First Men in the Moon Review

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It’s time for a sci-fi title. Usually I’d say a “sci-fi thriller” but this really isn’t that kind of story. It’s actually a bit more of a slow burn until we start approaching the end. There’s a large chunk in the beginning where you’re just wondering when they’re actually going to get to space. It also makes the dicey decision of spoiling one of the survivors by making most of the film a flashback. I never liked that narrative decision in the past and I can tell you that this has not changed over the years.

Well, the film starts off with a bunch of astronauts making it to the Moon and they’re hyped because this is the first time that humanity has made it so far. Or…that’s what they thought! A flag is found there and so they track down one of the survivors from the original trip. He casually explains that they have already been to the Moon and they even met some aliens. The United Nations wants answers and this guy is happy to provide them. People did not believe him when he first told the world, but now they will listen!

We then begin his flashback and for a little while there we just get some comedic shenanigans. Arnold and Kate meet up with a crazy scientist named Joseph. Turns out that the guy has a way to negate gravity and so the three of them head up into the Moon. The Moon has already been conquered by a race of alien beings though. They are not particularly strong or anything like that but they do have the advantage in sheer numbers. Arnold and Kate figure they need to get out of there but Joseph thinks that they can be reasoned with. This will prevent some problems.

I’m absolutely against Joseph here. There is just no evidence to really show that these aliens will be good and it feels like the height of naivety to be trying to make peace when the stakes are this high. At least get home first but Joseph goes into full trust mode right away. The aliens can talk and have intelligence so it’s not like this is definitely a doomed mission but looking out for his friends first would have been the right move. So I definitely didn’t like Joseph by the end of this.

As for Arnold, I thought he was a solid main character. He prioritized saving Kate right away and fought off a bunch of the aliens. He even has a Superman type moment where a bunch of them jump on him and he just shakes them off. While it was a bad look for the aliens, it was definitely a good look for him. Meanwhile Kate did her best not to panic too much or anything like that. She did feel more on the powerless side though but still beats some heroines from her time. She could have used some more scenes to develop some personality though.

The aliens are one of the weaker parts of the film though. They just don’t feel very imposing and the only one who really got any character was the leader. The rest of them may not have been mindless exactly but they were close to that point. Acting like some kind of hivemind just running to the ship and getting defeated rather quickly. The ending of the film goes for a bit of a cop out approach but since you weren’t too invested in the aliens, you’re not exactly broken up about it.

Okay this is sounding rather negative so I do want to emphasize that this was a good film. It’s just a true slow burn where you have to be in it for the plot. Also you will need to see if you prefer the space scenes or the ones back on Earth. I’d say they are fairly balanced. The writing is solid and the characters are good except for the crazy scientist. It just all ends in a rather anti climactic way. It’s basically someone telling a story the whole time and there is no sense of danger as a result since you know that he survived. If the film ended by showing him to be a shapeshifter or something then that would be different.

The biggest other way to solve this would be for the story part to not be a factor. Just have the astronauts head to the Moon in the present. Have them still find a flag showing that someone else had been there but we never get those answers. It would help the film just have more of a “Cosmic Horror” vibe without having to spoil the ending or show that everyone already survived. That would have been the best way to pull this off.

The effects definitely get a good shoutout though. The film is fairly old but they did a good job of showing the Moon and the various tech involved. It’s not like you will mistake this for a 2020 film or anything like that but it’s clear that a lot of effort went into this one. Nowadays they’d probably just settle with throwing CG everywhere. I would have liked some solid music tracks to go along with the scenes though. That’s another way to amp up the tension.

Overall, This is a film I would recommend to sci-fi fans but perhaps not ahead of most of its rivals. This one could have used some more fight scenes. The brief Power Rangers type hand to hand of throwing the aliens around was fun after all. So focusing more on that would be a good thing if you ask me. That said, I believe Wells was more about writing dramatic, suspense type stories like this that introduced a lot of lore and could be weird but never turned into full on action stories. I guess the film would have to deviate quite a bit if it wanted to achieve that.

Overall 6/10

The Towering Inferno Review

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It’s time for a really long film. This movie definitely wasn’t trying to be one of those titles that you breeze through in 30 minutes! Fortunately while this is one of those films that does feel really long, it does make good work out of the time. You could definitely have cut out about 20-30 minutes of lingering shots where the film was trying to show off but otherwise most of it was for character moments. A disaster film should be trying to build up a lot of characters so you can see who cracks and who doesn’t as the situation gets serious.

The film starts off with the completion of a giant skyscraper. The owner wants to show this off and so a bunch of rich celebrity types are invited to the mass unveiling. All of the lights will be turned on for each floor so that the building can be seen from anywhere in the city. It is a technological marvel and the architect, Doug, is pretty proud of what he has accomplished. Unfortunately he finds out that they tried saving a bunch of costs by not putting in the advanced wiring that he asked for. Sure enough, the building catches fire and now we have a situation where thousands may die. He will have to work with the firefighters to put a stop to this.

First off I have to say that Doug really should take no blame in this situation. He absolutely did everything right but recommending they use wiring above industry standards and put in a bunch of fail safes. The fact of the matter is that his plans would have prevented the fire from ever happening and it is entirely on management that this situation got so crazy. They all ought to be ashamed of themselves. As a result Doug is definitely one of the most likable characters in the film. He puts his life on the line throughout in order to solve this problem and save lives. It’s why he’s here.

The biggest villain here has to be Roger. He’s not exactly subtle either, the film pushes him as being super evil to the point of being cartoony. He actually pushes someone off to his death and spends the whole film being drunk and really defensive about everything. So if you thought that maybe he was just misunderstood, think again! He’s just not that kind of character. Quite a few characters show their true colors like that although none to that degree. There were several characters running for the one seated pulley despite drawing lots earlier.

The body count is also rather big so you shouldn’t think that things are going to be going easy since it’s “just a building fire”. This is a skyscraper so that’s what makes things different. There are tons of floors and while most of them were evacuated in time, not all of them were. One group was cheating up on one of the higher floors which basically sealed their doom. That’s a trope I definitely don’t mind. When you see characters just doing something wrong like that, having them get burned/bumped off simply makes sense.

On the hero’s side, Michael does really well in repping the firefighters. He is quick to take command of the situation and cuts most of the red tape that comes in. It’s clear that he has little patience for the bureaucratic stuff as he wants to just get into the action to save people. Without him forcing things along, the casualties would have been much higher

How you feel about the film’s pacing will likely come down to how much you enjoy the fire scenes. After all there isn’t going to be a whole lot of variety after a while. You can only show someone burning up so many ways and same for the various floors exploding. I thought the film did a good job of keeping up the tension throughout though. The pacing is slow but the good writing helps to counter that. You’re certainly not going to be bored or anything as you watch the film.

The effects definitely hold up well and there is some actual music in the film which is surprising. Sometimes these titles just don’t have much of a pulse to keep things realistic but this film realized that it couldn’t hurt. I don’t really have any big negatives for the film. I’d say that it’s a fairly safe thriller title with a lot of action and it is actually hard to predict who will be included in the body count. The film has some surprising moments in that area so that you understand how nobody is safe.

The ending may not be the most satisfying as a result but it’s not really something I would shave a star off for. The movie doesn’t have a lot of deep themes or anything like that so after the film what you’ll mostly be pondering is if there were any other ways to escape. Personally I think going for the stairs right away would have been the best move but they didn’t really think about it until it was too late. I would not want to go into the elevator by any means so I’d probably have taken my chances inside the big room. That’s part of what makes the film scary though, there were no obvious ways to survive. In that sense it is more threatening than the other disaster films where usually I can backseat drive quite a lot. I’m not counting films where the entire planet is going to be destroyed of course.

Overall, The Towering Inferno is certainly a fitting title and the movie did a lot with its visuals. Fire is absolutely a powerful force and this is basically the worst nightmare of anyone who is staying at a giant building like this. I never like being too high up in general and this film reinforces that. If any emergency happens, you always want to be closer to the ground. If you like disaster films then you should definitely check this one out. It’s well made and I can see why it has such a strong reputation. It actually gives you a full setup as all of the characters are introduced before things go crazy so you’re bound to have at least a few that you are rooting for.

Overall 7/10

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Review

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Phoenix Wright is one of those game series that I have seen around for a very long time but never got to play before. With the collection being on one of those big PSN sales, I knew this was finally my chance! It is definitely a pretty great collection and the games give you a lot of bang for your buck. This collection took me over 90 hours to complete which was intense! I came super close to hitting that 100 hour milestone.

The story follows a young man named Phoenix who is a defense attorney. He wants to help the innocent and prevent them from being sent to their death. See, in the future there are so many crimes that court cases are only allowed to take up to 3 days. If the defendant is found guilty then more often than not they are put to death. The prosecutors will use any trick up their sleeve to win a case and so Phoenix has to spot the contradictions in the evidence. If he is able to do that, then he will be on the right side of history.

Each game has a similar setup but the main prosecutor tends to change. The first game focuses on Edgeworth who knew Phoenix back when they were kids. They have quite a lot of history and so Edgeworth gets to have a full character arc. The second game has Franziska who is quite ruthless and whips anyone who annoys her. The games don’t mind getting a little extreme in this sense. What other franchise would actually have the judge allow whipping in his court right? Like with Edgeworth she does get a good amount of character development by the end.

The final game has Gadot has the main villain. He has a whole mystery going on that is unveiled as the final game gets to the end. While he felt like the weakest villain which was an interesting way to end the trilogy, I do have to admit that he had the best lines. Pretty much everything he said about the coffee or his abstract messages were just fun. So he definitely grew on me by the end.

Something the games really had going for them was the strong character roster. The supporting characters are a lot of fun. Mia and Maya have really big roles throughout the games and are people that Phoenix can rely on. Mia was really portrayed as the strongest character in the series and you could argue that she still has that spot by the end. Maya goes from being a total novice to actually challenging Phoenix in the final case. She really came along way there. The villains I already mentioned are really good as well. It doesn’t mean that every character is fun, some are a bit overplayed like the old lady. Whenever she appeared I’d have to shake my head. In a way the world feels too small when you bring a character back too often.

The games also did a great job of constantly switching things up. You end up playing as different characters as the games go on like when you play as Edgeworth or Mia. That just helps to keep everything really fresh. Seeing young Phoenix as an unreliable witness was intense. It really reinforces how you can’t trust anyone who is on the stand.

So what’s the gameplay like? Well, you have two sections, free roam and then the court case. In free roam you switch between different areas and talk to people to get evidence. You can also present evidence to people in order to get some reactions and obtain some clues. You will also click on different objects in the background like something in I Spy to get more clues. The toughest part can be deciding what to show each suspect or making sure that you have clicked on everything in the area. So you have to be very methodical. One thing you will figure out quickly is that every person should have 4 lines of dialogue. So if they have less then you must have missed something.

Some cases will add bonus gameplay styles to this like when you have a metal detector or a spray that can locate hidden blood splotches. The meat of the game is in the courtroom though and that’s my favorite part. Basically the witnesses will say 4-6 things and you can press or object to the statement. Generally you will need to press the statement first and then object to the one that is wrong. You will have to prove the contradiction by presenting a piece of evidence. It’s a lot harder than it sounds. Sometimes it is incredibly difficult to find a contradiction and I died many times in this game. It is rather brutal, if you don’t save the game midway then you have to replay a large chunk of the case. Definitely keep a backup save at the ready because it is possible to get save locked here.

The game isn’t a graphical masterpiece though so you shouldn’t expect too much there. There aren’t a lot of animations as most of the story are just still images. There is also no real voice acting outside of the characters yelling objection in the court room. I’d like them to add voice acting to all of the dialogue at some point. It would just make this feel more like an authentic audio book. So the games are very strong but they succeed more on the premise and gameplay than on the technical elements around it.

Technically there isn’t a lot of replay value once you beat the game. It’s not like there are bonus paths, you either win or you lose. Still, at over 90 hours you don’t actually need any replay value. I obtained the Platinum when completing the game because I made sure to go back and get answers wrong as needed. You’ll get most of the trophies naturally but can definitely work on getting any you missed as a form of replay value.

Overall, This was definitely a great trilogy. On its own each game may be more like a 7 because they are just lacking a bit in gameplay but together this just makes such an incredible narrative that I had to bump it up. I’ll definitely be curious to see how the next games play out. I’ll miss Phoenix being the main character as the next trilogy switches but I’m sure they’ll do a good job with the next one. It’ll probably be a while before I get the next trilogy though.

Overall 8/10