Green Phoenix - The History of Swear Words Review

 

 THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WILL OBVIOUSLY POSSESS QUITE A LOT OF OBSCENITY, EVEN BEYOND MY USUAL AMOUNT. 

READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

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It's not often that I come across the trailer for a film or series that makes me immediately go, "I MUST WATCH THIS!!!!". For all that I am a rabid viewer of cinema, my past economic difficulties have fostered in me a deep sense of "Wait and see" when it comes to many films, hoping that word of mouth can entice me into making the effort to see a new film. Even in the age of streaming services, where money is less of a pressing issue, the sheer amount of temporal investment (and time is money) into any movie or TV series is oftentimes difficult for me to get over.

So you can imagine my surprise and excitement when I came across the trailer for Netflix's documentary comedy series The History of Swear Words. Watching Nicholas Cage just scream the word fuck for thirty seconds was apparently enough to completely hook me onto the idea of this documentary series. Released on the 5th of January, 2021 The History of Swear Words is one of the first new releases on Netflix for the year and, as you will see in my review, a fantastic way to start this year.

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Green Phoenix - 2020 in Review

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

And good riddance to hot garbage, I say. This year was a trying time for all of us and it is my sincere hope that my articles might have done something to provide entertainment or education for my readership.

As we enter 2021 with, hopefully, brighter expectations than 2020, I would like to take a quick analytical look-back on 2020 in terms of my articles and viewership. Though this year was far from ordinary, perhaps there remains things that I can improve upon and aid in making 2021 a better year than the shit-show we were given in 2020.

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Green Phoenix - Let's Talk...The West Wing

Hey everybody!

I hope that you have managed to keep yourselves in high spirits and good health given all the anxiety and stress that this last week has likely given quite a few of you. I know that I personally had some serious anxiety attacks as thoughts of the election have continued to pervade the back of my mind. Thankfully, some R&R and loved ones has ensured that I am in decent mental form for you all and enabled me to focus on providing you all with a different kind of article this time around.

Up until now, my style of articles have been of four general varieties: Reviews, Countdowns, Editorials, and Literary Recommendations. Today's article is going to be a variation of Editorials that I'm calling "Let's Talks". Whereas my editorial articles are usually me trying to discuss a specific point or debate a topic that I'm focusing on in that article, Let's Talks will be much lighter in tone and more free-form. Let's Talks have no objective or point beyond me talking about some topic on my mind, be it a review or a rant, etc.

And for my very first Let's Talk, the recent election drama has brought my mind to one of television's greatest Presidents. So we are going to talk about just how great of a show The West Wing was and what I liked and missed about it.

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Green Phoenix - Walking With Beasts Review

 

A few weeks back, I took a look at the BBC Documentary series Walking with Dinosaurs. I've gone on record stating just how much I adored that series and its influence on my cinematic tastes and experiences.

Knowing how important Walking with Dinosaurs was to my childhood and cinematic sensibilities, it really should come to no surprise that I would keep the show going by taking a look at the other entries in the Walking with... franchise at some point down the line.

Well...today is the day.

Released in 2001, 2 years after its predecessor, Walking with Beasts uses the same combination of animatronics and computer-generated imagery to tell the story of life after the extinction of the dinosaurs. With Kenneth Branaugh reprising his narrator role from Walking with Dinosaurs for the British version of the series, Walking with Beasts brings together much of the same crew and team that brought dinosaurs back to life to tell the story of the rise of mammals and their transition into a world dominated by human beings.

But does Walking with Beasts live up to its predecessors legacy? Or was Walking with Dinosaurs to big of a shadow to shine against?

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Green Phoenix - 8 Amazing Anime Openings

I've always been fairly picky when it comes to the anime that I choose to watch. I have just had too many situations where I was uncomfortably surprised with an anime that I really didn't want to watch. This is particularly the case with anime that deals in horror elements, as I am a chickenshit coward when it comes to anything remotely scary, and Japanese anime can be very scary to me.

To avoid getting caught unaware, I often have to rely on the openings of the show in order to give me a good sense of the show's general nature and outlook. This has resulted in me oftentimes finding the openings of anime almost as entertaining as the show itself. Thus the reason for this particular countdown.

This will not be some exhaustive list of the greatest anime openings, but rather an opportunity for me to talk about some amazing anime openings and hopefully inspire you to check out some amazing anime if you haven't already.

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Green Phoenix - Restaurant to Another World Review

In these introductory segments, I have long made it a pattern to reveal specific details or experiences of my life which draw me into the media I am reviewing or editorial I am writing for that respective week. Whether it is a personal anecdote, a memory attached to a theme close to the media in question, or some unique quirk of mine, I have always held that the audience will connect to my reviews more if I apply a personal connection to anything I am reviewing.

With that in mind, this week's interesting foible is that I have always enjoyed watching people enjoy things by proxy. This is fundamentally why I enjoy watching people in reaction videos online or reviewers and critics. Just viewing someone earnestly enjoying themselves is so immensely cathartic to me, even if it might occasionally creep some people out due to my incessant need to people watch.

Growing up, this led to the Food Network being one of my all-time favorite TV channels, which for a child or pre-teen is kind of strange for a kid with no actual interest in learning to cook. I loved watch Emeril Live, Unwrapped, and Good Eats whenever I got the chance, just because watching everyone enjoy themselves with good-looking food was exciting to me. As you can imagine, this led to me loving to watch others eat and enjoy themselves when eating.

So when I found out that there was an anime out there whose entire runtime was dedicated towards fantasy characters talking about good food and enjoying themselves eating good food, naturally I had to check it out.

Released between July 3 and September 18, 2017 and simulcasted on CrunchyRoll, Restaurant to Another World is based on a light novel by Junpei Inuzuka, which is still being written as of this review. This 12 episode slice-of-life cooking isekai covers only a portion of the light novel's content, leaving much excitement on my part for the possibility of a sequel series or second season someday.

The show has a tone that is unlike any isekai I have ever watched and, as I hope to show you in the article below, it makes Restaurant to Another World a singularly unique viewing experience.

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Green Phoenix - Goblin Slayer Review

NOTICE: GOBLIN SLAYER CONTAINS CONTENT THAT DEPICTS EXPLICIT ACTS OF VIOLENCE, INCLUDING SEXUAL VIOLENCE. I WILL DISCUSS THE TOPIC AT LENGTH AT SEVERAL POINTS IN THIS REVIEW. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND VIEWER DISCRETION IF YOU CHOOSE TO WATCH THE SHOW.

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Last week, I did a review on the first season of Dr. Stone, an incredible anime for anyone who is a massive fan of science and technology. Which I am. So as you can imagine, I absolutely adored that anime and wanted to talk about it months after it first premiered. But there was another anime that I wanted to talk about for almost as long, but I was limited by circumstance and personal issues that I have with the anime, specifically in its first episode.

But I just love the concept behind Goblin Slayer way too much to not at least give a basic review on the show. It is somehow both a loving tribute to and a criticism of many of the underlying narrative elements present in the fantasy genre, especially in fantasy role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. As a D&D nerd myself, the concept immediately grabbed my attention, and barring the first episode, I was immediately hooked on the show. This was due in part to the word of Mother's Basement and other anime reviewers, which brought the show to my attention.

Such a grimdark and gritty exploration of a fantasy world, Goblin Slayer is not for the faint of heart but it is a realistic portrayal of the horrors of war and battle, and a criticism on a society that does not value those who engage in menial or necessary labors. So lets a dive into this controversy-ridden anime.

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Green Phoenix - Dr. Stone (Season 1) Review

Before my passion for filmmaking and film criticism had fully crystallized, I was absolutely obsessed with science, technology, and mathematics. I've always fancied myself as a futurist, looking towards the latest scientific and technological advancements and imagining how our world could be improved by the widespread introduction of certain technologies.

This passion played heavily into my love of science fiction and alternate history, and it makes me deeply excited about any form of hard science fiction.

So when I saw advertisements on Crunchyroll for a new shonen anime early last year whose main protagonist wasn't a muscle-bound meathead, but a scrawny scientific genius struggling to rebuild a collapsed world. I was immediately hooked on the concept.

I ended up watching the show, spellbound at the portrayal of not only science and technology, but the depth of the characters, the moral philosophies and ideologies at play in the background, and a genuinely excellent mix of personality and humor from nearly every orifice of the show.

In truth, I wanted to talk about this show last year, but I wanted to finish the show in its entirety and make sure that we would, in fact, receive a second season. But it is, so...

...let's talk about the first season of Dr. Stone, one of my favorite animes in recent memory.

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Green Phoenix - Walking With Dinosaurs (1999) Review

As stated many, many times during my various Jurassic Park reviews, I was absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs and paleontology growing up. A love I have actually healthily maintained to this day.

While I enjoy the fictional portrayals of dinosaurs, that passion also helped me to develop a love for documentaries and educational television and films. So much so that I even have a subscription to CuriosityStream simply because I want to have access to documentaries that I can't get on Netflix, Disney +, and Amazon. I had considered acquiring the documentary streaming service for a few months, due in no small part to the recommendation of some of my favorite YouTube educators and theorists. But the information that finally convinced me to purchase CuriosityStream was the knowledge that they had the entire Walking With... series available for viewing.

In the wake of the release of Jurassic Park in 1993, public interest in prehistoric life reached a fever pitch. This public excitement inspired Tim Haines with the idea of using ground-breaking computer effects and animatronics, similar to Jurassic Park, to create a dinosaur-centric documentary miniseries. Collaborating the Jasper James and special effects artist Michael Milne, Haines succeeded in creating the most advanced paleontological documentary ever seen to that point.

Walking with Dinosaurs is easily one of the most notorious and influential nature documentaries in recent memory and the progenitor of an equally influential franchise. It was a game-changer in the field of nature documentaries, utilizing state of the art animatronics, computer graphics, and the top paleontological knowledge of the time to bring the world of dinosaurs to life.

While dinosaur nature documentaries are a dime-a-dozen nowadays; back in the late 90s, Walking with Dinosaurs was truly revolutionary and the chance to talk about it in detail is exhilarating to me.

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Supaidâman Episode 1 Review: The Time of Revenge has Come! Beat down Iron Cross Group!!

Hey guys Blue Beast from the Shard warriors here. Ill be reviewing "Supaidâman" the weird japanese take on the webcrawler. The first episode is fun as long as you don't expect it to be really even close to the Marvel original (other then the costume and basic powers). Click on "Read More" to read my thoughts on episode 1

Green Phoenix - The Saga of Tanya the Evil Review

As many of you might be aware, I am a man of many varied passions. I tremendously enjoy alternate history and the exploration and analysis of history in general. I also am a fan of, if a little picky about, anime and the fantasy and science fiction genres.

So imagine my surprise when I am introduced to a series like Youjo Senkai, more commonly known by its English title The Saga of Tanya the Evil. A series based on the light novels by Carlo Zen and adapted by some former Madhouse animators, directors, and producers, The Saga of Tanya the Evil is available for viewing on Crunchyroll.

While I have watched and do enjoy the English sub, I will using the English dub for the review of the series (as I feel it is of comparable quality). I will also be taking a look at the recently released film in my analysis of the series, as it effectively plays the role of the second season.

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Green Phoenix - Ore Monogatari!!

Originally running as a Madhouse production from April 8 to September 23, 2015, Ore Monogatari!! (Translated as My Love Story!!) is an adaptation of the shojo romantic comedy manga of the same name, written by Kazune Kawahara and illustrated by Aruko. 

The manga series ran for 13 volumes between October of 2011 and July of 2016, and was published by Shueisha. You can find the manga in most bookstores, and the English sub of the anime can be found on Crunchyroll.

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• Romantic Comedy
• Produced by Madhouse
• Written by Kazune Kawahara
• 24 Episodes Long
• (English Sub available on Crunchyroll)

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SUMMARY