armando vanegas

Review- Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)

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by Armando Vanegas

Shows that come back from a long hiatus can be tricky because you don’t know how it will be perceived and it’s hard to know if it will have the same impact that it did with viewers from years ago. The other thing to consider is that people change and as a result, feelings and sensibilities change. This seems to be a big part of what co-creators David Lynch and Mark Frost were aware of coming into this new season of Twin Peaks, also known as Twin Peaks: The Return, as it seems to have a somewhat different feel from the original series. Whereas the old show contained lots of intentional soap opera satirical aesthetics, these new episodes have a more experimental and esoteric feel that is more fitting on its new premium cable home, Showtime. As usual with any David Lynch project, you’re not going to be given simple answers and satisfying conclusions. As long as you’re okay with that going in, you’re bound get something out of this. It’s not exactly a fun watch, but it gives you something to chew on even if it can be hard to wrap your head around at times thanks to the trademark surrealism on display.

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Review – Twin Peaks (Seasons 1 + 2)

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by Armando Vanegas

Twin Peaks had to be interesting to see back in 1990. It was at a time when TV largely stayed in their lanes and never threatened to disturb the status quo. But that’s what happens when you get David Lynch, then of Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart, have the audacity to condescend to TV and bring his weird brand of black lodges and dancing little people in small red rooms with striped floors. For a few years now, I’ve been attempting to experience this show and see what makes it special. After all the hype, I heard about the latest revival by Showtime from last summer, I wanted to review the first two seasons and share some thoughts as someone who was completely new to it and was totally out of the loop as this show was way before my time. I also wanted to give it a chance as it’s considered a pioneer of Peak TV and David Lynch has made things that I’ve liked in the past, so I wanted to see what his vision would look like if it was contained in a network TV show.

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Review – Deadpool 2 (2018)

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by Armando Vanegas

Ryan Reynolds is back as Deadpool (aka Wade Wilson) in Deadpool 2, the sequel to the hit movie. The good thing is that it’s the same as it was before, but has some more to offer this time around. If you want it to be more than a fun take on the superhero genre and expect something deeper, then you might be disappointed. The movie pretty much does what you expect in terms of it’s humor and style, but it also attempts to be more than that, which works to varying degrees.

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Review – Isle of Dogs (2018)

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by Armando Vanegas

Simultaneously charming and depressing, Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs will find a way to stick with you long after the credits roll. While it might not reach the levels of Rushmore or Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson still manages to utilize his trademark style into a unique and entertaining experience. The movie follows a group of dogs in a dystopian future version of Japan and isolated by the evil new mayor on a trash island literally called “Trash Island,” after an outbreak of a dog flu virus in the city. When Atari, a young Japanese boy, gets stuck on the island while looking for his own dog, the other dogs agree to help him, including the cynical Chief.

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Review – Everything Sucks! (2018)

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By Armando Vanegas

I don’t usually review TV shows, but I wanted to try something different and Netflix’s Everything Sucks! was something that really stuck with me, so much that I was inspired to write about it and hopefully those of you who read this might want to give it a shot. Everything Sucks!, in a lot of ways, is the show that the trailer sells you with its very 90’s aesthetic, due to the fact that it’s set in 1996. It’s evident in the first two episodes, which are also its weakest. However, they do a good job setting up for the tone, the characters, and the story. But once it figures itself out, it becomes quite an engaging and charming show. The show is about a group of high school kids in Boring, Oregon and how they’re dealing with growing up.

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Review – The Cloverfield Paradox

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by Armando Vanegas

The Cloverfield movie series is such an interesting blank check franchise because there’s no shortage of good ideas by making this an anthology series as it gives more freedom for whatever stories that the filmmakers want to tell. I would have been fine if this was one movie about a monster attacking a city but they decided to expand on this and made a great followup in 10 Cloverfield Lane.

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Review – Tyler Perry’s “Acrimony”

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by Armando Vanegas

Tyler Perry’s Acrimony stars Taraji P. Henson as Melinda, a woman in a struggling marriage to Robert, an aspiring inventor. After feeling wronged, Melinda attempts to get what she feels she’s owed from Robert by any means necessary. That’s more or less what the story is about but we also learn how these two got together and what led to what went wrong in their marriage. Even though this sounds like something more nuanced or grounded considering who made it, it’s still the same ol Tyler Perry movie but there’s more ridiculousness than usual.

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Classic Review – Batman (1989)

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by Armando Vanegas

Even watching Tim Burton’s Batman now, it still sets the stage for a spectacle and you can see the kind of skill Tim Burton can put into a movie. Right from the beginning, this seems like this could be something big and to be fair, it’s not like there was a lot of superhero movies coming out at the time. Thankfully, it does live up to what a big screen blockbuster should and can be. Granted, some of the effects and the sets are a bit fake looking thanks to the great powers of HD but there’s still a very fun experience to be had here. There’s a lot of money being shown on the screen with the sets, which do a great job at presenting this world. I remember rewatching this a few years ago and I was not particularly blown away by it but there’s something about this recent watch that made me appreciate it more. The thing is that it’s not the kind of movie we see anymore especially from the perspective of a comic book movie. It’s kind of endearing that this was made solely just to tell a story and to entertain but it’s just that. I don’t have to watch 12 more movies to lead up to a franchise just to witness a satisfying end for this movie. Not that that’s bad but I’m in school right now and as a result, I’m not always in the mood for that kind of movie. Anyway, this movie is just called Batman and that’s pretty much what it’s about. I saw Batman do what Batman needed to do and I’m all the more appreciative for that.

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Review – Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

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by Armando Vanegas

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is one of those movies I would’ve loved when I was younger and it was playing on Comedy Central on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It knows what it is and sometimes that’s good enough. It even has a really dependable cast for the most part and they were a big reason that I was curious about this. That and I couldn’t see Ghostbusters as it was packed at the time but it’s still a good substitute if you want to have some laughs. Some of the people providing those laughs are Adam DeVine and Zac Efron as Mike and Dave Stangle, two brothers who have a reputation for getting too out of control at their family get togethers.

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Review – Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

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by Armando Vanegas

Independence Day: Resurgence continues 20 years since the events of the first movie and the Americans have been using alien technology to defend the world from aliens and the whole world has achieved world peace as a means to work together to avoid any future attacks on Earth. It turns out that the aliens are about to make another attack on Earth. Things seem to be going okay until signs of another attack begin to appear and it’s up to Bill Pullman’s former US President Whitmore, who’s been left traumatized by the aliens and Jeff Goldblum’s David Levinson, who’s now serving as an advisor as he investigates the recent signs appearing around the world.

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