[Review] - That '90s Show (2023)

‘That ‘90s Show’ is yet another attempt by Netflix to cash in on the nostalgia train. Having said that, I will admit that the idea of a spiritual sequel to ‘That ‘70s Show’ did somewhat interest me. My first viewing of ‘That ‘70s Show’ came via syndication long after it originally aired. Despite my usual lack of interest in traditional 3-camera sitcoms, I was actually quite taken by the misfits of Point Place, Wisconsin.

The long-winding tale of Eric Foreman and his gang of pretty-faced misfits growing up in the ‘70s had a certain charm to it that begrudgingly won this cynic over back when. It was your usual “pretty people doing simple things” type of sitcom, but more than not, it did manage to elevate above its trappings thanks to a remarkably likable ensemble cast. Even now, I’ll still find myself revisiting old episodes of ‘That ‘70s Show’ when I need a quick, mindless laugh.

‘That ‘90s Show’ picks up the story 20 years later. Eric (Topher Grace) and Donna (Laura Preppon) are now married with a daughter of their own. The unfortunately named Leia Foreman (Callie Haverda). Leia returns to Point Place to spend the summer vacation with her grandparents, Red (Kurtwood Smith) and Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp). The show follows the antics of Leia as she forms bonds with the current gen of local outcasts as they hang out in the Foreman’s basement. As the tagline for the show states; “times change, teenagers don’t.”
 
While the original show was as conventional as any other sitcom of the time, it did have its charms. Certain comedic devices such as the “circle” and the “split screen conversations” made it appealing. But most of its charm boiled down to casting. It was a potpourri of young Hollywood that gave birth to such stars as Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis. But more than that, it was a stroke of pure dumb luck in casting, as the kids had remarkable chemistry with one another.

They actually felt like a group of friends. The type of friends who would riff on each other, but also have one another's backs when push comes to shove from the threat of outsiders. They weren’t lacking in personality and made for a likable bunch.  ‘That ‘90s Show’ could have done a lot to learn from all of this. Lacking the timing and chemistry of their ‘70s counterparts, it becomes all too apparent that the new generation of kids simply can’t hold a candle to the legacy cast.

Meet your bland stereotypes for the '90s.

Gwen (Ashley Aufderheide) is the rebel girl equivalent of Hyde, only she never actually does anything circumstantial to stick it to the man. Hyde was into Malcolm X and protesting government overreach while Gwen didn't even finish reading the Riot Grrl manifesto. Can someone say poser? Jay (Mace Corone) is the son of Kelso; he has the bland good looks of every ‘90s teen heartthrob, but none of the stupid, wreckless charm of his father. 

Nate (Maxwell Acee Donovan) and Nikki (Sam Morelos) are the resident couple of the group. They’re kind of just there, sucking each other's faces for most episodes while bringing nothing of interest. And then there is the void of laughter that is the snarky Ozzie (Reyn Doi). Did we mention he is a gay minority? Don’t worry! The show will remind you every chance it gets while forgetting to give him any sort of character ark to go with it.

To put it simply, these kids are about as bland and inspired as a plank of wood. In some ways, they’d fit right at home in any bland ‘90s TGIF sitcom. They mostly just serve to swoon over one another without ever showing a hint of charisma. The only one who fares well in the new generation cast is Leia. Callie Haverda does well to channel the spirit of both her on-screen geeky father and fiercely independent mother. But even she can’t save this mess. That task is left to Kitty and Red. Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp do the heavy lifting as they carry the entire season on their backs.

Smith and Rupp don’t miss a beat as they effortlessly slip right back into their respective roles as if no time had passed at all. For all of the show’s woes, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy watching an updated version of Kitty and Red traversing the ‘90s. Hell, they could have focused the entire show on that alone and I probably would have enjoyed it more. In his older age, Red has mellowed a tad, but still has enough fire in him to threaten the kids with the occasional “foot in the ass.” Meanwhile, Jo Rupp’s Kitty is just as smothering and loving as she ever was.

Kitty and Red must have backs of steel to carry this show.

The legacy cast make all too brief cameos. Clearly, the budget couldn’t afford much of Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher as they show up for all of five minutes in one episode, despite being parents to one of the main characters. It's a missed opportunity as a whole. Topher Grace and Laura Prepon share a couple of nice scenes in the first episode before Grace peaces out all together. A couple of other familiar faces also show up and make the best of what little they have to work with. It’s fun to see the legacy cast show up, but it also highlights just how weak the new generation actually is when compared.

While the '70s brought nothing but weekly chaos to the Foreman residence, the '90s proves to be a rather lifeless affair. Despite being set in the ‘90s, it doesn’t do a great job of capturing the era. The ‘90s is best defined as a time of grunge, cynicism and counterculture. Outside of a clumsy ‘Clerks’ reference, there’s nothing here that screams any of that. These kids are almost too pure for the time period they’re living in. 

Does anyone remember the shocking 1995 Larry Clark expose that was ‘Kids?’ Those kids would make these kids blush. It's sad to me that even something like 'The Brady Bunch Movie' did a better job at lampooning the '90s. And that was made during the time period. I guess it shouldn't matter too much. Especially considering the original show mostly used the '70s as a back drop more than anything else, but it still could have been fun to see them skewer the '90s a little more.

For a time when kids were growing up with the likes of ‘Beavis and Butt-head,’ the dumbest of these kids should be way more scatterbrained and juvenile than even their parents were back in the ‘70s. But the most they can muster up is a nonstop rapport of “bro” love. As for Leia and Gwen, maybe the writers should take a look at something like ‘Daria’ if they need inspiration on how to write a believable ‘90s teen female friendship should they get a second season.

Even the soundtrack leaves little to be desired, as they clearly didn’t have the budget to shill out for the likes of Nirvana. The one thing it does capture, albeit unintentionally, is the blandness of every ‘90s TGIF sitcom. That might have been ironically funny had the writers been more aware and played into it.

Topher Grace remembers his beginnings...before he peaces out and is never seen again.

To put it simply, ‘That ‘90s Show’ is largely uninspired. Its lackluster attempt at recreating the ‘90s is the least of its problems. Despite its best efforts to evoke the ghosts of ‘70s past, it can’t capture that same lightning in a bottle. A combination of bad casting, bad writing and lackluster atmosphere makes ‘That ‘90s Show’ another dud attempt at repackaging nostalgia for a younger generation.

It’s fun to catch up with the legacy cast, but once they're gone, the show goes nowhere of interest. You know there is a problem when they can’t even recreate the magic of the epiphanies that came during the weed-induced “circle.” You know there’s a problem when every use of the “circle” in the new show feels about as fun as smoking ditch weed.


-Daniel M

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[Review] - M3GAN (2023)

The killer doll has been a long-standing tradition in horror spanning all the way back to the 1920s with ‘The Great Gabbo.’ As time has progressed, so too has the technology powering the dolls. If you look back at the 1989 film ‘Child’s Play,’ it was most notable for its effective use of mechanical puppetry to convey a true sense of personality. Times change and technology advances alongside, but the core concept remains the same. There’s just something inherently creepy about the lifeless eyes of a doll and the imaginary bonds that a child can make with an inanimate object that makes for good horror material.

At this point, the killer doll story is well-worn territory and I’m convinced there is very little anyone could do with it to truly surprise me. Therefore, it goes without saying that ‘M3GAN’ does little to bring anything fresh to this premise. That's not to say its without its charms though.

After losing her parents in a fatal car crash, young Cady (Violet McGaw) is sent to live with her Aunt Gemma (Alison Williams). Gemma also works as a roboticist for a high-tech toy company and is in charge of a highly advanced prototype code named M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android). A life size doll powered by a sophisticated A.I. learning computer designed specifically to assist in caretaking duties.

Being a workaholic, Gemma struggles with her newfound role as acting mother to her niece. Meanwhile, after a faulty test, management scraps the M3GAN project, leading Gemma to give the doll to her niece. The doll imprints on Cady and the two form an inseparable bond. But as we’ve seen countless times over, it doesn’t take long until the doll goes from being an innocent best friend to violently overprotective.

‘M3GAN’ is the direct product of what happens when you take David from ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and cross him with Chucky from ‘Child’s Play.’ It touches on all the usual satirical points you'd expect from this type of film. The themes of consumerism, over-dependence on technology and fears of Artificial Intelligence gone awry are all explored. Its satire is sharp enough, but still pretty well-worn. You can roadmap the entire movie just by looking at the trailer alone.

Funnily enough, it wasn’t long ago that we had the 2019 ‘Child’s Play’ remake, which also shared similar ideas thematically speaking. In fact, I would say ‘M3GAN’ plays almost as a carbon copy of said remake, only with a feminine twist. I was in the minority who liked the ‘Child’s Play’ remake so it was a little jarring to see something that feels like a beat-for-beat copy so soon after. ‘M3GAN’ also feels like it could have been right at home as an episode of ‘Black Mirror,’ which I guess is only fitting when you consider the 1950’s ‘Twilight Zone’ episode ‘Living Doll,’ which a number of these stories owe a massive debt of gratitude.

It’s never particularly scary. The filmmakers are entirely aware. Thankfully though, it restrains itself from becoming annoyingly meta. Much has already been said regarding the meme-inducing moment of M3GAN learning a Tik Tok type of dance that was heavily featured in the trailer alone. It is indeed one of the notable highlights of the film. One could argue that there is nothing scarier than a rogue AI learning anything from the void of intellect that is Tik Tok .

Having said all of this, I could have done with a tad more in the way of genuine horror. Unfortunately, it does suffer from the PG-13 rating in terms of gore. There are points throughout where it feels like it became the victim of re-shoots. I could have done with just a little more of the red stuff had they let it have more of an edge. However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they used a physical animatronic doll for certain sequences. The filmmakers do well to utilize a nice blend of a real actor, CG and physical puppetry, which winds up looking more convincing than not. Also, Jenna Davis does exceptionally well at capturing the cold, clinical HAL 9000-like voice in feminine form.

It’s always nice to see a studio take a chance on a low to mid-budget horror movie. I’m certain that if ‘M3GAN’ does well at the box office then we will see sequels to follow. Hell, given it was produced by Universal studios, perhaps one day we'll see a 'Chucky vs. M3GAN' if popular enough.

‘M3GAN’ is not terrible by any means, rather it’s just an incredibly run-of-the-mill nuts and bolts horror film. It’s the very definition of a B-movie. The material is well-worn as it goes in every direction you expect it to go. But still, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t at least enjoyable. Just don’t expect fresh water to be drawn from the well.

- Daniel M

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[Feature] - Shenmue III and the Importance of Routine

As 2023 kicks into gear, I continue my journey of weight loss. For the past five months, I’ve been trying to correct the wrongs in my life by building a better lifestyle for myself. Last year, at my heaviest, I weighed in at 225 kg. Not by any means a number I’m proud of. Come to the end of 2022 and I’ve lost 30kg in total, weighing in at 195 kg as of this date.

While I’m proud of my achievement thus far, I still have a long way to go in my journey, but the biggest thing I took away from last year was the importance of building a routine. As stressed by numerous influential people in my life, routine is key to building a better lifestyle both mentally and physically speaking. Boy, oh boy, did I take that message to heart as I went out of my way to build one.   

When I was a child, I guess I didn’t have much in the way of routine or discipline. Being the youngest in a family of three meant I was left to my own devices a little too much. Not to blame my parents, but routine is something usually stressed from childhood. A child who grows up with a strong sense of routine is more likely to be self-sufficient and capable in adult life than not. 

Take the life of a martial artist, for example. A martial artist lives a life of strict discipline and rigorous routine. The importance of these fundamentals is stressed from childhood, helping the child to grow into a balanced adult. Such is the life that has been stressed upon ‘Shenmue’ protagonist, Ryo Hazuki, from childhood by his mentor and departed father, Iwao.

For those uninitiated, 'Shenmue' is a series of open world action-adventure games created by the legendary Yu Suzuki. On the surface, it tells the story of a young Japanese martial artist seeking revenge for his departed father, but peel back its layers and you'll find something a little more than just that. It's best known as being the pioneer of the open world genre. One thing I appreciate about these games is the life lessons they have always stressed. Its game design has always operated around four basic principles: seek, fight, work and indulge. Four basic principles that could be said to be the fundamentals of life, which is only fitting considering ‘Shenmue’ is part life simulator.

One aspect of the original ‘Shenmue’ and its gameplay loop revolves around daily training. Being an Adventure game whose roots stem from a one-on-one fighting game, it allows you to spend time in the family dojo or the nearby parking lot training your extensive list of moves. While this is not necessarily stressed as a requirement to finish the game, it is something that makes up a part of Ryo’s daily life and helps to further flesh out his role in the world.

On the one hand, the fighting system in the first game is lenient enough to allow even button mashers to finish the game without much difficulty. But for those willing to devote time to learning the fighting system, there is a surprising amount of depth involved, as you can train and evolve your move set just by shadowboxing in the parking lot. Perhaps, at one point, this was meant to be a more significant part of the original game. Maybe somewhere along the line in development, AM2 decided to make the game more readily accessible to a broader audience. Whatever the reason, training played a part in the original game, but it wasn’t until ‘Shenmue III’ that it became a requirement of Ryo’s daily life.

While ‘Shenmue III’ wound up dividing the usually loyal fanbase straight down the middle regarding its debatable lack of story, I’ve always found it to be, in some ways, the most interesting of the franchise thus far. At least in terms of how it further fleshes out some of the gameplay ideas that were in place harking all the way back to the original game.

The main point of division among the fanbase regarding the gameplay changes made in ‘Shenmue III’ was the inclusion of a stamina meter. In previous games, there was no stamina meter. Ryo was free to run until his heart was content. ‘Shenmue III’ incorporates the new function of allowing Ryo to eat, alongside that comes a stamina meter. However, the stamina meter also plays host to your health meter.

Everything of vital importance is tied to this meter. If your meter runs out, you lose the ability to run as the game forces you to walk until you eat something to replenish the meter. Or if you enter an unexpected fight and your meter is half way down, then you are at a disadvantage to your maxed out opponent. The reason for this was to stress the importance of eating. This all ties back to the importance of finding a way to earn money to buy food. Which, in turn, sends the player navigating the various odd jobs and distractions that the game has to offer when not progressing the main plot.

‘Shenmue’ has always stressed the importance of money with regard to general plot progression. In the first two games, you literally can’t progress at specific points of the plot until you’ve earned enough in-game money to do so. What fascinates me about the third game is how YSNet attempted to go even further by making the in-game currency a vital part of everything you do. Earning money is a daily necessity and further feeds back into the game's strong sense of routine.

The other significant addition to ‘Shenmue III’ was the inclusion of strength and defense attributes for Ryo. Moving more into traditional RPG territory, the game stresses the importance of rigorous daily training in order to level up Ryo’s stats. The game level gates your enemies to a higher level. Training becomes a vital necessity if you want to beat your enemies.

While the original game did allow you to level up individual moves, it didn’t necessarily change Ryo’s physical stats. Ryo had no physical stats in the original games. There was no level gating. Instead the game catered to the skill level of the player with an automatic adjusting difficulty scale. While some have argued that the inclusion of these new physical stats was to mask the game’s shortcomings in its weaker battle system (as compared to the ‘Virtua Fighter’ engine of the first two games), I would argue it’s kind of a stroke of genius that helps convey the importance of routine through gameplay.

A typical day in ‘Shenmue III’ for me was spent as such. I would wake up, grab the fruit from the tiny kitchen of Shenhua’s house and have a quick chat with her. I would then leave the house, stroll casually down the path picking wild herbs along the way; then I would stop at the nearby martial arts dojo, where I would spend at least 30 minutes strength training by way of Horse Stance and the One Inch Punch. Afterward, I would go and spar with some of the martial artists of the dojo before bowing out and strolling into town to carry on my day.

That was my daily routine during my entire first playthrough of the game. It never wavered from that. That was every morning spent in Bailu. I would build my stats up every morning without fail. Even now, when revisiting it, I still adhere to this routine.

Harking back to the four WUDE learned in ‘Shenmue II’, it becomes all too clear that it’s a sly means of incorporating the principle of GON (to train every day without neglect) into the actual gameplay loop. Doing so does something that the original game touched upon but never entirely made into a necessity. It slyly stresses upon the player the virtues of routine. Live by the routine and Ryo will grow stronger as a result. That's not exactly a bad lesson as far as life lessons go.

As of now, in my current daily life, my real-life routine is as such. I’ll wake up, apply some skincare, have breakfast, read a couple of pages in whatever book I’m reading, drink at least 2L of water a day and do strength training for 20-25 minutes working with weights or resistance bands. Then I’ll do some work followed by a 7km walk around the neighborhood in the late afternoon. I’ve kept to this since August of last year. In many ways, it’s not unlike the one I fashioned for Ryo.

Due to this, I have developed an appreciation for the benefits of building a routine. It helps clear the mind of all anxieties. It helps to build muscles. And it most certainly helps to lose weight and improve my quality of life. It also gave me a further appreciation for what Yu Suzuki and his team at YSNet were trying to communicate with ‘Shenmue III’ and its gameplay loop. Sure, I could delve into the many shortcomings of the game, but I’d rather focus on what the game did right and what the game was earnestly trying to convey.

‘Shenmue’ has always stressed patience over instant gratification. It’s a game that wants you to earn its riches through exploration and discovery. 'Shenmue III' simply takes that to the next level by further stressing the importance of daily routine through actual gameplay. Much like life, it’s a game that wants you to learn key fundamentals through rigorous discipline and routine.

In many ways, the overarching revenge plot that fuels ‘Shenmue’ has become a bit of an afterthought for me. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still invested in one day receiving closure to this epic saga of revenge. I still want to know how the story plays out like everyone else in the fanbase.

But the natural charm of ‘Shenmue’ lies in the journey underneath. At its heart, these games are less about revenge and more about living a martial artist's life as he grows and develops in technique. Along with that come the many principles of life imparted by the numerous influential people he meets along the way. Be it the necessity of striving to do the right thing, keeping friends close, always being humble or even striving to improve oneself every day by training.

‘Shenmue III’ may be a flawed game in many regards, but for those willing to invest their time, it does an earnest and fantastic job of conveying the fundamental necessities of life through gameplay. Perhaps that's not what everyone is looking for in their escapist medium, but I personally appreciate the lengths it goes in order to express these ideas. 

In an industry that is mostly about instant gratification and mindless thrills, I believe that ‘Shenmue’ deserves a round of applause for at least trying to impart the core values of patience, discipline and routine. It’s a shame it took me 20 years to fully cotton on and apply them to my life, but at least I got there in the end. Also, who said video games couldn't teach you anything important?

- Daniel M

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