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Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone (2007) - Rewatch on Blu-ray
Many consider You Are (Not) Alone nothing more than a condensed version of episodes 1-6, but more discerning Eva fans will notice that even here, Rebuild is going in a different direction. For one thing, the oceans are red and the first shot of Rebuild is identical to the final shot of End of Eva, which makes the time loop theory interesting to consider. There is also the outline of what looks like a Mass Production Eva. The characters have also changed in subtle ways. Shinji doesn't isolate himself as much and he already has a cell phone where in Neon Genesis, he doesn't until Misato gives him one. Misato also knows everything about the secret hiding underground... and she's taller in Rebuild. On top of that, when Kaworu makes his brief appearance at the film's endgame, he speaks as if he's aware of the previous timeline. Hideaki Anno has changed the story somewhat, but it's still a great one and I for one find that the changes affect this outing for the better. As a result of the story happening in chronological order, the battle scenes, especially Shinji's first where Unit 01 goes berserk and Operation Yashima, are more intense and thrilling this go around, supplemented by Shiro Sagisu's excellent musical score, which comes across loud and clear on the Dolby TrueHD 6.1 track without drowning out the dialogue. The stunning animation has also improved and colors are more distinct, especially eye colors, which, in Neon Genesis, often looked almost black aside from Rei's. All of this comes across very well on the 1080p transfer. Funimation has also produced an excellent English dub and some of the cast who dubbed the original series has returned here. Spike Spencer is once again excellent as Shinji Ikari, the Third Child whose father has railroaded him into piloting Unit 01 to defeat the Angels, beings from outer space who want to obliterate mankind. Spencer has a way of capturing this character's soul, of making him likable, sympathetic, and easy to root for. Also returning is Allison Keith who is also excellent as Misato Katsuragi, Nerv's operations director who takes on the task of being Shinji's legal guardian. So too is John Swasey returning from the Platinum Collection DVD dub as Gendo, Shinji's father who is the commander of Nerv and hasn't been the same ever since they lost Shinji's mother, Yui, bringing more depth to the character than Tristan MacAvery and Ray Chase did. Brina Palencia is marvelous as Rei Ayanami the First Child and pilot of Unit 00, affording the seemingly emotionless character more depth than Amanda Winn-Lee and Ryan Bartley did. Colleen Clinkenbeard is also great as Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, a friend of Misato's who may or may not have a thing going on with Gendo. Haruhi Fujioka herself the great Caitlin Glass knocks it out of the park as Maya Ibuki, a computer tech who could easily get away with being Shinji's long-lost sister, finding an even keel that perhaps only Kendra Benham and Monical Rial could match of the other actresses who have dubbed the character. So too does ADR director Mike McFarland as Makoto Hyuga, another computer tech. Same with Phil Parsons as Shigeru Aoba, yet another computer tech. Justin Cook and Greg Ayres are also excellent as Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida, who befriend Shinji at school, as are Kent Williams as Kozo Fuyutsuki, Gendo's right-hand man, and Jerry Jewell in his brief appearance as Kaworu Nagisa at the end and the dub script is completely natural.

Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance (2009) - Rewatch on Blu-ray
Anno follows up You Are (Not) Alone with a worthy sequel. He has the story drift even further from NGE, but this helps Rebuild form its own identity which being a shot-for-shot remake certainly would not. I for one like that Asuka isn't fawning over Kaji like an idiot; even if only a little, it means Asuka is more mature in that regard, though of course, she's in just as much denial as ever regarding her feelings for Shinji. The battle scenes are also as thrilling as ever and the incident with Unit 03 is even more intense since Shinji knows Asuka is on board. It's also interesting that the memories of Second Impact shown here look a lot like Third Impact from End of Eva. And why does Kaworu call Gendo father when Gendo and Fuyutsuki find him on the moon? Is he perhaps Shinji's brother? And why does Mari look so much like Shinji and Asuka? I mean, she has brown hair with a red tint and blue eyes, the latter of which is a trait only herself, Shinji, Asuka, and Gendo are shown to possess in the Eva universe and there's also the fact that she has no trouble piloting Unit 02. It makes it pretty easy to see why some think she's Shinji and Asuka's daughter hopping around time. The animation is certainly up to par with the first one, stunning in every way possible, which Funimation has reproduced well on the Blu-ray's 1080p transfer, while Sagisu's musical score is once again loud and clear on the Dolby TrueHD 6.1 track, as is the dialogue and Megumi Hayashibara's Please Give Me Wings (Tsubasa wo Kudasai); on a side note, I've listened to different versions and no one sings it like Hayashibara. Funimation has produced another excellent English dub. The principal cast from You Are (Not) Alone returns here, including Spencer as Shinji, Keith as Misato, Swasey as Gendo, Palencia as Rei, Clinkenbeard as Dr. Akagi, Glass as Maya, McFarland as Hyuga, Parsons as Aoba, Cook and Ayres as Toji and Kensuke, Williams as Fuyutsuki, and Jewell as Kaworu. The big news here, though, is that Tiffany Grant returns as Asuka Langley Shikinami, the tough, cocky, and bullheaded Second Child and pilot of Unit Two who is a new incarnation of NGE's fan-favorite Asuka Langley Soryu in the character's introduction to Rebuild, with excellent results which is the rule rather than the exception when Grant is behind the microphone. Glass's fellow Ouran High School Host Club alumni Kyoya Ootori himself J. Michael Tatum also joins the cast as Ryoji Kaji, an old flame of Misato's who unexpectedly pops back into her life when Asuka arrives from Germany, and he is also excellent, perfectly capturing the character's cool-headed personality and somewhat twisted sense of humor. Trina Nishimura (who is actually of Japanese descent if her name didn't already give that away) is also excellent as Mari Makinami, the mysterious Fourth Child who may have closer ties to the main characters than they realize, and the dub script is completely natural.

Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo (2012) - Rewatch on Blu-ray
Anno is back at it and he drifts even further from NGE. By the time Shinji meets Kaworu in this installment, he has been asleep for 14 years, the Earth has faced major destruction in his absence, and everything has changed as Shinji finds himself treated like a criminal and told he will die if he pilots an Eva in a world he no longer understands and faced with a Rei devoid of all personality who remembers nothing while he gets drawn into his father's plans once more. Another notable change is that Gendo didn't take Yui's surname in this timeline and we hear from Fuyutsuki that her maiden name was Ayanami. In this same scene, Fuyutsuki shows Shinji a photograph of his mother. If you pay close attention to the far-right side of the photo, you can see a young woman who looks a whole lot like Mari, which begs the question of what she was doing all the way back there, supposing it is, in fact, her. Though some may find it confusing and this outing is more dialogue-driven than it is focused on Angel attacks, the story is still up to par. The animation is once more stunning in every possible way on the 1080p transfer. Sagisu also provides yet another excellent musical score, though the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track is somewhat subdued in comparison to the previous outing by the film's very nature. Funimation has produced yet another excellent English dub. Returning are Spencer as Shinji, Grant as Asuka, Keith as Misato who is now the commander of Wille, a new organization that has arisen to destroy Nerv, Swasey as Gendo, Palencia as Rei, Clinkenbeard as Dr. Akagi, Glass as Maya who is now a kick-ass maintenance chief giving the computer techs orders, McFarland as Hyuga, Parsons as Aoba, Williams as Fuyutsuki, Jewell as Kaworu who has a bigger role in this outing - though his role was no less pivotal to begin with, and Nishimura as Mari. Felicia Angelle is also excellent as Sakura Suzuhara, Toji's younger sister who is scarcely seen in the entire franchise aside from a brief shot in You Can (Not) Advance and the dub script is completely natural.

Independence Day (1996) - Rewatch on Blu-ray
Roland Emmerich won't go down in history as one of the greatest directors of all time, but he's made a few good movies with Independence Day standing out as one of his best, perhaps even his finest hour. I can't speak for anyone else and I know there are some who consider it a complete waste of film - though I have never understood and will never understand that logic, but I grew up with Independence Day. It's one of those films I remember fondly from watching it with Dad. Independence Day simply works as a pure popcorn muncher and a fun and exciting film. The story is way better than some make it out to be and the performances follow suit. Some (the ones who rag on him for everything, I've noticed) have criticized Will Smith's turn, but I always thought he did an excellent job in this film. So do Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Margaret Colin, Mary McDonnell, Vivica A. Fox, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, Randy Quaid, and all the rest, including a very young Mae Whitman who would go on to play Amber in Parenthood. It's also absurdly quotable. "Welcome to Earth." "I could have been at a barbecue!" "Let's nuke the bastards." "Get some fighter jets and get us some G--damn pilots who can fly 'em." "Today, we celebrate our Independence Day." "I have got to get me one of these!" I've seen it dozens of times in the decade or so since I first saw it and for me personally, it never wears out its welcome. With that said, I guess it's no surprise I ended up double-dipping on the 20th anniversary edition when I ran across it in Big Lots for $5 even though I already owned the 2008 Blu-ray. The anniversary edition comes from a then brand new remaster and as someone who's seen Independence Day a whole bunch of times, the 2016 Blu-ray blows the 2008 Blu-ray off the table. The improvement in color and the uptick in detail is stunning. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track seems to be the same one from the previous release, but that isn't a bad thing, David Arnold's musical score loud and clear with dialogue following suit. The new one is stacked with extras, too, so if you're wondering whether I recommend this release or not, you betchorass I recommend it. It's everything a fan of Independence Day could ask for.

Summer Wars (2009) - Rewatch on Blu-ray
Some films are simply magic. Such a film is Summer Wars, arguably Mamoru Hosoda's finest hour as a filmmaker. The story is an amazing one. Some have criticized Hosoda for melding two different kinds of films as one, but that's one of the exact reasons I enjoy it so much. Hosoda and co-writer Satoko Okudera frame the story around what happens when a virtual reality system is hacked, but it's about so much more than that. At its core, Summer Wars is a film about the value of family and human connections in an increasingly digital world, something all too easily forgotten and therefore all the more relevant in today's world. Matching up to the story is the amazing animation with character designs by Neon Genesis Evangelion co-creator Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, whom Hosoda has used on all of his films. Said animation really pops on the Blu-ray, too. Akihiko Matsumoto provides an excellent musical score, which is, like the dialogue and Tatsuro Yamashiita's Our Summer Dream (Bokura no Natsu no Yume), loud and clear on the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. Funimation has produced another excellent English dub here. Michael Sinterniklaas, who would later voice Taki Tachibana in the Your Name dub he co-directed with his co-star Stephanie Sheh, is excellent as Kenji Koiso, the math genius who ends up in way over his head after he solves the wrong problem. Fun fact: Ryunosuke Kamiki who voices the character in Japanese would also later voice Taki in Your Name. So is Brina Palencia as Natsuki Shinohara, the girl who puts Kenji on the spot by claiming he is her fiancé. Pam Dougherty is marvelous as Sakae Jinnouchi, Natsuki's soon-to-be 90 great grandmother who is arguably the heart of the film even though she makes her exit halfway through. So too is J. Michael Tatum as Wabisuke, the black sheep of the Jinnouchi family, using the same voice he used for Kaji. Credit also has to go to Maxey Whitehead as Kazuma, John Swasey as Mansuke, Mike McFarland (who also directed this dub) as Shota, Vegeta himself Christopher Sabat as Katsuhiko, Todd Haberkorn as Sakuma, Colleen Clinkenbeard as Noriko, Caitlin Glass as Nana, Bulma (and Renge) herself Monica Rial as Yumi, Shinya Kogami himself Robert McCollum as Yorihiko, and Patrick Seitz as Kunihiko and the dub script is completely natural. Shooo... I think all that writing made me hungry, so I'll see you guys later.

Hard to Hold
(1984)
3/5




Rick Springfield: The Beat of the Live Drum
(1985)
3/5

Us (2019)

+

The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Spider-man Far From Home
(2019)
3.5/5

Go West (1925)