Green Phoenix - The Hunt for Red October (1990) Review

 

The works of Tom Clancy have long been held as the pinnacle of Cold War and post-Cold War era political thrillers. While the works of Tom Clancy are known these days primarily for the Rainbow Six series of video games; during the 1990s, audiences were gifted with a trilogy of very high quality films. Filled with A-cast celebrities and featuring the highlights of late Cold War era politics and intrigue, the Jack Ryan trilogy, as it might sometimes be known, all started with 1984's The Hunt for Red October.

NOTE: I consider Sum of All Fears and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit to be reboots and not sequels.

Based on Tom Clancy's debut novel of the same name, the book and film achieved phenomenal success and catapulted Clancy to international notoriety. Clancy's masterful integration of hardcore science fiction and political thrillers created a tense exploration of the minds of two men. One, an infamous Soviet submarine Captain, and the other a former US marine turned CIA analyst. The struggle to understand each other's motives outside of direct communication and in direct contrast of the interest of their respective home nations create a true sense of thrill and anxiety.

But does the film hold up after nearly 30 years? Are the performances as good as I remember them from when I was growing up? And is the story just as exhilarating with the Cold War now only a fleeting memory in the mind of most moviegoers?

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Green Phoenix - The Man with the Iron Heart Review

I have mentioned it several times before in my previous reviews of alternate history novels, but the genre as a whole has a fundamental issue at its heart. An author of alternate history must be able to balance an interesting and unique premise and point of divergence while at the same time not selecting a subject so esoteric that the general reading audience (which in America is woefully historically illiterate) won't be turned off or too bored.

For most alternate history authors, the solution is to pick a point of divergence and timeline that alters some event that is universally understood or known to American audiences, those two tending to be either the American Civil War or the Second World War. This results in these two time periods being the most discussed in the field of alternate history, almost to the point of parody. Even Harry Turtledove, the man widely considered the master of alternate history, has created dozens of stories based on these two time periods, immediately to great effect.

But today's review will cover one of Turtledove's more comparatively recent explorations into a WW2 point of divergence. In 2008's The Man with the Iron Heart, Turtledove explores not a Nazi victory in WW2,  but an altogether different, yet even more intriguing question. What if the survival of a single SS officer had enabled the creation of a more unified German resistance to the allied-occupation of Germany after World War 2? What would the impact be on Allied post-war sentiments at home?

These questions and their correlation to more modern wars like the Second Persian Gulf War form the thematic heart of The Man with the Iron Heart and it leaves this stand alone novel as easily one of Turtledove's most intriguing and underappreciated, in my opinion.

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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 - Beauty and the Beast (1991) Review

I want to apologize to everyone for the two-week delay in releasing this review. Two weeks ago was TrotCon, a convention that I regularly participate in as a guest, and due to the fallout of COVID-19, I needed to dedicate a great deal of my time and focus to the convention and couldn't finish this article with the level of quality that I expect of myself. As to why I had to delay last week, well...

...Accidentally deleting an entire article the night before you have to publish it fucking sucks.

But all that aside, I am happy to finally present a review of one of the most well-regarded Disney films in cinematic history.

In 1991, Disney found themselves at a crossroads in terms of their Renaissance. 1989's The Little Mermaid had been a massive success that seemed to revitalize public interest in Disney animation, while 1990's The Rescuers Down Under was largely ignored in terms of public interest, due to lack of interest from Disney marketing (though the film would maintain a strong public interest and fanbase on VHS). It was in this environment that Disney released Beauty and the Beast.

To say that this film has a prodigious legacy and reputation is the greatest of understatements. The New York Film Festival gave an unfinished rough-cut of the film a standing ovation. And the film would go on to be the first animated film to ever be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

But does the film still deserve that indelible reputation? Let's take a look at Walt Disney Pictures' Beauty and the Beast and find out.

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Green Phoenix - When Dinosaurs Roamed America Review

I've been wanting to cover more documentaries in my articles and the month-long break gave me the perfect opportunity to think long and hard about what documentary I would absolutely love to discuss. As I mentioned in my Walking With Dinosaurs review, dinosaur documentaries just absolutely consumed my childhood and teenage years. I always tried to catch some new show on Discovery or Science channel when they were on, maybe National Geographic or Animal Planet, and for the most part, they were fun but kind of samey. Few ever reached the same standard of quality that Walking With Dinosaurs achieved.

But there was one documentary that I remember growing up that hit all the right emotional and educational beats while maintaining a level of CG quality that I actually think surpassed Walking With Dinosaurs. So it is with immense joy that I take a serious look at a seriously underrated dinosaur documentary.

Released on Discovery Channel on July 15, 2001, When Dinosaurs Roamed America brings us back to the Mesozoic Era, focusing exclusively on dinosaurs that lived in the area that would eventually become the United States.

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Green Phoenix - Why I Enjoy Alternate History?

Hello everybody!

I hope that your June was as relaxing as mine. Actually, given everything that happened in June, I hope your month was even more relaxing than mine. I kept myself quite busy, between participating in protests, attending city government meetings, and a lot of fiction writing and reading, I've also been working quite hard on building a stockpile of articles for all of you to enjoy.

In the hopes of easing all of us back into the habit of reading my incredibly entertaining articles, I thought it would be quite fun for me to begin with a short editorial going over one of my favorite topics of all time and one that I wish got a lot more respect in this day and age.

And who knows, maybe my discussion on it may inspire you to look more into it and create even greater works in the field.

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Green Phoenix - 8 Amazing Non-Disney Animated Film Tracks

Let's be completely honest. When you think of animated music, it is almost a guarantee that the first song you will think of is likely produced by the Walt Disney Company. Ever since the Disney Renaissance of the 1980s and 1990s, the company has had a nearly undefeated stranglehold on the cultural zeitgeist when it comes to animated musicals. So prevalent is this perception that many of the non-Disney animated films from that period, like Fox Animation's Anastasia, are often thought of as Disney films by audiences.

So this got me thinking. Why don't I spend an article going over some of my personal favorite non-Disney animated musical scores? I can give some attention to some songs or movies that maybe don't get thought about as much as they should, and it gives me a chance to geek out about some of my favorite film tracks.

A win-win if ever I've heard it.

So after the break and a quick overview of the rules for this countdown, we will take a look at 8 incredible non-Disney animated film tracks.

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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 - Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame Review

In the latter half of the 1990s, the Walt Disney Company's animation department had just passed the zenith of its power. Fresh off the heels of a string of monumental successes with films like Aladdin, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast, Disney executives were absolutely certain that Disney animation could do no wrong, even in spite of the politics going-on behind the scenes, and began pushing heavily on their next big animation projects.

The Disney Renaissance had to continue, right?

First there was an adaptation of the story of Pocahontas, the Native American woman whose association with the Jamestown Colony had reached the annals of American legend which was released in 1995. It had to be good. This was the film that everyone wanted to be apart of, not The Lion King.

Reviews for the film were...lackluster at best. People criticized the appropriation of Native culture and the animation, which looked far too different from the last Disney outing featuring animated humans (Aladdin). The film made money, but for the first time, Disney executives realized that success wasn't a guarantee. Success was riding on their next big project.

So Disney pulled all the stops on their adaptation of Victor Hugo's most famous story after Les Misérables. They got the directing duo behind one of their biggest animated success The Lion King, they got Alan Menken on music, they got some of the best voice actors in the business.

1996's The Hunchback of Notre Dame was definitely going to be a hit...right?

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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 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review

Welp, I guess its time to sit on this rowdy bucking horse.

I have always loved the Indiana Jones franchise, especially when I was a child. So when I heard that the series was going to release the fourth film in 2008, my 14-year-old ass literally strong-armed my family into coming to the theater with me. The fact that I was the only person in the theater in a complete Indiana Jones cosplay was just the icing on the cake (if my sisters could dress up for Harry Potter films, then I could be Indiana Jones in the theater). This just goes to show just how obsessed as I was about the Indiana Jones franchise growing up and how the fourth film was going to be absolutely amazing if I had to wait nearly a decade and a half to get the next installment.

...yeah. It was alright.

Even when I was a 14-year-old who liked almost everything (I hadn't yet developed my critical credentials and experience yet), I could tell that there was something decidedly "meh" about this film overall. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to like about it, but it is definitely the black sheep of the franchise.

The fact that a fifth film has been announced for July of 2022, of course, has me excited, but I feel like maybe we need to take a look back at the fourth film in the franchise to see if we can learn what we should and shouldn't do in an Indiana Jones movie.

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Green Phoenix - 1633 Review

Last July, I released my review of Eric Flint's first novel in the Ring of Fire series, 1632. I expressed at the time how I wanted to review and show off all the books in the series, as it has long held the position of my favorite literary series of all time.

But for whatever reason, I never did get around to reviewing the sequels to 1632. Of course, the series is quite prodigious, with more than 2 dozen books and hundreds of associated short stories through the Grantville Gazettes. So going book by book like I often do with my reviews of film series would be rather ridiculous and completely dominate the majority of weeks that I have access to with the website.

But I do want to get through  and review each o f the series' main titles at some point or another. And it is with that spirit in mind, that I will take a look at the second book in the Ring of Fire series, published in 2002, 1633.

This is the book that truly lays the groundwork for the rest of how the Ring of Fire series is written. While 1632 might have introduced us to the world, it is 1633 that solidified and established the outside world with sufficient enough details for future arcs and story lines to be expanded upon.

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Green Phoenix - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Review

As stated in my Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom review, the Indiana Jones franchise was originally pitched as a trilogy of stand-alone films. Following the mixed reception of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Spielberg and Lucas elected to make the third film in the trilogy more traditional and in line with the first film the franchise.

This resulted in the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989. The film in the franchise that is easily my favorite and honestly the entire reason why I decided to take a look at the Indiana Jones franchise in its entirety.

Bringing back many of the powerhouse cast from Raiders of the Lost Ark and adding in the overwhelming charisma of Sean Connery, otherwise known as James Motherfucking Bond, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is widely considered to be the perfect Indiana Jones movie.

But does that hold up on a more analytical level? I may love this movie subjectively, but when taking a look at the more generalized elements of effects, music, characters and story; does Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade really deserve its place as the most popular of the franchise?

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Green Phoenix - 8 Epic Video Game Tracks

I have never been much of a video game player. I did play a bit when I was younger and I still enjoy the occasional computer game now and again, being a big fan of simulation and RTS games. But the real draw that I have to video games is the immersive cinematic quality that so many possess, especially as the technology and financing as grown to enable that level of narrative story-telling.

And much like films and television, a key element to a cinematic experience in video games is the music that accompanies it. While most early games at pretty basic 8-bit musical sections, as technology and visuals advanced, so to did the musical compositions. And the effect was some truly stellar and epic video game music tracks.

And it is these tracks that will be the focus of today's article. Today we will countdown, in no particular order, and highlight 8 absolutely epic video game tracks. Those musical pieces that you find yourself listening to completely outside of the gaming experience. The songs that get played over and over again or seem to represent the very thematic heart of the game in question.

Today is going to be a hell of a lot of fun and I hope you all will join me in geeking out about some of the coolest sounding video game music I can think of.

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Green Phoenix - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Review

The Indiana Jones franchise was originally pitched by George Lucas as a trilogy of films, much in the style of adventure serials of the 1940s. Raiders of the Lost Ark was a tremendous success, popularizing and revolutionizing the fantasy adventure genre in much the same way that Star Wars had revolutionized science fiction film. And so with that success in mind, Director Steven Spielberg and Producer George Lucas set about working on the next film in the trilogy.

When Lucas conceived of Temple of Doom, he imagined the film would stand within the Indiana Jones franchise much like The Empire Strikes Back stood within the Star Wars saga. The darker and grittier middle child that was more experimental and adult-oriented. Something that could steer the direction of the entire future franchise down an unexpected course, despite the intention of each film to be standalone adventures.

But where The Empire Strikes Back succeeded in its dark tone, Temple of Doom was much more controversial. The film was too dark for many audiences and especially the MPAA, who refused to give the film a PG rating. Knowing that an R-rating would kill the film in its cradle, Spielberg and Lucas worked with the MPAA to design an entirely new rating system, creating the PG-13 rating.

Temple of Doom's legacy within the Indiana Jones franchise remains a black sheep. Its middling performance revealed that it was more than the pure spectacle that drew audiences into the franchise. But was it deserving of its lukewarm reception?

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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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Green Phoenix - Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) Review

A few weeks back, Red Diamond and I decided to check out the new Sonic the Hedgehog film. While I initially had no plans to review this particular film, I felt motivated to do so after seeing all the effort on the part of the production to...correct...some rather infamous glaring issues.

Video game films tend to have a, not all undeserved, reputation for terrible quality and when this film was first announced last year, it looked like that statement would continue to hold water.

And it all had to do with the design of Sonic himself.

Being as honest and as frank as possible, Sonic looked like absolute dogshit in the very first teaser posters and trailers. Looking far too cartoony to be real but far too realistic-looking to ever be considered cartoon cute, the original Sonic design essentially took a massive deuce in the uncanny valley.

And the internet made sure that absolutely everybody knew about it.

It was actually kind of incredible to watch a video game movie implode before it even reached the theatres in real-time. The design of Sonic could've very nearly sunk the entire project just from the teaser alone. It was then that the production team behind the Sonic the Hedgehog film decided to delay the film's release and completely revamp Sonic's design.

The result is what was delivered to theatres. A level of post-production on this scale for a video game movie due to public backlash is almost unheard of. And it is an incredible achievement what the CGI artists were able to accomplish. I felt like I had to support such a project.

Perhaps studios would listen to real audience feedback instead of "supposed" audience feedback.

So how did the film turn out? Is it an amazing work of art? Or is it like nearly every other video game movie?

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Green Phoenix - Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark Review

Growing up, I had three great passions. Each of these passions was born out of a piece of media.

The first of my passions was Paleontology. Born of my love of the Jurassic Park franchise, I absolutely adored dinosaurs and desired to learn everything about them. I once even challenged a paleontology major college student (my second grade teacher's son) to a dinosaur naming contest and won.

My second passion was Astronomy. I adored stories of space travel and exploration. Star Trek and Star Wars captivated my childhood and has continued to form a core to my futurist tendencies.

My third passion was Archaeology. And given the title of this article, you can probably imagine which series influenced this passion. The Indiana Jones franchise built a love of history and alternate history that has only grown stronger as my knowledge of history grew with my education. Until I was in High School, there was a genuine part of me that wanted to go into archaeology as a profession.

Naturally, my dislike of busywork and the realities of being an archaeology teacher or museum curator (the only profitable jobs that an archaeology major could reasonably acquire) nipped much of that in the bud. But the love and appreciation for this film remained, especially as my passion turned to film-making and I learned the history of some of my favorite childhood films.

Like how Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was a collaborative passion project between George Lucas, the director and creator of Star Wars, and Steven Spielberg, the director and force behind...basically the best films of the 1980s and 1990s. Much like Star Wars was inspired by George Lucas' love of Flash Gordon sci-fi serials, Indiana Jones was inspired by the treaure hunter and explorers of 1930s and 40s serials, as well as the romance and danger of characters like Alan Quartermain and James Bond.

Lucas wrote the initial draft, then called The Adventures of Indiana Smith. but shelved the idea for many years, as the means and method to create such a series of films were outside of his capacity. Initially wanting Clint Eastwood for the role of Indiana Jones, prior commitments on Eastwood's part to the film The Outlaw Josey Wales, and the development of The Empire Strikes Back being shifted to a different director to Lucas, would see Lucas and Spielberg team up with Harrison Ford to bring a brand new adventure franchise to life.

To phenomenal success. It is no exaggeration to state that the Indiana Jones franchise fundamentally shifted much of the public perception around adventure blockbusters and even the archaeological profession. Just as Star Trek and Star Wars inspired astronomers and Jurassic Park inspired paleontologists, Indiana Jones has become the benchmark for future archaeologists.

And for very good reason.

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Green Phoenix - Building Better Backstories IV

Last week, I reviewed Jurassic Park III, ultimately giving it a disappointingly low 4.5/10. This hurts because the Jurassic Park franchise has always held a special place in my heart.

My first and oldest passion has always been dinosaurs and paleontology and Jurassic Park did much to foster that affection. Among my earliest memories was watching the original Jurassic Park, so for me to say that the third film in this franchise is a disappointment hurts me a great deal.

I think that's why I needed to do a Building Better Backstories for Jurassic Park III. I thought long and hard about what changes would need to be made and, I hope that you guys enjoy what I came up with.

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