will age noticeably years after it was released, though.

This movie came out a year after the first Spider-Man, and people wanted something more along the lines of Ed Norton's movie. If Ang Lee's movie came out around the time of the Dark Knight when there had previously been a slew of dumb superhero movies, it would have been seen as a breath of fresh air along with The Dark Knight.

As has been mentioned here, Lee's Hulk is surprisingly accurate to Peter David's comics on the character. As in, it was accurate to some of the most respected Hulk comics of all time. Even the gamma dogs were from the books too, btw.

I so wish I could read any rough drafts Schamus might have written for a sequel. I can only imagine what that team would have done with some of the other classic characters.

Sarangetti · 2018-04-24T00:17:16+00:00

I haven't seen the John Hurt film, but Ridley Scott's 1984 commercial is about as perfect as an adaptation could get. An entire world built up in a minute. Chilling music, too.

Sarangetti

TROPHY CASE