Code Lyoko (Finished 9/8/2022)
Something like 20 years after I first started watching this show, I have finally finished it. Can't believe I waited 20 years to find out the final episode is a clip show. Still, anticlimactic ending aside, it was fun to watch through it. I don't know if I would say it "holds up", but the vibes are cool, the characters are likable, and the bizarre line deliveries remain strangely charming. I'm pretty picky about what I think should get rebooted, but honestly this show feels ripe for a modern update. Take a more plot-driven approach, lean into the spookiness, spend more time on the mystery element... I'm just saying.
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (Watched 9/5/2022)
Wow, wow, wow! Absolutely my jam. All the things I like about the series with that big ol' scoop of turtle melodrama. It's got time travel, it's got brotherly love, it's got way out of left field body horror, it's got it all. If you're a turtle fan but you've been sleeping on Rise, do yourself a favor and go check it out.
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 2 (Finished 9/5/2022)
Great stuff. I loved the first season, and the second season keeps building on all that great groundwork. The refreshed characterizations are great, the art style is so much fun, the action is dynamic and exciting. Really my only con with this series is that it is mostly comedy, and you know I love that good turtle melodrama, which we start to get some hints of at the end of the season. A real shame it was cancelled, and a greater shame if no one picks up season 3. There is so much potential for the future of this series.
Ash vs. Evil Dead - Season 1 (Finished 9/1/2022)
Fun, if not good. The humor rarely lands and it doesn't have the charm of the original films, but it has its moments. Some good juicy horror bits ("juicy horror" being the best way I can think to catagorize the genre of the films) and a handful of moments where it allows itself to be a little more sincere that hit a sweet spot. Either way, if someone shoving their hand into the back of someone's skull and using them like a puppet sounds like a good time to you, you'll probably have fun with this one, regardless of how bad the dialogue is (it's pretty bad).