[Weekly Update] 'Tis the season of unnecessary sequels!

Oh and I guess it's Halloween, too. I was really hype for Halloween, at first. But then...

You'll see.

CHANNEL UPDATE

Our video on Junji Ito is essentially complete, waiting for sponsorship approval. The video is one of the most complicated for this channel, as I decided to animate some of the manga panels to help visual clarity, and do motion comic for a couple of moments for dramatic effects. That means I have to AI upscale the pages, and use Photoshop to split the images into layers. It takes a whole day of work just for a minute of video.

Yet still, I wish I have more time to turn it into something more. I would love to turn it into a proper motion comic production, in line with the Watchmen series. If you haven't seen Watchmen Motion Comic, it's on YouTube and it's pretty great.

Anyway, after all that work, I hyped myself up for Halloween, eagerly waiting for further episode of the Uzumaki animated series... And then the second episode abruptly changed studio, with the animation quality taking a nosedive. It is extremely jarring.

To be fair, the animation is not the worst. In fact, I still think it looks better than both Junji Ito anime to came out previously. But this new studio clearly couldn't handle the 3D anime workflow, and was not able to add the necessary hand drawn elements to complete the visual. The result looks extremely dated, feeling like that animated Train to Busan movie. And that movie was already dated back when it came out.

This makes me so sad, y'all. Hopefully they saved the good stuff for the finale.

So, now I can focus on the Yakuza cinema video. Some of the old Yakuza films, like the Gambler series, are really hard to find. I might have to resort to using trailer footage. Nevertheless, I think I have an interesting script on hand, especially neat for Like a Dragon fans. Hopefully the lack of visual variety doesn't overshadow the script.

MEDIA TALK

Oh boy, so many unnecessary films are coming out all at once.

Once again, I'm being a negative Nancy. I said this when talking about A Quite Place Day One. That movie, well made as it was, feels wholly unnecessary. The concept and the world building has been thoroughly explored even in the first film, and this prequel doesn't add anything we don't already know. Its story can work with any other monster invasion. And the invasion itself isn't even that interesting.

But here's the thing: At least it was well made.

Oh boy, when will Warner Bros. learn? Back when Joker 2 was announced, I already expressed this sentiment about it being an unnecessary sequel. It did, however, caught my attention, when it was announced that Lady Gaga is joining the cast, and that it'll be a musical. It gave me hope that they are taking the Joker idea, and doing something fun and crazy with it.

You know how Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a completely different and an unhinge movie, with a poster that parodied The Breakfast Club? Or that Gremlins 2 was a self-aware commentary on the production and reception of the first movie? Joker 2 could'e been that.

But no, Joker 2 is like Matrix 4. It's a little hard to explain, but the film appears to me as a product of deliberate sabotage from the director. With dozens of songs included and not a single one of them being original, watching the film is like watching the skin of Trolls World Tour wrapped around a court room drama with very flimsy writing. I don't see the effort behind this film. It is as if the director is just cashing in his check while giving WB the bare minimum effort.

I mean, if so, good on him.

Not quite a sequel but a Hollywood remake/adaptation, Speak No Evil is another unnecessary film of the season. For those who don't know, Speak No Evil was originally a 2022 Danish movie about a Danish couple staying in their new Dutch friends' place, and slowly being bullied. It's a suspenseful slow burn horror with a very memorable ending. It is also a commentary on the meek and passive social culture of Danish people against the much more pushy Dutch social norm. The English title "Speak No Evil" refers to ho the Danish couple, even in the face of clearly disturbing events, does not want to speak up.

So what you get when you transplant that to America? The Danish couple is now American, and Dutch family is now British. The cultural aspect of the original film is instantly lost. Worse yet, the ending is also changed. In typical American slasher fashion, the main characters escaped at the end with no one but the bad guys punished. It turned what was a very unique film into a run of the mill American horror film, one you'll forget by winter.

But the final most unnecessary sequel, for me, is The Platform 2.

Back when the first film came out and blew up during the pandemic, The Platform received wide attention for its concise and visceral commentary on the stratification of our society. While I personally did not see the film as highly as most, (I think the film's commentary is no more sophisticated than Squid Game, which isn't high praise,) I do understand the films appeal.

Then comes The Platform 2.

While the first film explores the unequal distribution of goods among people, the second film attempts to explore the opposite: What if the people organize themselves to enforce equal distributions?

With a polar opposite direction light that, it is truly a miracle that the film ends up feeling so similar to the original, once again stressing its own metaphor to its limit. The rehash of commentary crews tired within the first 20 minutes, and the coming grind house gore and shock has no more appeal after the first round. In fact, I agree with the RogerEbert.com review. The Platform 2 is so unnecessary, it actively made my memories of the first film less appealing.

And after all that, I don't even know if I buy the message of the film. But that's a topic for some other discussions.

Well, that rambles on for longer than I hope. I guess I just have a lot of negativity to share. After multiple disappointments happening ahead of Halloween, can you blame me?

In any case, I should see you with a new video this week! It has been a while, I hope you'll enjoy the video!