John's Journal

 Man oh man there's been a lot of discourse surrounding "Joker: Folie a' Duex", and it's not the positive kind. The sequel to the 2019 phenomenon has become one of the biggest box office failures of the year and unlike it's predecessor which won 3 oscars even among it's controversies pre-release (ex: fears that it might incite real life violence), this film seems to have rubbed everyone the wrong way critics, casuals, fans of the first film, you name it. When I saw the movie last week, I hated it. But as time passed in the days of viewing it, I thought more about what the film entailed I have more nuanced thoughts on it. Oh don't get me wrong I still think this movie is bad but I find it to be one of those fascinatingly bad movies. And thus, this won't be a traditional review from me. For this I'm going to discuss some of the aspects of the film that intrigued me the most and where I think Todd Philipps missed the mark. As such "Joker: Fol

  Hey guys. So a lot has happened lately regarding Black Panther since the last time I wrote about the character. For one, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" did what I feared Marvel would do when they said they wouldn’t recast King T’Challa after the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman, they killed him off. As one would guess, I was incredibly disappointed by this as this means the characters story in the MCU has effectively been cut short. While I still hope we’ll see a multiverse version of him in the MCU later on down the line, things are not looking good for T’Challa right now. To make matters worse it appears the MCU's decision seems to be affecting him in other mediums as with a controversial cameo in "X-Men 97" featured T'Chaka as Black Panther instead of his world famous son. And now that T’Challa is gone from the MCU this can be detrimental to his growth as a character. In John Ridley’s reviled Black Panther comic run, T’Challa has undergone brutal char

2024 is shaping up to be a big year for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Specifically the blue blur's iconic black rival, Shadow. In addition to being the antagonist of the upcoming "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" movie in December (voiced by Keanu Reeves no less!), Shadow is also set to take center stage in a port of "Sonic Generations" called "Sonic X Shadow Generations" in which the black hedgehog stars in a new campaign where he meets his old nemesis Black Doom who has mysteriously returned after his death in Shadow's game with a new plot to take over the world. Guys, "Generations" is one of my favorite Sonic games of all time, so seeing that it's gets a port with a brand new story and levels centered around one of the biggest breakout stars of the franchise has ignited a lot of excitement within me. I remember back when the original game was about to come out, I would always be on forums speculating which levels would make the cut for th

 One thing I always liked growing up is watching shows about characters in school. A lot of them were set in elementary school (ex: "The Fairly OddParents"), some were in middle school (ex:"Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide"), but a grand majority of them seemed to be set in high school. You name it, "That's So Raven", "Danny Phantom", and "Kim Possible" it seemed like the go to setting for a work of fiction was a high school. Heck, even movies loved that setting. Of course you have stuff like "High School Musical" and "West Side Story". Not to mention both cinematic Spider-Man reboots put Peter Parker back in high school. But as I began my college years I began to notice something, you really don't see that many works of fiction set in college as opposed to high school, where it seems that we get endless amounts. So that brings us to today's question, just why is college a less popular fiction

  Hello everyone, it's been quite a while since we've had a proper movie review on this blog hasn't it? To get back into the swing of things let's take a look at the newest offering of Dreamworks Animation: " Kung Fu Panda 4". Now this franchise is bar none my favorite from Dreamworks. Yes even more so than "How To Train Your Dragon". "Kung Fu Panda" boasts charming characters, moving storytelling, and of course some of the best fight scenes ever seen in an animated film, if not THE best. So imagine my surprise when I found out that there was going to be a fourth installment to the franchise, especially when it seemed like the third film wrapped things up perfectly.  Just like a certain other franchise. In Po's fourth outing, Shifu informs him that his time as the dragon warrior is coming to an end as he now has to take up Oogway's old position as spiritual leader of the valley of peace. Naturally Po is hesitant to give up being the

 I think I speak for everyone when I say that 2023 was not a good year for the house of mouse. Especially considering that was their big 100 year anniversary. Aside from "Elemental" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3", volume three almost all of their movies, have flopped at the box office. Quite possibly the most humiliating failure was Disney Animations "Wish", which was supposed to be celebrating a century of storytelling. Unfortunately it got trashed by critics, got a mixed response from fans, and it grossed $243 million on a $200 million budget. After a string of failures, a lot of people have been wondering how Disney Animation can bounce back from this. Well they got their answer on February 7th, as the studio announced their newest feature to be released in November, which, as it turns out is a sequel to "Moana". Now this caught everyone off guard, including yours truly. While I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out, I have som