QUICK REVIEW: Love, Death & Robots

Good day to you ladies and gents, and welcome to the first TV review I’ve done for ages in the form of Love, Death & Robots. I knew after I saw the first trailers for it last month that I’d have to give a watch, and after finishing it yesterday I felt compelled to share my thoughts online. So today I will be sharing my spoiler-free thoughts about this experimental show.

So what’s the show about? Well, it is essentially an 18 episode anthology series full of short stories that vary in tone, length, structure and presentation and relate to love, death and of course robots. The first great thing about the show is its length, these days with so many shows trying to compete for your time and some us (especially adults), don’t have the time to invest in a lot of them not only because of the episode duration but also the number of episodes/seasons as well. Love, Death & Robots is not only 18 episodes, but their duration varies from only 7 to 17 minutes, so getting through the whole thing isn’t too difficult. The issue with that comes with certain episodes feeling like they needed more time to flesh certain elements out or that they end abruptly.

As for the stories themselves, they all vary in quality. Some can be very intense, thought-provoking, disturbing, visceral and magical, other times it can be quite silly, strange, funny, casual and/or pointless. I found my engagement fluctuating from being super invested to disinterested. Some of the episodes felt like they established a whole with rules, mythology and characters you could invest in and wanted to see more of, while others felt like good ideas that needed more fleshing out. Your investment will depend on personal preference and while each episode is worth working, only around half of the 18 episodes left a major impression on me which I shall highlight below.

Favourite episodes:

• Sonnie’s Edge
• The Witness
• Suits
• Beyond the Aquila (really good)
• Good Hunting (really good)
• Shape-Shifters (really good)
• Helping Hand (really good)
• Fish Night
• Zima Blue (best episode)

The performances from the various cast members including Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Topher Grace, Gary Cole, Samira Wiley and Stefan Kapičić, are mostly good with some standing out more so than others, however, some voice performances were a little questionable when it came to doing certain accents.

The main draw for this show is its visual presentation which is all sorts of delicious! Now that may be a bit of an overstatement considering that I’m an illustrator and aspiring animator, so naturally, I gravitate towards those elements. But seriously this is some of the most visually striking and impressive material I have seen put into a TV format. The various studios that worked on the show have crafted visuals that utilise live-action footage, CGI, 2D and 3D animation and rotoscoping, and the way some of these styles are used individually or together is nothing short of amazing. I love the level of realism implemented in the 3D material, while some of the unique art direction for the 2D material was beautiful, some episodes had very vivid and beautiful colour schemes and others had incredible camera work with cinematography equal to a really high-quality video game or Hollywood film.

So to conclude, Love, Death & Robots is a fascinating, intriguing and unique TV experience that needs to be seen. While not all of the stories are compelling and some of the stories, subject matter and violence will turn certain audiences off, I feel like I had a good time with the show I would recommend it purely for the visuals alone as that is the show’s strongest element.

So have Love, Death & Robots and if so what do you think of it? I’m very curious to hear your thoughts, especially from any female viewers considering some of the online articles that have been brought up the way some of the women have been treated in the show. Leave your thoughts in the comment below and until next time, laters! 😀

 

Deadpool Director: The Movie is Ready, But They’re Waiting On Fox

Hello again people of the world, I return to talk about superhero-related film news and this time we’re talking about the on-and-off-again Deadpool film. Apparently there is actually a glimmer of hope for this film again as we’re getting an update from the director rather just Ryan Reynolds. The following information is from IGN:

“Director Tim Miller recently spoke to entertainment host Erin Darling about the current status of the long-gestating Deadpool movie he’s attached to direct and what fans can expect from it.

Miller says the movie, scripted by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, is ready to go … but there’s one thing they’re still waiting on before it can happen. Watch the update below for what Miller had to say about the project and what fans can expect from it:”

To be honest I’ve been waiting for this film for so long that I’m kind of in a place where I can either take or leave a Deadpool film. Now please don’t misunderstand me, I love him as a comic book character and I would LOVE to see him get the respect he deserves in a live-action film, however, the journey for him trying to get a film has been one of the most arduous processes I’ve followed in any film. I keep hearing from Reynolds or the writers that the project is still alive, but then there’s no proper development. In a way I just can’t be arsed… But at the end of the day I’d still want him to get his own solo film so I can’t give up hope yet and that’s why I’m at least interested in what this director’s saying.

Tim Miller seems to be good to go and so does everyone else, it looks like we’re just looking at 20th Century Fox waiting for them to bite the bullet and let this film actually go ahead. Seems like the studio has been holding this thing back for a while and while I can understand the risk involved, at the same time I feel like they’re just being bastards about it and just holding it back because they’re too afraid to let the film go ahead. Well whatever the case I want this film to just start production already because the world really need to know about Deadpool and we’re not talking about the weak game from earlier on this year, but a PROPER action film full of chaos, violence and breaking the 4th wall.