Month: January 2025

Sakamoto Days. Is It Safer To Stay At Home Rather Than Hide Behind A Facade?

Although this series is primarily an action-comedy, to learn about what this shopkeeper did before changing to this profession is important. Sakamoto Days follows this individual simply trying to please as many people as he can!

Sakomoto Days Netflix PosterStreaming on Netflix

Taro is an assassin, and in the aptly titled Sakamoto Days, it seems he’s always in a daze when at work, at a local convenience store! Although officially retired, the world he left behind has a grudge. For newcomers and vets, both can earn some cred when they put this individual six feet under. Although that’s going to be the formula for the time being in this series, I’m sure he’s plotting something behind that facade.

In the first episode, Shin Asakura (Nobunaga Shimazaki) simply botches his attempt to take the former hitman (Tomokazu Sugita) down. And in what’s amazing is that this big guy will show him the error of his ways. Just how the young kid found senpai wasn’t hard. And if he can do it, many more will follow. After two episodes showing just how many assassins are going to show up, I have to see just how varied these others’ talent are going to be. In what makes this work accessible is that it’s not taking the idea to violent Kill Bill levels.

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Thoughts, Concerns and Praise for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.

After giving Star Wars: Skeleton Crew a full watch, I have new hope for what may be offered going forward. Not every series has to be unique. It just has to honour what fans love about this franchise back when George Lucas was in charge.

Star Wars Skeleton Crew PosterThe latest entry to Disney’s Star Wars, curiously titled Skeleton Crew is boldly offering a concept that has been done before. It’s too similar to Star Trek Prodigy. In the world of literature, some fans have compared it to Treasure Island and I agree. Although the circumstances are different, Wym (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) is a kid who likes to dream big and wants to explore the galaxy. After discovering a spaceship buried underground, the group he brought together to investigate goes in, and it blasts off into outer space! Pretty soon, this lad, Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), KB (Kyriana Kratter) and Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) are lost in space.

Afterwards, they encounter space pirates. Although they figure out they’re at least not jettsoned to the opposite side of the galaxy, all is not well. They want to go home, but nobody knows where the planet of At Attin is located. All viewers know is that it’s hidden in a sector known as the Unknown Regions. Everyone from this world seems to be involved in some grande experiment, and I have to wonder if the scientists are working on deconstructing the atom? It’d be a terrible pun should that be the case, but there’s a meme to be made with the name of this planet.

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Top 10 Animated Movies to Look Forward to in 2025

To decide on which animated movies are a must isn’t too hard to decide on. When pickings can be somewhat limited in the cinematic front, we’re diving into streaming and direct to video offerings too.

Aztec Batman- Clash of Empires - Animated MoviesInstead of looking at the animated movies coming to cinemas, what I offer is a list of works expected to be released this year from abroad and in America. There are some wonderful works that should be great, and the big question will concern whether the two major distributors, GKIDS or Well GO USA, will pick them up. They’re still working through last year’s catalogue of releases. Trailers are provided where possible:

Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires

This Elseworlds take on Batman lore promises to be good because it’s also connected to a bit of Mesoamerican folklore concerning the bat. Both Aztec and Mayan cultures hold this creature sacred, representing various Underworld aspects. Here, instead of focusing on the Wayne family, another clan’s parents are killed, and Yohualli Coatl enacts swift revenge!

Here, the conquistadors are not the only threat. No Batman adaptation is complete without The Joker! As for how he got reimagined, much has been spoiled in other reports, and it’s better to be surprised.

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In Canada, Anime Streaming Provider Crunchyroll is Partnering With Telus!

Want anime on the go? If so, then Crunchyroll’s expansion into the Canadian telecommunications market is big!

Crunchyroll LogoCrunchyroll, the ultimate brand for anime fans worldwide, has announced a partnership with TELUS, which allows anime fans in Canada to sign up to the streaming platform directly through their TELUS account.

Anime is experiencing massive growth across the world, with 15 million subscribers to Crunchyroll on a monthly basis. TELUS is the first Canadian provider to offer Crunchyroll as a seamless add-on for its customers, making it easier than ever for anime fans in Canada to join the platform.

Dr Stone Science Future KV This announcement comes just in time for Crunchyroll’s massive winter anime season, which includes Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-, the hit dark fantasy series returning to follow Sung Jinwoo as he masters his necromancer abilities; Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE, the final season of the hit apocalyptic science series; The Apothecary Diaries Season 2,  where Maomao’s keen intellect and daring instincts unravel even more palace mysteries — all alongside more than 40 series premiering new episodes weekly just after their Japanese broadcast.

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When The Wolf Man (2025) Is All Bark with No Bite, Where’s the Excitement?

Not every take of the Wolf Man legend will gel, and this is one film I wish existed under the abandoned Dark Universe banner.

The Wolf Man 2025 Movie PosterMaybe Universal Studios should have stuck to having a board of directors who know their monster lore to at least keep ideas consistent when rebooting what’s beloved from their classic catalogue. I love Robert Eggers Nosferatu in all its nasty glory (movie review), but for Leigh Whannell‘s Wolf Man, setting this tale in the modern day is not for me. Not only is the story set away from the classical European origins but also, in what I could sit through, the connection to the tribal lore said to have created the beast is weak.

Blake (Christopher Abbott) is the latest victim to inherit the curse, and it doesn’t happen right away. First, he’ll have to convince his family to move. And I can’t think of many people who are used to city life willingly move to a rural home. Despite settling in, I’m sure his wife and daughter, Charlotte (Julia Garner) and Ginger (Matilda Firth), will want to leave after all the terror.

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When Nosferatu (2024) Is More Than Another Lustful Incubus on the Loose!

Few films acknowledge Nosferatu as a spirit rather than something physical. And when this remake only enhances what’s previously known, the presentation is much more sinister!

Nosferatu (2024) Movie PosterTo answer the question of how many movies were made featuring Count Orlok aka Nosferatu is five. There’s the original film (1922) and the back-to-back takes from 2023 (subtitled Symphony of Horror) and Robert Egger’s tale, released December 2024. The 1979 version called him Count Dracula and in Vampire of Venice, simply Nosferatu (both played by Klaus Kinski). And in Shadow of the Vampire (2000), it’s a movie about making the seminal film. Those are the most well known.

What makes this filmmaker’s version stand out is how bleak the visual landscape looks. Also, he’s drawing on traditional Eastern European folklore to make this evil come alive!

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