Mark McPherson's Blog, page 31
April 12, 2023
“Renfield” Review
Renfield is a horror-comedy that makes a controversial call to mix two types of horror. It wants to embrace the allure of vampire lore and the poignant nature of toxic relationships. It is whipped up with over-the-top violence and surprising earnestness in a quest that goes beyond killing Dracula. While not a perfect horror cocktail, it’s a surprisingly refreshing dose of horror that touches the heart as much as it rips the organ out of chests.
It’s perfect casting for a movie like this to h...
April 4, 2023
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” Review
Nintendo fans might be taken aback by how The Super Mario Bros Movie opens with the typical Illumination logo presentation, featuring their iconic yellow minion characters engaging in a dose of slapstick before screaming “ILLUMINATION” at the top of their lungs. Remember how the Despicable Me and Minions movies all felt more like pastiches of animated gags than a cohesive animated feature? Well, that’s more or less what this Mario movie ends up being, getting the standard Illumination treatment...
March 31, 2023
Anime Detour 2023 Schedule
The Anime Detour convention in Minneapolis is next week and I’ll once more be on a slew of panels. Stop on by April 7th-9th to check out the following panels at the convention.
Physical Media Rocks
Streaming services are good but physical media is better. Stop by this panel to learn all about why investing in DVDs and Blurays is really cool.
Friday 4/7/23
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
2F Greenway IJ
Getting Into Gundam
With the release of The Witch From Mercury, now is the perfect tim...
“Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” Review
Dungeon and Dragons doesn’t like it’d be the hardest of IPs to transform into a movie, given the freedom of forming campaigns. There’s no rigid plot to follow from the games, nor do the rules have to be adhered to strictly. The real challenge with making a D&D movie lies in how to make this long-running tabletop fantasy palatable for audiences who may not be as familiar with the name-dropping of Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter. The good news is that Honor Among Thieves presents a fast and fun fan...
March 10, 2023
“Scream VI” Review
The sixth Scream movie comes a little over a year after the fifth Scream film. While such a rushed sequel could falter, this entry manages to topple the fifth picture for not being bound strictly by legacy sequel logic. It also manages to be more twisty and mysterious, better recognizing the genre while not specifically being about it. I got a good feeling that within the first ten minutes of the film, the new Ghostface guts the last film’s slasher concept of completing horror movies and remark...
March 3, 2023
“Creed III” Review
The past two Creed films have had this feeling of the lead boxer Adonis (), constantly living in the shadows of Rocky and Apollo, despite how great the movies have been. Creed III is the first film that feels like the torch has passed. It also makes the fight more personal and expands on Adonis as a character, making for a compelling boxing picture.
Much time has passed since the events of Creed II (2018). Adonis has gotten older and decided to leave the ring to run things be...
February 25, 2023
“Cocaine Bear” Review
Cocaine Bear is every bit the playful, bloody, and absurd creature feature it promises to be. It takes the true story of missing cocaine in 1985 via a botched delivery and poses a funny idea: What if a bear got into all that cocaine and went on a killing spree? That’s a solid premise, but thanks to the direction of , this horror idea turns into a delightful romp of humans feuding over cocaine and a bear who wants to do it all.
There’s a colorful enough amount of characters at ...
February 24, 2023
The Problem With Justin Roiland
In August 2020, Justin Roiland was arrested for domestic battery in California. The victim was an unnamed woman that Roiland had been dating at the time. He was released on bail and has a trial date of April 27th, 2023. However, the arrest was not made public until January 2023, when NBC News reported on the story. And when that story dropped, others came forward with similar allegations, including predatory behavior toward minors.
So with all this information revealed, what happened next wa...
February 21, 2023
Leiji Matsumoto Passes Away at 83
Leiji Matsumoto, the legendary creator of manga like Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999, passed away on April 8, 2021. He was 83 years old and helmed many anime projects in his lifetime.
Before his anime and manga success, he was known as Akira Matsumoto. He changed his name to Leiji Matsumoto in 1960, working on a series of science fiction stories that would become his signature style and inspire many genre lovers. Intricate, detailed designs, memorable characters, and a sense o...
February 19, 2023
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” Review
As the third Ant-Man movie, Quantumaniana feels the most fantastical and the least like Ant-Man’s zippy capers. Gone are the slick sensibilities of a quirky thief-turned-hero, replaced with a lost-world fantasy where the multiverse is on the line. This results in a conflicting film that struggles to maintain the sense of family in the Ant-Man movies amid setting the foundation for the next big Avengers movies.
Scott Lang () is posed with a carry-on attitude. After enduring the event...
