It was a Netflix-themed week today!
. With that, I mean i got to see two of the movies available on the platform, but the best ones of the bunch.
1.
A.K.A Charlie Sheen
When I found out about the docu-series (for me, a two-part movie due to the lenght of both), being a "Two And A Half Men" fan, I was eager to see it at premiere day, and I did, the two-parts in a row. A very well documentated documentary about Charlie Sheen and truly a perspective lesson on how the life of an ex addict is and how they see the crazy past they had.
I love how Charlie Sheen is nowadays being sober and clean for 8+ years (he said 6 in the film, which tells me this was filmed in 2023 moreso), but it's really eye-opening for everybody (especially for Sheen) how his life, EVEN FROM THE VERY BEGGINING, was always on a thin line, and how, somehow, he always defied overdoses, hypersexuality or HIV and continued like NOTHING could happen to him, of course at the cost of him loosing his couples and his children's custody, but most importantly, how the people that surrounded him had a bad and worrying image of him. Man, HUGE RESPECT for both his best friend Tony Todd (Not the Final Destination actor), Denise Richards and, last but not least, Jon Cryer, the last two more especially for seeing him on their worst, Jon on the Two And A Half Men set and Denise being easily the BEST woman he had, not to mention his dad Martin Sheen and his brother Emilio Estevez for taking care of him the most, easily a great example of how being a loving and caring dad and brother respectively. More than glad that Charlie Sheen left all that crazy addiction-based lifestyle behind and decided to make ammends on EVERYBODY he affected due to his addictions, especially Chuck Lorre (the Two And A Half Men creator) because, man, his 2011 public meltdown is still very well taped on my head since it basically ruined what was the world's best TV Sitcom at the time (which, IMO, was already getting ruined since season 4 due to bad script choices in the long term and lack of character development
), and Denise, again, easily THE BEST WIFE he ever had, the fact she admitted she still loves him after all these years opens the small but notorious chance to see them back to be the couple they always had to be ❤️
I so, SO wish Jon Cryer gets to talk to Charlie after all these years, he has to since he always seemed to be the most worried about Charlie's addictions taking out his life, and with a good reason since he was his co-star on Two And A Half Men and both were basically TV's highest paying actors of all time and changed the perspective that passing from movies to TV was a step down, he saw in first person Charlie's addictions taking him for bad and never liked that, pretty sure he didn't even wanted to be part of Comedy Central's roast of Charlie Sheen that happened on the prime of his meltdown (don't know if he was invited to do it or not), pretty sure he didn't even found it funny since he knew what he saw and wasn't anything for jokes to be, even if Comedy Central's roasts are normally based on that. I so wish that reconciliation can happen since both had an unmatched chemestry during the show and, moreso, can make for ONE HELL of a Two And A Half Men reunion!! ❤️
Overall, amazing movie or docu-series, how you want to see it, especially due to the main character still being alive (unlike many of the other Netflix docummentaries where either the main character is either dead of didn't want to be part of the project).
9/10.
2.
K-POP Demon Hunters
Almost three months after, I know... TBF, I wasn't aware of this movie's existence since it never appeared on my dashboard, I didn't even know I added one of their main songs on my Spotify (same can be said about a Phantogram song from another netflix movie that was nowhere near this one), but after a Salsa remix of one of their songs, then a Bachata one of another (I'm latino, ok??
), and MANY MANY trendy videos on TikTok from either normal people and reviews, and even some backstories, I decided to give it a go. I was expecting something very girly, very VERY K-POP oriented (almost cliché-ish) and basically a bad, childish script compensated by the animators overflexing their skills
cough Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
cough, but no...
¡¡THIS IS A COMPLETE MASTERPIECE!!
Let me get this out of the bucket already, this is
Netflix's MOST WATCHED MOVIE IN HISTORY, and for
MANY VERY GOOD REASONS, first, the story, basically a Hunters vs. Demons fight throught the whole thing, something that in the movie states it goes back from many generations ago, but instead of fire, the main hunters' weapons is music, the best, most powerful music they can give, for this generation's hunters is, of course, K-POP, only this time is different because of social media, which helps as a power-up for the Hunters' music to the point they could, with the right song, easily end the battle for good thanks to the deployent of a magical barrier called "The Honmoon", enough power releases the Golden Honmoon which is the Checkmate move, of course the main demon knows this and in desperation tries to find the best attack, and one gives the best idea, fight power with power, the Hunters were a very popular girl K-POP group doing their job, good, then a selected group of demons would be a K-POP boyband with the target of stealing the hunters' fans thoughout their music, weaking their power in the process and turning their main objective further and further away. The story goes even better when the complexity of being a half-and-half starts thanks to the Hunters' leader, Rumi, which is half Hunter/half demon and has to personally battle between both sides, despite she considering herself more of a Hunter, and her counterpart, Jinu, being a complete demon-but-once-human but with a HUGE hidden guilt. Of course the movie focuses more on Rumi's backstory and strugles than Jinu's since she's the main character, but without absorbing too much the other Hunters' screen time of relevance, and that final fight... VERY VERY well made script!!
I'm not a K-POP fan myself, but the songs here are TOP-NOTCH on their own, I said at the start I added one of the soundtrack's song on my Spotify without knowing ("Takedown"), AMAZING song and easily my favorite of the bunch, but I have to admit nothing comes close to "GOLDEN" (the Salsa Remix song I talked about), WHAT A SONG THAT ONE IS, no wonder why is the most popular of the bunch and, easily, one of K-POP's most popular songs of all time, the singer Ejae (Rumi's singing VA, keep that name) with Audrey Nuna y Rei AMI (the other Hunters) really gave everything and made the hit of the year on my book (and in many people's book)! ❤️. "Free" (the bachata remix one) is amazing too and "Soda Pop", a very catching one too, again, a TOP-NOTCH Soundtrack! ❤️
The animation itself is top notch as well, basically is the same multi dynamic fps, 2D/3D hybrid "Animated for twos" style animation as Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse with some adjustments (like no 2D elements) since this is not a comic-based movie, which was a bullseye move since, combined with the script made the movie extremely enyoyable, pleasing to watch to the eye, funny, and have some very impresive visuals ❤️.
What makes me more enamored of the movie is Ejae's (Rumi's singing VA) REAL Backstory, which makes the soundtrack (especially "Golden") EVEN BETTER, from being a trainee ("Junior" on the K-Pop world) in SM entertaiment (one of K-Pop's biggest agencies) with the target to become an "Idol" (how South Korea call their singers), just to be stupidly rejected for being "Too Old" (she has 26, btw), becoming a composer for many K-Pop bands and arriving to the movie's team in 2020, in fact, both Rumi and her have many things in common and that's why the character feels so SO unique and heart-felting! ❤️. I can go far beyond, but basically, this is her "middle finger" moment to SM and the K-Pop bigheads overall for rejecting her and for the absolute posibilities this masterpiece has.
In my opinion... easily one of the best non-pixar-non-dreamworks animated movies of all time, and i'm saying it right now, this is not an OSCAR favorite,
THIS IS AN OSCAR WINNER already (Best animated movie, best Original song for "Golden", I even dare to say huge candidate for "Best Movie"), hell,
¡Even the OSCAR's Tiktok (and pretty sure other socials) dedicated a video to "Golden" admist the trend!, and let's not talk about the Grammys... Definitely a movie to watch and see, despite your music tastes! ❤️
10/10.
👍
