By: Agent Bunnie & Agent Afronaut As Marvel fans, of course, Afronauts jumped on to watch "Jessica Jones Season 3" on Netflix. This was not only the final season for the series, but also for all of the Marvel series on Netflix. Most of us know by now that Disney is launching their own subscription service on November-12 of this year, called: Disney Plus. The new subscription channel isn't just bringing us all of Disney and it's affiliates (i.e. Pixar) movies and content, but a bunch of new original shows as well. Most of the buzz is around the Marvel series that are linked directly to the movies and will star many of the actors from the theatrical releases, such as: Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), and Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier).
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! DO NOT CONTINUE ANY FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS! So, what about Jessica Jones 3? We really liked season 1, but felt season 2 was dragged out and pointless. Honestly, you don't even need to watch season 2 to follow season 3; the recap before you start #3 is enough and will save hours of your valuable time. Season 3 starts out with a lot of potential- The villain is quite clever; the series teases what could have been for the next Luke Cage season, had Disney not pulled the plug; Patricia "Patsy" Walker finally becomes Hellcat, although her Netflix version is very much different from her comic book version; and we're introduced to Erik Gelden, played by Benjamin Walker, and though he's also not like his comic book character, we liked the fresh take on a minor character. Yet, the season finale finishes a bit weak. We garner that the writers were trying to set things up for the future and according to interviews, the Netflix Marvel team had no idea they were getting cancelled while they were in the process of making the last couple of series. So, to be fair, it wasn't a horrible ending given the circumstances. However, judging Season 3 on its own, we still have to say it could have been better. Things start to slide down hill for the show after they catch the villain, Gregory Salinger, played by Jeremy Bobb; It's at that point that Patricia starts her transformation as full blown Hellcat and it looks like they were trying to make her a villain. At least in this season she was. The direction they took Hellcat just seemed to be the wrong one. The series started to become a drama and pushed the "Patricia is wrong, Jessica is right" image. Netflix Marvel has always had this "discussion" and image of: What is right and wrong? How far is too far? To kill or not to kill? -We have no problem with that, but the way it was presented in this series finale was not believable with it's inconsistencies and hypocrisies.
Image used is for reference only and taken from Netflix in association with Marvel and Disney. Afronauts makes no claims to the creation or ownership.
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By: Agent Bunnie & Agent Afronaut Agent Bunnie remembers seeing her first ever movie in theaters and it just so happens it was the original "Aladdin" animated feature by Disney! Jasmine became the "childhood princess" for her and Bunnie grew up collecting toys and dressing up as the iconic Arabian princess. So, when the live action version of Aladdin was announced by Disney, there was quite a bit of excitement here at Afronauts.
However, before Aladdin rolled out, Disney gave us live action versions of "Alice In Wonderland", "Sleeping Beauty" in the form of "Maleficent", "Cinderella", "The Junglebook", "Beauty and the Beast", and "Dumbo". The world has had plenty of opportunities to see Disney's vision of animation come to life and with the exception of Maleficent, these re-telling of the classic animations has Afronauts wondering: What is Disney's point in this trend? Besides trying to make money, obviously. Maleficent sticks out to us, because it's a movie that was quite different from the original Sleeping Beauty animation and is told from a completely different viewpoint; that of the villain. The rest of the movies, while little tweaks were made, it's primarily the same story that we've already taken in and there are some things that animation just simply does better than live action. In the live action Cinderella they had a ballroom dance scene with Cinderella and the Prince, but it definitely didn't capture the magic and serenity of the original animation and the same can be said for the ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast or the tea party scene from Alice in Wonderland. WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! DO NOT CONTINUE ANY FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS! With that said, we went into the theater to see Aladdin hoping for more then what Disney has given us previously with these live action movies. We can sum up our thoughts with: It's a good movie, but it's not great. Aladdin live action is still a re-telling of the animation, but it is nicely modified in its live action form. The musical scenes are not overly done and kept to a minimum, so as viewers we didn't feel overwhelmed or that feeling that it's not believable. The audience gets to see Jasmine as not just strong like in the animation, but also educated and smart. We even get more of the Genie character by Will Smith, as they seemed to have let him be more of a person than just Aladdin's sidekick in this version. Yet, when all is said and done, we left happy, but not overjoyed. Nothing new or innovative was given to us, and it was enough just for us to say- "At least they didn't ruin the story." Disney will be releasing the live action Lion King and Maleficent later this year, and Mulan is set to be released in 2020 (if it doesn't get pushed back again). They also have 13 other titles in production set to come to theaters over the next handful of years; all of the live action films will be based on popular animations. We here at Afronauts hope they continue the Maleficent route with these films and would love to see less popular animated films get a re-do in live action, because if they're going to continue this trend they should be adding to the stories or making them better, and so far we're just seeing the same and it comes off very mediocre. Overall Aladdin is a fun journey into one of our childhood classical storylands and in a Summer that isn't offering much other than sequels outside of Marvel's "Spiderman: Far From Home", it is worth seeing. Aladdin is still in theaters and doing well. It's set to be Will Smith's highest ever grossing film. It's a good movie for all ages and Will Smith will make you laugh, but don't go hoping for something better than the original. Image used is for reference only and taken from Disney. Afronauts makes no claims to the creation or ownership. Written By: Agent Bunnie & Agent Afronaut WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! DO NOT CONTINUE ANY FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS! twoWe're going to keep this review short and simple. By now, just about every [adult] has gone to the theaters to see John Wick 3, and let's be honest- most of you didn't know it was called "Parabellum" until just now. Keanu Reeves has done an excellent job at making John Wick not only a memorable character, but also a name that we care only to hear when referencing this series. So much so, that everybody seems to only know this movie as "John Wick 3" and some even skip the number altogether!
Afronauts has watched the first 2 movies, and while we were impressed with the 1st one and we generally liked the 2nd, we were left wondering if they could even make a 3rd that lived up to the hype and improve the story already set in motion. While John Wick 3 has already grossed more than the first two movies and has set a 4th film in motion already, while receiving mostly positive reviews, we here at Afronauts were not thrilled with it. Everyone we have talked to loved this film and gave it praise; It is the general public we most closely give our attention to, but we just can't agree. - Why? - Overall, the film lacked a story line that improved the line of films and why make more if they're not going to add to something? The movie follows John Wick, of course, but this time he's being hunted by everyone who wants a bounty in exchange for his life. The movie jumps right into action from the last one and you would think that would mean we're going to get to some really good material straight out the gate, but it never actually comes. John Wick eventually leaves NYC and meets up with Hallie Berry's character, and the entire scene with her could have been cut out and we would still have the same movie. Then he goes to the desert to find the man who is in charge of this whole assassin's organization. He loses a finger, but is told he can be reinstated simply by killing his friend and the man who put the bounty on his head in the first place, Winston. And we had to ask ourselves again, why was this in the movie? Seemed quite pointless. So, we find John Wick back in NYC, but now Winston is in the same position as Mr.Wick and the two join forces to stand against the assassin guild known as the High Table. It's a shoot out, followed by a one-on-one, and then there's a bit of surprise when Winston turns on John to regain his position at the NYC Continental. It ends with the Bowery King, played by Laurence Fishbourne, who has also been exiled from the High Table, recovering John Wick and leaves us believing the two of them will join forces in the 4th installment. We already felt the series slipping down slope in the second movie, and this one actually slid pretty far down. Even the secondary story line with The Adjudicator, played by Asia Kate Dillon, is flat. She goes around from place to place "punishing" anyone who helped John Wick or failed to kill him when they could have, even before he was announced "excommunicado", which is really just her slicing them a bit with a knife and/or removing them from the High Table and in the end she essential does nothing to end Mr.Wick. The antagonist in the second movie, Santino D'Antonio, was at least a badass who outsmarted John Wick in the end. The main adversary, Zero, in this movie has a good sense of humor, but overall comes up short and a bit cheesy. The hunter in the previous installment play by Ruby Rose and known as "Ares" was much more suspenseful and clever. To top it off, the bounty amount didn't even seem high enough for the supposed high stake situation. The best of the movie can be summed up as: Artistic Fight Scenes. The choreography and action scenes are top notch and they definitely went all out and put their best efforts into giving us creative and in some parts even elegant action. We can't argue with the praise given for that. Yet, that's not enough for us here at Afronauts to give praise to this film as a whole. Like we mentioned before, John Wick 4 has already been announced with a release date of May 21, 2021. Afronauts will probably see it, but we won't be in a rush. Let us know your thoughts on John Wick 3 and the series altogether! Are you excited for the next installment? John Wick 3 is still in theaters if you haven't watched it, but unless you like action we would suggest you skip it. By: Agent Bunnie & Agent Afronaut Afronauts attended FanimeCon 2019 in San Jose, California during Memorial Weekend. This is a tradition for us here at Afronauts. 2019 marked the 25th anniversary for Fanime! We'd like to congratulate them! This years Fanime seemed very relaxed and chill, but also less crowded then the last few years. There were 3 other big cons running the same weekend, so perhaps others decided to go to those ones instead, but it was noticeably quieter and easier to maneuver -we're not complaining about the extra space, by the way! We also noticed less independent dealers there this year in the Dealer's Hall, but much more food options! Food vendors was definitely a much needed improvement for Fanime and it seems like this year they really tried. The last couple of years they have hosted a Steampunk addition in which if you could buy tickets to separately or attend with a Fanime badge, but this year it seemed to be missing and instead they had many more video game competitions. There seemed to be more emphasis on panels for diversity and discussion on improving Anime and calling out the negative aspects on anime, which we appreciated seeing. If you attended FanimeCon, we'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions! What did you love? What did you not like? What would you like to see in the future for FanimeCon? If you didn't attend FanimeCon, tell us why! Below are some great cosplayers we found at the convention! If you know who they are or that's you, please let us know so we can credit them/you and if they/you have a link let us know and we'll be happy to let people know where they can find you! We spotted this beautiful Tinkerbell cosplayer in Artist Alley and had to ask for a pictures! We love everything about her handmade outfit, down to the details on her shoes! Agent Afornaut spotted a kick-ass Shuri cosplayer from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Artist Alley! Agent Bunnie found a unique (Pokemon) Vaporeon cosplayer in Artist Alley! This Renaissance Eeveelution even had a complete Vaporeon tail! This is definitely one of the best cosplays we've ever spotted! Strictly, because it's not a character we see people cosplay often. We're fans of Adventure Time though and this Banana Guard is a thumbs up in our book! Another cosplay we don't see often: Snorlax from Pokemon! We spotted this sleepy giant on our way out of the con! We hope you enjoyed this blog post and if you have your own blog post about FanimeCon then please leave your link in the comments so we can check it out! Make sure to follow Agent Afronaut & Agent Bunnie on Instagram for quick and instant updates while we're at cons and other major events! We most likely will be at Crunchyroll Expo in August, which is also held in San Jose, California! We hope to see you there!
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The Afronauts BlogAfronauts is a collective dedicated to bringing exposure to and understanding of Indigenous Futurism in all its forms. Archives
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