Cobra Kai 1-3

 Before I get started, normally I do a blog about up coming movies but since a good part of the movies last were put on hold and this year the movies are a mess as when things are coming out etc, I am not doing one this year.

Now about Cobra Kai. I grew up with the first Karate kid movies. In fact when I watched the very first Karate kid movie, it was in elementary school. They showed it to the whole school. I even remember that after the movie, they sent the kids out for recess and the boys were trying to do the crane move lol.

When I heard they were doing a series, I was freakin' excited. I signed up for the Youtube red just to watch it. I loved it and where they went with it. I was addicted and wanted more. Then came season two and then waited forever for season three. I was even more excited when it was switching to Netflix. 

I re-watched the first two to refresh my memory and tonight I finally finished watching season 3. OMG do I want more. I understand why Netflix series has short seasons and even why it takes forever for new seasons to come out but man it drives me nuts, it's both a good thing and bad thing that you can binge watch a full season.

I will start with the cons. Too many illegal things happen with nobody getting in series trouble for their actions especially in season 3. This can be a through off so you kinda have to push that fact out of your head to really enjoy the rest of the show. There are a lot of times things become predictable and other times there are surprises. There are certain things that happen to people that should have killed them or caused them series injuries but I guess that happens in just about any action tv show/movie.

The pros. The actors do an amazing job especially the second generation (we already new Ralph Macho is a good actor). I love that all the original members have been brought back even for just a little bit and that they even show clips from the movies. I love that they show backstories of some of the characters so we know more about them and where they come from. The girls in the series are strong young women who kick ass, I like mix of both male and female strong characters. I like the how the relationship between Johnny and Daniel is this tug of war back and forth of being rivals and on the verge of something good. The storyline(s) are great too.

The fighting scenes are pretty good. There are some funny parts and some sad parts especially when they talk about Mr Miyagi. It's sad that he couldn't be on the show but they do honor him and talk about him a lot. I also like the struggles between good and bad and how the teens have their struggles within themselves. There are lots of inner battles, learning and growing even from the adults. This series definitely takes me back to the 80's.

I have seen that some people hate it because it's not realistic or it's campy. I happen to like it a lot. I think most people that grew up with the movies in the 80's will like this series and connect with it. I heard that the entire 4th season script has already been written, I'm so freakin excited. I highly recommend watching this series especially if you are a fan of the original movies.

  

Netflix: Messiah

To start off, I am not a religious person. I do believe in God/universe but I don't believe in religion. At first I didn't want to watch this because I thought it would be another religion filled show and I'm not really into that (although I like the Jesus of Nazareth that I grew up watching every Easter and Passion of the Christ). Finally I gave in because it just seemed interesting, I'm glad I gave in.

I really liked it a lot and hope there will be more seasons especially since this one did leave on a some what cliff hanger. It is basically about what if there was a new son of God in today's world. How would the people around the world act and the government. Is he really the son of God or is he a smart, talented, possibly mentally ill person? I think by the end of the first season, us the audience can figure it out but throughout the season, you do question yourself. 

Even though there is some religion stuff in it and talks about God a lot, it doesn't feel like religion is being shoved down our throats and it isn't the main part of the story, trying to figure out who the guy is while the world responds in different ways is the main part.

This show gets you thinking more about life and question yourself like how would you react if there was a new son of God? What would it take for you to believe in him? It is interesting how so many people believed in him so fast and followed him. I can see that happening though. You also have your non-believers which I can also see happening. 

There are some parts that will make you gasp and cry a little. It does have messages like just about anything out there but this series makes some really good points and things I have been saying all along. I can see myself watching this again at some point and even getting the DVD set if it comes out.

With movies like Passion of the Christ, it is set so far back and times where way different then. Yes there were non-believers and some that looked at him as evil or just a threat. Today, we have the internet which makes news spread like wild fire. We are also not so quick to believe (a lot of us anyways) and realize that someone can just have a mental illness. I mean there are people out there who claim they are the son of God but those people also have an illness. I think it would just take so much more than someone saying they are the son of God for us to believe them.

This is a VERY interesting take on a Messiah story. I think even if you are not religious, don't believe in a God etc, you will enjoy this. It's for everyone of different beliefs and backgrounds. Just fair warning, there are some content that are not suitable for your kids like a sex scene and violence. The acting is really good especially the guy who plays the Messiah. I do have one complaint, when there has to be captions when people are speaking in a different language, the captions don't always show up, show up a little late or move away from the screen so fast that you can't even read one word. That is annoying so hopefully that will be fixed in the next season which I think there will be one. Below is a trailer.

Trailer:  Click Here

Netflix: The Toys/Movies That Made Us

About a year or possibly three, I saw a show on Netflix called "The toys that made us" which is a documentary series where they talk about the most popular toys that were made back in the day, their history etc. If I am correct, they now have 3 seasons. It's really interesting to hear about toys like Barbie, Star Wars, Teenage mutant ninja turtles and more.

Now they have a new series called "The movies that made us". So far I have only seen two episodes but I like it just as much as their first series. They spend each episode talking about a specific popular movie which I think are all from the 80's (I haven't looked at all the episodes yet to see). 

It takes you behind the scenes, the ups and downs of making the movies etc. The first episode is "Dirty Dancing" and the second is "Home Alone". Both had some very interesting facts. 

I can't wait to see more episodes. There are so many movies they could talk about so it will be interesting to see how far they go with this and what movies they talk about. I hope they talk about tv shows next because that would be just as interesting.

If you love movies and toys and find behind the scenes of things interesting, I highly recommend these two series on Netflix. A good binge watch.

The Toys That Made Us trailer (season 2): Click Here

The Movies That Made Us trailer: Click Here

Netflix: Dark Tourist

I started watching a series on Netflix called 'Dark Tourist'. It's like a documentary series about a guy that travel around the world visiting places that can be dark, dangerous or macabre. It's pretty interesting, kinda sad, disturbing and gets you thinking. It can open your eyes to how other people live and the different cultures that are really out there. I have so much going through my head about this series (I hope I can remember everything I want to talk about) and I'm not quite done with the series yet. There are 8 episodes and I am in the middle of episode 7 as I type this.

The parts of the world that he goes to are: Latin America, Japan, the US, Japan, the stans, south east Asia and Africa. He gets a taste of what it's like to cross the Mexican border illegally, goes to suicide forest, encounters real vampires, visits a place that is run like North Korea, visits a disturbing museum, witnesses a cleansing of a corpse, goes to a voodoo festival, and prepares for the end of the world. Those are just some of the things he does from each episode.

While watching him re-enact what it's like to cross the Mexican border illegally, it was pretty depressing. One must REALLY have a bad life and hope for a better one to go through all of that. I understand we can't just let everyone in but there has to be a better way for people to be able to cross the border without going through the risk of getting killed. It's just plain sad and can really open your eyes to certain things that you never gave much thought.

As I got deeper into the episodes, I have become more thankful for my life and for living in the US. My life can be pretty difficult and life in the US can be pretty fucked up and scary; but it doesn't come close to what to other people go through in life. We truly have it so much better than other countries that we tend to take it for granted. It's almost hard to believe that other people have this scary or very dark life that is worse than us. It's also sad that there are places like that.

I also got to watch how some countries treat their animals. I have to say, even though I think we tend to treat our animals with cruelty, these other places are kinda worse. To them, it's their way of life, their culture, so they don't think twice about it. To us, it's disgusting and cruel and hunting for sport is kinda tame compared to some of these other places. Those parts were pretty hard to watch and I had to look away and I am a meat eater.

The other thing that has gone through my mind while watching this is how interesting to the point where it's amazing, how much different everyone lives around the world. We are all human, no matter the color, religion or where we live. Yet every country/culture has come up with their own religions, practices, how we all live is VERY different from one another, our beliefs and our way of lives can be so extreme. Instead of trying to learn from each other and about each other, we put up imaginary borders to separate ourselves from others, try to have control and power to show who is bigger, we destroy each other and hate each other just for being different or out of fear. Some want to rule with an iron fist not giving a shit 
if other are being mistreated, they get off on the power. Life is just so crazy and one big chaos if you really think about it.

Another thing I found interesting, even in some of the poor countries, they have cell phones but not big on other technology or decent living quarters, food or clean running water. English is spoken around the world even if it's their main spoken language. Everyone may not know it but it's still a pretty universal language, more than one might think. Different cultures can be so extreme and so bizarre on how they handle death, not saying it's a bad thing though.

I highly recommend this series if you are into this kind of thing. I've been binge watching it but stopped to write what was on my mind before I forgot about it. It's going to be a late night for me lol.

To watch the trailer click here