The Weekly TV, Movie, & Games Discussion Post For Week Of May 19th, 2024

We’re moving through May 2024 and it’s definitely not a place where a lot of people thought we’d be. With the spring TV season wrapping up with shortened orders and other streaming shows pushed back due to the strikes, a lot of films delayed and being adjusted, and of course just the nature of seasonal broadcasts, it’s been pretty light lately. We’ve had a number of things we’ve checked out but a lot of what I’ve been doing is rewatching older stuff. So, to kick off this latest week, we want to highlight some of the things we’re looking forward to this month.

First up, Abdul steps in with a new game review by looking at the Sand Land game with its PC release. Overall, Sand Land is a fun game with many engaging elements. While exploration is often tedious and uninteresting, and the story noticeably lacks depth, its other parts make up for it by providing a stress-free, entertaining experience.

Check out our full review.

The first season of Outer Range hit in 2022 and it’s been a long time coming for the second season. And this is one of those shows that’s definitely hard to remember everything of because it’s a complicated family drama involving time travel. And it gets a lot more complicated this time around as it spends its time in multiple time periods with different iterations of the same characters. But once you get past the first episode and do the mental reconnects to remember the character dynamics, it comes back quickly and moves into a fun place. I’m only through two of the seven episodes but it’s proving to be fun to see these characters stories in larger form and I’ll admit to being interested in how the late 1800s time period goes since there are more people caught up in this time travel holes than we realized. The whole seven-episode season dropped at once but it’s a show I don’t like to binge quickly.

With three episodes out now for Dark Matter it’s definitely hitting a sweet spot for me while still being frustrating. With so many smart people not able to at least voice the ideas of the series for awhile, even in jest or as a kind of “this can’t be happening,” it takes a bit to get past that and into the problem of an alternate you slipping into your timeline and taking over your life. There are more changes than you’d expect happening from some of the other timelines and it definitely has some interesting ideas in how to play things. Partially, I’m just on the hook for this since it’s a series featuring Jennifer Connelly but I’m enjoying the premise even while wishing a few areas were tighter or people weren’t just so dumb so as to make it more accessible to a segment of viewers.

After launching with two episodes, we’re now digging into the tenth and final episode of X-Men ’97 with its first season. When looked at as a whole, this season really defied the odds because the chances of a 1990s series getting a modern continuation and adhering to what made the old show work was slim. Just not something you expected to be pulled off. But they did it because they didn’t try to update it in ways beyond some animation elements that you’d expect because it’s been so many years. The characters remain as they were, the stories are the ones we’ve seen in the comics adapted to this form, and it goes as wild and crazy as you’d expect but still largely open to just about all audiences. I’m still not a fan of this kind of adaptation – or Marvel animation in general – but what they accomplished here is a lot of fun and it’s definitely got lots of sound and fury. A little too much so that the signal gets lost along the way at times which is what’s most needed to be reinforced here. The finale takes advantage of the extended time to give a solid epilogue and tease what the second season will be like, which should arrive much sooner than later to capitalize on the momentum. There’s a thirst for good animated storytelling that’s not in the usual “prime time” style that dominates these days and isn’t just kiddie fare either. X-Men hits that sweet spot and with luck, we might see more based on how well this did.

Check out our full review.

Movie reviews:

1. The Crow Steelbook 4K Ultra HD Review
2. The Idea of You Review
3. SPY x FAMILY CODE: White’ Review
4. Sometimes I Think About Dying Review
5. Rascal Does Not Dream Double Feature Review
6. The Marvels Review
7. The Zone of Interest Review
8. GREAT PRETENDER razbliuto Anime Movie Review
9. Night of the Comet Collector’s Edition 4K Ultra HD Review
10. Hayao Miyazaki Says ‘Farewell’ with “The Boy and the Heron”
11. The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes Review
12. The Canterville Ghost
13. Animation Is Film 2023: The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story
14. Animation Is Film 2023: Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower
15. Animation Is Film 2023: The Concierge Review
16. Animation Is Film 2023: The Boy and the Heron
17. The Inventor
18. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review
19. Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Film Review
20. Shazam! Fury of the Gods Review
21. Justice League: Warworld Blu-ray Review
22. The Little Mermaid
23. The Boxtrolls Review
24. Kubo and the Two-Strings Review
25. Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania Review
26. Kaguya-sama: Love Is War – The First Kiss That Never Ends Anime Movie Review
27. Sword Art Online The Movie – Progressive- Scherzo of Deep Night Movie Review
28. Mobile Suit Gundam Cucuruz Doan’s Island
29. Missing Review
30. The Whale Review
31. Point of No Return Review
32. Blonde Review
33. Wendell & Wild
34. Clerks III Review
35. Luck Review
36. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
37. Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko
38. Hustle Review
39. Top Gun: Maverick Review
40. The Bob’s Burgers Movie Review
41. Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers Review
42. Stu’s Show Review
43. Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition Review
44. Bubble Anime Review
45. Ryoma! The Prince of Tennis Anime Review
46. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Review
47. Turning Red Review
48. The Batman Review
49. Belle Review
50. Drive My Car Review
51. The Power of the Dog Review
52. Robin Robin Review
53. BoxBallet Review
54. Bestia Review
55. Eternals Review
56. Encanto Review
57. 8-Bit Christmas Review
58. Music Box: Jagged Review
59. Ghostbusters: Afterlife Review
60. Tick, Tick…BOOM! Review
61. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Review
62. Free Guy Review
63. My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission Review
64. Dune (2021) Review
65. Black Widow
66. Jungle Cruise Review
67. As the Village Sleeps Review
68. Space Jam: A New Legacy Review
69. A Quiet Place Part II Review
70. Knots: A Forced Marriage Story Review
71. School-Live! The Movie Blu-ray Review
72. In the Heights Review
73. Over the Moon Review
74. Feeling Through Review
75. Two Distant Strangers review
76. Yes-People Review
77. A Love Song for Latasha Review
78. If Anything Happens I Love You Review
79. Burrow Review
80. Godzilla vs Kong
81. Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story Review
82. Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years Preview
83. Raya and the Last Dragon Review
84. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run Review
85. The Little Things Review
86. In Other Words Review
87. Earwig and the Witch Review

What did you watch this past week?

Chris Beveridge

http://www.fandompost.com

Chris has been writing about anime, manga, movies and comics for well on twenty years now. He began AnimeOnDVD.com back in 1998 and has covered nearly every anime release that’s come out in the US ever since.

He likes to write a lot, as you can see.

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