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Fukushima 50 (2020)
The Fukushima 50 are the real modern day superheroes.
There's been a lot of superhero content. The Fukushima 50 are the real superheroes.
I had read about them back in 2012, but I didn't know in detail what had happened at the Nuclear Power plant at Fukushima. This is one of the better Asian films I have seen recently, especially from Japan. This beats Train to Busan in my boat. There is real sense of suspense and urgency, and frankly I was in tears throughout the movie. I needed tissues. I was moved at how the Fukushima 50 didn't give up. They didn't give up on each other and neither did they give up on saving the plant. Even when it felt impossible, even when they knew they might die, they didn't give up. Train to Busan in comparison felt cheap, in that the zombies never felt like a threat compared to what happened in this movie.
The impact of their heroism was influential in my best friend's work. She was moved by their ability to sacrifice themselves to save the lives of their family and of their nation. My friend would have wanted me to see this film. The irony is March 6, the day of its release, was the last day my friend was alive, before she had passed.
This honestly beats Parasite in my opinion. Then again, Japanese movies aren't as hot in the Academy radar as Korean films.
The Umbrella Academy (2019)
Story feels irrelevant and thrown out the window. Reaction to the finale and season 2
This isn't an awful show by any means. There is somewhat a plot, but I'm honestly not looking forward to season 3. Ben is retconned and in terms of plot, all the emotional progress of Klaus with his dad and Ben with his family have been retconned and restarted, literally. This feels like The Good Place all over again. Reverse and scrap the emotional progress characters have made with each other due to lack of a concrete plot, which again was there's an Apocalypse that seems to follow the family where ever they go and it's always linked to Vanya. I wouldn't mind of their dad and Ben are alive but they retain their emotional connections to their family.
Both seasons are marred by sluggish pacing and lots of daddy angst. But there is a fast forward button. Like season 1, there's an okay season premiere, then a slug, and then it picks up speed in the last 3 episodes suddenly. Season 2 improved in its pacing somewhat, but it still felt dragged out. The new characters I didn't feel for, other than Harlan. I get the family would meet new characters but the new characters didn't add much to the plot. The new characters are there to create distractions for the family, so they'd disband and then come together just in time for Kennedy's assassination conveniently. Speaking of new and forgettable characters, Lila's powers seem unnecessary. I didn't understand nor care for Lila at all. She's like the Super Saiyan in that she absorbs others powers but enhances those powers. She gets stronger/becomes Super Saiyan than whoever is in front of her. That's convenient. Season 2's setting felt like The Watchmen in terms of addressing racial tensions in the 1960s but unlike The Watchmen, that isn't integral to the plot. It feels like extra padding, as if the Umbrella Academy needs to be more relevant and woke. The Kennedy assassination was well done. Season 2 got more gruesome, which it didn't need, for it to be an edgier and "darker" season.
In season 2, the family still suffers from daddy angst. Luther still has a crush on Allison. Allison is still cardboard like in terms of characterization. Vanya and Diego bond. I am glad that finally near the end the family really comes together as a family. That catharsis for Vanya where Ben is able to save her in spirit/ghost. That was powerful and emotional. All in all, Umbrella Academy does shine in its last three episodes. We forget this is a show about the power of family and how family will be there.
But then it all gets retconned when they travel back in time. Ben isn't Ben anymore and all of his connections to his real family are gone. Even their dad isn't their dad anymore...