'Cobra Kai' Season 1 & 2 Reviewed.

Like many others, when I heard that there was a new series based on the 'Karate Kid' franchise, I didn't exactly have my hopes up. I didn't think that there was a good chance that the series would be any good or that it would be worth watching.

After all, even though the first 'Karate Kid' was a somewhat well made movie and had nostalgia value, what was the point with this new series? Why would we want to watch these actors in their roles thirty years later after the movies were done?

Fortunately, having now seen the first two seasons of 'Cobra Kai', I have to say that my expectations for the series turned out to be wrong. It turned out that this show works and that it manages to keep you entertained. 

So when I think about the show, the biggest reason that 'Cobra Kai' has been such a surprise hit is that it's actually well made. Unlike on so many others shows, on this one you actually care about the characters and what happens to them.

When it comes to the premise of the series, it was a really good idea from the producers and writers to make 'Johnny Lawrence' the main protagonist. Unlike in the original movie, in this series he's the star - as a classic anti-hero.

So not surprisingly, on the show we get to see Lawrence's (played by William Zabka) progression as a character. He slowly progresses from an out of work / out of luck alcoholic failure into a decent human being who runs his Cobra Kai dojo.

This transformation, of course, turns out to be much harder than it might seem at first. There are a lot of obstacles and setbacks for Lawrence's character and it takes a lot of effort to get his personal and professional life on a better trajectory.

In contrast, the star of the original movies, Danielle LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is not actually the hero on the show. Even though he plays a big part on the show, as surprisingly as it is, he plays a rather neutral / even unlikable character.

After all, on the show as a successful businessman (he owns a car dealership) he more or less keeps punching down on Lawrence. He can't accept the idea that Lawrence might be on a pathway to a redemption so he tries to sabotage his life.

So when it comes to evaluating the quality of the show,  I have to say that I - like so many others - enjoyed the first season of 'Cobra Kai' quite a bit. I thought that first season as a whole managed to be really well made and entertaining.

Among other things, the episodes are well written and the drama in these episodes feels organic. The characters are believable and you can't help but to feel for Johnny Lawrence's character and how he tries to get his act together, 

Another thing that I also liked about the first season had to do with its fighting scenes. The fighting scenes involving Karate are well choreographed and you just have to appreciate all the great references to the 80s (the show has an awesome 80s soundtrack) 

The only real problem with the first season had to do with the storyline involving LaRusso's cousin. Especially the plotline where he goes to burn Lawrence's car with his mc-buddies just came out of nowhere and wasn't good at all.

So based on the overall solid quality of the first season, I - like many others - had great expectations for the second season too. I expected that the show would perhaps get even better and that we would see great drama on season two too.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the second season of 'Cobra Kai', I have to say that the show - as unfortunate as it is - isn't as good as the first season. The series gets a bit too out of control and tries to be too big with everything.

After all, even though there are a lot of awesome fighting scenes and the soundtrack is still awesome, the storylines in season two just aren't that good. Many of the characters just aren't as believable and relatable as they should be.

Especially when it comes to the behaviour of the characters (Lawrence, Larusso, Kreese, the kids etc.) I just found the stuff to be too extreme. The writers made the characters change too much based on what the storylines told them to do.

Still, when I think of 'Cobra Kai' as a whole, just because there were problems with the show's second season, that doesn't mean that I haven't enjoyed watching the series. I'm not saying that the show is not worth watching or that you shouldn't give it a shot.

After all, there are clearly a lot of great things going on here that cannot be denied. Especially when it comes to William Zabka's acting as Johnny Lawrence, he's a true revelation and is absolutely convincing in his quest to turn his life around.

In that sense, if you're one of those who haven't had a chance to see this drama  / action / comedy series yet, you should definitely give it a chance. You should give it a chance and not automatically think that this won't be a show for you.

After all, even though 'Cobra Kai' could be an even better a series than it is, it still manages to deliver. It manages to deliver and is easily - despite some of its minor flaws - one of the best television shows that are currently out there.

The problem with making movies about authors.

When it comes to biographical movies about authors, I have to say that I'm not someone who gets easily excited about them. In most cases I just don't think that films about famous writers are that interesting or worth your time.

After all, even though the books and the novels that these authors have written might be interesting, that doesn't mean that they themselves are interesting enough. There's no guarantee that their life story is fascinating or worthy of a movie.

So when it comes to these author movies, one of these problematic films is the upcoming biopic about the 'Lord of The Rings' author J.R.R. Tolkien. This is a movie that is going to be released this week after having been in production limbo for years.

When it comes this particular film, the fact that it took so long to produce the movie shouldn't really surprise anyone. It simply wasn't easy to come up with an even remotely entertaining story about a real life person like Tolkien.

After all, even though his books have been popular and have been turned into well received movies, those books don't equal him. Just because those books about the middle-earth were great, that doesn't mean that a movie about him would be too.

In reality, the problem with making a movie about a writer writing a book is that in most cases there's not much of a story to tell. There's usually no real story, because there's no drama in the book writing process and there's no drama in that person's life either.

So naturally, instead of the movie having a natural built-in story, the screenwriter has to try to fabricate a story. The writer tries to come up with something that would actually make that person's life and 'work' interesting.

Unfortunately, what is especially problematic about this is that it's usually a big stretch to make a 'dramatic' connection between your life and your work. Especially when it comes to things like fantasy authors, it's almost bound to feel contrived and hokey.

So not surprisingly, movies like these will mostly consist of meaningless scenes that don't make enough sense. They have stuff like semi-relevant 'inspirational' scenes and writing scenes in which the 'hero' of the film writes in his room (no one is excited).

In comparison, when you make a biopic about a football player or perhaps a musical band (like Bohemian Rhapsody), things are different. In these biopic films there are basically no 'unfilmable' scenes and the progression in the hero's journey is easy to show.

After all, since you don't have to 'fabricate' the story, it's not that difficult to come up with proper story arcs and to keep the audience happy. There's no 'meta' level in which the audience is required to know its subject matter before they see the film.

In that sense, when you look at these basic problems and issues in the 'author' genre as a whole, it's not that surprising that 'Tolkien' has been in trouble as a movie project. It's not surprising that it hasn't been particularly well received by the critics.

After all, based on its reviews so far, there doesn't seem to be enough going on in the movie. Even though the film isn't completely awful (46% Rottentomatoes.com & Metacritic score 48) it just doesn't have a screenplay or a story that is good enough.

In that sense, especially considering that there are other biopics about this genre in the works too, I wouldn't get my hopes up about those other projects either. Clearly 'Tolkien' is setting a prime example on how things can go wrong.

After all, as unfortunate as it is, especially in the case of the J.K. Rowling biopic, things look pretty bleak (it has been in production limbo for years). It doesn't look like the proposed film - if produced - would be a good movie either.

On the contrary, everything about that project spells trouble too. That project spells trouble and it's difficult to imagine that her biopic would be able to tell a good story or that it would be able to make a good connection between her life and her precious books either. 

Thoughts on the upcoming presidential primary.

So when it comes to politics in the United States, it's not exactly a secret that I pay a lot of attention to what happens in the country. I tend to follow politics on a daily basis and I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what's going on and how things will go.

Naturally, the most interesting thing at the moment is the upcoming democratic presidential primary. I'm more than interested in knowing which candidate will be the one that will go against president Trump in the next year's presidential election. 

So when it comes to the democratic presidential hopefuls, there a lot of candidates for the voters to choose from. There's the establishment ones (Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Beto O'Rourke etc.) and the progressives ones (Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren, Tulsi Gabbard). 

Based on the current available polling data, it might seem that president Barack Obama's (former) vice-president Joe Biden is the most popular candidate. He's the one who has a clear lead in the polls and who seems to be the front runner.

However, there are a lot of reasons why one should not start banking on Biden ending up being the nominee of the democratic party. Just because he has a big lead in the polls doesn't mean that things are going to remain that way for long. 

After all, there are a lot of reasons why Biden's 'Obama nostalgia' candidacy won't carry him to the White House again. As a politician he has been on the wrong side of history so many times that he has simply too much baggage on him.

Among other things, Biden (the Forrest Gump of bad politics) voted for the disastrous Iraq war resolution in 2003. He wrote the infamous crime bill too and was _the_ guy who let republicans defame Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas supreme court hearings in the 90s. 

Furthermore, Biden has been the biggest cheerleader for corporate & banking interests in the U.S. He's voted for every deregulation bill (including the repeal of Glass-Steagall) and was an eager supporter of the bankruptcy bill that was designed to hurt poor people.

So when you combine all these bad these things about him, it's not that surprising that he doesn't have a good track record. It's pretty obvious that he wouldn't be a change agent or a transformative president as a commander in chief.

After all, let's not forget that the whole reason that Trump won the presidency in 2016 was because the voters were sick and tired of the status quo. They rejected Hillary Clinton and were desperate to vote for anyone that would promise them change and relief.

In that sense, since there are a lot of good progressive candidates on the democratic side, I really hope that the voters aren't easily fooled this time. Hopefully they'll see who the 'good' candidates are and that they are willing to back the progressive ones.

After all, especially in the case of senator Bernie Sanders, who is pushing for things like Medicare For All (Biden of course is against it), Bernie has a solid chance this time. He's well known and has been on the side right of history for basically his whole political life. 

Still, when it comes to this whole thing, since we're talking about the United States and its millions of low information voters, it's hard to predict how things will go. It's not guaranteed that solid candidates like Sanders or Warren are going to make it. 

In the end, especially considering that the so called mainstream media (CNN, MSNBC etc.) are so viciously anti-progressive, I'm not certain that things are going to go well. There's certainly a possibility that we'll get a redux of 2016 in the 2020 election too. 

In that sense, based on everything that we know, we can only hope that once the debate season starts, the voters will choose wisely this time in the democratic primaries. We can only hope that they'll choose the best candidate.

After all, even though Trump might not be as horrendous (or an outlier) as some might say, he's still a bad president. He's a bad president and clearly the country deserves better than him or a neoliberal corporate establishment tool like Joe Biden.